《Tallah》 Chapter 1.00.1: I require touching this mind Vermen stank. Their stench filled the narrow tunnel and masked the burnt hair and meat smell of the three guards Tallah had just smeared across the walls. In the enclosed space of the cavern, they sat clustered around smoking fires or lay in their own filth and droppings. The rank odour escaping into the wider network of passages made her eyes water beneath her mask. She counted two scores of the creatures. There could have been maybe twice that. Well-armed and well fed by the looks of things. All shapes and sizes had gathered to this nest. Some were heads taller than she was. Some barely reached her knees. All filthy and disgusting, true affronts to anything decent. Two wargged humans were leashed to a pole. A group of the vermen were gathered around them, poking, and prodding the two into frothing fury until they ended fighting one another to the jeers and snarls of their handlers. There was a shaman by the largest fire, all dressed up in stained robes and bone fetishes. It looked to be painstakingly instructing two of the others to do¡­ something. She couldn¡¯t make it out for the distance even if she lifted the mask for a better look. Realisation dawned when one of the largest vermen raised a spear. A body was tied to it, limbless and naked, vaguely female. For a moment Tallah hoped it was a corpse. Corpses don¡¯t scream when set to cook on a spit above the fire. The girl made a horrible noise as they began rotating her over the flames. Tallah wove a firefly and sent it out towards the wretch. It floated as a mote of dust on the soft draft until near enough to the flame. A flick of her fingers sped it up, to impact soundlessly against the girl¡¯s exposed shoulder. A snap of her fingers and the firefly burst inside the chest cavity, pulping the heart. The vermen hissed in confusion as the screams cut out with a gurgle. They¡¯d been tormenting the poor thing for quite some time by the looks of things. ¡°There¡¯s one above the fire,¡± Sil whispered in her ear, finally caught up. ¡°See him? In the smoke?¡± She did. One more human¡ªmale, by the looks of things¡ªhung in a cage above the lick of the fire, slowly rotating in the up-draft of hot air, clear sight of him obstructed by the smoke. Malnourished to the bone, it was a miracle he was even still breathing. ¡°Alive? Are you sure?¡± ¡°Seems to be.¡± Sil¡¯s eyes glowed a faint lime green as she studied the scene. ¡°There¡¯s a heartbeat but I can¡¯t say more from here.¡± She let out a soft squeak as she stepped into the offal of one of the dead verman guards. The wretched man screamed in his cage, jerked his limbs in the throes of some fit, and then was still, head wedged between the bars. ¡°That¡¯s the sound I heard.¡± Sil snapped her fingers. ¡°I told you I heard screaming. Ha!¡± More vermen dropped whatever they¡¯d been doing to gather around the fire and study the limp corpse roasting there, its cooking stench finally enough to overpower their musk. Disgusting beasts, barely worth the time to kill. She scrunched up her nose at the prospect of dirtying her hands on these blight-carriers. But after so long exploring the tunnels with no result in sight, this seemed as likely a path forward as any other. And it afforded her a rare chance to work out some frustration. How many days already beneath the mountain? She¡¯d asked Bianca to stop keeping count as it served to annoy her. Sil would likely complain soon enough, denied late-Wither sun and fresh air for so long on this insane quest. And she¡¯d be right to be upset. A couple more galleries explored to no result and even Tallah would accept they¡¯d failed. ¡°Don¡¯t kill the one in the cage. I need him alive.¡± Sil pointed to the prisoner, as if there was any confused as to whom she meant. ¡°Do you need him in one piece?¡± Tallah donned her silver mask and had another glance around the cave for any hidden cantrip enchantments. Nothing. ¡°Human-shaped, preferably. Just make sure he¡¯s alive when you¡¯re done. I¡¯ll only need him for a couple of heartbeats.¡± ¡°Right. Stay put. Make sure none of them get out. Shouldn¡¯t take long.¡± Vermen hadn¡¯t come to check on their missing guards. Intelligent enough to gather in a horde, not enough to ensure safety, even if this nest looked to be better organised than most. No females in sight so the young were kept somewhere else. Weapons on racks. Food stacked in sacks and crates. This was a small army, and she could bet some wild honey that it wasn¡¯t the shaman thinking for them. No matter. It wasn¡¯t the first oddity they¡¯d found since coming down into the Valen-Drack passage. If she spent time wondering on each, she¡¯d never get anything done. Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. As she stepped out of the tunnel mouth and saw Sil¡¯s weave in the air, barriers blocking the exits they could see, the wretch in the cage looked up at her. It wasn¡¯t an errant glance. He¡¯d turned his head towards her and raised his hands in a decrepit gesture of warding. Is he warding me off? That¡¯s precious. She would¡¯ve winked at him if not for the mask. She settled for a smile. The vermen bristled at her approach, with dozens of beady black eyes turning in stupid silence to regard the intruder. Her heels clicked on the filth-encrusted stone floor, no effort made for stealth. They hissed and swarmed like the rats they were, clubs and swords raised high. Some, two brain cells richer than the rest, cocked crossbows and took aim. Her fireflies flitted out in a storm. With a finger snap she launched them outward to bury into fur, scraps of armour, eyeballs even. The imbeciles didn¡¯t even flinch to avoid her volley. With another snap they detonated. Five vermen burst apart like overripe fruit, the concussive bangs of detonation echoing in the cavern. They fell in bits and showered her in offal and blood. Bugger! She¡¯d been too close, allowed them one too many steps. Twin fireballs turned the beasts with crossbows into burnt-out grease stains on the wall. Air burned out of them in screeches of agony. The wargged humans rushed her, their chains loosed. Poor wretches. A few days earlier and they might have been spared. As they were, she cut them down with heat lances, turned them into smoking effigies that screamed more than any human should rightly be able to. Some of the screaming came from the imprisoned human above the fire. His cage swayed in the shock wave of her explosions, but she hadn¡¯t hit the thing. Why was he screaming? A fresh wreath of fireflies turned the next line of vermen into splattered gore. The rest was simple cleanup. The shaman had tried to raise a staff and channel some crude effect. Laughable. A fireball burned the meat off its bones and turned the staff to ashes. One died clawing against Sil¡¯s barrier after discarding its weapon to try and make a run for it. She blasted out its spine and left it squealing in the muck. The foodstuffs caught fire, the smoke tasting acrid. A hand gesture signalled Sil to drop the barriers so some of it could rush out through the tunnels. Whatever filtered out through the rock gaps above would be visible for miles around the mountain if anyone had a care to look. Ash rose on the sudden up-draft of hot air. It stuck to her clothes like fine powder and made her sneeze, the worst the rats had managed against her. She did feel better though. One final firefly drifted up to the cage and blasted the chain apart. The awful bone gibbet crashed down to the scattered embers beneath, right atop the charred corpse. The man inside screamed himself into keening cries, ran out of air, loudly inhaled, and screamed some more. She considered killing him for the quiet while she paced through the room, stamping out any growling survivor. ¡°Blood of the Goddess, what thistle got in your knickers?¡± Sil asked as she picked her way over the gore-strewn room. ¡°I get you¡¯re frustrated but this is just deranged.¡± Tallah spat black ash and cleansed her mouth with water from the canteen. ¡°The man¡¯s alive. Shush.¡± All the vermen lay dead or still smouldering. No other traps that she could see. Maybe some guards farther out in the tunnels had escaped her purge, but it mattered very little. She dragged the cage from the fire, heedless of how the bugger inside squealed. One of his legs was bent at an odd angle, bone pushing outwards against leather-like skin. ¡°Touch him and we can move on. There¡¯s another tunnel on the other side of the cave. We may as well keep going.¡± ¡°Get him out of there. I don¡¯t want to touch that thing. Those are human bones.¡± Tallah sighed and bent to the task, ripping apart the wreckage to extract the sorry sod. Not a man at all but a boy, at most twenty Summers if she were any judge. Patchy stubble covered his cheeks, white as snow, wherever he wasn¡¯t blistered or covered in sores. Starved right down to skin and bone. How¡¯d that happen? A vague weave hung on him, like a poorly made enchantment. Was he blessed? She turned him over for better inspection. ¡°Ah, here it is.¡± He had one of Anatol¡¯s idiotic blessings tattooed on the back of his neck. Slow death through divine regeneration. One had to be either inexperienced, or an utter imbecile to have that thing tattooed. Likely wouldn¡¯t have lasted much longer even without her intervention. At some point he¡¯d began laughing. Sounded like a toothless saw blade trying to cut ironwood. ¡°All yours, your prissiness.¡± Tallah kicked him over, so he¡¯d be looking up at them. ¡°Be quick about it.¡± ¡°Yes, yes, I don¡¯t want to be in here any more than you do. See if there¡¯s anything worth picking up. Food¡¯s running low.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not eating anything from here.¡± Even without it being disgusting on a conceptual level, the whole place stank of rot, rat dropping, and who knew what other kinds of filth. How a creature could live like this and still be somewhat intelligent was beyond her. Sil knelt next to the man and placed the tips of her fingers on his forehead. ¡°I¡¯d ask for your consent, but I feel you¡¯re not in the best state of mind to give it. My apologies. I require touching this mind.¡± Lightning cracked and the cave exploded in red light. In a heartbeat, Sil was blasted from her feet. She impacted against the far wall, almost ten meters away, with a wet crunch and the sickening sound of bones snapping. Tallah¡¯s feet moved before the rest of her had time to react. With heart thundering in her throat, she found the healer in a pile, one arm bent awkwardly beneath her, blood dripping by the corner of her mouth. She trained a fireball on the still laughing man¡ª ¡°N-No,¡± Sil croaked from the floor, choking. ¡°Don¡¯t¡­¡± Chapter 1.00.2: An Other With a glance to confirm he was still on the floor and not attacking them, Tallah knelt and extracted a vial of accelerant from the thigh pouch Sil wore for emergencies. It was a struggle to get Sil to drink the mixture. ¡°I¡­¡± Sil choked on blood as it was forced out of her lungs by the healing draught. Tallah helped move her palm to her chest while she coughed and struggled to form words between gasps of pain. ¡°I require¡­ this one¡­ be mended.¡± The draught stabilised her condition, but the prayer got her back to her feet in a burst of healing light. ¡°Bones of my sisters, that hurt,¡± she complained as the healing incantation completed its work. ¡°Nearly cracked my skull open.¡± She ran a hand through her hair and grimaced when her fingers came away bloody. ¡°Did crack my skull open.¡± Unassisted, she stumbled forward to where her staff lay. ¡°Put that away. He¡¯s not dangerous. Give me some space to find my wits.¡± Tallah put out the fireball she¡¯d kept floating just above their heads. Whatever the bastard had done, he could take it with him into the ashes. Sil had other plans. ¡°How are you alive?¡± She approached the bugger and poked him with the butt of her staff. ¡°Why are you even here?¡± He howled with laughter punctured by cries of anguish whenever his blessing fired off. Now that Tallah looked at him more closely, she could see the exact moment when it activated. ¡°What happened?¡± she asked. ¡°Well¡­ you won¡¯t believe this.¡± Sil poked him again. ¡°This blighter¡¯s an Other.¡± Tallah stared at her, and then at the man. She must¡¯ve misheard. ¡°You can¡¯t be serious.¡± ¡°Happens that I am.¡± Sil shrugged. ¡°Either he¡¯s an Other, or he¡¯s gone so far over to the mad side that he¡¯s conjured up stuff the theatres of Aztroa would pay fortunes for. He¡¯s not from Edana.¡± ¡°Maybe you¡¯ve hit your head too hard? Heal again?¡± Sil gave her a level, steady glare and pointed the staff¡¯s blue jewel at her. ¡°Maybe I¡¯ll whack you once over the head and you can tell me if it makes more sense to you then. Guy¡¯s alien. And to top it off, he¡¯s enchanted too. Got a strange mesh in his head protecting something. I touched it and you saw the rest. Not aelir or human made.¡± A man, locked in a cage, half-dead, who was an Other and touched by the divine? It stank of destiny malarkey. For a heartbeat Tallah considered burning him to ash and forgetting she¡¯d ever laid eyes on the wretch. ¡°Interesting Other?¡± she asked instead. ¡°I don¡¯t understand most of what I¡¯ve seen in his head from his life. From the more recent however¡­¡± She turned in place and studied the walls. ¡°There¡¯s a secret door over there. People were brought in, taken through, and never brought back out. May be of interest.¡± Now the temptation to burn him became overpowering. Christina rose to the surface of her thoughts, the ghost tempering her fire with her own infectious curiosity. ¡°Can you heal him?¡± ¡°No. Maybe the Sisters could. But look at him. Barely still alive. I can¡¯t heal malnutrition, dehydration, and whatever flavour of crazy¡¯s gripping him.¡± Tallah scrunched up her nose and regarding him. If she ignored the stubble and the overgrown hair, now that she really considered him, he couldn¡¯t have been more than¡­ fourteen Summers? Sixteen? A boy that had gone in over his head likely and ended up in an impossible situation. She slit open a rend and dug her hand inside. ¡°Have you gone daft?!¡± Sil gaped at the helmet she pulled out. ¡°Keep that thing away from me.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not for you. It¡¯s for him. I need a siphon to power it.¡± ¡°No.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°It¡¯s inhumane.¡± ¡°He¡¯ll live and he¡¯ll be mobile. What else would you want? If we can¡¯t find what I¡¯m looking for in this secret passage you mentioned, then we portal out and we get him to the Sisters.¡± She rolled the bi-horned helmet in her hands thoughtfully. ¡°You got a name from him?¡± ¡°Vergil. And it¡¯s still no guarantee the helmet¡¯s going to help. You know what it did last time,¡± Sil said. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. ¡°Then I hope it remembers what it got the last time it acted out. Heal him so I can stick this on his head. Think I broke every bone he¡¯s got when I pulled him out.¡± She could feel Sil¡¯s disapproving glare on the back of her neck as she stuffed the helmet over the boy¡¯s head. A snug fit though she had to pack in his ears or risk clipping them off. ¡°You stay between us. I don¡¯t want to get thrown again.¡± ¡°Just get it over with. I want to see this secret tunnel.¡± Sil invoked her prayer over Tallah¡¯s shoulder and together they watched the boy spasming as the Goddess¡¯s grace healed whatever ailed him. Anatol¡¯s blessing was a stupid stopgap that barely did much healing at all aside from scrapes, bruises, or internal bleeding. And even for those it was wholly unreliable. Pretty much like Anatol itself. Next came the tether. Sil tied her to the helmet via a thin illum thread that transferred her reserve to the artefact. For some heartbeats, nothing happened. The boy¡ªVergil¡ªscreamed and jerked on the floor. He rolled with some difficulty on his stomach, then brought up his hands under him. After several false starts, he managed finding his feet to stand up. ¡°Did I also manifest that?¡± Sil asked, peeking out at the result. ¡°No. You were dressed at the time. Possibly just contextual. We never did study this thing properly.¡± A translucent set of plate armour covered the desiccated half-corpse. ¡°Interesting enchantment. Does pull a lot of illum.¡± That ridiculous helmet housed an insane spirit¡ªor echo of one, Tallah wasn¡¯t entirely sure on the details. Fuelled by illum, it could take over whatever host wore the stupid thing as Sil had found out on her own when they¡¯d found it. Vergil banged fists against his armoured chest, screaming at the top of his lungs. If that was the ghost¡¯s madness, or his own, Tallah preferred not to know. ¡°I hope you¡¯re happy. You¡¯ve let that thing run loose again.¡± Sil kept Tallah between herself and the boy. She¡¯d first worn the helmet and suffered its possession. At least this time the possessing ghost didn¡¯t seem inclined to challenge Tallah. It instead rushed some half-burned verman corpse and attacked it with fists and armoured feet, mulching it into a paste of organ meat and shattered bones. ¡°Oy, bugger,¡± she called. It turned slowly in place. Only the whites of the boy¡¯s eyes were visible through the t-shaped visor of the helmet. He growled, the language as alien as Sil claimed him to be. She thumbed in the direction of the wall. ¡°There¡¯s a door somewhere over there. See if you can find it.¡± Had it understood her? Maybe. It turned away, stomped over a couple more rat corpses, then bolted for the wall. Straight for the bloody thing. And through it with a deafening crash. ¡°He¡¯s found the door,¡± Sil pointed. ¡°That¡¯s certainly one way to do it.¡± Sounds of a struggle echoed from the dark chamber beyond. The ghost howled. Something answered it and then screamed out in pain. ¡°Draws out quite a lot of illum. A staggering drain if it fights.¡± They passed through the gap opened by Vergil and, a short way forward, by the light of a sprite, they found the boy mashing underfoot a strange corpse. It would¡¯ve been twice as tall as a man, maybe just as wide, and had the head of a beast grafted atop a corded mass of muscle. ¡°Chimera,¡± Tallah noticed. ¡°Well, this is finally promising.¡± Three more similar creatures tried barring the way forward. Two died to her fire. One collided headfirst with the horned helmet and came away brained. Four guards to oversee a short corridor of barely twenty paces that ended at a cylindrical unlit pit. It bore down into the mountain with signs of some mechanism available for¡­ something. ¡°I can¡¯t see a way to activate this.¡± Sil studied the walls around the pit for the usual secret lever. The Valen-Drack passage was lousy with secrets and lairs. ¡°There¡¯s illum woven in here. Like the old platforms in Hoarfrost.¡± Tallah looked into the depths and sniffed in annoyance. ¡°If I were hiding beneath a mountain, I would be paranoid enough to make sure I control the way down. I¡¯ll bet you that if there¡¯s some clockwork here, it¡¯s locked at the bottom. We¡¯ll jump it.¡± Sil scrunched up her nose at the notion. Vergil merely growled as he prowled the edge of the pit. He¡¯d picked up a nicked sword from one of the chimeric guards and was testing it against imaginary foes. ¡°Be. Gentle. At least this time.¡± Sil complained when Tallah lifted her in the air. ¡°Last time you bruised me black and blue; in very unpleasant places I might add. I may return the favour if you do it again.¡± Vergil struggled against her invisible grip, kicked out and flailed his arms about like an animal caught in a snare. She considered smashing him against a wall to quiet him, but expected the living boy within the magic armour may not survive the violence. Shaking him up and down a few times, though? That did the trick. It took the better part of a bell to reach the bottom of the shaft in slow, steady descent. Here and there small windows had been cut in the rock like vents, too narrow and low for any of them to fit through. It only left the descent and the unnerving silence. Even after almost half of Wither spent beneath the Valen-Drack mountain range, the eerie underground silence still managed to get under Tallah¡¯s skin. Air felt somehow thicker the more they descended. It stank. Blood. Offal. Like an abattoir in mid-Summer. Sil gagged loudly. ¡°Right path,¡± Tallah said. ¡°I¡¯m going to regret this, aren¡¯t I?¡± ¡°Only if you breathe through your mouth.¡± The mask¡¯s sight showed power woven beneath. Not just the natural flow of illum, but something stagnating, shaped, and set into stone. She could recognise a Sanctum¡¯s overall shape easily enough even from that. Yes, definitely the right path and the right place. This was a Vitalis¡¯s domain. Old one. Powerful even from afar. They touched down at the bottom uncontested. A single wide door led them out. ¡°Blood of the Goddess,¡± Sil exclaimed. Tallah removed the mask and got a real look at the scene stretching away from their spritelight. Flesh on the walls. Flesh on the ceiling. Skinless. Shivering. Undulating. Moving and crawling, extending feelers to them. In the Ikosmenia¡¯s sight it was all woven power, illum stored in networks of sinew and nerves. In real-sight, a fever dream. Chapter 1.00.3: A Vitaliss Sanctum ¡°Not even the weirdest type of Sanctum.¡± She stalked forward, hardly keeping the giddy joy from her voice. The floor squelched underfoot and tried to suck down on her boots as she walked. ¡°Don¡¯t tarry behind. Keep your sprite close.¡± A mouth grew atop a meaty stalk and tried to bite through her boot¡¯s heel. She stepped on it and tiny teeth crunched. Vergil grumbled and swung his sword at some of the larger fleshy growths to little effect. They pulled back into the wall and grew sneering faces. Some mirrored their own. Incredible how the helmet kept the boy animate and moving. A testament to the skill of whoever had made it and enchanted it, for whatever inane purpose something like that would have served. ¡°Save your strength, ghost,¡± she suggested. ¡°You¡¯ll get enough to fight later.¡± Sil¡¯s sprite illuminated more of the horrors ahead. Drooping, wax-like corpses extended feeble hands towards them. She burned some and they retreated into the wall, hissing in pain. ¡°Why?¡± Sil asked. ¡°Why what?¡± ¡°Just¡­ why?¡± ¡°A Vitalis needs biomass. Blood especially. Best way to store blood is in living tissue. Best way to build a self-defending Sanctum is, well, you see it. There¡¯s a reason Catharina burned most of the Vitalises at the dawn of the empire.¡± Sil sneered at this. ¡°She¡¯s missed one.¡± ¡°More than. Most surviving ones have laid down old practices. This one looks to be a fundamentalist.¡± It got noisy when the tunnel opened into a large, barely lit cavern. Bodies covered the walls¡ªwere the walls¡ªand they all spoke in a cacophony of mimicked languages. Vestigial reactions likely. Most had been remade in some fashion, broken down, sewn back up, explored, and then emptied of whatever made them valuable. Standard practice for a Vitalis and their unceasing quest for understanding the leverages of life. This one looked to have gone far off the shores of sanity. Eyeballs of various shapes and sizes provided strange luminescence, a yellowish light that made everything beyond the sprite all the more grotesque. ¡°Hello,¡± she called out. ¡°I¡¯m looking for the master of this place.¡± Theatrics. Chances of anyone actively listening were nearly null. One of the corpses ripped itself out of the wall and charged them, exposed viscera clinging to bones too mismatched to be all its own. Self-defence reaction to intruders in the domain. She allowed it to cover half the distance separating them before she turned it into a bonfire. It stumbled with the impact of the first fireball, took a few more steps forward, and finally collapsed. It screeched as it burned to ashes. And others answered it. ¡°Best be ready. They¡¯ll come from all sides. Keep your barriers up.¡± She didn¡¯t need to check that Sil obeyed her instruction. Vergil, however, rushed forward, sword out, to meet the first of the assaulting creatures. Should have probably stuck him in one of Sil¡¯s protective cages. Would be a shame to waste him in here. In one strike, he bisected the leading chimera, neck to groin, his sword cutting all the way down to the rock with a dull clang. Tallah whistled in appreciation. Well, that was something, Christina echoed her amazement in the back of her mind. They knew the ghost in the helmet was strong, but this was far above expectation. She watched the boy swoop under the scything strike of another beast, flash his sword in a bloody arc, and cut two of the monsters in half at the waist. The draw he enacted on her was nearly painful in its intensity. Well, best not let him fight alone then. Twin heat lances burst apart several of the chimeras crowding ahead. They came from the walls, ripping out of their meaty cocoons to trail flapping muscles and rope-like sinews like a puppeteer''s strings. Most were only armed with jutting spears of bone, their own limbs fashioned into weapons. She snapped her fingers and a constellation of fireflies appeared to orbit her head. Another snap and they all loosed to pop wherever they could dig into the advancing corpses. Less effective than with the rats. Small explosions ripped throats and ribs apart but did little to deter the advance. ¡°Behind you!¡± Sil called out from the mouth of the tunnel where she¡¯d hunkered down. Tallah turned and launched a fireball on a creature that had come out straight from the floor itself. The blast turned its upper half into cinders, but its feet kept carrying it forward, screeching as it burned and flailed its deadly limbs at her. She had to hit it again, harder, to finally see it fall. More encircled her. Vergil fought a cluster of them, stepping over pieces he chopped off, kicking, punching, slashing at everything that came within his range. Impressive as he was, he¡¯d be overrun soon. Bodies crowded in the background, spilling out of side passages, climbing one over the other to reach them. It was getting hard to focus now that they were within her killing range. Rot. Burning hair and charring meat. Keening cries of pain, all too human in their suffering. She closed herself up to them or risk faltering in her determination. This close, she needed to defend with both sword and flame, constantly moving back towards the tunnel. Their sheer numbers were enough to overrun her and the boy at this rate. A bit of an overreaction to only three people wandering in, Christina suggested with amusement. I¡¯m swapping with Bianca until you find the master of the place. I¡¯m ready, Bianca confirmed. Tallah reached out a tether and yanked Vergil back from the fray, sailing him above the mass of bodies. Even before he landed, she heaved forward with a kinetic push. Her back burned with the effort as Bianca took over for a heartbeat to handle the complex calculations of force that she needed. Brace, the ghost whispered. It will hurt. It did. A second heave of power felt like being ripped in two by the colliding forces she commanded, at the same time stretched out and compressed as Bianca wove her tethers and fulcrums. ¡°Barriers up!¡± Tallah called back as she prepared a real hit. In a moment Sil¡¯s barriers separated them from the advancing horde, wedged into the gap Bianca¡¯s efforts had created. Only then did she realise they¡¯d been pushed against the wall, cornered into the small cone of light the sprite offered. Bastard things, she complained. The ghost ignored this as she took over again for the complex calculations she needed. Bianca pushed out again, beyond the barriers. They did not stop advancing, instead crushing the ones in front between the mass behind and the invisible walls. Cracks began forming and Sil yelped with the effort of maintaining the separation. This had clustered the beasts together enough. Tallah wove a line of flame orbs above their heads, putting as much strength into each as she dared without burning all the air from the room. Each new layer of fire compacted the one beneath, made the flames burn brighter. Hotter. The air sizzled with the heat. The wall behind them fried and screeched. ¡°Drop the barrier,¡± she ordered. Sil did and the flames shot outward, guided by Tallah¡¯s hands, at the speed of her thoughts. They cut straight through corpses, melted flesh off bones, disintegrated heads and limbs. At first a fanning strike to gain space. The first line of horrors died without screams as the fire melted them down to blackened stumps. She brought the orbs around, replenished their heat, and scythed through those that followed. She took a deep breath of acrid, overheated air, and held it as she kept slaying. Whatever escaped her flames was brought down by Vergil as he stalked behind her line of devastation to kill whatever she missed. If he was bothered by the heat, she couldn¡¯t say. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. Ten heartbeats. Twenty. Thirty. She let out the breath, gasped for a second and choked on the noxious fumes. Smouldering corpses littered the cavern floor. Those farthest back retreated into the tunnel mouths, running screaming. Vergil chased and cut down some of them. Sil rushed to her side and handed over a vial of aerum. The serum acted quickly to replace the air she couldn¡¯t draw in. On the far side of the room Vergil collapsed, the enchantment¡¯s strength waning. Burnout, Tallah realised with a jolt. Barely able to move, she signalled for Sil to take the siphon from her. The healer obliged and staggered with the draw. It felt like a boulder shifting off her own shoulders. Vergil trotted back to them. With some help from Sil, they moved out into one of the tunnels and away from the still burning pyres of corpses, where the smoke was thinnest. ¡°That wasn¡¯t fun,¡± Sil quipped and let out a tired sigh. ¡°So many bodies. How?¡± Tallah huffed and pitched forward, hands on knees, trying to regain some semblance of coherence. She¡¯d burned herself out. Used too much illum. Her limiters had flashed hot and at least a couple of them had cracked into uselessness. Channelling would be less controllable for now, but in here she felt that might be of help. I had fun, Bianca said and radiated her pleasure. Should do that more. Get buggered. Before she could ask for nettle dust, Sil already had a bag in hand and offered up. She accepted it gratefully. One inhalation of the fine powder cleared up the dizziness accompanying a near total illum depletion. A second lungful opened her up to more power and strength steadily returned as they cowered behind two layers of protective barriers. ¡°Better?¡± Sil asked. ¡°Much. Thank you. Had to exert myself.¡± Sil grumbled, her eyes following the path forward. ¡°There¡¯s something waiting ahead. Voices.¡± ¡°Sounds like moans.¡± ¡°Clearer than the others so far. More chimeras?¡± Tallah shook her head. ¡°Vitalises are loathe to waste biomass. I¡¯ve just burned away some dozens ready-made bodies and crippled a lot more. Whoever¡¯s master of this place won¡¯t want to throw more meat at us unless they¡¯re certain they¡¯ll kill me. Moving forward, I¡¯d worry about poison. Or walls closing in to suffocate us.¡± She grimaced and gestured to the curious stalks wriggling on the wall. ¡°All of this is the Vitalis. They know we¡¯re here.¡± She pointed to a baleful yellow eye on a wall. ¡°They know exactly where we are.¡± ¡°So¡­ why not kill us?¡± Sil dipped a hand into a rend and pulled out some purgers and stored the vials in her satchel. ¡°Wounded ego I¡¯d guess. If I make more of a nuisance of myself, they¡¯ll want to deal with me personally.¡± She straightened and grinned. ¡°Let¡¯s see what else I can break in here.¡± She fixed the mask over her eyes. The way forward was guarded beyond the first bend in the tunnel. Two large chimeras loomed ahead and died to Vergil¡¯s sword. Tallah took the time to restore her illum reserves while the boy made himself useful. At the end they emerged into a circular room, well-lit by captive sprites. Maybe thirty paces across. Terrifying. Sil took one look at the content, turned around, and was violently sick outside the threshold. Rows upon rows of bodies. Living. Female. Maimed to fit. ¡°A breeding room,¡± Tallah surmised on a single look. Aelir. Elend. Humans. Mostly humans. All pregnant in some stage. Cradles of bone held each limbless body with a myriad of horrid tubes dug into the flesh. Some were headless. Most may as well have been under the mass of feeding tubes attached to their faces. Only terrified eyes stared out, unseeing. ¡°This is precisely why Catharina had them all burned. They run out of easy-to-access bodies, so they start breeding their own.¡± She spat and shook her head. A fundamentalist for certain. Either extremely old or stupidly powerful to flaunt their strength like this. Vergil paced the room, the ghost possessing him quieted down to a low, angry growl. Even that mad thing couldn¡¯t accept this atrocity. Sil took another shaking look inside, shivered violently with revulsion, and looked to her. ¡°I aim to kill them,¡± Tallah said before the healer found her voice. ¡°Any objection.¡± A nervous shake of the head answered her. ¡°I don¡¯t¡­¡± Sil swallowed the lump in her throat, dry heaved and turned around. ¡°I don¡¯t know how they could be healed. Best put them out of this misery.¡± If this wouldn¡¯t bring out the master of the place, nothing would. A breeding room took years to create, set up, and especially to populate. Losing one was a blow no Vitalis would accept sanguinely. She stepped into its centre and asked for Christina¡¯s aid. What do you need? A Titan¡¯s Punishment would kill everything in the room without suffering. She could burn them, but there was already too much pain in here. In the mask¡¯s sight, the illum of the room was blood-red, stagnating in its sickness, already past the threshold of decay. ¡°Get out,¡± she growled. The boy retreated out the door, not even looking back. He didn¡¯t want to be in there anymore than Sil did. She would¡¯ve preferred keeping the Titan as an available weapon for dealing with whoever it was that controlled the place, but this needed it more. A breeding room in this day and age, and a well-stocked one too? The ugly things that grew where nobody looked. Desperate eyes stared at her as she took position in the centre of the room, right beneath the surgical white light of the glow globes. Some of the victims raised feeble stumps at her. Not only a well-stocked one, but also spectacularly cruel. What diseased mind the Vitalis needed to even dream up something like that? I¡¯m ready, Christina offered. She radiated her own displeasure. ¡°You got their attention. More are coming,¡± Sil called from the hallway. ¡°Boy¡¯s holding them off for now.¡± Tallah raised a hand and surrendered control to Christina. A Titan¡¯s Punishment was a complicated devourer, and she didn¡¯t trust herself enough with the power to cast it on her own. Lightning discharged off her body, concentric lines of power spreading out from her feet, scorching the living floor. Electricity buzzed in her chest, the charge steadily building up, louder and louder in her ears. Her teeth vibrated. Christina unleashed it without warning, a blinding white bolt of lightning that struck the ceiling a heartbeat later. Without control it would have punched right up through the rock. Instead, the ghost curbed the power, sent it spilling back down the walls to spear everybody as it raced back to her, the grounding anchor. She allowed it in and guided it back out to make sure everything in the room was dead. It lasted for shorter than a breath. When she dispelled the weave, nothing was left of the monstrosity but burnt-out corpses, shattered cradles, and bare scorched rock. Darkness crashed in when her glow disappeared. Outside, Vergil perched atop a mound of corpses, breaking one apart with his own hands. In the narrow corridor leading in they couldn¡¯t corner him. He held the passage. Sil¡¯s nose bled with the effort of feeding him illum. ¡°I think that¡¯s the last,¡± the healer said as she dropped her barrier. ¡°May the Goddess guide these souls away from here.¡± ¡°May she do just that. Come. We¡¯re going to keep on breaking things until we get our host¡¯s full attention.¡± ¡°The wall was screeching while you were in there. I think you have it all.¡± ¡°Good. I¡¯ll break some things just for enjoyment then.¡± Sil blew her bloody nose on the hem of her dress and then inhaled nettle dust. The draw of the helmet was hard on Tallah herself, let alone on a healer, but Sil seemed to manage it well enough. ¡°I can take the siphon back now.¡± ¡°No need. I can handle him.¡± ¡°Suit yourself.¡± She cut a bloody path through the Sanctum. The place beggared the imagination with its size. Laboratories with pristine glass instruments, used for unspeakable things. They¡¯re well connected, Christina mused. I don¡¯t see a Vitalis leaving this place to go shopping in Valen. Must have some thralls doing the dirty work. ¡°What did you say you go out of the boy¡¯s head? About this place, I mean.¡± Tallah asked as she set another room aflame. She had to shout over the screeching of the walls and the dying wailing of creatures burning to death inside. ¡°He saw people coming and going. Someone brought prisoners to the vermen and handed them over. There¡¯s a whole operation in here.¡± ¡°Fancy that. Vermen being paid. If I were still in the Guard, I¡¯d make it a personal mission find whoever was doing the selling.¡± Holding cages, empty and filled, all burned to ash. Whatever glass she found, she turned to slag. Glass remained bloody expensive south of Aztroa. Let them try and find more to replace the expensive apparatus. Some sort of shrine dedicated to Ort and his reaping. She took special pleasure in destroying it. In a few bells¡¯ time she must¡¯ve ruined decades of work for the master of the place. Now she began finding passages sealed tight against her intrusion, grown bone and meat barring her way. ¡°And here¡¯s our invitation,¡± she crooned as they were led. ¡°Into a trap, you mean.¡± She shrugged, ¡°I doubt they want to throw more bodies at me. So far, I¡¯ve left a pretty good trail of gore behind.¡± Vergil was crimson and stank at her side. Blood and other gross fluids stained his conjured-up glass armour. He¡¯d been fighting ceaselessly since they came down and nothing seemed to even faze the mad ghost of the helmet. He¡¯d picked up some severed arm from somewhere, fashioned into a bone sword, and carried it like some gruesome sickle. For now, he was proving his worth and Tallah did not like it one bit. Her teeth itched at the good fortune that had brought him in her path. Something to ponder on for later. They descended a narrow flight of stairs going deeper still underground. The air down was cooler than it had been atop, but the stench of death was worse. Chapter 1.00.4: Blood and fire A throne atop a central dais dominated the room into which the stairs ended. Human bones, of course, for ambience. Old Vitalis, and full of themselves. The room was operation theatre and display case bundled up in one. Most of the horrors to here, aside from the laboratories, had been afterthoughts, a Sanctum overgrown and overfed. In here there was deliberate design for cruelty. Splayed out bodies covered the walls, skin and muscle pulled back to reveal wet, writhing organs. The victims were still alive and in pain. Tallah would need to purge the room. ¡°I did wonder who had gotten lost in my home,¡± a sweet, feminine voice said, ¡°scaring my children and trampling my work.¡± Someone sat atop the throne and Tallah couldn¡¯t contain her glee. She grinned ear-to-ear as she gazed upon the mistress, revealed at last. No wonder she hadn¡¯t come up to meet her assault. A reunion between old adversaries demanded a proper setup. Naked as the day she¡¯d been born, Anna Theala sat among the jutting bones, regarding Tallah with cold, yellow eyes. The fury on her face was poetry. Finally! She hadn¡¯t allowed herself the hope that this was indeed Anna¡¯s Sanctum, but here her quarry was, as pristine and young as on their graduating day at Hoarfrost. ¡°Hello, Anna.¡± She approached without a care for the chimeras creeping in from other passages. ¡°It¡¯s been too long.¡± Anna looked like she hadn¡¯t aged a day. Tallah lifted her mask a fraction just to get a better look. Yes, it was the same petite woman from the academy, pale as a ghost, drawn-faced, with a nose slightly too sharp to look attractive. Her eyes were different, cat-like, yellow, and wider than they should be. The flesh doll occupying the throne was a near-perfect replica of her old clique-mate. Tallah cast a glance around the room. ¡°I know that¡¯s not the real you. Theatrics were never your strongest trait, Anna. Come out and greet me properly.¡± She got a sneer in reply and, rising from the floor, two more dolls flanked the first. ¡°What have you done to yourself, girl?¡± one of them asked, smiling as those yellow eyes seemed to measure and weigh her all at once. Sil yelped as another doll rose right next to her and circled her, eyes distended in curious pleasure. ¡°Lovely work, yes. But I can see right through it.¡± She leaned in said in a stage whisper, ¡°I could make you into this, child. Would be no trouble at all. No need to hide under petty glamours.¡± Vergil interposed himself between the doll and Sil and growled in threat. The doll slid out a forked tongue as it joined the others. ¡°I¡¯m not here to reminisce with you, Anna,¡± Tallah said. ¡°Such a pity. I couldn¡¯t imagine what other business the whore of the Academy would have with me and mine.¡± Lovely attempt at an old insult. Anna would be close even if she hid. Close enough, at least, that it wouldn¡¯t matter for what happened next. Tallah reached into an inner pocket and brought out the real reason she¡¯d done all this, why they¡¯d been searching for so long beneath Valen¡¯s mountains. The black gem buzzed in her hand as she held it between thumb and middle finger, showing it to the doll. ¡°I claim you, Anna Theala, born of mother Viostra Theala and father Logovich Eilan,¡± she whispered to the crystal. It melted away from her hand and puffed to black smoke. ¡°Does that answer your question?¡± Oh yes, it did. The doll was on her feet, shaking with anger. ¡°How dare you?! Have you taken leave of your senses?¡± Anger was the first thing the enchantment stoked. If it would have failed to latch onto something, it would¡¯ve just gone inert and reverted to its crystal shape. Anna was indeed close. It didn¡¯t matter that she hid behind her toys. A soul trap, once active, wouldn¡¯t be easily tricked. ¡°I¡¯m as clearheaded as I¡¯ve ever been.¡± The challenge was issued. She could see on the doll¡¯s face the first reactions to the trap¡¯s effects. The call of the music rising. The unnerving echoes of things being dug out from the depths of memory. Soon, Anna would start feeling the hooks digging into her essence and yanking out whatever she thought hidden and inviolable. She couldn¡¯t help but smile at the reaction. The monster was faced with something more monstrous than she, something that didn¡¯t care for her strength or the protection of her Sanctum. ¡°A century since we¡¯ve seen one another, and this is how you greet me¡­ What has the outside world come to?¡± The doll asked, voice just slightly shaken. She¡¯s blustering. Good, Christina commented. For all she sees, she can¡¯t see me. We hold the advantage. The doll moved down from the dais with slithering movements, away from Tallah. Anna had never been a thing of beauty and her doll only exaggerated her lack of grace. Chimeras gathered around the throne, a wide, agitated circle of gaping maws and misshapen bone weapons. She won¡¯t dare unleash on me. Tallah took stock of the surrounding beasts. She knows the old rules. Unleash the children to kill her and Anna¡¯d be trapped with that thing in her until it got everything it wanted. If it didn¡¯t, it would drive her insane with its insistence. There was only one way out: fight the one that activated the trap and sacrifice their soul to its thirst. Tallah watched the equation play out on the doll¡¯s face as she regarded her creatures, wondering if their connection to her was strong enough to fool the enchantment. It could be. But at the time of activation, the mind was addled and confused. Fear ran high. Given time, Anna would see the loopholes. Tallah wasn¡¯t going to allow her that time. ¡°Old witch Zakovia always said that it¡¯s folly to fight another channeller in their Sanctum. I¡¯ve always wanted to try it.¡± Tallah cast a slow gaze across the room. ¡°Can¡¯t say I¡¯m terribly impressed by what you¡¯ve done here.¡± Was Anna even pursuing anything anymore? Or had she just become another obsessed Vitalis, digging deeper into depravity for depravity¡¯s sake. Ripping her away from the work would be doing her a favour, though she¡¯d likely not see it as such right away. The doll smiled and showed rows of perfect needle teeth. ¡°I¡¯m going to rip your heart out and keep it beating forever somewhere in my Sanctum. Maybe where my children piss and shit.¡± Cute. Worthless as a threat, but cute try, Christina chuckled. She¡¯s never been very creative with threats. ¡°Let¡¯s get this farce over with.¡± Anna brandished her wand and invited the start of the duel. Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. Tallah turned slightly and showed off the silver wand clasped to her belt. She didn¡¯t reach for it. Instead, she cracked her knuckles and drew her sword. A calculated insult. She¡¯d thrown down the literal gauntlet and now refused to use her wand for the duel. Anna¡¯s face was enraged to the point of poetic. She swung the wand and blood erupted from the floor and walls. It surrounded her in a tide, moving unnaturally through the air to form thick red needles. Excellent control, as expected. More monstrous replicas of Anna rose from the surrounding mass. Longer, more feral limbs. Clawed hands. Distended jaws filled with too many needle teeth. Sil had already moved back and got barriers up. Vergil was at her side, a growling beast that paced the limits of the invisible wall. ¡°Protect Sil,¡± Tallah ordered. She ignited a fireball and wove two more in waiting. She faced a small army leering in the surgical light. Whatever beauty Anna mimicked was gone now as the dolls spread out to advance cautiously. Only the pretend-one remained on the steps of the dais, blood flowing around her like a living thing. The first salvo of fireballs blasted two dolls to blood mist. Broken limiters funnelled too much illum into the effect but one couldn¡¯t argue with results. They rushed her in pairs. One heartbeat to make her fireflies, another to let loose. Dolls were already on her, claws swiping, fangs bared for her throat. Tallah exploded heads and chests, ripped limbs off and turned one construct to a bloody smear of grizzle and hanging chunks of flesh. It was the only one to fall. The rest, in tatters but undeterred, ganged up and tore at her. Her sword met claws and the impact lanced pain up to her elbow. Their weight pushed her down to the floor, maws snapping at her arms and shoulders, trying to get to the throat. A heat lance ripped one in two and gained her enough room to cut the throat of a second. Enough time to blast them off her with Bianca¡¯s kinetic push. The ghosts cycled inside her. Another push, backwards, got her back to her feet. A gesture erected a flame wall two steps away, catching one doll full on in the inferno. Too close to breathe, but it bought her space to think. Sil screamed somewhere behind and to the side. No time to worry about her. She¡¯d need to manage with the boy. ¡°Only that? You issue a challenge as ill-prepared as this, Tallah?¡± Anna laughed. Blood rushed through the air, the needles only visible in the mask¡¯s sight. She raised fire walls to arrest their advance. A heat lance counterattack failed to penetrate the flowing barrier swirling around her opponent. A fireball blasted it open wide enough for a follow-up shot to take the arm holding the wand. Another flesh doll rose from the organ mass of the floor and grabbed the thin thing before it even had a chance to clatter to the ground. A swing and needles flew in an arc. No time to raise another wall. They hit her as she turned away. Pain flared in a line across her chest, then burned worse than her fire. Tallah choked on blood but swallowed it down rather than spill it. Anna could do terrible things with a drop of blood. And in here, a drop anywhere was too many. Christina cycled to the fore as Tallah backed away for space. More flesh dolls rose to harry her. Careful. She¡¯s close. Won¡¯t hide too far from her wand. She was always overly reliant on her focus. Christina offered her memories of duelling Anna in their younger days. Little help now. The more dolls Tallah killed, the more Anna made, each new construct uglier than the last, barely even looking human. She faced a myriad of malicious yellow eyes, keenly aware that she was being pushed back. Soon there would be nowhere to retreat to. ¡°Girl, see reason.¡± Anna¡¯s voice spoke out of too many mouths, like thunder in the cavern. ¡°If I just kill you now, you won¡¯t have to see what I¡¯ll do to your friend. Annoy me further and I may keep your head alive just so you can watch.¡± Bluster. They both knew she couldn¡¯t be allowed to live for Anna to have any chance of besting the soul trap. Good. The curse continued to plan, doing its ugly work. Christina provided her strength. A ball of lightning flashed forward from the tips of her fingers to hit the closest doll. Its scream distorted into echoes. Tallah swung her arm around and tracked the next doll. And the next. Lightning arched between the creatures and sent them scattering. More screams mixed with the echoes. Sil¡¯s. Vergil¡¯s. The upper half of some shattered creature, trailing tangled entrails, rolled across their arena to trip up a flesh doll. Tallah used the momentary distraction, wove a volley of fireballs, and fired them off in quick succession. More blood misted. She aimed always for the source of the weave, chasing the wand¡¯s illum around its trajectory. Each doll that grabbed it allowed her an opening. ¡°That does not hurt me, Tallah.¡± She didn¡¯t hear the rest of Anna¡¯s threat but followed up with lances in a wide arc. No more time for subtlety. Claws raked across her back, one creature too close. Its claws snagged in Tallah¡¯s under-armour, the leather carapace holding strong. She pulled away and swung the sword around. It caught the creature clean through the throat, beheading it. Softer now. Not as defined. Not as hard to kill. Realisation distracted her for a heartbeat too long. Something slammed into her, and a long spear of bone thrust through her abdomen to explode out of her back. The pain nearly blinded her. It had erupted straight from the floor, right at her feet, masked by the chaos of illum conflagrations. One sweep of the sword cut off the half-formed arms holding the spear, another cut the shaft so she could stagger away. Anna was speaking but Tallah barely heard anything over the onrush of her own heartbeat threatening to burst out of her chest. Her blood ran down her leg and onto the floor. Tongues licked it. A barrage of needles caught her attention. She deflected with a wall of flame, moving awkwardly, stumbling over the thing impaling her. Something punched through the wall and straight into her shoulder. Bone. Sharp and barbed. It poked out the other side and staggered her. It pulled her forward, barbs digging into her. Too much pain. She screamed in suffering and frustration. So bloody powerful! Anna was a beast and, in the centre of her Sanctum, a goddess. Christina swapped with Bianca inside her and she nearly blacked out when Bianca ripped out the spears in a burst of kinesis. Follow the wand. I¡¯ve got you. Bianca threaded power through her flesh and pulled the wounds tightly closed. Pain was razor sharp and tasted of iron and bile. Her feet were dead weights attached to the ends of her legs. Her eyes darted past the flitting illum of the dolls crowding her. The wand wasn¡¯t with them anymore, its trail a blood-red comet in the noise. She swung in place just in time to meet a doll¡¯s claw swipe. The parry sent fresh agony through her bloodied side, but illum still burned in the furnace of her chest. A lance burst the doll apart. And she saw it. At the far edge of the room, illum twisted. It revealed the coward as she prepared something complex. ¡°There you are,¡± she screamed in elated triumph even as she could no longer feel most of herself. No time to think. No time to look for Sil and make sure she was still alive. No time to make sure her companions were out of the bloody way. All her reserves poured into a single Disintegration blast. Darkness lit up with blinding, glorious light. The air ignited. All of her screamed in protest as she barely contained the devourer and aimed it at the wand¡¯s position. If she missed, they¡¯d all be dead and none of this would¡¯ve mattered. Her effort was rewarded by an anguished cry. The Sanctum itself screamed, its many voices turned to echoing, crashing thunder. Earth shook with the impact of the blast. And Anna¡¯s dolls were no more. Only Anna herself remained, a ruined carcass embedded in a throne of nightmares, revealed at last for a heartbeat before darkness overwhelmed the throne room. She spoke but Tallah couldn¡¯t hear her. Blood sloshed in her ears. The slowing beat of her heart. The ringing of the blast. She needed to finish the job before she collapsed. Already her vision frayed at the edges and her breathing wheezed in her chest. Every step forward was agony and triumph of will. Anna kept speaking. What of¡­ who knew? Who cared? She was only aware of the weight of her sword in her hand and the gaping emptiness in her. All of her illum had gone into the devourer. She was spent and burned out. Nothing but the waning strength of her arm to defend her if attacked now. Maybe not even that. She stumbled. Steadied herself on the sword. Pushed forward the final few steps. ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± she mumbled the words as she met the burned-out hollows of Anna¡¯s eyes. ¡°For what it¡¯s worth, I¡¯m sorry.¡± She was. Truly. Not for killing the creature that her old rival had become, but for what came next. Her strength failed halfway through cutting Anna¡¯s throat and darkness crushed her. Edana - Map of Vas This is Vas, the last home allowed to humanity on Edana. Here we will build our Eternal Enlightened Empire, here on the old bones of a thousand follies and whatever the aelir have spared in their fury and their foolishness. Make no mistake, this is an inhospitable realm where our species has been sent to perish. You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story. We will endure. As before, so now: we endure, thrive, and overcome. We will make this prison our home and we will once again reach for the stars that were denied us. Empress Catharina the First, On the path to Empire Chapter 1.01.1: Death of a monster ¡°Must you really?¡± One of her daughters burst apart and was cooked to ashes before Anna had a chance to reabsorb the bloody mess. No matter. She had enough mass to make a thousand more if need be. But so much shared pain began to climb into distracting levels, so she shut it out of herself. The music flooding into her was harder to ignore, try as she might to seal her senses to it. It sang in her veins, along the leagues of her spread nerves, clawing its way through her many conjoined brain stems. ¡°Girl, see reason.¡± She spoke through ten mouths just to drown out the siren song. ¡°If I just kill you now, you won¡¯t have to see what I¡¯ll do to your friend. Annoy me further and I may keep your head alive just so you can watch.¡± In this case, it would be years before she¡¯d let her old friend expire, now that she¡¯d allowed her presence in the heart of her Sanctum. The nerve of the harpy! Coming into her home, destroying her work, setting her efforts back by a full decade?! In the outside world manners must have gone to pot. Then again, calling for reason had never worked on this particular ill-tempered sorceress. A hundred Summers passed by, and she remained just as obstinate, obtuse and difficult. Her sister must¡¯ve finally given up on trying to wring something worthwhile out of her¡ª Odd thought, that. The Amni sisters, let alone the youngest, hadn¡¯t crossed any of her minds in decades. So why now? With twenty more daughters raised from the meat of her wombs to occupy the flames of her assailant, Anna turned her attention inwards and studied the firing of her neurons. Or, to her mounting horror, their death. Interesting. Tallah Amni. She injected the thought among the electric storm of her mind and watched it spiralling through vast stores of memory, activating synapses and connections she¡¯d not touched in decades. Something caught its scent and chased it like wildfire. Ah, there it was. The corruption that ate her thoughts and crushed every barrier she set in its wake. An evil, malevolent cancer spreading through her mind, gorging itself on her¡­ on her, in full, to leave nothing behind. Cell death chased the path of its touch. Ugly thing. But then again, what else could she expect from an ash eater like Tallah? Invite an old friend into your home, watch them trample your work, offer the chance to explain their actions, and ultimately get cursed for it. So much for gratitude among equals. She definitely won¡¯t be doing anything of the sort ever again. Now, to clean up the mess and start undoing the damage done. ¡°That does not hurt me, Tallah,¡± she said as she drew out of herself and saw the ruination of her children. Flames scorched her precious sanctuary. She doused them in blood. ¡°Do you think I would allow you to walk out of here alive after all this? Your theatrics do not impress. And I¡¯ve dealt already with your tawdry little trick. Lay down and die, please. It saves us both the time.¡± This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work. A bit of bluster in that. It normally took her weeks to grow a fresh body and imprint on it. Her own physiognomy was far more complex than the daughters she threw into the fight, and copying her synaptic map was a long, gentle process that she couldn¡¯t dare rush. But, still, a body was being grown in her own displaced womb and would be ready for imprinting soon. She¡¯d probably not need it, once she force-fed Tallah her own entrails and ended the curse, but it paid to have contingencies. Maybe she would preserve the head, so she could scoop out the brain and divine what the dreadful thing afflicting her actually was. Soul magic, for sure. But what form of it? Tallah was proving herself more resilient than a bloody cockroach. They¡¯d never stacked well against one another. Fire was, after all, anathema to life. She¡¯d taken plenty of pyromancers into herself, but few had been as fiercely determined as this one. If she had more time and wasn¡¯t chased by the soul-devouring beast within, she might give her old friend¡¯s desperation some more considerate thought. For now, she needed her dead, as much as she¡¯d like to protract the punishment. Maybe end the life, allow for a few moments of brain death to ensure the cancellation of the threat, and then reanimate whatever remained? Barely enough satisfaction for the damage wrought, but one took what one could get. Her many-eyed gaze settled on the other two. The male was fodder. Beneath the enchantment he wore there was nothing even worth vivisecting. A skeletal husk wrapped in a conjured piece of armour. Disgusting. Whichever child cut his throat could eat the corpse for all she cared. The healer, however¡­ Young enough. Strong. Still fertile. Yes, good for breeding stock. A squirt of aerosolized pheromones marked her for safe capture and preparation. She let the children deal with that without her supervision. A fresh wave of pain scythed through her carefully arrayed defences. Two daughters dying. Not dead. The ash eater learned as she fought, leaving the daughters in agonised suffering rather than ending them outright. Hard to avoid all the ways in which pain fed back into her. As many paths as nerves, the art of her craft turned against her. And was Tallah throwing lightning bolts at her? How? ¡°You tire, whore,¡± she crooned as she grew tongues and licked the blood off the floor and walls. ¡°I have your taste. You remember what I can do with just a taste, right?¡± Her wand, lent out to the daughters for use, made its way back into her own hands. Exposing herself would be a risk, but to fashion an answer to this whole indignity she needed her focus. She¡¯d make a poison fit like a glove for her noble-born old friend, something for a deservedly screaming death. ¡°There you are.¡± Tallah, wounded and bleeding from a hundred wounds, grinned and dropped the half-corpse of a careless daughter. What followed from her was so much more than fire. Anna¡¯s world went white. Shadows, children, and daughters were all cremated to ashes. She screamed, the sound burning out of her real throat in peeling sheets of agony. Her skin blistered and burned away. Nerves shrieked. Blood, her own and her Sanctum¡¯s, boiled to vapour. A blow to her real self! It opened her up like an explosion from within, and the beast in her devoured with impunity. When the pain burned itself out, the body she inhabited was beyond ruin and the spare nowhere near ready to receive. For the first time in her life she panicked even as coherence slipped away from her. Survive! She must survive. Her killer approached on unsteady feet, barely in better shape than she. No more fire. Now she brandished a sword, its edge glistening bloody in the final burning embers of her home. One last gambit before it would all be too late. One last daughter had survived. If she had but a few more moments¡­ ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± Tallah whispered, the words a gurgling effort. ¡°For what it¡¯s worth, I¡¯m sorry.¡± And she slit what remained of Anna¡¯s throat. Chapter 1.01.2: All for nothing The Sanctum whimpered, seemed to gather its remaining strength, and screamed; Anna¡¯s children were coming. Sil crawled in the dark until her fingers wrapped around the shaft of her staff. She breathed out a sigh of relief, gathered her courage and summoned a light sprite to face the horrors that had survived. The boy was nowhere to be seen in the small sphere of light, but she felt him tug on her for strength. Whatever he faced, now that Tallah had likely failed, would tear him limb from limb. She was keenly aware of every effort he made to buy them moments of life. Her nose bled and the illum siphon was a physical ache now. It projected the beats of her heart into her ears. In a few more minutes she would be spent, and they¡¯d all be dead. With considerable effort she moved the sprite around. Shadows leapt and squirmed out of its light. Tallah was in a corner, collapsed to her knees among a throng of flesh dolls. Looming above her, Anna was revealed at last¡ªa near corpse embedded into a cradle in the wall, kept alive by a nightmare myriad of tubes and flesh tendrils, mother of the monsters leering at the edge of the light. Wisps of shadow clung to her exposed viscera like a tattered mantle. Sil found the strength to pick herself up and stumble forward. If not for the staff, she would have crawled. Tallah¡¯s unleashed Devourer seemed to have hit Anna full on. It had also consumed every light in the room, shattered the glow-globes and the lit eyes, and plunged them into the suffocating underground dark that Sil¡¯s sprite was no match for. Vergil flew in from somewhere and crashed against the wall a pace away from her, tossed like a doll by something she dreaded to imagine. He bounced back to his feet, twisted his horned helmet back in place, and rushed back into battle wielding a broken sword and howling his inhuman war cries. Sil gasped with the tide of illum he demanded of her. She obliged. If he fell¡ª ¡°After all that,¡± Anna¡¯s ragged voice said, each word a gurgle of effort, ¡°I¡¯m still alive, whore. You¡¯ve failed.¡± It whispered from the mouths of the dead and the dying. Anna laughed bitterly and her head rose with shuddering effort, her face a flayed mask of bloody horror that tried in vain to knit back together. Tallah did not meet its yellow gaze. ¡°You¡¯ve slain so many of my children, but more come. I¡¯ll¡ª¡± she forced herself to draw a spluttering breath. The flesh dolls around her dangling feet jerked but did not rise. ¡°I¡¯ll still claim the day.¡± Tallah¡¯s sword lay by her side, discarded in a spreading puddle of red. A dark gash trailed off halfway across Anna¡¯s throat and bled black. Blood bubbled and gurgled out of the wound as the monster kept forcing herself to speak. ¡°I will hav¡­¡± Anna¡¯s ruined head slumped forward, and she breathed out her last sputtering exhalation. A black, jagged gemstone erupted out of her chest and dropped to the floor with a dull splash, finally sated and filled to bursting. It crackled with power as the soul it had been fashioned to imprison settled inside. The Sanctum wailed as its mother was ripped from it. Deafening echoes of its wordless cries mixed with the braying of beasts in horrendous cacophony, each heartbeat bringing it closer. Sil slipped on the blood, fell, and crawled to Tallah¡¯s side. She set two fingers to her friend¡¯s throat, hoping against hope for a pulse. A moment passed. Another. The sorceress had a pulse. It was faint and slow, but it was there, pumping out her life through the penetrating wounds in her chest and side. Set up barriers, drop the siphon to conserve illum, and let the boy be torn apart? Or do I risk a healing spell so you can fight again? Can you still fight? Why do you do this to me? She dug through her satchel. Two of her vials had shattered when the boy had pushed her out of danger earlier, and the last one was half-empty. It would have to do. A hulking beast rushed out of the dark howling in mindless fury. She put up a barrier in blind panic and the effort left her head spinning. Claws raked at the wall. More of the creatures stepped into the light, finally past Vergil¡¯s last stand. Was he dead? He came leaping at them out of the dark and body-slammed the decaying creatures into her wall. He fought tooth and nail, gauntlets and boots against blades and spikes of bone, but he was losing. More arrived from the furthest reaches of the Sanctum. They all howled, barked, and brayed their bloodlust, still so bloody many. The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. Skinless masks of suffering glared balefully as Vergil set himself between the tide and the cracking invisible barrier. He growled in answer to their calls, crushed a skull beneath his ghostly armour, and raised his fists to meet the charge. Sil tipped Tallah¡¯s head back and forced her clenched jaw open. ¡°Drink, you mule,¡± she whispered in urgent frustration. The sorceress was in the throes of illum burnout, the second since they descended into Anna¡¯s domain. She wouldn¡¯t react to the words and Sil had to hold her mouth open as she poured the healing draught down her throat. The thought that Anna might have poisoned her was too terrible to consider, so she prayed instead. For now, the bleeding stopped. Tallah¡¯s coat and armour hung off her in ribbons, but no more blood seeped from under them. Sil touched the fresh scars and breathed out wordless thanks to the Goddess. ¡°Come back,¡± she called to Vergil as he threw down a creature and stomped it into a bloody pulp. ¡°I need help.¡± She corralled the beasts just an arm¡¯s span away from his reach and her wall immediately began to buck and crack under the weight of bodies. Vergil growled as he retreated to her side. Only the mad whites of his eyes showed through the visor, looking at the inert sorceress with hatred so pure that it froze her sweat to Sil back. If he turned on them¡­ No. She squashed the traitorous thought and fought to keep the fear out of her voice. ¡°Pick her up and be ready to run when the portal opens. No¡ª¡± The wall shattered and the mass was upon them. Vergil¡¯s punch flew out like lightning and smacked the first horror in the mouth. Its head nearly snapped off its mismatched shoulders. Its claws raked his pale armour in a dying spasm. Sil put up as many barriers as she dared. The toll climbed into blackout exhaustion. Lightheaded and nearly giddy with terror and illum consumption, she struggled to focus and find the way back to Valen. A moment of carelessness could see her as insensate as the sorceress. She teetered on the very edge of that precipice. Something angry slammed into her walls when Vergil picked up Tallah on his shoulder. More, ever more of Anna¡¯s children came and encircled their small pocket of safety. Far from the throngs they had fought on their way down, but too many to handle in their depleted state. She held up her staff and white light pulsed around the blue jewel on its top. Time crawled by and barriers started failing with deafening crashes. She couldn¡¯t reinforce them while attempting the connection. Blades and drooling maws stuffed with fangs glinted beyond her flickering sprite. A riot of malign limbs reached for them like a thicket of skinless red flesh and glittering white bone. Another barrier shattered under the weight of bodies. She still couldn¡¯t reach Valen¡¯s Illum Hearth. Panic convulsed in her chest. Blood flowed into her mouth, thick with the taste of iron. It dripped off her chin and under her shirt, sticking her clothes to her chest. A white gateway opened in the air just as cracks began forming in her last line of defence. Vergil ran through without waiting to be told. After a moment¡¯s hesitation Sil rushed to Anna¡¯s corpse, and stooped to pick up the soul gem. Revulsion wracked her at its touch, but she gripped it tight in numbing fingers. It would all have been for nought if she left the dreadful thing behind. The final barrier shattered. Four paces and a forest of claws, scythes, spears, and swords of bone separated her from the portal. She swung her staff at the first chimera that rushed her and brained it. Its skull shattered like an egg and dregs of brain hung down the ruin of its face. It kept coming, a mountain of overgrown muscles that barely even resembled a man anymore. Old training came back to her as she twisted in place with her staff and lashed out at two more enemies, knocking them back. The jewel on top of her weapon stained from blue to purple. Three paces to the portal. The wall at her back. Her entire world reduced to that pocket of failing light. Just enough room to swing the staff but not to push ahead. Another of the Anna¡¯s brood, some perversion of an aelir, wrapped clawed fingers around the haft of her staff and pushed her into the wall with strength that beggared belief. With a cry of anger and terror, she forced the staff between the jaws of its maw and kneed it in the groin. It did nothing but lance pain up her own leg. White human eyes speckled with blood bore into hers, mad with fear and anguish. Arms fashioned into a pair of bone spears reached from the crowd to impale her. Hands pawed her from the dark, grabbing clothes and hair, pulling with inhuman strength she could not match. I don¡¯t want to die like this, she thought in panic as she gagged on the decay stench of so many bodies crammed around her. The boy ran back through the portal, howling as he smashed into her assailants. The one on her stumbled sideways and nearly dragged her down with it. Vergil caught her arm and wrenched her back. Hair and clothes ripped painfully as he pushed her to the white gateway. His attention was already on another foe as he readied to pounce. ¡°No. Go through. I need to be last.¡± It would close otherwise. She marvelled at this impulse as she swung her staff in time with his fists. Tears stung her eyes and half-blinded her as she rallied one last effort. She should have gone through and leave the wretch to the monsters; but didn¡¯t. He had come back for her. The will needed to cross a portal backwards was titanic, she knew from bad experience. Vergil grabbed a beast¡¯s scythed arm and ripped it off to use as a makeshift blade. He fought like nothing she¡¯d ever seen before, a howling mad tempest of violence on her side. She made a final effort of will and put up one last barrier in the small space his efforts gained them. Vergil ran through the portal and Sil followed right behind. Chapter 1.01.3: Good folk It was near impossible to know where Valen¡¯s Illum Hearth would direct their portal. Sil would take any place if it was out of the blasted caves. She stumbled out and turned on her heels. They were following. She swung at the first head that poked through the gateway and smashed it right in the eyes. Vergil kicked it back. Limbs were already crowding through, grabbing for the edges of the portal to drag themselves through. With what last dregs of illum she could draw in, she forced a barrier in their wake. They pounded on it so hard that she feared it wouldn¡¯t last the heartbeat. Bellows, howls and cries as if of demons echoed into the night as the portal fizzed out and dispersed. Arms fell twitching in the mud. Sil spat a glob of blood and blew her nose in her hand. Her teeth chattered with the adrenaline rush of their hair-thin escape. They had survived. It was difficult to accept. ¡°Where are we?¡± she mumbled to herself as she looked around. Her sprite had been left behind and she lacked the reserves to make another. Nighttime in the outside world. Her eyes, used only with the underground dark for only the Goddess knew how long, started picking up details in the vague light. Vergil was lifting Tallah back up on his shoulder from where he had discarded her against some wooden fencing. Vague, dark shapes resolved into a tight cluster of hovels. The jagged curve of Valen¡¯s mountains loomed black against an overcast sky. Slow, icy drizzle, mixed in with early Winter sleet, greeted their arrival. Dogs barked madly somewhere, rattling their chains. The howls of Anna¡¯s monsters echoed and were swallowed by the night. ¡°What¡¯s this now?¡± ¡°Who¡¯s there?¡± ¡°Ammie, get my crossbow! Keep Georgie in bed.¡± A cacophony of voices echoed from the small cottages. Yellow light flared through cracks in wooden shutters. A gang of burly men dressed in furs rushed out, armed and ready for a fight. They brandished crossbows and hand-held oil lamps, only to be met by a soaking wet, blood stained, shivering healer that barely held herself propped up on her staff. She couldn¡¯t imagine what she¡¯d do against five armed men, but Vergil tensed for another fight. ¡°S-sorry. We didn¡¯t mean to wake anyone up,¡± she stammered, trying to march her wits into line. A farmer, barely taller than her chest, lifted his lamp to her face, blinding her with its light. ¡°Adventurers,¡± he announced, and there was a groan of dismay from the rest of the men. They turned and fanned out in a circle around them, checking the surroundings. ¡°What did you bring down on us, girl?¡± the leader asked and pointed his crossbow straight at Sil¡¯s chest. ¡°Nothing. We-we-we came by portal.¡± She stamped down on an arm still squirming at her feet. ¡°It¡¯s closed now. Nothing else came through.¡± The man peered past her at Vergil, but she moved with the light. With her free hand she gestured for the boy to stay calm and not aggravate the heavily armed men. His growls bode ill. A long quiet settled among the men flanking them. ¡°Bog, ye stand guard. Yer going out at first light with the goats anyway,¡± the leader called out. One of the men groaned and the others, satisfied that nothing came out of the dark at them, reluctantly returned to their homes. ¡°Come with me,¡± the leader addressed Sil and turned on his heels. She obeyed and gestured Vergil to follow. The man led them to a small barn at the back of his homestead, where he drew aside the heavy wooden beam barring the double doors. ¡°I gather that your friend there needs a healer¡¯s ministrations.¡± The white-haired man beckoned them to enter and set his lamp down on a short three-legged stool. ¡°Will you be needing I fetch Buzz, our healer?¡± Sil was at a momentary loss for words. After the greeting, hospitality was the last thing she expected. ¡°N-no. No, I think I¡¯ll manage,¡± she said, panic rising that someone might get a good look at them. She kept herself between the light and Tallah, shielding her in the cast shadow. ¡°Thank you so much.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t be mentioning it. We¡¯s good people here, if a bit gruff.¡± His scowl melted into a gap-toothed grin. ¡°Not the first group to stumble into our little corner of the world. Make yerselves comfortable. Don¡¯t mind Cricket. She¡¯s friendly enough.¡± He walked out and down a muddy path, back to his cottage. ¡°Knock if ye need anything,¡± he called back. ¡°The missus will come round in the morning wi¡¯ some cheese and bread.¡± Vergil sat the sorceress down against a ballot of hay and backed away from her, mumbling with each step. He went out into the sleet rather than stay nearby. Sil could hear him talking to himself in his odd language but didn¡¯t have the energy to determine if that was something to worry about. She sat down heavily on the hay and breathed out a long sigh of weariness. A goat peered around the wall to a stall, thoughtfully chewing. We almost botched that so bad, Sil thought as she studied her friend. It had been such a close contest of skill and power between Tallah and Anna. The black gem in her hand buzzed like an annoyed wasp when she studied it. Ultimately, it went into the bottom of her stained and ruined satchel. Before she could deal with Tallah¡¯s afflictions, she needed to handle herself first. The illum siphon that kept Vergil upright had almost sucked her dry. She blew her bloodied nose against the hem of her skirt and then dug in the small pouch she had belted to her calf. That had survived unmolested at least. She pulled out one of her last remaining bags of powdered dried ink-nettle and inhaled a lungful. It cleared her dizziness and opened her up to more power. It would keep her going for a few hours more and the boy would stay possessed. If she dropped dead so would he, but that didn¡¯t bear thinking about just now. A shudder tightened her shoulders when she thought back on how she had almost convinced Tallah to leave the wretch as they found him, starved and nearly dead in the gibbet. Without him, they would¡¯ve been cut to ribbons thrice over. So bloody close. So bloody stupid¡­ Tallah, at some point in the battle with Anna, had taken off her silver mask. Now she held a death¡¯s grip on it, fingers locked rigidly as Sil tried to pry it away. No stir. Sil knelt by her and cupped her face with both hands. Tallah¡¯s grey eyes were bloodshot and trembling slightly. Pink lines of scarring crowded around the left socket, along with crusts of dried blood. Anna had almost claimed that one. The healing draught had saved it, for now. One sure way to get someone out of that kind of stupor, at least without something pungent enough on hand. Sil held Tallah¡¯s head up by her chin and struck her as hard as she could. Vergil cracked open the door and peered in. ¡°Ow.¡± Tallah¡¯s lips moved, and she blinked in response. For good measure, Sil slapped her again. ¡°Ow!¡± Tallah¡¯s eyes snapped angrily on Sil¡¯s, turning sudden razor-sharp focus onto her. ¡°Oh goody, you¡¯re still with us.¡± Sil allowed acid to drip into her words, though she couldn¡¯t mask the relief she felt. Tallah blinked again and looked around. ¡°I can¡¯t see out my left eye,¡± she immediately complained as she frowned at their surroundings and tried to rub feeling back into her face. ¡°Where are we?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t paw at it,¡± Sil ordered, and swatted her hand away. ¡°Lie back. Sit still. What¡¯s your name?¡± She got glared at. ¡°Tallah Amni,¡± came the rote answer. ¡°You¡¯re Silestra Adana. I can feel and move all my fingers and toes. We should be in Valen¡¯s vicinity, continent of Vas. I''m still half-blind.¡± Sil nodded and was satisfied. Now¡­. Now she could focus. Not relax, not yet, but focus. Anna¡¯s dying domain was hundreds of meters beneath them. The rational side of her doubted that the mindless hordes could find their way out of the labyrinthine depths of the dying Sanctum, let alone out of the tunnels leading to it. To work would take her mind off the inevitable but what if. With Tallah conscious again, she willed herself to stop expecting eyes peering out of every shadowy nook, allowed the smell of hay and goat to cover the stench of blood, and turned her attention to her ministrations. Her satchel was ruined. Most of her draughts were lost, her precious vials shattered, and the stowed herbs polluted beyond use. Her tools, encased in small ebony boxes, had survived, along with some of the medicine stowed in sturdier, very expensive bottles. She donned a monocle and inspected the blinded eye. ¡°Can¡¯t promise you won¡¯t need to visit Aliana when we get back, but we¡¯ll see in the morning,¡± she commented. Tallah frowned at her. ¡°It wasn¡¯t a bad joke,¡± Sil lied. She made a compress from a clean cloth drenched in a foul-smelling tincture and applied it over the stricken eye. The sorceress obeyed her instructions without question while Sil relieved her of her tattered coat, trousers, and leather armour. ¡°Where are we?¡± Tallah asked again as she was made to lift her arms. Sil had to drag, pull and cuss at the ruined vest of armoured carapace that the sorceress wore on her back. It had begrudgingly survived the mauling of the chimeras, but their claws had dug through in too many places. Drying blood held it stuck fast to Tallah¡¯s back. ¡°I¡¯ll tell you soon. I need to check your ghosts,¡± she said as she got to Tallah¡¯s bare skin. ¡°They¡¯re both berating my thoughtless actions. I¡¯d dare say they¡¯re fine.¡± Sil pressed Tallah¡¯s head forward, chin to her chest, so she could have a better look at her back and the scars there. ¡°If it¡¯s all the same to you, mighty sorceress, I¡¯d rather I checked.¡± Months of work, pain and horror to gain a sorceress¡¯s soul. Sil would accept no risk to the other two, regardless of their host¡¯s protesting. One of Anna¡¯s bone spears had gone straight through Tallah¡¯s shoulder. It was a hair¡¯s breadth away from ripping through the sutured pattern of soul thread on her back. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. The twin bindings were still pristine, albeit blood-spattered, two octagons of crisscrossing, multicoloured threads that had been painstakingly sewn through the skin of her back. The left one, that contained Bianca, was still raw and healing. The right, Christina, had almost finished incorporating into Tallah¡¯s flesh, so much so that it mostly resembled a pattern of old scars by now. Maybe damage would no longer impact its use, but they weren¡¯t ready to test that theory. ¡°It was close,¡± she said, tracing a finger over the bindings. So delicate and so risk laden. ¡°Carapace did its work.¡± The sorceress shuddered at the touch and giggled. It sounded forced. Her lower wound, which had gone through her abdomen, had missed Bianca¡¯s suture entirely. Sil allowed herself a breath of relief. ¡°You threw out a lot of power in there. Did you expose yourself?¡± ¡°I did not expose myself, no. We were careful.¡± ¡°Not careful enough.¡± Soft, pink scar tissue covered the entry and exit holes, and a line of pink went across her torso. Sil whistled through her teeth as she traced the path of the healed cut. Anna had tried to eviscerate Tallah in battle, with the cruel efficiency of a war surgeon. The scarring was bunched across her belly and stomach, a mess of lines that must¡¯ve hurt terribly when fresh. ¡°Bianca did what she could. Kept my innards where they should be.¡± ¡°I can see that. You¡¯re lucky she¡¯s not as headstrong as you.¡± Too close a call by any reasoning. The healing potion had done all it could in the caves. Barely sufficient. ¡°To answer your question, we¡¯re somewhere in the Right Arse Cheek of Nowhere, as far as I can tell,¡± she said. ¡°Some small village in¡­ I have no idea. It¡¯s dark. High in the hills, I think.¡± ¡°Anyone get a look at us when we transferred in?¡± Tallah continued, switching hands on her compress. ¡°A bit, but the weather¡¯s shite and they only had oil lamps. We scared some farmers out of bed. Not that I think they¡¯d recognise you, way out wherever this is. I kept you out of lamplight.¡± She applied an ointment to reduce the scarring. A thorough inspection and a wash with a damp cloth revealed a tapestry of more angry swelters and freshly healed cuts. Tallah looked to have gone through one end of a meat grinder and out the other. ¡°Drink this.¡± She proffered a small bottle with a greyish green liquid sloshing inside. Tallah stuck out her tongue. ¡°Yes, you need to. No, I don¡¯t care that you don¡¯t want to. I don¡¯t know what your old friend stuck you with, so drink up.¡± Tallah¡¯s colour almost matched the liquid as she downed the vile thing and grimaced afterwards. Sil took away her compress and inspected the eye again, pressing with her fingers around it. ¡°Any pain?¡± ¡°No.¡± ¡°See anything out of it?¡± She moved her finger in front of Tallah¡¯s face while keeping the good eye covered up. ¡°I see the vague outline of a rude gesture.¡± ¡°Good. You won¡¯t have to regrow the eye, but it will need some tending.¡± She bandaged a soaked eye patch over it. ¡°Twice in a day. I¡¯m amazed you¡¯re not completely blind yet.¡± Few things annoyed a healer more than an illum burnout. The magical, self-inflicted damage produced when the sorceress pushed herself this hard was damn near impossible to heal with any sort of reliability. Tallah¡¯s eyesight only kept getting worse with each excess as if to spite Sil¡¯s efforts, alchemy, and even healing prayers. ¡°How¡¯s your illum flow?¡± This time Tallah asked, noticing Vergil pacing outside. He was arguing with himself. It sounded like he was losing. ¡°Steady. Got a few bags of ink-nettle left so I think I¡¯m good until we get to Valen with the bucket-head over there.¡± Tallah tried to get up, but Sil pressed her firmly back down. ¡°I¡¯m not done with you. Chin up. I want to look at your limiters.¡± ¡°Give me the illum link then,¡± Tallah insisted while Sil stashed away her supplies. ¡°Don¡¯t be stupid.¡± She checked on the silver choker around Tallah''s neck, applied ointments where the skin had blistered, and then checked on the three bands on each arm. ¡°You¡¯ve managed to crack every single one. I just remade all of them. Why do I keep bothering?¡± ¡°They¡¯re still in one piece,¡± Tallah insisted. ¡°You need to strengthen them even more.¡± ¡°There¡¯s no alloy strong enough to deal with your unicorn stubbornness. Do you know how long it took me to make these? Do you know how hard it is to get good-quality electrum?¡± She sighed and sat opposite her friend. ¡°Just get us our clothes.¡± ¡°If it makes you feel any better, these are¡­ were your best yet. They¡¯ve worked well. I managed to aim the devourer this time.¡± Tallah chuckled as she tried to open a Rend. She had her arm raised and made a grimace as her brow furrowed in something that looked like agony. ¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡± Sil asked. Tallah grunted and shut her good eye tight, her grimace darkening. ¡°It hurts. Give me a moment.¡± Sil had never experienced illum burnout. Healing magic was too efficient for that, and she¡¯d never needed to use her other abilities extensively enough to crack under the strain. Tallah¡¯s pyromancy was a different matter altogether. ¡°You don¡¯t need to do it right away. We can wait. It won¡¯t be dawn for a couple hours more.¡± Even in the meagre, flickering lamp light, Sil could see the tears in Tallah¡¯s eye as she pushed through the pain and forced open a small black portal that hung in the air. Normally it should have been as tall as Sil. Now it barely fit a hand through. ¡°See?¡± She breathed a sigh of relief and dropped her arm on her lap. ¡°I¡¯m fine.¡± The tremor in her voice separated the truth from her lie. Sil slapped her across the back of the head. ¡°Stop. Using. That stupid devourer. It¡¯ll kill you one of these days and it won¡¯t be a pretty sight for anyone. I¡¯ll have to scrape you off whatever you splatter against.¡± Tallah just cackled and pursed her lips in mockery and Sil had to relent in the face of overwhelming disregard for her concerns. She dipped her arm up to her shoulder into the portal and rummaged about. After some choice muttered curses, she pulled out two bundles of clothes. She took off her wet and fouled white outfit and looked at it mournfully before tucking it into a bag. She donned a much more modest grey woollen robe, with matching woollen travel trousers underneath, and sturdy boots. She needed the Goddess¡¯s own patience to find them both while groping blindly in the Rend, and then some more to pull them out through the narrow opening. ¡°Can I get dressed now?¡± Tallah asked. Despite her bravado, she shivered in the chill of small hours. Never a good sign on a pyromancer. ¡°Blue lips complement well your red hair,¡± Sil said, but threw her the remaining bundle. With a sigh, Tallah took out the low cut dark blue dress. ¡°I hate this dress so bloody much,¡± she whined to no one as she drew it on with some difficulty. She looked like a bandaged scarecrow wearing something too short and too wide at the hips. ¡°Blame your entire caste for that,¡± Sil commented. She pulled out a wide-brimmed hat from the portal and passed it over. ¡°No proper sorceress would wear sensible clothes, right?¡± ¡°Anna didn¡¯t wear any at all. I¡¯d follow her example in a heartbeat if Christina wouldn¡¯t gag every time we passed a mirror.¡± They shared a chuckle at that, tension bleeding out of them while the dark outside drifted into the diffuse light of morning. High, dense clouds put up a vain fight against the coming of the day. Sil tucked away the ruined clothes, mask included, and, with a voice echoing somewhere outside, called Vergil back in. ¡°What do we do about him?¡± Tallah shrugged. ¡°Nothing. We¡¯ll say he got cursed by something and we need to get him to the Sisters.¡± She looked him over. Aside from some scratches, the boy was in no worse condition than when they¡¯d found him. ¡°Not that it¡¯s far from the truth, anyway. I doubt anyone here speaks whatever language this thing keeps spouting off.¡± It was true. He had been wearing the helmet for hours and rambled without pause. Nothing he said had made even a lick of sense to either of them. ¡°And what about the actual person under the helmet? What do we do about him? Do I report him when we get back?¡± ¡°Succumbed to starvation. Half-eaten by a ratman. It doesn¡¯t matter because I¡¯m not giving him back to the Guild.¡± Sil nodded. She took out a crumpled scroll from her satchel and made some notes in it. ¡°Fine then. You ready?¡± ¡°As I can be,¡± the sorceress confirmed as she drew herself up to her full height. She unbalanced with the effort. Sil pulled her close by the waist and held her up, her staff held between them. She lifted it and thrust the butt of it hard into the ground. A flash of light travelled from it to them, up their bodies, and fizzed out into the air. Vergil made a confused noise as the afterglow dissipated. Tallah slipped easily into Tianna¡¯s skin. Red hair turned raven black, silver eyes midnight blue, and her dress fit properly now. It took a moment for her to stabilise in her form. Sil almost failed to. She was tired and weary and struggled to stabilise into her tall aelir persona. Jumping species was always confusing and disorientating, but it had been a long time since she had difficulties keeping the shape coherent. ¡°Breathe, Sil. Nice and slow,¡± Tallah whispered, keeping an arm around her middle. ¡°You¡¯ve done this a thousand times already. Let it happen.¡± She did and she had. Heartbeats later she felt herself settling into the disguise as she exhaled slowly. Tallah readjusted her dress and had a few experimental turns to make sure she wouldn¡¯t trip over her own feet. Sil rubbed her palms for warmth and scratched a few choice places. ¡°I get that wool¡¯s cheap and all, but whoever designated initiate healers to wear it exclusively needs a beating.¡± ¡°Are you dears all right in there?¡± An old woman¡¯s craggy head popped in through the half-opened door. The crowing of a cockerel sounded moments later, almost embarrassed at being late to wake. Their host was dressed in a simple white woollen dress with a sheepskin vest and walked in carrying a small wooden tray. It held, covered in melting sprinkles of snow, some fresh, steaming bread and a ball of white cheese. ¡°Simeon was telling me one of you was in a bad way. You need I fetch in Buzz, our healer?¡± she asked. She kept a pleasant smile while she blew out the spent lamp and packed it away up on a tool shelf. ¡°Uh, no ma¡¯am, thank you,¡± Sil replied with a slight bow to the woman. ¡°Thank you so much for allowing us to stay the night here. We did not know where we were, or what time it was. We did not mean to startle people out of bed.¡± The woman blew a raspberry and roared with laughter. ¡°Now don¡¯t you sweet little thing be worrying yourself over that. We look out for one another up in these hills. You never know how many friends you need when the drays come howling.¡± She noticed Vergil in more clear light now. ¡°Is that young man there¡­ er, all right?¡± she asked in a low voice. ¡°Should I bring him a coat? The poor lad¡¯s basically naked.¡± In the morning light, Vergil¡¯s conjured armour was translucent, like cloudy plates of interlocking glass. It left very little of him to the whims of imagination. ¡°Not exactly, no. He ran into some kind of curse while we were exploring an ancient ruin underground.¡± Tallah replied. ¡°We aim to get him to the Sisters of Mercy in Valen.¡± ¡°Aw, the poor dear. Them¡¯s ugly things, curses,¡± she muttered, wiping her hands on her apron. ¡°Ah, but me manners. I¡¯s Ammie. Don¡¯t know if Simeon mentioned me.¡± ¡°No ma¡¯am,¡± Sil replied and took the woman¡¯s calloused hand in hers. ¡°My name is Silestra, and my partner here is Tianna. The naked one is Vergil. We were just out on our first sortie for the Guild.¡± She smiled at the woman with an earnestness that made their host blush. ¡°If you don¡¯t mind, could you tell us where we are?¡± Sil gave her a sunburst smile that only ever worked on an aelir¡¯s ageless face. It had its intended effect as the woman¡¯s eyes focused solely on her. ¡°Well dear, you¡¯re in Cliff¡¯s Edge. Valen is about two days away, northward me thinks, by cart.¡± ¡°Ohhh,¡± Sil mused, ¡°we¡¯re somewhere out in the Ruffle then? I was afraid we¡¯d be farther off from the city proper. Any chance there is some transport going there?¡± ¡°There is, yes. It should come round these parts by noon but, with the snow and rain, it may be a tad late.¡± Tallah was watching Vergil who, in turn, had stopped talking and was looking transfixed at their conversation. Nothing had stopped his incessant blathering since they¡¯d put the helmet on him. The older woman seemed to fascinate him. ¡°Oh, thank the Goddess¡¯s mercy. I was afraid we¡¯d have to walk all way back. Is it a coach?¡± ¡°A cart, actually.¡± Ammie smiled at her with the simple patience of country folk. ¡°We¡¯re too far away and high in the hills for such luxuries as a coach. But you can talk to Amus when he comes round, and he¡¯ll give you a ride on his cheese delivery. I¡¯ll talk to ¡®im and let you folk know when he¡¯s about.¡± ¡°Thank you so much again, miss Ammie.¡± Sil kept her smile warm, despite the bone-deep weariness she felt. ¡°Allow us to repay for your hospitality.¡± She reached for her satchel, but Ammie¡¯s tough hands pressed on hers. ¡°None of that. You just tell people down in the city there¡¯s good folk up here; they ought to buy our cheese.¡± She winked at them and made to leave, stopping just shy of the door. ¡°Though you could help by splitting some logs for the fire. If that¡¯s not too much trouble?¡± She hadn¡¯t even finished speaking that Vergil was already running down the path to a pyramid of logs stacked behind one of the houses. He picked up a wood handled axe leaning against the pile and began quartering logs with a fury. His enthusiasm left the three women watching him speechless for a time. ¡°That is not your wood, is it?¡± Tallah pointed to a different house. ¡°Your tracks lead to that one.¡± There was an identical pyramid of logs next to the fresh path. ¡°Aye, that be Miriam¡¯s lot. All the same, she¡¯ll be happy for the help. I¡¯ll bring him a coat and some trousers.¡± Ammie nodded her farewells and headed off, leaving the two in the barn¡¯s doorway watching Vergil working. They shrugged, pulled the door closed against the cold, and sat on the hay, eating their breakfast. Cricket finally came out of her stall and stared at them with an animal¡¯s mindless interest. ¡°Tallah?¡± ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°Can you please shoo the goat away? It¡¯s chewing on my dress.¡± Chapter 1.01.4: End of a hunt By noontime Sil had to use another bag of ink-nettle to replenish herself. Vergil worked the entire morning and his efforts dragged on her. She strained under the sapping effects of the cursed helmet but still refused to pass it over to Tallah. With good weather, they¡¯d probably be in Valen before she succumbed to nettle-sickness. Vergil had chopped his way through the entire pile of wood at Miriam¡¯s, the neighbour¡¯s and, at Sil¡¯s instructions, also worked his way through most of Ammie¡¯s stockpile. He drew some odd stares, but people there seemed used to adventurers passing through their little hamlet. Getting him to wear the sheepskin coat and trousers had been an exercise in frustration and much cussing on Tallah¡¯s part. Either the possessing ghost despised clothes or it was being wilful out of pure spite. Threats of immolation were made, promptly ignored, and then attempted to be put into practice. ¡°She wasn¡¯t kidding,¡± Sil said, shivering in a midday light snowfall. The world shimmered white as Winter rolled implacably down the mountains. She leaned on her staff, now wrapped in a thick woollen covering purchased with some difficulty from Ammie. The woman had kept insisting on gifting it away. Ambling up the dirt road was an old, shambling mule-drawn cart. Its wooden wheels creaked and rattled, and metal jugs in the open bed jingled under their canvas. The driver had a cover draped over his shoulders, his breath steaming in the crisp air. ¡°I feel as if I¡¯m visiting a bad museum piece. I sometimes forget these places still exist. I used to get rides down into Solstice in one of these when I was a girl,¡± Tallah reminisced. ¡°Never liked the smell of horse.¡± Cliff¡¯s Edge was a small community of scattered homesteads. They reared livestock and sold the excess produce, and not much else happened there as far as Sil could gather. Sheep bleated in their enclosures and goats screamed in horrifying near-human voices. The rest was the eerie silence of the high hills. How do they even stay sane out here? She did not voice the question. She tried to put the caves out of her mind. They remained far beneath them, hidden, unguarded. Open. She took a few steps through the snow to warm up and hide restless nervousness. Looming above, the mountains were a constant reminder that she¡¯d be all to glad to leave behind. Ammie came out to meet the cart with two large metal jugs. She talked to the would-be coachman and pointed to the two waiting by the muddy road. Amus nodded as she explained. ¡°My tits are freezing,¡± Tallah groaned. She kept trying to scratch under her eye patch, despite Sil¡¯s protestations. ¡°At least you have the hat,¡± Sil replied, shaking melting snow out of her hair. ¡°Why, precisely, don¡¯t I have cold weather gear?¡± ¡°Because we¡¯re idiots.¡± Tallah blew into her hands. The temperature had dropped even more since morning. Why she wasn¡¯t infusing herself to keep warm was worrying Sil more than she wanted to admit just then. Watching the cart amble towards them felt like waiting for an iceberg to shift. It rattled up the road with the patience of millennia. ¡°No,¡± Sil said with more than a little malice, ¡°could it be because a certain someone ignored me when I asked for us to stop for necessities before we headed into the hills?¡± Tallah shrugged. ¡°We had food. Don¡¯t blame this on me. It wasn¡¯t supposed to take up our entire Fall.¡± Sil did not even crack a smile. The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. ¡°If you get frostbite anywhere nasty, I won¡¯t be treating it. Maybe next time you¡¯ll listen to me for once,¡± she grumbled as the cart rattled to a stop in front of them. ¡°Good day, Your Graces,¡± the cart¡¯s driver said, unmoving under his canvas. He pretended with very little skill not to have overheard the conversation. ¡°Good day, sir.¡± Sil smiled at him, though her teeth chattered in the cold. ¡°Would it be possible for us to accompany you back to Valen?¡± ¡°Aye, Ammie told me.¡± The man in the cart pushed the cover off his shoulders and climbed off his perch with a nimbleness that belied his age. His beard hung down to his trousers. He rounded the cart and prepared two spots for them among his load of cheeses and milk jugs. Ammie came by and handed him a bundle of blankets. ¡°You dears take care now. If you''s ever in these parts again, do come visit. Bring us some news of the big city, aye?¡± She helped Amus set up a comfortable spot for them for the long, slow trek. It wasn¡¯t the most dignified way of travel. It wasn¡¯t even quick or comfortable. But it beat walking or trying to transfer closer via portal. If Valen¡¯s Illum Hearth sent them here, there would be very little chance that it would choose another destination if Sil tried again. Well¡­ bugger. They settled in, got comfortable and soon saw the last of Cliff¡¯s Edge¡¯s scattered thatch-roofed huts shrinking away as the road sloped down into the valleys. Vergil walked. If he minded the chill, he didn¡¯t show it. The long trek gave the two channellers ample time to study and discuss him. ¡°I¡¯m going to take apart that helmet after we drop off its contents at the Sisters,¡± Sil mused, nestled against Tallah, talking in a low voice. ¡°And Anna¡¯s wand. I¡¯m looking forward to dissecting her enchantments. There were interesting things happening when you fought.¡± ¡°You picked it up?¡± Tallah asked, eye closed against the bright snow-covered landscape. ¡°Grabbed it off the last doll you blasted. Nearly lost my head for it. Hope it was worth it.¡± Tallah yawned and nestled into Sil¡¯s side for warmth, Anna gone from her attention. ¡°Baaah!¡± she mock bleated and chuckled. ¡°We end our hunt in the back of a cart. Like sheep. You¡¯re even dressed like one.¡± She dozed off, chuckling, before Sil had properly picked her expletives. On the descent from the hills grazing land turned into flat farmland, pockmarked by farmsteads among empty tilled fields. Snowfall from the mountains turned to sleet and soon to rain. Miasmas of burned straw and dung wafted up to them as they passed through the quiet countryside. Tallah slept fitfully and woke often even in her exhausted state. Sil held her so her sudden cries wouldn¡¯t spook the cart driver, though she was sure he feigned his ignorance. Village after village rolled by in the relentless rain. Scatterings of homes across naked hills. Groves of hidden hovels in narrow gorges. They huddled under the tarp as Amus¡¯s cart stopped and he picked up his deliveries from folk that, more often than not, wouldn¡¯t spare them a glance. They spent the night in a dry and warm barn close to the road in a final village before the hills levelled down. The driver opted to sleep in the cart, under his tarp. Sil switched the illum siphon to Tallah after all. Resting would be impossible with the constant draw of the helmet and the sorceress could keep the effect going for much longer without help if she wasn¡¯t exerting herself. In her state, Tallah wouldn¡¯t use her abilities to their proper extent for a good, long while. A passive draw was manageable. It only made her sleepy. Closer to Valen, the dark held little of the terror it commanded in the mountains. Patrols passed by in the night. Boisterous adventurers on their sorties. Armed men astride from the Citadel, still on their routes in spite of the weather. Sil heard them in the depths of night, grumbling, sharing short barks of laughter or cusses. Closer to Valen, ratmen and chimeric horrors seemed¡­ well, distant nightmares that only clung on to the shadows of Sil¡¯s imagination. Still, she slept little. They returned to the road at first light. The cart rattled on, rain fell, Vergil splashed through the cold mud behind the cart, sullen but still muttering. Tallah fell in and out of consciousness. Sil stroked her hair under the tarp and otherwise enjoyed the grey scenery as it crawled by. She felt herself light, disassociated from reality, drifting back to herself as Valen¡¯s walls drew closer by the hour. Anna¡¯s caves and her monsters faded in Winter¡¯s cold light. Chapter 1.02.1: Personal care Valen loomed against the horizon. Its high walls and spires flickered with pinpricks of light visible from half a day away. A pulse of light shot upward and punched through the cloud cover as the Illum Hearth vented excess energy. They reached the Black Gate late that night, with the rain turning to sleet again. It was warmer near the city, but Winter¡¯s icy fingers groped for its throat. The smell of rotted burnt wood and the cacophony of fresh masonry hit them way before the sight of the gate did. Familiarity shook Tallah out of another fitful bout with sleep and cleared the cobwebs in her head. They said their goodbyes at the gate, reined in Vergil, and left Amus to his deliveries. They even bought a wheel of hard cheese off him, small enough to fit in Sil¡¯s Rend. ¡°I¡¯ll sell the tunnel map and see if there¡¯s anyone looking for this guy,¡± Sil said as they walked along the cobbled thoroughfare towards the central fortress of Valen, jostling among the throng of workers gathered for the rebuilding, at least until the first real snow would stop them. ¡°I don¡¯t want any surprises on our hands later on.¡± ¡°When you¡¯re done, come down to the Sisters.¡± Tallah had her hand on Vergil¡¯s shoulder, holding him close as they walked across the busy street. She ignored the stares the boy gathered. ¡°Can you get up there on your own?¡± Sil had been mothering her incessantly for the past half-day, as if she¡¯d been crippled in some way by her spat with Anna. I would be terribly impressed if you admitted you can barely walk. Christina woke in the back of Tallah¡¯s mind and voiced her amusement, pushing forward the mental image of a mocking smile. She and Bianca had been mostly quiet since the village. That blissful peace of mind never lasted long. ¡°I¡¯m perfectly capable of walking half the city on my own, thank you very much. I¡¯ll meet you there.¡± Tallah¡¯s temper flared, but Christina¡¯s taunting kept it subdued. She wouldn¡¯t give the ghost such satisfaction, even with Sil giving her boast a mocking smile of her own. ¡°Sure you are, your Ladyship. But, just in case.¡± She handed over a vial from her satchel. ¡°If you get dizzy or feel nauseous on the ramps up, drink half of this, then a swig of water, then the rest. If you still feel sick, just sit down and I¡¯ll find you eventually.¡± She walked off before Tallah could protest and offer to shove the vial where the suns normally didn¡¯t shine. Christina snickered again. And you say we are unbearable in our worries. Tallah ignored this. Valen¡¯s night life was chaotic, especially now that they had nearly finished rebuilding the outer walls and the gates and all work was slowly moving towards the heart of the city. As a major hub for the Guild and with one of the largest Halls outside of the Empire, adventurers and travellers came and went at all hours. Aside from them, the city¡¯s more mundane industries employed at least half the population and worked all hours. Valen never slept, never slowed, could never stop. They even wrote it on billboards. She watched Sil stop on a street corner and wait for a ride. It wasn¡¯t long before an illum-powered carriage came into view. It belonged to the Enginarium and had become a common sight in Valen. A metal box on metal wheels running on metal tracks. How anyone could get on one of those and not feel sick was beyond understanding. Sil loved the bloody things. She packed herself in with the rest of the commuters and was away faster than a swallow. Tallah missed the horse-drawn carriages. Their horrible smells less so. They were no longer allowed in the city proper as Valen had relegated all transport to the Enginarium¡¯s engines. The city was cleaner for it, but it meant she had no choice but to walk everywhere. Rain and sleet had washed Valen, scoured its streets and alleys of their many and intricate miasmas. Aside from the ever-present scent of ash always lingering on the air, the city smelled¡­ not exactly clean, but pleasantly rural. Tallah made no effort to step over muddied puddles and fresh banks of soot washed out from the gutters and gathered on the roadside. The horrid dress was due a burning anyway. At least the boy didn¡¯t seem to mind the long, slippery walk, as opposed to Sil¡¯s incessant whining every time they had to get anywhere on foot. Vergil¡¯s strange look here, deeper into Valen, drew less attention even as he proved prone to shout and curse at passers-by. Tallah smiled her apologies at people and ushered the mad man along, keeping a tight hold on his arm as he strained to reach out and punch anyone that made eye contact. Like an attack corallin on a leash almost. It made for a slow, heaving trek up the many stairs that led up to their destination. One more lashing-out from the boy and she may just have let him plunge off the walls. The Sisters of Mercy occupied a large, white-marbled, green roofed building on the outskirts of the Medical Quarter of the Inner Plaza. Through the centre of the dome¡¯s roof passed the ten-meter-wide trunk of a White-leafed Tree. Its canopy offered shade for the hospital in the long Summers, while its roots provided the raw sap that they refined into medicine. The Sisters, druids of the Dryad, plied their healing arts for any and for all, regardless of species or allegiance. All were welcomed, for a price, in the bosom of their capricious goddess. Tallah walked through the open archway shaking melting snow off her hat. She marched past the line of people waiting in the atrium and tried to enter an ornate side door, just behind a green clad priestess that was trying to sort through those for whom the coming of Winter was proving dangerous. The priestess grabbed her arm before she could wrap fingers on the door¡¯s handle. ¡°Where does the lady think she¡¯s going?¡± the woman asked with practised patience. ¡°In. I¡¯m expected.¡± ¡°The lady is expected at the back of the line with the rest of the Dryad¡¯s many seeds.¡± Tallah tried to pull her arm away, but the woman¡¯s grip was iron-hard. ¡°I¡¯m expected,¡± she insisted and planted her feet, defiant. Vergil grumbled next to her. His hands balled up into fists, but he made no threat against the priestess barring their way. Rather, he was looking at the crowd, and they at him, the tension in the room starting to froth. ¡°Aliana is expecting me,¡± Tallah insisted, forcing a smile. ¡°The High Priestess is not expecting anyone at this hour. Please head to the back of the line and you can ask for her when your turn arrives.¡± ¡°What¡¯s the noise?¡± This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. A tall, heavy-set woman opened the ornate door and walked out. She wore the same flowing green robe as the other priestesses bustling about but hers also had a white leaf embroidery that showed her rank. One look from Aliana quieted the room and even had Vergil taking a step back. The High Priestess of the Dryad wore her rank like war plate and her glare was a spear. ¡°Finally. Aliana, tell your wench to let go of my arm.¡± ¡°What¡¯s going on, Siphra?¡± the woman asked without even glancing at Tallah. ¡°This one is giving me cheek. She tried to jump the line.¡± Siphra yanked Tallah forward and finally released her arm. ¡°Her friend is agitating the others.¡± Aliana swept her dark gaze again over the gathered crowd. None met it. ¡°Line looks quiet to me. I¡¯ll deal with her,¡± she said. Tallah met her sneer with a grin and poked her tongue out at the priestess. ¡°I did say I was expected, did I not?¡± Aliana shoved her through the small door and Vergil followed, as cowed as the others by the imposing olive-skinned High Priestess. ¡°How dare you?!¡± the woman bellowed when the door clicked shut. For anyone that had only known Aliana of Tohman as the severe priestess of the Dryad, the blazing fury in her voice and eyes would have been cowing. Tallah, however, paid it no mind as she tried to find a place where to set her hat. The office was small, tightly packed with books, salves, and medicine bottles. White leaves formed garlands that intertwined among the apparatus used to distil their valuable sap and lent the room some of their luminescence. Herbs and other supplies were neatly stacked on shelves, each with its own label written in the Dryad¡¯s peculiar runes. Complex notes of herbs and antiseptics scented the air. On the main desk, among the scrolls of office and the many files on patients, was a bottle with a thimble glass next to it. Both were filled with an amber liquid. ¡°Calm your humours, Aliana. I bring you something that you¡¯re going to like.¡± Greetings were a rare thing between Tallah and the priestess. ¡°Where¡¯s Silestra? I don¡¯t deal with you without her present.¡± The older woman scowled at Tallah, giving her a sneer vile enough to curdle dairy. It would have worked on anyone else. ¡°She¡¯s busy. Today you deal with me.¡± She picked up the bottle and took a swig from it. ¡°I¡¯ve always liked that you respect yourself enough to drink something expensive.¡± She hiccuped. Whatever that was, it went down burning. ¡°Sil¡¯s at the Guild Hall, if you really must know, declaring the death of this guy and his friends.¡± She gestured with the bottle toward the twitching Vergil, diverting Aliana¡¯s attention to him. Vergil looked wretched in the white leaflight of the office. His clothes hung on him like dressings on a scarecrow, and his stench overpowered the smell of disinfectant. Aliana stiffened as she looked him over. ¡°Maybe like is a strong word.¡± Tallah drank more and swished the burning liquid inside her mouth. ¡°I need you to fix him. We found him in a ratman camp, caged and starved, in the Valen-Drack Passage. Pretty sure he¡¯s gone insane. The rats were eating alive his female companion.¡± Aliana¡¯s demeanour changed. The boy stiffened and grumbled, backing up a step. ¡°How is he standing?¡± she asked, picking up her thimble and draining it. ¡°Looks to me he should be dead.¡± Tallah pointed to the helmet. ¡°That bucket on his head houses some kind of ghost, or an echo of one. We¡¯re not terribly sure what it is. Its strength, however¡ª¡± She shuddered and drank more. ¡°To call it simply impressive would be lying. We¡¯ve been feeding it illum for a few days now, and it kept the boy alive and going. Lad¡¯s also got one of those stupid blessing tattoos the paladins give to their fresh recruits. If I stop the illum siphon I don¡¯t think he¡¯d last out the day.¡± Aliana raised an eyebrow. She drummed the tips of her fingers over her lips. ¡°I assume this was your idea on how to save the lad. I couldn¡¯t imagine Silestra coming up with something so vile. What were you doing in the tunnels?¡± ¡°That is none of your business. Can you help me or do I leave the corpse here?¡± Aliana shrugged. ¡°We were running low on fertiliser anyway. Take him back or leave him, it¡¯s no skin off my cheek.¡± That worked well, Christina whispered. We need her help, not her disinterest. Tallah shrugged. ¡°I¡¯ll have Sil take another crack at him then. She said you¡¯d be a better choice, but it seems you don¡¯t like a proper challenge after all, oh great High Priestess of the Twiggy one.¡± She snapped her fingers and pointed the boy to the door. Aliana downed the rest of her spirit and set the glass on top of the bottle, pulling it away from Tallah¡¯s grasp, to Tallah¡¯s annoyance. She had planned to take the whole thing with her. ¡°Do you want him back on his feet or just lucid enough to answer whatever you need him to?¡± When all else fails, appeal to Aliana¡¯s pride. Christi, this used to work perfectly even with you. It was Tallah¡¯s turn to inwardly smirk at the ghost. To Aliana she said, ¡°Walking, talking and as sane as you can get him. Don¡¯t dig too deep in his head. There¡¯s some kind of enchantment in there, we think, which kicks like a unicorn if you bother it. Sil tried to mind-touch him and it flung her. Literally, I might add. Broke a rib or three when she hit the wall.¡± ¡°How do we get him out of the armour he¡¯s wearing?¡± ¡°It¡¯s going to disappear on its own. It¡¯s a secondary effect of the helmet. Don¡¯t ask. You know how these Southern relics work generally.¡± ¡°I¡¯m going to charge you an arm and a leg. And I¡¯ll double that because I need to deal with you instead of Silestra.¡± The woman¡¯s tone did not soften, but she was curious. Tallah and Sil never failed to provide the challenges city life lacked. ¡°Add in this as well.¡± Tallah leaned over the table, grabbed the bottle and waggled it. ¡°I haven¡¯t had a proper drink in weeks. Sil¡¯s kept me on tonics and water. No alcohol at all.¡± ¡°Silestra being smart and responsible while out in rough places? I¡¯m truly amazed.¡± She clutched at invisible pearls around her neck. ¡°It¡¯s a pity she still associates with you, brigand.¡± Aliana opened the door and shouted out for some girls. Three large women arrived at a trot, and she explained the situation to them in concise terms, quick and efficient. Two of them got a rough hold of Vergil¡¯s armpits. The third grabbed his helmet. He fussed a bit, looking confused from one to the other, grunting, uncertain of the hostility in their actions. He would have struggled but Tallah glared at him. ¡°Ready.¡± All three called in unison, and she dropped the illum siphon. It felt like a weight dropping off her shoulders. Vergil¡¯s legs buckled under him as he was already being led away. The third woman handed the helmet to Aliana. ¡°Why¡¯s there a big red willy painted on it?¡± she asked, studying the ugly horned thing. ¡°Ask Sil. She¡¯ll be more than happy to tell you all about it.¡± Tallah grinned and drank. ¡°Now push off, sorceress. I¡¯ll send a runner to fetch you when we¡¯re done. You¡¯re still at that swanky place?¡± Tallah didn¡¯t leave. Instead, she pulled off her eye patch. The eye, as if to spite Sil¡¯s ministrations, had gotten worse. It stung, and the pain had only numbed due to the alcohol. The scars, unseen now, itched like a bugger. ¡°Can you do something about this?¡± She pointed at the stricken organ. ¡°I hate not being able to see your face in all its ugly glory.¡± ¡°You¡¯ve been giving Silestra a hard time again? I should leave you like that.¡± ¡°But you won¡¯t.¡± Aliana smiled an unpleasant little smile. ¡°Of course. That, I¡¯ll deal with personally. Wait right there while I fetch my tools. I¡¯ll make sure you remember this time why it¡¯s in your interest not to end up back here.¡± Tallah felt ice climbing up her back and she shivered despite the burning hearth. She wouldn¡¯t ever admit it, even to the voices in her head, but Aliana¡¯s ministrations frightened her. When she saw the array of tools the old priestess brought back and the lack of any kind of pain relief salve, she wished she hadn¡¯t asked for help. Two bells of screaming obscenities later, she would have preferred going blind. Chapter 1.02.2: Reporting in Sil walked through the great, ornate doors of the Guild Hall. Adventurers who flocked to Valen worked dawn to dawn regardless of season. In them, the Empire had a willing workforce onto which it could unload many of the more trivial jobs that the great machine could not be bothered to deal with. She wasn¡¯t one of them, not really, but played the part for all the benefits she and Tallah reaped. The sea of people carried her along towards the great kiosks that crowded the central pavilion of the Guild Hall. Sprite lamps had turned the cavernous insides of the smallest of fortresses into perpetual day and the noise made all the great taverns of Valen seem quaint by comparison. After weeks in and under the mountains, all of this made Sil feel faint. ¡°Good tidings, miss Silestra Adana. You¡¯re a rare, pale sight for these sore eyes,¡± the man behind the counter said. He bowed his head as she approached. Lucian, a portly human of some sixty Summers, manned one of the many kiosks that bought information off of whoever was willing to sell. His grey eyes always smiled whenever she visited, especially when alone. He wore the green and blue uniform of the Guild, with black buttons signalling his speciality. ¡°We haven¡¯t seen you and your mistress around for such a long time that I thought you may have returned to Calabran. I had hopes that you¡¯d at least say your farewells.¡± Sil smiled back and touched two fingers to her lips, mimicking the real aelir greeting of I shall tell you no lies. ¡°Good tidings, Master Lucian. The mistress has kept us rather busy outside of Valen since last we met.¡± Information merchants such as Lucian had their own tents set up inside the Halls, guarded against prying ears by powerful enchantments and hidden blades. ¡°Did she? I don¡¯t remember seeing your names on any of the sorties we¡¯ve sent out,¡± he replied, and showed her to a cushioned seat. Sil graciously accepted. She gestured an apology, hand over right breast, eyes closed. ¡°It wasn¡¯t on Guild duty, Master. We went out on Her Grace¡¯s behalf. She had a mind to explore more of Valen¡¯s beautiful countryside before Winter came down on us.¡± Lucian¡¯s orderly poked his head in, summoned by some secret means, and brought in a tray of tea and sugar cubes. The aroma of rose filled the room. Lucian himself poured her a cup and added six sugar cubes to it. ¡°Then it must mean you¡¯ve brought me quite the treasure trove today,¡± he said as he served her. Sil eyed the sugar, and he added another cube to her cup. ¡°That is certainly my hope, yes.¡± They spoke in quiet voices, the lacquered wood desk between them, both sipping tea. Lucian knew his business like few others and treated her with a courtesy that not many enjoyed. Sil knew there were now no other adventurers waiting to be led in to see the man, and keen ears would be listening in on all she had to say. So much attention for one little healer attending to one noble¡¯s wayward daughter. Tianna of Aieni Holding was the daughter of one Fyodor of Aieni Holding, head of the Divide Expansion trade company of Calabran. He owned more than thirty ships at sea and nearly a third of the shipping routes between Calabran and Estuary, one of the few humans doing big business with the Aelir Dominion¡¯s great capital. That the reclusive Fyodor was long dead, and the real Tianna had been lost at sea wouldn¡¯t become common knowledge anytime soon if Sil and Tallah had their way. ¡°And, Master Lucian, it is my, and my mistress¡¯s, hope that you also have something of interest for her. I know it is terribly presumptuous, what with our absence, but I trust you have been as tenacious as ever in pursuing our request.¡± ¡°That depends on what you trade with me today, miss Silestra. You asked for something quite¡­ difficult.¡± Nothing for free was his reminder to her. Nothing for free, as always. She opened her satchel and drew out several scrolls kept in black, oiled sheaths. One bore the seal of the Valen Library. The others were unmarked. ¡°I believe this will much interest you,¡± she said as she opened the marked container and pulled out an old, battered map. She spread it across the table and Lucian offered his inkwell to keep it from rolling back. ¡°The Valen-Drack Passage,¡± Lucian said after a glance, a more genuine smile creeping under his moustache. ¡°We rarely hear anything of those roads anymore.¡± Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. ¡°We are aware. They are old, treacherous, and abandoned by gentle folk. You already know this very well.¡± She opened another of her containers and spread out the scroll inside. It was another map. ¡°And here is what I aim to sell you.¡± Now his impeccably plucked eyebrows really went up. The map she presented was drawn over the skeleton of the old Library one, and showed many side passages, caverns, and cuts across the tunnels. Cramped annotations accompanied the extended galleries. His expression grew even more impressed as she laid out the rest of the scrolls. These departed completely from the original. ¡°Mistress Tianna had a mind to practice her cartography skills,¡± Sil lied, and hid it behind a sip of tea. She had drawn up the maps and Tallah had written the annotations. They were of no more use to them now that Anna was dead but still should fetch a good price. Too few adventurers still braved the old tunnels and the gallery of creatures and rogues they housed. Tens of requests to the Guild went unanswered when they concerned those gods-forgotten places and the unfortunate people living close. ¡°That is a very dangerous place to explore for¡­ practice.¡± He wanted to reach for the maps. Sil saw it in him as she rolled them back up and slid them back into their cylinders. ¡°Especially for two novice adventurers. I am delighted to see you safe and hale after such a journey. It must have been dangerous.¡± ¡°It was, and it took a significant amount of cunning on the mistress¡¯s part to see us through.¡± She opened her last canister and showed him a scroll full of notes in a tiny, meticulous script. ¡°These are locations for some creatures that might interest the Guild, as well as some unfortunate victims of the tunnels that we have run across.¡± She pushed the scroll across the table to him. ¡°Mistress Tianna wishes to hand this over freely, a token of her gratitude for your meticulous services. You have been of great help to her since she has arrived in your wonderful city. I call it a token of our friendship.¡± Something changed in his face when he read the scroll and strained to decipher her horrid hand. It came and went in a flash, meaning that some information there might have been worth more than the maps. Bugger. She forced herself to keep smiling and chew the sugary slush at the bottom of her cup. Lucian was quiet for a long while. ¡°I will buy the maps off you, miss Silestra.¡± When he spoke up, his features were carefully arranged into a mask of friendliness that strained to hide a predatory grin. ¡°I will also reward some of the news here. Some people are interested in these things.¡± ¡°That is very kind of you,¡± she replied, matching his smile. ¡°If you do not mind my asking, what got you so enthused?¡± He leaned forward and spoke in a low whisper. Sil couldn''t help but lean forward to participate in the charade. ¡°You see, you describe a verman pack on here. Unless I¡¯m wrong, they were of some interest to the Storm Guard. They¡¯ll be keen to get news of their destruction.¡± Sil¡¯s heart boomed at the mention of the Storm Guard, but she resolved not to let it show. She whispered, ¡°What about the victims?¡± ¡°What?¡± He drew back and read the scroll again. ¡°Oh, these. Human male, paladin order, and female aelir, unknown. We have so many groups missing, miss Silestra, that I couldn¡¯t guess if they were some of ours. And if I wrote a list of all missing persons for which we¡¯ve posted queries, the stack of scrolls would be taller than yourself.¡± Sil checked the boy off her worry list. Now for her real reason she played this dainty charade with the most unscrupulous agent of the Guild. ¡°On behalf of mistress Tianna, I accept what I¡¯m sure will be fair compensation for our effort. I am certain she will be as pleased as I that we have aided the Storm Guard in some small measure.¡± She drummed her fingers on the lid of one of her containers. Lucian went back to one of his shelves and extracted a scroll from among many. ¡°I¡¯m afraid your mistress will be terribly disappointed in me on this matter. This is all we could find and all we may share out. But, if you may indulge me, please tell why she needs this information. It¡¯s not something I normally get asked for.¡± He reached to pour her some more tea. She placed her palm over the cup and refused politely. If Lucian had his way, they¡¯d be talking until morning, and she¡¯d spill secrets without even realising it. ¡°It is no great secret,¡± she said. ¡°Mistress Tianna has often heard of this rather exclusive clique of sorceresses when she was a student at Hoarfrost Academy. She would dearly like to meet some of them and learn from their vast experience. Her power grows...¡± She left the implication hanging. ¡°Well, I¡¯m afraid she¡¯ll be disappointed.¡± He unfurled the scroll and cleared his throat. ¡°Christina Cythra, dead. Confirmed. Murder. Anna Theala, believed dead. Last seen in Drack. Date of sighting uncertain. Bianca Vel, dead. Confirmed. Details redacted by order of her Imperial Majesty, Empress Catharina the First. Lucretia Saral, believed dead. No recorded movements in over five decades. Last seen in Drack. And Deidra Aratol, wanted for crimes against the Eternal Enlightened Empire. Sizeable reward available for any information on her whereabouts. No information available.¡± He handed her the scroll with an apologetic smile. ¡°I¡¯m afraid mistress Aieni is too late to find or meet most of them. And she would be foolish to seek the one still kicking around.¡± They had left off one name from the list. Tallah Amni, traitor to the Empire. Dead. Sil did not think it wise to mention the omission. She nodded and accepted the list. ¡°It was a fancy of hers. It is regrettable, but I believe it will only encourage her to surpass their legend by her own means.¡± Everything on the scroll was near worthless except for one thing. They knew that one more of the group was alive. If the Empire pursued this Deidra Aratol then she could be found. And she could be killed. A new hunt rose on the horizon with the Winter sun. It was more than enough to warrant stomaching Lucian¡¯s questions about their travels. Chapter 1.02.3: The Meadow Sil found Tallah in the small hours of the morning, on the steps in front of the Sisters¡¯ great hospital. There was a near empty bottle by her side. She was watching traffic pass by in the gloomy sprite-light, looking comfortably numb to the cold, neatly hidden under the wide brim of her hat. A thin layer of snow covered the walkways and hid the black ice beneath. The sorceress chuckled every time another passer-by slipped and fell. ¡°I see Aliana¡¯s kicked you out in the cold,¡± Sil said by-way-of greeting, taking a seat next to her on the wet marble steps. Tallah offered the bottle, some liquid still sloshing on the bottom. ¡°I walked out on my own. This time. Took her stuff.¡± She slurred the words. ¡°Did she look at your eye?¡± Sil studied the liquid, holding it up to the nearest sprite-lamp. ¡°No weird insects floating in this?¡± Tallah turned to her and displayed her bright-pink eye. ¡°She did. Gave me a full course of her ministrations. Hurt like you wouldn¡¯t believe. I thought you bunch weren¡¯t supposed to enjoy hurting your patients.¡± For all her griping, she didn¡¯t seem upset about the treatment. Sil opened her satchel and pulled out a pair of round spectacles. She cleaned and handed them over. ¡°I assume I¡¯ll need to make a new lens for you,¡± she said as Tallah looked around. ¡°Still in range. I¡¯ll let you know if I get a headache later.¡± Sil finished up the bottle and hiccuped. ¡°How does she drink this stuff? If there were any justice in the world, this would make you blind.¡± She grimaced and leaned on Tallah, watching a stout aelir¡¯sar take a nasty fall. Her instincts urged to help but her mind pointed out the hospital behind them. There was a still a trickle of people coming in, even at that strange hour. ¡°I got us about a hundred Valen griffons for our trouble.¡± She yawned and shifted closer. ¡°Your little prize is of no concern to anyone, so he¡¯s yours to keep.¡± ¡°That¡¯s about double what I expected the maps to fetch. Was Lucian so happy to see you?¡± Sil chuckled. ¡°Hardly. He couldn¡¯t be greasier if they dipped him in lard. Do you remember killing a verman shaman?¡± Tallah squeezed her eyes shut and tried to focus. ¡°Vaguely. All rats look the same.¡± ¡°It was that one with the robe. You blew its spine out.¡± She gestured a minor explosion. ¡°It was of interest to the Storm Guard, if you can imagine it. Lucian even offered an extra reward for killing the blighter. I smiled and accepted, though he now thinks the world of your abilities.¡± Tallah scrunched up her nose and grumbled. ¡°Sometimes I forget the gap between myself and who Tianna¡¯s supposed to be. It¡¯s too early to get the Guard interested in her.¡± She closed her eyes and leaned her head on Sil¡¯s shoulder as they sat in the cold, silent for some time. Heat wafted off her. A fever, or just burning off some illum for warmth? It was hard to tell. ¡°What next?¡± Sil asked when she felt the cold bite at her toes. ¡°Next, I may be sick. Give me something for it.¡± Sil handed over a toxin purger in a glass vial, the last of her supply. She had it ready before the sorceress even asked. ¡°All at once or you¡¯ll vomit it out,¡± she instructed, but Tallah had already downed it. The sorceress sighed in relief as alcohol purged out of her. Her breath misted in the frigid night air, blown away by a gathering wind. Her heat was definitely a fever. She shivered and was trying to hide it. ¡°We¡¯re staying put and lying low, after Tianna¡¯s fashion,¡± Tallah said, speaking clearly. ¡°I¡¯m itching to know what you got out of the boy¡¯s head.¡± She pushed herself up and stretched the stiffness from her joints. Sil followed suit, dusting the snow off her clothes. ¡°Don¡¯t blame me if stuff makes little sense. I have no reference points for most of it and it¡¯s lahlah, as far as I can reason it out. I¡¯ve been trying to sort through it since we got out.¡± This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. ¡°If he¡¯s an Other then I¡¯d be quite disappointed if he turned out to be boring. I¡¯ll put him back in the caves myself.¡± They walked abreast down the steps from the Upper City into the Lower, by the side of the Daylight Wall. About a hundred meters elevated the Upper City. They could have taken the Enginarium elevator down, but that also made Tallah sick. That only left the stairs. Few people still used them. The wind had turned savage and howled outside the many small windows. Sil drew close against Tallah, the sound all too like the cries from the caves. Those would take long to sink below the surface of memory. The Meadow had once been a watering hole on the edge of Valen, back when the city had been younger and wilder. Tallah, in her more pensive moments, talked about those days with uncharacteristic fondness. Now the once-quaint tavern offered the best accommodation that money could buy just shy of the Fortress itself. For someone like Tianna, making her name in the world while spending father¡¯s significant fortune, it was the only possible lodging. It hugged the great city wall at the end of a labyrinthine mess of alleyways and thoroughfares. Anyone unfamiliar with the dense cluster of the Lower City would never hope to stumble upon it, and for the regulars it was a point of pride to know the way by heart. Even that early in the day, with cold Cares¡¯s light just kissing the lip of the Outer Wall, the Meadow was abuzz with activity. They found the elendine owner almost immediately in the chaos. Or, rather, the other way around. She was with them when they stepped through the door as if coming out of the woodwork itself to greet them. ¡°Welcome back, Your Ladyships.¡± Tallah started at that too cheerful tone for the hour, speaking right next to her ear. ¡°I was not warned of your return. Shall I get your apartment ready?¡± ¡°Good morning to you too, Verti,¡± Sil said and bowed to the woman. They allowed themselves to be led through the early morning crowd. ¡°Yes, please. We¡¯ve just returned tonight.¡± Verti, an elendine with ash-grey hair, was the eldest, and matriarch, of the Bergama family. They had owned the tavern since before the Empire had been built, mother to daughter, in a long, unbroken succession. For her to meet them in person was an honour. ¡°I feared something ill might have befallen you ladies,¡± Verti said as she led them up the spiral inner stair. ¡°It will take some time for heating and hot water to reach your room. We have had a new Enginarium boiler and pump installed this week. The cold still lingers in some places. I hope you will pardon the discomfort.¡± ¡°It¡¯s all right,¡± Tallah said and yawned. ¡°I just need food and drink.¡± ¡°Will you be having breakfast? Or dinner?¡± ¡°Both. Either. I don¡¯t care, as long as it¡¯s proper food. I¡¯m sick of dried meat and cheese.¡± Verti smiled as she unlocked the heavy master¡¯s lock to their apartment. ¡°I understand, Mistress Aieni. There will be neither of those.¡± A gaggle of workers came in moments later with fresh linen for the beds, flowers for the vases, and wood for the hearth. They worked under Verti¡¯s stern gaze with the efficiency of long practice. ¡°Food will come up shortly,¡± she said as she walked out, satisfied with her staff¡¯s work. ¡°As always, please enjoy your stay with us. I remain your servant.¡± Tallah undressed and took the first turn to soak in a hot bath. Sil inspected the room and belongings. Their three large chests lay as they had left them, locked tight and warded against curious hands. She checked every enchantment. Nothing had been disturbed while they were gone. Verti would have probably set at least one guard, for propriety¡¯s sake. She set her staff on a rack, tightened its covering, and then emptied her satchel on a table. Tallah¡¯s silver mask would need cleaning and disinfecting, but it could wait. Anna¡¯s bone wand exuded a cold, surly malice and Sil was glad to have it off her person. Both items went into a locked compartment in the largest chest. The black gem she stowed in the deepest, darkest part of their armoured travel chest. Tallah would see to its storage when she recovered more of her strength. There wasn¡¯t enough acid in the world to burn away the feel of it from Sil¡¯s hands. She undressed at long last and took out clean clothes. ¡°I¡¯m going to burn you when we¡¯re done,¡± she mumbled as she held out the rough, itchy dress for inspection. ¡°I¡¯m going to make an evening of it, with wine and a comfortable chair from which to watch you burn.¡± Dinner arrived just as they switched for the bath. Tallah met the two caterers at the door barely dressed and Sil slipped into the bathroom as they babbled their way through presenting the meal. The tub was copper, and large enough to fit four women of Sil¡¯s stature, while the bathroom itself could host a ball. A complex system of copper pipes protruded out of the ceiling to provide hot, cold, and fizzy water through three separate nozzles. The chill lingered¡ªTallah must¡¯ve had a cold dip¡ªand reminded her uncomfortably about all the rough living they¡¯d been doing for weeks, memories of grisly mutations scratching at the surface of her thoughts. She submerged under hot water, eyes closed, listening to the throbs of her heartbeat as all other sounds got drowned out. It worked to drown out the the memories of this last terrible week. Tallah could detach herself from the horrors that had tried to claw their innards out, but it wasn¡¯t as easy for her. She feared what her first sleep in a proper bed would conjure up to sour the night. When she surfaced, Tallah was there on the edge of the bathtub, handing her a glass of rose petal wine. ¡°Tell me about the boy.¡± Sil raised an eyebrow and took the proffered drink. ¡°Are you serious? You couldn¡¯t let me enjoy the bath?¡± The sorceress shrugged. ¡°You take forever in a bath, like a glass of wine whenever you soak, and are fond of this vintage. I don¡¯t see why we can¡¯t both get what we want.¡± All true. Sil sighed and leaned back, the foot of the glass pressing on her chest. ¡°Fine. Wash my hair and I¡¯ll tell you about the blasted boy.¡± Chapter 1.03.1: It wasnt a rookie The smell. By the goddess¡¯s grace, this smell! The foulness in the air had taste. It even had texture. She could chew on it if she had a mind to, and a stomach made of weapons¡¯ steel. ¡°Yer telling me a rookie did this? With a straight face?¡± Barlo wore, like her, one of the new Enginarium hazard masks and his voice came muffled through the protecting layers. Even though they did nothing against the smell, these were supposed to protect against other airborne filth. Quistis needed more convincing. By the light of a sprite the cave looked like something scrapped off the bottom of a nightmare. The rot had set in and whatever was left of the ratmen that hadn¡¯t been originally incinerated or reduced to splattered gore was now decomposing into puddles of fluids speckled with bits of fur and armour. It reeked. The damned smell overwhelmed her concentration. The way the mask chaffed didn¡¯t help either. ¡°Are ye sure we¡¯re in the right place?¡± Quistis checked the annotated map again and retraced for the third time their path coming in. ¡°Right place, Barlo. Shut it and just find the stinking corpse. I want us out of here as soon as Rumi and Vial get back.¡± ¡°That side tunnel ain¡¯t on yer map, is all I¡¯m saying,¡± the large vanadal warrior commented as he turned half of a ratman over with the sheath of his sword. Rotten meat slid off festering bone with a wet thud. He thumbed toward a passage marked by a man-shaped hole in the rock. Someone had smashed through to open some secret way. It wasn¡¯t noted on the map. ¡°What channelling bursts someone from within?¡± he asked, making a face at another corpse that seemed to have been quartered. ¡°A Vitalis mage¡¯s,¡± Quistis replied. ¡°But this wasn¡¯t a Vitalis mage in here. One wouldn¡¯t leave so much blood go to waste.¡± ¡°Rare buggers. Never met one of them. Do we have any?¡± ¡°Couple. In Aztroa. Breed¡¯s dying out, if we¡¯re lucky.¡± Quistis tried not to take in every detail of the scene, but it was tremendously hard as she picked her way carefully among the refuse. She was glad for the thick-soled boots she wore. Barlo griped but he was more accustomed to this sort of scenery. He kept turning bodies over, making a trench through the gore in his search. ¡°If Lucian bought that rookie story, then he needs to retire. Poor hummie¡¯s gone soft in the stone.¡± He tapped his thick temple as he stepped over the remains of a tall ratman. That one had been cleaved in two at the waist. Its entrails had dissolved into stringy ribbons of congealed matter that spread away like garlands on a dress. ¡°If I¡¯m any expert I¡¯d reckon there was an entire cadre in here. A lone ash eater doesn¡¯t kill like this.¡± Quistis knew that Academy-trained channellers had to show at least a modicum of decency in their work. What she was seeing in the cave spoke of unhinged use of deadly force and very little discrimination. But they were there more than eight days after the fact. At least eight days, by her expertise. Ratmen lived in abject filth as a rule, so the estimation was likely on the generous side. ¡°Well, we¡¯re in the right place,¡± Barlo called from somewhere further ahead, out of her sprite light. ¡°I found the aelir¡¯rei. She ain¡¯t a pretty sight.¡± He beckoned her forward with the torch. Quistis made her way toward the paladin¡¯s voice, trying not to slip in the mess. Her light sprite showed the remains of an aelir, judging by whatever was left of her. The rot hadn¡¯t eaten her face yet, but the rest was just a bloated, leaking mess that made a good effort at turning her stomach. She sighed and turned away. ¡°They could have buried her.¡± ¡°Hard to bury someone in solid rock, Quis. Let¡¯s see if we find that damn shaman¡¯s corpse.¡± ¡°I¡¯m going to bite Lucian¡¯s face off when we get back. I don¡¯t know if I¡¯ll flog him before or after I spit him out.¡± Barlo chuckled as he overturned more bodies. Human remains. Old. Before the killing. Gnawed bones scattered by the violence. ¡°Lucian couldn¡¯t have known someone would stumble across our operation. Be happy he remembered yer interest in these critters.¡± The maps had shown many entryways that the Guard had never even suspected. Whoever had drawn them had spent considerable time down there and been frightfully meticulous. There were even exits leading to villages, some of which were barely more than a name on a territorial map. Quistis fought down the bile rising in the back of her throat. She felt her knuckles turn white on her staff and forced herself to calm. Anger at their own failure in managing this sordid affair wouldn¡¯t fix the blunder and it would definitely not get them closer to uncovering the flesh sellers that had been plaguing Valen¡¯s countryside. Little wonder they couldn¡¯t find any sign of the bastards for so long or even gotten news of their comings and goings since those first reports of missing people. There were tens of places to slip in and out of the tunnels, dozens of routes, even more that were still secret. Stolen novel; please report. ¡°Complete failure,¡± she mused, the words bitter as she wandered away from Barlo¡¯s track. ¡°Rats wiped out. Nothing to follow up on. We had one lead and we mismanaged it.¡± Quistis was busy enough being miserable that she didn¡¯t notice the burnt skeleton until she tripped over it and went down with a brief cry and a splash. ¡°I see ye found¡¯im.¡± Barlo was trying not to laugh. ¡°Not a word, Barlo.¡± She picked herself up from the muck and tried to shake it off her clothes. The stink would be with her for days. ¡°It¡¯s a burnt-out skeleton. How do you know it¡¯s a shaman?¡± ¡°Larger shoulders than the rest of the rats in here. See? And there¡¯s a half burned wooden staff over there.¡± He raised his torch to the wall. The light shone on the burnt, greasy outline of a ratman caught in an explosion. Fire had blackened the rest of the wall. He whistled. ¡°Pyro work, sure as Winter¡¯s cold. Mean one, too.¡± Quistis wasn¡¯t listening. She had found the shaman¡¯s resting nook. Some of it had survived destruction. ¡°Pry this open for me, please,¡± she said and showed a battered old metal chest. ¡°Would it be too much to hope that the rat would¡¯ve kept some records?¡± ¡°They¡¯re not often literate. But we can hope.¡± Barlo unclasped his spiked mace from its hip harness and brought it down two handed on the chest¡¯s lid. He bashed it again, and again, until the lid bent out at the corners, enough for him to slip his fingers between. He ripped it off without even straining. ¡°All for you, my lady.¡± He presented the mangled trunk for inspection with an over-dramatic flourish. It was filled with papers and coins. Quistis dug through the contents, her sprite hovering near her. ¡°No names, but there are orders here. And dates. This one either was literate or held on to someone else¡¯s accounts. We¡¯re taking this with us back to the Fortress.¡± Finally, something to brighten up the trip. Maybe¡ª ¡°Quistis! Barlo! Come help.¡± The call had come from the side tunnel. Both Storm Guards rushed over. Quistis slipped through the hole while Barlo lagged to smash open an entryway more appropriate for his size. One man in full armour had been propped against a wall, panting and bleeding. His helmet was off, and he was deathly pale. His armour looked to be the only thing keeping him in one piece. A slim woman leaned against the wall, chest heaving with the effort of having carried him. Her short, white hair was damp with sweat. Quistis went to work on the warrior. ¡°What happened?¡± she asked, hands busy inspecting him. Barlo trotted over and took up position as a guard, mace in hand, facing the opposite end of the tunnel. ¡°It¡¯s bad down there, Captain Quistis,¡± the woman said. ¡°Throne, it smells worse down there than here.¡± ¡°Report.¡± After downing a healing potion and receiving magical mending, the warrior could stand, albeit dizzily. For the moment, at least, he was out of immediate harm¡¯s way. Quistis mixed him a tonic from the flasks in her satchel. ¡°There¡¯s nothing sane down there. I can tell you that much.¡± The woman leaned forward, hands on knees, and dry heaved. ¡°We barely made it out. I think it used to be a Sanctum, but it¡¯s dying out. We need to call in a Vitalis to take charge of it. It¡¯s full of chimeras, and they¡¯re all crazed,¡± the white-haired scout explained. ¡°Are you hurt?¡± Quistis noted her state. ¡°No. Just bloody tired, Captain. Vial¡¯s bloody heavy to carry.¡± ¡°What kind of chimeras are we talking?¡± Quistis knew the creature by theory, but she also knew that a Vitalis could breed any kind of these monstrosities. ¡°Human, for the most part. I think this is where the missing people ended up. We didn¡¯t get far through.¡± Her breathing steadied and she pulled herself up. She ran a nervous hand through her hair. ¡°It¡¯s huge, Captain. Whoever it belonged to has been active for a long time here. There are a lot of bodies down there.¡± ¡°Thanks, Cap. And I owe you one, Rumi,¡± Vial said as he drank the concoction Quistis had offered him. Colour returned to his cheek and a shine to his eyes. ¡°Don¡¯t mention it. Don¡¯t need it again, please,¡± Rumi replied with a shaking grin. ¡°How in the Bloody Throne did ye get taken down, lad?¡± Barlo asked over his shoulder, grinning. ¡°I saw ye fight daemons. These can¡¯t be worse.¡± ¡°You fight them,¡± Vial grumbled. ¡°If you cut a daemon¡¯s head off, it bloody dies. These things keep coming. Had to hack them to bits and even then, they still kept trying to bite my ankles off. My sword broke and we got swarmed.¡± ¡°You can stand down, Barlo,¡± Rumi said. ¡°There¡¯s an elevating platform. We got it moving and we came back up on it. I didn¡¯t hear it go back down.¡± She sighed and turned to Quistis. ¡°We need to go back. I caught a whiff of something down there, but I can¡¯t be sure without going in deeper. It could be a big problem on our hands.¡± If Rumi said it was important then Quistis needed no other explanation. They had learned all they would in that stinking place. The only way to go, it seemed, was down. ¡°Barlo, hand Vial your spare sword. We¡¯re going back.¡± The vanadal drew his broad-bladed weapon and handed it over without a word. Vial needed a two-handed grip for the weight. He tested the edge with a gloved finger and whistled. ¡°It¡¯s tight down there, Barlo. You won¡¯t have room to swing that mace.¡± Barlo raised his chin, the vanadal version of a grin. ¡°I¡¯ll manage,¡± he said. Nonetheless, he uncrossed his lower arms and rested hands on the pommels of his daggers. ¡°I¡¯ll take point. Make sure ye don¡¯t give the Captain more work, eh?¡± Rumi kicked him in the back of the knee and scowled up at him. He only chuckled, unperturbed. ¡°Just jostling ye, speck. Don¡¯t take jesting so hard.¡± Quistis stepped between the two warriors and pressed her hands to their chests. ¡°I require a Blessing of Cassandra,¡± she chanted in prayer to the Goddess. Her palms flared up with blue lights and left behind an imprint of her fingers on their armour. ¡°Are you fit to fight, Vial?¡± she asked as she rotated some of her flasks inside the pouch at her hip. ¡°Fit and eager to get payback, Cap,¡± Vial confirmed. He had his helmet back on. Deep gashes scored the metal, which told Quistis all she needed to know of the creatures waiting. ¡°Whistle when you need barriers. Rumi, you¡¯re the eyes on the back of my head. We do everything smart and neat,¡± she barked her orders at them. The entire unit confirmed. Chapter 1.03.2: Cinder The platform descended with a sound of grinding metal gears and stone scraping on stone. ¡°No element of surprise. Whatever¡¯s there will know we¡¯re coming down,¡± Quistis said as she paced the rim of the platform, keeping a mental check of the depth. The Sanctum had been dug deep under the mountain, deep enough that no Egia could ever sense it from the surface. Only blind bad luck could otherwise bring anyone close to it. Smart. Terrifying, but smart. ¡°What exactly is this place?¡± Vial asked. ¡°Never seen anything like it before.¡± ¡°Vitalis Sanctum,¡± Rumi replied from besides Barlo¡¯s tall form. She was producing knives from somewhere and fastening them around her belt for ease of access. ¡°I got the name. But what is it?¡± Quistis answered ahead of Rumi, drawing on memories from her earlier days of training, ¡°Place of power. Channellers sometimes build these as fortresses where they can work unimpeded. Vitalis ones aren¡¯t even the weirdest of the lot.¡± ¡°Throne eternal.¡± Vial whistled. ¡°I¡¯d rather I went back to the demons at the Twins.¡± ¡°Wait ¡®till ye see a Crepuscular¡¯s Sanctum,¡± Barlo chuckled. ¡°First one¡¯ll strip sleep from ye for a whole season. If yer lucky.¡± The air stank at the bottom of the shaft. Its humid, cadaverous stench clung to them as they walked out into the waiting dark. Seething, writhing masses and lumps of fleshy protuberances covered the tunnel walls. They were everywhere, from floor to ceiling, and moved and extended feelers towards them as they passed by. Their steps squelched, the morass floor sucking them down, trying to climb up their legs. The smell grew worse as they followed the tunnel. Small eyeball-like lamps on the walls gave off a twitching, blinking white light that followed their progress. Quistis brought her sprite close as one tendril grew teeth and snapped after it. Human faces sometimes formed out of the walls, moving soundless lips at them, gaping mouths that turned inside out when looked upon. Barlo spat. ¡°It reeks of fear,¡± he grumbled as he stomped on an eyeball growing on a flesh stalk. Sounds exuded from the walls in a continuous echo of almost human sighs, whispers in unknown tongues, groans, and humming. The cacophony only got louder as the passage widened into a circular chamber that, itself, split apart in various directions. Eye lamps blinked and the light of the room focused on the group as they entered. There was a momentary pause in the noise, but it resumed as if it had judged them of no importance. ¡°Place looks very alive to me, Rumi,¡± Quistis said. Her sprite moved in circles around them to show the flesh of the walls writhing and squirming. ¡°It¡¯s dead. It just hasn¡¯t finished dying yet.¡± Putrefied corpses littered the room. One burst with a wheeze of escaping gas. Whatever it had been was impossible to determine. Barlo grumbled and hefted his mace. ¡°Yer a strong lad, Vial, but this ain¡¯t yer work,¡± he said as he turned in place to take in the devastation. The piles of rotting corpses rose as tall as he was in places. ¡°Nah. My pile¡¯s over there.¡± He showed some fresh bodies cooling among the rest. ¡°Ye, feared as much. Captain, yer thoughts?¡± The room whimpered as the sprite got closer to the walls. Craters in the flesh growth showed signs of battle. Fire had been applied with crushing fury. ¡°Big fight went on in here,¡± Quistis stated the absolute obvious. Her lunch wanted to come up for a look around. A wailing creature ripped itself out of a wall and charged at them. Barlo reacted before anyone else, stepped in its path and brought down the mace, pulping it on the spot. ¡°See, Vial? If it¡¯s mulch, it stops moving.¡± More howls followed as the tunnels spat out more creatures. Walking, rotting corpses rushed them on decomposing limbs, waving weapons of splintered, sharpened bone. The vanadal warrior whistled as he drew his daggers. Quistis erected barriers on their flanks, enforced them and made a bottleneck that led into the two warriors upfront. Rumi pressed her back to hers just as Barlo waded into the throng. He swung his weapon in a wide arc, mowing down anything that got within reach. They fell to him in numbers. Vial guarded his back, his borrowed sword cleaving clean through anything that got close enough. Quistis¡¯s barriers cracked under the pressure of bodies. Barlo whistled again, and she added more invisible walls to his flank. ¡°Push,¡± he calmly called over his shoulder. Vial obeyed and moved out of his shadow of slaughter. They advanced, keeping a weapon¡¯s length gap between them, and broke the assault. Quistis studied one creature mindlessly throwing itself at her barrier. It was impossible to determine what its base species could have been. Someone had grafted parts where they didn¡¯t belong, had amputated limbs, and reduced them to spears of bone. The head¡­ she couldn¡¯t look at the head. Its eyes were lidless, terrified, still very much alive. Some intelligence still shone there, but it had clearly been driven into insanity by whatever had been done to the poor thing. Its suffering ceased when Barlo¡¯s mace crushed it down into a pile of mashed organs and bone fragments. He dragged another of the chimeras off his back and slammed it into the barrier by a foot. The leg broke off at the knee and he beat the wailing creature to death with the stump. The assault ebbed, the creatures running cowed into the safety of whatever nest had spawned them. The warriors let them run. In due time, they would purge the Sanctum clean of all atrocities. Chimeras, along with grave horrors, skirted the edge of necromancy. Empress Catharina had passed edict, two centuries back, for their destruction. Any Vitalis mage found to be making such creatures was to be executed on the spot. By the state of the place, Quistis imagined someone had already enacted justice. ¡°Got a nasty bite here,¡± Barlo called out and showed one of his naked lower arms. Quistis rushed to his side and inspected the wound. The creature had bitten straight down to the bone. Some of its teeth were still lodged in the muscles, along with an entire jaw that kept gnawing on the arm. Barlo pulled it off and crushed it in his large hand. She opened a flask and washed the wound, picking out teeth fashioned like fishhooks from torn muscles. Blood flowed purple for a moment then lightened in colour to the soft pink of the vanadal constitution. Quistis pressed her hand to the clean wound. ¡°I require this one to be mended,¡± she chanted. When she took her hand away only soft scar tissue remained. ¡°I don¡¯t think we¡¯re done with our hosts,¡± she said as she replaced the flask in her bag. ¡°Nah, but we smote fear in them. Vial, ye still in one piece?¡± ¡°Safe and hale, brother. I need to get me one of these when we get back,¡± the other warrior said as he shook gore off his borrowed blade. There was a ring of ruined corpses around him, parts of them trying to crawl away. He slammed his armoured foot down on some. The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. Quistis urged them forward into one of the open tunnel mouths. Rumi was quiet at her back. ¡°Seeing anything?¡± ¡°Shattered bits of weave,¡± the Egia replied. ¡°There is that pattern I saw all the way up top and, in the tunnel, but it¡¯s faint now.¡± ¡°Keep at it. At least this answers some questions for us. Something like this doesn¡¯t just grow overnight.¡± Oh, Goddess¡­ A nightmare room welcomed them. Quistis knew it for what it was the moment she stepped inside, and her stomach lurched into her throat at the very notion of its existence. A single orb, somewhere high above, still twitched and lit up the ruins. Bodies were embedded in the wall, all of them charred black. Barlo got closer to one and grunted in disgust. ¡°Used to be female if I¡¯m any judge,¡± he said, voice low. He swung his torch around. ¡°All of them. No limbs. Held in cradles. There are tubes going inside the corpses.¡± He spat. ¡°I can¡¯t count them all,¡± Vial put in as he moved around with Quistis¡¯s sprite. ¡°There¡¯s so many.¡± He stopped by one body. Its abdomen was distended and had burst. A mound of flesh had leaked out and putrefied on the floor. All unfortunates in there had been cooked alive. ¡°This used to be a breeding room,¡± Quistis said, just so the words would be out of her. ¡°Chimera stocks were being bred here. Just buying warm bodies wasn¡¯t enough.¡± The Academy had stamped out the more abject Vitalis practitioners. She had read of the purge years back. It seemed they had missed one. ¡°Someone used a devourer in here,¡± Rumi said. ¡°Its weave lingers.¡± ¡°Can you say which one?¡± ¡°I think this was Titan¡¯s Punishment,¡± she said, quiet. ¡°Yes, that¡¯s the one. Not a pattern I recognise on the weave.¡± ¡°So there was a powerful Metal Mind down here, picking a fight with whichever Vitalis nursed this atrocity. We should thank them if we find them.¡± Quistis fought back a shiver of revulsion as her sprite went up, showing row upon row of burnt cadavers. The cavern had been packed tight; every nook occupied by at least one cradle. There were easily a couple hundreds. ¡°Or have them executed for murder.¡± ¡°Mercy killing,¡± Barlo mused. ¡°The Punishment woulda killed them all in a blink. Good control too. Didn¡¯t punch off the mountain¡¯s top.¡± Quistis wanted to argue for the sake of her sanity but decided against it. Would they have done different? Probably not. Only so much could be done for victims of a Vitalis, and death was kinder than living. Some of the other rooms showed similar devastation. There was a destroyed laboratory, equipment reduced to melted lumps of glass. Holding cages had been opened, their contents splattered into gore. An operation room, with bone tables and instruments, lay intact, gruesome work rotted through, unrecognisable. They lost count of the corpses they found. The Sanctum had thrown a wall of claws and teeth at its invaders and had been beaten back. The creatures that assaulted Vial and Rumi were nothing more than the surviving dregs, doomed to slow decay. Then they found the stairs. A perfectly even set ran down into a deeper, blacker darkness. ¡°There,¡± Rumi said. ¡°It all leads down there.¡± ¡°Can¡¯t be worse than the rest,¡± Barlo grumbled as he went down into the inky dark. He barely fit through the narrow tunnel. The stairs led deeper down under the mountain. Air, thick with the stench of putrefaction, seemed to congeal around them, as dead as anything else in there. For the first time in hours, Quistis was happy to have the mask on, both for the protection it offered and for hiding her face. Blood ran down her chin from where she had bitten through her lip. Decades of horror within a stone throw of Valen. What are we even doing if we¡¯ve allowed this to happen at all? She ran into Vial¡¯s back as the stairs ended and they emerged into a cavernous room. A throne of bones and viscera dominated its centre or had at some point. Now it lay toppled over and half-burned. ¡°They fought in here,¡± Rumi said, looking slightly sick. ¡°There were two of them. They were spectacularly powerful. At least to match up with Adjunct Leea.¡± She walked around, eyes unfocused as she read only what she could see in the pitch. Her steel-toed boots clanked on solid stone. ¡°Another devourer was used. Here.¡± She tapped the naked stone with a heel. Quistis¡¯s sprite showed a triangular patch of floor with no growth on it, clean and smooth. ¡°Titan¡¯s Punishment again?¡± Rumi shook her head. ¡°No, this was a different one. Much viler.¡± She concentrated for a moment and closed her eyes. ¡°Life eater. Wild.¡± Her brow furrowed and she looked pained in the light. ¡°Poisonous. No!¡± Her eyes snapped open, and she reeled back. Barlo was at her side in a moment, mace hefted, looking for whatever had frightened her. Vial grabbed her shoulder to steady her. ¡°Captain, this is bad,¡± Rumi said, shaking with every word. She shook her hands as if to get filth off them. ¡°We need to go back to Valen and get the Commander. We¡¯re in trouble.¡± ¡°Talk to me first, Rumi,¡± Quistis said as she headed to her side. ¡°What do you see?¡± ¡°This was Disintegration.¡± She pointed at the bare rock. ¡°And the rest was fire. There¡¯s only one channeller that wielded that monstrosity. She¡¯s dead.¡± Oh no. ¡°And does this channeller that makes ye piss yer pants have a name?¡± Barlo grumbled. Rumi scowled up at him. ¡°It¡¯s Cinder, you blockhead.¡± She spat out the name. ¡°Bloody thrice-damned Cinder was in here, where you stand right now.¡± Shaking off Vial, she moved some steps forward. ¡°A portal was used right here, and someone walked through. If so, Cinder can be in Valen right now, right under our noses.¡± Barlo¡¯s free hands balled into fists and his jaw tightened, all levity gone. ¡°Are ye sure? An awful lot of assumption on that,¡± he said, voice like rumbling thunder. ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter if she¡¯s sure,¡± Quistis replied. ¡°If there¡¯s two channellers that we don¡¯t have tabs on, who can use devourers of that magnitude, then we need to consider a worst-case scenario.¡± She had already opened up a portal straight to Valen¡¯s Illum Hearth. This needed acting upon. ¡°There¡¯s a corpse here,¡± Vial called from the opposite end of the room, where the cone of devastation hit the wall. ¡°There¡¯s corpses everywhere,¡± Barlo shot back. ¡°Aye, but this one moves.¡± Quistis cursed and headed over. The day held only surprises and none of them had been pleasant so far. A woman was entombed in the wall, a complicated lattice of tubes pocketing her flesh and holding her upright. The spell hadn¡¯t hit her fully, but it had been enough to char half of her. The other half had bloated with death. But Vial held at sword point something different. On the floor, cowering before the corpse, was a figure. It approximated a woman. She was skeletal thin, wilted and dishevelled. Thin wisps of white hair clung to her scalp and bones poked out against her skin. She hid her face and tried to shy away from the light, hissing when Vial took a step closer. His sword¡¯s killing point was aimed straight at the thing¡¯s throat. ¡°Don¡¯t touch that,¡± Rumi called from behind. ¡°That¡¯s a Flesh Doll. Survived her maker and is now dying along with the Sanctum. She¡¯s bleeding illum.¡± Quistis looked at the creature and then at the corpse, ¡°I guess this was our Vitalis¡±. She put a hand on the remains, to the Flesh Doll¡¯s hissed horror. The skin was cold and wax soft, yielding to her touch. They wouldn¡¯t get anything from that. But the doll¡­ ¡°Vial, be ready to take that with us.¡± It growled at her, showing rotted needle-like teeth. It was too weakened to do much more than growl and shrink back against the wall at the feet of its maker. ¡°I require this be preserved,¡± Quistis chanted. A shimmering, translucent barrier encased the Flesh Doll and held it in place. Even so wasted, it struggled against the bond, enough that it proved troublesome. ¡°I can hold it long enough that we get to Valen. Pick it up and be ready to move,¡± she ordered. ¡°Barlo, can you make your way back up to the cave on your own?¡± ¡°Give me two of yer draughts and I¡¯ll be fine,¡± he replied. He looked like he would enjoy cracking some more chimera skulls. She threw him the flasks. ¡°Get up there and get that chest of papers. You can handle yourself out of the tunnels after that. Drop it off at Lucian¡¯s. Tell him that if I don¡¯t see sorties go up for a thousand griffons each, hunting any leads on whoever the rats dealt with, I will have him flogged and salted.¡± ¡°Aye, ma¡¯am.¡± ¡°Rumi, you head straight for the Gate. I¡¯m giving you special permission for its use. Go to Aztroa Magnor and find Falor. He¡¯s visiting the Empress. Find him and tell him Tallah Amni is active again, and likely in Valen. Do not let anyone belay you.¡± Rumi saluted with her right fist to her left shoulder. ¡°Yes, ma¡¯am.¡± She rushed through the portal without waiting for further instructions. Quistis waited until Vial had the struggling creature on his shoulder and passed through the portal. She had another look around the room, raised her mask to spit blood and bile on the memory of that Sanctum of horrors, and went through. Chapter 1.04.1: Gloria Nostra In the sub-levels of the hospital, far beneath the day-to-day bustle, Vergil believed he was dreaming. He lay on a rough bed of interwoven white roots with their thin, hooked thorns digging uncomfortably into his skin. He was dimly aware of a transfusion hooked into his arms, and of some exchange between him and the ancient tree but could make no sense of it. Something inside him was blooming, ripening, changing, though he couldn¡¯t think straight enough to understand what. He flickered around the edges of consciousness, a corpse that hadn¡¯t been allowed to fade away and rest. Who¡¯d been the two women he saw by firelight? Where was he? Why didn¡¯t it all hurt?! It had hurt for so long, so deeply, that he felt the absence of pain like an absence of himself. Women in green bustled about him. He didn¡¯t know any of their faces. They came and went like visions of a world he wasn¡¯t sure was real. Pain, his beloved pain, had become a memory of a dream, fading just like him in the sterile white light of the leaves. Whatever his headware had to say had become just a tangle of absurd strings of characters. He couldn¡¯t keep up with the constant, red-flagged alerts. Vergil Vansce fell headfirst into a long dream of a time before¡­ ¡°Damn, my shift starts in fifteen minutes. I¡¯m going to park my character here and finish up the mission when I get back.¡± ¡°What¡¯s your assignment today, Vansce?¡± There were three men around the campfire, all three wearing mismatching sets of armour pieces from a dozen time periods. The dead littered the ground around them in a grim display of bloodshed. ¡°Carbon dioxide scrubbers, S14. Routine check.¡± One of the knights shook his head, making a sound of disgust. His armour rattled dully. ¡°I don¡¯t envy your schedule, man. It stinks down there.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t I know it. Anyway, I¡¯ll come back online after. Don¡¯t kill the boss without me. I need the levels. I don¡¯t want to wait another six days for it to respawn.¡± The knight nearest the fire waved a salute to the others and then reached over his head. The neural connector disengaged with a barely audible click and the grey reality of his small cabin reasserted itself. ¡°Vergil Vansce, please report for duty at: Carbon Dioxide Scrubber, Section 14. Details have been uploaded to your heads-up display. Ten minutes to start of work shift.¡± Argia¡¯s slightly metal-tinged voice echoed from a speaker in the wall as if on cue. Vergil sighed as he dressed in his work overalls, banging his shoulders and elbows as he struggled in the cramped space. The trick was to fold himself instead of the clothes and do up the zip only after walking out. ¡°Natural born, how lucky I am,¡± he griped for maybe the millionth time as he tried to stretch without banging his head on the low ceiling. A family line that had no truck with genetic tampering had produced him much too tall for the Gloria Nostra and then discarded him as soon as he could be put to work. How lucky indeed. A natural born male was worth exactly as much as his excrement to the gynocracy that led the Gloria. His cranial implant already fed him the day¡¯s assignment as well as directions toward his planned work location. He didn¡¯t need any directions, especially as the route Argia suggested was always longer than it needed to be. She said it was safer, as if there was anything to be safe from. His cabin¡¯s door slid open with a slight electric whine and the light inside went off. In a few minutes the inside would be freezing cold as all power was cut from it for the duration of the workday. How lucky he was to be of use at such a tender age. Vergil knew by heart the maze of ducts, walkways, and corridors that made up the lower levels of the Gloria. Most of the ship¡¯s operation was automated and barely ever required human supervision, so he would very likely be alone for the entire day. Again. The quiet thrum of machinery working as intended accompanied him as he made his way towards the outer ring to the literal belly of the ship. He paused by one of the rare observation ports, a window in the side of the ship no larger than his head. Bright blue stretched away from him, the curve of the planet below just barely visible on the edge of the port. His heads-up display attached a pointer to it. It was designated as Athos III and had been there his entire life. He tried to crane his neck and catch a glimpse of the other two SPRAWL ships that he knew were also in orbit, but they were out of position at that hour. Nonetheless, the sight of the planet improved his disposition. It often did. A storm brewed above the planetary ocean and the angry swirl of clouds fascinated his attention for a few moments before an angry red text popped up in his display to hurry him along. Some of the guys from his Alternative Reality Experiences had said the Gloria would be breaking orbit before the year¡¯s end. The terraforming of Athos III had been completed, ahead of its century long schedule so all three SPRAWLs were preparing to head back out into deep space once the space port for their youngest sister was completed. He could see the shape of that floating on a lower orbit, ships moving in a slow dance around its massive hulk. ¡°Not long now,¡± he mused. The idea of that single observation port filling with blackness made an ugly lump in his throat. You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story. ¡°Argia, would it be possible for me to transfer to a surface colony?¡± he asked the open air, savouring the sight for a minute more. ¡°No,¡± came the reply as a text in his vision. ¡°All five colonies on Athos III have reached stable population thresholds. No new personnel will be allotted for planetary settlement.¡± Pity. Not that he would have ever qualified for settlement duty as a male with no higher qualifications, but it was worth the question. Despite Argia¡¯s laid-out route, he opened an access hatch close-by and took the ladder down. It would bypass several levels. Engineers never bothered to lock the hatches properly, not down there, and Argia¡¯s complaints could be ignored while he was out of her many-eyed sight. Very few other workers ever had cause to venture so low and the state of the shaft showed their neglect. Loose panels on the walls, exposed wiring, air vents that wheezed with accumulated filth. Even the ladder was barely still fastened to the wall. Its rattles echoed as he descended. When he was just a few meters off the lowest deck, the ladder shook. He clung tighter to the metal rungs and produced his flashlight. Something scrambled into a vent when he tried to shine a light on it. ¡°What was that? Argia, is there someone else on the level with me?¡± ¡°Negative,¡± came the text reply. ¡°See secondary assignment for the day: find missing specimen / burn \possible\ nest. Please use approved route.¡± ¡°What missing specimen?¡± ¡°Details available in work file.¡± With the ladder stable and nothing moving down towards him, he finished his descent. If that wasn¡¯t just fantastic! How lucky he was. The scrubbers were some of his favourite places on the ship precisely because they were quiet, deserted, and generally did not give him any work to do. There was nothing in the air scrubbers for pests to feed on. ¡°Secondary assignment: specimen retrieval / removal. Specimen appears to be aggressive. Caution is advised.¡± Vergil reviewed the files uploaded to his headware. Normally he wouldn¡¯t have bothered but normally his ladder wouldn¡¯t shake in the dark. Some pictures of the creature were also available. It had broken out of a containment tank in one of the ship¡¯s bays and bolted for the air ducts. Covered in carapace, four-legged, about a meter long, and with a wicked looking tail, it looked like something Vergil would not enjoy finding. ¡°What a wonderful life I live,¡± he mumbled as he walked the narrow passageways, his motion detector in hand. Lights flickered to life and died away as he made his way deeper into the ship, motion sensors his only company for a long time. He had to stop at one point when he ran into a group of five women. Three wore the grey uniform of Engineers and the other two were in full body armour and armed with some nasty-looking rifles. He turned towards a wall, lowered his head and they passed him by without harassment. By their conversation, they were also looking for the missing specimen. Seeing the security detail escorting the Engineers brought the unfamiliar and uncomfortable feeling of danger. Hairs on the back of his neck rose as he unholstered his own special-issued plasma pistol. It was considered non-lethal for humans but powerful enough for most critters that would infest the ducts. Vergil, as a pest control technician, had only fired it half a dozen times in the three years since he had been assigned to the job, and intensely regretted his lack of practice. With the motion detector in one hand and the pistol in the other, he walked slowly among the tall machines that produced the very air the whole ship breathed. Most of them were hidden behind thick protective casings that only the maintenance crew could access so that only left the corridors and general access hatches to check. Lights failed to turn on down one of the corridors. ¡°Argia, I am at corridor number seventeen, sub-level three. There¡¯s no light,¡± he informed the machine spirit of the Gloria. ¡°Motions sensors do not register movement at hatch seventeen, sub-level three,¡± came the reply instantly. Vergil waved his pistol toward the usual placement of the motion sensors. ¡°I¡¯m here and moving around.¡± ¡°Maintenance ticket has been created. A maintenance crew will be there shortly to investigate malfunction.¡± The motion detector in his hand came alive with a beep. ¡°Of course there¡¯s something right in there.¡± Vergil sighed and clasped the detector to his waist to free a hand for his flashlight. It could be the missing specimen, he thought, but it could also be any other pest chewing through the cables. He had given up trying to count the number of times that had happened with critters brought up from the planet. Too many of them had a taste for copper and silver, sometimes even for electricity. If he¡¯d leave it for the maintenance crew, he¡¯d get scolded and punished again. The motion detector beeped as he walked into the dark corridor, his shadow long ahead of him. There was no sound aside from the constant, echoing beeps in the narrow space. He stopped; the beeping stopped. When he moved, it started again. The light from the main Scrubber deck turned off after some time and he was left only with the narrow cone of the flashlight and the sickly green glow of the motion detector. He spun in place, a creeping fear mounting on the nape of his neck. Nothing behind him. Nothing to the sides. Whatever it was, it moved quietly through the wall. All in all, a good sign. If it was that quiet, doing that much moving around, then it couldn¡¯t be the missing specimen. A thing that size would register somehow. He looked for and found a wall access panel. With a set of screwdrivers, he pried it loose and stuck his head in the crawlspace. Sure enough, the smell of burnt electronics hit him instantly. Somewhere to the side something threw up sparks and he could hear the whine of a damaged electronic component. ¡°Argia, I found the damaged area,¡± he said when coming out. ¡°There¡¯s a strong smell coming out of wall panel D, in¡ª¡± Pain flared under his chin. Something sharp stabbed up through the soft tissue there, went up through the roof of his mouth and punched out through the centre of his face. He choked on blood and spasmed in shock. Like a fish on a hook, flaying his arms and kicking his feet, he was lifted into the air. In his final terrified moments of consciousness Vergil saw the creature slithering out from among the mess of cables crisscrossing the ceiling. The specimen had grown. Its long, serrated tail effortlessly brought Vergil level with its head. He gurgled thick hot blood. The creature¡¯s black lower jaw opened up into two pieces, fangs as long as his fingers shimmering in the dark. Angry red messages crowded for attention in Vergil¡¯s dimming field of view. The shine on the silver fangs was infinitely more fascinating and urgent. Pain lasted for much more than a moment. Chapter 1.04.2: Manifest destiny The noise made him stir. Something was wrong with the noise. He stirred in his sleep and turned over, but that felt wrong too. His cot was too hard and rough, the shape of it unfamiliar somehow. He mulled it over in the half-awake state he enjoyed just moments before the ship¡¯s intercom came alive and Argia woke him. The ship? Something was wrong about the ship. His eyes opened sharply and then closed instantly, obscenely bright light blinding him. He couldn¡¯t hear the ship, the background noise of his life so far. Everything was gone, from the quiet thrum and vibrations of the engines to the air cycling through his cabin and the soft buzz of the lights when they turned on automatically. It was all gone. The noise replacing it resolved into a cacophony of voices talking over one another, yelling, and even laughing. He had never heard so many voices all at once, all vying to be overheard above the din. Slowly, carefully, he opened his eyes again. The world around him was tilted at a strange angle. No, no, he was at a wrong angle. He was lying in a cobbled alley, on his side. It took him a moment to process the strangeness of that. There was stone beneath him. It felt real. He had never seen stone before, not actual stone. His reality had always been metal and plastic imitations. Stone was not as interesting as he had always imagined it to be. It smelled strange as well but it was the air around that was foul. He pushed himself up and heard clanging. His clothes clanged and were heavier than expected. He almost fell back on his face. He looked up and squinted against a bright blue sky, dotted here and there with soft white shapes of clouds. For long moments he couldn¡¯t tear his eyes away, caught between fascination and absolute terror of being sucked up into that azure infinite. Whatever Alternative Reality Experience this one was, it was genuinely immersive. He couldn¡¯t remember another one quite so vivid. It almost seemed real. It felt real. He couldn¡¯t remember logging into it, nor falling asleep. Weirdest dream¡­ I must¡¯ve been dead tired to drop while playing. With some uncertainty he moved his hand to the back of his neck, folding his fist over empty air. Normally that would have disconnected him from his entertainment system. There was nothing to grip. Pain. He remembered, too clearly, the pain of something biting into him. He put a hand to his face and searched for the wound he knew was supposed to be there. No scar. No wound. No connection port on the back of his head. There weren¡¯t even signs that he had ever had connection ports. ¡°Argia?¡± he called out. Even his voice was different. He waited for a second, and then some more. Argia normally replied instantly to anyone on the Gloria. It monitored everything, including the Experiences. ¡°Argia?¡± he called out again. It unnerved him to not have the machine spirit reply. The text scrolled on top of his vision. Argia and Athos III had been the two real constants of his life. Both¡­ gone? That sunk in his stomach with the weight of a black hole that threatened to turn him inside out. He waved his hand, gesturing like in the virtual experiences, to see his menu and character. Nothing happened. With a different gesture of his hand, he tried again, repeating for every Experience he had ever played. Nothing happened. Even as he tried to not rush over the precipice of panic, Vergil found himself smiling. He had seen this before, somewhere in some Experience once. Hero died and was taken to a strange world where his true destiny was revealed. All rather trite, but¡­ Could he have died? Was he living out some absurd fantasy in the final spasms of his life? Could it be real? He would have laughed if not for the people peering at him through the mouth of the alley. A madman gesturing at the air and having a quiet moment of panic in the crook of a dead end? If he was dreaming, he might as well get the most out of it. If not, well, it was still a step up from being a male on the Gloria Nostra. Wondering too much on the whys and hows wasn¡¯t going to get him answers. Ok, let¡¯s think for a moment. First things first. He looked down at himself and his clothes. The clanging he heard was a chain-mail vest he wore underneath a green tunic. Lower he saw that he also wore metal shin and thigh guards clasped over tanned leather trousers. They felt uncomfortable, a size too large maybe, and cumbersome. Resting against one of the walls were a bright yellow kite shield and a short gladius sword. He recognized the combination as starter equipment befitting for paladin inductees from some of the Experiences he¡¯d spent his free time on. This looked, down to the pattern on the shield, like something out of Crusade of the Innocent. He¡¯d been playing just that morning. I¡¯m a paladin. Was he? The prospect of serving as a warrior of faith destined to protect the weak and vanquish evil made him giggle. He knew that was the motto of the Paladin Corps but had no idea where he¡¯d learned that or what the Paladin Corps even was. Maybe this was an Experience after all, and it functioned on the same principles as the others. ¡°Argia, have I had any data packets downloaded without my consent?¡± No reply came. Not even a text. Could it be real, after all? Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! He grabbed the gear and walked out into the sunlit plaza beyond the mouth of the alley. And immediately turned on his heels and retreated right back. A riot of colours assaulted him with dizzying patterns and motion and a buzz of activity he could never have imagined in his wildest waking dreams. Men were everywhere, walking, talking, discussing with other men. And with women! Those gave him a moment of pause and he instinctively drew back from the sight, dread drenching him in cold sweat. Sixteen standard years of conditioning told him to turn around, face the wall, lower his head, and wait until the women had gone on their way. But they weren¡¯t the imposing frightening figures from the Gloria Nostra, just other people. They didn¡¯t look down on the other men on the street but were talking and laughing and interacting with them, as equals. It looked that way at least. Vergil kept reminding himself of that as he plucked the courage to go out through the crowd. He walked out into an open air marketplace. Stalls of produce and meats and condiments lined the narrow, cobbled streets. The colours dizzied him. Aromas of rich condiments coated the air. Fresh and seared meat followed, fish on ice, perfumes, and herbs. He couldn¡¯t begin to identify most of them but they made his head spin with the vast newness of it all. His stomach growled. A quick check of his pockets revealed that he was penniless. Part of him wondered if his headware was making things up. The rest was too fascinated by the sights, sounds, and smells to care. There needs to be some sort of Guild that employs new arrivals. There¡¯s always a Guild in the Experiences. He clung to the idea and made a goal out of it. He stopped a passing man to ask for directions. Except that it wasn¡¯t a man, not a human one at least. The stranger was even taller than he and had the most strikingly beautiful features Vergil had ever witnessed. He had a hawkish face with large, amber-coloured eyes and high cheekbones. His frame was lank and supple, and he moved with such grace that Vergil became conscious of his own stooping gait. The man smiled encouragingly as Vergil stepped in his path and opened his mouth¡­and immediately forgot everything he wanted to say. ¡°May I help you, young human?¡± Even his voice was wonderful, like cool water running over white marble. In that moment, Vergil panicked. He hadn¡¯t considered if his character spoke the local language or if he would just sound like an imbecile. He understood the man, so he tried answering. ¡°Uh¡­ yes, please. I¡¯m sorry for bothering you.¡± The words rolled off his tongue, alien sounding but, yet, as familiar to him as the back of his hands. Strangely enough, he spoke as if he¡¯d always spoken that strange flowing language. An itch pestered him somewhere in centre of his skull but was easy enough to ignore. ¡°I¡¯m new here and¡­ it¡¯s overwhelming.¡± He hadn¡¯t meant to be so honest, but his fascination for the strange man overrode anything else. ¡°Ah,¡± his interlocutor said, and then smiled the most dazzling smile Vergil had ever witnessed. It couldn¡¯t be real. ¡°Well, I¡¯m an aelir. I imagine my kind is not very common where you come from. Don¡¯t worry, I get this kind of reaction quite often when I visit here.¡± ¡°Where are you from?¡± Vergil was certain he wanted to ask something else, but he couldn¡¯t rightly remember what it was. ¡°From Nen, across the Divide.¡± It took a couple more vapid questions to the aelir before he remembered what information he needed. The Guild Halls were in the Inner Plaza, just opposite the Paladin Corps recruitment office. Vergil couldn¡¯t miss it if he kept walking towards the Upper City in the distance. What Vergil didn¡¯t have was money, and credentials from an established workshop or a military branch. He needed money to pay for admission into the Guild, and he needed to be part of an established trade before he would be licensed as an adventurer for hire. Finding out all of that had cost him an entire day of aimless wandering and short panic attacks whenever he had to interact with a female representative. They weren¡¯t so bad. He couldn¡¯t meet any of their gazes, but they weren¡¯t being actively unpleasant to him. That first night he slept huddled in the same alley he had woken up in. For the first time in his life, he fell asleep on an empty, grumbling stomach. The more the feeling sank in that this might be reality, the more he avoided looking up at the sky. Even glancing at the star speckled expanse made him sweat and shiver as if there was a gaping maw up there that waited to swallow him whole. On the second day he manufactured a story about him coming from a small village somewhere in the nowhere, his dream of being a great protector of the people, his inherited weapon and shield and so on. The Paladin Corps recruiter, a bored man named Louis, didn¡¯t believe him much but a new member from out in the sticks, with his own gear, was a member he didn¡¯t need to spend time and money equipping. He even said as much. Vergil received basic training, his induction into the local paladin order, and some basic skills with the sword and shield. To call him an amateur was a kindness. At the end of three weeks of training he was given the choice between enrolling as a soldier bound for Aztroa Magnor or being licensed for adventuring sorties. Adventuring seemed like the less dangerous path, so he decided on that. Maybe it should have rung a warning that, out of all fresh recruits, he¡¯d been the only one to refuse recruitment into the ranks of the Empire. The Corps were kind enough to offer him Anatol¡¯s Blessing as a parting gift, a sort of tattoo that was infused with words of power from the god Anatol himself. It promised to heal most scrapes and minor wounds, just what a rookie needed. Just his luck. Argia was still in his head as a heads-up display, but her functionality was nearly null. Without the Gloria and the machine spirit herself, all that this hobbled version could do was translate text and run some self-diagnostics on his state of being. Her text updates mostly consisted of failed connection errors or random facts about the city. Most of them seemed like fabrications. Why he even still had it was a mystery that he decided wasn¡¯t worth thinking on. Once he had his induction, the Guild posed very little challenge. They didn¡¯t care where he had come from or where he wanted to go as long as he got them results and he could be held accountable for his misdeeds. All adventurers were the same in the eyes of the recruiters and were treated the same up until results came in. The Guild cared and paid only for results. He got his Adventurer License within half-a-day of questions and form filling and was then shown towards the rookie-aimed billboards bursting with sortie offers from various merchants, farmers, or other folk of Valen that needed cheap work done quick. He could scarcely believe it had been, after all, as easy as that. Vergil Vansce was officially a rookie paladin adventurer looking for a group to take on his first missions on the path to fame, glory, and wealth. That was what the Guild promotional banners promised. Why is everything moving so fast? Vergil thought as he stood outside the Guild Halls, staring at the scroll and token that acknowledged his status. This can¡¯t be right. I just got here. The thought struck him as odd. He had been in Valen for weeks already. He even knew the city now somewhat. He had worked some days as a menial for one of the many construction sites rebuilding what looked like the ruins left by a great fire. He was given bread and wine by the workers and made small talk, got to know some of the markets, and even had the temerity of exploring more of the Lower City and its twisting, winding narrow streets. Weeks had passed¡­ Why would he think otherwise? What¡¯s going on? Vergil stepped outside himself for a moment like a passenger leaning out of his own head. Life rushed around him, forward, sideways, sometimes backward, sometimes skipping between moments. It felt like someone searching for one frame in a video file, and it wasn¡¯t him doing it. What¡¯s happening? I¡­ You¡¯re too perceptive for your own good, lad, a woman¡¯s voice answered with impatience. Put him back and take it easier, girls. Let¡¯s not have echoes or we¡¯ll never be done with him. And back he went into this new, wonderful life. The future had looked so bright in those first days, and he was excited for the first time ever to live it. Chapter 1.05.1: Breaking open Tallah watched the blizzard with a mug of tea held in her hands. Winter had followed them down from the mountains with dogged determination and had now stationed itself outside her window. Snow built up outside as if determined to swallow the city whole. Her head was filled with strange images of sail ships floating through emptiness, carrying people to unknown worlds on invisible tides. There were unknown worlds out there. There were unknown people. The possibilities. She couldn¡¯t keep her thoughts away from the amazing things Sil had gotten from the boy¡¯s head. A chance meeting in a cave, a hostage of ratmen saved to be eaten later like some cheap cut of smoked meat. She¡¯d shown a moment of mercy in the slaughter, stayed her hand for a brief instant, and had been rewarded with finding an Other. It stank of fore-planned coincidence. She couldn¡¯t help but keep mulling on what exactly had stayed her hand. Was it the state of the wretch? How he had strained against his cage to warn her of danger? Or something else entirely? She scrunched up her nose and grimaced at her misty reflection in the clouded glass. ¡°You¡¯re quiet,¡± Sil said from her desk. She had Anna¡¯s wand on a support in front of her and prodded it with an array of small, sharp utensils. She¡¯d been at it for days. Tallah pressed her forehead to the ice-rimmed window and closed her eyes. Her fever ran high, higher even than when she infused. The chill helped keep her mind clear while her thoughts chased one another and jumped fences they shouldn¡¯t. ¡°I¡¯m just thinking.¡± ¡°Bad kind of thinking? Or good?¡± ¡°Neither. Just¡­ thinking.¡± She tried to pull in illum and instantly regretted it. Acid flooded her veins, burning from her heart to behind her eyes. Tears welled up until she released the power. Fighting Anna had been sobering. Even with Christina aiding her she had barely survived the clash. Victory coming on a coin toss was barely anything to be happy about. Anna had grown incredibly powerful while in hermitage, doing her dirty experiments, never known, likely rarely challenged. Deidra, on the other hand¡­ She let out a groan. Why did it have to be Deidra and not Lucretia? Why was Lucian so blasted useless when she needed the sleaze? Deidra was a bad idea altogether. She closed her eyes and let out a long, slow breath. Thinking of Deidra inevitably brought up Rhine. It always did as the two of them had been so bloody close for so bloody long. Her younger sister¡¯s dimpled smile and bright hazel eyes loomed up from the folds of time and Tallah was drawn to the memory like a moth to murderous flame. She tried to keep Rhine¡¯s real face in her mind¡¯s eye for a heartbeat longer. Her sister¡¯s fire-red hair, so much like hers, falling in waves down her shoulders. Hazel eyes that lit up the darkest, most hopeless odds. Her laugh and her fury that could charm and shatter armies. Even as Tallah¡¯s lips creased up into a thin, trembling smile, the memory crumpled. The starlight in her sister¡¯s eyes darkened to a hollowed-out stare that saw nothing. Her smile withdrew into a thin-lipped gash on a gaunt, alien face. Who she¡¯d found under the mountain hadn¡¯t been her younger sister. That she could never remember Rhine properly but only as that bloody wraith made her stomach fold in on itself in anger. She snapped off the mug¡¯s handle without meaning to, nearly spilling tea all over herself. Deidra was striking out for her own vengeance, of that much she was certain. And Tallah couldn¡¯t afford another hair¡¯s width close call. Anna had been a frothing-mad, cornered animal, and put down like one. For Deidra it would be personal, and it would hurt worse than anything the blood mage had inflicted. This time Rhine¡¯s memory and their shared love for her wouldn¡¯t be enough to keep them from killing one another. They should be allies. It would make sense to pool their strength and go for Catharina¡¯s throat together. But she knew better than most that it wouldn¡¯t be enough. It¡¯d barely be enough to reach the thrice-damned Empress. Only through the plan would they have a chance of surviving, and there was no way Deidra would accept it willingly. She bit on a knuckle and worried at it with her teeth until she felt the metal taste of blood on her lips. It chased away some of the unwanted ghosts of memory. They still scratched at the scabs of wounds that refused to close. An ember of a dead smile. A ragged, shuddering breath. The emaciated, ruined figure shuffling towards the bars. Tears stung at the corners of her eyes and she growled in frustration. Rest more, you child. Illum still comes to your call. You have avoided the worst consequences of your gambit. Rest and stop torturing yourself over memories and failures. Christina¡¯s honeyed tone and her poorly veiled criticism only served to get her blood boiling. The pity in her mental voice salted all wounds Tallah bore. You need to stop fretting, dear. It cannot be productive. You have come too far on this mission to start questioning yourself on this hour. And now Bianca decided to weigh in as well. Of course she did. ¡°Are you all insistent on mothering me!?¡± Tallah snapped out-loud, tone terser than intended. She wiped her eyes with the sleeve of her nightgown. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°I haven¡¯t said anything,¡± Sil replied, distracted. ¡°Keep your annoyances with your ghosts to yourself.¡± She leaned back on her stool, stretched and yawned. ¡°Oh my soul, this thing is infuriating.¡± Tallah turned away from the blizzard and picked up her mug of tea from the windowsill. It had gone cold. On impulse, she tried to reheat it and failed. ¡°What are you trying to do?¡± Sil had been poking the bone wand for hours and it showed. Her eyes were red from the chemical fumes she used for her tests, and her face had gone paler than normal. ¡°Your creepy friend had this thing imbued with all sorts of interesting little effects. But it¡¯s made of bone. And I¡¯m certain it¡¯s one of her own. Even with its master dead, it¡¯s still trying to protect itself. It¡¯s the cheekiest little piece of pettiness I¡¯ve ever seen.¡± She demonstrated this by pressing the soft tip of a brush on one side of the wand, trying to add ink into the etched grooves. The nail high runes shifted immediately, folding in on themselves. ¡°Anna was always secretive, Sil. All blood mages are. She¡¯s had a century to make that wand. You won¡¯t crack it in a fortnight.¡± Sil gave her a level look that spoke of what she thought of that assessment. ¡°You and your clique weren¡¯t as clever as you all thought you were,¡± she said. She bent back over the wand and donned her loupe. She wrote her notes left-handed and kept teasing the weapon with a burin. Why is she like this? Bianca asked and let out a mental sigh that grated on Tallah nerves. Everything grated on her nerves since they got back to Valen. Waiting for news about the boy was its own brand of slow torture. What Sil had told her were fragments of a fever dream that she couldn¡¯t fit together in any useful way. The boy was alien and full of promise but stuck in a husk that may never be salvageable. Was he even worth getting stuck in Valen over Winter? They could still leave for Solstice before the week was done while the high passes stayed open. She could manage the journey even with Sil chewing her ears off for not resting. You won¡¯t make the passes in your condition, even with a caravan, Christina said and accompanied the thought with a memory of last year¡¯s blizzard that had almost buried them in the forests of Solstice. Sil had nearly lost two toes to frostbite. At your age, you should have a much better understanding of your limits, chit. Tallah opened her mouth for a cussing reply, thought better of getting goaded into it, and instead moved closer to Sil¡¯s desk. ¡°Why is it so interesting to you?¡± A tome waited open on her own desk with her half-finished translation on a separate scroll. She couldn¡¯t focus on it no matter how much she forced herself to sit still and work. ¡°She channelled through this from a distance. Her Flesh Dolls shouldn¡¯t have been able to channel anything on their own. I know that much about blood magic. This should have only worked in her hand, but the dolls were passing it between them. It¡¯s how they kept you easily pinned down.¡± Sil had to create a light sprite and orient it around the wand. Minuscule shadows lengthened as the runes came into relief. She grinned ear to ear, too many teeth showing as she scribbled new notes. ¡°And how¡¯s that going to help us? I can¡¯t make duplicates of myself, and I don¡¯t use my wand.¡± She took wounded offence at the idea of being easily pinned. ¡°It¡¯ll sate my curiosity for one thing. Unlike you, I intend to someday live peacefully somewhere and ply a trade. I don¡¯t want to spend my entire life skulking in cold, dark places.¡± Without looking up she gestured with her burin at the wrapped form of the staff that hung on the wall. ¡°For another, if I can modify the enchantment on that I wouldn¡¯t need to haul it about everywhere we go.¡± Tallah picked up the cursed horned helmet and juggled it one-handed as she paced the room. She tried not to laugh at the idea of a life to come after the mission. Sil generally took it poorly if she did. Anna had been creative in the way she used her dolls, that was true enough. So many of them at once, all channelling as if they were the bitch herself. No wonder it had taken her so long to find the real body and deliver the killing blow. Anna had had a century to become what she did. What would the Empress be? She¡¯d seen the woman in battle, been at her side, witnessed the raw strength she could muster¡­ and knew in her bones that she¡¯d never seen Catharina truly unleashed. What a horrific spectacle that must be. She pushed the thought away. A long way to go still, and at least one old friend¡¯s blood to be spilled. ¡°I need to go see the old man,¡± she mused, restless in the cramped, shadow-strewn room. A gale groaned outside the window, forcing the snow into mad dance. Tallah shivered, ten paces away from the glass and with the hearth burning at her back. ¡°You¡¯re still feverish. Angledeer can wait. I can bet he¡¯s quietly and drunkenly hibernating.¡± Sil did not look away from her work as she spoke. ¡°You should get some sleep.¡± As if I could get any sleep. Again, the thought only served to annoy her further. It wasn¡¯t enough that her power had been maimed, she couldn¡¯t even rest properly and recover. Instead, she said, ¡°I owe him. Without him we¡¯d still¡ª¡± ¡°He¡¯ll keep. He¡¯s got nothing but time. Go sleep. It¡¯ll do you good.¡± Tallah forced herself to drink the cold, sour tea. She set the empty mug on top of the mantel piece. Normally it would annoy Sil, but she was too entranced in her work to notice one more mug where it shouldn¡¯t be. ¡°I don¡¯t want to dream.¡± Sil¡¯s hand stopped scribbling in the middle of a word. Dark-blue eyes rimmed with red turned away from the wand and stared at her with worry. ¡°What?¡± Tallah asked, finally settling down at her desk. She threw the helmet across the room into the open storage chest. It clattered as it hit the lid and bounced away. ¡°Nothing.¡± Quill scratched on paper again. Ice shards pattered against the window. A log snapped in the fire and threw embers against the iron grate. ¡°When did you start dreaming again?¡± ¡°Before we went into the caves. I don¡¯t want to think about it.¡± ¡°Is it bad?¡± ¡°Bad enough.¡± She dreamed of the mountain. Always the mountain and the cruel dark cold beneath it, the rattle of chains and the creaking of the rack. She rubbed at her left eye to dull a phantom sting and the feeling of cold metal sliding through flesh. Now she¡¯d also dream of Rhine. The promise of sleep terrified her worse than the Empress¡¯s torturers ever could. ¡°Are you hearing the song?¡± ¡°No.¡± Don¡¯t lie to her, you absolute child. She will find out sooner or later and bleat at us for a tenday because of your cowardice. Tallah pulled her notes closer. Words danced and swam on the page, teasing her. She squinted and tried to force herself to focus and get her mind back on her work. The words didn¡¯t care. They kept on dancing to the sound of sweet, distant music. Somewhere, beneath the mountain, her gallows sang out to infect her dreams and every waking moment. Chapter 1.06.1: Early return ¡°I¡¯m not going to get any work done tonight,¡± Quistis whined from her desk, a mountain of paper scrolls threatening to collapse on top of her. Barlo set a mug of coffee on the sole free space of the overladen desk. ¡°Drink this. Slowly. Elend stuff,¡± the large vanadal said and picked up some of the papers to take to his own desk. ¡°When¡¯s this become our job?¡± ¡°If you somehow find out, let me know. I¡¯d really like to know too. I¡¯ve got reports coming in from all over and Falor¡¯s pushed it all onto me. How¡¯s that fair?¡± She whined while sipping her coffee. Despite all complaints, she was making a sizeable dent in the workload. A few more hours in the night and she¡¯d probably not think of burning the office down anymore. ¡°The commander¡¯s visiting the Empress,¡± Barlo said. ¡°We hold down the fort in his absence. It¡¯s only normal.¡± Quistis glared at him over the edge of her glasses, and he pretended not to notice. ¡°Kiss-ass,¡± she muttered. ¡°I heard that. ¡®Sides, imagine the mood he¡¯s gonna be in.¡± The door to their office nearly snapped off its hinges and slammed against the wall with a sharp, deafening crack. Falor walked in, still dressed in his white Imperial regalia, with Rumi following him. She was dressed in an ill-fitting blue Imperial uniform that looked to have been sized for someone at least twice her build. ¡°Lord Commander,¡± Quistis greeted him, holding down the stacks of scrolls against the inrush of air. ¡°It¡¯s nice of you to join us, a week after the fact.¡± Her glare snapped to Rumi in a way that promised an extensive debriefing. ¡°My mother is a very demanding woman, Quis,¡± he said without preamble. He had dark rings around his eyes and looked haggard. When he passed by her desk, he picked up the mug of still steaming coffee and downed it all. ¡°I¡¯ve finished two months¡¯ worth of meetings and negotiations with the Militant Lords in a single week. The paperwork will be forthcoming.¡± He gave her a smirk. ¡°I¡¯ll have it all on your desk by this time tomorrow. It¡¯s coming here in a chest.¡± He sat heavily in his high-backed office chair and sunk in it with a sigh. ¡°It¡¯s damned good to be back, all things considered. Has news of Cinder reached the High Lord?¡± ¡°No,¡± Quistis replied, still working on the papers. The Lord Commander never minced words if he could help it. She had expected him to want an update on the situation the moment he got back. ¡°Vial and Aidan are pursuing current leads but otherwise we¡¯ve kept a tight lid on the information. I don¡¯t want another imbecilic panic and subsequent witch hunt.¡± ¡°Which is why we¡¯re in here, doing clerk work, instead of out there, ripping the city in two trying to find her,¡± Barlo put in, flourishing his quill. ¡°Nothing¡¯s wrong, all¡¯s lovely, there¡¯s no insane sorceress running loose in beautiful Valen.¡± Falor turned to the scout, who was sitting at attention by Barlo¡¯s desk. ¡°For my mother¡¯s love, change out of that ridiculous outfit, Rumi. I have work I need you to do.¡± ¡°Am I allowed to burn it?¡± she asked with a hopeful grin. ¡°You¡¯re not allowed to destroy Empire property but do it in your spare time. Now get going. We¡¯re about to get very busy.¡± She saluted and hurried out of the room. ¡°Who¡¯s on guard duty at the Illum Hearth?¡± Falor asked, ticking off concerns. Quistis plucked a paper out of the pile and read off it. ¡°I have our squads down there, rotating out every six bells. One mage killer is always present. We¡¯re not going to have a repeat of that disaster.¡± ¡°Have there been disturbances?¡± ¡°None that we could link. If she¡¯s here, she¡¯s hiding and she¡¯s doing it well. We assume she¡¯s got some new allies that she¡¯s likely using as a front.¡± She finished off a stack of scrolls, set it aside, and turned her attention fully to the conversation. ¡°Commander, we don¡¯t have a solid lead just yet, aside from Rumi¡¯s reading. We only have the two rookies that produced the maps, but they¡¯ve proved harmless thus far.¡± ¡°Define harmless.¡± She extracted another scroll from a different pile on her desk and adjusted her glasses as she read off it, ¡°Tianna of Aieni Holding, of Calabran. Daughter to one Fyodor of Aieni Holding and Saveetha of Merchal Holding. Budding pyromancer. Studied for one year at Hoarfrost Academy, then moved her studies across the Divide. Silestra Adana, of unknown parentage, as per School of Healing edict. Aelir. Unknown age, of course. Appears to be a house medic of the former and accompanies her as a healer. Duration of association unknown.¡± Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road. Falor wrote down the names and tapped the paper with a finger, thoughtful. ¡°The Aieni Holding leads a significant trade company. I had a meeting with some of their representatives just yesterday. I expected to see Fyodor, but he¡¯s apparently become reclusive in his old age. Why¡¯s the daughter in Valen?¡± Quistis shrugged and ruffled some of her documents. ¡°According to our sources in the Guild¡­¡± She made a face at that. The sources were all Lucian¡¯s and dealing with him for information was like handling a pig dipped in lard. While you were naked and dipped in lard. ¡°She¡¯s in the midst of some sort of rebellious moment and seeking to build a name for herself as an adventurer. She rarely undergoes any sorties and mostly spends obscene sums on luxurious living. Either gets outlandish results when she goes out, or she wanders off from the task and never turns it in. Makes for an unreliable asset to the Guild.¡± She sighed and took off her glasses to clean on her dress, more a tic than a need. ¡°I¡¯ve had Vial following them around Valen at a distance but so far it seems they¡¯re just¡­ boring.¡± Falor furrowed his brow and, for a moment, Quistis worried about him. She doubted he had slept at all in the last week. His dark eyes seemed even blacker than usual, and he looked pale. He hadn¡¯t found time to shave, and the stubble was threatening a full-on beard attempt. It didn¡¯t look good on him. She wished she had more information, but it had been a fruitless search ever since the caves. All that fire they¡¯d felt in the caves dulled by the lack of anything concrete to go on, and the only real connection was stonewalled against their attention. Approaching someone with such ties in Imperial Court needed a subtle hand. ¡°Does being quiet and neat sound like Cinder to you?¡± he asked. ¡°When has she ever kept a low, quiet profile?¡± ¡°It¡¯s a miracle she¡¯s still alive at all considering how badly you¡¯ve trashed her during the Illum Hearth ruckus. Maybe she¡¯s just passing Winter here on familiar haunts. Or maybe she¡¯s moved on already and we¡¯re chasing echoes and ghosts.¡± Falor stippled his hands over the desk and cracked each finger joint in turn, deep in thought. ¡°I do wish you¡¯d stop doing that. It¡¯s disgusting,¡± Quistis complained. Falor ignored her. ¡°For the moment we will work under the assumption that she is here, or somewhere hereabout. We¡¯ve got reasonable confirmation that she¡¯s still alive and she¡¯s doing something we are not aware of. Either she had a meeting that went poorly with that Vitalis in the caves, or she went there with the express intention of killing whoever owned the Sanctum. If she¡¯s scheming something, I want to get ahead of it before she ends up down my throat again.¡± ¡°About that,¡± Quistis said, interrupting the Lord Commander¡¯s line of thought. ¡°We recovered one of the mage¡¯s creations. It¡¯s completely feral and degrading quick, but we have it with that bastil whose name I can¡¯t pronounce. They should be able to have a memory map for us in a few more days. If luck holds, we should get the name of its creator, so I¡¯m personally following up on it.¡± She¡¯d had to promise the bastil a look into Valen¡¯s Deep Vault as recompense for their help. Falor would likely approve but that was a matter to discuss later. Falor nodded. He had started drawing a schematic of known information and unknown factors. Quistis would have to look over the draft and fill in the details later to make it readable to others as a plan to follow. ¡°We need to get Cinder¡¯s allies.¡± Falor circled something on the paper. ¡°She¡¯s never been one for idle friendship, so whatever friends she has will be of great value to us if we manage to identify them. Big unknowns there.¡± He turned to Barlo and raised an eyebrow at the sight of his largest warrior crammed into a desk much too small for him. The vanadal¡¯s secondary hands were busy scribbling reports while the mage killer himself looked bored. ¡°Barlo, see if we can learn anything more about these two rookies. If I¡¯m guessing correctly,¡± he said with a meaningful glance at Quistis, ¡°our source in the Guild is Lucian. Have a chat with him and explain, calmly if you may, just how interested we are in all he knows about them.¡± ¡°¡¯Aight, Commander. Do I break his fingers if he¡¯s being pigheaded as usual?¡± ¡°Please don¡¯t break his fingers, Barlo. It¡¯ll come back as a headache for Quis. Take Rumi with you. She should be convincing enough.¡± Barlo saluted, extracted himself carefully from the desk and sauntered off after Rumi. He looked relieved to be away from the papers and his quill. As they remained alone in the room, Falor finally let out a heavy breath and slunk back in his chair. ¡°Do I look as tired as I feel, Quis?¡± ¡°You look ready to kick the bucket, so I guess about halfway there,¡± she replied. ¡°Before you ask, I refuse to give you anything for the fatigue. You¡¯re going to go rest and then we¡¯ll tackle this with fresh eyes.¡± He closed his eyes, leaned his head back and sighed heavily. Nothing followed for a while except the sound of her quill on paper as she tackled some of the other reports. ¡°I think I¡¯ll do just that,¡± Falor finally said. He rose and walked slowly to the door, stopping by her chair. A warm hand rested on her shoulder. ¡°Are you joining me?¡± His voice was soft and his touch even softer. She pressed her cheek to his fingers and closed her eyes for just a moment as if she meant to give the offer consideration. In truth, she really wanted to go, but the work needed doing or it¡¯d only pile higher. ¡°I¡¯d love to but my Lord Commander, at about fourth bell of the night, has added a big headache to my workload. So, he¡¯s going to go rest while I put things into motion. You know, like I always do?¡± She grinned up at him. ¡°I don¡¯t know what I¡¯d do without you, Quis,¡± Falor said, laughing softly. She pushed him away. ¡°I imagine you¡¯d overwork yourself to death. Go away. I don¡¯t want morning to find me here.¡± The moment the door closed with a creak and a tortured click, Quistis allowed herself a jaw popping, eye watering yawn. She looked forlorn into her empty mug, barely having had a chance to taste the coffee. And the closest place for more of it was all the way down into the city proper, with nobody around to go and fetch for her. ¡°Bastard,¡± she whispered, and smiled to herself. Chapter 1.07.1: Goboid hunting Vergil dreamed of late Fall, of when it was still pleasantly warm under the two suns. Neptas was quickly becoming a pinprick of light in the noon sky while Cares grew ever brighter. That the first snow hadn¡¯t arrived yet promised a long and angry Winter to come. He learned that in an orientation class. The Guild offered many of those. The overcast sky above still wanted to drink him whole, but it became easier to ignore day by day. Mostly, he ignored it by being in-doors rather than aimlessly walking around the Guild Halls. Handlers refused to hand him any sorties as a new member without at least another rookie taking on the same mission and agreeing to coop the pay. Vergil found himself, as before, terribly alone. And woefully hungry. Hunger chased away his fascination for the Guild¡¯s splendour, its imposing statues, and gilded halls, and for the throngs of people bustling in and around the great courtyard. No amount of wonder or dread could fill the yawning gap in his stomach. He could go find work as a menial, he knew, but that would put a definite end to his hopes of adventuring. And with Winter coming, he expected work of that sort to dry up for someone with as few marketable skills as him. If he returned to the Paladin Corps he¡¯d sign on as a soldier and be sent for further training in Aztroa Magnor, then deployed for duty in some far away outpost where the Empire¡¯s rule was still contested. If he survived his first three Summers then his overall survival odds were statistically sound, per Argia¡¯s calculations. Well over half of the fresh recruits never survived their first Summer unmaimed. Death by a spear to the throat or death by starving on the streets of Valen with Winter¡¯s chill looming ever closer. With those pleasant prospects in mind, Vergil did what any reasonable, budding adventurer would: he bussed tables at the Sizzling Boar for five Valen lions a week, a meal a day, and a dry place to sleep in. On the Gloria he¡¯d worked more for far less. The Sizzling Boar was a small out-of-the-way tavern which existed because it needed to. Every large city needed a place like the Sizzling Boar where those down on their luck, aimless and lost, found cheap beer and even cheaper rooms to contemplate exactly how life had conspired to dump them there. Vergil worked with the diligence of a man one lost meal away from desperation. In a week¡¯s time he began feeling quite at home, though still hoping an adventuring opportunity would present itself. Then he met Sidora Adana, Merk Armcast and Davan Steir. They sat huddled around a small table, hidden away in a barely-lit nook, wearing their misery as a cloak and talking in hushed, angry voices. Each of them nursed the cheapest, stalest mug of ale that the Boar served, alongside equal portions of the perpetual stew. Vergil had spooned and served those himself. The discussion, as he strained to overhear, revolved around finding a fourth member for their group. They had gone into the wild and got ambushed by the very animals they were supposed to be hunting. Poor coordination coupled with even poorer leadership¡ªif what one of them was whisper-shouting was to be believed¡ªhad almost ended their budding careers as dray chow. In short, they were ripe for approaching. He just needed to figure out an opening. He found it around the third round of ale. ¡°You¡¯re going to need a tank,¡± Vergil commented offhand as he set down the relatively fresh mugs. From the weapons laid by the feet of the table, he was dealing with an archer, some form of infantry warrior, and a healer. No shield. They needed someone that could protect them in case of an emergency. ¡°Excuse me, a what?¡± One of them, Davan it seemed, threw him a black look. He had a nasal sounding voice that made all his words seem unnecessarily belligerent. ¡°Someone that can take a beating and hold the front line for you. I noticed you haven¡¯t got a shield with you.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t hide under a stinking shield.¡± Ok, so he wasn¡¯t one to just accept a stranger throwing in his opinion. His displeasure was boiling over into rage. Vergil assumed he had struck a nerve. ¡°As you say.¡± He walked away but not quite out of earshot. He dropped off his tray and slunk back around through the midday crowd, just close enough to listen without being obvious. It seemed that a fresh round of hostile reproaches was underway. ¡°He¡¯s not wrong,¡± the aelir woman, Sidora, put in, moving food around on her plate, separating the vegetables from the brown, unidentifiable meat. ¡°No offence to you, Davan, but you rushed ahead and left us to fend for ourselves. That was unkind of you.¡± ¡°My friend, I almost had the seats of my trousers ripped off by the wolves you failed to draw away. We had to climb trees to get out of the way. I soiled myself, ye? We need more people,¡± the other man said between spoonfuls of the stew. ¡°I still say we don¡¯t need another guy with us,¡± Davan insisted, fist on the table. ¡°I can protect us next time.¡± Sidora and Merk looked at one another. ¡°All those of the opinion that Davan is full of shit, raise your hand please.¡± Merk raised his hand and Sidora laughed, raising hers as well. ¡°Majority rules. Davan is full of shit. Mate, we need a fourth person. Less money coming in, sure, but less money we spend on getting patched up. It¡¯s a win for us however you look at it.¡± Davan tried to argue his point further but Merk quickly talked over him. ¡°Who specialises in getting their arse whooped and enjoys it too?¡± he asked his companions. ¡°I do.¡± Vergil pounced on the moment. He had poured himself a mug of ale and, to the chagrin of many other patrons, sat down with the trio. After all, allegiances of opportunity were the main stock in trade for a place like The Sizzling Boar. The innkeeper would understand. ¡°I¡¯m fresh out of the Paladin Corps and I need some paying work, as you can see.¡± For good measure, he also placed the metal disc marking him as a licensed adventurer down on the table. Davan glared at him but Merk shook his hand eagerly. Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. ¡°I¡¯m Merk, this is Sidora, and the stupid one is Davan.¡± Vergil already knew all their names, but thought it more prudent not to mention. They¡¯d likely not appreciate his eavesdropping. ¡°I¡¯m Vergil. And I know a few things about squad roles. I can help you.¡± He turned to Davan and extended his hand to him too. ¡°One sortie. I¡¯ll suggest how we go about it. If we don¡¯t get good results then I won¡¯t take my cut of the reward and will be gone from your hair. How about that? You can¡¯t lose much by just trying.¡± He smiled at the man, hand still outstretched. Davan shook on it after weighting up the proposition for a few moments. Vergil remembered men like Davan from the Experiences, desperate for some measure of control and recognition. He felt that way sometimes too. It also wasn¡¯t the first time he had to bribe his way into a social group. His family had hated so dearly that he¡¯d been born male that they¡¯d arranged for the very worst, most isolated job available on the Gloria Nostra. He would go weeks without meeting another person outside the virtual space that they couldn¡¯t deny him. He did his best not to look at Sidora. She made him uncomfortable in a way he couldn¡¯t understand. The aelir in general had him sweating whenever he drew close to one. It made it difficult to look the woman in the eye when she spoke to him. ¡°You seem quite down on your luck,¡± Sidora said. She smiled so bright that he felt ashamed of himself for existing next to her. ¡°I don¡¯t mean to offend you, Vergil, but you smell. May I buy you a token at the bathhouse?¡± ¡°I¡¯m¡­ sorry?¡± he said, taken aback by the disarming brusqueness hiding beneath that smile. ¡°I do bathe, but it¡¯s a tiny pail and my room is small and¡­ well¡­ I¡­¡± Davan laughed loudly, swinging his ale pitcher. ¡°Don¡¯t listen to her, Vergil. Men should smell of hard work and conquest. Leave the baths to the gelded and the women folk.¡± He said men but both he and Merk were barely past seventeen standards by Vergil¡¯s estimate, close to his age if not younger. Sidora was older, in the same way all aelir were older than most anyone else in any room. Vergil had learned about aelir near-immortality, bar accident or sickness, from a Guild orientation class aimed at people coming from the more remote villages of the Empire. Many species weren¡¯t a common sight outside the larger cities such as Valen or Drack. Hands were properly shook and mugs of ale were knocked back. Vergil settled his dealings with the innkeeper and got paid his week¡¯s half-griffon in advance. If he wanted to come back, there were always pots that needed scrubbing. Next came the posting from the Guild. Queries and special missions were posted regularly, with an appraised difficulty rating and recommended number of people for best results. There were missions for agricultural help, pest control, property or lost person retrieval, and a wide variety of miscellaneous odd jobs. On special billboards there were bounties for various individuals, as well as assassination requests, though these had to be cleared with the Storm Guard before undertaking. Vergil already knew what they needed to do. He¡¯d spotted the perfect job days before and had waited for the right people to come along. Luck had been kind. ¡°This one would be perfect for a party of our size that needs to raise some quick spending money,¡± he said as he took the notice off the wall, showing it to the others. ¡°Goboid pest control?¡± Davan sneered at the idea but stared closer at the paper. ¡°Why¡¯s the rating so high for that low of a pay?¡± ¡°It¡¯s out in the sticks,¡± Merk said. ¡°Vergil, that¡¯s out of Valen¡¯s influence and the pay is really poor for that sort of work. Land¡¯s real dangerous beyond the plains.¡± ¡°Yes, yes,¡± Vergil conceded. ¡°But listen, there¡¯s a bigger picture to this. I¡¯ve seen this notice hanging here for weeks¡ª¡± ¡°Because nobody sane would touch it,¡± Davan interrupted him. ¡°It¡¯s pest control for no money.¡± ¡°No, it¡¯s because nobody has the imagination to see this in the right light.¡± Everyone stared at him so Vergil kept talking. He had thought about it a lot, so much so that he even studied the map hung in the central pavilion of the Guild Hall. ¡°Look, this isn¡¯t that far out from Valen. At a brisk walk and we can be there in about six days, give or take.¡± He led them to the map and showed the place. ¡°The road ends at this village. A vein of the mountain comes real close to it, so it¡¯s a dead end place. No road, no trade, no brigands or bandits. At worst, some animals on the road.¡± Merk snorted. ¡°You say at worst, but that¡¯s what got us in trouble the last time.¡± He glared at Davan. ¡°Money¡¯s still low for that sort of travel.¡± ¡°Bigger picture, remember?¡± Vergil grinned, finally coming to his conclusion. ¡°Goboids are always popping up here and there, right? The thing is, they hoard a lot of what they steal.¡± It had been in one of the orientation classes. The trio hadn¡¯t taken any of them. ¡°All right, so?¡± Davan moved closer to the map and inspected the route. Vergil could see his mood turning to his aid now that Merk was sceptical. ¡°They¡¯re easy to kill and easy to track for any tracker with some experience. If we follow them back into their lair and slaughter them, we¡¯ll probably find a lot of things they kept from raids. They like shiny things and will steal almost anything that¡¯s not bolted down. We can sell whatever¡¯s valuable. Two days¡¯ work probably and we¡¯ll have a good fund to get better gear and go on better missions. Unless otherwise stated in the notice, any loot we find in a warren is ours to keep. Guild rules.¡± Merk was pensive and scratched his cheek. ¡°People go missing in the hills. But the plan has merit.¡± He turned to the other two. ¡°Vote?¡± Davan clapped Vergil on the shoulder. ¡°With him,¡± he said. Sidora shrugged and raised her hand. ¡°Safer than what Davan chose, I think. If we keep to the road we should be fine up to there.¡± Decided. Vergil felt a flutter of pride for this as Sidora took the note from him and headed to the reception desk to get details about the location and contact person on site. ¡°Smart reasoning,¡± Merk commented, rubbing the stubble on his cheek. ¡°I can track them to their lair, Davan can do most of the actual killing, and you can keep me and Sidora safe in the tight space. I hope your instinct¡¯s as good as your head.¡± Davan nodded along. ¡°I read a lot,¡± Vergil lied. He was barely literate and never bothered once in his life with literature. When he looked at the local letters, he could only understand their meaning once his chip translated the text. He could speak the language like he had been born to it but his reading and writing were patchy at best. Sidora soon returned holding a rolled-up map. ¡°It¡¯s way out in the sticks. The map here is generous,¡± she told them, spreading out the updated map received from the Guild. The goboids were raiding some small villages in the hills with irregular hit-and-runs. It was about a week¡¯s walking journey to there, but the actual reward specified on the posting had actually been increased due to low turn up of adventurers. ¡°We shouldn¡¯t waste time,¡± the healer went on. ¡°Talk from other adventurers says the weather may get pretty bad soon. We should do the job while it¡¯s still fairly warm out or we may get stuck out there. I don¡¯t fancy spending Winter tending to chickens and goats.¡± It took them seven days of hard marching to reach the small village of Nest. Vergil shared a tent with Sidora, as hers was the most spacious and it wasn¡¯t uncommon for adventurers to share cover at night. He was on edge the whole trip. Being under a single tent at night, aware of her nearness as they slept back-to-back, had him sweating to the point of dehydration. She and the others had formed up some months back, at near the end of Thaw, and had done a bit of odd work here and there, so they were used to each other. She was an initiate healer and, as part of her training, she had to do field work. She had met Merk the same day she arrived in Valen from the School of Healing, and Davan soon after. She was being kind and trying to engage with him. For his part, Vergil was only too keenly aware of her and unable to offer more to the conversation aside from grunts and short, vague answers. It came as a relief when they reached their destination, and none-too-soon. The supplies the other three had bought were gone by day six, and the last day of travel was accompanied by unhappy stomach growls. Even so, they did not stray away from the road. Vergil felt anxious about the whole thing now that he was face to face with it. If his insight proved wrong they¡¯d have a very hungry and sullen trip back to Valen. He may well remain behind to tend to chickens, whatever those were. Chapter 1.07.2: Clearing the nest ¡°A goboid alone is as dangerous to any of us as would a ten-Summers-old human child armed with a pointy stick. The largest of them will grow to about a meter in height, with a thick greenish-grey skin, pointy ears, and the relative intelligence of a particularly forward-thinking rat. They become a nuisance when there¡¯s a lot of them gathered and their thieving becomes bold. Honestly, all of this was in the Guild orientation classes.¡± ¡°Nobody goes to those,¡± Davan said as the small, scattered village of Nest came into view among the tall trees lining the road. ¡°Why waste your time with classes when you can go out and kill beasts for money? Besides, they don¡¯t say things we don¡¯t all already know. I¡¯ve killed plenty of goboids in my village.¡± ¡°You go to them to make sure you don¡¯t go hunting anything really dangerous, like a corallin or a dray.¡± Vergil was making a very determined effort to get his party mates to agree to take the classes once back in Valen. ¡°Corallins are big kitty cats. They¡¯re not that dangerous for three people.¡± ¡°They hunt in big groups and lay down ambushes. Like goboids. It¡¯s not uncommon for large bands of goboids to seriously injure or even kill people they rob.¡± ¡°I swear by all the gods, you¡¯re relentless,¡± Davan said, exasperated. Merk snickered behind him. ¡°Oh no, you let him have it, Vergil. Maybe he finally listens to someone.¡± ¡°I have had a very hard time finding people to work with. Do you have any idea how many dishes I had to wash so I could eat? I need all three of you alive and well. I¡¯m not going back to the dishes,¡± Vergil said. He had tried his best to befriend Davan, and it had worked for the most part. ¡°All right, you preaching bastard. We¡¯ll go to the orientations when we get back. Are you bloody happy now?¡± Sidora had gone ahead to confer with the village head. When she came back, she showed the way to a secluded homestead and a patch of forest from which most incursions came at night. They set up camp and spread out in search of good watch posts. The plan, concocted during the trip out, was to let the goboids do their raid and then have Merk track them back to the hidden entrances of their lair. Easy pickings from there. But raids had become rare in recent weeks. Villagers had started locking away their valuables in strong boxes and then bolted those down against thieving critters. The thieves had become for most people around Nest a kind of nuisance they had learned to live with. Their notice asking for help in the big city had gone unanswered for near to a whole season and the local militias had more pressing matters to deal with. It was uneventful for the first tenday as no raid happened in Nest. Sidora brought tea to the men during the watch hours to help them stay awake, and did not relent in her efforts to get Vergil to talk to her. After the trip out, and now around the fire, he found that she wasn¡¯t quite as terrifying as the women aboard the Gloria and even felt comfortable to have her around as long as he could sit to hide her effect on him. He also learned that it was offensive to refer to her as a woman. That was human talk. She was an aelir¡¯rei and preferred to be spoken of as such. Most humans never learned to make the distinction. Aelir society was complex and strict, and using human terms for them was considered the height of rudeness. Taking revenge for slights was an art form for the aelir, though Sidora assured him that she had no such intentions for him. The right poison took a long time to brew. Vergil tried to commit the distinction to memory even if he really couldn¡¯t understand it. They slept in the mornings and in the evenings for a few hours, while in the daylight they helped with odd jobs around the village for food and some money. Vergil found that he was terrified of birds when the first cockerel charged him. Sidora had to calm and coax him down from tree he had climbed, to the amusement of the others. ¡°Gods help us if the goboids dress in feathers,¡± Davan ribbed him during their modest dinner in camp that evening. Vergil blushed and stared down at his cheese and onions. The Experiences couldn¡¯t compare to the feeling of growing closer to actual people. Nothing could. The loneliness and isolation squatted down in his memory like great beasts just waiting to snap at him. He¡¯d do anything to keep them away forever. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. ¡°What the matter, Vergil?¡± Sidora asked him. Merk and Davan had sauntered back off to their watches. There was a chill wind coming down from the mountain, a first tender caress of the cold Winter to come. ¡°Nothing,¡± he said, running a palm over his face. ¡°I haven¡¯t really been with people before. This is my first time working with someone else. I¡¯m happy, even if I spend my days up in a tree.¡± Sidora laughed and it was the most beautiful laugh Vergil could possibly imagine. Her wide eyes reflected the firelight as she leaned towards him, looking mischievous. ¡°I will tell you a secret, if you promise to keep it,¡± she said and pressed her third and fourth fingers to her lips. Vergil leaned in and his heart thundered in his chest. She had finally managed to get him to look at her, and he couldn¡¯t pull his eyes away. ¡°I promise.¡± Sidora smiled and winked at him, ¡°We like you too, Vergil. Even Davan. If this doesn¡¯t get us money, we¡¯d still like you to stay with us. Will you?¡± He smiled and nodded, not trusting his voice for more. The raid came that very same night. About twenty small figures crept from the dark of the trees and proceeded to steal whatever they could grab. They made off with cheese and meat, eggs and a few chickens they killed on their roosts. Vergil spotted one of the small creatures as it was making its way across a reaped field, and immediately signalled for Merk. The ranger made his way back to camp late in the morning, red-faced from effort but smiling wide. He had followed the creatures all the way out of the forest and into the skirts of the mountains. They had an entrance cleverly concealed behind some stone pillars, practically invisible until you either fell into it or had the right angle of sight to see it opening up. Merk hadn¡¯t gotten the angle and found it the old-fashioned way. ¡°I was enjoying myself helping around the village,¡± Sidora confessed as she sat with her arms around her knees in front of the fire that evening. ¡°It¡¯s so quiet out here compared to the city.¡± ¡°It¡¯s too quiet,¡± Davan protested. ¡°I could actually hear Merk every time he went for a leak. Pisses like a horse.¡± He got an elbow to the ribs from the ranger. Sidora laughed quietly. ¡°It reminds me of home actually,¡± she said, sipping her tea with a faraway look in her eyes. ¡°The quiet rustling of the leaves in Fall. Smell of cut grass in the morning. Friendly people that say hello when you walk by. It¡¯s just so different from Valen. I had forgotten how this felt.¡± It got quiet around the fire for a few heartbeats. The wood crackled and snapped, sending up a few embers in the dark night sky. ¡°So, we go in the morning?¡± Davan broke the moment, stabbing with his sword at the fire pit. ¡°At first light. They should be asleep and we¡¯ll have the element of surprise,¡± Vergil confirmed. ¡°Take care of the shadows and nooks as we go in. They¡¯re cave animals so they¡¯ll hide and try and surprise us if they get wind we¡¯re coming. Plus, they¡¯ll probably have a lot of side tunnels to scurry away through. We should kill as many as we can so they don¡¯t return any time soon.¡± The rest nodded. ¡°What do we do if they have a live chicken in there?¡± Davan couldn¡¯t help himself. The rest laughed, Vergil included. Finding the warren proved a lot easier than any of them had expected. There were just a few tunnels and intersections and all were marked clearly by goboid tracks and droppings. They were upon the sleeping group of creatures in less than an hour after entering the tunnels. They slaughtered most of them before the rest woke and only one managed to escape the killing grounds, running screaming into the deeper tunnels. There was no point in chasing a single goboid down into the dark. Davan and Vergil took turns at dragging the corpses to the centre of the lair to form a large pile. Merk shifted through the assortment of junk collected there, picking out valuables. It turned out to be quite a haul after all. The thieves had collected weapons they never used, coins and jewellery, and even an odd assortment of books with particularly colourful covers. ¡°Sidora, this would look nice on you,¡± Merk called to the healer, holding up a thin silver chain bracelet that had probably been stolen off some merchant¡¯s cart. ¡°Sidora?¡± he called again when no answer came. Davan and Vergil both stopped their work and looked towards the section of cave where the healer had last been. She wasn¡¯t there. ¡°Sidora!¡± all three called out. Something moved in the mouth of a tunnel but it wasn¡¯t the wayward healer. Three ratmen walked in, furry faces grinning, each taller than the humans. Three more walked in through the opposite tunnel, hissing a low snarl of threat. One of them held Sidora by the hair and dragged her around. Her face was bloodied and her body limp. Another of the beasts held the crumpled body of their missing goboid. Davan charged before the others even reached for their weapons. The ratmen, tall and brawny beasts, were armed with swords and clubs. He didn¡¯t get the chance to swing his sword before one of the creatures grabbed him by the neck and slammed him head-first into the wall. He went down in a pile with barely a noise. Merk was back-to-back with Vergil and they were surrounded. One of the rats hissed at them and lunged. Vergil managed to deflect the thrust with his shield, but realised the feint too late. A steel encased fist knocked him flat, vision swimming from the pain. Merk dropped his crossbow and surrendered. Him, they beat into ragged ruin. Chapter 1.07.3: Back into your body Steady there, lad. We¡¯ve got you. Vergil did not recognise the voice. It didn¡¯t fit with the rest of his life just then. A woman was speaking but he couldn¡¯t see her. Her voice was a balm to dull out the teeth on the terror gripping his heart. The ratmen were taking them deeper into the caves. They dragged Sidora by her hair, kicking and screaming. Davan tried to fight, twice. They broke his arms for it, twisted them at odd angles with bones pushing out against the skin. It washed out any resistance left in him. Merk was pushed and dragged along, too shattered to manage more than a couple steps on his own. Two scores of ratmen infested the large cavern at their destination, gathered in clusters around small fires burning all around a central blaze. The smoke slowly filtered out through a gallery of cracks in the ceiling, but the musk of animal filth overpowered any other smell. ¡°What this?¡± Vergil raised his eyes to the gravely voice and saw a ratman nearly twice as large as the rest, with grey fur and milk-white eyes. It held a gnarled staff. Unlike the rest of the horde, which wore various bits and ends of armour, this one was wearing a black robe adorned with bones. It clattered when the monster hobbled over to look them over. One of the ratmen let out a long series of hisses and grunts. The old rat struck it over the knees with its staff and snarled. ¡°You guard. Not hunt. Hunting for smart clan, not dumb pup.¡± It spoke in broken, hissed Imperial, making a mockery of the words. A flicker of hope ignited in Vergil¡¯s chest but quickly went out as the creatures roughly undressed them. ¡°These two, cage,¡± the shaman said as he inspected Davan and Merk. ¡°Female, spice. Knifey-ear taste better than human.¡± That only left Vergil. Warm piss ran down his legs as the wizened ratman loomed over him close enough to taste the filth in its fur. The monster sniffed and let out a rasping laugh. ¡°I wonder if this one can starve. It reeks of Anatol¡¯s incense. Up,¡± it ordered the other beasts. They threw him in a cage fashioned out of gnawed bones. It reeked. Strips of rotten meat hung in tatters off the grisly construction. His stomach turned over and ejected the sparse content of their last dinner as he was hauled up two meters or so above the lick of the cook fire. Only smoke marred his view of the cavern as he slowly rotated in the draft of hot air. Steady, lad, the voice-like-a-balm said. The edges of reality blurred, like colours running down a wet painting. Found a cluster. We start here. Move outward. Who¡¯s talking? Vergil looked around, trying to find whoever it was that talked right in his ear. Again that feeling of stepping out of his head, of hitching a ride in someone else¡¯s life. The world bucked and bent around him. He¡¯d seen Experiences glitching sometimes, images and events shuffling together. This felt very much like that. There was no connection port on the back of his head, no matter how desperately he groped for one. If this wasn¡¯t real, he needed it to stop. It all kept playing forward as he wailed and smashed his fists against the bones. Bugger, you¡¯re a stubborn blighter. Mistress Aliana, please go to him. He¡¯s going to twist something out of place if he keeps at it. Vergil screamed until he frothed pink at the mouth. Sidora wailed when they dragged her out of the cage for the first time. She screamed and cried and pleaded as they held her down and chopped off her fingers. Vergil was sick with the sight of so much blood spilling at once, stunned into silence. The shaman forced the healer, clawed fingers clasped around her nose, to drink something out of a dirty bowl. The bleeding stopped but she still cried for what felt like days. Her fingers were ground up into paste and mixed in with the gruel boiling over the fire. Spice, he realised with a rising sense of horror. Just as the monster had said, they would use her for spice. Vergil looked through two sets of eyes. One pair watched Sidora kicking and clawing with her unmaimed hand when she was taken out again. The other watched him watching her. A sort of strange calm washed over him as he separated from the first and drifted above the pain and the horror of it all, above the shame of what he¡¯d done to them. ¡°Take him! Take him! Please, no more. Please!¡± Sidora begged. They stretched out her other hand on the chopping block. ¡°I¡¯ll do anything. Please, not¡ª¡± The hatchet came down and her voice rose into a keening, rattling wail. More blood. More screams. More curses and hate. Days passed. Or weeks. Maybe even years. An eternity of hunger and shame in his tight little cage, slowly going insensate to it all. Sidora cursed him every single moment she was awake and not screaming, all the way until they took her tongue. From there on, she merely glared up at him until she had nothing to glare with. Colours ran together and moments skipped forward. Silences filled small crevices in his life where he was sure there were supposed to be cries, clangs, clatters, curses, pleadings. Ghosts whipped past the Vergil that watched, apparitions in white that manifested for a moment and stole away something of him. He felt it happening but never knew what went away. Davan and Merk were made to fight one another, to bite and scratch and try to rip each other¡¯s throats out. They were even fed bits off Sidora when the rats drank too much of their brews. Something changed in them. They lessened, but not how Sidora did. Humanity shed off them with every drop of spilled blood until they were little more than feral, twisted things that snarled against the grates of their cages. Ratmen prodded them into fighting frenzy and treated them like pets. They fed them rotting carcasses nearly stripped of all meat, and some of their fetid potions. That never happened, lad. It was a nightmare, nothing more, said the voice as the watching Vergil cried behind the eyes of his corporeal self. That other him had stopped caring, had quieted down and suffered the gnawing hunger. It happened irregularly and it made him scream. On the verge of death, of sweet release, that thrice-damned blessing dragged him back. Every single time! If he still had the tears for it, he¡¯d cry when the jolt of healing clawed him from the precipice and forced another hour, or another day, of watching Sidora and the pure hate in the pits that had been her eyes. Was it all really happening? There we go. Seed of doubt is flourishing. Give him a couple of days before you start growing out new memories. The hunger gnawing at his insides was all too real. When the ratmen cut off Sidora¡¯s arm and roasted it over the fire he had drooled for a bite of it. He had begged ragged-voiced for a sliver of the charred meat. They teased him with it, waving it up at his cage just out of reach of his outstretched fingers. It wasn¡¯t my fault! They weren¡¯t supposed to be there! Guilt burned worse than the hunger, worse even than the fire. Nothing they could do to him compared to the simple fact that he¡¯d damned them all. It never happened, lad. It happened! I was there. I hated her. I hate her. I hate her. Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. Steady, lad. She was the first to die. Yes, she was. She died when there was nothing more to cut off her. She died before the stranger got there. She¡­ No! That¡¯s not right. Sidora had died in the goblin warren, head split open by a ratman axe. She died with a spasm and a sigh, painless and quick. No. She¡­ she¡­ was eaten? She wasn¡¯t. They killed her first. When the stranger had come, he was alone in the cavern, the only one left. Merk and Davan had died in the warren. They hadn¡¯t changed. They hadn¡¯t been sicced on the stranger only to be gutted by lances of white fire. Sidora had been the first to die, hit from the back by the ratmen. She¡­ she hadn¡¯t suffered. It had all been quick, painless. Yes, that made more sense than the horror he¡¯d been imagining. He rose from it as if from an early morning¡¯s nightmare. It was already fading into formless mists and rags of memory like all bad dreams are wont to do. He had mourned them all, for endless days of endless hungry terror. Then he was bored and hungry. Then, just hungry. No rest for him, not when the blessing kept shaking him awake. In the low firelight of what was, probably, night he saw the stranger approaching. Firelight glinted at the mouth of one tunnel. There had only ever been darkness there before. It grew in brightness by the moment. Someone walked out of that normally empty tunnel. It wasn¡¯t a verman. There were supposed to be guards in that tunnel, but the newcomer walked through as if the notion was ridiculous. Men came to the cavern sometimes, to deal with the ratman shaman. Coin pouches were passed between them, scrolls were locked in a metal box, ratmen were sent out. They would return later carrying bound women. Once they brought three young girls bound together into a bundle. Every time they¡¯d open a secret door to the side of the cave and carry their victims through. Only the ratmen ever returned. The stranger wasn¡¯t someone Vergil had seen before. This one wore black garments and a shining mask upon their face. Fire and shadows reflected in it. He wanted to shout a warning. There were scores of vermen in the cavern, lying strewn about, out of sight, armed and armoured. No matter how he strained and fought to gather strength, he couldn¡¯t do more than lift his desiccated arms in a gesture of warding. More meat was coming to the fire. The stranger looked like they would take a long while to be eaten. That thought fled his mind as if chased by hounds. I¡¯m hallucinating things. This can¡¯t be real. There were fireflies flitting around the stranger like motes of dust catching the uneven light. One ratman sounded the alarm and the cavern exploded into action. Vermen scrambled to their feet and rushed the intruder with weapons held high and fangs bared. Doom descended on the unwary fool. Fireflies swarmed away from the figure, flying out like rays of light. Each one hit a different rat, stumbling their rush for a heartbeat. Some ratmen faltered in their charge, gazed down, and burst apart like overripe fruit hitting the ground. Flesh and entrails erupted as the stranger approached the fire, barely concerned about the carnage. It was a woman, Vergil saw, with red hair and a tall frame that almost matched up to the vermen. She had a thin sword at her waist but did not draw it. Her hands flashed into fire. The first verman to rush her exploded into blood mist as she unleashed a lance of flame on it. Air boiled and screams evaporated into echoes as balls of fire exploded with blinding flashes. Vergil was tossed inside his cage like the near corpse he was when the blast wave hit him. He saw, in brief gaps through the smoke, the woman killing the shaman with a gesture. She turned him into a burnt out skeleton as if he were of no concern to her. It lasted for a moment. A breath, maybe. Then his cage crashed to the ground and the world lurched out of shape. He hoped he was now dead. For a long time he saw nothing but the crimson puddle of blood in which he lay. Bits of fur and offal broke the surface. An arm length away lay half a corpse, burnt nearly black, staring with empty eye sockets at him. By the time the Goddess came for him, he¡¯d screamed himself mute. Her touch was warm and soft on his face as she turned his head over to gaze into his eyes. She was a vision of beauty with glacial blue eyes and hair the colour of the midday sun. She spoke and pressed her fingers to his forehead but his mind slipped around the words. ¡°I require touching this mind,¡± she said. He heard the words but they meant absolutely nothing. Colours ran behind her. He begged for death with soundless words. She was a Goddess, she should know that in his head there was only guilt and the wish to end. Why prolong his suffering? She was gone in a flash of blood red, her touch ripped from his skin with a clap of thunder. Why?! No! Please, no! Kill me. Please¡ª None of that, lad. That Adana may be many fine things, but she¡¯s no goddess. Let¡¯s not keep that silly notion. Maybe he was just imagining everything. Maybe he had lost his mind while watching Sidora¡¯s long murder. But Sidora had died first. That didn¡¯t make sense. By the Goddess¡¯s mercy, you¡¯re stubborn, the voice snapped at him, suddenly impatient. Why are you fighting me, boy? Don¡¯t you want to be free of it all? The stranger in black loomed over him. There was smudged blood on her mask. She wore a black long coat with gold trimmings, almost like some kind of uniform. Her mere presence caused him more suffering. She manhandled him and threw him about like a rag-doll. Every time she moved him it reminded him he was still alive. He found new depths of hatred. He couldn¡¯t live and couldn¡¯t die, and he hated her for not letting the rats or the hunger finish him off. Stop struggling, boy. Let it all go. There¡¯s a good lad. The goddess was back, talking to the stranger. Blood ran down her face, as if she¡¯d hit her head on something. She¡¯s not a goddess, Vergil. They stuffed a helmet over his head. The stranger argued with the other, the not-a-goddess goddess. He could only look at them. His voice refused to obey him and stop its braying laughter. When had he started laughing? Why am I laughing? Why a helmet? Why give him a damned helmet? Couldn¡¯t they show mercy and just end his suffering? Muted echoes penetrated the helm¡¯s thick metal. The not-a-goddess hid behind the stranger in black and aimed her staff at him over the other¡¯s shoulder. Blue light blinded his vision and fire flared up in his chest as bones knit painfully back together and his breathing came easier. It made his arms and legs spasm and jerk around like the limbs of a marionette, and then he was still again. Even out of the cage, he was too weak to even crawl. Something clicked in his head. The light fizzed out and he saw the blond woman peering at him over the shoulder of the frightening stranger, looking ready to duck back at any moment. She raised her staff again and a moment later he felt very wrong. His voice was no longer his own, the braying laugh taking on a manic, desperate edge. He tried to and found that he actually could move his head around. A thin, golden line connected his chest to the goddess¡¯s. The line pulsed faintly, its glow dimming and intensifying in rhythm with his thundering heartbeats. Mistress Aliana, please attend. This¡­ we can¡¯t get rid of this. Look, see how tight it¡¯s latched on to him? This thing is going to be trouble, another, rougher voice said. I¡¯m going to skin those two. Something felt horribly off. Words crowded his field of vision but they meant nothing to him. His right arm jerked up of its own accord and pushed him to his side, the effort igniting new fire in his bones. The left arm became rebellious as well and, helping the right, pushed him up to his hands and knees as if he were just learning to move again. His entire body moved and rebelled violently against his wishes of lying still to die. Impossibly, moving in jerks and starts, he came up on his own two feet. Everything hurt. His feet and legs hurt just from supporting him. Bones ground on bones and sent daggers into his laughing brain. His hands and arms hurt just from pushing him upright. Every breath hurt his chest. He tasted blood from something rupturing somewhere. Despite it all, he drew in a sharp breath and bellowed out a war cry that made his own blood run cold. Where had that come from?! Something flowed out of the helmet and into his head. It pushed his consciousness aside as if he were nothing. It laughed and laughed and screamed its way to the surface of his thoughts. It was malice, angry and hateful, barely conscious of itself. Vergil felt the shape of the mind that occupied his and it made him recoil from its cadaverous touch. His voice cracked halfway through the war cry and he gasped for air, choking and coughing viciously. He inhaled sharply and with alien strength he bellowed again and banged his worthless fists against his naked chest. Except that he wasn¡¯t naked any more. Translucent plates of armour now covered him from neck to feet, and his fists rang out like the tolling of a bell. From a cage of bones now into a cage of thought. The cave faded away and only the malice remained, pitch black and all consuming. What, in the Goddesses¡¯s tits, do we do about you?! Chapter 1.08.1: Sweet cravings Winter had hammered Valen for five days straight with what was considered one of the most vicious blizzards anyone had ever seen, especially for so early in the season. For its part, the city took it in stride and merely slowed its operation. Otherwise, business as usual. ¡°I refuse to go out there,¡± Tallah protested as Sil tried to drag her chair away from the table. ¡°It¡¯s bloody cold and blowing knives.¡± ¡°We need winter gear, you mule-headed creature. I refuse to portal out of some cave again and freeze my arse off just because you¡¯re too stubborn by half.¡± The argument had been going on for the better part of the morning. Tallah¡¯s fever had broken during the night and she could finally focus on her work. Sil had different plans. ¡°It¡¯s a bit cold out. So bloody what?¡± Tallah had half a mind to let go of the table and give the annoyance a face full of chair and irate sorceress. ¡°I like my work clothes just fine. Go out yourself and leave me alone. I want to work.¡± ¡°We¡¯ve been cooped up in here for days. I need fresh air and you need sunlight. You¡¯re paler than cheese.¡± ¡°There¡¯s a blizzard out there, Sil. I¡¯m very certain the only colour I¡¯ll be turning is blue. I¡¯ll throw you out buck naked if you keep insisting.¡± Sil refused to be deterred. ¡°Your fetish work gear is a bunch of ribbons holding together out of spite. You need new clothes.¡± The healer had changed tactics from dragging her chair, to shaking it. ¡°Let¡¯s go already. It¡¯s not even that cold out there.¡± The windows, frozen solid, shook when a howling gale swept through the alleys around the Meadow. Tallah turned to Sil, looked her straight in the eye, and pointed with her hand at the shivering window. ¡°That doesn¡¯t mean anything,¡± the healer protested. ¡°It¡¯s a bit nippy. It¡¯ll only get colder from now on.¡± ¡°If you want to go and see your lover, you really don¡¯t need me as chaperone. You¡¯re a big girl.¡± Sil paused for a heartbeat then recommenced her attack. Well, that didn¡¯t work as intended. ¡°If I wanted to see her, I¡¯d say so. Stop being stubborn for once in your miserable life and let¡¯s. Go. Out.¡± Despite herself, Tallah sighed and gave up. Please, Tallah, go with her. If I still had a head, it would be throbbing after an hour of her braying. Please, just go with her. A bit of air will do you good. Sil, to her dubious credit, had a knack for cutting through Christi¡¯s patience like an oblivious knife through soft butter. ¡°Great, now Christina¡¯s agreeing with you. All right! We¡¯re going. I¡¯m going to push you into the deepest, coldest snow bank I can find.¡± A knock on the door drew both their attention. They shared a look before Sil went to answer. Do not be so sullen. For once she is right. You lack winter gear. The cold will bite until you recover enough of your ability. Now Bianca pleaded Sil¡¯s case. ¡°Shut up,¡± Tallah groaned, putting her head on the tome she was trying to study. ¡°One of her is enough.¡± There is really no need to insult me. I was merely suggesting. ¡°I want you insulted.¡± Testy and sullen. Fresh air will do you good. ¡°Mistress Tianna, there¡¯s a runner from High Priestess Aliana here,¡± Sil called from the door. ¡°Could you bring me some coins please?¡± Tallah perked up and bolted for the door. ¡°What¡¯s the news?¡± she asked as she handed Sil two silver lions. Way too much for a runner but she didn¡¯t care. ¡°Mistress Aliana of the esteemed Sisters of Mercy would like to inform you that the ward you left in her care is now recuperating steadily from his injuries. He can be discharged into your care at your earliest convenience,¡± the boy at the door said crisply. ¡°She would also like to inform you that the agreed upon rate for her service has been increased twofold to cover the terrible stress put on her priestesses, as well as a tax for, and I beg your forgiveness for quoting this, ¡®dealing with that pissant¡¯. She thanks you for your understanding and would like to know how soon you will come by.¡± The boy had caked-on snow up to his knees. He spoke with hands behind his back and, at the end, extended a hand for his tip. Sil paid him and added one coin more than was customary. Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°Tell her we¡¯ll pick up our friend tomorrow morning at the earliest possible hour. We also agree to her adjusted price. Go now.¡± He pocketed the coins, nodded curtly to them, and rushed away. Finally! Tallah¡¯s excitement nearly bubbled over into giddiness. She had been sitting on needles ever since Sil had related what she had seen in Vergil¡¯s mind. Even the fever hadn¡¯t dampened her enthusiasm. Most of what she had learned from the healer had been completely unintelligible, while other things presented tantalising possibilities that promised fresh ways for her to expand her power. She had grown restless waiting at the Meadow, and sometimes wished she had never asked. By the time Sil had made sure nobody had followed the boy and returned to the study, Tallah was already half dressed and actually giddy. ¡°We go right now,¡± she declared. ¡°We go shopping right now,¡± Sil corrected and got back to preparing for a cold trip out. ¡°Helmet-boy will also need some warm clothes. Unless you plan on dissecting his head there and then. Which I¡¯d really love to see you trying after Aliana spent so long getting him to his feet.¡± Tallah¡¯s eye twitched so violently that she teared up. It still stung at night. ¡°All right, all right,¡± she conceded, taking a deep breath, ¡°fair point. I hadn¡¯t thought that far ahead. But we¡¯re still going tonight, not tomorrow.¡± ¡°We¡¯ve got plans for tonight. He¡¯ll keep, my plans won¡¯t. Now that you got your arse off the chair, we should hurry up.¡± ¡°We have plans? I don¡¯t have plans. What plans?¡± ¡°The last time we were in town I made us some reservations at Mistress Fugue¡¯s. It¡¯s normally booked weeks in advance. I will not miss that reservation,¡± Sil replied, very carefully avoiding eye contact. It might have been a trick of the light, but had she blushed? Tallah¡¯s mouth hung open for a moment. ¡°Isn¡¯t that a pastry place? In the Agora? Next to the¡­ uh¡­ that other stupid place you like?¡± ¡°It is.¡± ¡°But we really didn¡¯t know when, or if we would be coming back at all.¡± ¡°We did not.¡± ¡°And you still made reservations?¡± Sil smiled wistfully. ¡°I was hoping we¡¯d manage somehow. And now we¡¯re here. And we¡¯re going. Anything else can and will wait.¡± Tallah rubbed the bridge of her nose underneath her glasses. ¡°Take Mertle. You owe her. I can get the boy on my own.¡± ¡°No. You¡¯re joining me.¡± The terrified look she gave her cut off any other protestation. Why is she like this? Both Christina and Bianca reacted in unison, beating her to the thought. Would the boy keep? Of course. Aliana was likely busy purging the memory of him from her priestesses and would be in her foulest mood. Waiting for morning rather than facing her at the end of the workday wouldn¡¯t be the worst thing in the world. ¡°Far be it from me the thought of getting between your sweet cravings and a pastry,¡± she said with a weary sigh, defeated in battle against the temptations of sugar rich confections. She would still roll Sil through the snow, just because¡ª Another knock interrupted their conversation. Had the runner forgotten something? ¡°Verti? Is something the matter?¡± Sil asked when she opened. Tallah looked over her shoulder, still half-dressed. It was unusual for Verti herself to come up from the common room without very good cause. The elendine was dressed in her usual dark work clothes and white apron, pristine. However, even with her reddish complexion, she looked flustered. ¡°Begging your pardon, Your Graces,¡± she said with an undertone of annoyance, ¡°but there is someone asking after you. They are terribly insistent and threatening to stop asking politely.¡± ¡°Rare to see you get worked up, Verti. Who¡¯s the nuisance?¡± Sil asked with forced levity. ¡°Rude, is who they are,¡± Tallah said as she stormed off to finish getting dressed. ¡°I¡¯ll be right down, Verti, and give them a piece of my mind.¡± Probably one of Tianna¡¯s father¡¯s people come to pester her again to return to Calabran. They came around every once in a while and sought her out. Maybe the daughter could get ol¡¯ Fyodor back out into the world from wherever he¡¯d holed up, was what most of them seemed to hope. Ill timing, Christina whispered in her ear. She ignored her. Christina would see ill timings if Tallah stepped on a particularly sharp rock. Sil stepped aside and let the elendine enter, both bowing respectfully to the other. ¡°Again, I must apologise. I make it a rule of the house that my guests cannot be bothered. But it is very difficult to get rid of this person. She claims she is an envoy from the Storm Guard, but she is out of uniform and very pushy. She gave a name but I couldn¡¯t catch it in the noise of the room.¡± She fidgeted with her apron, anger tightly held back. ¡°I respect the Guard but the way she¡¯s acting makes me suspicious. I have one of the girls keeping her busy while I discuss the matter with Your Ladyships. If it¡¯s a bother to you, I¡¯ll have Tulip and Pert throw her out.¡± That prickled Tallah¡¯s ears. So, not an envoy from the Aieni Holding but much worse. Ill omen, Christina said again. An invitation now would be too far ahead of schedule. We can¡¯t be certain this visit is within our plan, Christi, Bianca countered. The Guard does not recruit people while out of uniform and in informal settings. We need to assess what they seek of us. Tallah only half-listened to the two ghosts as she perfumed herself and powdered her face. Becoming Tianna took a horrifyingly long time and she usually just half-arsed it if she could get away with it. Now she needed to become the spitting image of the annoying upstart. She should have left with Sil a bell¡¯s strike earlier. ¡°I¡¯ll be right down, Verti,¡± she called out. ¡°Can we have a private booth where we can talk? I would be ever so grateful.¡± She heard the door closing behind the elendine. ¡°If I miss our reservation, whoever this is gets strangled,¡± Sil grumbled outside the bathroom. ¡°Should we worry?¡± ¡°No flaming idea. We¡¯ll see. Let them wait for a while before we deign to show up.¡± Tallah was trying to apply red pigment to her lips. She had to start over twice. ¡°Is that wise?¡± ¡°It¡¯s what would be expected of me. My father never met immediately with anyone that came calling unless it was the Empress herself. A peasant can wait until we¡¯re good and ready.¡± She growled at the image in the mirror. ¡°Help me with this before I end up drawing blood. Rhine used to do it for me. I never got the knack.¡± Chapter 1.08.2: Plaything in the dark Music filled the common room. Crystalline voices rose above the raucous noise of the crowd, clear as spring water. Two elendars, on a small stage off in the corner, swayed as they both sang for the crowd, graceful bodies dressed in their traditional Beril garments, long hair adorned with bells and clinking pearls. Another was further back, fingering an elend string instrument and adding his voice when the chorus demanded it. Verti had arranged for a booth in one of the less crowded parts of the great room. She had sent one of her daughters to guide them through the throng of adventurers and regular workers. The rooms of the Meadow were expensive, but the food and drink catered to the size of many money pouches. Tallah¡¯s vision flashed red and a headache burst behind her eyes at first sight of the woman waiting. She missed a step and stumbled, but waved Sil back from helping. The curtain to the booth was drawn aside and the visitor watched the elend males performing, a mug of ale seemingly forgotten on the edge of the table. That is Rumi Belli, Tallah! Bianca¡¯s panic caught her by surprise. Do not even think about infusing yourself. Do not draw in illum. Whatever you do, control your temper. Who? The woman was human, ashen-haired and green-eyed, with a slightly pinched face. Couldn¡¯t have been older than thirty Summers. Looked almost like a young Empress Catharina to Tallah¡¯s eyes. She rose when she caught sight of them approaching. There was, in that simple motion, the impression of a cat unsheathing its claws. She greeted them with a lopsided grin. Her head only reached up to Tallah¡¯s chin, but her eyes locked onto hers with a predator¡¯s insistence. ¡°Good evening, Lady Aieni,¡± she said and stuck out her hand. No curtsy. No sign of subservience. She spared no attention for Sil. ¡°I hate to cause a stir, but this would have all been done so much neater if your host had just cooperated with me.¡± Tallah looked at the outstretched hand. Callouses and white crisscrossing scars marred the exposed sun-kissed skin. Bianca¡¯s voice had fallen into small, terrified whispers. Take her hand, Tallah. Just take it. Do not insult her. ¡°You offer your hand in greeting, know who I am, yet do not present yourself? I thought the Storm Guards of Valen were trained and educated in Aztroa Magnor, by the best teachers of Court. Perhaps I have been misled?¡± She stared the woman down, refusing to take the proffered hand. Not all Storm Guards were actually trained in the Empire¡¯s capital, and most were barely educated at all, but that¡¯s the kind of story that would travel all the way into Calabran. Tallah¡­ Bianca whined. Nothing showed in those green eye except growing amusement. Heartbeats passed in terse silence. Finally, the other pulled her hand away and inclined her head. She never stopped smiling. ¡°My apologies, Lady Aieni. I forget my manners when among the rabble. My name is Rumi Belli. I am a special liaison from Aztroa Magnor to the Valen garrison of our force.¡± She looked back to Tallah and something eased in her expression, but that mischievous glint in her eyes only grew brighter. That, more than Bianca¡¯s whimpering, set Tallah¡¯s teeth on edge. ¡°May I ask you to sit with me? I only wish to discuss your recent expedition. It is of some interest to us.¡± Better, but her manner irked. Tallah had the distinct and unpleasant sensation of being called into a spider¡¯s parlour. Worse yet, she had already walked in only to find the exit blocked by the type of polite request that can¡¯t be ignored. She sat down opposite the woman and Sil waited by her side, hands clasped demurely at her front. Belli still hadn¡¯t acknowledged her. ¡°Do you normally call on adventurers while out of uniform, at their place of residence?¡± Rumi wore dark blue trousers and a loose tunic over a long-sleeved undershirt, a simple cut yet excellently tailored. A cloak of similar colour hung on a peg by the booth. She sat sideways on the narrow bench and crossed her legs, face turned to the performers. It took a moment for her reply. ¡°As a rule, no.¡± ¡°Then why are you here, Miss Belli?¡± Again a long pause. ¡°I enjoy seeing elendars performing. They¡¯re so rare and precious.¡± She smiled wistfully before turning her attention to them. What a crock of nonsense. Elendars were a common sight in Aztroa Magnor. If anything, outside of their own homeland of Beril, the Empire¡¯s capital had the most of them applying their arts. Not that Tianna would know of such things, all the way in Calabran. ¡°I want to ask you about the maps you¡¯ve sold to Lucian about a fortnight ago.¡± She put her hands on the table, one over the other, drumming her fingers on the lacquered wood. Her nails clinked on the polished surface in an uneven rhythm. Sil stiffened. ¡°You should know,¡± Rumi went on, ¡°that Lucian¡¯s assurances of confidentiality go right out the window when it¡¯s us who do the asking. Do not hold it against him. I can be very convincing when we seek to learn something.¡± Her smile turned nasty for a moment, then returned to its earnestness. Her nails still lightly tapped on the wood as if trying to dislodge some particle of invisible dirt. It was starting to annoy Tallah. ¡°Miss Belli, get to your point, if you please. So far, you are wasting time I would rather spend elsewhere.¡± She swept a hand across the tavern¡¯s packed interior. ¡°Pedestrian performances put on for sweaty commoners are not my idea of a pleasant evening.¡± The taps stopped for a moment and gave Tallah the satisfaction of finding a chink in the Rumi Belli character. She could play the game as well as any Aztroa-trained pissant. She leaned back and offered her own most insincere smile. ¡°I sell what I no longer need. I am happy it was of some use to you, if that is the case, but there is nothing else to add aside from what I already handed to that unpleasant little man at the Guild.¡± ¡°Did you kill the ratmen?¡± The question came sharp, like a sting from behind the smile. ¡°That is a great subject for debate in our cell. I thought I¡¯d best hear it from the horse¡¯s mouth.¡± ¡°What ratmen?¡± Do not play games with her, Tallah. She can see through games. She can see through you. Just answer her questions so she leaves. Please. Shush, Bianca. Christina intervened for the first time, annoyed. Tallah knows her business. You are distracting. She¡¯d need to talk to Bianca once the entire farce was finished. Backing away from veiled threats and intimidation ran counter to everything a pyromancer stood for, especially when one had Tianna¡¯s high-stationed lineage. Bianca, given her circumstances, only knew how to bow and scrape before what she considered her betters. Tallah had met and worked alongside mind-skinners before. This one hid it well but there was no mistaking the eyes of a torturer nor the way they searched and prodded and dug for that one gap where they could inject their venom. If she inhaled deep enough she¡¯d gag on the stench of blood. If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. She almost felt bad for whatever Lucian had been put through on their behalf. ¡°The ones you mentioned in your document, where your maps end. You mention wiping out an entire nest of the creatures. Don¡¯t misunderstand, it is a laudable feat in itself, but I would like your confirmation.¡± ¡°I only purged some vermin. The tunnels are lousy with them.¡± She smiled. Rumi smiled. Silence stretched out between them. ¡°You also mentioned two victims found there, an aelir¡¯rei and a human male. Both dead of their wounds.¡± Tallah closed her eyes and pretended to find the memory repulsive. ¡°I remember. They were a big reason of why we decided to end our exploration. Terrible sight.¡± ¡°Where is the man¡¯s body, Lady Aieni? We found the aelir, but not the human.¡± They went searching the caves. Why? She remembered Sil¡¯s words from Lucian, of the interest the Guard had in the old shaman, but even so¡­ ¡°I assume it rots where it lies. How would I know?¡± She shrugged without much conviction. ¡°Perhaps some other creature dragged it off to crush its bones for the marrow.¡± That sounded like a poor answer even to her ears. ¡°Mistress?¡± Sil spoke up for the first time and four eyes turned to her. ¡°Anything to add, Silestra?¡± Sil smiled apologetically and did not meet either of their gazes. ¡°We did not kill all the ratmen, if you remember,¡± she went on. ¡°We retreated when your first gambit did not¡­ well¡­ work out. We aimed to save the man in there but failed.¡± She worked very hard at seeming embarrassed for divulging what her mistress had not. ¡°We ran from the shaman and the other beasts aiding it until you collapsed a side tunnel on it. We assumed it dead. There was blood and¡­¡± Her voice trailed off, her cheeks turning bright red for the indiscretion. Rumi¡¯s interest devoured every word and she gave Tallah a side glance. ¡°Thank you, lady healer. That does put some things in proper light.¡± She turned to Tallah and tapped the side of her nose conspiratorially. ¡°That shaman is very dead, if you¡¯d care to know, but not crushed under a rock. You owe Lucian an apology for deceit.¡± That was poor bait and did not deserve consideration beyond an offended glare. Rumi turned back to the two elendars, face slightly pensive, finger tapping on her chin. They played a slow, haunting melody, and sang in their old, odd language. She watched for a while, distracted away from the conversation. Tallah glanced up at Sil, but the healer knew her part too well to look back. She kept the blush on and her eyes staring right down at her boots. Quick thinking had taken the edge off the conversation when she had floundered. The Storm Guard did not police the tunnels, given up as a lost cause for decades. Them going down there themselves had caught her off-guard. ¡°You should not go alone into the tunnels again,¡± Rumi said after a while, voice low. ¡°We¡¯ve had many reports of people going missing in the Ruffle. Mostly common folk but there have been some adventurers of repute disappearing. You were in great danger, Lady Aieni, and you had no idea.¡± Mischief glinted in her eyes when she turned back to Tallah. ¡°It would be a shame for a pyromancer as promising as yourself to end up someone¡¯s plaything in the dark.¡± She downed her drink, now likely gone stale, and placed a coin next to the empty mug. ¡°In due honesty, I came to meet and warn you. Some of my superiors were interested in you for a time, and now I am too. It would be such a shame if something were to happen to you now, Lady Aieni. You are quite the promising pyromancer if I¡¯m any judge.¡± ¡°I doubt I will be heading into those horrid places again any time soon,¡± Tallah said, almost eager to move away from the subject. ¡°Winter is here and my curiosity is sated. I find cartography boring and exhausting, thus I plan on devoting myself to other pursuits.¡± Rumi kept bloody smiling. The horrid gash of her wide mouth seemed plastered to her face, and only a chisel and hammer were likely to budge it. ¡°I haven¡¯t delivered my warning yet.¡± She leaned forward, over the table, and spoke in a whisper. ¡°I¡¯m convinced that you realise why asking after certain people can be¡­ unwise. Some of my superiors certainly think so. If you insist to know more, we can have a private chat, you and I. Though I can¡¯t promise the setting would be quite as pedestrian as this one.¡± She took out a pair of gloves from an inside pocket of her cloak, and slid the left one on. It was armoured across the knuckles, and blood spatter marred the fur lining. Tallah was certain she had been allowed to see, as clear a warning as any of the evening. The nerve! Fire ignited in the pit of her stomach and clawed itself up into her chest, pain and all. She fought to restrain herself from grabbing the woman and slamming her face into the table. Tears welled up in her eyes from the shock of the sudden infusion. No, Tallah. She is Egia. She can see the weave. We are almost rid of her. That got a grip on her growing rage, enough that she reeled herself in with a sharp breath. Her eye twitched. By Rumi¡¯s expression, she had completely misunderstood the effect of her words. A large man moved through the crowd, parting it as a dray hound would scatter a herd of goats. He towered over most of the people there and was wider of shoulder than the largest of Verti¡¯s hired muscles. Tallah knew him, as did most others in the room. Barlo. The Miscreant. Part of Prince Falor¡¯s own inner circle and a bruiser like few others in the Empire. Mage killer. He was also dressed as a civilian but people moved out of his way regardless as he came up to their booth. Sil drew back from him when he filled the entrance. ¡°We done here, speck?¡± he asked Rumi. So, he was her insurance in case the conversation turned violent. Tallah was certain he was heavily armed, even if she couldn¡¯t spot any weapon on his excessively-broad person. Rumi donned her cloak and fastened it, then stuck out her naked hand to Tallah. ¡°It¡¯s been a pleasure meeting you, Lady Aieni. I do hope I haven¡¯t made too poor of a first impression.¡± This time Tallah did clasp her hand. She still fought to push the fury down. The handshake was firm but just as frigid as the woman¡¯s eyes. Tallah mirrored the other¡¯s grin and spoke through nearly clenched teeth, ¡°First impressions can always be mended, Miss Belli. Thank you for your concern, and for your warning.¡± She squeezed the hand tighter. ¡°I take them both to heart.¡± Rumi had to wrench her fingers away, the grin now strained on her face. ¡°What was that about?¡± Sil asked as the two Storm Guards moved out into the cold. She sat on the newly freed space and gestured for a coffee to one of the servers. Tallah sighed and collapsed back on her cushioned seat. Her hand trembled as she shook off the cold feeling. ¡°Bianca says that was an Egia, but I doubt she¡¯s one of your School¡¯s lot. It¡¯s a good thing I¡¯m as messed up as I am right now and can¡¯t infuse myself properly. She wanted to see if I could have done what we wrote I did.¡± ¡°But why?¡± ¡°Because they found Anna¡¯s Sanctum and can¡¯t be certain if we were involved. We left a bloody good trail to follow in there. Why they care, I couldn¡¯t say.¡± She shrugged and gave a long sigh. ¡°Quick thinking on your part. Saved my blunder.¡± Sil cursed under her breath. ¡°There weren¡¯t any queries related to your friend. I checked. I spent all Thaw making sure we weren¡¯t getting in the Guild¡¯s way on this.¡± Tallah took Sil¡¯s coffee as the serving girl put it down. ¡°I don¡¯t know. For now, you get your wish. We¡¯re going to be eating sugary confections until we¡¯re both sick, and then go frighten some shop keepers.¡± ¡°Aren¡¯t you in the least worried? That was the closest we¡¯ve been to the Guard since¡­ you know, the whole Hearth incident.¡± Oh look, Bianca, Adana is as witless as you in such matters. I hope you are very proud of her. Christina¡¯s mockery got a smile out of Tallah. Bianca sulked in silence in the back of her mind, emanating a feeling of intense relief now that the mind-skinner was gone. Christina¡¯s insult was dulled by the reality of the fact. Sil and Bianca were both of common stock originally and hadn¡¯t been brought up to recognise the usual games and veiled threats of the gentry. Tallah had grown up among false smiles and sharpened tongues. Tianna, had she survived the storm, would have inherited a veritable armada of trade ships and enough money to wholesale buy half of Valen. Without Prince Falor himself calling for her head, she was untouchable. She imitated Rumi Belli¡¯s infuriating smile and spoke with the same sticky sweet affectation that the mind-skinner used. ¡°Why would I be worried, Miss Silestra? I¡¯m an innocent pyromancer that has been warned away from danger, out of pure, sweet kindness. Why would that disrupt my life in the least?¡± She knocked back the coffee and grimaced at the sweetness. Verti¡¯s girls knew Sil¡¯s sweet tooth and prepared her drinks accordingly. This had been more sugar than coffee. ¡°What did you think about for that blush? That was a work of art.¡± ¡°For me to know, and for you to mind your own business.¡± Chapter 1.09.1: Living metal ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I don¡¯t remember you.¡± Tallah had half-expected some inane screamed battle cry out of the boy and was surprised by Vergil¡¯s actual calm, measured voice. Even if it was still weak, it held a certain resonance that she found pleasing. He was barefoot and wore only a pair of green trousers embroidered with the same white leaf pattern that was common in the hospital. He had filled up somewhat, though he remained pale and gangling, his cheeks drawn in and hollow. He had brown eyes and a mess of shaggy mousy-grey hair that had grown down over his eyes. All in all, a stark contrast to the half-dead wretch she¡¯d spared in the caves, with promise left over. Sil inspected him a lot more carefully, relentless and impervious to his obvious discomfort. She looked at his sunken cheeks, the different shades of colour in his hair, how his arms shook, and more. She¡¯d been peppering both he and Aliana with questions about his recovery for the better part of a bell¡¯s strike. After how much she¡¯d chewed her ears off back in the caves, now she was mothering the sod. ¡°We¡¯re going to need to work on you,¡± she finally said. ¡°I am very impressed with your work, Aliana. He¡¯s unrecognisable.¡± She stopped behind the boy, squinted and smiled. ¡°I see you got rid of that tattoo he had. Good.¡± Aliana gave Tallah a look of pure and obnoxious triumph. ¡°You could stand to learn some of her manners. It would do you a world of good if you showed proper gratitude to those of us putting up with you.¡± Tallah rolled her eyes and waved away the notion. Aliana would see gratitude from her on the same day she saw the back of her own head. Maybe even the day after that. ¡°They brought you in, Vergil.¡± Aliana was at her most motherly at the moment, still playing the concerned caregiver. They all sat in her office. Vergil tired easily so two other priestesses had helped him come up from the care rooms. ¡°I-I think I know that. I remember two women in the cave but it¡¯s all hazy. I can¡¯t remember much¡­¡± He teared up and sniffled as a shadow passed across his face. They waited for him to calm down. His voice cracked when he tried to speak again. ¡°Is it normal that I feel numb?¡± he asked without looking at any of them in particular. ¡°I think I should be feeling¡­ I don¡¯t know. Different. Sad? But there¡¯s nothing. Are you sure my friends haven¡¯t revived at the Guild¡¯s Chapel?¡± He kept his gaze downcast, only rarely stealing glances at them. Tallah couldn¡¯t help but notice how he kept squeezing his hands together. ¡°Isadora is not the most reliable goddess,¡± she said. ¡°And it¡¯s probably for the best that your friends have passed on. Revivals aren¡¯t¡­ safe.¡± Of course the Guild had promised him what they usually did, that it was possible for fallen adventurers to be revived by the patron goddess if their valour and morals were high. Isadora favoured the aelir on Nen and couldn¡¯t give a rat¡¯s arse for humans. She turned to Aliana. ¡°You did great work. I wasn¡¯t expecting him to be coherent.¡± The compliment was given begrudgingly but it was honest. ¡°It¡¯s why you brought him to me. I don¡¯t do less than great work.¡± She had her hand protectively on Vergil¡¯s arm. The message was clear: pay up or he¡¯s not going anywhere. Sil produced a small, ornate box out of her satchel. It was just a hand¡¯s width across, gold trimmings on ebony with a mirror shine. When she opened the lid, the room flooded with emerald light. It drowned out all other colours and shaded all shadowy nooks in deep black. A sliver of irregular green crystal lay at the bottom of the box, nestled in its padded interior. ¡°I should¡¯ve known you wouldn¡¯t pay in anything I can actually use.¡± Aliana shielded her eyes from the glow and reached out for the box. ¡°What is it?¡± Tallah grinned. ¡°That is one of the few slivers left of Salmek¡¯s Illum Hearth after it detonated. It¡¯s dead, so you needn¡¯t worry about Hearth¡¯s Flame or any other ill effect. We had it appraised in Drack at almost a hundred thousand Valen griffons. It should cover him, me, my debts and your discretion all at once. I¡¯m pretty sure it also covers whatever fancy drinks I ever nicked off you.¡± If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. ¡°Insanely valuable for a piece of glowing crystal. Have you gone daft?¡± Tallah savoured the look of surprise on Aliana¡¯s creased face. She so rarely got to see the old beast gaping. ¡°Perfectly sane, thank you so very much.¡± She taped the crystal lightly. ¡°You can make a Shard Pair out of this. Either get your goddess to break it in two for you, or find a resonant for it. Regardless, I think it worth giving you a gift that the Empire would burn a city for.¡± Aliana reached over for the box and closed its lid smoothly. ¡°Where do you even go to get something like this?¡± Tallah raised a finger to her lips and winked at the priestess. ¡°You got paid and our debts got squared several times over. I¡¯m not telling you more until I actually owe you more.¡± ¡°If you ever shush me again, Tallah, I¡¯ll see you banned from this place for the rest of your unnatural days.¡± Aliana peeked under the lid of the box again like a curious child, turning her dark eyes bright green. Her threat was genuine but not one she hadn¡¯t made before. If Tallah had a griffon for every time the two of them butted heads, she¡¯d have paid that and kept the shard. ¡°You¡¯ll get over it, I¡¯m sure. We¡¯ll be moving on come Thaw and it may be a while until we circle back again. The heart grows fonder in absence, or something of the sort.¡± Aliana looked over to Sil, who confirmed this with a silent nod. ¡°You take care of yourself, Adana, since you insist on letting this lunatic lead you astray.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll miss you too, Aliana.¡± Tallah smiled and wanted to rise from her chair. ¡°Get us a couple of girls to help dress the boy and we¡¯ll be on our way.¡± ¡°Sit your arse back down, girl. We¡¯re not done yet.¡± It was Aliana¡¯s turn to point the sorceress down with a self-satisfied dramatic gesture. ¡°My girls had their memories of Vergil purged last night, as per our standing agreement. I will do the same for myself once you¡¯re gone, be assured of that.¡± ¡°We don¡¯t need confirmation, Aliana,¡± Sil said. ¡°Your word is good enough. It has always been.¡± Even Tallah nodded. ¡°Don¡¯t be stupid. Of course you trust me. Mine¡¯s the only word worth a damn in this city.¡± She shook her head and looked over to the boy. ¡°No, this concerns Vergil. We had trouble purging his trauma. Something fought us every step of the way. If we picked clean a cluster of memory, it got restored before we finished working on the next. I admit we got creative with blocks rather than the more stable wipes.¡± ¡°Trauma?¡± Vergil tried to interrupt, but was pointedly ignored. ¡°There¡¯s metal in the boy¡¯s head. And it¡¯s a living sort. Whatever we tried to do, it undid. I¡¯ve never seen anything like it, metal that thinks. It¡¯s built like a kind of mesh in his head and gave one of my girls an ugly shock when she tried to reach into it. She¡¯s still being cared for.¡± ¡°I told you not to mess with whatever you found out of place,¡± Tallah said. Aliana shook her head. ¡°It wasn¡¯t the magical block, sorceress. We found that and the girls kept clear of it. That¡¯s a completely different nastiness, alien to him. This was something that is part of his head.¡± ¡°Are you talking about my network implant?¡± Vergil asked. All six eyes turned on him. ¡°Your what?¡± Sil reacted first, her interest suddenly piqued. Tallah could see her eyes brighten. The idea of a living entity in the boy¡¯s head, something artificial perhaps, was now squarely in Sil¡¯s area of interest. She had talked about a very vague idea of something like that from his memories, but it was so basic that it meant nothing to either of them. Vergil pressed a bony finger to his temple, tracing a line to the back of his head. ¡°I have a microchip implanted here. It¡¯s a¡­ uh, call it a thing that does complex thinking for me.¡± Tallah shushed him. This was exactly what she wanted out of him but this wasn¡¯t the place. Rather, she worried about other things from what Aliana said. ¡°Should we worry about the work you did on him? How likely is he to go loopy again?¡± The priestess shrugged. ¡°Can¡¯t say. We¡¯ve built blocks and reroutes for stressful stimuli, but I can¡¯t be completely sure of that kind of work. You know too well how fickle these fixes are and how memories bleed. I can¡¯t say what could trigger him, but I do advise you keep him on a tight, short leash. The less you stress the boy, the better.¡± She drummed her fingers on the lid of the ebony box. ¡°I would worry,¡± she mused, ¡°about that helmet. I¡¯m not convinced that enchantment is without risk. I would rid myself of the thing if I were you.¡± With her warnings delivered, she called two other women in and had Vergil changed and discharged from her care. Mother Aliana had been dismissed in favour of the efficient priestess. She¡¯d been paid and Vergil ceased to exist for her. Outside her door, those seeking her aid were legion. Chapter 1.09.2: Doppel Vergil had no idea what had just happened, or, for that matter, what was happening still. The two women picking him up seemed to regard him as a particularly interesting piece of d¨¦cor they were taking home. He would have wanted to ask more about his friends, about what was to happen to him or why they had even paid for his recovery He couldn¡¯t have heard right how much they paid for him. It was ludicrous that they¡¯d hand over more money than most adventurers saw in a lifetime. He got jostled about, undressed, redressed in new clothes, and sent out in the freezing cold. It was all happening to someone else and he was just along to watch the show. Nothing to do but meekly follow along, head tucked between his shoulders in the thick fur lining of his new cloak. There was nowhere else to go, nothing else to do but¡ª The cold shocked him back into a semblance of reality, and the falling snow stopped him dead down the steps of the hospital. He knew snow existed somewhere. It had featured in some of his Experiences, but was a distant concept that he had never connected to. Valen was a very different place through the lens of snowfall. Flakes danced in the air and scattered with the wind. They died on his skin and melted into sharp chills that got him shivering. It finally, somehow slotted into place the fact that he was very far from home; and he wasn¡¯t going back. Home was a distant dream now faded in the grey light and he was lost in the static of the blizzard. His head felt light and full of steel wool. His new companions noticed they were walking alone and stopped to look back. Vergil tried to catch up, but the wild patterns of falling snow kept snatching up his attention. ¡°If I understood you correctly,¡± the scary one said to the other, ¡°his life before was in a large, metal box floating in nothing.¡± ¡°He¡¯s never seen weather at all,¡± the aelir¡¯rei confirmed. ¡°Helmet-boy,¡± the scary one called to him, seeming to lose patience. ¡°It won¡¯t stop for the next few days at least. You can watch it all you want when we get somewhere warm. Come on while the storm only looms.¡± That snapped him back to himself and he hurried after them, catching up with huffing, steaming breath. ¡°Your name is Tallah. And you are Adana. Is that right?¡± he asked. It didn¡¯t seem right to think of them only in terms of how much they unnerved him. They had, after all, rescued him. The scary woman¡¯s eyes widened and she looked around suddenly, as if worried someone would overhear. ¡°I¡¯m Sil, actually,¡± the tall aelir¡¯rei said. ¡°Adana is my Hepius calling. And she¡¯s Tianna. If you¡¯d like to keep your head, I suggest you don¡¯t mention the other name again.¡± The threat had been made with such ease and honesty that his cheeks burned. A chill wiggled underneath his clothes and made him shiver. ¡°Um¡­I¡ª¡± He floundered for words. ¡°Miss Sil, I¡ª¡± How can I tell her about her sister dying? It had been on his mind ever since Miss Aliana mentioned the name Adana. He couldn¡¯t find his words as cold tears ran down his cheeks. ¡°I think I¡­ knew your sister, Miss Sil. I¡¯m sorry. The ratmen. They, uh¡­¡± Sil shrugged and Vergil¡¯s mouth dropped open. ¡°I don¡¯t have a sister. Adana is a Calling, not a family. Whoever you knew, they weren¡¯t related to me more than any other sister of the trade. If I cried for each of us meeting a horrible end, I¡¯d never stop grieving.¡± ¡°But¡ª¡± ¡°Close your mouth or you¡¯ll get a sore throat,¡± she said and reached to tighten his cloak around his shoulders. ¡°That¡¯s all very touching but it¡¯s bloody cold. Start walking or I leave you both here.¡± Tianna had already started walking away, towards the slope that led into the Lower City. ¡°I¡¯ll take him back on a carriage,¡± Sil said, putting her arm under his. Vergil shied away from her like her touch was poisonous, but she was having none of it. She held on tight to his arm and led towards one of the stations, its outline visible only by how packed down the snow was by countless feet. Tianna followed, a look of intense unhappiness on her face. ¡°I¡¯m coming along too,¡± she said and stood by to wait for the carriage. ¡°Oh, this should be good. You¡¯ve finally decided to join us in the modern world?¡± Sil mocked her friend. They were completely alone under the falling snow. Vergil had enjoyed the early mornings of Valen while he¡¯d been alone. It was a wonderful time when the city was almost quiet, with the day shift not yet awake, and the night one still at work. Now the city frightened him. Loneliness waited for him, now that Sidora, Davan and Merk were gone. Their absence left a hole in him that he had no idea how to deal with. The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°I could be at the Meadow in less time than it takes you to freeze out here,¡± Tianna argued, unhappy for some reason. ¡°Bianca would be all too happy to get me away from your stupid grin.¡± ¡°But Tianna can¡¯t do force manipulation,¡± Sil said in a low, sweet voice. ¡°Even a promising pyromancer can¡¯t fly. One of our watching friends catching a glimpse of you flying around would be quite an unfortunate turn for us.¡± Her evil grin widened. ¡°So you¡¯re stuck walking or catching a ride with us.¡± Tianna scowled. ¡°What¡¯s wrong with catching a transit carriage? They¡¯re free,¡± Vergil asked. He¡¯d ridden in them before while exploring the city. They reminded him of the monorail trams that ran across some portions of the Gloria. ¡°Tianna gets sick on them. Violently.¡± ¡°Oh. I¡¯m sorry. We can walk.¡± ¡°No. Me and Tianna can walk. You¡¯d likely expire on the stairs, given your condition. She¡¯s going to be a big girl and suffer for a bell strike.¡± It was a horribly uncomfortable, cramped ride for both Tianna and Vergil. The carriages were heated, after a fashion, but were also overcrowded as no one relished the idea of waiting for the next one in the freezing cold. A thick, cloying smell of animal hide and perspiration clogged the air in the tightly packed space. Tianna looked like she was trying very hard to keep her breakfast down. Vergil felt sick with himself. Having the aelir¡¯rei pressed against him in the crowd, her arm around his waist to steady him, was like a red-hot band of metal coiled around his naked body. It brought up a memory of Sidora, of the tent and¡­ ¡°Breathe slower,¡± Sil whispered. ¡°Deep breath. Slow.¡± Had she noticed? He tried to pull away, but there was nowhere to go. She pulled him closer to herself. ¡°Panic is manageable. You are safe. Close your eyes if you need to, but if you don¡¯t slow your breathing you are going to faint. We will not be gentle if we need to carry you.¡± She said everything in a calm, quiet monotone, for his ears only. Vergil squeezed his eyes shut and forced himself to slow down. ¡°Good, like that,¡± she encouraged him. It wasn¡¯t working. All the bodies pressing into him forced his mind back to the cave, back into the cage. He trembled violently in spite of the healer¡¯s quiet coaching. Someone pressed into him. His stomach dropped. The carriage had stopped on the lift platform that took it into the Lower City. ¡°Open your eyes,¡± that someone whispered right in front of him. He obeyed without thinking and found himself staring down into Tianna¡¯s midnight blue eyes. They were almost forehead to forehead and closer than he felt comfortable. Her stare ran him through and chased away the firelight from his imagination. Her pressure overwhelmed any semblance of thought in his head, leaving him an insect pinned to the wall. ¡°Stay on your own feet. I am not carrying you,¡± she said, pushing the words out through gritted teeth. Her voice was a sharp as razor wire, the threat almost palpable. He managed a weak nod as she kept her eyes on his. Sil¡¯s tight hold relaxed as she chuckled gently. Vergil had heard about the Meadow. Everyone knew about the place, but very few adventurers ever reached the kind of wealth and status to afford a room there, let alone an apartment sized for an entire extended royal family. Four rooms, two of which were bedrooms with richly sculpted king-sized beds dressed in soft furs and silk sheets, were connected by a smaller, central hub into which the main door opened. The largest room it connected was a sitting room with a fireplace dominating one wall. Along the walls there were bookcases and wardrobes, all with crystal glass doors. Two long tables were piled high and orderly with books, scrolls, quills and glass apparatus. He was led slack jawed through the corridor and helped by Sil out of the heavy coat he¡¯d been gifted. There was even a cart of food waiting in the central hall, the aromas making his mouth water and his stomach rumble. Both Sil and Tianna ignored it. Tianna took him by the arm and dragged him past the food and into the study. For someone as dainty as she seemed, the girl was immensely stronger than him. Sil disappeared into one of the bedrooms for a change of clothes. ¡°Stay there,¡± Tianna instructed, pointing to a spot in the middle of the room. She walked to one of the tables piled highest with scrolls and thick, ancient looking tomes. She undid the clasps of her thick dress, letting it slide down her body, to reveal a tight, body-hugging white blouse and leggings underneath. Vergil¡¯s face and ears burned and he became acutely interested in the toes of his boots. If Tianna cared at all, she didn¡¯t show it. ¡°Hold this.¡± Vergil found himself cupping with both hands a dark gold chalice studded with dull gems around its circumference. It was just slightly larger than a pitcher of ale at the Boar. ¡°What¡¯s this for?¡± he asked, turning the thing in his hands. Sil returned after some time. She looked Tianna over and sighed when she noticed the dress strewn about the floor and the sorceress strutting about in her underclothes. ¡°Really, clean up after yourself. There¡¯s a hamper for wet clothes, you know?¡± Tianna waved her away impatiently and thrust a staff tipped with a blue jewel into her arms. ¡°Spare me the lecture. I want to see his doppel.¡± There was a quick exchange of glares between the two and, finally, Sil sighed, shook her head despondently and took the staff. Holding its blue gem against her chest, she concentrated for a moment and then pointed the crystal at him. A shining, gossamer thin golden thread appeared between her chest and his, like the first strand of a spider web connecting two pillars. He felt weird for a moment but it was an oddly familiar experience. The chalice in his hands began filling, from the bottom up, with a black oil-like liquid. It had a multicoloured sheen on top that reflected lamplight as a distorted rainbow. It overflowed the chalice and covered his hands, thick as tar and cold as ice. He tried to drop the goblet but found his fingers refusing to unclench. He looked in panic to the two women who stood abreast a few steps away from him, watching as the tar formed into a long shadow of him, a pool in the centre of the room. As liquid flowed strength sapped out of him. The liquid shadow coalesced and rose high, turning into a naked copy of him. ¡°What the Hell?¡± he stammered. Drawing breath was an effort of will. So was speaking. Only his eyes still obeyed as they should and he hated what he saw. The black body turned towards him with a predatory grace. It looked like a mirror image, if the mirror had been warped by heat. Its posture was slightly hunched with the impression of a coiled spring ready to snap, while its face had a savage ferocity that scared him down to the marrow of his bones. Featureless voids occupied the spaces where its mouth and eyes should have been. ¡°What the Hell is this?¡± His voice almost cracked, sounding high and shrill even to his own ears. The thing in front of him mimicked his outburst but added outrageous body language. ¡°We call it doppelganger, an avatar of the state of your soul right now,¡± Tianna answered. Sil called the creature over with a gesture of her hand. ¡°How is that my soul? Why does it look like that? Why are you taking it out?¡± His voice was still shrill. He had started breathing shallow and fast, pain flaring up in his chest. ¡°Representation of your soul, not your actual soul,¡± Sil answered calmly. ¡°That bit is a lot harder to take out without killing you.¡± Chapter 1.09.3: If I were you The doppelganger mimicked every word Vergil said, and it flailed its arms about in a simulated panic. ¡°Stop that and calm down. Don¡¯t be a child. We¡¯re not hurting you.¡± Tianna¡¯s words cracked like a whip. Sil walked around the cowed, twitching creature, her face twisted into an unpleasant expression. ¡°You have been starved for a long time,¡± she said and scrunched up her nose. ¡°Hunger is a very powerful transformational state for a person, of any species. While you¡¯ve been in that state, you have been tempted by your captors and have broken under that temptation, in some way I¡¯d rather not know about.¡± She waved a hand at the doppel, ¡°This is the transformation your inner self was undergoing when we found you. Had Aliana and her priestesses not cared for you, this is what you would have eventually become. This, or dead.¡± ¡°Teach later. Pay attention now,¡± Tianna intervened. ¡°Come and look at this.¡± She pointed at the thing¡¯s chest, above where its heart would be. Under the shiny, oily surface mimicking skin, a deep red cancerous growth pulsed steadily. Sil walked around to it. Red tendrils extended like veins, pulsing in a steady rhythm. ¡°It looks like an infection,¡± Sil said. She sketched and wrote in a leather-bound booklet. ¡°Does it feel familiar?¡± ¡°I¡¯ve never seen absolutely anything like it. I assume it¡¯s divine by the way it¡¯s built, but I have no idea which one of the maggots could have made it. Seems too subtle to be Ort or Isadora. Definitely not Anatol.¡± Tianna prodded the heart¡ªat least, that¡¯s what it looked like to Vergil¡ªwith a gloved finger. A spark of electricity danced on her finger as she did. Vergil screamed and the growth on his copy pulsed in agitation, more tendrils growing out of it and stabbing at its host. ¡°Hostile little bugger,¡± the sorceress noted while Vergil¡¯s calmed down, ventilating hard. ¡°You prodded it.¡± Sil shrugged. ¡°I¡¯d be hostile too if you electrocuted me.¡± ¡°Please don¡¯t do that again. It hurt.¡± Vergil felt faint. He wasn¡¯t sure he would still be standing if he weren¡¯t quite literally rooted to the spot. ¡°I don¡¯t have equipment here to excise it without killing him, I think.¡± The sorceress looked up at Sil, who shook her head. ¡°It¡¯s latched on tight and reacts this hard even on the doppel. I need it separated to study it properly. I could just capture it whole¡­¡± ¡°You can¡¯t kill him. Aside from the fact that it would be daft to do it now, after we dragged him here and paid a small fortune for him, you¡¯d announce yourself to the entire Guard. They¡¯re jittery enough already.¡± Sil gave her a long look with a raised eyebrow. ¡°Remember the chaos you caused when you took Bianca in Aztroa? With an Egia sniffing about, you could just as well go up to the Lord Commander and kick him in the shin.¡± Tianna cursed and walked away. ¡°Sorry.¡± Sil shrugged and, with a gesture of her hand, released Vergil from whatever curse was holding him. The copy shivered in the air as if struck by a heat haze and then puffed into dark smoke. The sorceress cracked open a window. Vergil collapsed to the floor, the goblet rolling away from him. His teeth chattered. He wasn¡¯t so much cold as intensely terrified of his two saviours, of how casually they had discussed possibly executing him, of the disappointment in the sorceress¡¯ voice and the pain they had so casually inflicted on him. He couldn¡¯t parse which horrified him more. ¡°I need to have him along until we get back to Solstice.¡± Tianna poured herself a glass of some yellow liquor from a carafe, looking morose out the window. ¡°I have things in my Sanctum that will help me study it without killing him.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not babysitting,¡± Sil was quick to reply, hanging up and covering her staff. She sat at one of the worktable, lighting a brazier. ¡°No, we¡¯ll put the helmet back on him and we¡¯ll take turns in keeping the effect going. At least we¡¯ll have a front line like that, if the ghost plays nice.¡± Vergil tried to stammer something but neither woman paid him any attention. Whatever they had done to him, he could barely move, feeling his body turned leaden. He couldn¡¯t take his eyes off them though, afraid one of them would hurt him again. Sil was studying a bi-horned helmet on her desk. It had a penis drawn on it in bright red paint. ¡°I really wish I hadn¡¯t used such good pigment for this. Now it¡¯ll draw attention,¡± she mumbled, scratching at the paint. It stubbornly refused to flake off. ¡°Least of my worries.¡± Tianna set her empty glass on her table and walked towards the door, stepping over Vergil¡¯s splayed form. ¡°I¡¯ll have a long bath and then we¡¯ll see how we plan our next moves. He¡¯s all yours, healer.¡± Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road. She talked to herself. Vergil couldn¡¯t catch the words, but she was definitely having a conversation on her way out of the room. It took some time before Sil remembered he was still there. She scribbled in her notebook and nibbled on the end of her pencil, completely oblivious to him struggling to crawl away. Where to, exactly? He had no idea. But he¡¯d seen these people before, on the Gloria, in every core crew member that looked at him like he was less than human. The helmet clattered at his feet, bounced twice, and stopped against his leg. ¡°The weakness will wear off on its own. Don¡¯t force yourself.¡± Sil was looking at him from her table, her chin resting in her palm. ¡°Congratulations, Vergil. You now own a cursed artefact. Don¡¯t poke an eye out with it, all right?¡± He stared at the ugly thing resting against his trouser leg. It was little more than a grey metal dome with two horns fastened on top of it. A T-shaped visor had been roughly cut in one side of it, just enough for whoever used the helmet to see out of. Malice radiated off it. For some reason he couldn¡¯t explain, he wanted to pick up the ridiculous thing and settle it on his lap. ¡°Who are you two?¡± Terror strangled the words into a squeaking mess. At least he had gathered enough of himself to look up at the healer. Her lips quirked into a mirthless little smile and he felt like a child ready to wet himself. ¡°Two very unpleasant and dangerous people. And you are an excessively unlucky one,¡± she responded candidly. A pregnant pause stretched out between them. She moved away from the table and he managed to get himself up in a sitting position. Breathing came easier and he was already feeling tingles in his hands and feet, sensation returning slowly and painfully. To his surprise, Sil came and sat next to him, an arm¡¯s length away. She sighed heavily. ¡°In the interest of honesty, I need to confess that I have touched your mind, Vergil. You were in no state to consent, so I apologise now for the invasion.¡± She shrugged, not waiting for an answer from him. ¡°We weren¡¯t intent on saving you. I was dead set against it, actually.¡± She had no remorse to show over this. Her voice said as much. ¡°What I saw in your head, about the¡­ what was it called? The Gloria? Yes, that. It interested Tallah a great deal. It¡¯s why you¡¯re here now and why we paid for your treatment. This is not a blessing in disguise.¡± Vergil didn¡¯t know how to respond to any of this, and it didn¡¯t look as if Sil expected him to have an opinion. She went on. ¡°I think I have an idea of what you must be thinking now. We frighten you. This is not what you may have hoped for when waking here. You expected adventure. And maybe some glory? Instead, there was blood and death, and you fell into the care of two bastards.¡± She sidled closer and inclined her head towards him. She kept her eyes staring forward as she talked, her voice lowered to little more than a whisper. ¡°I¡¯m impressed you¡¯re taking it as well as you are. Understand, however, that there are no heroes here. There is no righteous cause to follow, no glory to earn, no dragon to slay.¡± She stopped and thought for a moment, her smile turning just a fraction. ¡°Well, there are dragons. But slaying one is a faer tale at best.¡± ¡°What do you want to do with me?¡± Vergil asked. He darted a look after Tianna, fear of her returning clawing inside him. ¡°Is she going to kill me?¡± Sil shook her head. ¡°I doubt it. She likes to talk big but doesn¡¯t kill on whims. You are interesting to us. When that interest runs out we¡¯ll cut you loose if we¡¯re certain you won¡¯t be an issue. Will you be an issue, Vergil?¡± Her eyes now bore into his and she smiled so like Sidora that it twisted the words out of him. ¡°No. I swear on my life that I won¡¯t be.¡± ¡°You have no idea what you¡¯re saying. It¡¯s adorable. If I were you, I¡¯d weigh my words more before spilling them out.¡± She shrugged, pushed herself to her feet and offered him a hand. ¡°Stand. You should be able to by now.¡± He gingerly took her help and rose to his feet, his other hand holding tight the helmet. The soles of his feet stung as if he stepped on pins, but he stood unassisted and shuffled about. ¡°Go and eat something. Don¡¯t be shy of it but pace yourself. Sap healed you but it did not nourish you. Eat slowly or you¡¯ll cramp up, and you¡¯re in no fit state for any of my medicine to help.¡± As he turned towards the cart of food, she went on, her voice quiet enough that he strained to hear. ¡°I will remember what you just swore to me. Tallah¡¯s fire is much kinder than what my talents can do. You¡¯ll remember that I hope.¡± She dismissed him with a gesture, not expecting an answer from him as she sat at her desk and wrote in a thick, leather-bound book. He ate as instructed, small nibbles of food such as he¡¯d never tasted before, making a determined effort not to gorge himself. For some reason he had no taste for meat. The smell of it, when he uncovered the pot, made him gag. Instead, he filled a plate with vegetables, cheese, bread and an odd assortment of spreads, and sat in a chair in the common room, creeping about to not disturb the aelir healer. ¡°You don¡¯t need to carry that around, you know.¡± He jumped at the words and chocked. He hadn¡¯t noticed her move from the desk. Sil offered him a pitcher of water. ¡°Easy, boy, I don¡¯t bite. Put that down.¡± It took him a moment, once he forced down the lump in his throat, to realize that he was holding the horned helmet on his lap. Reluctantly he set it besides his chair. She held a notebook in one hand and her gnawed-on pencil in the other. ¡°Eat. I¡¯ll ask some questions. Answer as you can.¡± ¡°What about?¡± he asked, cringing back. Their curiosity, he feared, was a mercurial, terrible thing. It had saved his life, true, but who knew how long that goodwill could last. ¡°Relax. Let¡¯s talk for a bit about that place in your head. The Gloria Nostra, yes? Tell me about that thing thinking for you.¡± Chapter 1.10.1: They followed They followed. Small slips, here and there. A glance away too quick. A stumble over someone in the crowd. A rattle of armour when she took to deserted narrow side-streets or through snow-covered construction sites. They follow but I¡¯m being led to believe that they¡¯re incompetent. Cheeky bastards. There was definitely someone she couldn¡¯t see that was doing the actual following. She was certain of it when she passed through the Guild¡¯s large, ornate gates. The ones drawing her attention were far observers, too distant to listen in on conversations, pointless really for anything more than annoying her. As she headed to the postings, shouldering through the wet throng of snow-laden bodies, she looked behind as if reacting to a noise from the crowd. Nobody followed, not even the minders from earlier. Am I being paranoid? She¡¯d been cooped up inside with Tallah for too long. It was about time she¡¯d start imagining things. ¡°You¡¯re a pleasant surprise, miss Silestra Adana.¡± She startled and turned around with a yelp. Lucian was by her side, offering a smile that managed to be both apologising and ingratiating. The man must have walked out of a wall. ¡°My apologies if I startled you.¡± There was just the barest outline of a fading-yellow bruise over his right cheek. Hair thin lines of scars showed on his lips, almost invisible on his pale, parchment skin. ¡°Good morning, Master. You did. I hadn¡¯t seen you approaching.¡± His smile broadened. If he held any grudge for whatever the Guard had done to him, he didn¡¯t yet show it. ¡°Given the crowd we face, one must learn to move unseen. What can I thank for the pleasure of your presence here today?¡± Sil started forward again and Lucian fell in step by her side, hands clasped at his back, almost slithering through the push-and-shove. ¡°I wish to have a look at recent postings.¡± ¡°Is Winter boring the Mistress?¡± Sil smirked and offered a small shrug. ¡°It is. And we¡¯d like to take more active roles with the Guild come Thaw. A bit of travel, if you understand.¡± ¡°Ah, the days of chafing. I remember them well.¡± He drew ahead by a step and opened a path for her. ¡°I¡¯m not surprised the Mistress would like a change of pace. It¡¯s been a remarkably quiet few years here in Valen.¡± ¡°Quite.¡± Quiet wasn¡¯t how she thought of the time since she and Tallah had begun their work. They¡¯d arrived and set Tianna up in Valen just less than a season after the fire, and had been working restlessly since then. Five years, two hunts. First Bianca, for whom they''d had to steal into Aztroa Magnor, a plan that ate up two years of their lives. Then Anna, a frustrating series of false leads and dead ends that had grown more and more aggravating by the day. It hadn¡¯t been quite so quiet. Another of Empress Catharina¡¯s wars would have helped them move about more easily, but the allegiances with Valen, Calabran, and Ria held strong. The Maggot War droned on in the Heavens, so the Empire wore its cloak of peace. Bugger. ¡°Any particular interests?¡± Sil pulled herself out of her own head and stared ahead at bursting billboards. Guild officials were setting new ones up, fighting against the crowd of adventurers to pin new notices up. The clamour had Lucian yelling to be heard over the din. Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. ¡°As you can see, it¡¯s a very lively time for us here. Very exciting. You couldn¡¯t have come at a better time.¡± With the boy taking up so much of their time for the past few days¡ªinfuriatingly so¡ªshe had forgotten the date. This outing was more so she wouldn¡¯t strangle the frustrating wretch. ¡°Ah,¡± she muttered to herself. Then, to Lucian, she said, ¡°New postings came through the Gate today?¡± ¡°Precisely. Isn¡¯t that why you¡¯re here?¡± No, not really. She and Tallah wanted to start looking for new information on Deidra Aratol and her movement. Guild postings, out of date as they would be over Winter, were a good place to start. She had completely forgotten about the mid-season delivery from Aztroa. No wonder the place teemed with people. Well¡­ bugger. ¡°Excuse me, Master,¡± she said as she pushed forward, drawing a scroll out of her satchel. For better or worse, if there actually was someone keeping an eye on her, this wouldn¡¯t tell them anything of worth. Just another adventurer come for the fresh missions. Most of those there had come hoping for paying work come Thaw. The actual commissions wouldn¡¯t get handed out for at least a few more weeks but it was worth being among the first to apply. Someone pushed her and she shoved back, fighting her way to the front of the lines. One look at her wooden staff sent most adventurers to the side, shoving a clear path for her. It didn¡¯t pay to upset a healer, not when you might be working with them one day, especially an aelir. Their memory for slights ran decades-long. Lucian followed quietly in her wake, hands tucked inside his vest pockets, as she scribbled down notes. Most of them were nonsense that Tallah would throw out. Others were of interest. ¡°The mistress seeks to work you hard again I see.¡± Old Forge. It came up time and time again. Unrest. Bandits. Monsters sighted. Even a Dread Chimera, which was sure to bring in experienced adventurers. Forces were being amassed there. ¡°Every time I believe myself getting a handle on her, you show up and ruin my delusions,¡± Lucian said as she copied down the details of some request that promised bugger-all of interest. ¡°I can¡¯t see her doing work as plebeian as what you¡¯re perusing now.¡± ¡°She¡¯ll likely not even deign to read the details. But my instructions are to bring back whatever gets us travelling. We¡¯ve seen quite enough of Valen¡¯s countryside.¡± Lucian seemed thoughtful as he watched one of his assistants put up another series of queries. ¡°I imagine her father¡¯s minders are bothering her again. We¡¯ve had an influx of requests about her Grace. Mind you, these were from before the snows came, so likely out of date.¡± Sil grinned and leaned into the broker, elbowing him slightly. ¡°Free information, Lucian? Coming from you, I might get very confusing ideas.¡± He scratched at the thin stubble on his cheek and twisted his face into an amused grimace. ¡°I dislike highly insistent parties, miss Silestra. Call it a professional courtesy extended towards your mistress.¡± He smiled, grey eyes twinkling bright in the sprite light. ¡°And, if I can be honest, I¡¯m very much looking forward to the oddities you two might bring back. Your last delivery led to some interesting conversations.¡± She couldn¡¯t help but raise an eyebrow and stare at him. His eyebrows in turn rose as he kept smiling, mirth turning to polite inquisitiveness. ¡°I¡¯ll¡­ I¡¯ll be sure to let Mistress Tianna know of your interest.¡± She stumbled over the words and hastily turned back to her notes. ¡°Please do that,¡± he said and turned his eyes back to the new postings. ¡°You might be interested in that one, right up top, by my assistant. Yes, that one.¡± Glaring down at her from the page was a sharp-featured, deeply lined face painted in colour. Ashen-coloured hair braided into a narrow strip hanging over one shoulder, eyes the colour of Summer plums staring from behind round spectacles, high cheekbones, a crooked nose and thin, cruel lips. Deidra Aratol, wanted dead or alive. Dangerous in the extreme. The list of crimes levied against her filled a scroll as tall as Tallah. Ice stabbed into Sil¡¯s spine and she felt colour draining from her face. She had to gather herself before slowly turning to¡ª ¡°Miss Silestra,¡± Lucian¡¯s voice whispered in her ear, ¡°I council caution. Spending one more Thaw with us might not be so terrible. Until certain embers cool.¡± ¡°What do you m¡­¡± She turned sharper than she had wanted towards the voice. Lucian was gone from her side. He had melted into the flagstones or something to the effect for she hadn¡¯t even felt the crowd shifting to allow him passage. A look back showed nothing but more bodies crowding the entrances, and one of her minders getting an unceremonious elbow to the ribs. Sighing and worrying at her lower lip, she turned her gaze back to the portrait. Empress Catharina had deemed Deidra a big enough nuisance to formally call for her head. ¡°Head names the price,¡± she read. Others had noticed and many whistled in appreciation. Low grumbles made the connection just as quick as she did. Last head to name a price up on a billboard had been Tallah¡¯s. Chapter 1.10.2: Head names the price Sil nearly stumbled over the boy¡¯s cot in the hallway. She¡¯d forgotten seeing Verti¡¯s men hauling it up the stairs just as she was leaving, at Tallah¡¯s behest. Vergil lay on it, huddled tight against the wall, his sheets a sweat-stained, crumpled mess. He whimpered softly and kicked out a leg like a dog having a bad dream. Three or four drops of burn-leaf extract a bell¡¯s call after his evening meal would help ease his rest. She¡¯d get some more the next time she went into the Agora. Tallah was taking it with her tea and had nearly depleted their entire stock. ¡°I can¡¯t leave you alone for even a spell, can I?¡± she asked as she walked in. Tallah was at her desk, head on the smooth black wood, both hands pressing on her temples. She let out a whimper as the door creaked when opened. ¡°You¡¯ve been trying to channel, haven¡¯t you? Do you never learn?¡± Red splotches of burst capillaries rimmed the sorceress¡¯s eyes when she finally looked up. There was a smudged streak of dried blood on her upper lip, a clot in her nose, and the accompanying stain on her arm. She groaned rather than answer Sil¡¯s question. ¡°Did Verti ask anything about Vergil?¡± No answer, just an endless stare to somewhere far beyond the walls. The corner of an eye twitched spasmodically. ¡°You¡¯re an imbecile.¡± ¡°We¡¯ve also told her. She refuses to listen,¡± Christina¡¯s pitiless tone rose hoarsely from Tallah¡¯s throat. ¡°Give me something,¡± the idiot in question followed up. Sil set her satchel down at her desk and emptied out the scrolls and odd assortment of engraving supplies she¡¯d picked up at the stores outside the Guild¡¯s compound. She¡¯d taken some measure of pleasure from keeping her Guard minders out in the falling snow, stamping and shuffling their feet through the freezing cold. They hadn¡¯t even tried to hide. ¡°Misery suits you. I think I¡¯ll leave you like that.¡± ¡°Sil!¡± But she had already lit a brazier and adjusted its flame. ¡°Yes, yes, I¡¯ll have something ready in a bit. Don¡¯t wet yourself.¡± Two measured thimbles of her potion base got poured into a tube and set above the fire. She hummed softly the melody she¡¯d known her entire life, measuring the time for the philter¡¯s preparation. She dropped various other ingredients into the tube, following the words to her mother¡¯s rhyme. ¡°Eye of toad, and tongue of worm,¡± she cooed over the bubbling currant as she added in a pinch of dried bloodberry. ¡°With a thumb of goose, and an ear of corn.¡± Nonsense that coaxed a smile out of her. She stirred three times with a thin metal rod then took the tube off its fire with pliers, opened a window, and plunged it into the snow bank outside. The rhyme counted out the cooling time. With another pinch of beaster¡¯s salt sprinkled in, she handed it to Tallah. ¡°One gulp. Straight down.¡± ¡°What¡¯s in this?¡± the sorceress asked after obeying, face twisting into a painful-looking grimace of disgust. ¡°This and that. You¡¯ll feel better in a bit. It¡¯d be best if you slept on it for a couple bells.¡± Of course, Tallah wasn¡¯t listening. She adjusted her spectacles, stumbled to her feet and moved over to the waiting scrolls. ¡°Right then,¡± she breathed out, a sigh of relief in her voice as the lines of pain on her face eased out. ¡°What do we have here?¡± She read the first scroll on hand, crumpled the paper, and threw it into the hearth. ¡°You were followed?¡± ¡°Guard cronies. And Lucian, for some reason. I wrote down everything in sight so he¡¯d get bored and bugger off.¡± ¡°Did he?¡± ¡°Eventually. Strangest thing, though.¡± She pulled out a particular scroll and shoved it under Tallah¡¯s nose. ¡°Either he¡¯s got a weird read on me, or he thought something of our previous talk, but he directed me to this. And then warned me away.¡± Tallah read and scrunched up her nose. ¡°Head names the price? Deidra must¡¯ve really pissed in Catharina¡¯s coffee.¡± ¡°We¡¯ll have competition.¡± A shrug, a crumpled scroll, another crackle in the fire. ¡°There¡¯s a map in the chest. Bring it, please.¡± She moved the pile to her desk and dove into the work. Pointless drivel was crossed out with a charcoal pencil. An array of random words was circled and then copied to a clean sheet of rough paper. ¡°Is this exactly as it said on the billboard?¡± ¡°Of course.¡± ¡°Fancy that.¡± Sil took away some of Tallah¡¯s overcrowding tomes and cleared up a space large enough to unroll the map. An inkwell and a snuffed-out candle held it in place. ¡°Anything interesting?¡± ¡°Lots. Also lots of nothing. Need to sieve out the chaff.¡± She brewed tea over her burner while Tallah worked, then steamed a pouch of kinnettle petals above the kettle. While the tea infused, her own blend of herbs, she checked in on Vergil and set the pouch on his pillow, by his head. A few breaths and his fits subsided. Finally still, he looked every bit the child that he actually was. ¡°What¡¯s all that?¡± Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation. A string of words crowded together on the fresh scroll in gibberish arrangement. Old Forge was circled on the map and thin lines connected the smaller settlements around it, going nearly to the very edge of Vas, to Amaranth. ¡°Code. Now would¡¯ve been the best time to get ahead of her. By Thaw most of this will be cold trails and trampled routes but at least we know where we¡¯re starting from.¡± She reached out and plucked the steaming mug from Sil¡¯s hands. She sipped, grimaced, looked incredulous into the cup. A slight gnashing sound came from her as she struggled to chew the half-melted sugar slush. ¡°This one''s yours. Stop taking my drinks.¡± They swapped mugs while Tallah wrote down some more seemingly random words plucked from the Guild¡¯s listing. ¡°Right. Anyway, look at this.¡± She traced the path from Old Forge, down the river Calis, into Amaranth. ¡°The last time I dismantled Deidra¡¯s faction, twelve Summers ago, she had been operating out of Neant. She¡¯s moved onto the mainland now, striking out from Amaranth and seeding discord up along the river, into Old Forge.¡± She drank, adjusted her glasses, and traced the string of words. ¡°These are all Claw postings. They¡¯re scheming big.¡± ¡°Through the Guild?¡± ¡°Through the Guild, yes. They code the message for embedded agents and distribute it to the most likely affected areas. That you found these here means that there¡¯s a chance unrest will bloom nearby. They think Deidra¡¯s coming to Valen.¡± ¡°What happens if some hard-head adventurer decides they want to take on the mission?¡± Tallah grinned. ¡°How do you think we¡¯ve been recruiting our best Claws over the years? When someone outside the Guard turns in the request, they¡¯ll find themselves joined by someone very insistent on partaking of the mission even without a cut. Generally it¡¯ll be hard to refuse as they¡¯ll often be Iluna, or a sheathed Claw.¡± ¡°Huh. Never knew.¡± ¡°Very few people outside the Claws know this. I had to burn it out of Caragill when you were recovering, back when I tied up loose ends.¡± ¡°Ah.¡± She sipped her tea and looked closer at the map. She¡¯d been to Old Forge once, when she had been a girl, and found it a quiet, rather droll place compared to her native, dark-walled, raucous Drack. Granted, that had been two lifetimes ago but she remembered liking the place. It would be a nice change of pace compared to Valen and Aztroa. ¡°What¡¯s our move forward?¡± Tallah¡¯s shoulders slumped and she sighed over her tea. ¡°I¡¯ll get better first.¡± She spat the words out indignantly, loathe to give her and Christina the satisfaction. ¡°And then we wait for Thaw. You¡¯ll book us¡ª¡± She looked back, towards Vergil¡¯s cot and frowned. ¡°You¡¯ll book all three of us as a party heading into Old Forge. Peace keeping, bandit hunting, monster suppression. Nothing political. I¡¯ll tell you which is which.¡± ¡°And from there we try and pick up the trail?¡± ¡°That¡¯s the wide of it. We¡¯ll keep an eye on the postings until then. There should be another set coming in a fortnight or so. With any luck, I should be able to predict where the Empire thinks Deidra¡¯s heading.¡± ¡°You¡¯re putting a lot of stock in these.¡± ¡°It¡¯s a start. The first time I went after her at Catharina¡¯s orders it took me four years before I caught up, and I had my own Claws. I don¡¯t expect it¡¯ll be any faster now.¡± Sil sighed and chewed her tea. ¡°Solstice first?¡± ¡°Definitely. I want Anna¡¯s strength. Deidra was Christina¡¯s equal at Hoarfrost.¡± She grimaced as if struck a blow, then resumed. ¡°Even if her pride still won¡¯t admit it. And the witch has the gall to call me a child.¡± ¡°That still leaves the Storm Guard dogging us. I can bet that Rumi character is either a Claw, or she has some of her own. They¡¯ve been following me all day.¡± Tallah waved an impatient hand and rolled her eyes. ¡°Lay low. Stay quiet. I doubt they have anything on us worth a lick of salt.¡± ¡°Then why¡ª¡± ¡°Because they can¡¯t be sure we weren¡¯t involved in killing Anna¡¯s Sanctum. It doesn¡¯t take a terribly sharp Claw to see that some very powerful people had a violent disagreement in there. If it were me asking questions, you¡¯d already wish you¡¯d have let the chimeras eat you.¡± She looked up at her and smiled a nasty, evil little smile. ¡°If it were me, I¡¯d have picked you up long before coming in for a chat like that upstart brat. Tianna¡¯s brick-walled but you¡¯d be fair game.¡± Yes, next time she¡¯d let her suffer. That, or spike her currant with a diuretic. She still had some corallin¡¯s tooth stems somewhere. ¡°Charming.¡± She drifted away from the sorceress and watched the gathering dark outside. Bells sounded in the distance but she didn¡¯t count them. Ancient instincts warned her of a danger she couldn¡¯t see and it turned her skin to goose flesh. She¡¯d been careful. Anyone making a report on her would only note on how dull she was and what a waste of time trailing her had been. It wouldn¡¯t be enough to shake loose the invisible pinch of the Storm Guard. She couldn¡¯t say how she knew that, but she did and the thought refused to be ignored. ¡°Why isn¡¯t your old friend already in chains?¡± she asked without turning her gaze away from the people moving in the streets. ¡°Deidra¡¯s a Crepuscular.¡± Ah. That explained absolutely nothing. A dagger stare at Tallah¡¯s back provided no elaboration. Not like it mattered. Tallah would find this woman even if she hid under Catharina¡¯s own throne. Now that she was animate about the hunt there would be nothing stopping her until she got exactly what she wanted. There were two more soul gems resting at the bottom of the chest, ready to be filled. What do I want? Sure enough, she knew what she wanted. She longed for it. It gnawed at her peace. Add another corpse to your pile, Silestra. Do it. You know that¡¯s the only way it¡¯ll end. You can¡¯t help it. Sugar turned to ash on her tongue and she set the mug down. Stupid to want and stupid that she was tempted to go back out into the cold and make her way to the Agora, into that narrow alley and through that rickety door past the anvil¡­ ¡°Festival¡¯s coming up.¡± She needed to fill the silence with something before her feet took the decision away from her. ¡°You expect any of them to show?¡± Tallah shrugged without turning. ¡°Isadora or Cassandra. Maybe. Depends which one¡¯s got the figurative black eye. Ort definitely won¡¯t come down. Anatol, like any good pet, won¡¯t leave his master fighting alone.¡± She took a piece of blotting paper and carefully removed a smudge from her writing. ¡°It¡¯ll be a hot day under Cares when the Dryad deigns to show. She hates Winter.¡± ¡°I doubt my Goddess will show up,¡± Sil said. It was absurd to even consider. Blessed Panacea had only shown up once for the Festival of Awakening, slapped Ort¡¯s incarnate avatar, and then vanished without a word to the gathered people. That had been so long before Sil¡¯s time that it reeked of myth rather than reality. ¡°I haven¡¯t been to the Festival since I was a girl,¡± she mused to nobody in particular. She remembered it vaguely, an outline of a memory rather than anything clear. It started up a headache, like most of her remembrances did, when she tried vainly to focus it in her mind¡¯s eye. She had learned to give up before it would become overbearing. She did so now and refocused on the moment and her selfish, niggling wants. Out of the fire and into the pan¡­ ¡°Take the boy when you go. It probably won¡¯t make him any stupider,¡± Tallah said with a hint of malice in her voice. That¡¯s unkind, Sil thought but immediately stifled a chuckle of her own. After a tenday with Vergil, she was about ready to strangle the wretch. ¡°Actually, really do take him if you decide to go,¡± Tallah said after staring out through the door for a few heartbeats. ¡°Doubt he¡¯s ever seen something like it. May do his misery some good.¡± Chapter 1.11.1: Waste of breath ¡°Stop! What are you doing?¡± Vergil tried to squirm out of the sorceress¡¯ grip but she had his arm painfully twisted around and had forced him face down on a table. Her strength was truly monstrous in comparison to her stature. ¡°This would be painless if you were more cooperative,¡± she commented, a slight edge of annoyance in her voice. Sil paid them no attention from where she worked so no help would be forthcoming from there. She was watching a flask come to a boil above some kind of burner. A caramel covered pastry lay half-eaten on a plate next to her. ¡°I¡¯ve already told you I¡¯m cooperating. You don¡¯t need to put that on me.¡± Vergil groaned in pain, his voice muffled by a stack of papers pressed against his face. ¡°Stop already. Please.¡± He felt a pinprick at the back of his head, followed by a sharp, stinging pain that mellowed into a slight pinching pressure. The grip on his arm slackened and went away. ¡°See?¡± she said, pushing him away from her table. ¡°That wasn¡¯t so bad. All that fuss for nothing.¡± Vergil salt bolt upright and immediately palmed at the back of his head. The thing she¡¯d put on him bit his fingers with a jolt of electricity. He ignored the messages. She had put a smooth, perfectly round crystal stud on the back of his head. It dug into his skin with needle-like clamps, and caused a blinding headache. The crystal¡¯s twin was on a silver armband on Tallah¡¯s wrist. Sil had called that a special limiter and warned the sorceress about abusing it. Shattering that one would trigger its twin. ¡°Why?¡± he asked, blinking back tears. He tried to massage feeling back into his right hand. ¡°I haven¡¯t done anything to you.¡± Tallah, for that¡¯s how Sil always addressed her in spite of the initial warning, returned to the work of translating some large tome covered in symbols that kept shifting in Vergil¡¯s eyes. It was what she did most days, cooped up in the room with her books and her translations. He had tried to peek once but she shooed him away. ¡°It¡¯s a leash.¡± Sil explained absentmindedly while Vergil tried to get a glimpse of it a mirror. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t touch it again if I were you. I¡¯ve built it so that it gives a nasty shock to whoever tries to remove it. If you get further than, hmm, about a kilometre from Tallah, it will detonate and take your head off.¡± She looked back at him over the rim of her boiling flask. ¡°It¡¯ll hurt like you wouldn¡¯t want to imagine. Be a good boy and keep close. All right?¡± ¡°But why?¡± he asked again, a slight whine in his voice. ¡°Where would I go? I¡¯ve got nowhere to be. My only friends are dead. I¡¯m penniless and, as you said, considered dead. I either stay with you or I freeze to death out in the streets.¡± Sil shrugged. ¡°All the same. Go watch the snow or something. We¡¯re working.¡± She dismissed him from the room with a wave of her hand, like always, as if he were a bothersome child. Both she and Tallah had interrogated him relentlessly for the better part of the tenday, going so far as to wake him from his fitful bouts of sleep whenever they felt they needed clarification on some point or another. She would call him back when she¡¯d need him again, though in the last two days that had become increasingly rare. Whatever information he could provide from his world had been sparse, which depressed him in probably equal measure to them. How did the weapon he used for his job work? Was it some kind of crossbow? Where did the bolts go? He pressed the trigger and it fired. He didn¡¯t know anything about its inner working except that it needed some kind of a battery. Or was it called a clip? He received one of those every fifteen work cycles when he turned in the old one. What was a battery? It stored electricity. How? He had no idea. How had he never even considered that? How did the Gloria Nostra travel between stars? What was it made of? How did it fly? May as well have been magic as far as he knew. He knew of the ship¡¯s purpose, of course. But for his entire life the Gloria had been in orbit above Athos III. They didn¡¯t fly, just¡­ floated there. It was something to do with something called orbital mechanics, or something like that. What was that? He had no idea. Argia knew. Could Argia explain then? How was the Gloria Nostra society structured? How had the structure come to be? He had gaped at those two particular questions. He had never been part of society on the Gloria, just a trudge in the outer ring. As far as he knew the ship was ran by women and there were just a few other men, all of them scattered in menial jobs. Why was it structured that way? ¡°I was a pest removal technician. I killed bugs. In the sewage systems and in the walls. I barely know how to read,¡± he told them, incredulous. ¡°I was one rung higher on the social ladder than the critters I was killing.¡± How did he travel to other worlds with his mind? His interface chip did that for him. How? He didn¡¯t know. What, precisely, was a chip? He didn¡¯t know exactly. Some kind of computer.What was a computer? This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. A thinking machine. How did a machine think, exactly? He didn¡¯t know. Really, how had he not considered any of these things? They were just there¡­ And so on. Questioning him had frustrated Tallah, and then it had frustrated Sil. He was the first Other they had ever encountered and he was, by their estimation, a complete waste of breath. ¡°Others, like you, pop up from time to time,¡± Sil had explained to him in one of their sessions. ¡°They claim to be from other worlds, brought here by forces unknown. None, as far as I know, have lasted long here. Disease, assassination, loss of faculties, you name it. You did well to keep your mouth shut about your origins.¡± And then the questions started again, on and on, of increasingly obscure nature. Was he shocked when awakening on Edana? How was he coping with the extreme social discrepancy between his ship and Valen? Why did the sky make him anxious? Could he describe the feeling? These were mostly Sil¡¯s questions and she had a habit of niggling at everything he said until she was either pleased, or too frustrated with him to keep going. ¡°If I understand everything you¡¯ve said, and it has been a challenge to make any heads or tails of it, then you¡¯re lucky that you have that thing in your head,¡± she had said after a particularly long questioning. ¡°Is it normal for all of your people?¡± He had to think on that. Argia provided the answer. ¡°It¡¯s mandatory for technicians and core crew. For others it¡¯s optional.¡± She jutted that down. ¡°Your so-called implant is acting as a buffer and interpreter as far as I can figure. Some of its function seems to be to sedate or regulate your mood, which I expect exists for medical purposes. It¡¯s fascinating, really. I hate that I don¡¯t have another case to compare you to.¡± Of course, she tested out her theories by having him under the effect of various artefacts and magic effects. Argia, limited as she was, offered up almost precise estimations and interpretations of the effects he was experiencing. That was useful. It turned him into a cheap, hapless appraisal expert. An unexpected boon that earned Vergil his first kind word from Tallah had come after he¡¯d read the name of the helmet. Argia had attached a marker to it, for easy identification. Horvath the Hammer¡¯s Cursed Helm, it said, and that had really gotten Tallah excited. Horvath had been a dwarven hero that had, in her words, led a desperate defence of the Lang Fortress wearing nothing but a loin cloth and his helmet against a host of invaders, likely some form of daemons. They had burrowed in from underneath Lang in the dead of night and caught the entire garrison with their literal pants down. Horvath died in that defence, of course, and the entire fortress had been burned to the ground. Apparently the helmet contained some sort of echo of him. It had Tallah cooing over it for days afterwards. ¡°I don¡¯t know how safe it is for you to use this. Aliana certainly thinks it¡¯s bad for you,¡± Tallah had said when they tested if he could use it on his own. ¡°It was created in a very different way than we do enchantments now so we don¡¯t exactly know how potent this possession is. It¡¯s clearly cursed, as we understand the concept, but it¡¯s got some good uses. Sil could probably take it apart eventually but we¡¯d lose the artefact and I think it¡¯s more useful as is. We¡¯ll keep studying it and see if we can find a way around its more damaging aspects.¡± Vergil didn¡¯t even try to worry about the risk. He understood that the helmet made him into a fierce warrior if powered by one of them. Not being responsible for his actions was more comforting than he would have liked to admit. All in all, Vergil had mostly enjoyed the ten days since he had been taken in by the two channellers. He¡¯d learned much and had been¡­ safe? Aside from the early fright they¡¯d given him, they¡¯d mostly been kind. Sil had taken a keen interesting in getting him into some sort of healthy shape. She kept mixing bitter tonics for him and mandated daily exercise. Which he was to do now. Having been dismissed for the day, Vergil slunk away from the room still massaging his numb hand. Pins and needles were starting up and he found that he could flex the fingers after a few minutes. After the first day of interrogations, they had a servant¡¯s bed prepared for him in the central hallway as well as a wash-basin, a table and a wardrobe to store his clothes. All in all, these were the best accommodations he had enjoyed in his entire life. How lucky he was. Will they throw me out when I¡¯m no longer interesting for them? Will I be alone here? Again? He still massaged his hand as he sat down heavily on his bed. The room spun for a moment. Horvath¡¯s helmet clattered to the floor from where he had set it on his pillow. He picked up and set it back on the bed at some unknown whisper inside him that demanded it. And it also told him he¡¯ll never be quite alone again. Maybe Sil had cracked a window open because he felt the cold at the base of his spine with a shuddering jolt. ¡°Vergil,¡± Sil¡¯s voice called him back a moment later. He had aimed at spending the rest of the day trying to read one of the many martial books that Tallah had given him. His literacy was steadily improving and she seemed genuinely pleased whenever he showed an interest in learning. He groaned as he had to get up again, head still light. ¡°Yes, Miss?¡± he answered from the doorway. ¡°Sil is just fine. I don¡¯t need you to always Miss me about everything,¡± she replied and beckoned him back in. ¡°Get dressed. We¡¯ll head out to buy you some proper clothes and armour. The Corps must have given you at least some basic plate training. Right?¡± ¡°Yes, Mis¡ª Y-yes, Sil,¡± he answered. A lifetime of instincts had a small disagreement with his new orders. He avoided looking at Tallah. Her displeasure could ignite entirely without warning. She didn¡¯t look to be much older than him, but when she looked at him it was always with the same terrible intent of pinning him to the wall with her gaze, blasting out his soul and then sieving it for any scrap of knowledge or secrets he might have hidden away. The sorceress looked up sharply from her tome as if some sudden realisation had just occurred to her. He flinched. ¡°We need to see the old man,¡± she said, turning to Sil. ¡°What time is it?¡± Sil gazed out the window at a mostly clear dark blue sky tinged with a soft hue of purple. There was a few hours¡¯ gap in the snow fall on that day and the light out was suggesting afternoon. It also suggested a fanged chill that lurked at the edge of night. ¡°Still early, I guess. Second bell of the evening? Does it matter?¡± ¡°Excellent. We shop for helmet-boy here and then we go see Ludwig.¡± Sil groaned and put her head on the table. ¡°Why must you ruin this for me?¡± she whined, to Vergil¡¯s puzzlement. They acted so different to one another than they did to him. ¡°I had no idea that buying him armour meant so much to you,¡± Tallah replied, eyebrow raised in as much confusion as he felt. ¡°By all means, go and have him try on armour. I¡¯m not stopping you.¡± ¡°I want something sweet, Tallah. I¡¯m sick to death of Verti¡¯s pastry chef. Everything¡¯s caramel with that girl, no fruit, no butter, no nothing. Caramel this. Caramel that. My teeth hurt from so much bloody caramel.¡± The sorceress walked past Vergil, snorting. Her laugh echoed out of the shared bathroom. She laughs like a horse. He banished the traitorous thought lest she could somehow hear it. Sil apparently remembered Vergil was still there and blushed slightly. ¡°Ludwig is an old teacher of hers,¡± she said. Her deflection had no subtlety whatsoever. ¡°He drones on and on, when he¡¯s not being insufferable.¡± ¡°You were using me as an excuse to go out? For sweets? Why?¡± ¡°Because I¡¯m a fickle woman and I do fickle things,¡± she replied crisply. Even smiled slightly. Tallah poked her head out of the bathroom and called to them across the hallway. ¡°I want something sweet and savoury too, maybe. I¡¯ll shop with helmet-boy; you find me something that fits my cravings.¡± The door slammed shut. ¡°I stand corrected. We¡¯re both fickle women. I could kiss her sometimes.¡± She looked at him and frowned. ¡°Close your mouth, Vergil. You look like an imbecile.¡± Vergil did just as instructed. ¡°I don¡¯t understand you two,¡± he said in a small voice. ¡°You get used to it.¡± Chapter 1.11.2: Mergs Tallah made a spectacle out of the shopping trip into the Agora. May as well, if the Guard were set on watching them. Dressed in a richly-embroidered winter dress, with a deep-black fur overcoat ripped off some poor Nen-bred corallin, she left the hotel hanging onto Vergil¡¯s arm as if they were out on a grand date. Sil followed just two steps back, dressed modestly as befit the live-in personal healer to the gaudy sorceress. She needed to drag Vergil. There was something wrong with his legs, considering how he kept staggering and freezing in place. ¡°Walk straight, boy,¡± she ordered. ¡°Sil, why¡¯s he stumbling all the time?¡± A soft wind blowing in from the mountains brought with it the smell of charcoal and burnt stone, of alchemical setters and freshly mixed paints. The sounds of construction echoed in the chill evening. Snow and cold would not deter the Enginarium from pushing forward with the work that had been commissioned to them by both the Empire and Valen¡¯s Council. So much of the city burnt husk was being torn down and built anew that Tallah wondered how much of it she¡¯d even recognise once the work was done. I can only mourn what we have done here, Christina sighed in her ear. That unmistakable smell of smoke always brought to both of them the echoes of screams. Tallah grit her teeth and pushed the ghost¡¯s guilt back. She sunk into Tianna¡¯s persona and allowed herself to be what her father once had wished she were. It wasn¡¯t even third bell of the evening by the time they approached the Agora¡¯s large plaza and the crowds were already thick and still swelling. Lanterns had been lit on high poles. They illuminated rich snow-laden stalls, all selling nick-knacks and supplies for the upcoming Festival. Music slithered above the din, sweet and soft, festive. Some string-band played drunkenly under a tent, ignorant of the cold. After the third jab to the ribs, Vergil did as instructed and straightened up. Tallah barely had to twist his arm to get him to walk properly as she took to the role of gaudy imbecile excited by a new toy. She laughed and cuddled up to him, talking much too loudly about small things. The weather was so beautiful this time of year here in Valen. So many people. She wished they¡¯d be done already with the ungodly noise. Oh, that armour smith looked glorious. Let¡¯s check that place out. Tallah could almost hear Sil, behind them, trying to melt into the flagstones out of embarrassment. ¡°Oh, Vergil, dear, look at all this¡­ tosh,¡± she said, loudly, as they walked into the first armour shop. ¡°Pity, the outside fa?ade promised so much more.¡± ¡°Uh, ma¡¯am, what might we interest you in?¡± The vendor, an aelir, hurried over to their side just as Tallah turned to leave. ¡°I can assure you we can satisfy even the most eccentric needs.¡± Tallah turned and feigned an interested smile. ¡°Oh, do tell. My father always spoke highly of Valen¡¯s artisans.¡± She pursed her lips as she took another critical look around. ¡°Then again, he is very old.¡± ¡°A-are you looking for yourself, ma¡¯am, or¡ª¡° ¡°Goodness, no,¡± she interrupted and beamed a smile at Vergil. He blushed furiously. ¡°My dear Vergil needs the best armour for when we decide on going on another dangerous Guild mission. We can¡¯t accept just any ol¡¯ piece of rust-eaten farmer¡¯s iron.¡± To her credit, the aelir took everything in stride, though her smile started fraying at the edges. ¡°Of course, ma¡¯am. Uh, sir, please step on the podium and we¡¯ll have you fitted in just a moment.¡± An aide had come from a back-room, measuring tape in hand. Tallah latched on to Vergil¡¯s arm and drew close to him, making sure that the coin pouch at her hip jingled expensively. ¡°I just don¡¯t believe it¡¯s worth wasting our time here. Do you have anything actually good aside from this tosh upfront?¡± ¡°If¡ª uh, if it¡¯s your pleasure ma¡¯am, please have a closer look¡ª¡± Tallah turned around and dragged Vergil out past a red-faced Sil that had become extremely interested in the carpet¡¯s patterns. She left the seller talking, her voice petering out along with the jingle of the door bell. ¡°I think I¡¯ll drop dead if I feel any more sympathetic embarrassment for whoever¡¯s caught in your path,¡± Sil said after she made her apologies to the flabbergasted vendor. ¡°Is all of this necessary?¡± Tallah cackled. The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. ¡°There¡¯s four more to go,¡± she said, infinitely pleased with herself. ¡°Which one do I humiliate next?¡± ¡°I¡¯m going to go find me some alchemical compounds. You can do this whole thing on your own. Meet me after.¡± People gathered around them, pushing them closer together. The evening had grown dense. The press of bodies was nearly overwhelming as they tried to go their separate ways. ¡°Our friends are back and watching us,¡± Sil whispered by her ear. ¡°On your right, edge of the plaza, between the bakeries.¡± ¡°Watched, not followed. I know. Saw him.¡± ¡°We are watching him back,¡± Christina said. Her voice manifested as an undertone to Tallah¡¯s. The crowd carried Sil away and Tallah was left alone with Vergil. She was almost certain he whimpered when the healer disappeared from sight. One of her best glares got him straightening up better than a hot poker up his arse. They perused the wares of no less than four other smiths in the Grand Agora, with her doing all the talking. She had demeaned every single armour piece that the store clerks had dutifully presented to them and had them storming out of each establishment. Let whoever watched try and make some semblance of coherence from that. The Grand Agora radiated out from a central plaza in an almost organised set of small streets and alleys, with shops packet tightly together and bright sprite-lit signs vying for the shoppers¡¯ attention. In fairer weather, the central plaza contained stalls selling fresh produce, meats on ice or condiments but, in Winter, the city¡¯s council converted it into an open-air skating rink. It, just like the alleys around, was packed with people. ¡°This looks like a place that may sell some high-quality armour, dear,¡± Tallah chirped as she and Vergil stopped in front of Merg¡¯s. She¡¯d been carefully manoeuvring through the crowd that they should have disappeared from their watcher¡¯s sight at least two stores back. Still, it was worth keeping up appearances. Just in case. Despite her loud announcement, the shop wasn¡¯t much to behold. It occupied a small, misshapen building just beyond the mouth of one side alley, away from the centre of the Agora, and had a small anvil and hammer statue outside. In white paint and deformed handwriting the name Merg¡¯s was plastered above the door almost as an afterthought. ¡°Seriously?¡± Vergil asked in a small voice. Tallah dragged him inside. Merg¡¯s storefront was a workshop rather than a store, with blacksmith tools strewn about and only a small selection of armour and weapons on display. There were no prices shown on any piece of armour, the light inside was poor, and the chilled room smelled of armour oil and various other chemicals that left a tang on the air. There wasn¡¯t even a little bell above the door to announce a patron walking in. ¡°Mertle.¡± Tallah called out as there was no one to greet them up front. No one replied. ¡°Mertle!¡± Still no answer. She motioned Vergil to get up on the raised platform by the sole grime-encrusted window when a rustle stirred in the back room. A crash followed, and then the sound of many metal pieces tumbling loudly to the floor. ¡°By my pledge to the Frozen Hands,¡± a gruff voice swore in the back. ¡°I¡¯ll be right out. Mertle, one of these days all of these are going to come down on your own head. Clean them up. Please.¡± Thuds, crashing, more metal tumbling. The whole building shook for a moment. After a few moments of silence the door to the backroom swung open and a giant walked out. He had to bend to get through the doorway and the top of his head brushed against the ceiling when he straightened. Vergil openly gaped at the sight. Tummy had that effect on people meeting him for the first time. His raven black beard and hair were both unkempt and slightly smoking. He wore a charcoal stained brown apron and black tanned trousers, with nothing else. A thick jaw and a small crooked nose that had been smashed once too often completed his savage look. ¡°What can I help you with?¡± His voice boomed in the small room as he offered them a poorly practised crooked grin. Vergil still gaped like a cretin. ¡°Your best armour. And your best leather worker, please,¡± Tallah replied. He looked down at her and squinted, seeming to just now notice his clients weren¡¯t as big as himself. A massive brick-like hand dug into one of the many pockets of his apron and he produced a pair of almost comically small round spectacles with a leather strap. He fastened them over his head and took a better look at them. A bellowing laugh erupted from his chest. ¡°Mertle!¡± He turned around and knocked loudly on the door, prompting more clanking metal beyond. ¡°Get out here. Our kooky friend is back.¡± ¡°I¡¯m busy. Which kooky friend?¡± a shrill female voice shouted back. ¡°The one with the leather fetish.¡± ¡°Which one?¡± ¡°Come out and see.¡± The big man turned back to them and spoke in a lower, pleasant voice. ¡°She¡¯ll be with you in a bit.¡± ¡°Actually, I have business with you too, Tummy,¡± Tallah said, beckoning him forward. ¡°Oh?¡± Tummy¡¯s brow creased and he walked across the room, his great big steps dislodging dust from the ceiling. ¡°Are you finally getting some proper protection on that skinny arse of yours?¡± Tallah laughed. ¡°No. I¡¯m still very much a leather fetishist. But you can help me by dressing up the boy here.¡± She pointed with her thumb at Vergil. ¡°Sit up straight, boy.¡± The command was like a whip, both in tone and effect. ¡°Twitchy little thing,¡± Tummy commented, rounding on the boy. He offered him his outstretched meaty hand. ¡°Name¡¯s Tummy Toh¡¯Uhm. And who might you be?¡± Chapter 1.11.3: Mertle Mergara Vergil looked uncertain towards Tallah. She nodded at him, encouragingly. ¡°Vergil Vansce. Pleased to meet you, Mister Toh¡¯Uhm.¡± He mangled the throaty pronunciation but the large man just laughed. ¡°Just Tummy to my friends. If you¡¯re her friend, then you¡¯re mine as well. What armour do you need?¡± ¡°I have no idea. Today¡¯s been weird,¡± Vergil answered candidly, looking again to her for help. ¡°Make him something sturdy that he can grow into,¡± Tallah said. ¡°I need it to be strong, magically resistant preferably, and easy to adjust. Plate preferably. He¡¯s still filling out after some bad times. No frills and nothing to attract attention.¡± Tummy scratched his large chest, thinking. ¡°What about weapons? You need any?¡± Tallah tapped her lips with her index finger and turned to Vergil. ¡°Do you have any axe training?¡± ¡°No, none,¡± he replied. ¡°I can learn though.¡± It was as satisfactory an answer as she could expect. He would likely be useless with any weapon but the ghost in the helmet was of a dwarf and axes had been a preference for his species. Tummy produced a small writing pad on which he took notes with a sharpened piece of charcoal. ¡°You told me once that you had some friends here from old Lang. I need hand axes, four of them, modelled after what the dwarves used to wield. Also, a short sword. Something like a gladius, not like the ones you made for me.¡± She thought for a while more while he finished scribbling down her order. ¡°And, you can make him one of those stupid big claymores, and a war hammer. Weight them up for yourself.¡± Tummy raised an eyebrow over his round spectacles and then looked at Vergil more closely. The boy shrugged. He looked like a dressed bag of bones holding up straight by force of will. ¡°Pull the other one. It¡¯s got bells on,¡± Tummy said. Vergil looked similarly confused. ¡°I have high hopes for him.¡± She brushed off both of their stares. ¡°Fine by me. Hold this, Vergil.¡± He handed his notepad to the boy and began patting his pockets until he produced a worn measuring tape. ¡°You tight for money?¡± he asked and retrieved his notepad. He began sketching with a deftness that seemed almost unnatural for his large build. ¡°How soon can you have it ready?¡± she replied. ¡°How soon you need it?¡± ¡°Soon. I need to train him before Thaw.¡± ¡°Couple of days. Got other work but it¡¯ll keep,¡± he rumbled, scratching his cheek with the charcoal tip. Tallah smiled, ¡°Then you know I¡¯m good for the money. I¡¯ll be settling my debt.¡± He chuckled at that. If she could settle her entire debt to him and Mertle, she could as well be buying half of Valen. She knew it well enough and he was kind enough not to say it to her face. Since Mertle hadn¡¯t made an appearance while they were talking, Tallah left Tummy to measure and question Vergil for the gear. She made her way to the backroom door and gently pushed it open. Nothing clattered to the floor so she opened it fully and stepped into the workshop proper. The heat was stifling inside, with a forge fire burning bright in the back. Tummy was melting some lump of metal in a crucible. Diagrams covered the walls and tools hung on supports, neatly stacked and labelled, very different from the front image. Tallah stepped carefully past the pile of metal odds and ends that had dropped off an overloaded shelf. It wasn¡¯t the only one. This place keeps getting more and more cluttered. At some point I won¡¯t be able to even find them in here. The elendine worked bent-over an overcrowded table. Her attire mirrored Tummy¡¯s, revealing her tattooed bare back. She was carefully inscribing the inside of a leather doublet with runes that burned with a soft light before sinking into the material. Each intricate rune was no larger than a fingernail and she worked with slow, deft strokes of her quill. ¡°And here I thought you¡¯d be jumping for joy to see me,¡± Tallah said as she walked up to her. Mertle startled at the interruption and misspelled the rune she had been painstakingly working on. The doublet immediately turned grey and collapsed into a pile of ash that spilled off the table. ¡°Aw, poop,¡± she said, with an almost sad sigh, quill in one hand and ink well in the other. ¡°I hope that wasn¡¯t too valuable,¡± Tallah said. ¡°No, no, it was just three days of work. I¡¯ll start over.¡± Mertle spun around with a jolt, dark eyes widening in surprise. ¡°Tallah!¡± She threw her arms around the sorceress. Her entire ink well spilled on the floor. Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. ¡°Oh poop, not again.¡± She pulled away and ran for a mop before the ink could start eating its way through the smooth stone. She was short, her head barely up to Tianna¡¯s chest. She wore her red hair long and tied in an intricate braid down her bare back. Two jagged, curving bone horns protruded from her brow and arched back over her head. ¡°Considering your trade, how in blazes are you still such a klutz? That stuff can¡¯t be cheap.¡± Tallah had stepped aside while Mertle took care of her corrosive ink-spill. ¡°Don¡¯t sneak up on me like that, Tallah,¡± she admonished while she mopped up the sizzling ink, running twice to a bucket of water to clean the well-used mop. The ink boiled the water. ¡°You could set us both on fire. Or explode. Or¡­ I don¡¯t know. Something bad.¡± Words tumbled out of her as she cleaned the floor to a mirror shine. ¡°Don¡¯t sneak up on me, all right? I¡¯ve missed you. When did you get back? Where¡¯s Sil? Is she still mad at me? I hope she¡¯s not still mad; I didn¡¯t mean to laugh at her about the whole, you know, incident.¡± Tallah held her hands out and gestured for the elendine to slow down. ¡°Easy, Mertle. Breathe. Sil¡¯s doing some shopping of her own. She¡¯s assured me she¡¯s not still mad you.¡± Sil was, in fact, livid if Tallah so much as breathed about the incident. Christina had made it a personal mission to insert comment of that moment of carelessness with the helmet at any possible opportunity. ¡°Are you sure?¡± Mertle¡¯s slanted deep black eyes stared a hole through Tallah¡¯s. ¡°Fairly sure, yes,¡± Tallah lied with a smile. ¡°We¡¯ve missed you too, Mertle. How about a cup of coffee? I think Tummy and my friend are going to be a while up front.¡± ¡°You have a friend? Who?¡± ¡°I¡¯ll introduce you later.¡± The elendine set down her mop in its bucket against the wall and rummaged through a cupboard for two clean cups. She set them down on her work bench and brought a kettle of hot water off a small stove. From another cupboard¡ªthe chaos of her arrangements never ceased to amaze and intrigue¡ªshe brought out tin of dehydrated coffee. Three teaspoons for herself, one for Tallah¡¯s mug. Elend blended their coffee strong enough that it wasn¡¯t quite safe for human consumption. Or for any other species save vanadals. It outright killed the aelir. Tallah suspected that was the original intent for the drink. ¡°I assume your hunt went well if you¡¯re back?¡± Mertle asked while sipping from her cup. She burned her tongue but didn¡¯t admit to it. It showed on her face. She had propped up some boxes as chairs for them while they caught up. Tallah sighed and nodded. It wasn¡¯t a subject she was ready or willing to breach, and Mertle, for all her air-hotheadedness, understood. ¡°I need you to make me some new gear. My old one got cut up to ribbons. I think most of its enchantments got destroyed.¡± Mertle wrinkled her nose at that. ¡°You never asked me to design them to be cut-proof,¡± she said with a pout. ¡°It¡¯s why I made you the carapace.¡± ¡°Carapace was all I had hoped it would be. Make me a new one like that. Old one got stabbed too many times.¡± The glare she got back would have stripped paint from the wall. ¡°What did you do, Tallah? Is Sil all right?¡± She chuckled and sipped her deathtrap coffee. ¡°Sil¡¯s fine. She handles herself better than an Iluna when we¡¯re out and about. We have a bodyguard now. He¡¯s the friend upfront with Tummy.¡± Without slackening the glare, Mertle thought for a time. ¡°I¡¯ve had some success with my current batch of runes. I can add something experimental to your usual. I¡¯ve actually been testing many of the new combinations I got from the tomes you translated for me.¡± She blew on her coffee before taking another sip. ¡°Your translations still need work, if you don¡¯t mind me saying. I set Tummy¡¯s hand on fire with a rune word that was supposed to make an object heat-resistant. Heat-resistant and highly-flammable are not the same thing, you know?¡± I told you so, child. She should have made a pair for you. Christina forced an image of a smug grin into Tallah¡¯s imagination. Next time remember which of us is the more accomplished scholar. ¡°Have you had any success with exotics?¡± Tallah asked, hiding her grimace behind her coffee mug. She pointedly ignored the psychic jab. ¡°Dragon scales, you mean? Got a few. Bought them off an adventurer. Tummy¡¯s infusing some silver chain weave with their essence right now. I was saving it up for you. I think it¡¯s exactly enough for a pair of gloves.¡± Mertle¡¯s glaring gave way to squeaking excitement and she almost dashed away to bring the red-hot weave. Tallah grabbed her by the hem of her apron before she bounced away. ¡°I¡¯ll trust that it¡¯s excellent then,¡± she said calmly. ¡°How much heat will I be able to output with that?¡± ¡°Oh, I don¡¯t think you need to worry about heat any more, not for your hands. They should be able to resist anything short of actual dragon fire.¡± She stopped talking and stared at Tallah for a moment, frowning. ¡°Can you reach as high as dragon fire now?¡± ¡°Ha! I wish. Still far from that.¡± ¡°Good. The convection will be an issue since neither my breathing masks nor my tunics are yet that good. But if you push heat away from you, you¡¯ll be good to go as hot as you want.¡± Tallah made a mental note of that. Her fireballs and heat lances would improve if she could increase the temperature without fear of the backwash, which would have her rely less on more aggressive and illum inefficient weaves. The bonus was that Sil would worry less about her illum expenditures and stop chewing her face off every time she needed to exert herself. ¡°And you¡¯re in luck. I have some really good gold-tongue hide for a new carapace.¡± Mertle twisted the word, displeased that her work had gone to tatters again. She had her old sketch pad out, leafing through the ripped and falling pages until she found a tightly annotated sketch of Tallah herself. ¡°When do you need everything?¡± ¡°Soon as you can, like always. But don¡¯t feel pressured. I¡¯m waiting for a caravan to come through the snow from Drack so I can head to Solstice. But you know that won¡¯t happen until we¡¯re on the lip of Thaw,¡± Tallah answered, putting down her empty cup. She refused a second. ¡°Awww, you¡¯re leaving again. You owe me dinner,¡± Mertle whined at her as she made her annotations on the drawing with the new requests. ¡°I¡¯m not giving you a single piece of gear until you take me out to dinner.¡± Her eyes twinkled. ¡°Sil owes you dinner. How about I tell her to be a big girl and come take you out?¡± Tallah asked, a bit of mischief in her voice. ¡°She¡¯s had time enough to grow a backbone since we¡¯ve come back.¡± Maybe it¡¯s what she needs to stop niggling us. Mertle blushed all the way to the top of her ears, turning her already tan complexion almost black. She tried to stammer out an answer but Tallah understood every unsaid word. ¡°Tomorrow then, about this time. You know what she likes.¡± ¡°Can she be herself? Please?¡± Mertle almost whispered, still mostly black with embarrassment. ¡°It feels wrong to hold hands with an aelir.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll ask her nicely. For you.¡± Chapter 1.11.4: Summer wasp venom ¡°Do you know that you look about two missed meals away from starved? Does Tallah know?¡± Vergil didn¡¯t know what to make of the questions and, more than that, he didn¡¯t know how much he should say to Tummy. He had his arms outstretched and the smith measured him every which way imaginable. ¡°I¡­ don¡¯t know how to answer that,¡± Vergil replied candidly. ¡°I have no idea what this is even about.¡± The smith furrowed his brow and looked at him critically. That he had used Tallah¡¯s real name did not escape Vergil¡¯s attention. ¡°Figures. Come here.¡± Tummy showed him to a stool and then produced a bottle and a couple of glasses from behind his dusty counter. What he poured out was nearly black and had the consistency of syrup. He stopped, looked at Vergil more closely as he perched on the stool, and then emptied half of one glass into the other. ¡°We drink now. You tell me who you are and what you¡¯re trained to do, and I decide what to make for you.¡± Vergil took the half-empty glass and darted a look to the back room. ¡°I don¡¯t think she¡¯d like that.¡± Tummy poked him in the chest with one meaty finger. ¡°Not her shop. I ask and you answer, or she can take your business elsewhere.¡± He held out the glass and clinked it against Vergil¡¯s. ¡°First, drink.¡± He did. It was sweet and thick, but the kick was like a punch to the back of the head. Vergil¡¯s eyes watered and he struggled not to cough it out. It didn¡¯t so much go down as it spread into him, like molten iron exploding in the pit of his stomach. Even Argia¡¯s text appeared garbled in his vision. ¡°Not all at once would have been best, but your face is fun to watch.¡± Tummy drank in dainty sips, his smile broadening. ¡°Now we talk man to man. And I don¡¯t want to hear anything about the mean lady in the back.¡± Vergil wiped his eyes on the sleeve of his tunic and struggled to find his mangled voice. ¡°What is this?¡± he rasped out, still feeling the drink clawing up his insides. ¡°Summer wasp venom. Good for the nerves. Good for digestion. Loosens tongues.¡± ¡°Sil said I¡¯m not supposed to drink anything but water and her tonics.¡± Tummy shrugged and looked around. ¡°I don¡¯t see her in here.¡± Vergil grinned. It may have been the drink but he found himself intensely liking Tummy. ¡°You¡¯re not afraid of them,¡± he said and immediately blushed. ¡°They both scare the living daylights out of me.¡± That was definitely too much information to give. He stared incredulous into the dregs of venom in his glass. ¡°Is this truth serum?¡± ¡°Close as. Doesn¡¯t last long.¡± ¡°Tallah¡¯s going to be upset.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll bring out the privy rag for her to write complaints on.¡± He swirled his drink in the glass and matched Vergil¡¯s grin. His demeanour was infectious. ¡°So, she hasn¡¯t trained you at all. Two mistakes in one go.¡± Before Vergil could rally his response, he went on, counting off his fingers. ¡°One, you drank with someone you don¡¯t know well enough to accept a drink from.¡± He downed his glass in one swig. ¡°Could¡¯ve been poison. Could¡¯ve been actual Summer wasp milk in here and you¡¯d be screaming for days when the eggs you swallowed hatched.¡± He shrugged, seeming none too impressed by Vergil¡¯s gasp of horror. The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. He raised two fingers, ¡°And you confirmed her name to me.¡± Now the levity was gone from his voice, replaced by a hard, harsh note of disapproval. ¡°That one¡¯s real bad.¡± ¡°But you¡­¡± ¡°Not your fault,¡± Tummy said, refilling his glass. ¡°But it tells me you¡¯re green and not of our class of people.¡± Vergil slumped back. He could see a lecture on the horizon, either from Tallah or Sil, that would make him feel even more the child. Tummy swirled his drink now, watching him. ¡°Who starved you?¡± he finally asked. ¡°Ratmen,¡± Vergil answered miserably. ¡°My party got wiped out in the caves.¡± He gestured vaguely to the air without looking up from the tarry surface of the drink. ¡°Somewhere out in the sticks. Tallah and Sil found me half-mad. I got better and they kept me around.¡± They had only told him not to speak about being an Other. The rest, he figured, was nothing to keep secret even if it shamed him. ¡°I got my friends killed.¡± He finished the glass and held it out for a second shot. Tummy obliged. ¡°I don¡¯t know why I¡¯m here or what good it¡¯ll be to get me armoured up. Tallah uses an enchantment on me and I fight without a thought of my own in my head.¡± He drank slower. The drink didn¡¯t kick as hard anymore now that the initial shock wore off. It left behind the heat in his guts. ¡°It¡¯s eating you alive,¡± Tummy surmised after allowing him some time for his silence. ¡°I guess it is.¡± All of it. Davan and Merk, cut down. Sidora, brains splattered on the walls. Being helpless. Surviving. Being useless. Things missing in him¡­ ¡°What¡¯s your training?¡± ¡°Paladin Corps. Basic.¡± He wiped his nose on his sleeve, then his eyes again, the short moment of kinship earlier having melted away into misery. ¡°Just sword and a bit of shield.¡± ¡°Who?¡± ¡°Master of Arms, Harlem.¡± Tummy nodded, drink set aside, and pulled his goggles up to his forehead. His eyes seemed beady now, without the thick spectacles, as he regarded Vergil thoughtfully. ¡°Harlem¡¯s good but only really trains those that sign on as soldiers. Did you?¡± Vergil shook his head and chuckled slightly, ¡°Adventuring seemed safer.¡± ¡°More fool you. Adventurer is another word for mercenary. It only adds worse pay and much worse odds.¡± Tummy moved to the back of the room and opened the door. He beckoned someone to him and, a few moments later, Tallah appeared in the doorway. ¡°Is he giving you lip?¡± she asked and gave Vergil a black glare. ¡°I¡¯m not making you a single piece for him,¡± Tummy said without any preamble, face stony. Vergil shrank into himself. Should¡¯ve kept his mouth shut. Now he¡¯d failed what had certainly been a test. Small wonder both women considered him a waste of breath. ¡°What?¡± Tallah¡¯s glare snapped to Tummy, unimpressed that he towered over her. ¡°Why?¡± ¡°For the look on your face most of all.¡± The smith crossed his arms and gave Vergil a side glance. And a wink? ¡°Send him round every other day, ¡®bout eve time. I¡¯ll beat some proper sense into him. I¡¯m not wasting good gear on a green leaf that can¡¯t use it right.¡± Tallah¡¯s eyebrows nearly climbed off her face. ¡°You want to train him? You barely agreed to train me. I pestered you for... for a tenday at least.¡± ¡°You¡¯re loud. He ain¡¯t. Deal or no?¡± She looked to Vergil. He was sure his face matched hers in amazement. ¡°Deal, of course. Saves me the trouble,¡± she said, voice softer than Vergil had ever heard from her. ¡°Why?¡± ¡°I¡¯m not wasting good work on an untrained boy you found somewhere,¡± the smith said as he picked up a sword from a rack on the wall. ¡°Hold this, Vergil.¡± Vergil accepted the weapon. He nearly toppled forward when Tummy released it to his grip. ¡°That¡¯s a crock of nonsense,¡± Tallah insisted. ¡°I¡¯ll charge you two griffons per training bell if you keep pestering me.¡± ¡°That¡¯s robbery.¡± ¡°Five then.¡± That shut her up. Vergil still struggled to lift the sword upright and hold it steady. ¡°Tell Silestra I want him eating properly from here on out. Proper food. Meat¡ª¡± ¡°I can¡¯t eat meat,¡± Vergil hurried to say and then blushed. ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡± ¡°Proper food to build muscle. I¡¯m sure she¡¯s doing alright by him, but remind her that tonics do not stand in for actual food.¡± He poked Tallah in the sternum. ¡°Same goes for you.¡± ¡°You can¡¯t know¡­¡± She blushed and did not meet his glare. ¡°I can and do. Eat. Or I¡¯ll have you back here, with him, before I let Mertle make anything for you.¡± He also selected a scabbard and showed Vergil how to fasten it at his hip. ¡°Put that down before you poke an eye out. Wear the sword when you go out. Get used to it and learn not to stumble over it. I¡¯ll see you here tomorrow.¡± Chapter 1.12.1: The Alchemists Quarter Tallah and Vergil found Sil next to a brightly lit cart at the edge of the skating rink. It served a kind of waffle twisted into a cone, filled with a thick white custard and topped with various jams, all of it steaming hot in the crisp cold. Even the air around the cart smelled sticky and sweet. Tallah¡¯s teeth hurt as they got closer. ¡°You¡¯re having dinner with Mertle tomorrow,¡± she said by way of greeting. ¡°You¡¯ve sulked long enough.¡± ¡°Am I now? After how she laughed at me, do you think I want to see her?¡± Sil pretended to pay extra attention to the man serving the confectionery treat. Her ears and cheeks turning red were just due to the biting cold. ¡°Why¡¯s Vergil grinning like an imbecile?¡± ¡°She really thinks you¡¯re upset with her.¡± Tallah walked up next to her and jabbed an elbow in her ribs and got back a very satisfying flinch. ¡°Two more of what she¡¯s having.¡± She glared at Sil. ¡°Don¡¯t do that to her. She thinks she¡¯s hurt your feelings.¡± Sil carefully bit into her confection and still managed to get jam down her chin. ¡°What time do I need to show up?¡± ¡°Third bell. No knife-ears. I¡¯ll help you sneak out of the Meadow.¡± Tallah took the two cones the vendor offered and absent-mindedly handed one to Vergil. He accepted sheepishly, shaking out of the stupor he¡¯d been in since Tummy had patted him on the back before they left the shop. ¡°Thank you. Why?¡± he asked. Is he broken?¡¯ Or simply dumb? Bianca wondered. Frightened stiff more like, Christina said. Of us? Tallah, be nicer to him. He¡¯s impressed Tummy. You couldn¡¯t. ¡°Because it¡¯s yummy,¡± Tallah replied, talking slowly. She ignored her companion ghosts. There was a lull in the melody singing out to her so they got chatty. Sil snickered. ¡°If you won¡¯t have it, I have room for seconds.¡± ¡°Why are you being nice to me?¡± He tried again, walking quickly behind them as they made their way through the jostle of bodies. Skating was a popular past time in wintertime Valen and the crowd swelled and surged towards the rink. Evening rolled in with the conspicuous calm of a planning storm. ¡°You¡¯d prefer I be mean to you?¡± Tallah asked the boy. ¡°Fine then. Give me back the cone.¡± Vergil almost complied. He had the confection held out before catching on. ¡°You¡¯re making fun of me.¡± ¡°I am.¡± ¡°Why do you act like this? One moment you threaten that my head will explode. The next¡­ pastries? New armour and weapons? Someone to train me? Why?¡± He waved the confection around, almost spilling jam on himself. Tallah caught his arm and steadied him before he made a mess of the thing. Sil couldn¡¯t contain herself and laughed openly even as she struggled not to slip on the black ice. There was salt underfoot but it hadn¡¯t made it any less treacherous. ¡°Oh my, Tianna, you¡¯re confusing the boy,¡± Sil said, wiping her eyes with a glove, still chuckling. ¡°Am I? Oh dear. How mean of me.¡± Tallah cupped Vergil¡¯s cheek with a palm and talked softly, pouting just so. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, darling. I promise I won¡¯t do it any more.¡± Vergil drew back so abruptly that she half-expected his skin to leave his bones. She was enjoying the routine a bit too much though. ¡°For now we¡¯re in Valen and it¡¯s safe. When we¡¯ll head off, I won¡¯t be able to care for you at every turn.¡± Tallah explained in Tianna¡¯s sing song voice, leading their small group towards the Enginarium Quarter. ¡°Thus, I got you armour and weapons from someone that does actually good work here. Second, it¡¯s getting late and we¡¯ll likely go without dinner tonight. So I got you the same snack we¡¯re having. It would be rude otherwise.¡± She finished eating and licked her fingers. ¡°I can¡¯t understand what part confuses you.¡± ¡°You are not a servant, Vergil, or a slave,¡± Sil put in. ¡°We paid a small fortune to get you back on your feet, but we don¡¯t expect anything in return from you. We leashed you because we have concerns about our own safety not because we want you to serve us. And it¡¯s certainly not our goal to mistreat you.¡± ¡°I can¡¯t get what I want out of you, yet, and I can¡¯t kill you for it. May as well be civil.¡± She locked her elbow onto his and almost dragged him forward, with Sil trailing behind. ¡°That¡¯s what worries me. You¡¯re civil because you can¡¯t kill me. How is that normal?¡± It began snowing again while they ascended the stairs up onto the elevated Enginarium grounds, heading for the Alchemists¡¯ Quarter. A pungent stench of chemical compounds and volatile oils struck them as they emerged out of the stairwell. Even with the sparse snowfall, the air was oily and thick with gagging wisps of smoke, not helped in the least by the sector¡¯s reliance on old-fashioned gas lamps for artificial light. A greenish fog covered the dense, misshapen architecture of the place, with monstrous heads of masonry gargoyles peeking out through the airborne soup. Something exploded in the distance as they made their way through the small, cramped alleyways, down and up flights of stairs that made no sense to anyone not already familiar with the place. Distant cheers erupted as the echoes of the detonation died out. Someone cursed loudly nearby, muted echoes bouncing around the alleys. ¡°How can you eat in this?¡± Sil had taken note of Vergil taking small bites out of his now stone-cold pastry. ¡°You are the slowest eater I¡¯ve ever seen. Watching you gnaw at that thing in this stink is turning my stomach.¡± This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. ¡°What do you mean?¡± He finally finished and even licked his fingers for any traces of runaway jam. ¡°Did you lose your sense of smell in the caves?¡± Vergil sniffed at the air and made a sound with his mouth as if he were tasting it. He shrugged at her, unimpressed. ¡°It¡¯s not that bad. Oily, maybe, but I used to work and eat in worse on the Gloria. This is actually pretty pleasant by my reckoning.¡± They passed narrow slits of light scratching the gloom. Workshops had their gates open and inviting with the sound of industry within. Apprentices and novices were being sent out into the night laden with materials on unknowable errands. Despite the sparse foot traffic and the poor light, there was energy in the air, laced into the fumes, crackling with potential. The Quarter offered a strange kind of privacy made up of tight streets, cacophonous echoes, and hurrying ghosts. If Tallah learned that someone, somewhere in there, was melting down diamonds, she wouldn¡¯t have been surprised. The feel of the night made anything seem possible. Tianna was no longer useful in there, and Vergil¡¯s fidgeting started getting on her nerves. She released him from her arm with a shove and pulled two steps ahead, guiding their progress. ¡°Do you think we¡¯re still being followed?¡± Sil asked as they stopped by an overlooking balcony that gazed into the maze of buildings some distance further down. Warm forge lights shone through the murky wet fog, waxing and waning as the miasmas travelled. The entire place sloped downward towards Valen¡¯s wall, built to dump its excesses outside the city. ¡°Someone following us in this soup would be nipping at our arses to keep up.¡± Sil was unconvinced. She looked over her shoulder and fretted, restless like a spooked corallin. ¡°They were very keen on us in the Agora. That Egia could follow us easily enough.¡± ¡°She was not in the Agora. We are watching for her.¡± Christina took over Tallah¡¯s voice and spoke with infuriating disdain. ¡°You are safe, hen. Leave the worrying to your betters.¡± Tallah reeled in and muzzled her wilful ghost. Banging and clanking, curses in at least three different languages, and the sounds of detonating apparatus made up the voice of the Quarter. Their discussion drowned in the background noise. Truth of the matter was, in spite of Christina¡¯s boasts, that it would be hard to catch any whiff of someone trailing them. A mugger wouldn¡¯t be much of an issue but it¡¯d leave a mess behind. Someone tracking them with no intention of revealing themselves? Hairs on the back of her neck prickled, but that was just Sil¡¯s whining getting on her nerves too. ¡°Safe from what?¡± Vergil asked, echoing Sil¡¯s worry as if it mattered to him. It was too long and too tedious of a story to get into for his curiosity¡¯s sake. Tallah walked on ahead. ¡°I think we¡¯re coming up on the church. Or we should be.¡± Ahead, two flights of stairs down, they reached an open square. The blind light of the lamps illuminated the hazy outline of The Church of Old Hope, its crooked sharp roof and bent bell-tower peeking out through the murk. Handling highly-explosive compounds mixed well with faith in a higher protective power. Hymns to Cassandra could be heard echoing from within. Far as Tallah knew, Cassandra had never acknowledged the Old Hope as a cult to herself. They headed behind the building to find a flight of narrow steps going down at a steep angle. ¡°Was that belfry always this bent out of shape?¡± Sil asked Tallah, looking up at the sloping outline of the building. ¡°I think that was me.¡± She couldn¡¯t help but feel smug. ¡°They chased me over this way last time and I collapsed it on top of a couple of them. Nothing gets rebuilt straight around here.¡± ¡°Who¡¯s they?¡± Vergil asked. ¡°The Storm Bellends,¡± Tallah answered, almost dismissively. ¡°What¡¯s a storm bellend?¡± Vergil couldn¡¯t take a cue to shut up if it hit him over the head. Tallah considered actually hitting him. ¡°The Storm Guard, Vergil. Tallah¡¯s just being affectionate,¡± Sil replied in her stead. ¡°The Storm Guard? From the Fortress?!¡± ¡°What are you, an echo?¡± Tallah asked, annoyed. ¡°Yes, those guys. We don¡¯t get along.¡± Vergil stopped dead in his tracks, hands on the side rails. ¡°But¡­ they¡¯re the law of the Empire.¡± ¡°Yes, yes, quite so.¡± ¡°You¡¯re a villain?¡± He even managed to sound incredulous. ¡°Be honest, Vergil. Does that even surprise you?¡± She turned around and gave him an encouraging smile, complete with a mischievous tilt of the head and doe-eyed stare. He flinched. Sil groaned. ¡°Don¡¯t scare him, Tallah. He¡¯s spooked enough of you. We¡¯re not villains, Vergil.¡± She gave it a little more honest consideration. ¡°All right, she is, but not how you¡¯d imagine.¡± That reassured him even less. He had the look as if ready to bolt back up the stairs and into the night. It was rather endearing. ¡°But the Storm Guard are keepers of the peace. At the Corps they were extremely proud that they had members serving, even right here in Valen.¡± ¡°Yes, yes, they¡¯re all very valiant and honourable and whatever else makes you feel good and tingly,¡± Tallah said, with as much venom as she could be bothered to show. ¡°Don¡¯t be naive.¡± ¡°Can we please move on from the subject.¡± Sil glances over her shoulder again. ¡°I feel like we¡¯re inviting attention.¡± ¡°You encouraged him. You deal with it.¡± Something, somewhere, exploded. It lit up the hazy darkness for a fragment of a moment and the boom shook the ground. Tallah waited for the echoes to dampen before continuing to descend to her destination. Behind, Sil tried to reassure the boy. ¡°We used to be in the Storm Guard, Vergil. There are a lot of things the Guard does that aren¡¯t noble, or honourable, or even moral.¡± Tallah felt Vergil¡¯s gaze on the back of her neck as he and the healer hurried to catch up. ¡°But she¡¯s so young,¡± he said in what he thought was a conspiratorial whisper. ¡°You¡¯re an aelir, but I didn¡¯t think the Guard took in people as young as her.¡± Tallah burst out laughing, followed immediately by Sil. ¡°I love him,¡± the healer said. ¡°He¡¯s like a puppy, all innocent, wide eyed, and dumb as a brick. He makes me want to feed him treats.¡± ¡°I wonder if we were also that dumb at his age?¡± Tallah asked, elbowing Sil in the side. ¡°You¡¯re not that much older than me,¡± Vergil protested. ¡°They kept going on about the Guard when I was in basic training, like it was the highest calling we could aspire to. I thought they were all grizzled veterans and wise scholars.¡± Sil blew into her hands for warmth as they finally reached the bottom and Tallah checked their bearings again. They went down another tight, sinewy alley, no different from the many others they¡¯d followed. If the two following her noticed they had gone in circles at least twice, they didn¡¯t mention it. ¡°We¡¯re much older than you, Vergil,¡± Sil continued ¡°And we¡¯re not good people, if I¡¯m perfectly honest, but neither are those in the Storm Guard. The difference between us is that we¡¯ve stopped pretending.¡± Chapter 1.12.2: Ludwig Angledeer, the old git Tallah spied their destination in the gloom and backtracked them some dozen paces. So easy to miss the hovel in this accursed place. One more misshapen box among many, torn down and rebuilt so many times over Valen¡¯s lifetime that its origin was lost to the folds of time. The two-storied, sharp-roofed home looked as if it had just barely survived a hurricane¡¯s fury and was held up by leaning against its equally humped and broken neighbours. Maybe it had collapsed in on itself a bit since her last visit? A single gargoyle peered down at them from the eaves¡ªLudwig¡¯s obsession with an architecture style dead for more than a century¡ªwith beaked face frozen in mid-roar, ready to vomit water into the cobbles below. At least there was a light shining on the upper level window, flickering candlelight casting thin rays into the fog. The trip wouldn¡¯t be a complete waste of time. ¡°Burn my eyes, would have walked right past it again.¡± Sil grabbed Vergil¡¯s arm and halted him, backtracking to Tallah. ¡°How did you end up with the Storm Guard as your enemy? What did you two do? Did you betray them because you didn¡¯t agree with their methods? Are you renegades?¡± Now he was gushing, bordering between endearing and imbecilic in his newfound enthusiasm. Any more excitement in his day and he was likely to wet himself. ¡°She¡¯s in their bad books, not me. I doubt anyone in the Guard even remembers me,¡± Sil replied and shushed him afterwards. ¡°Maybe I¡¯ll tell you about it some other time.¡± Tallah knocked loudly on the small door and got back a loud groan from the entire building. She knocked again, louder. The old bastard would see them or she¡¯d kick his door down. Finally, something shuffled within and the light at the upstairs window moved away. The latches were pulled back with glacial slowness after what felt like an age of waiting. Ludwig¡¯s gnarled hand emerged first, holding a tray with three barely burning candles. His decrepit, sharply-angled, dried-leather face followed, hooked nose under-lit by candlelight. He grimaced upon seeing who his late-night caller was. A ridiculous, floppy night hung haphazard across his ear. I will never get used to seeing him like this, Christina groaned. I used to think him distinguished, not¡­ this. Teacher¡¯s pet, Bianca chided. ¡°This is a very strange hour for visits,¡± Ludwig said, voice still carrying the sonority of his teaching days. ¡°I know you burn both ends of the candle,¡± Tallah replied. ¡°When have you ever not liked visitors in the night?¡± ¡°Always.¡± Ludwig swung his light around and took them in, stopping on Vergil. ¡°Who¡¯s he?¡± He lifted the candles higher for a better look but Tallah shoved him aside. The blasted feeling of someone watching out in the gloom, as irrational as Sil¡¯s worries, frayed her patience worse than seeing the ancient bastard usually did. ¡°I¡¯m not here to be kept out in the cold, old man.¡± She and Sil walked in, while Vergil remained outside, barred by the old man¡¯s scrutiny. Ludwig turned around and slammed the door in Vergil¡¯s face. ¡°Do we leave him out?¡± Sil asked. ¡°He¡¯s too dumb to catch a cold, but still.¡± Tallah opened the door as the old man shuffled away. She grabbed the boy by the lapel of his shirt and dragged him in, slamming him face first into the header with a dull thud. ¡°Why?¡± he groaned once he shook her off and shuffled inside. ¡°Next time, if I tell you to move, you move,¡± she snapped at him while Sil took a look at his nose. Bent, red, and slightly bleeding. Not broken. She could have pulled harder. ¡°But you didn¡¯t.¡± Whiner. Ludwig blew out his candles. He clapped his hands and three large light sprites appeared to properly illuminate the room. He wore a patched and battered old night gown draped over his long, thin frame. With a sigh, he sat tiredly unto a dusty armchair that creaked under his familiar weight. His books, old and new, littered the room, stacked in haphazard towers that threatened collapse at the slightest disturbance. Work benches were overladen with apparatus and experiments half-completed, all strewn about in drunken chaos. What the room lacked were chairs. ¡°It annoys me more than I like admitting that I can¡¯t figure out how you can make three of these,¡± Sil said, poking at one of the sprites moving lazily through the air. ¡°Why do you even need candles if you can make sprites? Or just buy a sprite-lamp. They¡¯re cheaper than candles nowadays.¡± She and Tallah had relinquished their wet fur coats, hanging them on an ill-used set of hangers on the wall. Vergil followed their lead, though he kept shooting looks for the old man¡¯s approval. If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°I dislike reading by cold sprite light,¡± he said in a tone of voice that didn¡¯t betray any of the constant annoyance etched on the features of his face. ¡°Candles are kinder on my soul. I could teach you, if you¡¯d like.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll have to refuse. I¡¯m certain I don¡¯t need to hear another life story for the five heartbeats of actual learning that it would lead to.¡± He produced an ancient corn cob pipe from somewhere and lit it with a small crackle of fire from his fingertips. Ludwig reclined back in his chair and looked to his visitors with a raised eyebrow. ¡°Suit yourself, Miss Silestra. While it gladdens me greatly to see the both of you safe and hale, I assume you haven¡¯t come to bother me just for a friendly chat.¡± ¡°Could it ever be just a friendly chat, you old fart? No, I came because I owe you my ear.¡± Tallah tried to find somewhere to sit. A stack of books sufficed. She refused to be made to stand for him. ¡°I would cut it off and send it by runner if I could. I¡¯m here. Feel free to bore me.¡± Ludwig gave her a gap-toothed grin. ¡°It was her, wasn¡¯t it? Who the rhyme spoke of? It was Anna.¡± ¡°It was. Your contribution was less than useful but it did get me on the right path. I¡¯ll listen to your plea, nothing more.¡± ¡°How is Anna these days?¡± ¡°Dead, cold, and rotted. Good riddance.¡± ¡°Did you really seek her out just to put your old grudges to rest? I thought you above such childishness.¡± She fought back a smile. Yes, she had settled an old score. But it hadn¡¯t been about it at all. She and Anna would probably butt heads again on that particular issue come Thaw. ¡°Wish that I could just grow old and waste away like you but, alas, I¡¯ve other interests. On the road to the Empress¡¯s forgiveness, settling grudges is just a happy occurrence.¡± He nodded almost sagely and smiled above a plume of pipe smoke. Yes, that tickled the perpetual Empress-botherer just fine. ¡°It pains me somewhat to learn of her death. I hope you were swift in your execution.¡± ¡°Too swift. I¡¯ve rid us of a monster that should have suffered.¡± Tallah bristled. ¡°It would be best if I never learn you had any dealings with her.¡± The old git actually chuckled at that. ¡°I haven¡¯t seen her since you lot were still at Hoarfrost. I told you as much.¡± Ludwig had told her. Appealing to him had been a last ditch effort before moving on to the next name on her list, and he¡¯d provided a cryptic children¡¯s rhyme from a village out in the Ruffle. Tallah and Sil had spent weeks up in the high hills looking for that village. A near nameless place, hidden in a deep gorge, lived in by some hundred people collecting healing herbs for Valen¡¯s apothecaries. Children recited the rhyme in their games, as if to ward off evil by turning it into something mundane and ridiculous. She comes, she comes, the Blood Queen comes, Your sight she¡¯ll break; your heart she¡¯ll take, She comes, she comes, the Blood Queen comes, Your mind she¡¯ll snare; your soul she¡¯ll scare, She comes! She comes! Here the Blood Queen comes! Pity more than nothing to go on, but it served. A creature dwelt in the deep tunnels under the Valen-Drack mountains, the elders of the village had said when inquired. It carried children off into the night, bled them, turned them into monsters and wights. Some of the lost had returned once twisted and broken, made into near-mindless monsters that had needed to be put down. Pleas to the Guild had gone unanswered. Of course they had. Too close to the mountains, too little pay. No sane adventurer would go near that place for the kind of money those unfortunates could muster. Tallah could recognise the work of a Vitalis Mage even when twisted into local folklore. Anna¡¯s lot were a decaying, dying breed, but always tightly knit. If she could find this Blood Queen of the rhyme she¡¯d either find her wayward old friend or someone who could know whether she was alive or dead. In the end, she had found her prey, hidden away and grown frightfully powerful in hermitage. Killing her had not been easy, not even with Christina lending her strength. The less said about the aftereffects of the battle, the better. She gave Ludwig a long glare. If this helps me, I will come back and you can lay out your request, old man. Those had been her exact words to him. Ever since her raid on Valen¡¯s Deep Vault, he¡¯d been adamant about getting her to help him on some matter he never fully disclosed and, in return, she wasn¡¯t interested in. Now he had her captive attention. May as well get it over with. ¡°This had better be a good use of my time, old man. My gratitude only got me to the door.¡± Ludwig blew out a ring of smoke and settled back in his chair. ¡°I¡¯m certain it will be, if you¡¯re inclined enough to listen and think on the matter before you dismiss it, as you¡¯re wont to do. I believe it could profit us both greatly, and even spare you your bloody quest.¡± Acid rose in her throat as she readied an answer about what she was wont or not to do, and where he could shove his tone, but Sil cut between them. ¡°Behave, Tallah. You haven¡¯t dragged us out through this place¡¯s stinks just so you two can get into another shouting row. Let him speak and maybe it won¡¯t take all night.¡± ¡°Thank you, Miss Silestra. You are very kind.¡± ¡°I¡¯m minding the hours, not your sentiment.¡± Sil gave him a thin smile. ¡°Just tell us what it¡¯s all about so we can leave.¡± That dampened Ludwig¡¯s spirits. ¡°So you can leave¡­¡± He sighed. ¡°Why even come if you can¡¯t entertain the idea of helping me?¡± ¡°Because I owe you. I¡¯ve said it before, I say it again. Start talking, old man. Let¡¯s see if your need is worth considering further.¡± For some reason, she had thought she¡¯d be more inclined to patience this time, more willing to indulge his bloody way of talking around what he meant to say. She had made the promise and was behoved to it, but would rather have fought Anna all over again. The back of her neck and her palms itched with the silent touch of unseen eyes waiting somewhere in the gloom outside. Chapter 1.12.3: Pitiless to an old man ¡°Well, the both of you are pitiless to an old man,¡± Ludwig finally said after chewing on his pipe for a long time. He brought his sprites closer, as if to give himself a theatrical spotlight, sipped his foul tea and sighed. ¡°You make it so hard to address a subject, like walking on egg shells for fear of dismissing your hard-earned attention.¡± Tallah failed to stifle a jaw-cracking yawn. She waved him to go on. ¡°Like with all great issues, we must first look at the root of things. If you do not understand the context of my plight you will not see why it is of such importance to me.¡± Christina and Bianca failed to stifle a mental groan. It took just one moment, one look at the old man steepling his hands and leaning back in his chair with half-closed eyes, and they were all back in Hoarfrost, suffering another interminable lecture that added nothing more to their lives aside from a single nugget or two of new knowledge. Even the smell of dust and old, waxed paper was the same in his home as it had been in his cramped office, a century back. Even the stench of that foul thing he regarded as tea was the same. I can¡¯t do this. Tallah got up and wandered away to peruse the shelves. She took his candle tray and got the wicks burning again with some difficulty. Sil gave her a suffering glare. ¡°This happened before my tenure at Hoarfrost by a good few decades. Five, I think, or maybe even seven. Time becomes harder to manage and keep straight the more it flows you by. I was a different man then.¡± He ignored her departure and kept talking. ¡°I don¡¯t say this to justify my actions. I don¡¯t expect you would take kindly to something as blatant as that. I merely wish to offer you a complete account of what happened back then that derailed my life.¡± Tallah dragged a leather-bound book off a too-high shelf and the remaining stack collapsed in an avalanche of dust and loose pages. He hadn¡¯t touched those old tomes in years, maybe decades. Paper flaked away even under her gentle touch. Old, obsessed bastard¡­ ¡°This was sometime on the tail end of the first Unification War led by Empress Catharina, blessed may she be always. Injury in battle robbed me of a chance to serve the Empire further than the conquests of Drack and Ria so I turned to other pursuits where my experience would be of value. I became, like many retired soldiers in those days, an explorer of the Old World, of the ruins on which we were building a bastion for our species.¡± Tallah threw a glance at the other two captives. Vergil actually listened with rapt attention, eyes fixed on the old man. Sil picked through Ludwig¡¯s alchemical implements strewn across a devastated work bench that hadn¡¯t seen proper use in years. She couldn¡¯t help but chuckle. Soldier turned explorer was a pretty way of saying soldier turned tomb robber. Let him have this, Tallah. There is no gain to be had from calling the truth from him, Bianca whispered as if she were still a student in class passing on a message. ¡°Queen Catharina the First, soon to be Empress, supported and blessed my endeavours. Aztroa funded my work. Valen offered me the men I needed. Those were my halcyon days, Tallah, when I built something that truly mattered.¡± He fell into a long silence, smiling wistfully. ¡°Isn¡¯t the Empire¡­ ancient? I mean, it¡¯s called the Eternal Enlightened Empire. How old are you?¡± Sil was right to call him a puppy. If Vergil had a tail, it would be wagging in excitement. ¡°My boy,¡± Ludwig replied in the tone of the patient professor, ¡°I don¡¯t rightly know anymore. I¡¯ve lived through at least two hundred Summers, if not more.¡± ¡°His memory¡¯s not as good as it used to be,¡± Tallah said with mischievous delight. ¡°I¡¯m surprised he still recalls his own name going by the crap he¡¯s trying to feed us.¡± ¡°Tallah¡­¡± She sighed and waved Sil¡¯s exasperation away. ¡°I¡¯ll be nice. I promise. Go on, old man.¡± She gestured with the opened book towards Vergil. ¡°This one is dying to know more of your illustrious life as a sanctioned tomb robber.¡± ¡°I am not and have never been a tomb robber, you blighted ash-eater,¡± Ludwig shot back, nearly pushing himself out of the chair. ¡°I brought back knowledge lost to the ages, knowledge too valuable to even express into words. I helped start the Adventurer¡¯s Guild in those days. Show a morsel of respect.¡± ¡°You helped found an enclave of thieves with sanction from a conquering queen hungry for power. What you brought her were new paths through which to march her armies so she could catch her enemies unaware. Best to call a duck a duck.¡± She turned her attention to Vergil. ¡°Believe maybe a word in three if it comes from him. There¡¯s not much left or preserved of his discoveries, not after being trampled to dust by armies coming and going.¡± She squinted at another book and tried to drag it off its shelf. By candlelight and without her glasses, she could barely make out what was written on its spine. Could have been a cookbook and it still would have been preferable to the old man¡¯s sweetened account. ¡°Regardless,¡± Ludwig said at length, ¡°I don¡¯t intend to defend myself. Just listen, please.¡± ¡°Agreed. Please go on, Master Angledeer, before morning creeps up on us.¡± Sil sent a sprite to Tallah¡¯s aid, and a glare to warn off further interruptions. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. ¡°My travels ultimately led me to the gateway to a civilisation so ancient that barely any legend of them still survives. But their power, in those rare myths that have survived decay, was believed beyond comprehension. They had unlocked the stars, ladies. Can you imagine that even? Finding a way into their inner Sanctums, into the heart of their sealed city, would have changed the face of Edana. Not even the aelir have a claim on history as old as this. ¡°This wasn¡¯t a path to march through. This was pure knowledge, pure history that wanted; no, that needed to be uncovered. Empress Catharina gladly gave me all I asked for in this pursuit. Men, warriors and thinkers, weapons, money, resources. This was to be my life¡¯s greatest achievement, my claim on the immortal soul of the Empire.¡± ¡°And, yet, here you are. Vergil, come here and hold this for me. It¡¯s filthy and I like this dress.¡± ¡°And, yet, here I am, yes,¡± Ludwig echoed her words as Vergil reluctantly shuffled over to her. The old man smoked more pensively, the fire seeming to leave him. ¡°I did find the city. I found the door to it. I found that it was open but there was no safe passage through. Death lurked beyond it, death unseen and unheard. Something beyond resisted us¡­ and we succumbed. The cost in lives was¡­¡± He pressed a gnarled hand to his eyes and looked away, into the shadowed nooks of his home. ¡°Riveting. If you want to try again, I¡¯m not interested.¡± Tallah handed the heavy tome to Vergil and moved him around so the sprite¡¯s light would serve better. ¡°I don¡¯t care to become another casualty of your ambitions.¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t fail. That¡¯s the core of it. In the end, I succeeded.¡± He drew in a deep breath and held it for some time. When he spoke, it was low enough that Tallah had to strain to hear him. ¡°I needed a cipher to go through. I sought audience with the Empress herself, and was granted it. I prostrated myself to her and made a plea. I needed a cipher breaker, someone that could see what both was and wasn¡¯t there. I needed an Egia.¡± Sil let out a slow laugh. ¡°And you didn¡¯t ask for one of the Moons too? Egia were even rarer back then than they are now.¡± ¡°I was young, foolish, and too confident in my abilities. The Empress nearly had me thrown to the dogs. But, in her wisdom, she thought on my request for a long time. I had the determination and my past successes. I knew she would see the value in my efforts; so I waited, right there, on my knees for two whole days. ¡°I was thrown out after the Court got tired of tripping over me. Days later, an aide sought me out and brought me to the first Gate. It activated and through it stepped¡­ Erisa.¡± He whispered the name, like trying to shift a heavy stone off his heart. ¡°She was barely ten Summers, still flowering, a dark-eyed girl that regarded me with curiosity and eager wanderlust. I was told she had been born to the School of Healing and had never seen anything but its walls and gardens. She held the Empress¡¯s hand but was not afraid. ¡°¡®I entrust her to you, Angledeer, as she was entrusted to me by the School. If any harm should come to her, I will have you flogged within a hair¡¯s breadth of your life,¡¯ she told me. I barely heard the threat. My mind was filled with the triumphant song of destiny made manifest at long last. ¡°And I was a fool.¡± ¡°So¡­ what happened?¡± Vergil asked as Ludwig lapsed into silence. Tallah, despite herself, was intrigued. He was on to something if the Empress actually granted him an Egia, Christina mused. If this is going where it appears to be then I think Professor Angledeer might have made a grave mistake. ¡°Of course, I wasn¡¯t entrusted alone with her safety. The Empress chose minders from her veterans to accompany us on the journey, some of the first of the newly established Storm Guard. Her enemies were rallying then, on the Summer of Bastra¡¯s Humbling. We set out on our journey into the Crags while she marched down into the South, on a beautiful early-Summer day. ¡°Erisa was everything I had hoped she would be and so much more. Where I¡¯d lost over forty people on my previous attempt, I now only lost five to carelessness and mischance. She guided us through the danger, fast and true, straight into the embrace of history. Beyond the passage, our prize awaited.¡± Vergil trembled with excitement like a child listening to bed time stories of faer folk and dragon kings. That, despite her shrivelling patience, got a smile out of Tallah. The coming ending to the remembrance, like for all good faer stories, would be tragic. For his sake she held her tongue. Ludwig sighed, reached for his cup and took another sip of tea. ¡°It all went wrong once we reached the city. Creatures such as I have never encountered before assailed us the moment we emerged out of the passage, before we could bask in the glory of our success. Our first clash was vicious and bloody but we endured and pushed back the tide. ¡°After that we began to die one by one. They hunted us down, grabbed us in the night, from our sleep, from making our water. Our strength lessened by the passing hour.¡± ¡°Wh-what was killing you? What were they?¡± Vergil asked with shaking voice. ¡°I hesitate to call them spiders, but that is as close as I can describe those nightmarish apparitions. Something as mundane as that grown by some cursed means to the size of a man, even larger, with razor claws and envenomed fangs. We were powerless against their tide. ¡°The evil in there, for there is no other word that serves for it, jealously guarded its secrets. We barely made it beyond the threshold and we had lost half of our strength. Half, Tallah. Good men and women of valour that had laid down their lives for our mission. Their dying cries haunt me.¡± Tallah yawned. Ludwig kept going. ¡°Whatever controlled the creatures sent an envoy on our third day there. We were weary and tired, bloodied and desperate. Bone-white monsters came up to us and, without words, I knew what they wanted.¡± He sighed deeply, sipped his tea, and held the cup in both hands on his lap. ¡°They wanted the girl. They wanted Erisa. I do not know why or what for.¡± His sprites dimmed out until only Sil¡¯s was left. The long shadow of a bookshelf settled over him as he finished his tale, face lit by the embers of his pipe. ¡°I accepted. To my eternal shame, I accepted. What choice did I have? I gave them the girl and they, in turn, showed us safe passage out. It was easy for them. We lost people that couldn¡¯t keep up the pace. ¡°Fifty and five people left Aztroa with me. Eight got back.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t expect the Empress enjoyed the news you brought back,¡± Sil said from where she sat on the edge of the work desk. Ludwig chuckled grimly. ¡°She had me flogged, then imprisoned in the darkest, smallest cell she could find in Aztroa. After weeks of agony and filth she had me flogged again, then thrown out of the city with nothing but the bloodied rags on my back. I was promised the headsman¡¯s axe if I ever set foot again within a league of the capital. I¡¯ve never dared check if the edict still stands.¡± Chapter 1.12.4: Debt to pay Tallah waited for Ludwig to go on but the old man lapsed into silence. A small crackle of fire showed him lighting up his pipe anew but he said nothing more. ¡°Put this back on the shelf. It¡¯s more religious garbage from the Dominion.¡± She slammed closed the tome she had been reading and brought Vergil out of his fascinated stupor. He blinked at her and then turned back to Ludwig. ¡°What happened next?¡± he asked, maybe still hoping for a happy ending. There couldn¡¯t be one. ¡°Next, lad, was a long life of regret,¡± the old man said as he let out a heavy breath. ¡°Which doesn¡¯t tell me what you bloody want,¡± Tallah snapped at him as she physically pushed Vergil to do as she bid. ¡°The girl¡¯s dead. The Empress¡¯s angry. All of it seems like a done deal to me.¡± ¡°I want your help to get back into that city and find the girl.¡± Very few things in her long life had left Tallah at a complete loss for words. Rhine giving birth. The Empress betraying her faith. Maybe a few other scattered moments. The sheer stupidity of Ludwig¡¯s request was now added to that short list. ¡°Have you gone daft?¡± she finally managed. ¡°Why would you want to go back there? What for?¡± ¡°The girl haunts my dreams, Tallah. I see her every time I close my eyes. I haven¡¯t had a night¡¯s full sleep since we escaped that damned place. You are my final chance at setting right the wrong I enacted so long ago.¡± ¡°Master Angledeer, there is no possible way in which the girl could still be alive,¡± Sil said, echoing Tallah¡¯s thoughts perfectly. ¡°Going back there is a fool¡¯s errand at best.¡± ¡°Yes, it¡¯s an old man¡¯s folly,¡± Ludwig agreed. ¡°It could have meant something once, when it would have mattered, but now it is only an old man¡¯s folly. I know that, Miss Silestra. You would think me mad but I know the girl, or something of her, still endures. I have proof of it.¡± ¡°What proof?¡± ¡°I¡¯d much rather not say . If you must take something on faith, then take that.¡± He summoned his light sprite back and moved it around the room as if looking for something. ¡°It is also a matter of redemption in the eyes of the Empire.¡± Tallah laughed, at both the absurdity of taking anything on faith and at his dreams of redemption. ¡°The Empire doesn¡¯t even know who you are. It doesn¡¯t care.¡± ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter.¡± ¡°The Empress will still have your head on a spike the moment you step into Aztroa. I doubt she still cares about you but that only means she¡¯s never rescinded her edict.¡± ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter. I will have completed my duty and happily die once that is achieved.¡± Sentimentality and zeal always made for the worst combinations in people. No, this isn¡¯t about either of those, Tallah thought as she studied Ludwig¡¯s serene expression. You doubt him, Christina said, pensive. There is more to the story than he tells. There always is. I expect he wants his bloody place in history back. Out loud she said, ¡°I don¡¯t see my benefit in any of this.¡± She gestured to the room in general. ¡°Your theatrics were all very fine, I assure you, but I don¡¯t see why all of this is something I would care about.¡± He gave her a patient look, like an expectant teacher on the verge of disappointment. ¡°I would think it obvious. You¡¯re on this bloody penitent mission for whatever you did to wrong the Storm Guard and the Empress¡¯s faith. Bring her this bounty, Tallah, and she will forgive you, regardless of sin.¡± That. She almost laughed. He truly believed the lie she¡¯d fed him, years back, about her motives and her discharge from the Storm Guard. And he tried to use it for his gain. Which was¡­ what? She played along for a while longer as she dusted herself off. If nothing else, he had at least managed to rouse her curiosity. ¡°I don¡¯t see the value in tracking down a corpse. Even if there¡¯s anything left to find, you¡¯d never know it. One bone¡¯s as white as another,¡± she said. ¡°We both know it¡¯s foolish. I¡¯m not so desperate yet that I¡¯d turn to faer stories for my deliverance.¡± Ludwig blew out a plume of blue-grey smoke and grinned with mischief. ¡°I never expected you to agree to this for the sake of naked bones and sentiment,¡± he said. ¡°This could be worth your while if you¡¯ll allow me a few moments more of your attention, now that I finally have it.¡± ¡°By all means, beg away.¡± ¡°This is not about begging. I do not plan to beg. I have that much dignity left.¡± He got up slowly and walked over to an overburdened worktable. One wayward spark could turn his home into a crater, considering the over-abundance of magical tomes and old, brittle paper. He dislodged a single, large tome from a scattered heap and blew off the patina of neglect from its covers. ¡°This place is a sty,¡± Sil said as she covered her face in the crook of her elbow. More books fell and the dust rose thick as the chemical mist outside. ¡°I still recall what drove you, back when you would still call me Professor. I expect it has changed little in the decades since.¡± He gestured Vergil to him, unwilling to come himself over to where Tallah had perched in her exploration. At a nod from her, the boy obeyed and brought the book. ¡°This, I believe, might change your mind.¡± He means to bait you, Christina echoed her own thoughts. He is old, not foolish. I doubt he ever expected your better nature to jump to his aid. When Vergil presented her with the metal dressed tome, she heard its call immediately. It was barely as thick as her thumb but so richly dressed in illum that she could actually sense it. If she had her mask, it would likely show a tapestry of woven power so dense that it would be blinding. ¡°Marvellous,¡± she whispered as she ran her fingers down the smooth, time-worn protection plate on the cover. ¡°I don¡¯t recognise this lettering.¡± She caressed the words imprinted on the shell, and could hardly resist the temptation of peaking inside. But opening a tome so thick with illum without proper precautions could be catastrophic. This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. ¡°Neither do I,¡± Ludwig said as he sat back down and lit his pipe again. ¡°Neither does anyone. You hold the sole artefact I managed to hold on to from that cursed expedition. To my knowledge, nobody in Aztroa Magnor has managed to decipher any of the others.¡± He leaned forward as he smoked, letting the pause speak for his intentions. Sil sighed heavily. ¡°You¡¯re offering her power.¡± She clicked her tongue in annoyance. ¡°You¡¯re a malevolent old fart, did you know?¡± Tallah looked over to them to see Sil glaring at a very pleased-with-himself Ludwig. The glare snapped to her. ¡°We are not going in the middle of Winter to some dusty old ruin in the middle of Nowhere!¡± ¡°I never said we were going at all, Winter or Summer,¡± Tallah protested. ¡°It¡¯s on your face,¡± Vergil said sheepishly by her side. ¡°We can all see it.¡± ¡°Oh spare me,¡± Sil snapped at her. ¡°When have you ever ignored a chance like this? The woe story was an excuse to have you sitting still for two moments, but this horrible old bastard knew exactly where to pinch to make you giddy.¡± That is a particularly disgusting mental image. Thank you for that, Adana. Both Christina and Bianca complained. Tallah shrugged off their indignation. She held the book out and waggled it at Ludwig. ¡°You could have shown me this at any time and I would have been tempted. Why not lead with it? Why bore me first?¡± Ludwig reclined in his chair and puffed out more blue smoke. ¡°I am not a fool. You being in my debt is the only reason you¡¯ll even listen to the next part.¡± She raised an eyebrow at that. Sil had crossed her arms at her chest and seemed particularly displeased about the whole discussion. ¡°Had you known about the book, I fully expect you would have gone into that city of your own volition for more and cared very little about my wishes on the matter. But you see¡±¡ªhe gestured with the tip of his pipe¡ª¡°I want to come along. I need to come along when you go. My business with that place is not concluded.¡± ¡°You will aim us in the right direction and that will be the end of your involvement,¡± Tallah countered. ¡°If I go, it will be in my own time, on my own terms. You don¡¯t have a say in that.¡± Ludwig shrugged, unmoved. ¡°I am coming. I don¡¯t care when. You owe me at least this.¡± He talked with such certainty that it made her blood boil. ¡°I could just extract the path from you, old man,¡± she said, and meant every word. ¡°Do not test my patience.¡± The git stared at her levelly. ¡°Do your worst. I am either coming, or you shall never get there alive.¡± He tapped his temple with two fingers. ¡°I am the only person living that knows the way. I¡¯ve made certain of that. The Empress never had the time or inclination to risk another incursion. After my colossal mishap she lost the trust of the School of Healing and that rift has never mended since. And the one artefact that could be used instead of an Egia belonged to Valen, not the Empire; and is now in your possession.¡± His eyes shone with the fire of purpose. ¡°I need to go, Tallah. I need forgiveness and to be freed of my ghosts and my failure. You will take me there because you have no other choice.¡± So bloody pleased with himself. He fashioned that he¡¯d made his case and won her compliance. As if she were a child to be placated into behaving by sweet meats. Tallah smiled her best grin and threw aside the tome. ¡°Well, get buggered then. Enjoy your dreams of the corpse girl. Come on, Sil, we¡¯re done.¡± Ludwig¡¯s jaw dropped and he sputtered, pipe almost falling from his lips. He¡¯d had it all planned so well. Tempt her, offer a trinket, make promises of power and knowledge, even redemption to seal the deal. But she had listened to the story and weighed its allure against her needs. What was there really to gain? Weeks out in the cold. A delay to plans half-a-decade in the making. More strain on her when she was far from well and recovered. Come Thaw, she¡¯d need to head towards the Inner Sea, and from there down the swelling Bistry River towards Old Forge. Deidra had been sighted there last. Ludwig¡¯s errand would happen now, or never¡­ and she saw no profit in it. ¡°You owe me.¡± His face grew hard and pale, a bloodless mask draped over old, gaunt bones. ¡°I gave Anna to you. I offer you power like you can scarcely believe. The secrets there¡ª¡± ¡°Secrets are worth less than nothing to me. Legends grow fatter in the telling. I promised I¡¯d listen. I did. My debt is complete.¡± She kicked aside the pile of books on which she¡¯d sat and walked to him. ¡°Do you think me a child, Professor? Do you think you can waggle vague promises at me and I would lap it up, eager to bound off into the dark because you said there would be sweets there?¡± She pitied the old fool. She pitied the way he lived and the way he regretted that he lived. Alone, forgotten, abused by his memories. He surrounded himself by dust and the detritus of countless wasted years, and just waited to die. Well, she refused any part in his drama. ¡°I¡ª I can give you¡­¡± He faltered for words. Wide eyes searched around the room, desperate for something else to back up his pleas. ¡°What can you give me, Professor? Even for Anna, all you gave us was a rhyme you heard in some village. We followed that trail on our own.¡± And now it was all getting rather pathetic. She gestured for Vergil to bring them their cloaks. The boy was looking at the discarded book, head tilted sideways, muttering. He leaned over and picked up the tome, staring at the cover¡¯s odd letters. ¡°The letters are really weirdly drawn but it says Understanding the correlation between illum conversion and intrinsic personality biases. It says it¡¯s volume three of five.¡± Ludwig looked as if smacked over the head with the metal-bound book. ¡°Fancy that,¡± she said nastily,¡±I don¡¯t even need to go there for a cipher. Can you give me Deidra? Or Lucretia? Or the exact day Ort returns from the Maggot War?¡± Of course he couldn¡¯t. His jaw snapped closed and he gazed up at her with honest loathing. At last, a spark of honesty from him. ¡°You won¡¯t forgive yourself even if you do go back there, Master Angledeer,¡± Sil said as she donned her thick cloak. ¡°Learn to leave the past be the past and move on. Going back to the place of your failure will not atone you, not even to your own conscience.¡± He turned sharply to her, hands balled into white-knuckled fists. His eyes were feverishly bright. ¡°She is alive, Miss Silestra.¡± Old fists struck the armrests of his chair. ¡°Alive! I know that with every fibre of my being. Take the book and leave me be. Just remember, Tallah, that I know you¡¯re in Valen. I¡­¡± He stopped and seemed to think better of the threat he almost voiced. She loomed over him and gave him time to consider his words. ¡°No. That is unfair. I apologise.¡± He deflated and passed a hand over his eyes. ¡°You are right. You only ever promised to listen, and did so. I was a fool to think you¡¯d accept such an undertaking, especially on my terms.¡± ¡°At least there¡¯s still a shred of wisdom in you, Professor.¡± Sil glared at her. Christina too. Tallah relented in her mockery. ¡°If I learn of anything in my travels that may aid you, I will pass it on. You, at least, have my promise on that.¡± Vergil brought the book and their cloaks. For better or worse, the evening hadn¡¯t been entirely without merit even if her relationship with her old teacher would never mend. Him threatening her was not going to be forgotten. Ludwig did not rise to see them off. Sprite light faded when they opened the door and the night¡¯s fog and chill rushed in. They left him brooding in his chair, clad in darkness and accusing silence. ¡°For a heartbeat, I thought you¡¯d accept,¡± Sil said as they made their way back out of the labyrinth. ¡°For a couple, so did I. But it¡¯s a bad time for flights of fancy, especially when they¡¯re not mine.¡± Again the prickling sensation on the back of her neck, like someone tugging on hairs. She turned and startled Vergil right behind her. ¡°What?¡± he asked, brandishing the book like a shield against her attention. Behind and over his shoulder the night stretched, old now and gloomy, threatening her storm. They¡¯d stopped between the narrow cones of two streetlights, down a final flight of steps before the Agora, utterly alone. A faint noise of cheering and laughter came from their destination, but behind them all had grown still and quiet. Shifts would be changing soon. ¡°It¡¯s nothing,¡± she said after listening for a time. Sil tugged on her cloak, eager to be down in the city proper, away from the heavy chemical stench. ¡°Dealing with the old man was more tiring than I thought. I¡¯m imagining things.¡± She hooked her arm around Vergil¡¯s elbow and dragged him forward. ¡°Let¡¯s go try this skating thing people here are so crazy about, my dear. It¡¯s bound to be such lovely fun.¡± ¡°At this hour?¡± Vergil whimpered. Sil chuckled. ¡°My dear, Valen never sleeps.¡± And the back of her neck still bloody prickled. Chapter 1.13.1: Early morning sparring Quistis kneeled over Falor and inspected the wound. His breathing wheezed through the gash in his side. True sight granted by the Goddess showed two¡­ no, three shattered ribs, and his right lung quickly deflating. He tried to smile and say something but choked on blood. For all the power the Commander wielded, he was impulsive and poorly practised with most mundane weapons aside from his great warhammer, something Barlo was determined to beat, smash, and impale out of him. She dug through her satchel and handed him two mixtures to drink. One to offset his blood loss, the other to strengthen him before the actual healing. It took some effort for him to down them. With a palm on his mangled chest, she requested the Goddess¡¯s aid, ¡°I require this one to be mended.¡± That put her at half of her daily allotment. She¡¯d stop the training session after the next wound. By how things were going, she wouldn¡¯t be out in the cold for much longer. It was a credit to Barlo¡¯s skill that he had managed to inflict such an ugly wound without outright killing the Lord Commander. Three crushed ribs and a collapsed lung just on the tail of a full body impalement, a near severance of the Commander¡¯s right arm at the shoulder, and a crushed eye socket¡­ She sighed as Falor stumbled back to his feet, rolled his shoulders, and sauntered away to pick up his weapon. He spat a glob of blood, coughed, and spat another into the fresh snow. Barlo, stripped down to the waist and barefooted, paced the outer rim of the sparring ground. Steam rose off him in thin wisps, curling around the edges of his bone-plate carapace. Vanadal carapace never stopped growing and Barlo didn¡¯t file his smooth like tradition dictated, allowing it to grow into a spiky, jagged mess that gave him the look of a long-ago savage. He held his swords loose at his side and waited for his willing victim to come back into range. She caught his eyes and the question there, and replied with a nod. Yes, Falor could continue training. For as mercilessly as Barlo beat him, he would never go a single step beyond her mandates. She could stop their session with a single gesture but that would injure the Commander¡¯s pride much worse than the Miscreant¡¯s blades ever could, especially if Quistis could still heal him. Some soldiers were gathered on the other side of the arena, watching in silence the lessons administered. Each of them had been in there with Barlo before and all knew intimately the edge of his blades. None cheered or commented on the exchange of blows. Snow fell in thicker swathes now as both men took up position and raised their guard. Barlo¡¯s weapons of choice for the day were his ugly, curved blades, one in each dominant hand, while Falor faced him with a wide-bladed halberd. Quistis washed her hands in snow and scurried back into the cover of the pavilion overlooking the sparring grounds to watch another bout of the massacre. Falor¡¯s warhammer, a particularly nasty piece of star ore, rested next to her chair like a squatting great hound waiting for its master¡¯s return. It was decidedly too heavy for her to move away, so she moved her chair instead. Something about the weapon always got her teeth itching and being alone with it only made it worse. When the master got hurt, the hound growled, and she felt its resonance in the pit of her stomach. Any moment now, Quistis thought as she looked into the still darkening sky. By her reckoning it would be past the third bell of morning but the darkness wouldn¡¯t abate. A storm brewed above, gathering malice to unleash onto Valen. Weapons clashed with dull rings of metal on metal. Falor came out swinging, trying to force the point of Barlo¡¯s weapon away from him and thrust for the throat. He had the conviction for the swing but sadly not the strength. As large and well-muscled as he was, Barlo was simply much larger and much stronger. He barely flinched when attacked so brazenly, allowed the point of the halberd to pass by his face, and moved in to deliver a vicious punch rather than outright kill with his sword. He¡¯d already demonstrated that technique earlier. Falor had to dodge back or get his head punched off. ¡°You miserable bastard,¡± he groaned as Barlo kicked his halberd back to him. ¡°I¡¯ll bloody you today, or so help me¡­¡± His threat was met with a raised chin. Barlo exposed his throat, said nothing, charged with a scissor slash of both swords. It got the Commander backtracking, desperately trying to push back the rampaging bull with a slash of his axe head. Barlo¡¯s large sword pushed down the haft of his halberd and the other swung for his neck. Quistis barely followed the next exchange. Falor pushed forward and ducked under the slash. His halberd¡¯s hook passed behind Barlo¡¯s calf and he tried to reverse the motion to rip out his opponent¡¯s ankle. The Miscreant took it in stride and moved forward with the motion of the weapon, hook scraping against the armoured heel of his boot. He smashed into Falor, forehead to nose-bridge, bone-armoured torso against blood-soaked tunic. Another loss for the Commander. Quistis got ready to go back out and heal him. Sometime crackled in the air and Barlo jumped back. ¡°Oh no.¡± The warhammer burst out through the chest-high ring wall in an explosion of pulverised stone fragments, straight into Falor¡¯s hand. She turned away and shielded her face against the kicked-up dust. ¡°Temper, temper, Commander,¡± Barlo said. He still held his chin up. ¡°We¡¯re not training against sparkles today.¡± Falor¡¯s nose was broken and blood ran down his face but his eyes shone with crackling power. ¡°Let¡¯s see how you keep your temper, Barlo, if I knock you around until the bells toll.¡± The words came out slurred through cracked teeth and lips. Their intent was clear enough. Lightning arced down the hammer¡¯s long shaft and discharged into the bloodied mud. Quistis rushed to intervene but a gesture from Barlo stopped her behind the ruin of the wall. He would ride out the storm. The thick-skinned bastard never lowered his head. The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. Lightning sheathed Falor and he swung the hammer with practised ease and infused strength. He swung at the ground and coils of electricity rushed Barlo. ¡°This be a bad time, ¡®tain?¡± Quistis almost jumped out of her skin. She hadn¡¯t heard the man walk in, hadn¡¯t seen him get close. The only entrance to the sparring ground was directly opposite her vantage point. Aidan had always made Quistis¡¯s skin crawl. The man wasn¡¯t much to behold, and even less to remember by. He was of average height and average build and had a face that a mother¡¯s love could think of as homely. He wore loose clothes, greys on blacks, and looked like nothing more than an overworked bureaucrat of the Fortress. Dark skin, dark eyes, raven black hair, not a smile in sight. He was Rumi¡¯s shadow, her assigned Claw. If Rumi hid what she really was, Aidan wore it on his sleeve with a semblance of pride. ¡°I wasn¡¯t expecting a report this morning.¡± Quistis composed herself and turned back to the sparring. Barlo held his own but Falor¡¯s bursts of power kept him on the backslide and off-balance. The Commander, even when angered, held himself in check and made sure his outburst didn¡¯t spill out of the fighting arena. Nonetheless, she¡¯d need to intervene before he¡¯d put the warrior beyond her help and into the Sisters¡¯ care. ¡°Aye, but me thinks you¡¯d get prop¡¯rly wobbly if I¡¯d waited,¡± Aidan replied with mischievous delight. ¡°You¡¯re not gonna like this.¡± ¡°I¡¯m listening. And speak properly, please. I haven¡¯t had enough coffee for you to speak Rian at me.¡± He chuckled, swallowed, and made the effort. ¡°I followed the two doves you was interested in. Well, they¡¯s three now. Third¡¯s a toy boy. Lives with ¡¯em. I¡¯s lookin¡¯ at ¡®im, but gonna take time.¡± ¡°Mhm.¡± Barlo dodged a serpent of blue-white energy and switched to the attack. This time Falor forced back the swing of the swords with his hammer. He spun around, carried by the momentum of the heavy weapon, and smashed Barlo in the chest with bone-cracking fury. Lightning flashed on impact and sent the vanadal sprawling through the mud. It wasn¡¯t enough. The Miscreant rolled with the blast and was back on his feet before Falor closed the distance. His lips cracked into a full-fanged grin but he still didn¡¯t lower his head as he met the Commander¡¯s next swing. ¡°So, did we learn what other pastries they like?¡± she asked, eyes fixated on the duel. After the first couple of weeks of looking into the sorceress and her healer, and getting absolutely nothing of worth, she had put them out of mind. She could read only so many reports of where they took their deserts before it got rather sickening. Rumi was less inclined to leave them be. Either as prospective recruits, or for other reasons Quistis didn¡¯t want to think about, she had taken a curious interest that refused to abate. ¡°Aye. Waffles with custard, in the Agora,¡± Aidan said with dry amusement. She glared at him. The spy grinned, too pleased with himself for her liking. ¡°They met with someone last night, someone you¡¯d care to know about. Ludwig Angledeer, by Lady Cassandra¡¯s Old Hope Church.¡± ¡°Why do I care about him?¡± She¡¯d heard the name, somewhere, but it wasn¡¯t on her list of troublemakers and potential problems. Maybe some sort of scholar? She remembered a book by one Angledeer but what it was about wouldn¡¯t spring to mind. ¡°Cinder¡¯s teacher. Last one alive.¡± That pried her interest away from the exchange of blows. He went on in the usual dry monotone he used every time he reported something to her. ¡°Hard to get close to ¡¯em. Very hard. They¡¯s got eyes in the backs of they heads. I couldn¡¯t hear the talk, couldn¡¯t be that close, but kept up with ¡®em and followed through the Alchemist¡¯s soup. I know who he¡¯s about because Lady Belli drew up a list of the sorceress¡¯s old acquaintances. Just in case.¡± He glanced over her shoulder and moved two steps aside. ¡°Another thing, ¡®tain. That flame-breath and her crony? They be acting peculiar-like when away from eyes. Very careful in public, very prop¡¯rly posh. But not so much when they thinks it¡¯s private. Other body talk, not lady and servant. Me nose don¡¯t likes it.¡± That was too much coincidence to ignore. She¡¯d accepted the explanation for young Tianna¡¯s interest in the troublemakers of Hoarfrost. There was never a shortage of young, misguided people interested to know more about the most powerful students the Academy had ever trained up to Falor. Some even sought to imitate them. But meeting with someone that was an actual, living connection? There¡¯s interest, and then there¡¯s troublesome obsession that always seemed to land in her lap if left unchecked. ¡°I want them marked and¡ª¡± Barlo crashed into the pavilion, flew through the space Aidan had occupied, and hit the back wall with a stone-cracking thump. He landed in a heap, lay still for a few moments, and then hauled himself to his feet with some difficulty. His chest carapace was shattered and he had to lean against the wall to steady himself, but still made the effort of raising his chin. ¡°Bloody bastard¡ª¡± Quistis turned to Falor as he leaned on the ruin of the separating wall. ¡°You got me again,¡± he said through gritted teeth. The Commander had dropped his hammer and held his stomach with both hands. Soft, pink entrails poked through the net of his fingers. ¡°Need a touch of help, Quis.¡± His knees gave out and he fell into the mud, groaning in agony. Quistis spared a glare for Barlo before vaulting over with her medical supplies. ¡°If I could heal you so that it kept hurting for a fortnight or more, I would.¡± Another ugly wound that would scar, and it wasn¡¯t even necessary. She dug her fingers into his opened abdomen, feeling for the damage. He clung to consciousness and tried to smile at her anger, stoically failing to not wince as she checked him over. Without a healer on hand, in actual battle, that wound would be a festering nightmare. She knew it. He knew it. She let her silence scream invective at him. ¡°I didn¡¯t cut him deep,¡± Barlo rumbled above, looking down over the shattered rim of the wall. He peeled off shattered bits of carapace, purple with viscera, and tried to round off the edges with a bloodied dagger. In a few day¡¯s time his armour would be regrown even stronger than before, and the edges would be grey scars on white bone. ¡°If someone goes fer yer belly, Commander, don¡¯t step into the swing when that someone¡¯s got a second blade ready. Killing them won¡¯t be worth much if ye ain¡¯t fit t¡¯ fight the next bastard.¡± ¡°Shut up. I bloodied you.¡± Words gurgled up bloody from the Commander¡¯s throat. ¡°And I killed ye. Hope it was worth the Captain¡¯s ire.¡± Quistis groaned her displeasure, packed Falor¡¯s guts back in, and healed him. She would treat him later with salves to reduce the scarring, and purgers to clear up any rot that may have gotten into the cuts. As far as she was concerned this morning''s sparring was finished and she dared one of them to contradict her. ¡°Aidan,¡± she called out, ¡°please fetch Rumi and Vial. Barlo, get cleaned up and join us.¡± She handed him an accelerant to hasten his natural recovery. ¡°You too, Commander.¡± ¡°What¡¯d I miss?¡± Falor wheezed out when she helped him up. There wasn¡¯t much left of his clothes but tattered, bloody rags. ¡°News on our Cinder situation.¡± ¡°She¡¯s surfaced?¡± ¡°No. But a cold trail started stinking.¡± She washed the blood off her hands with snow as she walked away from the sparring ring, giving a wide berth to the discarded hammer. ¡°May be nothing, still, but I don¡¯t want to chance it.¡± Storm winds picked up and the shingles above rattled like dead men¡¯s fingers, welcoming the coming tempest. Chapter 1.14.1: Willing test subject ¡°Come on, just put your hand in this,¡± Tallah asked Vergil as sweetly as she could manage to twist her voice. She even tried giving the boy an encouraging smile. Something must have shown on her face because he refused the lure. ¡°I really don¡¯t want to touch it.¡± He moved further away from her, keeping Sil¡¯s high-backed chair between them. ¡°I could simply throw it at you. I guarantee I wouldn¡¯t miss.¡± She had to chase him at her slowest pace lest she lose the thread of concentration. It allowed the boy too much freedom to dodge her. She held her hands out and thin strands of black lightning arched between her fingers. They ate light with every pulsation, erratically dimming the room as she stalked him. It took a lot of concentration at that stage of testing to keep the effect going. Even if she wanted to, she couldn¡¯t actually hurl it at him. They could barely manifest and keep it coherent and Vergil had unwittingly called the bluff. Her chest burned when channelling. Pain lingered even when she didn¡¯t. It took a real effort of will to force illum into this new form and the blasted boy refused to help her test it. ¡°But electricity could fry the chip in my head,¡± he excused himself again, moving in circles around her work desk. ¡°You wouldn¡¯t set your own research on fire. Would you?¡± He sounded a lot less sure when she vaulted onto her books and files, scattering them. ¡°I know you¡¯re lying, bucket-head,¡± she said. Her control slipped and the lightning licked back at her, unruly and wild. She cut her illum flow and started again, forcing herself through the white flashes of misery. ¡°Blast you. Sil had me electrocuting you exactly five times so far and your thing is still chirping away.¡± There was a sound from Sil¡¯s room and the large black door opened with a slight creak. A nearly nude, bleary eyed Mertle walked out, stumbling over Vergil¡¯s small bed in the main hall. She stopped in the doorway to the study room and stared at the cat and mouse game. Vergil hadn¡¯t noticed her walk up. His attention was solely on keep at least out of Tallah¡¯s arm-reach. ¡°I really don¡¯t want to touch that,¡± he said, backing away. Nimble little critter when he wanted to be. Tummy¡¯s teaching must have been sticking somewhere for the boy was getting cheeky with her. ¡°It won¡¯t hurt,¡± Tallah replied, smiling as he backed into Mertle. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but I-I-I really don¡¯t believe that.¡± ¡°¡­¡¯s privy?¡± Mertle asked, two steps behind him, in a quiet, sleepy voice. ¡°What?¡± He turned for a moment, surprised, and Tallah pounced on his moment of distraction, getting both hands around his throat for direct skin contact. Nothing happened for a heartbeat and then he collapsed, frothing at the mouth, body convulsing violently. He did not make a single sound. Huh. That was unexpected at least. The elendine looked at him, then at her, and frowned. ¡°Why?¡± she asked, eyes squinting. ¡°Door opposite this one, Mertle,¡± Tallah said as she walked around the convulsing body. ¡°Vergil¡¯s helping me test some things. He¡¯ll be fine. Probably.¡± She crouched next to the boy and inspected his fluttering eye lids. The spasms came and went and he curled up into a tight ball on the floor to gibber away in a language Tallah couldn¡¯t understand. That was also unexpected. He seemed to be cursing at her. Mertle shrugged and swayed softly from side to side, a large grin plastered on her sleepy face. ¡°Sil¡¯s not upset with me. Yay.¡± ¡°That¡¯s nice. I did tell you so.¡± ¡°Thank you.¡± She hugged Tallah¡¯s back and then walked away to the bathroom. After a while she walked back to Sil¡¯s room and closed the large door behind herself. It took some time for Vergil to regain use of his limbs, and then a few heartbeats more before his gibbering stopped. Tallah poked him in the cheek with the quill. Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. ¡°What¡¯s your head-thing say?¡± she asked, excited, notepad prepared. ¡°That you¡¯re a horrible person,¡± Vergil muttered and tried to pick himself off the floor. He could move but coordinating seemed particularly challenging. He managed to get up on his knees and hands but crashed back on his face in a tangle of limbs and cusses. ¡°I¡¯d like to know what I did to deserve this.¡± Another attempt to rise. This time his nose burst bloody when his face hit the floor, a palm¡¯s width away from the soft carpet. ¡°Born under an evil star. Stepped in shit once too many times as a child. Broke a twig by sitting on it and didn¡¯t toss it over your shoulder. Ate an egg yolk raw. Spilled salt on the table and didn''t collect it back. I can name about sixty other things you may have done in life to earn your wonderful luck.¡± She poked him again. ¡°Head-thing report. Now. Or I zap you again.¡± ¡°I quote,¡± he groaned. ¡°¡®Your body is afflicted by alcohol poisoning. You are now confused and dazed. Motor skills, vision, speech, reason, and sexual drive¡­ Really? Sexual drive may be impaired and respond erratically. Do not operate heavy machinery. Seek medical aid.¡¯¡± ¡°Sexual drive? What?¡± Tallah barely contained her laughter as she wrote down Vergil¡¯s interpretation. Basically what she expected and hoped for, with some flourishes. Much work to be done still on refining the thing, but its first test was successful enough. ¡°It thinks I¡¯ve drunk myself stupid, and it¡¯s exactly how I assume it feels.¡± He kept trying to get up. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t know.¡± He failed again and dropped down on his face. Tallah made no effort to help. ¡°Did it endanger your life in any way? Does it say anything about organ damage or anything similar?¡± ¡°Nothing like that, no. It doesn¡¯t even hurt.¡± Something sparked in his eyes as he finally managed to get some semblance of coordination back. He got up in a sitting position and tried to pull away in a panic. ¡°What?¡± she asked, more and more excited by the results. Vergil looked horrified. ¡°I¡¯m seeing three of you.¡± That earned him a smack over the head and another face plant on the floor. He half chuckled, half groaned, sound muffled by the thick carpet. Blood pooled under his face and stained the fluffy rug. Verti would be upset with her again. ¡°I think I¡¯ll put down impaired judgement,¡± Tallah said and left him to manage on his own. She headed to and closed the heavy oak door to the study as Mertle¡¯s soft giggles could be heard two rooms over, and a bit more than that. Sil got self-conscious about those things and it¡¯d make her more comfortable if she found the door closed when they¡¯d inevitably come out for food. Sometime in the tenday, maybe. Vergil had managed to find his feet and he wobbled his way into a chair in front of the fireplace. If nothing more, he made for the perfect test subject. It helped to have someone that could somewhat accurately describe what he was experiencing instead of simply whining. ¡°You can create fresh magic?¡± he asked as he sat down heavily, head held in his hands with his elbows propped on his knees. ¡°Isn¡¯t magic all in dusty tomes and¡­¡± He gestured to where his helmet lay on the mantel piece above the fireplace. ¡°New channelling effects are easy to produce. You need a bit of imagination and a great deal of understanding of yourself and the natural world.¡± She finished her notes and began copying them more neatly in her grimoire. ¡°Repeating this by instinct is the hard part. Takes practice.¡± She gave him a level glare. ¡°And a willing, cooperating subject.¡± It was Anna¡¯s mastery over her Flesh Dolls that had sparked the need for this particular variation of Christina¡¯s stunning bolt. To kill a doll with fire took a lot more illum than it did for Anna to make new ones and keep up her assault, especially in her overfed Sanctum. A way to disrupt the connection between maker and creation would simplify the problem in the future. It could also make things easier to manage when she needed a quick exit and not wish to leave a trail of bodies behind. With nothing of any real worth gained from the boy, she had all the time in Winter to either sulk or work. And working kept her mind off other things. Rhine¡¯s wraith even now threatened intrusion and she was determined to avoid it. Spending so long in one place felt odd, all at once liberating and panic inducing. For every day that passed of Winter her goals flitted farther away, the Empress just as terrifying on the event horizon of her plans. Vergil, poor creature that he was, hadn¡¯t offered anything that she could readily use. What worth were details of wiring and batteries to her? What worth was it to know of worlds turning alone in the vastness of the night sky? She could no more reach them than she could wrap her fingers around Ort¡¯s throat and survive the attempt. An entire Winter spent in idiotic idleness. Ludwig¡¯s tome was as useful to her as a doorstop to a tent¡¯s flap. She¡¯d teased it open, got Vergil to read some pages for her, and got bored with the attempt. Secret knowledge of the ancients¡­ what a joke. Everything there was old theory to modern illum channelling, basic reading for absolutely anyone seeking to gain a spot at Hoarfrost. That whole song, dance and comedy routine hinging on something so pointless that she almost felt embarrassed for the heartbeat of weakness when she¡¯d been ready to accept the fool¡¯s errand. Are you going to start picking lint out of your belly button next? May as well. Christina even provided the temptation with an unpleasant itch. You¡¯ve moped for so long that you haven¡¯t even noticed the boy talking to you. Chapter 1.14.2: Dealing with guilt She shook out of her reverie. Vergil was talking to her. ¡°Come again?¡± she asked. He looked expectant of her, as if he¡¯d asked a question she hadn¡¯t caught. ¡°Could I also learn magic?¡± ¡°No.¡± ¡°Why not?¡± Tallah raised an eyebrow and then pointed to his horned helmet. ¡°You can¡¯t generate the helmet¡¯s effect at all. That means you¡¯re impervious to illum, a blank. Without illum conductivity, which occurs naturally in most people, you can¡¯t channel illum into effects. You can do it or you can¡¯t.¡± Vergil deflated. ¡°So it¡¯s not just chanting out words and making things happen? I thought that¡¯s how it worked.¡± He gestured weakly with his hands. Tallah raised her index finger and a flame flickered to life a few centimetres above its tip. ¡°Channelling, or magic if you¡¯d like, is all about transforming illum into an observable effect via a personal spark.¡± The flame on her finger changed colour from a playful red to bright blue, its contour sharpening. ¡°The more illum you channel into an effect the stronger it becomes, up to a threshold.¡± The air began to sizzle and she put out the fire. She looked at her blistered finger and then stuck it in her mouth, reminded that she shouldn¡¯t do demonstrations without her gloves on. She pointed with her free hand to a crystal vial on Sil¡¯s desk and beckoned Vergil bring it over. He uncorked the healing potion and offered it without a word. Instead of drinking it, Tallah stuck her finger in and swirled the liquid around. ¡°No point wasting a perfectly good mixture for a burnt finger,¡± she said. "Why did Master Ludwig call you an ash eater?" Tallah stiffened at that. The boy had paid attention to more than she gave him credit for. ¡°Because he was being an arse and I let it pass. Call someone like me ash eater to their face, and you¡¯ll be lucky to wake with the Sisters around you. I¡¯ve burned cretins for less insult. It¡¯s an elend insult.¡± He flinched at that and sunk back into his chair, chin tucked in against his chest. ¡°I¡¯m sorry. What should I call you then?¡± ¡°Pyromancer. My specialisation is fire. I recommend you never cross my line of sight in a tight spot.¡± ¡°And others can do¡­ other kind of magi¡ªchannelling?¡± This was turning into a full blown lesson and she wasn¡¯t sure she had the inclination for it. But, still, it wouldn¡¯t hurt to acquaint him with some of the basics. It could only improve his odds of survival on his own later down the line. ¡°Metal Minds, or Tempest Callers, are what we call the most dangerous of our caste, the lightning wielders. They can gleam surface thoughts so it¡¯s best you act like your idiotic self around one. ¡°Manipulators are oriented to kinesis and the application of force. You¡¯ll never meet more alien minds than theirs.¡± Cow, Bianca retorted sullenly in the back of her mind. She ignored the jab. ¡°You have the Vitalis practitioners who deal in blood and viscera. Poisons and flesh dolls. Nasty buggers. Pray you never meet one again.¡± She misspelled a word and cussed under her breath. Vergil wore his confused expression, ¡°Again? I haven¡¯t met any.¡± ¡°You were under the helmet¡¯s effect. Best you don¡¯t remember what went on around you.¡± ¡°Oh.¡± ¡°Then you have Crepusculars. Difficult people to get along with. Hard to like. Hard to fight. Hard to stomach all around. They work with light and darkness, and have a penchant for stabbing you in the back when you least expect it.¡± He was now paying full attention to her, eager to drink it all in. Good. At least the boy knew how to listen properly. ¡°There are some other smaller castes but they¡¯re at best niche. Hyper-specialised on one particular effect to the detriment of any other utility. Most of these are employed and used by the Enginarium.¡± She straightened and cracked her back. ¡°Anyway, all channelling functions basically the same. You¡¯ll never hear any of us activating an effect. Best trust your eyes and your common sense. Anyone chanting out a spell is either misleading you, or an imbecile.¡± ¡°Sil always chants something when she does magic,¡± Vergil said, a nasty little edge to his voice. ¡°She¡¯s a healer,¡± Tallah replied and wanted to leave it at that. The boy looked at her so expectant and leaned in so close that she begrudgingly went on. ¡°Healing channelling is different from whatever we¡¯re taught at Hoarfrost Academy. It¡¯s a whole different School of Thought and the bastards refuse to share anything with the rest of us. They can get the same results regardless of how much illum they channel. The normal Laws somehow don¡¯t apply to them. Selfish buggers.¡± She went back to work on her grimoire, meticulously writing in her observations and diagrams. Some things would need to be adjusted later down the line, what with her current abilities being diminished, but the core fundamentals of the new effect were sound. Once she worked out how to actually apply it without direct contact, she¡¯d have a new weapon to add to her repertoire. Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. There was plenty of time for experimentation until Thaw and still a few days until the Descent when she¡¯d have to quiet down and wait out the misery. Even with the certainty that Ort wouldn¡¯t descend on this occasion, the worry that he might gnawed at her. Maybe she¡¯d get on a cheese cart and take that woman in the hills up on her hospitality promise. Maybe if the cart could take her all the way over to Nen. Or to one of the Moons¡­ Vergil hobbled away from the desk and went to where he¡¯d set down the sword and scabbard. She¡¯d told him to take them off for her test and now he did what Tummy had instructed him to. Good boy. A black eye was starting to darken on his face and that was certainly not of her making; and he moved with the careful steps. She¡¯d watched him catch more than a couple of the smith¡¯s love taps to the ribs. ¡°Not that way, boy, you¡¯ll get your wrists broken. No, not that way either. Don¡¯t lock up your elbows again or I¡¯ll break¡¯em myself.¡± Tummy had been as relentless as she knew he¡¯d be. ¡°By my oaths, are you trying to fall on your sword already?¡± It had been an entertaining afternoon for Tallah. She¡¯d half-expected the boy to sulk after getting back, but he had the sword out and was going through some of the stances that Tummy had taught him. There was a kind of grim determination on his face that got jotted down in the mental schematic she kept of the boy. When Tummy had given her a first taste of his teaching methods, she had ended up throwing a full-blown, explosive temper tantrum at him and got slapped back to her senses so hard that she sulked for days. It took Sil hauling her back there by the ear. ¡°When we¡¯ll go outside Valen,¡± she found herself saying as she watched him, ¡°Sil and I will be rather different than how you¡¯ve seen us so far. There¡¯s very little room for sentiment out in the wild and we don¡¯t take kindly to distractions or delays. I will defend you but I won¡¯t baby you.¡± For as determined and enthusiastic Vergil had proven with Tummy, he was still scared of her. Any hesitation on his part could prove dangerous at the wrong time. Time she fixed that. He had been compliant with their wishes and they¡¯d not been kind to him in return. ¡°I expect that you learn well what Tummy teaches you. I won¡¯t tolerate you endangering Sil when we¡¯re out there.¡± Now that¡¯s a peculiar reaction, Christina noted with interest. Yes, it was. Vergil had stopped dead with his sword¡¯s point lowered to the floor. Tears welled up in his eyes and he tried to wipe them away. It made it worse. ¡°Hardly a reason to bawl,¡± she groaned. ¡°What¡¯s the matter with you?¡± She had never had much patience for crying children, not even with Rhine¡¯s own ill-fated son. If Vergil was going to start doing that out of the blue, she¡¯d rather he was somewhere where she wouldn¡¯t see or hear him. And Sil was occupied¡­ ¡°Stop that,¡± she demanded, temper rising. ¡°You were fine until a moment ago. What¡¯s gotten into you?¡± He sniffled and tried vainly to get back to his exercises. She wanted him less scared of her, not more. ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I¡¯ll stop. Just¡­ Sorry.¡± He did not stop. Tears blinded him as he tried to swing the sword like Tummy had show him. He managed sheering off a candle¡¯s top. Wax scattered in fat droplets. The more he tried to compose himself, the worse it got. Tallah caught his wrist when even she could see that he¡¯d end up hurting himself if he kept it up. ¡°Stop this. Are you scared of going outside the walls?¡± Sobs turned into wracking crying. The uneven light of the fireplace masked him in devastating misery. ¡°I-I got them all killed,¡± Vergil hiccuped. He was fighting in vein to keep his voice from cracking. ¡°I t-told them I¡¯d protect them. I only got them killed.¡± She raised an eyebrow. What was he on about? His friends from the cave, Christina provided. The ones you incinerated. He thinks they died because of him. They were beyond help, Bianca put in. The girl was screaming on the fire and the other two were wargged. Killing them quick was a kindness. Tallah felt that wasn¡¯t what the boy needed to learn just then. ¡°You couldn¡¯t have done much in your state. Anyone taking the Guild¡¯s coin faces the risk it brings.¡± She tried to sound kind but only managed to be dismissive. It reflected on his face. ¡°I don¡¯t expect you to protect anyone, least of all myself or Sil. We¡¯re quite capable on our own I assure you. As far as I¡¯m concerned I¡¯ll only need you to wear the helmet.¡± That made it worse. How?! ¡°For pity¡¯s sake, stop that.¡± She slapped him and wrenched his sword away. ¡°I don¡¯t have the patience for th¡ª¡± ¡°I¡¯ve been such a fool. Tummy¡¯s wasting his time on me.¡± He gritted his teeth so hard that Tallah heard them gnashing together. Left without his weapon, he balled his fists and repeatedly slammed them down on his thighs. ¡°I thought I was clever. I thought I had something figured out. I was so fucking stupid.¡± His sudden burst of whatever this was brought her up short. First time she¡¯d ever seen genuine anger from the lad. Impotent rage did not suit him well. ¡°Pardon?¡± ¡°I hate feeling like this.¡± Vergil stared down at his hands as if willing them to still. ¡°I don¡¯t know how to deal with this guilt.¡± ¡°It really wasn¡¯t your fault.¡± Vergil rounded on her and a wild-eyed desperate boy stared through his eyes. She took a step back and nearly ignited a fireball at the ferocity in that grimace. ¡°I don¡¯t feel anything about their death. Not a thing. I killed them and I don¡¯t feel it ripping me apart. What¡¯s wrong with me?!¡± Ah. This was Aliana¡¯s work through and through, just one in a number of insurances the priestess would have built in him. Most people would be happy to be unburdened of their guilt and failings, but Vergil seemed made of something much different. Despite herself, Tallah was impressed. A day with Tummy had taught him exactly how little he knew. And he¡¯d made it into a grievance with himself. It would keep cascading if she allowed it to. Fascinating, Christina whispered. Let¡¯s see what he does. ¡°What¡¯s done¡¯s done. No amount of prostration is going to change what''s happened.¡± Tallah lifted his sword and poked him in the shoulder. ¡°What I¡¯m curious to know is what you¡¯ll do next. I¡¯ve already killed the rats. There¡¯s no revenge left for you.¡± You¡¯re being a cow. He¡¯s going to start crying again. Bianca radiated disapproval. Not of the boy, but of Tallah pushing him. Vergil measured out his words, still regarding her with that impressive intensity. A child, yes, but one who could be nourished to grow into¡­ well, who could say into what exactly? An itch in the back of her mind suggested she bring out the chalice again but she ignored it. Much more interesting to see the changes filtering through him. Chapter 1.14.3: A lesson in pain When he spoke, the tremors were gone from his voice. He breathed in deep, exhaled, met her gaze. ¡°I¡¯ll live. No other choice but to live, seems to me. I¡¯ll do my best to pay back the ways in which you¡¯ve been kind to me.¡± He shrugged despondently and pressed both hands to his eyes. ¡°I don¡¯t know about the rest. Wait it out?¡± I hardly recall us being kind to him, Christina snickered. Do you reckon Tummy¡¯s hit him too hard? Or is he plotting revenge? ¡°Can you help me learn more? I can¡¯t pay back what you spent on me but I can make myself useful. I want to be useful.¡± Tallah chuckled. Vergil¡¯s swing on his mood was something to behold. Desperate one moment, rallied the next. Tummy had seen it before her and made the call. ¡°And what makes you so certain that I¡¯m able to train you, bucket-head?¡± Anger made way to a kind of wounded dignity. ¡°I¡¯m not stupid. You were Storm Guard. You fought against them and came out on top. I¡¯d need to be brain-dead not to figure out you¡¯re not just a snotty rich girl.¡± Streaks of tears dried on his cheeks into white lines. He held out his hand and she passed him the sword back. ¡°I don¡¯t know what you can do but I expect it¡¯s powerful. But if you or Sil get hurt wherever we go, I¡¯ll become a liability if I can¡¯t use the helmet. Going to Tummy every other day doesn¡¯t seem like nearly enough. Can you help me?¡± Another annotation got made to the boy¡¯s schematic. It was his first request he¡¯d made of her directly. And one that was attainable. He¡¯s got a bit of a spark in him, Christina observed. I like how he got up on his own. He works things out, Bianca followed up. He is a simpleton, right enough, but maybe not a useless one. We should consider if we can¡¯t make better use of him. ¡°Go bring me a sword from the trunk in the hallway. Let me see your basics first,¡± Tallah said as she stretched. The ghosts kept chattering on in her head. Some exercise would shut them up and shake the stiffness out of her. Tummy was right. She had been neglecting herself. She considered getting dressed in something more than just small clothes but decided it wasn¡¯t worth the trip to her room. She won¡¯t allow him to even nick her. Not the best place for a bit of sparring. Even if she could move the heavy desks without spilling all of her papers and Sil¡¯s alchemical compounds, it¡¯d still be too narrow a space for two people swinging blades. Right, that wasn¡¯t thought through. ¡°Bianca?¡± Furniture lifted and moved aside gently without so much as a tremor. Bianca¡¯s power coursed through her and it burned. She gritted her teeth against its tide. Slowly getting better; achingly, terrifyingly slowly getting better. Never again. ¡°This one?¡± She turned to Vergil as he brought a thin, ebony-black scabbard. She pulled out the sword and inspected the blade. Not really a sword at all but a long knife that fit her build better than the broader blade Tummy had gifted the boy. ¡°I probably should have these honed,¡± she muttered as she took a few experimental slashes against the air. Even dulled from months of heavy use, the blade sang in her hand, eager for blood. Of the three she owned, this one was definitely her favourite. Her good gloves were ruined from the Anna clash so she opened a small Rend and rummaged about for a spare. She put on only the right-hand one and flexed her fingers. A small flame danced over and around them as she limbered up. ¡°You¡¯re left-handed?¡± Vergil asked, eyeing her sword. ¡°No.¡± ¡°But¡­¡± ¡°When you see someone like me with a weapon, worry about the empty hand.¡± Flame erupted over her glove, encasing it in white-hot brilliance. Maybe not so much power for a bit of exercise but regulating her output proved difficult after weeks of meekly waiting to heal. Her limiters warmed up as she adjusted. Use my ability, Bianca said in her ear. Less chance of stupidity ensuing. And you need the practice. She swept the sword about and Vergil took a step back, giving her the room she needed to warm up. Jerkily, she started a sword dance. Well-practised stances came easily to her even if she felt her muscles protesting. Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. He followed in mirror movement next to her. Tummy had showed him the dance but once would not have been enough for the exercise to stick. May as well work on it together. ¡°Learn the dance like you learn to breathe your fire,¡± Tummy had taught her. ¡°Do it daily, like your meditations and your breathing exercises. It needs to be a part of you.¡± Her cheeks flushed thinking of how easily Tummy had seen her lapse of discipline. She slowed her movement so Vergil could observe her better. Watching him watching her was interesting. He didn¡¯t so much copy, as he adapted. With each repeat of the dance, he made minute adjustments to his pose until he reached the correct one. There was a method to his learning and that showed her that he had the patience for it. ¡°A spar, then?¡± She pointed the tip of her sword at his feet and invited him to a duel. ¡°I¡¯ll hurt you. If you cry, I¡¯ll throw you out on your ear.¡± It wasn¡¯t an empty threat. Vergil readied himself in an amateurish defence stance. A familiar flame lit in the pit of her stomach and she breathed out an exhalation of heat. She drew in more illum and infused herself near to full capacity. The dance had loosened her up and that pleasant warmth smothered some of the pain of channelling. Bianca¡¯s strength overlaid hers and she felt more like herself than she had in weeks. ¡°How do I fight someone left-handed?¡± Vergil asked. ¡°Stick them with the pointy end. Try and not get stuck back.¡± Cow. Bianca snickered They circled each other, step by careful step. There were too many openings in his defence and he watched the wrong things. With a swift move of her right hand she reached out a kinetic lash and yanked him straight to her across the width of the room, and hit him square in the cheekbone with the pommel of her sword. He dropped on his arse. ¡°In battle, I would¡¯ve had my sword through your throat. Diagonal cut so a healer would have little chance to get to you before you bled out.¡± That looming bruise Tummy had gifted him would turn black now. He blinked away the hit, rose and picked the sword back up. ¡°How do I defend?¡± he asked. Tallah¡¯s impression of him grew another measure. ¡°Expect it. React. Stick them with the pointy bit.¡± He gave her a level glare and immediately attacked. A quaint thrust that seemed to wholly rely on her being unprepared for it. Silly. Well, play silly games¡­ She parried his sword, too easily and readied to smack him down. The back of his empty fist came for her face even as he stumbled from the parry. Were he slightly better trained and better with his timing, the blow would have caught her neatly across the eyes. A quick step back and lean away had his stumble send him to his knees. A kinetic push blasted him straight into the wall with a crash. That should put the wind out of the cheeky bugger. ¡°Second death in as many heartbeats. Isadora would enjoy a full feast on your expense today. Don¡¯t use gambits. They¡¯ll get you killed.¡± She was aware of the irony even as Christina got ready to call her out on it. Vergil groaned and picked himself back up. ¡°Why are you so strong?¡± he asked breathlessly, voice hoarse and cracked. Tallah shrugged. ¡°I¡¯m enchanted. Why are you weak?¡± she asked back, without the hint of a smile. ¡°I¡¯ve been sick,¡± he replied and grinned at her. Back in his stance, his eyes flickering between hers, her sword, and her open hand. The next bell was an education. She spared him no pain. She cut, blasted and burned him mercilessly. Without Sil¡¯s treatment, his face and nose would probably swell up something fierce by morning. He bled all over the carpet and the clothes on him wouldn¡¯t be fit for use as dust rags. Tallah¡¯s bare feet squelched on the blood cooling on the carpet. The iron stink of it filled the room enough that she had to crack open a window. As far as she remembered, Tummy had not been as kind to her as she had been to the boy. Vergil got to catch his breath between executions. She hadn¡¯t been allowed that. The memory brought a smile to her face while Vergil lay on the floor, panting and bleeding. ¡°And there¡¯s your final death, by bleeding out,¡± she said, standing over him and wiping the tip of her sword on the tatters of his shirt. ¡°Pick one death and I¡¯ll teach you how to avoid it.¡± She picked up the already uncorked vial and handed it to him. ¡°Drink this. It¡¯ll stop the bleeding.¡± The light amber liquid sloshed in the crystal vial and Vergil downed it greedily. He winced as the cuts healed. He¡¯d be plastered with angry red scars for some time to come but that didn¡¯t seem to phase him. He was back on his feet immediately, though swaying. She picked through Sil¡¯s supplies and handed him something to offset the blood loss and dizzy spell. ¡°Thank you,¡± he said as she helped him stay upright. ¡°For the lesson, I mean.¡± Both the carpet and his clothes were beyond salvation, but he looked happy for the first time in weeks. Tallah nodded curtly. ¡°Rest up, eat, and we¡¯ll start again,¡± she instructed him and set her sheathed sword against her worktable. ¡°Change and run down to the kitchens and order us something for lunch.¡± She looked out the window and thought better of it. ¡°Or whatever time of day it is. Get something sugar-rich for those two.¡± She thumbed in the general area of the bedrooms. She avoided imagining how Sil could have ignored the noise of the last bell¡¯s strike. Chapter 1.14.4: Liar Mertle had never stayed anywhere quite as regal as the Meadow. Her own little cot back at home could fit in Sil¡¯s bedroom three times over and there would still be room for her worktable. It was all a bit too much. ¡°What are they doing out there?¡± she asked, as another thud and crash could be heard from the common room. ¡°If I know Tallah, she¡¯s either experimenting on Vergil or teaching him something. Either way, my latest batch of potions is at their disposal.¡± ¡°She was doing something to him earlier, but I didn¡¯t think she¡¯d try to kill him.¡± ¡°He¡¯ll live. Don¡¯t worry about them.¡± Sil had her head nestled in the crook of Mertle¡¯s shoulder and her arms wrapped around her chest. Their legs were intertwined underneath the heavy quilt. ¡°That feels good,¡± Mertle said as Sil tightened her embrace and kissed her neck softly. ¡°It should,¡± the healer replied, sleepily, cuddling closer. They had used every pillow available in the apartment. Sil had even taken Tallah¡¯s, since the sorceress never used them. They had constructed a nest of comfort and Mertle lay in its centre, idly caressing her lover¡¯s back. These moments came all too rarely and far too distant from one another, so she was set on enjoying the time they had together. For as long as Winter could last, it would still be too short. ¡°You know what I¡¯ve never understood?¡± Sil asked, in that dream like state that only late afternoon allowed for. Clear winter¡¯s light had drizzled away into before-dark gloom. Candlelight caught in Sil¡¯s golden mane. Mertle sieved it through her fingers like the finest sand. ¡°What?¡± she asked. ¡°What colour is your skin?¡± Sil asked and kissed her neck. ¡°It¡¯s not red. And it¡¯s not brown. What do I call this in-between? I don¡¯t want to think of it as rust.¡± Mertle grinned as fire spread through her veins from each of Sil¡¯s caresses. ¡°It¡¯s the colour of dark honey,¡± she replied. ¡°I have skin the colour of dark honey and blood red hair. That¡¯s how you should always think of me, like a poem.¡± The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. ¡°I¡¯d expect that to offend.¡± ¡°Polite elend get offended by too many things,¡± Mertle replied with a mischievous smile. ¡°I¡¯m not a polite elendine. And that¡¯s how I want you to think of me. Only you. Nothing of me is to be shared.¡± She shifted around and slid down on the pillow until her face was level with Sil¡¯s. They kissed, softly, almost timidly, and her hands slipped underneath the quill. A loud thud resounded through the wall and prompted wisps of dust to dislodge from cracks in the walls. ¡°Is she killing Vergil? Do you need to go out there?¡± Mertle asked with just a slight pout at the interruption. Sil didn¡¯t respond and, instead, kissed her again, harder, much longer. She always ended up taking control if Mertle let her. She bit the healer¡¯s lower lip and pushed her away with her forehead. A strand of golden hair caught in her horn. ¡°I want to talk a bit,¡± the elendine whispered, feeling uncharacteristically shy. ¡°You say that, but your hands are giving me a completely different message,¡± Sil said with a sigh of pleasure. ¡°Well, yes, they¡¯ve got minds of their own. See? I can¡¯t tell them what to do. They just do things and I¡¯m along for the ride. Pay attention to me, not to them.¡± Sil¡¯s legs tensed around her own. ¡°Mmm, right.¡± Mertle pressed her forehead against her lover¡¯s shoulder, hiding away her awkwardness. ¡°Can¡¯t you stay? After Winter passes? I miss you when you¡¯re gone. And then I need to coax you to me when you come back. Just¡­ stay? This time?¡± ¡°I miss you too when we¡¯re gone. And you know I can¡¯t. When the roads clear and the snow melts, we need to head into Solstice. Without the Gates, it¡¯s a long trip.¡± She could feel Sil¡¯s strong heartbeat thundering against her forehead. Whatever was in Solstice, in Tallah¡¯s home town, it was important. She understood that and was resigned to it but still had to ask her question. ¡°Why?¡± There was a moment of hesitation, a lie built up. Sil never spoke of Tallah¡¯s ends, of her great, dark mission, but Mertle knew that that¡¯s what kept her going away. Solstice held the key for it was where they always went after their hunts. They never spoke of it, not really. Always cryptic, never honest. ¡°So we can keep on living. So I can keep coming back to you.¡± That made her smile. It was a silly lie coming from a silly place of worry. Mertle could go with them if allowed and she wouldn¡¯t be a burden on whatever the mission was. Tummy would handle the shop without her just fine. ¡°I¡¯m not getting younger, you know,¡± she said, almost too quiet. ¡°None of us are getting any younger. I¡¯ll stay longer next time. I promise.¡± Mertle raised her head and met Sil¡¯s eyes. ¡°Liar,¡± she whispered, and kissed her again. Chapter 1.15.1: Valens Vault ¡°Where are we going?¡± Quistis heard Vial¡¯s hushed question to Barlo. Sound carried well in the narrow stone corridors. It made for a whispering, unnerving trip. They made a long procession through the innards of the fortress. Falor and Quistis had the lead, Rumi and Aidan made up the centre, and Barlo brought up the rear with Vial. It was a long descent from the high tower of their office to the depths under the Hearth¡¯s ever-burning flame. Falor¡¯s mood was foul. The High Lord of Valen had sat in on their meeting, called in by Falor himself. He disliked the pinch-faced man but the Empress¡¯s orders were to obey and respect Valen¡¯s will in all matters that concerned the city. That unfortunately meant obeying High Lord Diogron, an unpleasant, portly man who spoke in a high-pitched, nasal voice. He was plagued by a bad habit of fidgeting incessantly. It made him annoying thrice over. Falor had called Diogron in and had to wait three full days on his pleasure. With the festival less than a tenday away, the fat bastard showing up was nothing short of a miracle. The meeting did not go well. ¡°Commander Falor, if there is reason to suspect these two nobodies might be dangerous, why are you not apprehending them?¡± ¡°With all due respect, Your Highness, there is no real reason for us to arrest two adventurers for simply walking about. They haven¡¯t done anything to upset the peace,¡± Falor replied. ¡°Also, the sorceress is heir to a powerful trading company from Calabran. It wouldn¡¯t be wise¡ª¡± ¡°A pox on wisdom.¡± Diogron harrumphed and angrily paced the room, throwing indiscriminate glares at anyone meeting his eye. ¡°I was here, Commander, when Cinder nearly burned this city to the ground. I was sick for weeks after you chased her off. I lost a daughter to her evil. That incident cannot be allowed to repeat.¡± ¡°There is no need for alarm¡ª¡± ¡°Either you arrest them or I will have my men do it. Am I understood?¡± High Lord Diogron¡¯s normally red face threatened to turn purple. He waggled a finger at Falor as if brandishing a sword and threatening to stab him with it. The Lord Commander put a calming hand over the High Lord¡¯s and spoke as level as he could manage. ¡°We have taken steps to ensure nothing like the incident can ever happen again, Lord Diogron. You have my word on my honour that everything is under control. If¡ªand I stress this¡ªif these two women are somehow connected to Cinder, we will find out and we will take measures. For now it¡¯s best that we observe.¡± He gestured to Aidan and Vial, who skulked by the door and passed a lit cigarette between them. ¡°These men are making certain we know their every move through your city. Our eyes have been on them since Winter set in.¡± Diogron pulled his hand away and huffed. He wore purple robes richly embroidered and hung with gemstones, the official dress for Valen¡¯s opulent ruling Council. Gems clinked angrily as he paced the room. ¡°Why are you fretting, man? If they are connected, let us force her to come out of hiding and protect her allies. We both know she will. It is that witch¡¯s single saving grace.¡± Falor smiled and looked to Quistis for help. ¡°Lord, you know as well as we do that it wouldn¡¯t be wise to force a confrontation with someone of her potential,¡± she said, as placating as she could manage. ¡°It needs to be well planned and perfectly executed. If they aren¡¯t connected and it turns into a fiasco for us then it will only send the sorceress deeper to ground.¡± Again, he wasn¡¯t impressed. Moreover, now he rallied on her, crystal blue eyes pinning her with hateful intensity. Quistis was reminded of just how much the people of Valen lost on that day, six Winters prior, and how much they still hated the memory of Cinder. Her own presence and the entire Storm Guard contingent was an appeasement act from the Empress towards an ally who had been deeply wronged by one of her agents gone rogue. That, and the Empire¡¯s coffers financing more than half of the rebuilding effort. Lord Diogron walked up to her, almost snarling furious. He leaned over her work desk and spoke close enough that she could smell the flowery waft of his breath. True enough, Hearth¡¯s Flame still afflicted many around the city. It had taken the lives of three potent channellers to stabilise the Illum Hearth and avoid Salmek¡¯s fate altogether, but ill effects still lingered. Diogron was rotting from within. Spittle flew when he talked. ¡°The Lord Commander has bested her once. I am certain he can do it again, for good this time. She either comes out and dies the worthless death she is destined to, or she goes away. Either outcome suits me perfectly well.¡± ¡°With all due respect, High Lord,¡± Falor said, trying to pry the Lord¡¯s gaze away from her, ¡°Cinder is not one to be taken lightly. I wish to avoid, if at all possible, another confrontation with her without my veteran mage killers at my side. They are occupied somewhere else currently.¡± ¡°But you are vastly more powerful than she is, man. You are Catharina¡¯s own blood! Why all this hand wringing and secrecy? Let us get it all over with and finally close this shameful chapter in the Empire¡¯s illustrious history.¡± Now he was appealing to Falor¡¯s pride. The man wasn¡¯t stupid, but right then he spoke from the heart, not the head. News of Cinder¡¯s survival and return had caused a stir around the Council¡¯s round table and none were more unnerved than the High Lord himself. Even he was aware, in spite of his outburst, of just how destructive a battle between Falor and Cinder would be if she were allowed to clash fairly with him. After the incident at the Hearth she had cut a bloody path through half of Valen in her escape. Six years later and the damage she¡¯d caused was still not completely accounted for, much less repaired. ¡°Cinder goes straight for the throat as you well know, Your Highness. It is my interest, as protector of this fairest of cities, to avoid unnecessary loss of life.¡± He held up a hand to stave off more protests from Diogron. ¡°I do have a plan in place and two more puzzling pieces that I need to fit together. Once that is done, I will inform you of my further actions. I insist on your patience and on your support for what follows.¡± More yelling and veiled threats followed. It ate up a good chunk of their morning but Falor had finally managed to get his point across. And after a private conference she had not been allowed to attend, Falor had walked out of the Council¡¯s chambers with a grim smile on his lips. Which begged the question. ¡°Where are we going?¡± she echoed Vial¡¯s question as they descended further and further into the bowels of Valen. ¡°To check the Vault, of course,¡± he said. ¡°And I need all of you to find what I¡¯m looking for.¡± ¡°And that is?¡± ¡°I have no idea.¡± Well, that¡¯s maddeningly unhelpful. An edge to his voice and a weight to his every step. Sparks of electricity danced in the air around him and discharged into the metal railings of the stair wells they were descending. She pulled her hand away. Vial let out a curse behind. ¡°Do you think there¡¯s something missing that we don¡¯t know of?¡± Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. ¡°It¡¯s just a feeling, Quis. It¡¯s been in the back of my mind since Rumi found me in Aztroa. Aidan got me thinking.¡± ¡°But nothing else was missing from the inventory aside from the mask. We checked. I personally double-checked.¡± ¡°When you¡¯re absolutely certain, it¡¯s still best to check one more time. Rumi will look into some things for my curiosity¡¯s sake. We need to keep in mind that Cinder knew the Vault well before she turned traitor. She¡¯d likely been planning her theft for years in advance. If she expected to survive her raid then we should reconsider her motives and plans.¡± Something occurred to Quistis as they descended deeper, one set of stairs following another, ever screwing down into the bedrock. ¡°Have you informed Her Majesty about this?¡± That got a dark chuckle out of Falor. ¡°Like I could keep it from her after rushing my diplomatic mission. She would be very grateful if I were to arrange a meeting with the crazed pyromancer if I manage to find her. Apparently there are some things my mother would like to ask her.¡± ¡°Like why she deserted and murdered her entire Cell in the process?¡± ¡°I expect so, yes. It won¡¯t be a nice conversation I believe.¡± ¡°And are we going to oblige?¡± Quistis expected she already knew the answer but it was a long trip down to the Vault and the stair wells had a whispering draft that unnerved her. Her people whispering behind were only adding to the uneasiness. ¡°My mother has a knack for setting impossible tasks for me to achieve.¡± He chuckled grimly. ¡°I expect Cinder will want to properly settle her score with me. She never left a humiliation unanswered. I really can¡¯t see how I¡¯d manage to subdue her without killing her.¡± He let out a long, despondent sigh. ¡°I still need to try though.¡± Cinder and Empress Catharina together in a room sounded a perfect formula for a calamity. Thankfully, Falor hadn¡¯t inherited his mother¡¯s volatile nature. His efforts to minimise damage those six Winters prior had likely been the only edge that allowed Cinder¡¯s escape. They had thought her dead, fallen in the Alchemist¡¯s Quarter all-consuming fire as it nearly devoured Valen whole. The smell of charred wood on every breeze blowing down from the mountains was a constant reminder. Quistis thought on the likelihood of Cinder answering any of Falor¡¯s questions. The Daughter and Mother Moons had a better chance of moving backwards in the night sky. ¡°Taking her alive seems unlikely, but what if we do manage? What do we do with her then?¡± It took some time for the Lord Commander to answer. They walked in companionable silence, listening to Aidan¡¯s mutterings to Vial about the superiority of Rian tobacco compared to the more exotic varieties brought in from the Dominion. Sprite lamps guided their path, flaring up to life when they approached, dimming back to near nothing after they passed. The Enginarium were getting more and more creative by the passing season. Quistis sneezed and the echoes took a long time to settle. She caught sight of one of the many guards hidden through side passages and in secret compartments, checking in on the noise with crossbow in hand. He saluted and melted back into the dark. ¡°I¡¯m going to have her Blanked,¡± Falor said just as the silence started fraying at the edges. He spoke only for her ears, voice low enough that it wouldn¡¯t carry to those behind. ¡°If there¡¯s anything left of her mind, I¡¯ll hand her over to my mother. Seems fitting.¡± There was no wind in the maze of tunnels and corridors. In spite of it, Quistis shivered. ¡°I know you disapprove,¡± Falor said without turning to meet her gaze. Images of bloody needles jutted through Quistis¡¯ imagination. She had seen the procedure performed on several occasions. It gave her nightmares. She squeezed her eyes shut, as if to ward off the mental image and the memory of the survivors¡¯ empty stares. Blanking took away a person¡¯s¡­ person and ability to channel. So simple a procedure, but so grotesque in its effects. She couldn¡¯t help but imagine the needle, long as her forearm, and the way a mind-skinner would insert it through the corner of the victim¡¯s eye¡­ She fought the impulse to look back at Rumi. ¡°It would be kinder to kill her,¡± she said finally, aware of how her outrage seeped into her words and gave them a bleeding edge of revulsion. ¡°I will not be made an accomplice to that barbarity.¡± ¡°I wouldn¡¯t ask it of you. If we manage to take her alive, I¡¯ll take full responsibility. She¡¯s come back from the dead once. I won¡¯t allow it a second time.¡± ¡°So kill her.¡± ¡°Were it so easy, Quis. What if she yields? What if I best her? I would need to kill someone that has surrendered herself to me. What would that make me?¡± He fell silent again. Echoes of their footfalls slithered in and out of the enveloping dark, dogging their advance. Falor¡¯s aura of power dimmed and the static in the air died away. Quistis no longer felt her hair standing on end next to him. It didn¡¯t help her be less angry with his decision. ¡°There¡¯s trouble in the South,¡± he said, as if groping for some justification. ¡°My mage killers are stalled in Old Forge. One of Cinder¡¯s old friends. She¡¯s gaining support there, rallying people to a cause of rebellion, spreading lies. Mother wants an example made of her old protege.¡± Old Forge was an old story by now. She¡¯d read some of the reports. Empress Catharina branded as humanity¡¯s grand traitor, the jailer that served powers bent on the eternal subjugation of every man, woman and child born on Vas. Not a grand unifier but a blood-thirsty monster, a daemon under human guise. And so on, page upon page of hogwash. ¡°So kill her,¡± Quistis repeated, decided on not giving any wiggle room to the issue. ¡°Morality over duty, Falor.¡± He laughed darkly at that. ¡°Wish that I could always have the luxury of choice, Quis. If she dies in combat it will be no stain on my honour. If she yields and I execute her, I will be a murderer. If I simply take her in and do nothing, I will be tempting another disaster on our doorstep.¡± He sighed again. ¡°I will of course do my best. It¡¯s all I can do in this.¡± The Vault loomed ahead. It had taken the better part of the day to descend down into the deepest reaches of the city, deeper than the Hearth and its everlasting flame, deeper even than the holding cells of the underground prison. They had replaced the old Vault door after Cinder had demonstrated that a sufficiently powerful and determined channeller could simply bypass the locking mechanisms by melting through them. Falor personally tested the new one after the Enginarium people had finished installing it. Twice. Nothing short of a full Illum Hearth discharge was likely to penetrate the Vault now. Rows upon rows of mechanical locks barred their passage. The Lord Commander plunged his arm into one of the mechanisms and channelled power inside. The lock tightened around his arm as it recognized him. Only he, Empress Catharina, and the High Lord had access to the room beyond. Anyone else would find themselves short an arm and likely a head if the mechanism felt threatened. How it could feel anything Quistis couldn¡¯t guess, but that¡¯s how the Enginarium described it. It took long minutes for all the locks to disengage. The door, a whole wall section, swung on its great hinges, fully three metres thick, with a low, angry groan of tortured metal and ceramics. A strange feeling of fabric shifting, of a veil pulled aside to reveal terrors lurking in the deep dark. It hung in the air and spread out from the growing gap. Quistis watched ghostly echoes of herself and of the others screaming soundlessly, running through the rock, coming undone. Things slithered out, half-seen and half-imagined, and evaporated once beyond the threshold. Quistis felt her stomach twist into knots imagining having to contain all of these horrors again. It had been havoc all the way up into the city when Cinder had stolen in and ripped apart wards that needed a small army of inscribers to reset. Vial gasped and Barlo spat. Opening the Vault was never pleasant. Most of what they saw were hallucinations. Some were true visions of realities beyond reality, of the unknowable things lurking in the seas of illum that made up the realm of gods and their ilk. All of them knew that a stray stare in there could drive one into the clutches of madness. Sprite light flickered to life as they passed the threshold. The cavernous room beyond was filled with glass cases, each containing a different magical artefact, locked away from the world at large. They numbered in the hundreds, every one a different object imbued with dangerous magical effects, each unique. A miasma of illum dregs hung thick around the cases and eyes peered through slits that shimmered and hazed. ¡°I hope you didn¡¯t have anything else planned for your day, Quis,¡± Falor said as he led them to the lectern containing the large catalogue tome. Aidan and Vial whistled in unison at the wealth on display. Power crackled in the air with the unnerving buzz of millions of insects. ¡°I wanted to have a long, hot bath later,¡± Quistis sighed. ¡°I guess today¡¯s not my day.¡± Falor smiled and turned to the others. ¡°One of these, at least, I suspect is a fake. Barlo, you¡¯re with me, Vial and Aidan with Quistis. We each bring an artefact to Rumi and she checks if what¡¯s in the catalogue matches what¡¯s in hand. Do not pick up anything we don¡¯t specifically tell you to, how we tell you to. Some of these can turn you inside out and that is just the kindest way to die in here.¡± Chapter 1.15.2: Questioning the dead She wasn¡¯t supposed to meet with the bastil for two more days. After the Vault, Quistis couldn¡¯t wait any longer. ¡°The staff¡¯s a fake,¡± Rumi had said when Barlo brought her the silver object adorned with a sapphire gem for a head. ¡°It¡¯s perfectly made, but the effect is not consistent with what¡¯s written here. It repeats it, but only superficially.¡± Bugger. Of everything she hoped against, finding that out was the worst outcome possible. Iliaya¡¯s Staff had been secured in Valen¡¯s Vault for a very simple and terrifying reason. It could, in the hands of a competent wielder, radically change a person¡¯s physical look to a level of detail so precise that it was impossible to determine the forgery by most means. It could even hide from an Egia¡¯s sight which was why the staff had been secured away. Iliaya¡¯s reign of terror lasted for nigh a century before the Empress had put an end to her at the dawn of the Empire and took her weapon away to safeguard. If Cinder so chose, she could¡­ well, she could do anything she set her mind to. The only grace, Falor had read off the catalogue, was that the staff¡¯s power waned in mere bells if the wielder parted with it. It was also too gaudy of an artefact not to attract attention. Small mercy that. ¡°You¡¯re in a mood, Captain.¡± Barlo walked with her through the storm, quietly sheltering her in the shadow of his great cloak. She grumbled at him, too lost in thought, and the wind too cold and wild for talking. They were headed down from the Fortress and across the Agora, to climb into the Enginarium¡¯s Quarter. Despite her dark mood, she did not cherish the thought of what she needed to do next. Falor should be doing this, not me. But Falor had remained behind in the Vault to finish the inspection. Iliaya¡¯s Staff was just one of too many obscenely dangerous items in there. They already knew Cinder had taken the Ikosmenia Mask which mimicked an Egia¡¯s true sight, but maybe there were even more planted fakes. To have found even one meant all others were suspect now. It would take days to re-catalogue them all. Empress Catharina would have kittens when she learned of this development. Quistis and Barlo made their slow, steady way to the Enginarium¡¯s compounds deep within the Quarter, beyond the Alchemists¡¯ mazes and their stinks. Carriages ran poorly in that weather so they walked there through the billowing blizzard, snow weighing them down and impeding their progress through some of the narrower side-streets. By the time the black gates of the Enginarium Prime compound loomed through the near blinding snowfall, the cold had wormed its way through her boots and the three pairs of socks she wore as padding. She felt it nibbling at her toes with tiny, insistent fangs as Barlo pushed open the snowed-up gates. A guard ran to his aid from within. She knew the compound well enough to get past the gates and into the main building unattended. The storm obstructed all sight of it except for the sprite lamps that briefly pried open the darkness. Pity. The Prime building was a beautiful piece of architecture that she enjoyed seeing at night even if only to admire in passing. A man dressed in the simple black uniform of the enginaris¡ªCaius, she remembered his name¡ªtook her staff and cloak, along with her boots and gloves, to dry in front of a hearth. Barlo just sat down in front of the fireplace, fully dressed, and huffed. Her face tingled when she took off her scarf and breathed out a frozen breath. She accepted a warm towel gratefully. ¡°Strange hour for a visit, ma¡¯am. We expected you the day after tomorrow.¡± ¡°What time is it?¡± Caius inspected a device on his wrist and tapped it with a finger, making it light up. ¡°Well, ma¡¯am, the eight bell of evening would have sounded a short while ago. Aside from production, we were locked up for the day.¡± ¡°My apologies, Caius, but events have taken a turn. I trust my coming earlier is not a great inconvenience.¡± ¡°No, ma¡¯am. I¡¯ve sent someone to rouse them the moment the guards signalled your coming. Their preparations were done just this evening and they went to rest for the night.¡± He poured her a cup of coffee from a metal pitcher. ¡°Sugar?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t touch it. Thank you.¡± Barlo took the entire bowl of sugar cubes and ate them while his clothes dried. He refused the coffee. She sat in an uncomfortable armchair and allowed the coffee to warm her while she waited. It fought off the drowsiness she felt after getting out of the cold. The thought of trekking back to the Citadel through that late-night blizzard only served to depress her further. The room was sparse in furnishing, everything kept utilitarian and monochrome and frightfully unimaginative. Schematics of various clockwork¡ªthey abhorred that term but it¡¯s what she¡¯d been taught as a girl¡ªcrowded the walls, a mystifying forest of white lines on special blue paper. She had tried in the past to study what was drawn there but found she had no mind for understanding the complexity of the designs. You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. Another enginaris poked their head through the door at the opposite end of the room. ¡°They are ready for you, Captain.¡± ¡°Do you need me along?¡± Barlo asked. ¡°No. Our host gets fidgety if we crowd them. Enjoy your sugar while I¡¯m gone.¡± He saluted with the half-empty bowl and popped another cube in his mouth. Quistis followed behind the enginaris. Sprite lamps lined the walls as they ascended into the compound¡¯s upper levels. Most morgues were built underground but the bastil preferred being closer to the sky. The Enginarium were happy to indulge this particularly as long as it kept their guest happy. They were waiting for her in a room that had three sides open to the night. Glass shook when she closed the door and the storm whistled outside. Aarhyansh sat cross-legged in the centre of the floor. She knew their name but pronouncing it¡­ ¡°Good evening, Captain.¡± They saved her the embarrassment of the attempt. ¡°Had we known you¡¯d be gracing us with your visit, we would have forestalled our rest. We apologise for delaying you.¡± ¡°Not at all,¡± Quistis replied. She kneeled on the floor, opposite them. ¡°We received your runner this morning. Unfortunately, we had some developments over the day and this matter became urgent for us.¡± The bastil smoked their customary meerschaum pipe. Smoke floated lazily through the low-lit room, mimicking the way their fur floated upward; it smelled of spices, sweet and prickly, with none of the harshness of tobacco. They exhaled a thick plume, blue-white in the light, and then smiled. Quistis dearly wished they hadn¡¯t picked up that particular human custom. A smile from Aarhyansh put her in mind of a dray wolf, except that a wolf¡¯s muzzle had fewer, shorter fangs than the bastil displayed. ¡°Your request was quite a puzzle for us. We cannot be entirely certain that you will get what you need from the made-thing.¡± They shook their head slowly. Small, beady bells adoring their fur rang out a soft, sad melody. ¡°Whatever was done to the maker of this thing, it was frightfully violent. You may get your answers or you may only get their anger. We cannot make a promise, Captain Quistis.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll take my chances. A name is all I need. If I can get at least that, it¡¯ll have been worth the trouble.¡± She fidgeted on her knees. ¡°I¡¯m not familiar with how this works.¡± Aarhyansh removed the pipe and spent a handful of heartbeats in silence, carefully cleaning it. Quistis watched how they scraped out with a claw the mix of burnt herbs and carefully deposited the ashes into a pouch they wore tied on their belt. Cleaning their pipe was something that couldn¡¯t be rushed or ignored, so she sat quietly and waited. It was considered polite not to interrupt. ¡°We shall guide the melding of your conscious mind with the echo that was imprinted on the made-thing, as we will protect you from invasion. Even with its maker dead, an imprint of them remains behind and can be reached,¡± Aarhyansh spoke as they carefully oiled the parts of their pipe. Names engraved in small runes showed up in the light, covering the entire outside of the pipe¡¯s bowl. ¡°Calling on the echo releases it from its bond. How useful it might be depends largely on how strong the maker¡¯s self was in life.¡± It always struck Quistis as odd how gracefully the bastil moved when they did. In one fluid motion they were on their feet, despite their low, stocky build, and stretched out a four-fingered, clawed hand to help her up. Aarhyansh led her into an adjoining room. A solid door opened with a hiss and a rush of freezing cold air. ¡°We apologise for the chill but we have taken the doll apart in our exploration of its creation. Even in Winter, something like it will rot away.¡± Living things took a long time to rot away in Winter but illum-born creatures weren¡¯t as resilient on their own. ¡°Even with blessed Cares watching from above, it was a stroke of luck that you found the Flesh Doll when you did. A day, maybe two more, and it would have broken apart.¡± Greenish-yellow jars lined shelves all around the darkened storeroom. The low light following them through the door showed Quistis the offal contents of the jars. It smelled like a butcher¡¯s abattoir. She regretted the coffee. ¡°We do not believe you will get a second chance, Captain. It has taken great efforts, both of the Enginarium and of ourselves, to keep the remains from wasting away.¡± A gas bubble floated slowly to the top of one of the jars and popped on the surface. ¡°And, one more thing, Captain.¡± The bastil put their hands together and looked at her with what passed for worry in their milk-white eyes. ¡°We cannot protect you from what this other presence chooses to show you. It will not be allowed reach into you but once you establish contact, you will need to break it off on your own. We can do very little to aid you beyond facilitating your meeting and shielding your deep self.¡± ¡°Well, no time like the moment,¡± Quistis said and steeled herself for whatever was to come. She blinked and was face to face with the ghostly white outline of a woman. It had appeared so suddenly that she flinched back in surprise. The bastil said nothing. They were letting out a slow murmur at her side, an oddly strained sound that seeped into her bones. ¡°Hello?¡± ¡°Hello,¡± the figure replied, its voice dead and distant. It looked around, wary and skittish, then at its hands as if it had never saw them before. ¡°Where am I?¡± ¡°Can you tell me your name?¡± The figure turned its gaze to her as if just now realising there was someone there. It raised a hand towards her. Quistis mimicked the gesture. She tried not to, but a will stronger than her forced the movement. Anger struck her when the tips of their fingers touched, like flies buzzing inside her head. Pain followed. Confusion. Fear¡­ ¡°Who are you?¡± a shrill voice asked in her mind. It screamed its questions at her. ¡°Where am I? What have you done to me?¡± Quistis stood her ground against the assault of unhinged emotion. She would not be cowed by the echo of a monster. The room grew dark as she was drawn inward. ¡°I am Quistis Iluna, Captain to the Valen Storm Guard cell. And you are dead, whoever you are.¡± Outrage! ¡°Do not dare threaten me!¡± Jumbles of images poured into her. Scalpels and sutures, silent screams and crying eyes, more than a lifetime of inflicted suffering. It wanted her frighted. It would eat shit before that happened. Chapter 1.15.3: The dead need not lie ¡°I do not threaten you.¡± Her own anger rose to the fore and she bit through her lip, drawing the rich coppery taste of blood. It woke her up in the maelstrom. ¡°You have been killed. I am offering fact.¡± Flashes of images assaulted the bastion of her mind, a torrent of fury and sizzling hatred. A battle raged and she was part of it. Chunks were ripped out of her and regrown painfully. Her blood boiled in her veins and she tried to rip herself in two to escape her own melting skin. She would have screamed but the air burned in her and shredded the ruins of her lungs. ¡°The whore killed me?!¡± Outrage blanketed the pain, muzzled every other sensation. A life¡¯s work, burned away to ash. Ambition, crushed. The answers she sought, for which she¡¯d given herself over to the endless work, lost forever. Fury rose, the foam cresting a bulging wave of despair. ¡°I don¡¯t know who you mean,¡± Quistis pushed out through pained breaths. She fought back tears as another memory rose, of flames licking at her naked body and flesh melting off bones. These are all final moments, she realised with a jolt. The echo relived them with horrifying intensity. ¡°The whore killed me!¡± ¡°Who is she? Who are you?¡± Quistis asked again, allowing herself to submerge under the other¡¯s pain. She needed to gain control of the exchange lest the other consume her. A mantra of centring leapt into her mind to prop her up and steel her resolve. I am one of the many, and I am one of the few. I am¡ª ¡°Healer, bear witness to her crime,¡± the voice called out. ¡°I want vengeance for this ignoble death.¡± You don¡¯t deserve it, monster. I¡¯ve seen your work. But she couldn¡¯t match wills with this other. The echoing conscience was overwhelming and ravenous, so vicious that Quistis feared she might be crushed under its attention. There was an effort made for memories to be coherent. With titanic force of will, the other built a vision for her. She saw through countless eyes three people approaching. Her consciousness settled behind the eyes of a doll as it watched the intruders walk into the Mistress¡¯s throne room. One was a woman wearing black and gold, a mockery of the Storm Guard uniform. She wore her fire-red hair tied up in a ponytail and had a silver mask covering her face. Quistis recognized it from the catalogue in the Vault. Bloodless white lips smiled an obnoxious grin. The one following her was a blonde woman, tall and slim, wearing silvery-white garments. Beautiful work, the observing minds whispered. What did that mean? And last was a boy, skeletal and malnourished, wearing nothing but a horned helmet. No, he had armour covering him, but it was translucent, like glass. An enchantment, maybe? She could hear his heart, beating like a terrified rabbit¡¯s. ¡°I did wonder who had gotten lost in my home,¡± the echo voice said, ¡°scaring my children and trampling my work.¡± That voice commanded her adoration and loyalty. Honey-sweet and chocolate-rich, it filled her chest with love. Who dared upset the Mistress? They would die a thousand deaths for the insult of being. Quistis¡¯s mind lurched as she watched from too many perspectives at once. She felt every twitch of every muscle of every creature in the room. There were hundreds, packed together tight, all watching the visitors with rapt, hungry attention. She tasted the magic weave around the visitors, her senses heightened beyond anything human. Both women were dressed in illum, overflowing with it, shaped by it. In a flash, she was next to them, circling them, drinking in the scent of their power. She saw herself, as the doll, opposite herself. There were two, sharing a mind, and she stretched to fit both and know what they learned. The second one, the healer, had caught their attention. Her borrowed eyes saw beneath the veneer of beauty, into the core of the woman. She couldn¡¯t count the scars under her fake skin. I¡¯m seeing through Iliaya¡¯s enchantment. Sure enough, the healer had the staff in hand, looking exactly as the planted fake. Her hearts pounded in excitement at seeing through the deceit, at seeing the horrors the staff¡¯s enchantment hid away. Quistis¡¯s real heart gave a sharp pang of sympathy for her sister. Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! ¡°What have you done to yourself, girl?¡± the Mistress asked, malice tinging her words. ¡°I am not here to reminisce with you, Anna,¡± the red haired woman said. ¡°Such a pity, Tallah. I couldn¡¯t imagine what other business the whore of the Academy would have with me and mine.¡± Anna and, more importantly, Tallah. Quistis had the names. It was enough. But Anna¡¯s echo was not done with her. This wasn¡¯t what she needed known. A vice squeezed tighter around Quistis¡¯s mind, urging her to watch on as events squeezed by. Anna¡¯s questions were light and her tone playful but Quistis knew the anger boiling beneath, the way the Mistress hated the other sorceress. It was just curiosity that kept her children back, the urge to understand why Tallah had assaulted her Sanctum. Why, after a century since they¡¯d last seen each other, their first contact was such gross misconduct, unbefitting of two women of their high birth. How powerful was she? Quistis found herself wondering at the strength of the two sorceresses as they stared each another down. Anna¡¯s echo had a will of razor wire ferocity, and she would ultimately fall. She tried to break away from whatever it was trying to show her but the echo refused her efforts. Save your effort, healer. I will release you when I¡¯m done with you. I understand what you did to see this but I will not be made a simple tool to serve your ends. Bear witness so you may seek vengeance on my behalf. You will have no choice in the matter. Witness to what? She already knew the blood mage would die in the inevitable clash. Tallah undid the topmost button of her coat and reached into an inner pocket nestled against her heart. She produced a black crystal that she held out to Anna¡¯s attention. It was the size of a pigeon egg and black as pitch, swallowing up light like a hole in reality. Quistis¡¯s real breath choked on the sight of that atrocity. So did Anna¡¯s, reverberations of horror and disgusts melding with her own. ¡°I claim you, Anna Theala, born of mother Viostra Theala and father Logovich Eilan,¡± Tallah whispered to the crystal. It melted away from her hand and puffed to black smoke. She shook her hand of it. ¡°Does that answer your question?¡± A doll--pretending to be the Mistress--was on her feet, trembling. ¡°Have you taken leave of your senses?¡± Her voice cracked like glass under the pressure of her anger. ¡°I¡¯m as clearheaded as I¡¯ve ever been.¡± Quistis found herself appreciating Cinder¡¯s voice. She saw the storied sorceress for the first time in the flesh, as it were, and the only thing she could think about was how pleasant and calm her voice was. The full horror of what the pyromancer had just unleashed refused to find purchase in her mind. Soul theft¡­ Revulsion wracked her even as she thought the words. The One Sin. The only real sin in the minds of gods and mortals alike. The one unforgivable oath-breaking that could not be allowed to exist. Cinder had performed it so casually¡­ so practised. Music sang to her, a haunting melody that bypassed all senses to lodge itself into the mind, clawing its way into her very being. She couldn¡¯t see where it came from, but she felt it like a draw on her essence, insistent with purpose. Hooks dug into her soul and yanked hard on her life. Anna produced a bone-white wand and aimed it at Tallah. ¡°Let¡¯s get this farce over with.¡± The other woman cracked her knuckles and stood defiant against the many that came to the Mistress¡¯s beckoning. She showed the silver wand at her belt but refused to reach for it. Anna unleashed her children and Quistis was part of the assault. She felt her sisters dying, felt herself becoming less and less, until she was the last. The Mistress dragged her out of the melee and sunk her under corpses, furiously pouring herself inside until the doll felt like bursting apart. Death breathed on the back of her neck but the Mistress kept her down and hidden, paralysed for the gambit. You can¡¯t oppose soul theft, girl, Anna¡¯s echo whispered. They were now in the ruins of the aftermath. Her children lay dead and shattered. More were coming from the farthest reaches of her Sanctum but they could not arrive in time to save her life. Quistis¡¯s perspective shifted and she realised she was seeing from the real Anna¡¯s eyes. She waited for death even if she refused to admit she had been spent and defeated. Cinder approached on unsteady feet, stumbling from her wounds. She held a sword that dripped blood. I took the gamble. That¡¯s the only way to survive soul theft, the gamble that the black gem accepts the death of the one that invoked it and turns its hunger on them. I failed to give it that. Ghostly music howled in her. It was no longer a melody but mad laughter, crying and cursing, agony, ecstasy, fear. It was all being dragged out of her and swallowed by the gaping pit of black. Cinder had her mask off as she leaned into her, silver eyes staring into the ruin she had wrought. She breathed with a gurgling wheeze. ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± she whispered. ¡°For what it¡¯s worth, I¡¯m sorry.¡± And Quistis felt the heat of the blade as it cut her throat. She was thrown from the memory, stumbling back violently out of the cold storage. Barlo¡¯s powerful hands caught and steadied her as she fought to calm her breathing. Tears ran down her face, and her nose and lip bled. She was screaming herself hoarse. He spun her around. There was concern in his lined face. He said something to Aarhyansh but she couldn¡¯t make out the words. Music still thrummed in her head and she felt herself being sucked out through the pores of her skin, emptied out from the marrow of her bones to the thoughts in her mind, poured into a prison of pitch black. Quistis bent double and was violently sick all over Barlo¡¯s boots. Chapter 1.16.1: Screaming awake She was shown the point of the needle. Something that small could somehow occupy her entire world in that moment as the blasted mind-skinner prepared. He showed her each instrument that was to follow, now that they were done with the more mundane preparations. ¡°Beatings and starvation will only get you so far, you know. Especially for someone with your grip on yourself. It¡¯s best we now start in earnest.¡± The bastard liked talking about each of his little tools. She knew them all, except the needle. Now she couldn¡¯t tear her gaze away from it. They had her strung up tight for the procedure, all risk seemingly accounted for by long, horrible experience. Was this what Rhine had gone through as well? Had she lain on the same rack, feel herself drawn to the breaking point, and then¡­ this? Had she delivered her sister to this monstrous little man? Anger lent her embers of strength. Tallah screamed and heaved one more time against her bonds to no effect, the iron shackles cutting painfully into her wrists. It earned her a baton across the stomach and the white-hot pain that followed. She hadn¡¯t anything left in her to bring up but black bile and blood. For a moment the music swelled triumphantly as her grasp on consciousness ebbed. ¡°This will hurt,¡± the bastard said. ¡°But the pain will pass before you know it. It¡¯s for the best really. You can let go of your anger now.¡± Oh, she bloody well did not want to let go of anything. She wanted the horrid little creature roasted alive from within. She wanted him cursing her name in all tongues of Edana. If she could free herself for but a moment she would tear out his heart with her teeth and cook it in front of his eyes. Her hand flashed into fire for a moment, the last dregs of her illum igniting in the incandescent rage that seethed in her bones. It earned her another beating. ¡°Stop, you oaf. She¡¯ll pass out. It¡¯s no good if she doesn¡¯t see it happening. I have a schedule to keep to.¡± Ice-cold water splashed across her. Tallah came awake with a jolt of dread, drenched in cold sweat. Her glasses clattered to the floor along with the inkwell and several scroll sheathes. Muscles cramped up and protested as she tried to shake off the nightmare, phantom echoes of pain lancing up through her joints. Under the mountain. She had been under the blasted mountain again. It rose in her memories, darker and sharper than she knew it to be, to dominate her nights. Screams chased her among the peaks, chased down by the Empress¡¯s headsmen and the great beasts that guarded the passes. A sharp, needling pain wormed through her left eye as she tried to fully come awake from that place¡¯s grasp. Was that what had woken her? She had fallen asleep at her desk, head slumped over her grimoire, quill leaving a dark blotch of ink where she¡¯d poked the paper. Blast. It was expensive paper too, hard to get outside of Aztroa or Calabran. Something happened, Christina whispered. Something¡¯s wrong. ¡°I know,¡± she replied, voice low, throat scratchy with thirst. No, it wasn¡¯t the nightmare that woke her. She was certain of that at least. The horrors of the mountain rarely pushed her back into reality anymore. Christina and Bianca kept the worst of it at bay when she managed to rest. At the edges of her consciousness, music hummed distantly. Bianca¡ªit was her turn tonight¡ªshielded her best as she could but it was still slipping by. It hadn¡¯t woken her. Something else did. Vergil was asleep in the armchair by what remained of the fire, exhausted from the day¡¯s training, folded in on himself on the narrow cushion. His sword lay by the hearth, unsheathed, reflecting ember light. He¡¯d sat down to rest for a moment and had passed out. She¡¯d covered him with a blanket but it had slipped off. The boy tossed and turned regardless of where he slept. She didn¡¯t envy him his dreams. Windows rattled and a chill came down the chimney over the still smouldering ashes of the fire, ruffling her papers as she tried to clean up the spilt ink. Something rattled ever so slightly over the background noises of the night and the music in her head. Something is very wrong, Christina said again. ¡°I know, Christi. I felt it.¡± What had she felt? She looked over the dimly lit room. Her candles had gone out, melted into puddles now cool to the touch. A red twilight of emberlight shifted shadows around as she paced the breadth of the room trying to shake loose the cobwebs in her head. Something kept rattling and it wasn¡¯t the windows. It came from her heavy chest, the one they kept locked. It got louder when she approached. A wave of nausea hit her when she lifted the lid. Darkness seethed inside, roiling like stormy waters in the confined space. Her mask poked out from the blackness as if floating on top of whatever was happening in there. The world snapped into sharp focus when she donned it. A storm churned in the room, curdling illum into mercury-like beads of power only the mask could see. They were being drawn into the chest. Anna. Something of Anna had avoided capture and the soul trap was unhappy about it. Tallah knew the phenomenon all too well. The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°I told you,¡± a bead of illum whispered as it sped by her into the gaping maw of the waiting gem. ¡°I will have the day.¡± Another whisper. Tallah spun on her heels but Anna wasn¡¯t there, even as she kept talking in her ear. ¡°Now they know, whore. Your sin is laid bare. They will come for you.¡± The beads laughed and mocked her as the silent storm ceased with the suddenness of a snapping rat trap. Like a sigh, the gem drew into itself, sated, contained once more by its box. Tallah stood by the chest for a long time cursing under her breath, questions crowding for attention in her head. Who they were was not a mystery to ponder. If the Storm Guard had found the rat cave, they had found Anna¡¯s Sanctum and whatever else was still down there. Anna¡¯s fragment, or echo, or whatever it had been, hadn¡¯t just arrived in Valen of its volition. It would be Summer at least before the soul gem would¡¯ve wound itself into enough of a frenzy to reach out for whatever it had missed. Did they talk to Anna? Could they? She looked at the horned helmet, hung on a peg above the fireplace. There were ways to communicate with lingering echoes. There were even ways to trap them. It didn¡¯t matter where Anna had squirrelled away some of her essence, or even how it had gotten loose enough for the trap to sense it. All that mattered was that something hadn¡¯t gone to plan. ¡°I should have burned it all,¡± she said to nobody in particular. Her nails dug into her palms and her skin felt too tight over her bones. She raised a fist to her mouth and bit into a knuckle. ¡°I should have burned it all to ashes and left nothing to be found.¡± This is your gambit biting back. Regrets are tardy, my girl. We need to take measures. Vergil stirred. First he grumbled about stiffness, then came fully awake with a whimper of pain. Empty vials littered the room. He¡¯d drank too many again against her instruction when she wanted to end the earlier training, and was to pay the price in side-effects. A splitting headache would be the least of his worries. He was the least of her worries. ¡°Get dressed, Vergil.¡± ¡°W-what?¡± He pressed fists into his eyes as if trying to batter away whatever was trying to claw out of his head. ¡°I am dressed. Aren¡¯t I?¡± ¡°Get dressed to go out.¡± Vergil groaned and looked around the room with sleep-heavy eyes. He stumbled when trying to get his feet under him and almost landed in the ashes. ¡°It¡¯s the middle of the night. Where are we going?¡± She paced, still chewing on her finger. You are panicking. We need a clear head now. Wake the hen. ¡°I am not panicking.¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t say you were,¡± Vergil replied, looking even more lost and confused than his usual self. ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± ¡°I wasn¡¯t talking to you. Can you find your way back to Ludwig¡¯s from memory?¡± You are panicking, my dear. Christina is correct. We need you to have a clear head before we set upon a course of action. ¡°I can get there, yeah,¡± Vergil finally answered after looking bewildered for a minute. ¡°I have a¡ª¡± ¡°I don¡¯t care, Vergil,¡± she cut him off. ¡°Get dressed. Take the sword with. I¡¯ll explain when you¡¯re ready.¡± What are you doing? Christina asked after the boy stumbled his way out into his makeshift room. ¡°Preparing a contingency.¡± With the Professor? He will be useless to us if we run afoul of the Storm Guard. ¡°He¡¯s got a way out of Valen. Passes out to Basra and Garet are closed and it¡¯s suicide to try and get into the Ruffle in this weather. The old git¡¯s got some way out or he wouldn¡¯t have been so insistent for my help.¡± She was being ridiculous. She knew that. But the music in her head had changed its tune. Her companion siren call never really went away, even with the two ghosts shielding her, but now it was downright jubilant, celebratory. Instinct poked her in the small of the back with cold fingers that spelled danger. She remembered it sounded just like this, just before the needle¡ª ¡°Good morning, Vergil.¡± Mertle¡¯s voice came from the hallway, entirely too cheerful for the hour. ¡°Good morning, Tallah.¡± She stuck her head through the opened doorway. ¡°I need to go and fire up the forge. Tummy¡¯s going to have my hide otherwise.¡± She¡¯d been spending all her evenings with Sil, sneaking in and out at odd hours, always somehow managing to pass under Verti¡¯s gaze unnoticed. Tallah stopped herself before waving the elendine away. ¡°Can you hurry up our gear? We may need to leave in a hurry.¡± Mertle¡¯s expression fell. She looked towards Sil¡¯s room and back at Tallah. ¡°Why? S-Sil said¡ª¡± Tallah rummaged through the chest, moving boxes around. ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter what Sil said. We may be in trouble. If you and Tummy can¡¯t get it done before we leave, just ship everything to Solstice when the passes clear. I¡¯ll get there eventually.¡± She pulled out the leaden box in which Sil had stowed the gem. It buzzed in her hands. ¡°I¡¯ll see what I can do.¡± Mertle¡¯s voice had the slight edge that she rarely used to show her annoyance. A bit of her old self talking over the new. ¡°You¡¯ll owe me big this time.¡± ¡°I already owe you big.¡± ¡°Bigger. We can deliver two days from now. And you¡¯d better have an explanation ready for me because I had plans and arrangements for Winter. With Sil.¡± The edge of annoyance bled into cold anger that sent another chill through Tallah¡¯s back. She just stood in the ember glow and stared at the box in her hands until the outside door slammed. Mertle would get her explanation. It was time for one. But first she needed to get rid of evidence for all the good that would do her peace of mind. She couldn¡¯t even be mad at Anna much as she wanted to. Had roles been reversed she would have done anything and everything in her power to get revenge. In many ways, she was doing exactly that. She reached out a hand and focused her illum. Not much pain anymore, just a slight refusal that she had to force aside. Exercising with Vergil had helped her push through the fugue she had settled into and her strength was returning steadily. Anger still bloomed, at her mistake and her weakness, and she used it stoke the fire inside and infuse herself with its power. Far from ideal, but better, Christina encouraged her. You are almost completely renewed. Reality warped around her fingers and¡ªfinally!¡ªa proper Rend manifested, not the paltry slits that she had to force open. Pins of light pricked a dark gash in reality and she had her storage bubble back. She thrust the box inside and allowed the Rend to close. Vergil watched her from the doorway, dressed for a blizzard. Sil was behind him, dressed in a night gown, murder on her face. ¡°What do you mean we¡¯re leaving?¡± Chapter 1.16.2: I gave him a mission ¡°Are you sure you¡¯re not just¡ª¡± ¡°I¡¯m not just anything,¡± Tallah snapped at her. ¡°Anna talked to someone. We need to treat it as a worst case.¡± Sil sighed and rubbed her temples. ¡°She could have been lying.¡± ¡°She wasn¡¯t.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t know that.¡± ¡°I do.¡± She glared at the sorceress. Stubborn creature. There was a gentle knock at the door. Sil had asked Vergil to send up one of Verti¡¯s girls when he passed through the common room towards his errand, fool thing that that was. She changed into the aelir form and went to answer. It turned out to be Verti herself, up early and about her duties. ¡°Good-morrow, Your Ladyships. What may I get for you?¡± Elendine cheerfulness didn¡¯t quite match with Sil¡¯s state of mind. It was too early for it. Worse yet, Mertle had left while she was still asleep, so her mood was as dark as the weather. ¡°Coffee, Verti, please. Lots of sugar. And some bread and butter and¡ª¡± ¡°Jam,¡± Tallah called from the other room. ¡°And jam, please. Bitter, if you have it.¡± Sil gestured an apology for the inhuman hour. It was likely still a few bells to the crack of dawn. Verti smiled and nodded back. ¡°There is fresh bread baking if you wouldn¡¯t mind the wait. Otherwise, I can have one of the girls make some flat buns.¡± ¡°We don¡¯t mind, Verti. Thank you.¡± It was too bloody early in the morning to argue with Tallah on an empty stomach. Her paranoia flaring up wasn¡¯t the issue but her solution for it was plainly mad. ¡°You said you didn¡¯t want to go on that absurd waste of time for the old man.¡± She picked the argument right back up when the elendine went away. ¡°You haven¡¯t even touched his bribe since we spoke with him. You¡¯re being unreasonable. For pity¡¯s sake, stop gnawing on yourself.¡± Tallah paced like a caged animal. Heat wafted from her, sputtering like candlelight in a draft. The fool had forced herself to infuse and was still at it. ¡°You¡¯ll burst a blood vessel if you keep going like that,¡± Sil said as she barred the sorceress¡¯s path with her staff. ¡°Stop pacing and start thinking for a bloody moment.¡± They exchanged glares. ¡°What would you propose then? There¡¯s a mind-skinner in Valen and she¡¯s already suspicious of me.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t know that Anna talked to the Storm Guard or that she even talked at all. She might have just wanted to rattle your nerves as a last effort at revenge. And she managed that expertly, I might add.¡± ¡°We can¡¯t afford that assumption, Sil. You know that. I know that. Drop it.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll bet you that Christina agrees with me.¡± That quieted Tallah. She looked as if she wanted to say something on the subject but bit back on the words. Sil grinned. ¡°You just kept her from answering. We could just change disguises and start over.¡± ¡°It takes weeks for a new change to take hold. I may not have days, let alone weeks.¡± Tallah looked over their assembled living space, five years¡¯ worth of work in building Tianna and Silestra. ¡°We¡¯re too entrenched in these roles.¡± Stolen story; please report. The staff did have those limitations. For any change to be convincing, it needed to take root, to become a second skin, not just an illusion over the old. That took practice, conviction, and a lot of failure. It wasn¡¯t a subtle or stable process. Someone like Rumi Belli could see through the weave in those days. Tallah¡¯s mask certainly managed if they weren¡¯t fully committed into the role. All it would take was one chance meeting. And chance was not proving kind. ¡°We could always move over to Mertle and¡­¡± Words withered in her mouth as realization hit before Tallah could answer with more than a scathing glare. ¡°We¡¯d risk their safety. You¡¯re right.¡± The sorceress pushed away the staff and started pacing again. ¡°I know I¡¯m being absurd but I don¡¯t feel safe. Sil, I can¡¯t explain it.¡± ¡°But if we do this then we¡¯re throwing away all the work we¡¯ve put into getting this far. We won¡¯t be able to use Tianna of Aieni Holding anymore.¡± ¡°Better than risking a battle I can¡¯t win right now. I¡¯d rather burn this whole plan than be captured again.¡± ¡°Christina, please back me on this. We must be able to come up with a better solution,¡± Sil asked the ghost. Tallah normally listened to that one¡¯s counsel if she refused to listen to hers, on the rare occasion the ghost agreed with her on something. ¡°We agree with Tallah. Plans must be changed if there is the least risk of them failing. But we do not agree giving in to Professor Angledeer.¡± Tallah looked as if she had to vomit out the words. ¡°And neither she nor Bianca has a bloody solution to give me,¡± she finished. ¡°Either figure one out or make your peace with mine. Either way, we¡¯re leaving.¡± Sil sighed and dropped in a chair, hand on her face. If I were honest, I¡¯d admit I want to run off. It was too easy to get comfortable with Mertle, too easy to start really wanting what she only said she did, too easy to forget she was always being watched. But being honest and being stupid are two very different things. Verti returned carrying a tray of food and one of her daughters brought a great pitcher of freshly brewed coffee. Its aroma filled the room when they entered. ¡°Verti,¡± Sil said as she cleared a table for the tray, ¡°have any of the caravan masters been preparing to leave lately?¡± The matron thought for a moment and looked to her daughter. ¡°Master Vulniu has closed his credit line two days ago,¡± the girl said briskly. ¡°He¡¯s waiting out the storm and preparing to leave for Bastra after the Descent.¡± ¡°In this weather?¡± ¡°He¡¯s been taking many meetings with adventurers to help him manage the high passes. I believe he intends to force his way through. I couldn¡¯t tell you why.¡± Sil looked to Tallah, who was still chewing on her finger while looking out the window at the swirling night. She got a slight nod in return. ¡°When he breaks his fast, would you please inform him we¡¯d like to hire his services?¡± The young elendine bowed respectfully. ¡°Of course, Your Ladyship. Should I ask him up or will you be coming down?¡± ¡°We¡¯ll be down to discuss. Thank you, Miria.¡± After the two left, Sil found that she had less of an appetite than she had thought. She nibbled some bread and drank sweetened coffee but nothing more. Tallah ate jam out of the jar, then the buttered bread. For all her griping and doom-saying she ate as if preparing for battle. They were quiet for a long time. ¡°Was it wise to send Vergil out? Alone, I mean?¡± ¡°We¡¯ll see.¡± ¡°He could go to the Fortress and turn you in of his own will.¡± Verti had been kind enough to not mind the devastation she witnessed in the room. ¡°You haven¡¯t exactly been kind to him.¡± Tallah gave her a thin-lipped smile. ¡°The Fortress is exactly far enough from here for your trinket to do its job. If he loses his head, he wasn¡¯t worth keeping around.¡± Sil choked on her coffee. ¡°That¡¯s dark. Even for you, that¡¯s horrible to consider.¡± Tallah shrugged. ¡°He¡¯ll be back.¡± ¡°And you know that for certain, do you?¡± This was answered by the sound of a teaspoon banging the inside of the jar, trying to get at whatever was left on the bottom. No words. ¡°How come you¡¯ve been doing this with him?¡± She gestured vaguely at the devastated room. She¡¯d been curious since the first day but Tallah hadn¡¯t brought it up so she hadn¡¯t asked. ¡°He asked to be trained. I obliged.¡± Sil dropped a fistful of sugar cubes into her empty cup, then poured more coffee over them. ¡°I¡¯m amazed you bothered, is all. You spend days training him and then you send him out alone into the storm. How does that make any sense in your head?¡± Tallah poured herself a cup of hot coffee and tried to down it all in one go, probably to push down the lump of buttered bread she had just inhaled. ¡°The boy wants to be useful and he¡¯s scared out of his wits of being discarded.¡± She looked out over the rim of the cup. ¡°I was swayed. Alone, he¡¯s invisible. I gave him a mission.¡± Chapter 1.16.3: To keep you warm Vergil trudged forward, forcing one foot in front of the other. Trenches had been cut through the snow by much earlier risers than he but it was still hard work moving forward. Before leaving, Sil had given him something that kept him warm and strengthened him. Two more flasks of it were tucked safely away in an inside pocket of his cloak, next to the letter. The effect of the first was already waning and he wasn¡¯t even halfway to Master Ludwig¡¯s home. When he left, Tallah and Sil were quietly arguing. By the healer¡¯s expression, he had expected a bloody row between the two, but it ended up as just a simmering, hissed discussion. If anything, Sil seemed relieved. Under the anger there was relief that she couldn¡¯t feign away. Whenever I think I get some kind of lock on one of them, it all slides sideways. Wet cold wormed its way into the toes of his right foot where his boot had sprung a leak. His leg cramped as he forced himself to push forward through the thigh high snow, walking in a near crouch, bundled in on himself. Argia guided his progress. Oh, just grand. How lucky he. ¡°Won¡¯t my head pop off if I get too far away from you, Tallah?¡± It had been a legitimate concern for him but the sorceress waved him away. The little thing on the back of his neck felt warm, true, but it didn¡¯t hurt. Sil had promised it would if he were too far and he saw no reason to doubt that. And why send him, anyway? Why didn¡¯t Tallah go herself? She¡¯d probably not struggle going up the bloody damn stairs. So many bloody stairs even as far as the markets! Too much pride. Or she¡¯s planning something else that I don¡¯t need to know about. Yeah, maybe that. Maybe. The Agora lay deserted for once. Trenches had been cut by the occasional traveller but they were few and quickly filling up, most of them leading into the taverns. Light spilled out of the Ripe Gooseberry, a worker¡¯s den, and next door¡¯s Godly Pitcher, a popular adventurer watering hole. Without the howling wind there would be laughter and music filling their little nook of the square even at that early hour. With the winds, they were just two blobs of ghostly light, flickering through the dense snowfall. He really, really wanted to go inside and wait out the storm. Ahead loomed the long, steep climb. Vergil stared up at the winding path stretching into the green-lit dark above. When they first came that way it hadn¡¯t looked quite so terrifying. He stood and gathered his courage, snow banks ever rising around his freezing feet. With a huffed-out thick breath, he attacked the first flight. On the third set he drank another of Sil¡¯s mixtures, resolved not to touch the last until he was on his way back. Hammer blow after hammer blow struck his temples from the inside as if his chip was trying to claw out of his head and drag his brain out to air it. By the end of the climb, fighting against the ice, the blinding snow, the cutting wind, and the bloody wet sock, he was ready to take the express way down over the lip of the wall. Tallah¡¯s frenzied stare when she¡¯d told him what he had to do kept him going. He¡¯d never seen her or Sil rattled before. He took a measure of pride from being given the mission, from being trusted enough to go alone into the blizzard. They trusted him. Or he was expendable¡ª Vergil walked head-first into what felt like a stone wall. He stumbled back, tripped, and fell onto, and into a blood-chilling cushion of powdery snow. A strong hand reached down into his hole and grabbed him by the cloak. It lifted him as if he weighed nothing at all. ¡°Mighty sorry for that, speck,¡± a booming voice said over the whistles and moans of wind rushing through the narrow alleys of the Alchemists¡¯ Quarter. ¡°I didn¡¯t see ye.¡± A vibrantly bright sprite of light hung above the stranger. Vergil had to crane his neck to look up into the face of the man talking. Shining yellow eyes, a flat, crooked nose, and a wide mouth set in a wider jaw met his gaze. A tusk protruded out through the left corner of the mouth, longer and thicker than his thumb. ¡°I-I¡¯m sorry,¡± he stammered out, terrified by the apparition in the storm. ¡°I wasn¡¯t minding my way.¡± ¡°Are you hurt?¡± another, gentler voice asked him, by the giant¡¯s side. He swung his gaze around and met the black eyes of a woman protected from the snowfall by the man¡¯s great cloak. She had a broken lip, bright red blood frozen into tiny crystals upon it. ¡°No, no,¡± Vergil said, almost relieved to see another human. ¡°I was just startled, that¡¯s all.¡± The woman looked over his shoulder. ¡°Are you walking the storm alone?¡± she asked him, something like concern showing on her face. ¡°You shouldn¡¯t be alone in this weather.¡± Her eyes looked him over in a way that reminded him of how Sil had inspected him back at Mistress Aliana¡¯s. This one¡¯s gaze was harder, more piercing. Her scrutiny made him uncomfortable. Something like a flash of recognition shone in her eyes. If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. ¡°I have an important errand to run. I¡¯m sorry for bumping into you but I¡¯ll be on my way now.¡± ¡°Where to?¡± Vergil stared at the large arm that barred his way forward. The giant had moved faster than he could blink. Four armoured fingers pressed firmly against his chest. If they made a fist it would be the size of his head. ¡°Lady asked ye a question, speck,¡± the giant said. The undertone of his voice suggested that he¡¯d better answer. ¡°Where are you going, young man?¡± the lady asked again, pinning him with her black gaze. She held a gnarled healer¡¯s staff in one hand, and the other was hidden under her tight cloak. Vergil stared at her for a moment, trying to match the face to anyone he knew. She wore a shawl under her hood, with only a stray lock of chestnut hair showing. Dark eyes, sharp nose, narrow lips¡­ Sil kept coming to mind, as if this woman were an older, sterner, and darker version of the healer. He wanted to be honest with her but something in the back of his skull warned of danger. ¡°I¡¯m going to see a friend. He¡¯s sick.¡± He pulled aside his cloak and showed her the metal flask in his pocket. ¡°I¡¯m bringing him some medicine.¡± The woman¡¯s eyes darted from his face to the flask and back up. She smiled, finally, and dug into the depths of her own cloak to produce a similar flask to the ones he carried. ¡°Take this, then,¡± she said as she tried to hand him the flask. ¡°It will stave off hypothermia and keep your blood hot. Try and find shelter soon. You don¡¯t look hale enough yourself to be out in this.¡± Vergil hesitated and she waggled the flask at him. ¡°Take it,¡± the giant said, lowering his arm. ¡°The Captain¡¯s a healer.¡± Captain? Vergil took the flask and stared at it. Engraved on the metal surface was an armoured fist wreathed in lightning, the Storm Guard¡¯s seal. His mouth opened and closed, words failing. ¡°Is anything the matter?¡± the Captain woman asked. Was she a Captain in the Storm Guard? Was he in trouble? Did they know about Tallah? He felt his face grow hot and red as he tried to stow the flask in his inner pocket. Instead, he dropped it in the snow, bent to pick it up, dropped it again. ¡°I think ye scare the boy, Cap,¡± the man chuckled. He shrugged off snow that gathered in great piles upon his shoulders. Vergil could hear the unmistakable clanging of armour and weapons under the great cloak. ¡°Shush, Barlo. Let me help you. What¡¯s your name?¡± She bent and picked up the medicine. ¡°Uh¡­ Vergil, ma¡¯am,¡± he stammered an answer. Should he tell her about Tallah? No! He squashed the traitorous thought before it even took root, aghast at the notion. Tallah had saved him. Tallah had trusted him with a mission. ¡°Well, Vergil,¡± the woman said as she stowed the flask in his pocket, right next to the sealed letter, ¡°my name¡¯s Quistis.¡± She adjusted and tightened his cloak even as the wind kept trying to billow it out. ¡°We¡¯re here to help. You don¡¯t need to be afraid of us.¡± Her lip bled when she smiled. She had dark lines on her face, as if she¡¯d cried¡­ blood? It might have just been a trick of the trembling sprite light. ¡°Yes, ma¡¯am,¡± he muttered. ¡°I-I¡¯m not afraid, ma¡¯am.¡± She smiled at him. ¡°Good. Take care, Vergil. See that your friend gets well.¡± Barlo came forward and held out his cloak over her. It was heavy. Wind barely rustled it. ¡°Thank you,¡± Vergil said as Quistis waved goodbye. He waited in place until the sprite light disappeared into the bowels of the blizzard. And he waited a few minutes more, a frozen statue slowly buried, just to be certain they were gone. ¡°Shut up.¡± At least the storm had whipped up the Quarter enough that its signature stink and fog had been blown out of the city for the night. He assumed the stink was gone, at least. His nose had frozen shut even before he¡¯d reached the Agora and he feared it might snap off if he tried to remedy the situation. ¡°Why do they need so many bloody stairs?¡± he gasped in effort as his interface led him up and down the many narrow corridors and passageways. He hadn¡¯t paid attention when Tallah had led the way but at least his headware had. After going up and down what felt like the same stairs a dozen bloody times he became reasonably convinced that his headware lied with impunity and he was lost. It was definitely lying. There was nothing there but darkness and snow. He should have passed a church first. Did he? Maybe. It was hard to be certain of anything in that weather, at that hour. There wasn¡¯t even a hint of light in the sky above and the green haze of the lamps was sparse and narrowed down to arrow heads. There wasn¡¯t a hint of light anywhere around. He turned right and walked forward, hands outstretched. Finally, he felt something solid. Wall. Not a door. He walked forward, groping, and his hand slipped into the space between buildings. Then he walked back, until he felt the wooden frame of an entrance. ¡°Well, I¡¯m sorry if this isn¡¯t the right place.¡± He banged on the door. Nothing happened. He banged again, harder. No answer. Again. Much harder. ¡°Someone is going to open this door or I will put my shoulder to it,¡± he grumbled as his fist hammered on the wood. ¡°I am not going back without delivering this bloody letter.¡± The door swung inside and Vergil found himself a palm¡¯s breath away from a fireball as big as his head. It hovered above a gnarled old hand. If he could still feel anything above the neckline, the heat of it probably should have stung. ¡°Why shouldn¡¯t I burn your face off?¡± a voice asked from beyond the firelight. Its threat felt very genuine. ¡°Do you know the time, boy?¡± ¡°Too early for threats, Master Ludwig,¡± Vergil replied, numb with cold and fatigue, raising a hand to ward off the light. ¡°I was sent.¡± There was a long pause. Mercifully, the fireball moved aside and a hard face peered out from the darkness beyond. Yes, it was Ludwig, wearing the same ridiculous nightcap and the same expression, like trying to piss fire. ¡°Please put the flame out. It¡¯s been a hard slog here. Either kill me or welcome me in. I¡¯m fine with either.¡± There was a moment¡¯s hesitation. Blue-red blobs swam in front of Vergil¡¯s eyes. Even when Ludwig extinguished the fireball, he was still blind for a few moments. ¡°Step inside,¡± the old man said, sidling away from the narrow door. Vergil walked forward, and banged his head on the frame again. Chapter 1.17.1: Ludwigs answer ¡°Is this some sick joke? Is she having a lark?¡± Ludwig had been drinking. What exactly, Vergil couldn¡¯t say but it stank. His home reeked with the sour tang of bad alcohol and stale food. If the place had been a sty when they last visited, now it was a disaster area of scattered books, scrolls and alchemy implements, made all the worse by the stray light of haphazardly lain candles and the one flickering sprite. He¡¯d been down in the trash compactor of the Gloria and the resemblance was uncanny. The old man read the letter again, leaning against a wall for support, mumbling the words to himself. Vergil warmed his hands by a candle¡¯s flame. How is he not frozen stiff? It¡¯s as cold in here as out there. ¡°Does she mean to taunt me? Is that why she sent you and not come herself?¡± He slurred the words and swayed while waving the piece of paper around. ¡°Has she no shame left for an old teacher?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± Vergil replied earnestly. ¡°She seemed genuine.¡± ¡°What¡¯s happened? What changed her mind?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± Ludwig stared at him and swayed on the spot, looking sick in the vain light. If his story had been true then he was well over three centuries old and Vergil thought he looked the part at that early hour. Or was it late? Time felt oddly syrupy in the storm outside. Shutters rattled as the blizzard breathed on Valen again. ¡°Well, tell that sow that I¡¯m not interested in catering to her capricious whims.¡± He fluttered the paper, seemed ready to rip it in two, then started reading it again, mumbling all the while. Now he paced among the stacks of ruined books, the single trembling sprite following him around. ¡°Why would she do this to me? What¡¯s her gain? I have done nothing but aid her at every turn when all others had discarded her. I know what it is to fall from Her Majesty¡¯s grace.¡± He lapsed into slurred whispers. Vergil didn¡¯t have the slightest inkling of what Ludwig was on about, nor what reply was expected of him. Tallah¡¯s instructions were to come back with an answer from Ludwig, regardless of what it was. That looked to take a while as the old man twisted the paper in his gloved hands again, hesitating. He was rather certain that Tallah had not been serious when she instructed him to drag Ludwig to her by the legs if he couldn¡¯t get a clear answer out of the old git. Ludwig seemed to rally his wits and stomped over to Vergil, shaking his finger at him. ¡°She came to me. Do you know that? She sought me out in my home. When the Empress had cast her out, she looked to me for aid. And I aided her. I aided her gladly, for she was ever my student.¡± He was now too close and Vergil flinched back. Alcohol stink wafted off the old man like a vaporous mantle. ¡°I always offered my advice and my aid to her. I kept her secret. And she treats me like trash.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know what happened, Master Ludwig. She wrote the letter in a hurry and sent me out with it.¡± ¡°She was cast out by the Empress for crimes so great that even she¡¯s ashamed of them. There is a price on her head. Did you know that? There is a very high price on her head, but they think she¡¯s dead, burned away to ashes.¡± A ghastly grin split his lips and spittle flew as he wound himself up. ¡°I could turn her in and earn my way back into Aztroa. Has she ever considered this?¡± Vergil didn¡¯t quite like where this line of thinking was going, not after his earlier run-in with the Guard. His hand grasped the pommel of the borrowed sword. Cutting the old man down wouldn¡¯t take any effort at all. No one would even know. No one would care. He flinched at the thought and spun on his heels. Someone had whispered the idea to him, right in his ear. He had felt the draft of breath on his skin. Nothing behind but the shifting candlelight shadows, flickering in tune with the flame¡¯s sputters. Stolen novel; please report. Ludwig read the crumpled paper again. ¡°Can I¡­¡± He hiccuped the words and his shoulders drooped as if the weight of years settled over him. ¡°Can I trust this, lad? Or will she just take what she needs of me again and go back on her promises?¡± It took effort to wrench his attention back to the old man. He was imagining things for lack of enough sleep. Pain bulged in his head, a throbbing, stabbing hurt that refused to let up. Tallah had warned him it would happen. ¡°I haven¡¯t known her that long, Master Ludwig, but she doesn¡¯t strike me as someone who¡¯d lie to her friends.¡± It surprised him that he believed that. In her own way, the sorceress had shown him¡­ well, not kindness, no, but perhaps something close enough to count? He wandered away from the old man¡¯s watery gaze, taking a candle with him. A forgotten cup of tea lay half-drunk on the side of a work table, lost amid the strewn-about instruments. Whatever he¡¯d been working on lay smashed up in a clump of metal and glass, discarded. Empty bottles clattered to the floor as Vergil stumbled over a stack of books. More experiments lay scattered and unfinished. Yes, the old man had been working on something since they¡¯d last seen him, quite feverishly by the looks of the detritus. A tinge of desperation hung silently draped over the room. ¡°What were you trying to make?¡± he asked as he studied some parchment filled with annotations and designs. Glasses? Sil used similar equipment when she tweaked and polished Tallah¡¯s spectacles. Ludwig sighed and sunk into the old armchair, earlier mania passed into dullness, his drunken mood swinging him into thoughtful contemplation. ¡°I never laid all my hopes at Tallah¡¯s feet. She¡¯s far too wild for that, far too unpredictable.¡± He produced a cup from somewhere and drank deeply. Vergil hoped it was tea. ¡°Her refusal, blunt as it was, hasn¡¯t deterred me. I still aim to find my way into the ancient city with or without her help.¡± He tried to rise from the chair but nearly toppled forward. Instead, he settled back with the same expression he had worn when making his pleas, feigning dignity. ¡°Tallah owns¡ªor rather, she has stolen an artefact that grants her an Egia¡¯s truest sight. It is called the Ikosmenia Mask and it is of immeasurable worth. She would not part with it for any price. I am attempting to replicate its abilities. I know the principle at work. It was taught to me by bastil Shadow Priests during my travels on Nen. I¡¯ve been trying for a long, long time and I shan¡¯t give up.¡± ¡°None of that means anything to me,¡± Vergil said. ¡°I don¡¯t know most of those things, and it¡¯s too early in the day to learn them.¡± Ludwig looked at him curiously. He scratched at the patchy stubble on his face. ¡°Why did you lie about what was written on the book¡¯s cover? What was your gain?¡± It took a moment to recall what the old man was talking about. ¡°That. I didn¡¯t lie and I had nothing to gain.¡± ¡°Then how did you know how to read the words?¡± ¡°I can¡¯t say. Tallah swore me to secrecy.¡± That was a lie. Tallah had taken it at face value that his chip could simply translate text as well as it helped him understand and speak Imperial, and said nothing about keeping it a secret. Ludwig chuckled. ¡°She would. Lad, there¡¯s paper in the drawer there. Fetch it for me. And the charcoal on the table. Yes, that one.¡± He wrote on his knee, the letters uneven and sloping down the page. His hand steadied as he went, as if shedding off reluctance and gaining purpose. Heat wafted off him, as it sometimes did off Tallah when she was working. ¡°I am a desperate fool. She¡¯s right on that account. I¡¯ll believe again that she needs my aid and will aid me in return.¡± He signed the letter with a flurry and handed it over. ¡°Help me up. My head¡¯s swimming in murky waters.¡± Vergil did, and then helped Ludwig up the stairs to the second level of his home. It was similarly devastated and reeked of old, unwashed clothes and unchanged linen. Under that stench there was again the tang of alcohol and the sweet aroma of tea. ¡°Take this to her.¡± The old man handed him a closed box, about the size of his palm, held shut by a rusted lock. He had taken it out of an old, battered-looking chest that creaked when opened. ¡°I¡¯ve lost the key to it years ago but I¡¯m certain she¡¯ll manage to open it.¡± Vergil stowed everything in his cloak¡¯s inner pockets, secured against the still howling wind. When he turned to leave, Ludwig clasped him by the arm. His old hand was much stronger than it had any right to be. ¡°I trust her words because you do, boy. Had she come herself I would have thrown her out. Make of that what you will.¡± He seemed to pull back into himself for a moment and his grip slackened. ¡°You listened.¡± Before fully releasing Vergil to the blizzard, he reached into his shirt and pulled out a small, time-worn pendant her wore tied to a silver chain on his neck, some kind of gemstone encased in a mesh of silver thread. Even in the poor light Vergil could see it pulsing gently, like a steady heartbeat. It seemed to drag to the side, as if pointing a certain way, counter to the wind rushing in. ¡°The girl is alive, lad. If you¡¯ve a heart in your breast, impress on Tallah that I may not survive another disappointment. Not after this.¡± Chapter 1.17.2: Im lost I¡¯m lost. It wasn¡¯t a comfortable thought and an even worse realisation. Some of the narrower paths he¡¯d followed coming in had snowed up as the storm churned and swirled above, seemingly gaining strength as morning approached. Going through the narrow chocked gaps proved foolhardy. He could try¡ªand didn¡¯t relish the thought of¡ªreturning to Master Ludwig to wait out the weather. Admitting defeat was better than freezing to death. Tallah¡¯s words were absurd. ¡®Go there, come back, don¡¯t faff about.¡¯ Bloody damn easy for her to decree, inhuman as she bloody was. Valen had trapped him in the Alchemists¡¯ Quarter and kept him trudging in circles. When a path proved blocked, he backtracked, then tried to go around. The whole thing repeated a few too many times and, with so little light, his headware had lost track of his turns and couldn¡¯t offer anything beyond vague solutions for guidance. Staring at an intersection of narrow alleys, the tracks behind him filling back up, he wasn¡¯t certain he could find Ludwig¡¯s hovel again. I should wait for dawn. But where? Knock on a random door? But there were no lit lights, no opened gates, no inviting doors. There was life, yes, by the muffled sound of work getting done, but heavy shutters had been drawn to keep Winter and stray fools out. It was getting harder to think. It was getting hard to breathe. An iron fist made up of night and cold squeezed him as he still tried to move forward. He¡¯d already drank Sil¡¯s concoction and it did absolutely shit-all to help. And the thing on the back of his head stung. It broke through the chill and kept him on edge, always aware of the heat behind his ears. Was he straying too far from the Meadow? Would it really kill him as horribly as Sil promised? Of course it would. Tallah wouldn¡¯t have lied just to keep him scared. Her wonderful personality managed that job expertly. ¡°Where am I?¡± he groaned as he started down another alley and immediately hit a dead end in a narrow slit between buildings. Snow rose up to his hips and it was soaking through his trousers and into his boots. He sighed, turned back, took the left path instead of the right, and fell. He stepped onto empty space and went arse over tip down a steep, frozen incline of stairs. This is how I die, he thought as he groped for a rail too far out of reach. He hit the twist in the drop and the flat of the first landing with a bone-crunching thud. Air went out of him in a painful gasp as he scrambled to grab hold of the thin, invisible balustrade, momentum trying to skid him forward and out into the black. It took a ridiculously long time to haul himself up. Something inside his chest felt tender. He¡¯d fallen quite a distance and was saved by the turn in the stairs, where they¡¯d been built to hug the wall. He would have met Spring dead, frozen, and buried somewhere in the Agora below, shattered like porcelain if not for the wrought-iron rail. There were all sorts of smaller ways to travel between the layers of Valen aside from the lifts. Some were safer than others. Most were closed off in Winter for good reason but not sealed off against idiots stumbling through. ¡°How lucky I am.¡± Pushing the words out hurt. Drawing in the next gasping, frigid breath stabbed into his chest. Below the night brightened and stray wisps of light punctured the dark. He wasn¡¯t sure he was seeing spots or if it was the Agora, but going down seemed like a better idea than up. All he needed to do was make sure he didn¡¯t slip. He slipped. A few meters still off solid ground his gloved hand caught a patch of ice glass on the balustrade, lost its grip, and he fell again. This time there was enough snow at the bottom to cushion the drop. Barely enough. Vergil considered lying where he fell. It was soft. He could sleep in the crater he¡¯d made and everything would be all right come morning. Or Spring. Whichever. Why even bother getting back? Snow was comfier than the gibbet had been and he¡¯d been perfectly content to wait to die in the cave. He was starting to feel wonderfully numb and cosy, even warm, in the encasing embrace of the storm. Red, bold letters scrolled over the gathering dark on the edges of his vision. They made no sense. Tallah could hang. His mission could hang too. She didn¡¯t care if he came back or¡ª Someone grabbed and hauled him up by the scruff of the neck. A swift, vicious kick in the arse shot him moving forward again, stumbling through the snow. He spun around, but there was nobody there, only the gash he¡¯d cut through the banks. He was pushed again, forward to the light, as if an invisible hand had lost patience with him. Sil¡¯s tonic bubbled in his stomach and filled him with renewed strength. What was he thinking?! No, he wasn¡¯t going to die on a walk from one part of the city to the other. The idea of it was mental. If Tallah heard she¡¯d laugh her arse off. Though¡­ had Argia just insulted him? He tried to scroll back but the text garbled up. It kept repeating the danger warning over and over again, the letters rearranging and disappearing. ¡°What the Hell¡¯s going on?¡± he gasped out, feeling like he was losing bits of his mind. Nothing in his life had been quite as wonderful as that sight of the Agora in the predawn gloom, lit sparsely by sprite lights. Stalls were closed and buried under thick, white blankets, barely even resembling their function. But he knew where he was. He had woken up on the first day exactly two alleyways from where he stood just then. A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. ¡°The Pitcher¡¯s just ahead.¡± Ahead, unfortunately, meant all the way across the great plaza. Vergil doubted the dregs of strength he was drawing on. But to the right of him, just a short jaunt away, was Merg¡¯s. It occurred to him that Mertle had gone into the night just a short time before he did and less dressed for it too. He liked her a lot, from the little she¡¯d talked to him when coming and going together with Sil. Sil, who to his absolute surprise, was actually human. It made her a lot easier to approach and talk to. The aelir persona made him sweat and stutter and stumble over words that should have been easy. He pushed on Merg¡¯s door and it swung inwards easily, unlocked, helped by the eager wind. ¡°Mertle¡­¡± His voice came out in a ragged, croaking whisper. Closing the door was almost too difficult to manage. The gale put up a fight. With a creak, and taking everything he had left, he managed to push back the heavy wooden door. Vergil blinked and immediately regretted it. Bright, intensely hot light blinded him. He blinked again and squinted against the sun flare. For a moment he feared he was still in Ludwig¡¯s door, fainted at the sight of the fireball. He tried to move. Something heavy weighed him down. Heat swaddled him. For a split moment he panicked, remembering the cage and the cook fire and¡­ No! This wasn¡¯t that cage. This wasn¡¯t the cave. He¡¯d survived them. He¡¯d been rescued. His heart threatened to burst out of him as he tried to work his arms free of whatever bonded him. The room resolved in his blurry vision. Straight ahead there was the coal-burning heart of a forge. Sweltering heat came out through a grate by the side. To his right there were tools arranged on neat racks on a wall, together with blades of all shapes and sizes. Some looked to have been well used. ¡°Gave me the scare of my life, Vergil,¡± a voice said from his left. He swung his gaze around and was startled to look into Mertle¡¯s face leaning in too close for his own comfort. ¡°What happened?¡± he whispered. She brought a cup of water to his lips and he drank greedily, only now aware of how thirsty he was. Mertle disappeared from his side and came back a moment later with a refilled cup. He drank it too. ¡°What happened?¡± he asked again, stronger now. Blankets were heaped on top of him as he lay on a narrow cot. The smell of dry hay and weapon grease hit a moment later. He¡¯d never smelled anything more wonderful in his life. ¡°Our door slammed is what happened. We heard it all the way back here,¡± Mertle said as she pried some of the blankets off him, making it easier to breathe. ¡°When we rushed out we found it wide open and you collapsed against the wall. Looks like it hit you in the face.¡± It had? Vergil worked his arm out from the blankets and pressed a hand to his cheek. He recoiled. His entire right side was tender and throbbing with a sharp, cutting pain. He¡¯d slipped when trying to close the blasted thing. It had swung back at him and here he was. ¡°No wonder Tallah wants armour for you,¡± Tummy¡¯s voice sounded from behind. His approach was marked by the room trembling with his heavy steps. ¡°You lost a scrape with our door. I¡¯m honestly ashamed of training you.¡± The smith stopped in front of him and grinned, fists on his hips. ¡°Feeling better, twig?¡± ¡°Yeah. Thank you. I didn¡¯t know where else to go.¡± ¡°Glad to hear it. Happy to be of service. Now then¡­¡± Tummy grabbed him by the front of his shirt and hauled him up one handed, neatly extracting him from the blankets. His feet dangled above the floor. ¡°Mind explaining that to us?¡± he asked and inclined his head towards Mertle. She held out a flask. It was the one the Storm Guard woman had given him, shining in the light. Mertle caressed the emblazoned mark on the smooth surface. ¡°Why do you have this, Vergil?¡± she asked with the same sweetness she had always afforded him, but the smile on her lips did not reach all the way up to her eyes. The way she looked at him unnerved him even worse than the sorceress. Looking from her to Tummy it dawned on him that he¡¯d gravely misunderstood who these two were. If they had truck with Tallah then there was more to them than he¡¯d been led to believe. The smith held a short sword, as wide as his thick arm. Its blade caught the forge light with a malicious glint. He told them of his night as fast as his mind could recall and arrange events. He told them of the two he¡¯d met in the storm, of Ludwig and his answer for Tallah, of wandering and falling. And he got as far as the door, in all detail, before Tummy decided to set him back on the cot. Mertle regarded him thoughtfully, spinning the flask in her slender hands. Tummy waited by her side, sword still at the ready, an unreadable expression on his face. After some time she looked up and gave him the tiniest nod. ¡°Guess something¡¯s really spooked Tallah if she¡¯s got you running errands in this weather,¡± she said when Tummy turned around and went to his work. Her smile was back and genuine now. There was real concern in her voice. Tension bled out of the room and Vergil as she headed to a bucket and emptied the flask in it. She threw the empty container to Tummy, who tossed it into his crucible. ¡°I think you shouldn¡¯t tell Tallah about your little run-in,¡± Mertle said as she searched for something in cupboards. ¡°If she¡¯s got thistles in her trousers then this is going to make her insufferable. You don¡¯t want Tallah getting jumpier than her normal.¡± ¡°If I were involved with the Storm Guard, wouldn¡¯t it have been stupid to threaten me?¡± Vergil immediately regretted his words. Out of anything he could have said to fill the silence, he chose to voice the stupidest question he thought of. But it struck him as so odd. If he were in league with the peace keepers, who¡¯d threaten him so out of hand?! Mertle laughed softly. Tummy laughed a lot harder. ¡°Twiggy, you came in from the storm at an ungodly hour. It wouldn¡¯t be much trouble putting you back out in it with your head screwed on backward.¡± He slammed the hammer on his anvil with earth shaking force, as if to give credence to the words. ¡°Thaw¡¯s still a long way away.¡± ¡°Point taken,¡± Vergil said, swallowing a lump. ¡°Sil said you have a good head on your shoulders,¡± Mertle said as she handed him a glass of a clear liquid that smelled pungent. It came from a dusty, unlabelled bottle that she dug out from behind the forge. ¡°She also mentioned you¡¯re sometimes dumber than one of Tummy¡¯s hammers. I think you¡¯re sweet for worrying about me when you had bigger things on your mind.¡± He felt his cheeks burn and looked away from her smile. She wore leather trousers and a battered apron, like the first day he¡¯d walked into their shop. Her back and shoulders were bare, and he could see the dense cluster of tattoos crowding her skin. One of them bore more than an uncanny resemblance to Sil. There were other faces, smaller, with names and dates written. The text was too small for him to read at a glance. Without thinking, and to stop himself staring, he threw back the drink. He only caught a glimpse of Mertle¡¯s horrified expression before the world rotated ninety degrees sideways and all went black. Chapter 1.17.3: Dead and frozen somewhere ¡°I¡¯m going to go look for him.¡± ¡°You¡¯re not going anywhere until we have the caravan employed.¡± ¡°He should have been back by now.¡± ¡°He¡¯s waiting out the storm at Ludwig¡¯s. He had enough time to get there before it worsened.¡± Sil wanted to say something more but Tallah held up a hand. ¡°What is it with you and the sudden bout of concern for the waste of skin?¡± ¡°I have a conscience,¡± Sil said, much more accusingly than she intended. ¡°I have two of those and they don¡¯t kick up this much of a fuss. Vergil¡¯s fine.¡± Bloody sure he wasn¡¯t. The boy was held together by big dreams and sinew. Sending him out was beyond cruel, so far so that it bordered on imbecilic. ¡°He could be freezing to death somewhere.¡± ¡°So could you if you go after him. Sit still and wait quietly. He¡¯ll be along after it quiets down out there.¡± Tallah was back to pacing the room like a caged corallin, arguing in terse whispers with Christina and Bianca. They too resented the idea of going with Ludwig anywhere, especially as it all hinged on the sorceress¡¯s one bad premonition. Granted, those were usually right as she had an obscenely accurate sense for danger, but this felt excessive even for her. ¡°You¡¯re fretting your tits off, but you¡¯re telling me to be calm?¡± There was no spoken answer, just a glare. She turned back to the window, watching for some change in the weather, or at least some sign of the boy stumbling back. Vergil was still in her care and still recovering. Simply discarding him didn¡¯t sit well in her stomach. Verti¡¯s girl was due back any minute. Miria had already informed them that the caravan master was taking his morning meal and would be available for a meeting soon after. Vulniu asked few questions and answered none about his cargo and passengers. Travelling with him would be¡­ fine. A knock at the door. It repeated, insistent. Why is she trying to break down the door? She opened and found herself face to face with a runner. Miria was nowhere to be seen. ¡°Yes?¡± she asked, more than a little confused. They weren¡¯t expecting any word from Aliana. Confusion turned to surprise, then outrage as the boy walked in, right past her as if she weren¡¯t there. He was caked in snow and wrapped in a thick cloak with a head covering that hid most of his face. His footsteps thumped the floor when he walked, chunks of ice breaking off his thick boots to leave a melting trail. ¡°Excuse me?¡± He walked right into the sitting room and headed for the hearth. He clinked and clanked as he walked, as if he were armed and armoured beneath the layers of padding. Tallah watched him walk by, gaze swivelling like an owl¡¯s to follow his movement. ¡°Welcome back,¡± she said. Vergil? Sil was having a hard time making up her mind if to laugh, hug him, or push him into the fire for worrying her. Vergil raised his hands to the heat of the hearth and slowly defrosted. The first thing he did after was turn to Tallah, raise his right hand, and show her his middle finger. She chuckled, ¡°I don¡¯t know what that means, but I assume it¡¯s rude.¡± ¡°It¡¯s¡­ b-bloody cold¡­ out there,¡± he said in a hoarse whisper. His teeth chattered. ¡°I expect that it is. How¡¯s Ludwig?¡± ¡°D-drunk off his arse and m-miserable.¡± Sil helped him peel off the mask he wore. He smiled at her, sheepish almost, red faced under the hood. Now that he no longer resembled some strange snow-man, she saw that he wore completely different clothes than the ones he¡¯d gone out in. This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. ¡°Mertle says ¡®Hi¡¯,¡± Vergil said as he unclasped his cloak and set it up to dry by the hearth. ¡°I swung by on my way back.¡± ¡°She fitted you out well I see.¡± Tummy had been busy while Mertle spent her time with Sil. Vergil wore a cuirass breastplate over a thickly padded gambeson. It all seemed very sturdy and functional, as expected of the smith. Subdued greenish-greys were the main colours, with only a thick scarf adding a splash of sky-blue. ¡°Tummy calls these highwayman clothes,¡± Vergil said, noticing her curiosity. ¡°Said I¡¯m too scrawny for proper plate but this should suffice for now. Also said Tallah¡¯s off her tits if she thinks I¡¯ll ever fill up enough for the kind of gear she wanted to waste money on.¡± Sil laughed and Tallah flushed to the tips of her ears. ¡°A fool and her money get easily parted, he also said. There¡¯s more to proper defence than how thick the metal you lug around.¡± ¡°Yes, yes, I get the idea. I trust he knows his business better than I.¡± ¡°Oh, this is the very short version. He went on for almost a bell¡¯s length. I remember more of it.¡± Tallah gave a tight lipped smile and sucked her teeth before changing subjects. ¡°I¡¯m sure. What did Ludwig say?¡± ¡°Would you like me to repeat word for word? My headware¡¯s saved up a transcript.¡± Sil turned his head side to side and inspected his ears. Then she checked his fingers. And finally his toes. As intact as the moment he went out, even if much pinker in the face and smelling faintly of booze. Mertle must have given him one of her distilled nightmarish concoctions. It explained his sudden bout of backbone. Released from her attention, Vergil sank into the chair and stretched out his legs. ¡°There¡¯s a letter in the inner pocket of my cloak and a locked box. He said you¡¯d manage to open it.¡± For someone that had spent half the night out in the storm, Vergil looked none the worse for it. It galled her to admit that Tallah might have been right in her own thick-headed way. The sorceress unfurled the folded paper, stared at it, and went to fetch her glasses. ¡°How drunk was he?¡± She squinted at the letter. She turned it upside down. Then tilted it. ¡°Sil, you try. We can¡¯t make heads or tails of this.¡± ¡°Three of you in there and you need me to read an old man¡¯s writing? For shame!¡± All right, it was bad. Words stumbled one over the other and nearly fell off the page. There were no two lines the same height, or even with similar spelling. It trumped even her own horrible penmanship. ¡°Err, right. How drunk was he, again?¡± ¡°Very,¡± Vergil replied and shrugged apologetically. ¡°What do you mean by three of you in there?¡± ¡°She¡¯s got imaginary friends. They¡¯re all rude.¡± By his expression, he actually believed her. She was just about to correct her explanation when Tallah pipped up, annoyance getting the best of her patience. ¡°The letter, Sil, can you bloody read it?¡± ¡°Ah. There¡¯s some colourful language on top, and then it basically tells you to use the item in the box and get to him when you¡¯re good to go. He¡¯ll have his affairs in order in a day and be ready to head out.¡± Tallah nearly exploded the top of the box off with a flame burst. It flew off with a sharp crack and azure light flooded the room. ¡°Oh, that old bastard,¡± Tallah breathed out as she picked up the shard inside. Light flowed out between her fingers. ¡°Makes you think, Sil, of what other secrets the old fool¡¯s been keeping from us.¡± ¡°Is that like the thing you gave Mistress Aliana?¡± Vergil asked. He was keenly fascinated by the glow. ¡°Yes, but ten times more valuable. This is a live shard, Vergil. It¡¯s got an anchor tied to it.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know what that is.¡± Tallah laughed. ¡°It¡¯s a sliver of an Illum Hearth.¡± Light pulsed between her fingers, changing shades of blues. She stowed it back in its box and went to find the mangled lid. ¡°This has a twin somewhere. They¡¯re always drawn to one another, meant to come together no matter what. We can portal directly to it without the city¡¯s own Hearth altering our destination. To the Empress, one of these is worth as much as a city.¡± Sil passed Vergil buttered bread and a cup of hot coffee. He looked like he could use both. ¡°Which begs the question, why doesn¡¯t he just buy her favour back with that?¡± ¡°I¡¯ll bet you a jar of wild honey that he hasn¡¯t come across this by happenstance. Bet you a second one that this is how he¡¯s made sure nobody else knows the way to his secret city.¡± ¡°Lovely. And we¡¯re trusting him with our safety. For all you know, that could portal you straight into the deepest dungeon in Aztroa Magnor.¡± Tallah regarded her with an amused expression. ¡°And you thought I was horrible. If he were to give us up he¡¯d have done it years ago. No, I think this is safe.¡± A grimace twisted her smirk into something altogether quite nasty, but it was only a flicker on her face. ¡°Christina doesn¡¯t agree I take it?¡± ¡°And, like you, she hasn¡¯t come up with anything better. Like it or not, we¡¯re committing.¡± And, to give finality to her words, here came the soft, respectful knock on the door that announced Miria. Lovely. Chapter 1.18.1: A bad plans a plan Vergil slept the sleep of the terminally exhausted, fallen off while Sil and Tallah argued on how best to handle the immediate future. By the time he woke and uncurled off his cot, on late afternoon of what felt like a different year altogether, the apartment had become an eerily quiet place. The earlier headache still dogged him, grown into a mute presence holding his head in a vice-like grip of throbbing pain. A niggling sensation of something trying to scratch its way out of his brain got him to his feet. Argia was at it again, trying to reestablish connection to a ship that was a reality away. It¡¯d quiet down after some time. He stumbled into the common room in time to see Tallah slice open a dark slit in the air. It hovered a palm¡¯s breadth above the floor. She widened it with a gesture into something about the size of a door. ¡°Good. You¡¯re awake. Carry these in there,¡± she instructed, as if there wasn¡¯t a big rip in the air itself. ¡°Don¡¯t gawk. Hop to it.¡± He stuck his hand in and it didn¡¯t come out the other side. The cold inside bit. ¡°It¡¯s a hole,¡± he said, too stupid for the time being to articulate anything more profound. ¡°It¡¯s a Rend. You¡¯ve seen them before.¡± She pointed to a pack of clothes on the floor. ¡°Go on, take them in.¡± It was his first time seeing one as big as this. He¡¯d mostly seen Sil stowing stuff in her little black portals, or taking out vials and supplies for her alchemy. ¡°What¡¯s in there?¡± ¡°Nothing.¡± ¡°Why is it whispering?¡± Tallah stared at him, then at the Rend. She came next to him and placed the back of her hand to his forehead. ¡°Just daft with an overactive imagination, not feverish,¡± she proclaimed. ¡°The Rend¡¯s not whispering. There¡¯s nothing in there to do anything of the sort.¡± Vergil heard it quite clearly. Well, not clearly, more like a stream of static that never resolved into a language he could understand, but the impression of words was there. He really shouldn¡¯t accept strange drinks anymore¡­ ¡°Where does it lead to?¡± ¡°Nowhere.¡± He tried to mimic one of the impatient glares Sil always threw around. ¡°Go into the dark portal, Vergil. There¡¯s nothing in there, Vergil. It doesn¡¯t go anywhere, Vergil. Do the two of you ever hear yourselves?¡± Tallah frowned, midway into stowing some books inside her chest. In a minute Vergil regretted his outburst as she launched into an explanation of what a Rend was in her usual cryptic way that assumed he was either much smarter than he really was, or a complete imbecile. Reality grew thin around people like her and Sil because of how they drew illum to them. A skilled enough channeller, like herself, could rearrange¡ªand here she¡¯d lost him completely¡ªthat thin reality into a gap outside of reality that only they could access and use it to store things inside. Clear enough? Mental. Absolutely mental. It shut him up. The two had been busy while he slept and it made him feel vaguely ashamed for it, and a little uneasy in seeing the room left so bare. Tianna and Sil¡¯s lives fit neatly into the large chest that now dominated one wall of the room. What was still out were some clothes, Tallah¡¯s trio of swords, and a bunch of labelled jars, the contents of which were either vile or alien to him. All of it depressing. He picked up the neatly stacked clothes, drew in and held a breath, and stepped through the Rend. Like dipping into ice-cold water. The chill knocked the air out of him. He¡¯d expected a kind of midnight darkness but was met by grey twilight. The walls of the room outside became ghostly and indistinct. He could see Tallah move about, passing through the empty space he occupied, like two images overlaying. There were shelves that hadn¡¯t been in the Meadow room. Some of them had nick-knacks heaped upon but most were covered by books and Sil¡¯s alchemy supplies. There was a small chest on another with a very large lock set upon it. Air was thin and smelled faintly of a chemical spill. The whispers were louder on this side of the portal, buzzing almost, skipping like a bad communication port on the Gloria. How could Tallah not hear it? That, or she was pulling his leg. ¡°There you are! Stay put!¡± He whirled in place. He¡¯d heard a woman¡¯s voice clear as crystal. It had been just there, right besides him. Only Tallah¡¯s ghostly figure passed through, crossing the room outside the Rend, unconcerned. ¡°There is something in there.¡± Vergil¡¯s voice cracked when he rushed out. Whether from the cold or the shock he wasn¡¯t sure. ¡°I¡¯m not making it up. I swear.¡± Tallah gave him a suffering glare, walked past him and disappeared into the Rend. She was back out a few moments later. ¡°Vergil, there¡¯s nothing in there. Blast you, I thought you¡¯d finally grown a backbone last night. If you¡¯re scared of the dark just say so.¡± ¡°I was drunk. And I¡¯m not scared of the dark.¡± ¡°And it¡¯s left you dumb? Get out of my way.¡± She picked up the sheathed swords and carried them in. Her agitation left him shuffling his feet uncertainly, too red with embarrassment to even look at her as she walked circles around the nearly empty room, checking for things she might have missed. The portal just floated there, its edges rippling slightly as if from an unfelt breeze. Maybe he had imagined it? The connecting log was there, but it lasted less than a second. Maybe a bug with Argia? Maybe it was finally starting to malfunction? The unmentionable jars he took in himself. No more connections. No more voices in the dark space. Just the feeling of being watched by something that was constantly on the back of his head but maybe that¡¯s just how Argia reacted to the absurd notion of a Rend. ¡°Where¡¯s Sil?¡± he asked to distract himself from the idea that his headware might be going loopy. ¡°Talking to Vulniu. Man¡¯s merciless. He¡¯s charging me two arms and a whole arse for passage on his caravan.¡± ¡°We¡¯re leaving with him?¡± ¡°No. But he¡¯s charging me too much to take my chest. Said he knows what channellers do with their luggage and how he expects it¡¯ll weight three times what it should.¡± She scoffed. ¡°It weighs five times what it should, but that¡¯s besides the point. It¡¯s a matter of principle.¡± Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. She gestured to the large, ornate thing that now roosted alone by the wall. ¡°You can¡¯t put it in your¡­ uh, in your Rend?¡± ¡°It¡¯s too heavy and carrying too many things imbued with illum. It¡¯d distort the space and make it available for implings and their ilk. Blighters steal everything they can carry, and chew on what they can¡¯t.¡± She gave him a grin. ¡°Ask Sil about them. I bet she¡¯d love to tell you a story or two about ruined unmentionables. And rightly blame me.¡± Vergil placed a hand on the chest¡¯s polished ebony lid and took another look around the now empty room. The sight of it stirred something inside he couldn¡¯t quite understand. In the few weeks since he¡¯d met Tallah and Sil, that apartment on the third level of the Meadow had become home, or something as close to as he¡¯d ever known. Tallah was doing another sweep of the rooms, checking nooks and corners, climbing on furniture and checking above dressers. ¡°Can you please tell me what¡¯s going on? Why are we in such a hurry to leave?¡± She shrugged, not turning to him. ¡°Sil says I¡¯ve gone mad. She¡¯s probably right. But my instinct tells me things have taken a turn that¡¯s going to be bad for me. I¡¯ve enough scars to know when to listen to instinct.¡± He hadn¡¯t expected an answer, much less an honest one. He would¡¯ve preferred something more clear. ¡°But, if you¡¯re not certain, isn¡¯t Tianna suddenly disappearing going to just make things worse?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t care. I¡¯m burning this plan and scattering the ashes. I¡¯ll try again later, in some other way.¡± ¡°Try what? What was the plan? I¡¯m not bright enough for riddles.¡± She waved his question away then gave him a strange look. ¡°What do I do about you?¡± she asked, voice low, as if suddenly realising he was there. Vergil recoiled. ¡°Not kill me, I hope.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t be daft. Why would you¡ª Never mind. I¡¯ll cut you loose when we get somewhere safe again. I won¡¯t have the luxury of wasting time on deciphering whatever you are.¡± No. No, he refused the very notion of being left on his own again. ¡°May I make a suggestion?¡± Tallah narrowed her eyes and gave him a long look, as if deciding if it was worth her time. He went on before she answered. ¡°If I''ve pieced things together right, you¡¯re worried that Tianna was compromised as a cover. I don¡¯t know how or why, but I heard you and Sil talking about some things, and I think you had a long term plan involving the Storm Guard. You¡¯re not just hiding here. You¡¯re plotting.¡± Vergil was supposed to be asleep when some of those conversations happened. By Tallah¡¯s deepening frown, she realised this and did not like the implication. He swallowed and went on, ¡°So I think that you¡¯re now willing to drop everything because of something that¡¯s happened last night that got you panicking. You¡¯re not just hiding; you¡¯re really trying to infiltrate the Fortress?¡± It was a guess. ¡°Go on,¡± she said, dry amusement coating the words. ¡°So¡­ uh¡­ why don¡¯t you ask someone else to be Tianna for a time? And reveal yourself as alive, to distinguish the two? Maybe¡­ Sil?¡± He quickly added. ¡°I mean, you know, Tianna is pretty reclusive. Aside from about four people, I haven¡¯t seen you interacting with almost anyone in Valen. It wouldn¡¯t take much to just show the disguise around and convince people.¡± Tallah was quiet for a time and then laughed slowly. ¡°Had we not been vain and stupid years ago, that would work. But we both have two disguises already. A third wouldn¡¯t stick for weeks, maybe a whole season.¡± ¡°Me?¡± ¡°You¡¯d need to be utterly convinced you are who you look to be. From one sex to the other is¡­ complicated for most people.¡± ¡°Ah.¡± Vergil sat on the lid of the chest, deflated. ¡°Would Mertle be able to do it?¡± ¡°With help and time, sure. Though I¡¯m not going to ask her.¡± She sat next to him, stretched out her legs and crossed them at the ankles. ¡°I¡¯m curious how much else you¡¯ve been piecing together.¡± There was, again, the same amusement in her voice but with an edge that Vergil wasn¡¯t certain how to interpret. He decided to take his chances. ¡°Ludwig was very vocal about some things. It wasn¡¯t hard to connect everything with what I¡¯ve been seeing.¡± ¡°Mhm, go on.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t want to ask Mertle to do this¡­ because she¡¯s hiding as well?¡± He curdled the end of the sentence into a question without meaning to, but the idea had just occurred to him. It made a kind of sense that Tallah would surround herself with similar rogues. That glint in Mertle¡¯s eyes, the way she had weighed his words and his life, her will to deal with someone like Tallah. It made sense. ¡°And where would you have gotten that kind of idea, bucket-head?¡± He¡¯d hit a nerve. It was in her voice and all over her face and in the thousand-leagues stare that avoided glancing at him. She can¡¯t lie to save her life, he realised with some satisfaction. He told her the full story about the meeting with the Captain woman of the Storm Guard. She listened quietly to the entire thing but a crack showed in her mask. An eye twitched. And he could swear she was getting hot, like a boiling kettle close to bursting under the building pressure. ¡°I think you¡¯re underestimating what Mertle¡¯s willing to do for you and Sil,¡± he said in closing, shifting uncomfortably as she kept quiet and got hotter. A glance over showed her chewing on the knuckle of her finger. ¡°I could have cut you loose if you hadn¡¯t told me all that,¡± she finally said, voice low. ¡°You knowing about me can¡¯t be helped. You figuring Mertle out¡­ silly girl, couldn¡¯t just play her chosen part.¡± ¡°You and Sil, for all your threats and secrets, you don¡¯t really hold back around me. Sometimes I think you forget I¡¯m here.¡± Tallah pushed herself to her feet and straightened. Her hands flashed fire for a moment, then sputtered out. Vergil clasped his hands together and swallowed down the lump of fear in his throat. ¡°I don¡¯t want to be cut loose. I want to help you.¡± Conviction came easily. He believed every word. ¡°I stand by what I said. I don¡¯t care that you¡¯re hunted.¡± ¡°Sil said you have some ideas of the sort. The Storm Guard have some particularly nasty things in store for me, and some even nastier ones for those fool enough to follow me.¡± She turned a hard, pitiless look on him. ¡°If I¡¯m to be taken, I will burn you alive even if it¡¯s with my last breath. With what you know, I should probably kill you now. But I¡¯ll never get Sil to shut up about it if I do.¡± She would kill him. He knew that. He wasn¡¯t afraid to die, not really. The thought of letting Tallah down, or Sil, or Tummy¡­ ¡°You won¡¯t be taken.¡± Vergil grinned. ¡°You don¡¯t seem like the type to let it happen.¡± ¡°Fancy that,¡± Tallah said with a voice and expression not wholly her own, ¡°the stupid boy has become a frightfully stupid man, all in the span of one storm and a nap. Colour me impressed. His suggestion does have merit if Mergara goes back to bad habits.¡± Tallah clamped down, bit her lip, and let out a long sigh of annoyance. ¡°Vergil, meet Christi, the original architect of our entire mess.¡± ¡°Sil wasn¡¯t pulling my leg?¡± ¡°Christi¡¯s a grafted soul, not an imaginary friend. Sil was being an arse.¡± ¡°How¡ª¡± But she was already moving away, distracted. Her long stare was back. Vergil waited as she paced the room in tight, slow circles. It didn¡¯t take long for her inner council to reach a conclusion. ¡°Get dressed,¡± she snapped. ¡°You¡¯re a runner again.¡± He was on his feet before her first words were even out. ¡°Where am I going?¡± He was almost giddy with excitement. His head pounded still. But Tallah was going to give him another mission all of his own. ¡°Aliana. And then to Mertle. You¡¯re to present the plan to them and¡ªI insist on this¡ªdo not try and convince them to do anything. You tell them that I will be making a move and I need to substitute Tianna for a time. For that, I need their help. Whatever they decide, you get right back here once you¡¯re done.¡± ¡°Why Mistress Aliana? What plan?¡± ¡°Mertle¡¯s an elend. Like you, she can¡¯t channel illum, can¡¯t use the staff. If Aliana¡¯s willing, she¡¯s going to do it for her after Sil and I go to ground for a time. She¡¯s protected enough by her station that she won¡¯t draw suspicion and, even if she does, she doesn¡¯t need to care.¡± Vergil bounced on the balls of his feet as he pulled on his armour and its padding. Tallah helped him draw up the face covering. Her hands were warm and a light had lit up behind Tianna¡¯s midnight-blue eyes. Whatever hesitation she had felt before, it was gone now. She explained what she wanted of Mertle and how to reach Aliana unquestioned. He repeated back every word until she was satisfied. ¡°When are we starting?¡± he asked. ¡°Now. If anything¡¯s to happen, it won¡¯t take them long to marshal against me. The sooner we get everyone on board, the better.¡± He ran out into the hallway and into the descending night. It wasn¡¯t as bad a storm as the one the day prior but the wind still cut to the bone. Purpose kept him warm, and the fire he saw in Tallah¡¯s eyes lent him strength to wade through the crowd and the snow. The White-leafed Tree shone above Valen¡¯s higher quarters, still catching the last wisps of daylight in its silver leaves. A gap in the clouds above, punched through by the Hearth¡¯s venting, allowed stray evening sunlight to filter through. Fire hung in the sky and Vergil pushed and shoved his way towards it. Chapter 1.18.2: Our worst plan yet I do not support this course of action, Tallah. This is an even worse plan than your previous. ¡°You¡¯ve been outvoted.¡± How can you, Christina? How do you justify trusting our fate to some elend whelp? Bianca was starting to get on her nerves. She had made her protests, loudly so, and had been outvoted for the final decision. Now, it would be kind of her to bloody shut up about it. ¡°It makes sense for us. If we salvage Tianna, we won¡¯t have wasted five full years.¡± And what exactly do you plan to do? You are not fit to face the princeling. If he joins the fray, we will not survive. We will have wasted ourselves on a mindless gambit. Again, I might add. ¡°I don¡¯t need to win. I only need him to see me. I¡¯m going to rely on you two for the element of surprise.¡± You had surprise on your side the last time. It did not work out as I recall the reports. You survived the fire by the skin of your teeth. Enough, Bianca, Christina finally said. We all know the risk. We can but hope we¡¯re enough. Worst case, we have Professor Ludwig¡¯s shard. Which we don¡¯t know where it leads to. This is pure folly. ¡°It is what it is, Bianca. We¡¯ll manage. I can handle Falor.¡± You can¡¯t win. ¡°I don¡¯t need to. Bloody his nose and run. It¡¯ll be good to see how we measure up to him now.¡± Christina let out an annoyed mental sigh. If Anna lied to us, I will give her such a flaying when we bring her into our communion. And what will that achieve? We can¡¯t feel pain. Bianca¡¯s high tone was slipping in her impatience. Now she sounded more like her old, provincial self, rather than the mock Aztroa courtier. It¡¯ll make me feel better about this entire sorry business. You two are children. I swear. Worse than. You are petty children. Tallah let out a slow breath, trying to calm a cringing thing inside herself. She looked at the empty room and at the empty fireplace and at her empty desk, and felt the familiar, anxious twinge in her heart. The mountain loomed in her mind¡¯s eye, a dark, jagged spectre of razor-edged peaks, bottomless gorges, and winds that howled and moaned through crevices and across gaping maws of stone Aztroa¡¯s Crown wore its own crown of merciless storms with all the grace of a bloodthirsty tyrant and twice the cruelty. Tallah had overcome it once. Against the murderous cold, the mad, laughing wind, and the break-neck drops, she and Sil had endured and walked away from the horrors in the heart of the Crown. Could she do it again, if she failed here? Probably not. Best not to fail, then, Christina intruded into her private thoughts. Stop lolling about. We¡¯ve cast our die. Let¡¯s get you fit to face a walking calamity. She pushed herself up from the chest¡¯s lid and went to Sil¡¯s emptied desk. Ten half-bands of new metal waited for her, five fresh limiters. Two on each arm, one on her neck. Two by two they clasped together and then tightened on their own. Cold metal on hot skin. Her furnace fire inside focused sharply as if squeezed by invisible bonds. She produced a flame on the tip of one finger and ran it across her hands, moving it over and under her fingers, careful not to burn skin again. Her control felt almost perfect. She does fine work, Christina mused. For all her faults, she¡¯s quite adept at producing these trinkets. Only five do the work of the ten that someone of your capacity would need. Six, if we count the one with the trinket. Tallah increased the illum flow. It moved through her with clarity of purpose, like liquid cold fire in her veins. Pain accompanied it, but it was now more a memory rather than the sharp stabs from the first days after her burnout. The more power she used, the more memory threatened to push into reality but she¡¯d manage. Someone¡¯s coming, Bianca said. The door. Elend. Vergil couldn¡¯t have been gone more than half a bell strike. That left Verti or one of her girls. But it wasn¡¯t time for supper yet. Sil wasn¡¯t even back from her haggling. ¡°Good evening, Your Grace.¡± It was Verti herself. She was red-faced with anger. Pert, one of her big bruisers, stood a half-step behind her. He was holding his hat in his hands and nodded respectfully to her. Verti wrung her hands in her apron and spoke as if chased, ¡°I so apologise for disturbing you, Lady Aieni. But I believe you need to know this. You have been threatened.¡± Well, that¡¯s something to spring on a woman. ¡°Slow down, Verti. Who threatened me?¡± Tallah asked, feeling quite sanguine about the news. It made sense that the night would come with more surprises now that she committed to a plan of action. ¡°I¡­ I don¡¯t know, Lady Aieni. The common room¡¯s full to bursting. I was helping the girls when someone grabbed my arm in the crowd. They¡­ she? I think it was a woman¡¯s voice. It happened so quickly. She said, and pardon me for repeating, ¡®They¡¯re coming for Tianna of Aieni Holding. Third bell of the night. Tell her or this place goes up in flames.¡¯¡± She cursed in elend and wouldn¡¯t meet Tallah¡¯s eye. ¡°I have already sent for the constabulary. I will not have my guests threatened in my own home.¡± Tallah laughed. She looked at the large bruiser, a retired adventurer that Verti kept very well paid to keep trouble away from the Meadow, and she couldn¡¯t help herself. The elendine looked ready to sink through the floor in embarrassment. She wiped her eyes and tried to compose an answer. ¡°I apologise,¡± she said, still feeling the laughter bubbling inside. ¡°Don¡¯t mind such things, Verti. A threat on my person is absolutely ridiculous. Nobody would dare.¡± Oh, the Guard would dare, she had no qualms about that. They¡¯d likely come in force, with no thought spared for the fallout to come, to take out a soul thief. ¡°Don¡¯t look so glum,¡± she went on, taking the elendine¡¯s hand in her own and patting it. ¡°I¡¯m certain it¡¯s nothing to worry yourself over.¡± ¡°But¡ª¡± If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. ¡°None of that. I assume you brought your guard to ensure my protection?¡± ¡°Yes, ma¡¯am,¡± said bouncer replied in a thick, grizzly voice. ¡°At your pleasure, ma¡¯am.¡± She dismissed him with a shooing motion of her hand. ¡°Run along. You¡¯d best see to the common room. I believe this was nothing more than some rabble-rouser trying to get you rattled, my dear.¡± ¡°But¡ª¡± She smiled and the elendine flushed bright crimson all the way up to the edges of her horns, uncertainty washing over her face in waves. ¡°I appreciate your care. I really do. But this is a hoax. I have no enemies, here in Valen least of all. And my father¡¯s business partners are perfectly happy to have me as far from Calabran as possible.¡± She gave another reassuring squeeze to Verti¡¯s hand before letting go. ¡°Thank you so much for your concern, but it¡¯s really misplaced. And know that I¡¯ll be out tonight. I plan on seeing the Descent. If there¡¯s any trouble, I invite it to my flame.¡± Helped along by another encouraging smile, Verti relented, bowed, turned and left. Pert followed in her wake. Tallah waited until they were safely down the stairs before she slammed the door and let out a slow, satisfied sigh. It¡¯s a trap, Christina said. It must be, Bianca agreed. ¡°I don¡¯t care.¡± Small gasps of laughter slipped out as she returned to the empty room. Without really meaning to, she opened up a Rend and retrieved a package from inside. What are you doing? both ghosts asked at once. Clarity of purpose. She¡¯d missed it. Since Anna¡¯s death, stuck in Valen, watching Winter¡¯s snow churn outside her windows, she¡¯d fallen into a sort of fugue. Cocooned by peace, lulled to sleep by the idleness of a season unchallenged, she¡¯d started enjoying herself. She hadn¡¯t been so still for so long for decades. If not for the blasted boy she would have dragged Sil out into the passes from the first day of Winter¡¯s coming. She undid the clasps of Tianna¡¯s horrid dress and let it slip off her, like a snake¡¯s shed skin, and walked to where Sil¡¯s staff hung on its peg, a thin sheet covering it. She touched it, closed her eyes, and let its enchantment unravel. My, my, aren¡¯t you being dramatic? Christina couldn¡¯t hide her amusement. Is that how you¡¯re going to play this? She caught her reflection in a wall¡¯s mirror and smiled. Ugh. Don¡¯t do that, Bianca whined, you look positively ghastly. Get Aliana to heal that horrid scar. Tallah approached the mirror and laughed softly. Grey streaked the red of her hair. She liked the look, though not so much the implication. Her eyes had shed what little shade of blue they once held. They stared back at her, silver and speckled with burst capillaries. The scar¡­ oh, her scar. It showed faintly pink-grey in the candle light and cracked the mirror on a jagged diagonal. She remembered the spear head that had carved her face in two. The blinding flash of pain. The overwhelming iron taste of blood. And she remembered the spear wielder howling when she fused his armour to his flesh. A boy, really, that hadn¡¯t known better and died performing a duty he wasn¡¯t fit for. She hadn¡¯t thought of him in years. Positively ghastly, Bianca repeated. Look away before I loose my innards. Mertle would not have her gear ready just yet. That was fine. She still had her old uniform. And it fit her. In the white and blue of the Storm Guard, she felt like a mockery of herself. It would at least remind the Guard that she had written the book on dealing with out-of-control channellers and if they wanted to play things cute against her they¡¯d be walking away bloody. If at all. Bianca, you¡¯ll be our time keeper for this one, Christina said in the tone of one laying out a complex plan. I¡¯ll be shield for tonight unless needed. I need you to keep aware of our movement and the time it takes. What for? ¡°So we don¡¯t happen to kill Vergil.¡± Tallah pulled on her old gloves and flexed her fingers. Not as good as those Mertle made but these could handle her heat well enough. We¡¯ll assume the boy¡¯s speed and path from here to the Sisters and then to the smithy. To be on the safe side, we¡¯ll restrict our perimeter to three quarters of what it would normally be. Those are assumptions piled atop assumptions, Christi, Bianca said, somewhat reproachfully. I will not be held responsible if the boy¡¯s head explodes. ¡°I will keep a mirror on hand and stare into it every bell strike from now until eternity if that happens,¡± Tallah warned, and relished the feeling of absolute revulsion that washed off Bianca. I¡¯d go mad. ¡°Good. Christi and I could use the company.¡± She tied her hair back into a loose ponytail and fitted her silver mask. The world snapped into focus and was bathed in the rich spectrum of illum, undisturbed save for herself. ¡°I¡¯ll swing us by the Agora to grab supplies. Then we¡¯ll head to the Fortress.¡± She wrote a note as she spoke, outlining the plan for Sil in their private shorthand. ¡°Bianca, I¡¯ll use you for mobility. Christi, if we clash with Falor I¡¯ll need your help. Best we don¡¯t play every card right away.¡± With a bit of luck, he¡¯ll be here while you¡¯re carving up the Fortress, Christina said. Over the whistling blizzard, she could hear, faintly, the bells of the spires. She counted eight of them. Evening was at an end. Three bell strikes to the moment the warning had mentioned. Cold mist and fat flakes of snow tumbled into the room when she opened the window that looked down into the narrow streets and alleys. Nothing stirred in the illum flow. Not the raging torrents that accompanied a sorceress, nor the smoother vortexes of healers. She stuck her head out and took in a more thorough look, searching for the minute tremors that announced an Egia. Nothing. People moved in the streets, huddled under heavy coats and bundled tight in furs, but nothing that spelled immediate danger. Valen celebrated. Three bell strikes to midnight and people trickled out of their homes to form long columns that shuffled towards the Fortress for the Descent and the festivities to follow. In that direction illum roiled and churned, a sign of channellers converging to be blessed by whichever deity deigned to show up. Careful movement would keep her hidden from Rumi Belli¡¯s sight for long enough that she could reach her targets. From the Meadow to the Agora, and then to the Fortress via the Guild. They know you have the mask, Christina reminded her. I would be careful in how I assembled my forces if I planned an ambush. I have a suggestion, Bianca said, pensive now that they were in motion. I will tell you on the way. We may yet limit our risk to something less suicidal. Bianca surrendered her power to her use. As always, it was confusing and unwieldy but it served well enough. Tallah reached out with an illum tether, anchored it to a distant rooftop, and yanked herself off into the night. Snow crunched softly under her boots when she landed on the slanted roof, her diminished weight too low to dislodge the thick, frozen carpet. She turned back to the Meadow and saw Sil¡¯s print in the illum moving through the staircase, her power¡¯s ripples diluted by distance. A gust pushed her forward and she had to enforce her anchor lest she be blown off. Frozen snow stung her exposed cheek and her ears hurt with the cold, but it all felt so good in the moment. The healer was calm, reflected in how she showed to the mask¡¯s sight. ¡°Good that we left when we did,¡± she mused as she crouched in the snow and swept her gaze over the packed streets. Anyone looking up would only be blinded by the snowfall and the strengthening wind. I doubt she would have agreed readily to any of this, Christina answered. Tallah jumped off the roof and launched herself towards the Agora. Bianca¡¯s power thrummed in her back and her grip on it was becoming firmer by the moment. She swung herself sideways, gained momentum, and sailed over rooftops in a high-cresting arc. Winds buffeted her flight but new anchors kept her moving where she meant to, riding storm winds and sheets of sleet and ice. We will pay for our supplies this time, Christina said, a hint of reproach in her voice. I will not be made accomplice to theft again. You can afford both the time and the griffons. Do not make us into common thieves. Not again. We may be truly dead in three strikes, Christi. Is this the time for fancies? Her conscience let out the imitation of an annoyed sniff. It is always the time for being morally upright. We may be many things, but we will not stoop to common thievery. Chapter 1.18.3: I am going to skin her alive ¡°I am going to skin her alive.¡± Sil ripped the piece of very expensive paper into the smallest shreds she could manage. ¡°I¡¯m going to make a whip out of her epidermis. And I am going to flay Vergil bloody with it.¡± Little shreds of paper got torn into even smaller shreds. She used her nails. This wasn¡¯t how things got done. She didn¡¯t get to do as she pleased. That wasn¡¯t their understanding. That wasn¡¯t how they¡ª Except that Tallah did as she pleased, whenever she pleased. She may as well have been angry at the storm. Or at Vergil, for being hapless and eager. But this was about Mertle! She had been terribly careful not to involve Mertle in any of their comings and goings. Mertle had other things to worry herself over, not the machinations of one unhinged pyromancer and her two thralls. A thrall? Is that how I see myself? Anger brought out the stupid in her. But she wanted to be angry. Maybe Mertle would refuse after all. Or Aliana would. She had little real love for Tallah, and even less reason for it. There was no reason for her to agree to anything so crass and risk-laden. ¡°Can you believe that fat-headed prim cunt?¡± No¡­ Someone was talking very loudly out in the corridor, getting closer. ¡°Verti, this simply isn¡¯t proper. She called me out, in this ugly weather, on Descent night, just because she thinks I measured her wrong. That is insulting. I barely convinced Tummy not to come here himself. He almost stripped the boy naked and marched him straight out of the shop.¡± Sil sagged in her chair and closed her eyes, counting down the inevitable. Sure enough, here was the knock. And here she was, walking as if to the gallows to answer. She really shouldn¡¯t¡­ Mertle stared daggers from under a thick, snow-heavy cloak. Verti bowed next to her, smiling apologetically. Vergil brought up the rear. She bowed back to Verti and signed her sincere apology then stepped aside. Mertle swept in with a sniff of annoyance, mumbling her displeasure. ¡°I will try and not let them get too loud,¡± Sil said as Vergil sidled past her. ¡°I apologise so much for imposing on your patience today, Verti.¡± ¡°Just as long as the Mistress doesn¡¯t set anything on fire again. Replacing scorched wall is a hassle I wouldn¡¯t want to deal with in Winter, Your Grace.¡± Sil gave her a tight lipped, apologetic smile. ¡°I promise she won¡¯t.¡± ¡°Much obliged. I remain your servant. As does Pert, if the Lady changes her mind.¡± She turned and headed back to her work. Walls and windows groaned in the narrow hallway, the winds outside smashing against the city¡¯s inner wall. Above the building¡¯s noise, Sil could hear the first bell of the night chiming in the distance. When she closed the door and turned around, Mertle stepped in and hugged her with such ferocity that Sil feared a rib might crack. She was cold and sodden with melting snow, and she smelled of the storm and said nothing. They held each other for a long time. ¡°I don¡¯t want you to do this,¡± Sil whispered. ¡°Please say you won¡¯t do it.¡± Her lover still said nothing. Only her embrace tightened harder. ¡°Mertle, this is too much of a risk. You don¡¯t know what they¡¯ll do to you if the plan fails.¡± ¡°Tallah told me,¡± she replied, forehead pressed against her collar bone, voice cold. ¡°I know what¡¯s at risk. You¡ª¡± She swallowed and her fingers gripped at Sil¡¯s dress. ¡±You should have told me.¡± She had been careful. She had been so incredibly, endlessly careful of how she and Mertle went about together, of how they spent their short moments alone, of what others saw. For years, she had never lapsed in her paranoia. And now Tallah wasted all her effort on a gambit. ¡°I didn¡¯t want you to risk¡ª¡± Mertle drew back from her with whiplash suddenness. Her finger jabbed Sil in the rib, hard as a crossbow bolt, twice with the intent of one. Opalescent-black eyes tore through her prepared opposition with the intensity of a bolt of lightning. ¡°What I risk is mine to risk as I please. You don¡¯t decide on my behalf.¡± She jabbed her again, grabbed and pulled her into the most passionate, confusing kiss Sil had ever received in her life. Whatever dregs of resistance she painstakingly rallied again crumbled into the pit of Mertle¡¯s determination. ¡°I want to help you. Danger be scattered to the winds.¡± ¡°But¡ªI¡ªYou¡­¡± Mertle undressed and handed her cloak to Vergil. He had waited very patiently in the doorway to the study, not saying anything up until then. ¡°Where¡¯s Tallah?¡± he asked after a polite little cough. ¡°Gone ahead. She¡¯s ready to attack the Fortress.¡± Panic etched on Vergil¡¯s face. He looked from her to the door, to the empty room, and back. ¡°Tonight? We¡­ we need to go and help her.¡± His mouth worked without sound for some heartbeats. ¡°H-how are we going to¡­ uh...¡± ¡°How are three of us going to take on the Storm Guard at the bloody seat of their power? I sincerely have no idea.¡± Mertle strode past Vergil into the room as if she hadn¡¯t heard the exchange. ¡°What¡¯s her plan?¡± she asked, much too calmly. ¡°Attack the Citadel. Make herself seen. Have you become Tianna. Make yourself seen at the same time. It¡¯s mental.¡± ¡°Good. Doable. How long?¡± Sil gaped as she followed her into the room. ¡°It¡¯s not doable, Mertle. We barely have a bell strike left. There¡¯s no time. Turning you will take a long time. You need to get out. Me and Vergil, we¡¯ll figure something out.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve seen you do it in a heartbeat.¡± She warmed her hands by the fire. Her voice had a strange sureness to it and a slight edge that Sil hadn¡¯t heard before. ¡°Yes, but I¡¯m used to the changes. It took us months the first time around.¡± ¡°Less time to twaddle then. Turn me.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t understand. There are limits. You won¡¯t be able to hold the shape. It takes days¡­¡± Mertle was undressing by the fire, eyes closed and slightly swaying. Her posture changed as she shifted her feet and straightened her back. She lifted her chin slightly, in the same way Tallah wore Tianna. Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. Vergil turned around and walked out of the room. ¡°I¡¯ll bring some of the dresses Tallah left behind,¡± he said. Sil¡¯s heartbeat thundered. Why wouldn¡¯t Mertle listen? Time wasn¡¯t on their side. It would all end in blood. They would fail to fool anyone coming, and then the Empire would remember her and Tummy and¡­ and¡­ Her fingers closed into painful fists. Another one for the pile. What¡¯s another one, Silestra? ¡°Stop gawking and turn me.¡± Mertle¡¯s voice had taken on the impatient edge of Tianna¡¯s condescension. She stood, hands on hips, a slight blush to her cheeks, and looked down at her. It was a marvel, considering the height difference. ¡°With one mask or another, I only need to survive the night.¡± With roles reversed, it was Sil¡¯s turn to embrace her lover. ¡°Thank you,¡± she whispered, face nestled in Mertle¡¯s loose hair. ¡°Yes, well, I¡¯m not getting younger. You and Tallah need to finish whatever it is you¡¯re doing before I bite the edge. I don¡¯t have the stomach to watch you two lose five years¡¯ worth of your thrice-cursed secret work.¡± Sil took up her staff from its support. ¡°I need you to visualise Tianna. The closer you can, the better the result. It won¡¯t be stable and it will be very disorientating at first. You may be even be sick to your stomach. The enchantment needs you to accept yourself as another.¡± Mertle nodded and set her jaw, ¡°No time like now.¡± In a flash, Tianna was back in the room, slightly gaunt-faced and maybe a couple fingers shorter. Mertle didn¡¯t have Tallah¡¯s natural height, nor her wider shoulders so mass was an issue. Iliaya¡¯s Staff could only do so much to compensate for the difference. ¡°This feels weird,¡± Mertle said. She patted the top of her forehead gingerly, finger tips running the contour of where her horns should have been. ¡°My head feels too light.¡± She swayed but waved Sil away when she stepped in to hold her. ¡°My hands are so pale. Why does she wear her fingernails so long?¡± She ran a finger along the inside of her palm and scratched at the skin. ¡°No callouses. Never noticed.¡± Tallah¡¯s first time as Tianna had lasted for all of five heartbeats before she twisted back into her own shape and puked in a bucket. Mertle was shuffling about the room, swaying as she tried to get to grips with her new body and its balance. But she was stable. Sil couldn¡¯t see a single ripple or mismatched patch of colour across the smooth skin, nor any asymmetric bones trying to poke out where they shouldn¡¯t. Mertle straightened up and shut tight her eyes. Her jaw clenched. She groaned and held up a finger. ¡°Best get a bucket, please.¡± Vergil cracked open the door and thrust his arm inside, holding out some of Tallah¡¯s dresses. ¡°I¡¯ll get one,¡± he said without looking in. ¡°No,¡± Mertle gasped out. ¡°You go and get Verti. I need to talk to her.¡± She was turning slightly green around the gills. ¡°The room should stop spinning before you¡¯re back.¡± ¡°Right away.¡± The door to the study closed with a click. They heard the outer one open and shut. Sil brought the bucket. ¡°How are you feeling?¡± she asked. Mertle leaned against a wall and panted, as if the mere effort of standing up was too much to handle. A ripple passed across her face, shades of her skin intermingling and twisting together before smoothing back out into Tianna¡¯s paleness. ¡°I¡¯ll be fine if I don¡¯t see a mirror. Help me dress.¡± She dry-heaved and shuddered but kept her feet under her. ¡°Mertle¡­¡± ¡°Help me dress. Tell me everything that¡¯s happened since you came back from your hunt. Occupy my mind.¡± Sil told her of the maps sold to Lucian, of the Guard¡¯s interest in them, of the figures in the crowd watching them ever since. Mertle shrugged into Tallah¡¯s dress with some difficulty. It hung loose on her near skeletal frame. She listened and asked questions of Tianna¡¯s reactions and peeves, of how Tallah played her cover when surrounded by unknowns. ¡°Big fortune, big head. About right,¡± Mertle said as Sil applied some of Tianna¡¯s make-up to hide the gauntness. ¡°That¡¯s not far removed from Tallah herself. Should be enough.¡± When she looked up, her eyes were of mismatched colours. Not something one would notice in poor light but Sil still redid the enchantment. ¡°I¡¯m impressed of how well you¡¯re handling this. I was a wreck the first time around. I think I cried my eyes out every time I saw my reflection.¡± ¡°No mirrors,¡± Mertle grunted. ¡°I think it¡¯d undo me. Otherwise, it¡¯s just a disguise. It¡¯s not my first.¡± Verti would be a test. Vergil led her in, past Sil¡¯s apologies for taking up more of her time on such a night. Tianna sat in one of the large armchairs, legs crossed, a pensive look on her face. Sil closed the door behind the elendine and leaned against it, barring the way out. If anything went wrong, she had a potent sleeping tonic ready. She¡¯d hate herself to lay hands on Verti after all she¡¯d done for them over the years. If worse came to pass, it couldn¡¯t be helped. ¡°Good evening, Your Grace. I see you¡¯re preparing to leave,¡± the host said as she looked about the now empty room. ¡°You might have warned me earlier. Will you be returning come Spring? I can keep the apartment ready for you.¡± ¡°I think I shall be a while in returning. I can¡¯t impose the burden on you, Verti. Thank you.¡± She¡¯s holding herself well. A bit stuffier than Tallah talks but close enough. ¡°I would like to ask for a favour, if you might indulge me.¡± Verti looked back to Sil and raised an eyebrow. Is the mistress well? it seemed to ask. She shrugged apologetically. ¡°Of course, Your Grace, if it is within my means.¡± Sil gestured for Mertle to relax. Tianna talked much more familiarly with Verti. She had been a guest there for years. ¡°I believe you know Mertle Mergara?¡± Mertle asked with a sour smile. ¡°I do, yes. Her family and mine are quite close, back in Beril.¡± She looked about the room. ¡°I thought she was here. I don¡¯t remember seeing her leave.¡± ¡°Oh, she stormed out some time ago. I believe I might have said something that she took offence to.¡± Vergil gave a polite cough and interrupted, ¡°She came down with me, miss. She left when I came to find you.¡± ¡°I see. You would like Miria to discuss her prices, I assume?¡± Mertle¡¯s lips quirked as she suppressed a grin. Sil couldn¡¯t and had to cough in a fist. Miria was, to some, the bane and secret terror of the entire Agora. That elendine had been born with a forked tongue and a silvered eye. Merchants dreaded her worse than they dreaded the city¡¯s taxation officers. She left them poorer by quite the margin and grateful for her patronage, and it took bells for the charm to wear off. Mertle, on the other hand, had a reputation for a ruthless no-negotiation policy. Her prices were eye watering at the best of times, and ruinous if she were ever annoyed. On any other day, Sil would have brought treats to watch that conversation unfold. ¡°Exactly. To my great annoyance, she refuses to see reason. Both myself and Silestra here have tried to get her to back down on some expenses but she simply refuses to be swayed.¡± She gave Verti a doe-eyed look and a sweet, begging smile. ¡°I would be ever so grateful, Verti, if Miria lent me her aid.¡± ¡°Of course, Your Grace. When?¡± ¡°Tonight. I¡¯ll be dressed and down in just a bit.¡± ¡°Tonight, then. I shall relieve her of kitchen duty for the evening. She¡¯ll enjoy the chance to watch the Descent herself. Excuse me.¡± It had gone exceptionally well, even if Mertle rushed to the bucket the moment Verti was out of the room. ¡°Is there a special event tonight?¡± Vergil asked. He was ensconced by the window, watching the night traffic flow by. ¡°There¡¯s a lot of people out there.¡± Sil moved a curtain aside and watched the other side of the Meadow¡¯s trench. People flocked to the tavern, in two and threes, sometimes even larger groups. ¡°Yes. The Descent. Gods come down and incarnate. Lots of drinking generally follows. Fire shows and the such,¡± she said as she surveyed the scene. ¡°People start drinking here, keep going in the Agora. These aren¡¯t revellers.¡± Soldiers dressed in common garb was her guess. Right enough, there were patterns in the movements, in the way they entered the buildings opposite them, in how they stopped and smoked and chatted at convenient knots in the alleys. ¡°I see five crossbowmen,¡± Mertle said over her shoulder. She swilled some water and spat it out in her sick bucket. ¡°They¡¯re covering from the rooftops. More went in that building over there.¡± ¡°How can you¡­¡± Vergil muttered. ¡°Oh, right, I see them. Two more on the right, over there.¡± The snowfall hid them well, but not enough. Something changed in the flow as what had been a flood started thinning to a trickle. Sil recognized a perimeters being set up. She couldn¡¯t know how wide it was but recognized the tactic. She wondered if there were any casters coming in or if they were the second wave. Whoever ran the operation was doing it precisely by the book. They had the element of surprise and advance knowledge of their target. The first step, always, was to limit and control the movement of the quarry. ¡°We¡¯re being boxed in,¡± she noted as she pulled on her shawl. ¡°If we¡¯re doing this, we need to do it now before they move in. We need to be more proactive than them.¡± Mertle rolled her shoulders, shook her hands and cracked her knuckles. She would either hold together or not, but they couldn¡¯t take Iliaya¡¯s Staff out with them. Their survival rested squarely on her shoulders. Sil didn¡¯t have the heart to suggest she run away. She knew it wouldn¡¯t work. Instead, she packed Vergil¡¯s helmet and the staff into a small Rend. She couldn¡¯t open an entire room, like Tallah could, but a pocket was all she ever needed for essentials. ¡°Do or die,¡± Mertle finally said as she stepped out into the corridor. ¡°I¡¯d kiss you for luck, but it feels wrong to do it with this face.¡± ¡°Later, when we¡¯re clear,¡± Sil replied. She squeezed the elendine¡¯s hand so hard that it almost hurt to let it go. ¡°Do or die. Tallah would be proud.¡± Chapter 1.19.1: Do or die No other time can serve you quite as well as the now. Tallah couldn¡¯t remember who had taught her that, but she¡¯d been teaching it forward her entire life. She watched the scurry of activity below, huddled up against the great belfry on the corner of the Guild Hall. It really never ceased, this endlessly agitated life that Valen lived and breathed. Adventurers flowed in and out of the great building like the tides of the sea, merchants dressed in fine furred clothes brought in requests, recruiters wove through the crowd looking for their next candidates. It really didn¡¯t matter that they were less than a bell''s strike away from a Descent. Showed how much truck most adventurers and merchants held with the divine. She¡¯d laugh if not for the gnawing worry that He might actually show. And it¡¯d be all she could do to not piss herself in abject terror of His presence. Wind whipped her hair to and fro and her mask stung against her fevered skin. Bianca¡¯s anchors kept her in place on the frozen precipice, stuck tight against the corner of the belfry. She listened to the rhythmic tick tick tick of the mechanisms within the tower as it wound down to the moment of the bell¡¯s strike. A great hammer hung above, poised for the blow, silver veins on blackened forged steel shining in the light coming from beneath. If my timing¡¯s right for the boy, they should all be at the Meadow right now, Bianca informed her. We should make our move in fifty heartbeats, to take advantage of the bell¡¯s tolling. Tallah counted. Her target would be the archives of the Guild. Impenetrable under normal circumstances, an attack there would throw the Guard onto a million guesses as to what her plans were. Bianca¡¯s suggestion was, indeed, safer than a direct attack on the Fortress. Adventurers ran if there were no profits to be gained, and it would take some time for the Storm Guard to rally to her. She could cause enough damage to make an impact and be seen. We¡¯ve made many poor decisions this Winter, Christina whispered. Let¡¯s hope this is not another. Her inner furnace burned steadily now. Fear gnawed on the edges of her resolve, but its insistence only served to infuriate. She¡¯d need her anger burning bright. If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. If Ort did come down, she¡¯d bloody him. Revenge be bent, she would bloody the bastard even if she had to set fire to Valen a second time. Christina¡¯s silent encouragement and support helped her bear down on her fears, smother them under the heel of her will. She willed herself back to the matter at hand. How would she have prepared the attack if she had to capture someone like Cinder? I¡¯d set up a firebreak and get bodies around her that would make it hard to move about. Control and deny her escape routes. Have mage killers manning the front line, the rank and file behind, and as many archers and crossbowmen as I can gather to pin her. Force her out of hiding and into the open, where I could box her in with a healer and Egia. Decisive first strike if possible. Devourer even, if she¡¯s dangerous enough. She grinned at the thought. She was dangerous enough to warrant a Devourer used within the walls. Falor wouldn¡¯t hesitate. Sil and the others would need to bluff their way through the barricade that thought they were deadly dangerous. Mertle would probably handle the talking all right but it fell to Tallah to ensure their arguments were believable. Twenty. She breathed in deep, letting the freezing air stab at her chest. Power coursed in with the cold and stoked the furnace. She drank the vial of Aerum that she kept on her belt at all times and revelled in the rush that came with it. Every breath was crisper and richer, life-giving. She could hold her breath through a blazing inferno if need be. Thirty. I feel like we¡¯ll come to regret this nonetheless. Christina sounded uncharacteristically pensive. Even so, I want a crack at the princeling if you face him. ¡°Pride will see us dead, Christi.¡± Curiosity, not pride. I want to see what the Empress has made. I want to have the measure of him for when we come back for his head. The last time you clashed I was too indisposed to pay attention. Tallah laughed as she watched the great hammer above ponderously swing into striking position. A mechanism had whirred to life somewhere in the wall. The great lump of metal moved up with glacier slowness and equal inevitability. She got to her feet and stretched out the kinks in her muscles and joints. Forty. With a snap of her fingers, she was wreathed in constellations of flitting fireflies. With a sigh of pleasure, she allowed herself to rise up and take charge of the power at her disposal. After all, she didn¡¯t need subtlety tonight. Only firepower. Christina and Bianca surrendered themselves to the guidance of her hand. Their powers sang in her blood. Fifty. Cinder walked to the edge and ignited her fire lances. She stepped off and fell with the hammer. Chapter 1.19.2: Harassment Mertle couldn¡¯t remember the last time she¡¯d felt so naked. When she¡¯d worn masks, once upon a time, she had control. Now, with every step, she felt her control slipping. This wasn¡¯t her skin, and it wasn¡¯t her face, and those weren¡¯t her eyes taking it all in. When she spoke, it wasn¡¯t her voice she heard. She hid under the cowl of a borrowed cloak and hung on Vergil¡¯s arm. Sil ushered them through the raucous crowd. Miria waited for them by the exit, her insurance and potential hostage. Mertle had walked into the Meadow and she had made herself abundantly visible to every soldier watching the entrances. She had not walked out. Miria was of similar build and height. With a shawl on and her horns hidden, she would be an acceptable match at a glance. If they were concerned only of Tallah, she would pass by without much scrutiny. The cold shocked her back into herself. Tianna definitely wore things only a pyromancer would feel comfortable in. ¡°How can she dress like this?¡± she gasped out to Sil. ¡°These aren¡¯t clothes. This is a sack with holes in it.¡± Her teeth chattered and she drew tighter against Vergil. The boy shivered worse than she did though she was convinced it wasn¡¯t the cold that bothered him. Still, he walked forward with admirable determination. Tummy¡¯s eye for people was seldom wrong. Sil said nothing and only offered a grim smile in return. She shook the snow from her cowl and looked at the darkened alleys ahead. Sprite light shimmered and twinkled as snow kept falling implacably. Tension was almost electric in the air, a far cry from what the Night of Descent normally offered. Furtive glances from patrons and from passersby, shadows drawing back into doorways, windows clicking shut. Frozen snow crunched underfoot. Her skin itched and her bones hurt, but her heart was calmer than her head. Her mouth talked about nothing at all, filling the silence as she waited for the strike from the dark. ¡°I know her.¡± ¡°Pardon?¡± Vergil had spoken low and hadn¡¯t stopped walking. He threw a sideways glance and she followed it to a doorway where a woman was talking to a man under the low rim of a slanted roof, hidden from the weather. Mertle caught the glint of dark eyes under a heavy hood, for the fraction of a moment before they turned casually back to the man. It was enough. ¡°She¡¯s the one I met,¡± Vergil whispered. He had stiffened on her arm and walked with the stricken gait of seeing the gallows rise. Mertle let out a slow breath that misted white in the air, and let go. ¡°You, there!¡± she whirled on her heels and strode to the two people talking, holding her dress up so she wouldn¡¯t fall. ¡°Just how long are you intent on harassing me, Storm Guard?¡± Now Tianna was armour and her voice became her blade. Mertle understood blades very well and, by the look that flashed over the woman¡¯s face, her opening strike had gone straight between the right ribs. ¡°A good evening to you, Mistress of Aieni Holding,¡± the woman replied, voice as unperturbed as marble. Her eyes took in the group with calculating coldness. Miria had stopped somewhat further down the road and waited patiently. Vergil waited with her. There was a shuffle further in the alley, the soft crunch of heavy boots scrambling through snow drifts, and the oil slick sound of blades drawn. She felt the gaze of a crossbow aimed at her back. Tianna¡¯s boiling fury took over. She¡¯d seen Tallah¡¯s anger enough times to know what it should taste like on her tongue and how it should burrow into the gut. Her blade unsheathed and stabbed out again. ¡°Don¡¯t you dare spout pleasantries at me. I demand an explanation! What is the meaning of this?¡± Sil moved closer and opened her mouth for an apology¡ª ¡°Shut up, Silestra,¡± she snarled without taking her eyes off the woman. ¡°We¡¯ve put up with all of this for long enough. I shall not be threatened any longer.¡± Again the woman¡¯s eyes flickered away. They widened slightly when rested on Sil and on her wooden staff. A moment of confusion and reassertion. The man she had been talking to moved his hand on the pommel of his sword, trying and failing to look calm and politely confused. Eyes of a killer stared from beneath his hood, intently locked on her. ¡°I¡¯ll admit this is not how I expected things to go,¡± the woman said. ¡°Are you coming willingly?¡± Mertle bristled up with the fury of the storm. ¡°Coming willingly?! Are you bloody daft, woman? I am asking you to cease your harassment.¡± She had moved closer, a step too far. The sword came out and levelled at her throat. She recoiled and stared from it to the woman. ¡°You threaten me? Do you know who I am?¡± ¡°We do,¡± said the woman with infuriating calm. ¡°If this is the charade you mean to play, know that a hostage will not change matters.¡± So far, so good. She leaned harder into the anger, like a cornered animal snapping. ¡°Charade? Hostage?!¡± Mertle screamed at the woman. Echoes of her voice bounced off the frozen walls. Her face felt flush with the abject anger of one mistreated. ¡°Your men have been following me around Valen all Winter. Your special liaison came and threatened me out of the blue. For what? What did I ever do to any of you?¡± The point of the sword wavered for a moment and she pushed it aside with the flat of her hand as if it weren¡¯t worth consideration. She could have it down the soldier¡¯s throat in less than a heartbeat. She could have it in her hands and shove it through the prissy cunt¡¯s flint eyes in three. She moved closer again, heedless of the men gathering close with weapons drawn. Snow fell off roofs as crossbowmen rushed into position. No space to run or hide. ¡°Is this how the Enlightened Empire treats its allies and subjects?¡± Sil spoke up for the first time. Her voice trembled with fear. ¡°Knives in the dark coming for innocents? This is your idea of enlightenment? On the holy Night of Descent?¡± She took Mertle¡¯s hand in her own, squeezing it. It was hard to say if her fearful shivers was her playing the part or if it was all real. There were a lot of armed men closing in. Out of the corner of her eye she could see two of them readying a metal net. Mage killers, but not well-trained ones. Well trained ones wouldn¡¯t have needed confirmation from their superior. Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. Answer, woman, blast you. I need you to answer. I need you to talk. A small hand signal from the woman. More men in position. The circle tightened. Soldiers with heavy, pointed shields came to the front and formed a lance head that closed up the narrow passages, perfect to take the brunt of a sorceress''s opening salvo. Mertle felt her insides turn to water as she tried to stare down the woman. It was like trying to intimidate a slab of onyx. If this one thought she was facing Tallah, how could she be so calm about it? There was a tightness on top of her head and she felt ragged points of pain on her forehead, her horns trying to push out through her borrowed skin. Mine, not borrowed. She forced her fear to shift focus, to take the shape of anger. ¡°I would appreciate if you would surrender yourself without further theatrics. I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re trying to achieve but I¡¯m not buying it. I wasn¡¯t born today.¡± A rustling jingle of the heavy net being raised. The sound of crossbows clinking against armoured shoulders. Boots in the snow shuffling closer. An explosion rocked the fragile stillness of the moment. Above it, the spire bell rang out thrice. Another explosion sounded in the distance, followed by a rising cacophony of high-pitched whistles in the night. They sounded a pattern that repeated with frantic urgency. ¡°Captain?¡± the man with the sword asked uncertainly. The woman hadn¡¯t taken her eyes off her, but a flash of reluctance played across her face. She bit her lower lip but her eyes were still and cold as a snake¡¯s. A flash of light across the sky turned night to day for a moment and threw off long black shadows against the walls. ¡°Captain,¡± one of the soldiers on the rooftop called out, ¡°the Guild¡¯s on fire. A bolt of lightning¡¯s just struck there.¡± He moved further up the roof, slipping in the snow. It fell in sheets all around. ¡°I think the Commander¡¯s there.¡± There was a sound like thunder and more explosions bothered the night. Lights lit up in windows and Mertle could see more of the crossbowmen on perches atop the roofs. There were enough of them to fight a small war. They hadn¡¯t lowered their weapons. Again the whistles in patterns. Some, Mertle recognized. Fire. Not an exercise. Danger to the city. ¡°I¡­ believe we¡¯ve made a mistake,¡± the woman said and signalled to the soldiers. Weapons were lowered and hidden from view, disguises redrawn. They dispersed at a hurried trot, ghosts disappearing in the night. ¡°You have my apologies.¡± She also turned to leave but Mertle seized her by her cloak, yanking her back. ¡°I demand an explanation. Who are you? What was this about?¡± The man with the sword came forward but the Captain waved him back. ¡°Gather the men, Vial. I can take nine others with me. Lowest ranks to form fire brigades. Quickly. With the Commander in play, we need to shelter the civilians. Make it a priority.¡± She turned her flint-black eyes to Mertle and pressed her hand over hers. ¡°My name is Quistis Iluna, Mistress of Aieni Holding. I am acting captain of the Storm Guard cell of Valen, second to Commander Falor Merchal.¡± She licked her bit lip. ¡°And I must apologise on behalf of the Eternal Enlightened Empire. We seem to have made a grave error and mistreated you.¡± Mertle gave a slow, nervous laugh. She allowed a manic tremor in her voice. ¡°I¡¯d say. What is happening, Captain Quistis? What have I done to warrant this?¡± Quistis pulled her hand away and held it for a moment. She looked down at it with a raised eyebrow, her touch fire-warm to Mertle¡¯s shivering skin. ¡°Unless you plan on assaulting me, you are innocent and free to go. I will personally write an apology for this unfortunate misunderstanding.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t bother. I aim to leave Valen. My father will hear of all of this.¡± She gave a scornful smile. ¡°I had higher hopes for the Storm Guard.¡± Quistis held her gaze for a moment longer, then she looked over the others. Vergil had drawn closer to Miria, shielding her from the retreating soldiers. Sil was pale with terror but held herself up with an aelir¡¯s wounded pride. The captain stared at the healer for a long moment. Vial gathered up a group of men and they all clustered around Quistis. ¡°Again, I apologise profoundly for all of this,¡± the woman said and there was no malice in her voice. She released her hand and gave a short nod to the men. Vial put a hand on her shoulder, and the others did the same to one another, forming a connected line. Quistis reached into her robe and pulled out a bundle wrapped in cloth that hung on a chain around her neck. When she unwrapped it, the shard inside flooded the alley in blue light. She closed a fist around it and they all disappeared with a pop of in-rushing air. Mertle allowed herself a shuddering breath. Sil did too. They looked at one another and embraced with the sudden ecstasy of criminals suddenly spared the noose. ¡°You were amazing,¡± Sil whispered, elation in every word. ¡°You were absolutely amazing, my love.¡± She hadn¡¯t been amazing. She could have handled the encounter in a million better ways. It had been such a near thing. Quistis Iluna hadn¡¯t been afraid of her in the least. And it wasn¡¯t the simple stoicism of a well trained soldier. No, this was absolute confidence that she had everything perfectly in hand. Had she decided on more caution, they¡¯d all be in chains. She shouldn¡¯t have touched the woman. ¡°We need to go,¡± she whispered. ¡°It¡¯s slipping.¡± Already the long dress felt too large for her, too empty, much too cold. Bone ground on bone, anxious to twist back into proper size and shape. Sil turned to Miria, ¡°I am so sorry you were caught up in this.¡± Mertle harrumphed behind her, all wounded dignity and appearance of control. ¡°Yes, I apologise, Miria. They seem to have had me confused for someone else. I¡¯ve been harassed endlessly since I came back.¡± She adjusted her cowl and shook snow off her cloak. Her nose wrinkled. ¡°Tonight they came with murder on their minds. Bloody ridiculous! I¡¯ll understand if you¡¯d rather not to come on this errand anymore.¡± ¡°No, your Ladyship. I trusted that you had things well in hand,¡± Miria replied with a slight bow. ¡°It is done. I worry more about what¡¯s happening at the Guild. Those did not sound like celebrations.¡± More voices rose in the night. People came out and muttered about an attack. Some scaled the roofs and called down about the fires spreading. Fire brigades formed and organised to intervene. Valen had a long memory. It had not forgotten the great fire that had almost ended it. Drunken stupor gave way to hard-edged determination. ¡°We¡¯d best get indoors before things get more serious.¡± Mertle strode down the narrow streets even as they were packing up with the curious and the fretful alike. Tallah¡¯s idea of a distraction went beyond reckless. Soon half of Valen would turn up for the spectacle. ¡°I¡¯ll need to run off the moment we get inside the shop,¡± Sil whispered by her ear. ¡°I¡¯ll leave the girl in your care.¡± A packet passed between their hands, a sleeping concoction to knock Miria out and fuzz up the night. ¡°You know more about these things than I do.¡± She did. Away from the danger, she felt a kind of manic elation, a longing ache in her fingers that craved more than the thrill of a disguise. Wisdom warned against her enjoying the moment too much. She¡¯d never been very good at listening to wisdom. ¡°I¡¯ll handle her, don¡¯t worry. Tummy¡¯s got supplies for you to grab.¡± Elation turned into an ugly, leaden lump as she realised Sil was going to go to Tallah and into real danger. ¡°I¡¯ll handle the rest. You¡¯ll owe me answers when you come back.¡± She leaned into the healer and poked her in the ribs, pretending to slip on the ice. ¡°No more secrets, not from you.¡± ¡°No more secrets,¡± Sil agreed, voice tight. ¡°If we survive the night.¡± Thunder clapped above and a bolt of lightning streaked the sky on again. It shattered the night into day for an ear-splitting moment. ¡°Soul of the Goddess...¡± Sil¡¯s voice was tiny in the silence that settled like snow. ¡°She¡¯s roused him.¡± Chapter 1.20.1: I thought hed be taller I thought he¡¯d be taller. ¡°And I thought we¡¯d have more time,¡± Tallah growled. It had gone as expected until it hadn¡¯t. The Guild plaza emptied the moment the first trio of fireballs flew and detonated. Aside from the guards protecting the sliver of the Ascendi, the other adventurers had turned tail and fled. She glided in through the chaos and unleashed her fireflies, turning the offices and tents inside the great Guild to smouldering ruins. The great tapestries adorning the walls fell in ragged scraps and caught fire. It wasn¡¯t long before she heard her old moniker being shouted by the guards, and soon after the whistles started. Then, the strangest thing. The guards fled. They simply abandoned their post and melted out with the rest of the scrambling, panicking population. Heavy gates that separated the plaza from the rest of the quarter, gates that never shut as a symbol of Valen¡¯s unending pulse, ground and moaned on great hinges. With titanic weight, they closed and shut her inside. Fancy that. They¡¯ve learned, Christina said. How many times do you think they¡¯ve practised this? Tallah felt her hair stand on end. Air crackled and buzzed with electricity. Even the breath of the storm seemed to catch in its throat. Aside from the fire devouring the Guild Hall, everything settled into a pregnant, waiting stillness. Falor was there in a flash from the dark, as if come down from the sky itself like the snow. Thunder clapped a fraction of a moment later and the Guild building shook. ¡°He¡¯s learned new tricks.¡± Tallah would have been impressed by the entrance if not for the look on his face. His head was bare and his hair wild in the gathering wind. He pinned her with a liquid-black gaze, taking in her measure, spelling out her sentence in his silence. A great warhammer was clutched in his hands and he wasted no time swinging it. Another flash and lightning snaked through the air like a crack through ice. Bianca pushed her out of the way at a thought. She glided back through the courtyard, lithe and quick as a feather on the wind, and fired back an incinerating lance in answer to the opening steps of their dance. He stopped and strangled it out with a gauntleted hand, his eyes never wavering from her. Runes shone on the gauntlet. In the mask¡¯s vision he was a storm, a violent whirlpool of raging illum that outshone even the Ascendi shard spinning in midair, oblivious of their contest of strength. She had expected recriminations. An acknowledgement of her survival. Maybe questions? But he had nothing to say, just the mission to carry out. You¡¯ve learned some new tricks too, Christina whispered, a strange fascination tinging every sensation she let off. Let¡¯s impress on him that killing us is not going to come cheap. She moved her hand in an arc and white-hot fire burst at Falor¡¯s feet. He swung his hammer down and blasted the flames away. Another crack of blue-white lightning tore across the ground and she ran from it. Air stank of ozone and of misting water, of burnt expensive fabrics and paper. Fire and lightning chased each other across the Guild¡¯s courtyard. Tallah tried to keep the Ascendi shard between them, but Falor was having none of it. His bolts crashed from above and burst from under her, testing her, prodding at the way she defended. If he was surprised by a pyromancer moving with the skills of a manipulator, he didn¡¯t show it. She was dimly aware, through Christina¡¯s whispers, of soldiers gathering on the walls around the courtyard, swarming among the covers of the battlements. Crossbows levelled at her through slits and gaps in the wall. Steady hands tracked her, waiting for a signal. Falor was only intent on her. In his shining white armour, trimmed with accents of azure blue, he was every bit his mother¡¯s son. Tallah¡¯s blood curdled at the sight of him. She threw three fireballs, then three more. They scattered and flew wild, heading for the soldiers on the walls. Screams followed as they detonated and showers of masonry rained down. Falor came at her with avenging fury, his warhammer swinging in a wide, bone-crushing arc. Bianca pulled her into his swing, tethered to the hammer, swinging with it in a tightening spiral. Her hand touched Falor¡¯s chest and wreathed him in fire. A fist shot out and caught her across the face before she could draw away, and sent her reeling back. A blast of power scattered her flames like smoke. That blasted gauntlet absorbed her flames again. She tasted blood and the splinters of a tooth stung where they lodged in her cheek. Soldiers dragged their wounded from the walls. Crossbowmen moved into new position. Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. The moment she was paces away from a still smoking Falor, they all loosed on her. Bianca picked the quarrels from the air and aimed them right back. Some screamed as they were hit, most dodged away. Falor gave an inarticulate roar of anger and signalled his men back. Tallah reacted. She reached out to the men and held them in invisible grasps. She yanked and men fell from the walls, screaming. She could have yanked the hearts from their chests and he knew it. A momentary flash of worry on his face as bodies thumped into the high snow. We¡¯ve been seen enough. It¡¯s time we run. Hit him. Tallah¡¯s feet touched down on solid ground, Bianca¡¯s power fading back and Christina coming to the fore. She drew her sword and imbued it with heat. Flakes sizzled on the edge as she aimed it at the princeling¡¯s heart. It earned her a raised eyebrow. Keep up, Christina said, and electricity hummed in her chest. Like a swarm of Summer wasps, she was abuzz with stored power. She ran at the prince, jumped, and Christina sent her bursting through the air at the speed of thought. She covered the span of the courtyard in the blink of an eye, and there he was, straight in her reach, his throat rushing to the sword¡¯s keen edge. Yes! One moment. One slash. One cut. If she took his head right there, right then¡ª A dark-haired boy ran through her mind, five or six Summers old, yanking on her cloak as she made her report to his mother. Black eyes smiled up at her. Small hands groped for hers. Joyful laughter that she was back from her mission, and that she was safe. A moment of distraction. Her blade whistled through falling snow and she missed. She also missed her feet and landed awkwardly, off-balanced by the speed. Falor smashed her in the ribs with enough force to break her in two. It happened in a frozen moment in time, in less than a heartbeat. Bianca cushioned the hammer blow as best she could but the force of star ore meeting soft flesh sent her tumbling head-over-heels. Coward, Christina spat in her mind. Air exploded out of her in a blinding instant of shattering pain. At least three ribs splintered. It wouldn¡¯t have worked, she lied to herself through the haze of agony. He was moving before she had even launched her attack. He knew something was coming and, just as she¡¯d taught him, was meeting and countering it. Tallah had transferred straight to him, something she shouldn¡¯t have been able to do without Christina. It should have been a killing blow, her secret weapon, the one that she hoped would behead an empire. He¡¯d been ready for it. She was dead certain of it. Pain knifed in her side as she struggled to draw breath. Soldiers cheered on the walls and hissed at her. Falor simply watched her struggling to her feet, hammer held loose at his side. His breath came in small, white puffs that blew away on the wind. This is an execution, Tallah, Bianca realised. He is only playing with us. ¡°I know,¡± she wheezed out between bloodied lips. Air rattled inside. Something had shattered. A sharp jut of bone poked something tender and she felt sick. If not for the aerum serum, she would have fainted. Curse the memory of the boy he¡¯d been¡­ ¡°Get up,¡± Falor said. His voice was cold and detached. ¡°Make sure and die this time.¡± ¡°So your mother hasn¡¯t cut your tongue out, boy?¡± Tallah had to force the words out. He didn¡¯t reply. Instead, he dropped his hammer and pointed two fingers at her. She stared down her death. Lightning struck Falor from above and dispersed in circles of power around him. Again, faster. He shone like a miniature star as he readied a devourer, all for her. If she could have found the strength to laugh, she would have. This was a stupid plan, Bianca whined. Tallah refused her nudges to run and pull away. She couldn¡¯t outrun a Titan¡¯s Punishment any more than she could outrun the morning light. We are going to die¡­ Falor unleashed his Devourer. It surged through the air, a blinding rush of power that was going to render her down to scattered atoms to fully erase her from existence. Now! She raised her hands against the blinding flare and Christina reached out from her prison, ghostly hands doubling Tallah¡¯s own. The Devourer hit her with the power of an unleashed storm. She allowed it in. It burned in her veins. It rattled her teeth, singed her sinews, almost melted her from inside out. Her mind burned! She raised her hands and Christina flung the power back outward, into the walls, into the snow, anywhere it would go. Screams rose as soldiers were caught in the blast. A part of the courtyard wall exploded outward in a cascade of stone and mortar, the blast taking out neighbouring buildings. Blood and teeth and bones of my sisters! Christina¡¯s voice was a croak of anguish. I can¡¯t do that again. Run, Tallah. If she had the strength, she would have flung the Punishment back at Falor. Pity that she had only barely survived it. Bianca anchored a tether to a point outside the wall and launched her into the air as Falor ran to his screaming men and the collapsing walls. She set everything she had into escaping, angling her flight away from the plaza and towards the Alchemists¡¯ Quarter. Trying to use the shard that close to the Ascendi could see her smashed against it, so she needed distance. Pain nearly blinded her and she couldn¡¯t focus on keeping her hearth lit. The cold cut through and chilled her down into the marrow, a constricting grip on her battered chest. Winds buffeted her path and shook her as violently as Falor himself. A dizzying, headlong rush. She was only barely aware of the rushing buildings, all sense lost to the buffeting black storm. Bianca kept her down, hidden between buildings, rushing dangerously through narrow gaps and over the heads of people putting out the fires. Thunder echoed behind her. Chapter 1.20.2: Too late for regrets Tallah lost consciousness and woke when she hit the stones beneath. A gasp for air. A chill in her hands and spreading through her chest. Blood running down her chin. Bianca lifted her again and launched upward, fighting for height against the wind. Don¡¯t faint. Don¡¯t faint. Don¡¯t faint. Don¡¯t¡ª Tallah did. A jolt woke her again, the sense of falling a dangerously long way. Christina screaming at her. Bianca¡¯s lines of power caught on a gargoyle somewhere and Tallah stopped in the air between two nearly invisible buildings, lost and shaken, ribs rattling inside her chest. Panic rose in her gut. Had she gone too far from the Agora? Somewhere close to the Alchemists? It was hard and getting harder to think. Her vision dimmed again on the edges. Do not dare faint! I cannot do this if you go unconscious. Bianca yanked on her tether and moved with a certainty Tallah didn¡¯t feel. ¡°I¡¯m still alive. Keep going. He won¡¯t fol¡ª¡± A bolt of lightning struck the roof she aimed to land on. Snow and shingles exploded, and she crashed through, falling to the street below. Impact drove all air from her again. Something in her arm snapped with a wet crunch. In another flash, Falor was on top of her, hammer coming down wreathed in light. Tallah kicked out against his legs and pushed away. Cobbles, snow, and black ice exploded. She fought to find her feet, but Falor came again. Another crash of the hammer, a hair¡¯s breadth escape. She rolled and crawled and gasped in agony. Blood oozed from her mouth as she climbed to her feet and dizzily stumbled away from the monster as he came for her. ¡°You could have died easy back there,¡± he growled. Fury and a manic determination coated his words. ¡°I offered you an easy death. I offered you an execution. Please, just die.¡± Odd turn of phrase. She¡¯d consider it later, if she managed to refuse him. ¡°That was you being kind?¡± She couldn¡¯t resist the taunt even if she barely whispered the words out. ¡°And here I thought you¡¯d have outgrown childish sentiment by now.¡± She struggled to think, to stall for time. He wouldn¡¯t risk another Punishment, not so deep in the city, surrounded by innocents in their homes, not with her able to push it back. He showed that he could chase her down. It was more than enough to finish her. Another blast of lightning. It hit her square in the chest. Christina screamed as she dispersed the power, but she faded with the effort. Music flooded into the space the ghost left. ¡°That would be Christina Cytra¡¯s power, I assume,¡± Falor said, a dark twist to his face. ¡°And you¡¯ve been running with Bianca Vel¡¯s. That¡¯s two murders finally solved. Are you holding Anna Theala¡¯s abilities in reserve, to surprise me? It won¡¯t work.¡± She had to give his investigation credit. Someone on their side was very good at seeing a larger picture. She¡¯d bet a griffon it was Rumi Belli. ¡°I haven¡¯t absorbed her yet. No tools here.¡± She leaned on a wall to keep her feet. The pain in her side throbbed and promised a fatal conclusion. He grunted, his anger smouldering beneath the obsidian intensity of his gaze. He was resolved to killing her. ¡°Why?¡± he asked, voice tightly controlled. Why what? Why run? Why kill her old friends? Why run from the Empire? Why¡­ why? Thoughts gelled in her head. Bianca whimpered for guidance, torn between defending them, and protecting her soul from the ghastly music pouring past Christina¡¯s absence. Falor had grown exponentially in the six years since their last clash and he still held so much back. ¡°It was necessary.¡± She straightened and pulled in illum. He wasn¡¯t taking her seriously. That couldn¡¯t bloody stand. Fear melted down into anger, and that distilled into rage. This had been a mistake, but she refused to let him murder her in a dark alley like some helpless urchin. There was still work to be done. ¡°Soul theft is an immediate death sentence.¡± He had noticed her building power again. ¡°Even if you do escape me here, there won¡¯t be a single place on Vas that will harbour you. We¡¯ll send word to Aztroa. Anywhere you go, you¡¯ll be hunted. Your crimes exposed. No allies would shelter you again.¡± She laughed wetly, choking on a glob of blood halfway through. ¡°I¡¯m already hunted, boy. Your mother¡¯s made sure of it. Do you think she didn¡¯t know I was alive?¡± She took a step towards him, her hands flashing into fire and lighting her up, paling in comparison to his luminescence. ¡°And why? Don¡¯t you know why?! Doesn¡¯t she trust you enough even for that?¡± Her words stung. She saw it in the stoop of his shoulders and in the tightness of his jaw. But he was talking. Something held him back and she couldn¡¯t be sure what. Her illum built up inside. Maybe enough for one Disintegration. ¡°You murdered your cell. You betrayed the trust of your men and of the Empire. You poisoned Valen and nearly burned it to the ground. Need I go on?¡± He held his hammer two handed and lightning coiled around the jagged head. ¡°And soul theft, the sin.¡± His grip tightened with a grind of metal on metal. ¡°Why all of it?¡± He¡¯d asked that before, those six Winters prior. She had refused to answer him then. They were three, maybe four, steps apart. Whistles echoed, calls to action, screams of the panicked. His lightning buzzed and crackled across his weapon. Just tell him. He¡¯s hesitating. Maybe¡­ Even Bianca couldn¡¯t finish that thought. Falor wouldn¡¯t believe the truth. ¡°I didn¡¯t kill my cell. I never betrayed the Empire. And I am not doing what you think I am.¡± Her fury grew and she spat more blood to the side. ¡°I never betrayed anyone that hadn¡¯t stabbed me first. Do you know what happened to all those that I hunted down for your mother?¡± ¡°Locked in Drak¡¯s Perch. Some of them blanked.¡± He sounded affronted. He believed the lies. ¡°It¡¯s better than they deserve.¡± Tallah chuckled grimly. ¡°Drak¡¯s Perch is empty, Falor. Go see for yourself if you won¡¯t believe it, once you¡¯ve dealt with me. There¡¯s nobody there. Empty walls. Silent cells. Nothing.¡± He didn¡¯t dismiss the notion straight out of hand. Still as a statue, he waited for her answers, hammer abuzz with his fury. ¡°They¡¯re all under Aztroa¡¯s Crown, out in the Expanse. Tortured. Dead. All of them emptied out and buried as husks. I saw the graves. I dug two of those myself.¡± One for Rhine¡¯s corpse. One for herself. She squeezed down on the pain of that memory and added it to the fuel of her furnace. His black eyes were unreadable. ¡°I confronted your mother. She didn¡¯t take it well. Here we are.¡± This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. A frown creased the impeccable line of his forehead. Tallah felt Christina¡¯s whimpering in the back of her mind. Good, she hadn¡¯t been burned out of her. In that electric, quiet moment she couldn¡¯t afford the grief. She breathed in and sought for the right words when something crashed into Falor, howling from above. A figure had bounded off a roof and leapt down with two weapons in hand, toppling the prince. They went down in a sprawl of limbs, sparks and flashes of electricity. Tallah got the impression of a horned helmet and two axes glinting in the firelight. ¡°Vergil?¡± she asked, incredulous, unable to believe her eyes. Vergil howled in glee as Falor threw him off. He rolled through the snow, landed on all fours and bounded back against the prince like a wild animal. An axe in each hand, he closed the distance again before Falor could bring his hammer to bear. Dull clangs of metal sounded as Vergil smashed aside the hammer head, hooked it with an axe¡¯s beard and almost yanked it out of his enemy¡¯s hands. Falor moved with the pull and smashed into his opponent, armoured shoulder to armoured chest. Vergil drew back and slammed his helmet down on Falor¡¯s exposed forehead, drawing blood. The prince caught him by the arm, released his hammer, and blasted with a bolt of lightning. Tallah rushed to help the boy. She didn¡¯t see the blade. It came from the shadows for her throat. Both she and it slammed into an invisible hair-thin barrier that stopped the killing blow. The figure holding the curved sword cursed and Tallah recognized him. Barlo. The Miscreant had caught up with Falor and had waited for his moment. ¡°Pay attention, Tallah. Vergil can handle himself.¡± That was Sil. The healer called down to her from a perch way on high on a rooftop. ¡°There are soldiers coming. Move.¡± Barlo slammed two gauntleted fists into the barrier and Sil yelped above. Cracks formed in the air. Tallah was unarmed and hurt. Her sword was lost somewhere. She couldn¡¯t fight the mage killer then and there. Vergil, smoking and steaming from Falor¡¯s hit, howled and launched himself again at the princeling. Another blast of lighting and the boy moved with incredible grace around it, just like she¡¯d taught him to. That this was Horvath fighting got stowed away for later digesting. He came at the prince with such fury that it got Barlo¡¯s attention off her. Before the vanadal could rush in to help, Sil dropped the barrier and Tallah blasted him into the wall with a kinesis push. Vergil¡¯s axes clanged against Falor¡¯s hammer, a flurry of blows that managed to push the star-ore head away. The Commander defended with his bare gauntlet and barely pulled back from a strike that would¡¯ve buried an axe in his forehead, forced to drop his weapon. Vergil leapt at Falor with murderous intent. Tallah grabbed him mid-air with Bianca¡¯s power and, with a twist, launched him skyward towards Sil, saving him from a lightning strike from above. It shattered cobbles and raised another cloud of dust and steam. She launched herself as well before Falor refocused on her. She couldn¡¯t run from him. But she didn¡¯t need to. Sil arrested Vergil¡¯s flight with a barrier and he cursed in ancient Dwarven at her, screaming and kicking for the fight he was being denied. Tallah reached them, pulled them both close, and used the shard hung on a string at her neck. The world and the night and the snow all lurched sideways, and they dropped awkwardly through nothing. Momentum carried them through the teleportation. Wherever the other shard spat them out, they kept moving until they slammed into a wall. Vergil was the first up on his feet, growling, axes held out. Tallah followed, stumbling from pain and exhaustion. Her left arm was shattered and the pain maddening. Soldiers surrounded them on all sides, some of them more surprised than others. It had been a trap! No. Details resolved in her vision. An old bookcase. Another. Dust and discarded scrolls. Overloaded work desks and alchemical compounds strewn about. They were in Ludwig¡¯s home. There, at the other end of the room, held at knife point, was the old bastard himself, white-faced with fear and terror. Rumi Belli held his hand in her own and two soldiers held his arm. Three fingers were bent at wrong angles. One was missing. Tallah lashed out with Bianca¡¯s kinesis, grabbed a soldier that had drawn his sword, and launched him bodily at the mind-skinner. She dodged out of the way and the flying body hit another. Ludwig stood there, frozen to the spot, stupid frightened. ¡°Move, old man,¡± she called out as she flung another man through his home, knocking over book shelves. An explosion of paper and dust choked the air. Vergil was already moving, cutting with his axes. He took an arm off someone and kicked another with enough force that Tallah heard the sickening snap of bone. ¡°Sil, move. Get to him.¡± A soldier had come out behind her, sword raised. She turned and smashed him with a flung piece of furniture. It looked like the old man¡¯s favourite armchair. It shattered to splinters, springs, and cascading stuffing. Men cursed and rallied. Crossbows were drawn, pulled back and loaded. Bolts flew but smashed into invisible walls. Sil moved towards the stricken Ludwig, pinning people in place with her barriers. In the melee, Tallah had lost track of Rumi Belli. She turned to scan the room and was met by Vergil, who swung his axe at her. Bianca yanked her sideways and she heard the clang of weapons meeting. A man wearing loose black clothes, looking like one of the Guild¡¯s handlers, had sneaked up behind her. He held a twisted, three-bladed knife almost as long as her arm. She¡¯d seen him somewhere before, but couldn¡¯t place that plain face. The man dropped his knife and moved in chest-to-chest with Vergil. Even the mad ghost couldn¡¯t keep up with the storm of fists, elbows and knees that the warrior unleashed. Vergil spat blood through his visor slit as an elbow drove into the side of his neck and snapped his head sideways. Another fist to the stomach scythed the strength in his legs and he dropped to his knees, gasping for breath. Tallah intervened with a kinesis burst. The man avoided it, pulled back and disappeared in the chaos, lithe and graceful as a dancer. A strange glint in the way he looked at her triggered some ancient instinct and she moved sideways just in time to avoid a knife to the small of her back from Rumi Belli. The hammer strike¡¯s echo slammed her and she nearly blacked out with the effort of staying upright. Aerum had run out and she was dizzy with effort. Every breath was a fight. Vergil¡¯s axe swing chased off another attempt from Rumi Belli. Thunder rumbled above and the wind whistled inside through the shattered window. A flash of white. Another crack of thunder that seemed to cover the world. And Falor was out there. ¡°We need to go,¡± Tallah called to Sil. The healer had locked down most of the soldiers and helped Ludwig stand. ¡°Go to her, bucket-head. Go, go.¡± She didn¡¯t bother grabbing at Rumi and the warrior in black. She focused whatever reserves Bianca still had and heaved forward. Ludwig¡¯s front wall exploded out into the night, dropping heavily over Falor. Twin fireballs set the entire ruin alight in a burst of embers and glass. Tallah rushed over the detritus to Sil and Vergil. The boy stood awkwardly, like a doll held up by strings. No time to worry about him. ¡°I hope you have a way out, old man. Now¡¯s the time to use it.¡± She was panicking and could hear the bursts of lightning that threw away the wreckage of the building. It was all about to come down on top of them. Ludwig fumbled awkwardly with one hand to his neck and shakily drew out a shard dressed in cloth. ¡°My supplies a-a-are up-upst¡ª¡± ¡°We don¡¯t need them.¡± Tallah reached out and grabbed the shard in her fist. Sil grabbed Vergil by the back of his collar, and wrapped a hand around Tallah¡¯s. Falor flew at them through the crumbling ruin of the door, singed and smoking, hair matted by blood, his hammer already swinging. His eyes met hers for a brief instant. Maybe¡­ maybe she thought she saw hesitation there. Probably just imagined it. Pity it had come to this. She had regretted it six years prior and she regretted it now. She would have wanted to know if he believed her, if without Vergil¡¯s intervention they could have¡ª Too late for regrets, much too late. She siphoned illum into the shard and Valen dropped away. Chapter 1.00.2: Intermission Quistis waited in the cold and watched the Gate as it slowly completed its final revolution. Symbols in a language she couldn¡¯t decipher glowed around the circumference of the great star ore portal. In the chill morning air, she sweated. Falor wasn¡¯t back yet, still helping with the fires. Barlo helped dig out those caught in the blast at the Guild. Rumi and Aidan were sifting through the ruins of Angledeer¡¯s home. That only left her to face the great Gate. She would rather have faced Cinder. But Cinder had managed to escape and had sent the entire Valen council into an absolute tizzy. She didn¡¯t even want to imagine facing High Lord Diogron that morning or on any other day for the rest of Winter. And, of course, there had been no Descent yet that night, and it was nearing dawn. The mood around Valen was as sour as pickled lemons. Some hopefuls still hung around the podium raised at the Fortress, doggedly determined to wait until the first sliver of light for a god to show. She¡¯d been awake for so long already that her vision swam and her legs felt as if made of jelly. As the Gate glowed to life and its circle filled up with the tar-like substance that allowed transference, she found herself scratching insistently at her throat, where the sword had cut¡­ her? ¡°Bugger.¡± That image and the feeling attached to it would take some time to fade. She pulled her collar up and hid away the freezing line of blood. A draught would take care of it later. A woman stepped through the portal, walking with a steady, confident gait down the frozen slope. She was bareheaded, with a crown of loose ashen-grey hair blowing in the early morning breeze, and a tiny, frail circlet of spun silver sitting atop her head. Eyes the colour of distant glaciers found hers and bore through to the back of her head, as if aiming to read her mind. Of what she knew of Empress Catharina¡¯s abilities, that might have even been the case. She wore the Storm Guard uniform, white and blue, and a short sword hung at her belt. Another woman, dressed in furs, trailed shortly behind and struggled to not slip. Quistis could only see bespectacled green eyes shining from the narrow gap between the face covering and the cloak¡¯s fur-lined cowl. ¡°Good morning, Your Highness,¡± she said to the first, trying to sound cheerful, and saluted. How the Empress had found out so quickly of the night¡¯s events, she couldn¡¯t begin to imagine. But when the runner found her in the Guild¡¯s ruined courtyard, and told her that the Gate was calling in, she had known who would be visiting. ¡°Where¡¯s my son?¡± the Empress asked with barely a glance at her dishevelled state. ¡°I want to talk to him.¡± ¡°He¡¯s helping put out fires.¡± ¡°Fetch him. I¡¯ll be in his office.¡± Her voice was as calm and calculated as if this were really just an informal visit. Quistis found herself dismissed as the Empress strode past her. The woman following gave her a short, friendly wave of the hand as she followed her liege. No bodyguards came through the Gate, no advisers or courtiers. It shut down with a hiss of steam escaping from somewhere within the great construction. The Empress and her Adjunct were in Valen. Diogron would be livid and she¡¯d need to deal with it after they left. Cinder had come calling and had escaped. Falor had nearly blown up half of the Alchemist¡¯s Quarter. Again. And the two most dangerous women in the Empire came by Gate at the crack of dawn, straight into Valen¡¯s heart. May as well have made a declaration of war while they were at it, to top off a smashing night. Quistis wanted to curl up in a dark, quiet corner somewhere, eat a bagful of burn-leaf and put herself to sleep through what were going to be a couple of absolutely buggering days. She found Falor supervising the digs through Angledeer¡¯s ruined abode. When Cinder had disappeared to wherever she had gone, the entire place had come down around those trapped inside. Naturally, it also caught fire and it had spread to the buildings tightly clustered around. Smoke hung in the air. People shouted and worked to dig out their homes. Falor stood amid the sooty wreckage, hands and uniform stained black from the work, cuts and bruises clear on whatever skin wasn¡¯t dirtied. His hammer was leaned against a wall nearby, discarded. He¡¯d refused her healing earlier and sent her to deal with the other wounded. His head wound had dried, and his forehead was grimy where he¡¯d tried to wipe away fresh blood. ¡°Your mother¡¯s going to have kittens if she sees you like this,¡± she said by way of greeting. ¡°She¡¯s going to have kittens anyway she sees me. Is she here?¡± ¡°Waiting in your office. Came alone with the Adjunct. Can¡¯t remember the name.¡± Falor gave a short grunt and a nod. He washed his hands in the snow and went to pick up his hammer. Didn¡¯t even need telling that the Empress wanted him. Rumi and Aidan huddled together over some pieces of the wreckage, carefully extracting some tomes from underneath the rubble. Two soldiers held up a tarp over them to hold off the snow. ¡°Report as soon as you have anything interesting,¡± Falor called to the two. ¡°I want to know where they¡¯ve gone. And I want that shard. Keep digging until you find it.¡± ¡°Aye, ¡®mandah,¡± Aidan replied without looking up from his work. Rumi just waved a hand in acknowledgement. Quistis followed up behind him, running to catch up to his long strides. ¡°Let me heal you at least. Please.¡± He didn¡¯t respond, just kept walking. He wasn¡¯t even angry, not really. She recognized his anger in all its forms, and this wasn¡¯t it. Something else ate at him but he¡¯d bring it up when he was good and ready. All in all, Cinder hadn¡¯t done as much damage as feared. Either she¡¯d held back, or she¡¯d been careful for some reason, but her destruction had been tame compared to six years prior. Most of the damage was from Falor himself, a fact that would not escape Valen¡¯s council and their lengthy complaints. ¡°Do you know why she was trying to get into the archives?¡± she ventured a question as they climbed the stairs to the Fortress. Their soldier guarded the entrances and were all standing perfectly ramrod straight. The Empress had passed that way it seemed, if their steely-eyed, terrified expression was anything to go by. ¡°I haven¡¯t the bloodiest, Quis. Wish I knew at least that so the night wouldn¡¯t have been a total loss.¡± He sighed heavily and looked over his shoulder. Clouds of smoke were dispersing in the clear morning light. The snowfall had eased up and they could see across the entirety of Valen. ¡°We were so certain of the Aieni connection,¡± Quistis said. She also sighed. ¡°We harassed an innocent woman. Runner came back saying the lady Aieni refused my apology. Slammed the door in his face.¡± Falor let out a slow, grim chuckle as he braced to push open the door to his office. You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. ¡°Pyromancers¡­¡± The door swung open from the inside and the short, thin woman from the gate welcomed them into their own office. Her name¡­ was Lya? Laya? Quistis was pretty certain it wasn¡¯t. ¡°Good morning, Leea,¡± Falor said as he passed by. Empress Catharina was seated behind his desk, ruffling through the papers that he was supposed to get to after the Cinder operation was complete. Reports, mostly. Guard routines. Troublesome elements in Valen. Mage killers and their training. Nothing of immediate concern. The look of absolute boredom on the Empress¡¯s face said as much. ¡°So, she¡¯s not dead?¡± she asked, looking up at him over the rim of her tiny reading glasses. Falor shrugged and dropped his hammer with a dull thud on the floor. ¡°You¡¯re in my seat, mother,¡± he replied instead. ¡°Find another.¡± They stared at one another and the atmosphere charged with electricity. Leea sidled up to Quistis and whispered, ¡°Would you like me to bring you a mug of coffee, Captain Quistis?¡± She even gave her a bright, dimpled smile that was simply not fit for the state of that morning. ¡°Yes, please,¡± she whispered back. ¡°And one for him. Strong as you can make it. It¡¯ll mellow him out.¡± ¡°Like mother, like son.¡± Leea melted out of the room as soundless as a ghost. ¡°You look like death. Did she really take so much out of you?¡± The Empress looked him up and down with a critical eyebrow raised. ¡°I¡¯m frankly disappointed in you and Cinder.¡± Her eyes snapped to Quistis. ¡°Why haven¡¯t you healed him? I can see the blood from here.¡± Quistis felt her spine grow cold under that electric gaze. ¡°He won¡¯t let me.¡± Her voice squeaked and she felt a blush going up to the tips of her ears. ¡°Typical.¡± She sighed and rubbed under her glasses. ¡°Sit down, Falor, somewhere. I¡¯m not angry. I just have questions.¡± Leea returned with a tray of steaming mugs and handed them out before taking her place behind the Empress. Fresh aroma of dark roasted coffee filled the small office. They all sipped their drinks in silence for a few moments before Falor spoke up. ¡°She¡¯s not dead because she had shards ready. Two sets of them even.¡± He grimaced at the idea. ¡°That¡¯s egg on my face. I¡¯m already checking our reserves of shards in the vaults, testing every one. Everything seems accounted for.¡± He sat heavily in Quistis¡¯s chair and groaned as some ache of the night found him. ¡°Fortunately, I¡¯m sure that she¡¯s not picked up the twin of the one she first used. We should have it soon.¡± The Empress raised a finger to Leea and the Adjunct quickly wrote down something in a small, ragged notebook. ¡°We¡¯ll check ours in Aztroa Magnor, and the ones in Solstice, though I doubt it came from any of the known stocks. Did you relay my message to her?¡± ¡°Hadn¡¯t the chance.¡± ¡°Quite. I heard you came in swinging the gavel.¡± She glared at him, glasses steaming as she sipped more coffee, though she said nothing more on the subject. ¡°Do you know who¡¯s been helping her?¡± Falor looked to Quistis. ¡°We believe she¡¯s got two permanent associates,¡± she said, carefully. ¡°One¡¯s a healer, unidentified. The other¡¯s a warrior, unidentified as well. This was assumed from the Flesh Doll memories and confirmed last night. As she has Iliaya¡¯s Staff, we can¡¯t identify by face but we¡¯ll run a recognition campaign all the same once the dust settles.¡± ¡°They were also helped by one Ludwig Angledeer,¡± Falor went on, cracking his finger joints one by one. ¡°Scholarly type. Seems to have been a teacher back in Cinder¡¯s days at Hoarfrost. No trouble caused in Valen before. Travelled about and came back here to roost.¡± He rubbed at his forehead and let out a groan, but waved Quistis away when she wanted to see about his clearly concussed skull. ¡°Stop that,¡± both Quistis and the Empress snapped at him as he started on the other hand¡¯s fingers. ¡°And just let the girl heal you, you overgrown child. Stop sulking. Your head bleeding won¡¯t suddenly end Cinder wherever she¡¯s gone.¡± The Empress looked up and over her shoulder. ¡°Leea, why does Angledeer sound familiar to me? Did I ever commend this person for anything?¡± Leea thought for a moment before replying, ¡°Yes, ma¡¯am. He is person number three on your list for immediate execution if ever found within a hundred leagues of Aztroa Magnor. He is to be beheaded and, to quote Your Majesty, fed to the dogs in itty-bitty-tiny pieces, boiled preferably.¡± She smiled apologetically, as if she¡¯d said something rude. The Empress snapped her fingers. ¡°Oh right, I remember him. Goboid of a man. Surprised he¡¯s still alive.¡± She leaned back in Falor¡¯s chair, closed her eyes and drained the rest of her mug. ¡°He¡¯s finally found someone to take his insanity seriously. Only took him a century or so.¡± Quistis finally got her hands in Falor¡¯s hair and felt about. It hadn¡¯t been a concussion, but close enough. She whispered her prayer to the Goddess and healed him. It made her feel better, if not him. ¡°Do you know where they¡¯ve gone?¡± Falor asked. Quistis could see his knuckles turn white as he squeezed the cup. She took it away from him before it shattered and he cut himself. ¡°Oh, yes,¡± the Empress replied, ¡°I know exactly where they¡¯ve gone if they went along with that basket case. If you do find that shard, don¡¯t use it.¡± ¡°Tell me. I¡¯ll have her dead within the week.¡± ¡°You¡¯ll have yourself dead within the day, and me very cross. No, I¡ª¡± Vial burst into the room and nearly toppled Quistis. ¡°Captain, you need to see this.¡± He froze when he saw the Empress looking at him, eyebrow raised. He made to kneel, but Falor gestured for him to be at ease. ¡°What¡¯s happened?¡± he asked, urgently. ¡°More fires?¡± ¡°No, Commander. There¡¯s been a Descent.¡± He looked from Falor to Quistis, red-faced now that everyone was staring at him. ¡°Uh, you need to come see.¡± ¡°Well, that¡¯ll give Diogron something to preen over,¡± the Empress said as she strode past. ¡°Can¡¯t imagine Lord Ort¡¯s come down so I don¡¯t see why all the excitement.¡± They could hear voices rising in hymns and cheers as they neared an exit to an over-viewing balcony. A chill blasted in when soldiers opened the wide doors. The noise was louder now, and some confusion mingled into the cherring. A crowd gathered in the courtyard. People surged in through the thrown-open gateways as word spread out into the city. Men and women still sooty from fighting the fires came in droves to see who¡¯d come to bless Valen¡¯s Thaw and Summer. Diogron was there, on his knees, resplendent in his best robes. Sprite light made him twinkle as he raised his hands to the figures on the podium. On one side of the marble podium was a woman of incredible height, like a tower of rippling muscles, with auburn hair cascading down her shoulders. Her skin was the colour of burnished gold and seemed to reflect the sprite light. She wore the most intricate dress Quistis had ever seen, adorned with jewels of rainbow colours, fragile chains of gold and silver, and armour plates that floated gently atop the rest. Three enormous swords orbited around her, each of a different make and style. A thin, straight rapier like the gentry of Valen, Drack and Aztroa favoured, encrusted with sapphires and blood rubies. A black, broad bastard sword favoured by the demon-forged warriors of the Twins, the blade of blackest obsidian. And an ugly curved scimitar of the simplest steel. Barlo would be insufferable for this clear show of favour from Cassandra herself. But even the goddess Cassandra stared in utter confusion at the second figure. ¡°Who is that?¡± Falor asked what Quistis and the crowd were thinking. She¡¯d been to Nights of Awakening with her sister when they were girls, and then as part of the prince¡¯s retinue once out of the School of Healing. Quistis had never felt compelled to kneel. She did so automatically now. The second figure was small and so white as if made of chalk. She was also completely naked. She marched along the edges of the podium and stared over the crowd, her gaze swivelling as if searching intensely for something. Gasps from the crowd had Quistis raising her eyes. The figure had jumped down among the people and elbowed her way through the crowd, still searching. Everyone parted for her. She reached the edge of the courtyard, at the gate atop the great stairs coming up from the Inner Plaza. After a long time looking across the city, she stamped down her foot in frustration and vanished without a word. The Empress whistled, and then confirmed what Quistis knew within herself. ¡°Now that¡¯s peculiar,¡± she said with a tinge of amusement. ¡°That, boy, was Panacea. Haven¡¯t seen her in over two centuries. Wonder what''s dragged her out from under her rock.¡± Catharinas Ascent - The first night - Part 1 ¡°Oh, Cat, must you return to that dreadful, cold place?¡± Catharina swept her gaze across the tiny room she had called home for nearly ten years. She never really owned much while there, but to see it all packed into the small black travel case, with room left to spare, felt oddly wrong. After so long in the Dominion she was to return home with just the clothes on her back and the instruments of her work. The household had taken everything else¡ªher books, collected feathers and insects, notes, scrolls, maps, and trophies. She had owned nothing and was to keep only what her hands had toiled to make, her tools. And they barely rattled at the bottom of her case when she clicked the lid shut. ¡°Are you listening to me, Cat?¡± ¡°Yes, Yriea, I can hear you,¡± she replied without turning around. ¡°Then answer me!¡± She heard Yriea stamp her foot in annoyance, a childish habit she refused to let go of. It made Catharina smile even as she bent and picked up her singular piece of luggage. Upon her arrival, long ago, the aelir had taken away her childhood belongings and had them burned. Then they¡¯d given her two loose dark green dresses, as befitting her low station in the household. Uniform and servant¡¯s garb, all in one piece of soft, unadorned fabric, had been all she¡¯d known since. She¡¯d grown to be grateful for this as the seasons rolled by and she was quickly taught the value of each belonging and what it took to earn more. Luxuries were a rare thing for the aelir. Unearned luxuries were unheard of. In the end, all she owned was her toil and the lessons of this place. It was hard to understand how she felt about this final piece of teaching. ¡°Duty calls, Yriea,¡± she finally said, drawing herself away from the bubbling conflict of wishing to go away yet still wanting to remain of the household, choosing to latch on to the one constant she¡¯d always known. ¡°My duty is to my people.¡± Yriea scoffed. ¡°You are the seventh, Cat. There are six before you to answer any duty your people might ever demand.¡± She sneered in the gloom, white teeth gleaming. Fierce amber eyes followed Catharina about the room as she arranged the sparse furniture and erased any sign of there ever having been a human living there. They were in the deepest hollow in the household of Protector Calhad, Yriea¡¯s father. Catharina¡¯s room sat in the very root of the great Olden tree, at the bottom of a twisting staircase lit gently by garlands of white-leaves. It was an oddly comfortable place, sunless and cool in Summer¡¯s heat, warm against Winter¡¯s chill, and always haunted by the many sounds of the great tree as it grew. It had been home for a long, long time. It was time to leave it behind. She sighed, turned on her heels and walked out without looking back as she climbed the stairs. Even those held memories that niggled at her resolve. During her first season in the Dominion she¡¯d fallen down the uneven steps more times than she cared to remember. Some of those falls had left scars. One, a dull ache in her knee, bothered her even now as she ascended with her depressing burden. Yriea followed two steps behind, quietly fuming. Catharina expected at least another outburst before she reached daylight. ¡°Duty to a people that will never know you exist, serving a family that only needs you for a skill you never wanted to learn.¡± Sure enough, here it was. Yriea worked herself up to a proper storm of indignant fury. ¡°You could stay, Cat. Become aelir¡¯rei. Be my sister in all but blood. Father has offered it so many times already. Even Mother approves.¡± True. Protector Calhad had offered to adopt and name her aelir¡¯rei of his household. Treasured daughter. If there was any higher honour an aelir lord could bestow on a human, Catharina was not aware of it. She shook her head. ¡°Duty calls.¡± It was true, more than Yriea could know. Duty had sent her away from Aztroa Magnor as a child, guided her steps on the long journey to the Amaranth port, and kept her watching the horizon when crossing the Divide. It had ultimately led her into the Dominion¡¯s wild lands, with her letter in hand to beseech any aelir lord who would listen to take her on as a ward. ¡°A pox on your duty and your thick, flat-eared head.¡± Protector Calhad ruled, in as much as anyone ruled in the Dominion, over a swathe of land the size of half of Vas. He¡¯d been amiable to her parents¡¯ requests for schooling her, and kinder to her than probably wise, at least as far as other Protectors had said when seeing her. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. His not being here to see Catharina off and to dull Yriea¡¯s badgering felt like a sort of mean-spirited jest on his part. ¡°Will you be pestering me to the harbour?¡± Catharina cut off another complaint from the aelir¡¯rei. She recognized the signs of it building up, like pressure in a kettle. ¡°And onto the ship, yes. I¡¯m determined to have you see reason even if I may need Isadora¡¯s own patience to not simply throttle you. Had the Goddess granted me strength of arm instead of beauty, I would drag you by your feet to the baptism and dunk you in myself until you agreed to stay. You flat-eared mule!¡± ¡°Temper, temper, lady aelir¡¯rei.¡± She took a quicker step before Yriea could kick her feet out from under her, and was rewarded by an undignified cuss just as they emerged into blinding, mid-morning sunlight. ¡°I will miss the view,¡± she said as she walked onto the balcony overlooking the vast expanse of ever-forest. This late in Summer the canopies were all shedding the deep, verdant green and claiming the colourful dresses of Fall. Ruby-red and topaz-yellow mixed and stretched away to a blue-mountain horizon, unbroken but for other Olden trees where Calhad vassals and lower family rungs resided. The sweet scent of late Summer blooms hung in the air, wafted about by kind zephyrs. Gondolas, animated by aelir illum ingenuity, moved above the treeline on a network of drooping vines stretching among the Olden. The household was spread far across the forest, scattered among the trees but always moving, growing, expanding. She¡¯d learned to see the hive-like activity in the trees, all the aelir sworn to the house and all their elend and vanadal servants attending. Once, the height of this balcony used to make her dizzy. Now, it was a joy to look below and make out every ant-like person coming and going. The aelir¡¯sar of Household Sanar was boarding his gondola some thirty meters beneath her vantage point, heading back with his wounded dignity without being received by Protector Calhad. That would be a whole mess come the following season, but she wouldn¡¯t be here to witness the games and the subtle machinations of the aelir high-born. But she wouldn¡¯t miss that. Oh no, enough of it waited back in Aztroa. What she would miss instead was the tranquillity of Nen¡¯s heartlands. From her distant childhood she remembered Vas¡¯ angry, wailing winds and the sweeping storms that made the mountains scream. Here, the wind only ever whispered and storms were always tamed by Isadora¡¯s favour. Yriea joined her on the balcony and took hold of her hand. Catharina finally looked at the young aelir. Golden skin and amber eyes, her father¡¯s high cheekbones, and her mother¡¯s thin lips atop a willowy frame that made her tower over both her parents. For this day, she wore the earrings of mourning, five silver bands on each sharp-pointed ear. Among her people, she was indeed touched by Isadora¡¯s hand. On Vas, she would¡¯ve been the storybook depiction of the monstrous aelir of dark faer stories, the leering monster invoked to scare children into behaving in the long and dark night. And now, she wore an expression like a tempest that gave Catharina a shudder of distant childhood terror. Those amber eyes bore into hers even as she tried to avoid them, and Yriea¡¯s lips quirked into the saddest smile Catharina had ever seen on her. ¡°Stay. Please.¡± Everything about the aelir¡¯rei was Summer-warm, from the touch of her skin to the gentleness of her voice. It had been so hard across the seasons to separate this real Yriea from the monsters of humanity¡¯s stories, the butchers of history and devourers of corpses. ¡°This is your home, not that mountain wasteland waiting on Vas. I¡¯ve seen paintings of that place. It will ruin you.¡± ¡°I¡­¡± Catharina found words difficult, now that the time for farewells had come, especially under that piercing, hopeful gaze. ¡°Please,¡± Yriea repeated, voice a low whisper. That broke the spell. Catharina pulled her hand away and smirked. ¡°That was good. Bones of my sisters, that was so good. You almost had me entranced.¡± Yriea clicked her tongue in annoyance. ¡°Pushed too hard, didn¡¯t I? It¡¯s unfair that you know me as well as you do.¡± She stamped her foot. ¡°I even did the big eyes and the pout and everything. Wasted effort for a flat-eared savage.¡± Catharina sighed and rushed to the much taller aelir¡¯rei. She pulled her into the tightest embrace she could muster and only stopped squeezing when there was no more air for Yriea to gasp. ¡°I will miss you, heart-sister. More than you¡¯ll know or I could say.¡± The hug was returned less viciously and, for once, there were no more words to trade with. Yriea allowed Catharina her soft moment and said nothing about the tear stains left behind on her bosom. ¡°Father sends his apology for not seeing you off. The Council is convening early. Large daemon infestation on Beril¡¯s border. The elend demand our aid.¡± There was a lie somewhere, but Catharina did not challenge it. Protector Calhad had his reasons not to see her off and that was that. She wouldn¡¯t begrudge him, not after so long enjoying his generous hospitality. And anyway, she had said her farewells and expressed her gratitude to the Protector when she¡¯d been called about the ship¡¯s coming. The aelir¡¯matar was also there, but she needed no expression of appreciation or words of departure. Master and student had grown far beyond the need for such things, soul-bound as they were and would always remain. Still, part of her wished she could see them one final time before her departure. Instead, she only had Yriea to accompany her to Diolo¡¯s harbour, an eight-day trip in fair weather. There was a tinge of cruelty in this and she was certain Yriea had not given up her claim on her just yet. She was gracious in most things, except in not getting what her heart demanded. They took the fast way down the Olden, sliding down its branches and swinging on vines across the canopy, the earth below rushing up to greet them. Household minders had seen this too often across the seasons to try and put a stop to it anymore. All had learned to mind the open areas of the Olden lest they find themselves on a collision course with one of the two bothers of the household and their endless competitions. Catharinas Ascent - The first night - Part 2 Yriea spoke, but her words were swallowed by the rush of wind as Catharina dropped like a stone between branches she¡¯d watched grow, catching a hanging vine one heartbeat before it was too late. She swung around, and landed gracefully atop the next thick, moss covered branch. Blue-feathered parrots squawked their annoyance at the disturbance and took to the air in a great, noisy pandemonium. ¡°Are you listening, Cat?¡± She grunted, tensed and jumped off, reached for a final vine and deftly lowered herself to the soft, yellow-leaf-covered ground. First down, as always. She looked up to see Yriea jump and drop unassisted in a flurry of green and white fabric, like a petal on the wind. She took two steps back and the aelir¡¯rei landed with the grace of one never afraid of the fall, born to run and hunt across the canopies of the ever-forest. ¡°I wasn¡¯t listening,¡± Catharina lied. ¡°Were you saying something?¡± That got a pout and a momentary, sullen silence. ¡°Savage.¡± ¡°Tart.¡± ¡°I would call you monkey but those can actually climb a tree.¡± A pair of Dominion-bred corallins waited for them, brushed down and saddled by an aelir minder. His name, Catharina knew, was Glaram. She knew each of the house members by name, station, and matriarch. She signed her gratitude to him, hand over breast, as they approached. The corallins that made their home on Vas held almost nothing of the deadly beauty of their Dominion counterparts, the difference almost as glaring as between a common mouser and a panther. These were taller than a man, muscular and lean, with coats of black, fine hair into which the aelir massaged oils to ward against pests. With claws and fangs large and sharp enough to rip an armoured man in two, they were majestic beasts bred for war and to cover quick distances across the forested land. One was called Briar, for her prickly moods and difficult temper. Catharina loved her dearly. She took a slab of meat from Glaram and fed the great cat herself. ¡°I will miss you,¡± she said. With a glance at Yriea, she added, ¡°The most of all.¡± Briar let out a low growl and her rough tongue licked the hand that fed her, and then Catharina¡¯s face. She¡¯d grown accustomed to this rough, wet show of affection and let it happen. Once satisfied, Briar shook to settle the saddle and lowered herself, belly to the ground, so that Catharina could mount. Glaram strapped her luggage to the saddle¡¯s side, latched in place for the long trip ahead. They took to the trail at a steady, slow trot. Briar led and Yriea¡¯s Onyx followed in her wake, both animals steadily increasing pace as they warmed to the vague road. Catharina looked back once to see the Olden disappear from sight, its great corolla hidden by the lower canopy of the forest. A final look to a fragment of her life she felt she would never revisit again. ¡°Race you, flat-ear?¡± Onyx shot by them and sped away into the thick undergrowth, Yriea¡¯s mocking laughter quickly deadened by the foliage. Briar grumbled and looked back at her rider. ¡°Are we going to let them get away with that?¡± Catharina asked. She patted the mount¡¯s side, leaned forward and whispered into the corallin¡¯s ear, ¡°How about we remind them that they¡¯ll never, ever win a race against us?¡± Briar quickened her pace gently, settled soon into the sprint and the forest became a blur of colours. Catharina let out a small gasp of pleasure at the thrill of the chase, gripped the saddle¡¯s handholds, and felt herself really smiling for the first time that day. She was one with her mount as they ran across the soft earth, dove under overhanging vines, and swayed side to side with the path. It was exhilarating! Her shrill, aelir battle cry echoed among the trees and was answered back by many others, their cheerful trills sending her on the way. Household Calhad acted aloof, but eyes would be on them until they passed out of the trees and into the hills of Diolo. She was still days away from boarding the ship. The path stretched far away but she had Yriea with her and the goodbye calls of those that had known and cherished her. Brooding on things to come and regrets to leave felt foolish in the face of such a gift of time. The speed. The fragrances in the air and the soft, cloying warmth of late Summer amidst the ever-forest. She drank it all in and laughed as Briar shot past Onyx, great paws churning the soft, moss-covered ground. Yriea¡¯s indignant cussing as Briar kicked up the loam in her face was a balm to Catharina¡¯s ears and she relished in it as they gained distance. ¡°I¡¯ve just made this dress, savage.¡± The words chased her as Onyx could not. She couldn¡¯t help but laugh. Briar ran on for a time before slowing and pacing herself up to a forest stream. It didn¡¯t take long for Onyx to catch up and Yriea to huff her annoyance as she dismounted and went to wash her face. ¡°Not even once,¡± Catharina said as she watched from the saddle. ¡°What made you think I¡¯d let you win this time?¡± ¡°I¡¯m going to wear that cat as a mantle when you¡¯re gone.¡± Catharina patted Briar¡¯s neck and caressed her ears. This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there. ¡°Hear that, Briar? She¡¯s going to wear you as a coat. What do we say to that?¡± Briar yawned and gave a great harrumph of disinterest. Her tail swished and whipped a fern across Yriea¡¯s back. ¡°My feelings exactly. The lady aelir¡¯rei forgets the last time she tried to take any sort of retribution on you.¡± Yriea twitched as she cupped her hands and drank from the stream. ¡°You promised we¡¯d never mention that.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll treasure the sight of it always, right here.¡± Catharina tapped her chest. ¡°The sight of your bare bum hanging out from your exquisite dress after you tried to clip her whiskers. Poetic. I might have it made into verse.¡± ¡°You wouldn¡¯t dare.¡± ¡°Would your prissy self come to savage Vas and stop me?¡± ¡°I just might. Briar¡¯s coat should be warm enough even for that place.¡± Catharina grinned and the great cat purred under her. A moment between duties. She relished its fleeting warmth. They rode at leisure for the next few days, a steady pace punctured by sprints across flat grasslands where the great cats could chase one another. They slept under star-lit skies, nestled together in the sides of the corallins, holding hands as the aelir did since time immemorial. For them it was to keep one another from plummeting down from the canopies. For Catharina it was for Yriea¡¯s warm touch and her peace of mind. Dominion land provided for their needs as an aelir¡¯rei of a Protector carried her family¡¯s sway with her. Food for themselves and the corallins. Fresh clothes and saddles. Balms for travel sores. Scattered aelir settlements offered their produce and their services, all too eager to please and aid the daughter and ward of household Calhad. Catharina was deeply and uncomfortably aware that she would not enjoy the same shades of hospitality on Vas, where the name of Voc Anghan was spat on by what remained of the ancient shards of humanity¡¯s empires. Her father ruled Aztroa Magnor, but that was a distant, secluded place that most of her kindred had forgotten even existed. And her father sat sat atop a motley assortment of warlords and petty nobles vying for control over an ice-encrusted tomb, fighting petty squabbles and vying for control over nothing. Yriea had been as good as her word. Her pestering had turned ritualistic and increasingly insistent, to the point of being simply weird. Was there any aspect of aelir life that she had failed praising in excruciating detail? Any story she had not used the chance to share? Probably. But by the seventh day¡¯s dawn, Catharina felt like she¡¯d learned of the aelir just about everything that her training hadn¡¯t covered. Through it all she was certain of two things. One, she would still be aboard the ship as it left for Vas. And two, she loved Yriea with all her heart and going away will be the hardest thing she would ever do. Forest gave way to hilly grasslands, and then to a continuously slopping swathe of farmland punctured by stone-built windmills quietly spinning in the sea-born wind. The scent of salt carried on the air now, constant and inviting with the Divide shining on the horizon, as brilliantly blue as the clear sky above. Seeing it for the first time in so long made her heart ache in ways she couldn¡¯t quite comprehend. Expectation for a duty long-planned and long-awaited? Dread at the change and the challenge to come? Sorrow for the encroaching end of her journey? All these collided into a maelstrom raging in her head. The more she pushed away dealing with it to the moment of departure, the worse it got. Yriea drew her mount next to hers and leaned over from her saddle to wrap an arm around Catharina¡¯s waist and pull her away from her darkening thoughts. ¡°Alas, we are nearly there and I have exhausted every plan, ploy, or blackmail that I could throw at you,¡± she said, expansively gesturing with her free hand at the enlarging azure horizon. ¡°You are as resolutely stubborn as when we set out on this journey. Goddess have mercy on whoever crosses your path next, for I expect you to walk straight through them.¡± Catharina smiled and ran a hand through her hair. It was long now and she considered asking Yriea to cut it before she boarded a ship full of men who bathed only when it rained and they happened to be above-deck. ¡°I know that look. I¡¯m not cutting your hair.¡± ¡°Why not?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t feel like it and I don¡¯t want to get a knife near your throat.¡± ¡°Afraid you¡¯ll take the chance to settle all our scores? Your arm would get tired before you stabbed me enough times.¡± ¡°Droll, savage. Truly droll.¡± She took hold of Catharina¡¯s saddle horn and angled Onyx away from the path. Briar followed obediently. ¡°Come. We¡¯ve still got time.¡± She led them sideways, through fields of grains that rippled like the great ocean beyond it. Elend vassals and the much taller grass-born aelir farmed the fertile land here. Reaping season was nearly upon them and Catharina could see preparations being made, wagons drawn into fields by the tall, stocky reptiles the aelir bred for heavy lifting. They were called shiprils and were an impossible sight on Vas. Several mulled in the sun, legs splayed out as they warmed on rock outcroppings. Workers paid them no mind as they crossed the fields. The corallins drew some growls from the baking lizards but none were eager to leave their warm spot for a tussle with the great cats. Yriea ultimately led them to a copse surrounding a stone well, out of which a spring bubbled and rushed down the hillside. It was all neatly tucked away in a hollow of the hill, a small oasis in an ocean of grain fields. Its water was high, near the lip of the stone, and overflowed down a gentle, ragged path to ultimately meet the ocean. Here they had shade and a flat space to rest for one more night. Neptas hung low near the horizon, a red glare that dipped into the Divide. Cares was still a pinprick of light in noon position, still a star like any other, but growing slightly brighter by the day as Fall approached. They unsaddled the cats and gave them their freedom for the evening. They leapt away and ran on silent feet into the grass to hunt for their next meal. ¡°We could have slept in town,¡± Catharina ventured as Yriea refilled their water flasks from the well. She wandered to the edge of the copse, split the tall grasses, and looked down into the city. Diolo, a vanadal place, was a stone-built port that catered to any of the seven peoples. Even humans were welcomed, if not liked. In spite of her warring feelings, she found that she looked forward to seeing her kind again, to hearing one of the many tongues of Vas spoken in more than memory. ¡°We could. I don¡¯t want to. Come here.¡± The aelir¡¯rei sat cross-legged on a carpet of moss and patted the earth in front of her. ¡°Come. Sit. Let me do something with that silver mane of yours.¡± Catharina obeyed and Yriea set to the task of braiding her hair. Among the high-born aelir this was considered an intimate act, one shared only by true-blood siblings born of the same aelir¡¯matar. She had not accepted to be named aelir¡¯rei, but it mattered very little to her friend. Catharinas Ascent - The first night - Part 3 Night overcame them well before Yriea finished her work. They talked of small things. Of the harvest to come and the Winter stores. Wine making for the coming Fall would yield a rich vintage, given Summer¡¯s kind weather. Yriea¡¯s further travels for her father, the new responsibilities she would undertake as she came of age, and the diplomatic tasks she would need to carry out. Pretences of normality. ¡°There. That should keep. Wish I had some of my oils, but you were in such a terrible rush to leave. Don¡¯t cut it just yet, not until you¡¯re passed the Divide.¡± Catharina smiled and felt the hot sting of tears welling up as Yriea¡¯s hands finished their work. She would also take home the toil of one other. Quite the wonderful parting gift. She heard a splash and turned to see the aelir¡¯rei, naked in the light of the rising Daughter moon, slide down into the well up to her chest. She let out a sigh of pleasure. ¡°It¡¯s wonderfully cold,¡± she said and beckoned Catharina in. ¡°Join me. I¡¯m not done with you just yet.¡± ¡°People drink out of that, you know.¡± ¡°It¡¯ll flow clear in a few hours. Come. I won¡¯t have you be bashful on what could be your last night as a civilised savage.¡± ¡°Bathing in drinking water is what you call civilised, lady aelir¡¯rei? I¡¯ve known people gibbeted for less in my homeland.¡± ¡°I¡¯d suggest something for your countrymen, but that would be beneath my dignity.¡± She more than eagerly obeyed. The water¡¯s touch was icy cold and brought with it a distant memory of the biting chill of Aztroa Magnor. The wellhead was barely two arms¡¯ span across so she and Yriea bathed nearly chest to chest. Her teeth chattered as she submerged down to her neckline. In the faer light of the moon, Yriea was an aelir goddess of beauty risen from the waters of creation. In spite of the cold, her touch was warm when she placed a hand on Catharina¡¯s chest. Catharina mirrored the gesture, right hand to Yriea¡¯s heart, left gripping her wrist just as the aelir¡¯rei gripped hers. ¡°Heart-sister,¡± they said in joined voice. This wasn¡¯t a ritual taught to them by the aelir¡¯matar. Nor was it something learned out of the countless books, scrolls and tablets they¡¯d studied together. This was theirs alone, a nameless thing born out of the growth and mastery of their power. Something they¡¯d created together and practised in the dead of night, one step away from disaster. Catharina reached out for her illum stores and the power opened up inside her like a Spring bloom. It travelled through her veins to the tips of her fingers, beyond Yriea¡¯s skin and deeper still. It cupped the aelir¡¯rei¡¯s heart in a gentle and deadly embrace. She felt the vibration of the aelir¡¯s power going through her and, just like that, they were in perfect balance together. Two Tempest Callers channelling into one another, taking the power gifted by the other and guiding it back to its maker. On and on in a circle of perfect, knife-edged control that amplified one another¡¯s strength with each pass. Jagged lines of power raced across the water¡¯s surface, adding to the glow of the reflected moon. If anyone else were to touch the water then, they would be struck down and burned away to ashes. They barely even heard the buzz of power or see the blue lines of discharge as their own overflow singed the grass around the well, flashes of lightning travelling out into the trees. Both tightened their controls and reeled back the power, kept it from setting their refuge aflame. They both shone with the power, lit from within, their bones and veins black through translucent skin and muscle. In this state, she read the surface emotions in Yriea. Sorrow was there. Longing. An indescribable sense of loss. Love, as deep as the dark of the night above. All the things that words were powerless to express. Part of her wondered if Yriea could see what really drove her, and if she¡¯d be disappointed. Part of her knew that Yriea had always known and never cared. With a shared exhalation, they withdrew from the one another, leaving behind a profound sense of separation and emptiness that Catharina knew would haunt her. She closed off her illum, shut the paths of power and the night became so much blacker for it. Sleep found them beneath the stars on wet grass still warm from the day¡¯s heat. Briar and Onyx returned with the first morning light to rouse them. Diolo¡¯s buzz of activity could be heard even before the port city was more than a smattering of colours in the far distance. Traffic increased as they neared the main roads and joined the processions of shipril-drawn carts, foreign merchants travelling in palanquins, and men astride horses. Corallin riders were rare. The great beasts generally belonged to Protectors of the Dominion and were seldom sent anywhere outside the ever-forest. ¡°It reeks,¡± Yriea complained, one perfumed sleeved held to her mouth. ¡°That it does,¡± Catharina answered. She, instead, breathed in deep the scent of the sea mingled with the many flavours and stinks of an overcrowded port. ¡°It¡¯s like walking away from a faer story and back into the real.¡± Stolen novel; please report. ¡°Humans and your make-believe stories. Have you so little pride in your history that you¡¯d rather imagine mystical folk to celebrate?¡± Catharina chuckled and refused the bait. She tried to pick out the rough words of humans. She thought she caught some words on the wind, but could see none of her own people in the crowd. Diolo overflowed its white-washed walls. The size of it beggared the two great ports of Vas, even were they to be layered one atop the other. Rough, stone roads spread like a spider¡¯s web well beyond the walls and deep into the countryside. Buildings had sprouted along these thoroughfares like mushrooms at the end of Spring rains, all piled together haphazard into chaotic, narrow districts that brought, bought and sold everything. Countless temples to Isadora and her many aspects were marked by braziers endlessly burning offerings. On the wind there was a symphony¡ªno, a riot¡ªof scents for her to identify. She distinguished the exotic smells of far-off spices, the tang of fruits, rotten and fresh, fish of myriad assortments, smoked or grilled meats, and so many wines. Perfumes were plentiful but, like all aelir-made things, the scents of those were subtle, barely-there among the cacophony of smells, but impossible to ignore. The aelir¡¯matar had spent long seasons teaching her to separate all that her senses took in, to learn to listen and to see, to smell, to taste and touch. Vanadal voices ruled over the cacophony, angry and loud, always arguing over prices and trade conditions. Interspersed among them were the elendar¡¯s musical tones, politely offering their services. Fewer and rarer were the bastil almost-animal growls. She hadn¡¯t managed to learn their tongue, but she recognized its unnerving presence, like pockets of cold air in the midday heat. And, of course, there were the aelir and their many dialects. She stole snatches of conversation as they walked. A vandal captain bemoaning the price of berthing his ship and buying fresh supplies for the trip back to the other side of Nen. An elendine proposing a business transaction to an aelir¡¯sar of a far Protector, given his reedy accent and poor grasp of the elend tongue. He was being mocked ever so subtly, and did not even know it. Further on, a hushed conversation between two vanadals about the human ship they¡¯d seen moored on the farthest dock. And so on. Would she discover that the years had brought the same kind of exotic exuberance to Amaranth or Calabran, back home? In her heart she knew it wasn¡¯t so. Humans couldn¡¯t build like this, couldn¡¯t open to the world outside their rocky shores. That would change. It would be given no choice but to change. ¡°Now that¡¯s a wonderfully set expression on you, Cat,¡± Yriea purred by her side. ¡°Hid it so well for so long that I almost believed you outgrew it.¡± Catharina reeled in her wandering attention and carefully constructed a smile for her companion. ¡°I was distracted.¡± ¡°And now you look like an imbecile. Heard that about the ship?¡± ¡°I did.¡± ¡°Jar of wild honey says it¡¯s come for you.¡± ¡°For shame, lady aelir¡¯rei. Proposing a wager on something that can only be a certainty for yourself?¡± Briar opened up the swelling crowds like a shark among a school of fish. Sailors and merchants alike hastened to get out of way and bow respectfully to the riders. Some offered wares and were ignored. With each step towards the piers, Catharina felt an elating sense of inevitability. She saw human sailors, clustered in threes and fours, drinking at open-air taverns. Quiet men with lowered heads, keeping to themselves and speaking in low voices. A vanadal enforcer would need very little reason to draw up and hang a human, and this was known. Some saw her passing and raised their mug of ale in quiet salute. They urged the others to finish their drinks. The Wild Summer sat alone at anchor, fat belly dipped low in the water. She was an ugly old three-masted beast that had been sailing the Divide for longer than Catharina had even been alive. She recognized it immediately for it was this very ship that had brought her over to Nen, captained then, like now, by a peg-legged man named Pascal of Valonia Holding. They¡¯d exchanged many letters over the seasons, her one real contact to the reality of her home. Two escorts hung at anchor much further out, sleeker hunters with ballistae glinting in the sunlight. Four sleek aelir craft prowled outside their range of fire, clearly not there to guard against vanadal raiders. ¡°Trust is in low supply these days,¡± Catharina said as she dismounted and retrieved her luggage. ¡°The escort is close to port. Who¡¯s mistrusting whom, I wonder?¡± Yriea answered. She stretched, hands clasped above her head. ¡°Come, I¡¯ll walk you to the gallows.¡± Briar licked Catharina¡¯s hand when she reached over to caress the beast¡¯s head. ¡°Goodbye, my loyal mount. Be kind to Yriea. She means well but her mouth runs away from her.¡± This part of Diolo was nearly deserted in comparison to the rest of the port. It would fill back up once the human craft was gone, Catharina knew. For now, only the vanadal dock workers dealt with the sailors from the Summer, carting in supplies and materials. Some of them, carpenters judging by their tools, were just rowing back from the ship, their repair work finished. On the pier, waited on by a row boat, was an old man. Catharina felt her face grow cold at the sight of him. Henrigh, the steward of house Voc Anghan, her mother¡¯s personal creature. So, this was the insult chosen to be sent across half-a-world to greet her return to the fold. ¡°Want me to blast him into the sea?¡± Yriea asked, a mischievous edge in her voice. ¡°What?¡± ¡°You look as if you¡¯ve just stepped in some droppings. Figured it¡¯s that decrepit thing over there to blame. I could just send him back home quicker.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t hurt the worm. His continued existence is burden enough on his soul.¡± They stopped before the stone pier. Yriea took her hands in hers and kissed the back of her knuckles. ¡°Be safe on your travels, heart-sister of mine. You will be missed. And my home will definitely be much colder now that you¡¯re gone from it.¡± She felt again the sting of tears and pulled her hands away, feeling a chill at that breaking of contact. ¡°I¡¯ll miss you too, Yriea. Thank you for everything you¡¯ve done for me over the years. May you live happily and free in the light of the Goddess.¡± Catharinas Ascent - The first night - Part 4 And that was all that either needed to say. She turned on her heels and walked towards the waiting boat. Sailors threw their cigarettes into the sea and took up their oars. The old man straightened as she approached. She had looked up at him before her journey. Now she towered over his gnarled and bent form. ¡°Master Henrigh,¡± she said, affecting a false smile. ¡°How good it is to see you again.¡± ¡°My Lady,¡± he rasped and bent at the middle, his cane supporting him. ¡°You¡¯ve grown into such a beautiful image of your mother.¡± He lisped horribly and lied shamelessly. Her mother was raven-haired, short and stocky, with a pinched face that seemed to sneer at every aspect of the world. Whereas Catharina herself was ashen-haired, tall and lean. Yriea had remarked on many occasions that she¡¯d have a pretty smile if she ever bothered to actually show it. ¡°That is kind of you to say,¡± she lied. ¡°I admit I was expecting one of my brothers to greet me.¡± ¡°Matters of state keep them all occupied.¡± Whoring, drinking, and petty squabbles with the lower lords of Aztroa Magnor, more likely. If one had deigned to come, the others would¡¯ve devoured his stake on the land. She refused the helping hand the steward offered and climbed down into the boat. The sailors inclined their heads and muttered, ¡°My lady¡±. Henrigh joined her. ¡°The sooner I see the back of this filthy land, the happier I''ll be,¡± he ventured as he lowered himself onto the bench opposite her. ¡°I can¡¯t imagine how hard it must have been to live among animals for so long.¡± Catharina looked beyond the old man, above his shoulder, and met Yriea¡¯s gaze. Tears shone in the midday sun and the aelir¡¯rei made no real effort to hide them.
¡°Get the louts back on here,¡± the captain bellowed as both Catharina and Henrigh climbed on board. ¡°If they ain¡¯t back by anchor up, they can go native.¡± Captain Pascal crossed the deck, his wooden leg going thunk with every step. Seasons and the sea had been kind to him as he was still as spry and imposing as Catharina remembered. He remained broad of shoulder and thick of arm, wearing the blue and gold uniform of the Valonia Holding. Only streaks of grey in his black mane and beard seemed to have marked the passage of time. Once next to her, he removed his plumed captain¡¯s hat and bowed, favouring his bad leg. ¡°Welcome back aboard, Lady Catharina of Aztroa Magnor. It is an honour.¡± ¡°The honour is mine, captain.¡± ¡°How long until we can leave?¡± Henrigh asked as he hobbled across the deck. No sea legs on him, even after a trip as long as this. ¡°We¡¯ve got everything we need, master steward. Men aren¡¯t accustomed to being denied the shore after so long on the water, but we serve as instructed.¡± ¡°Good. The sooner we leave this vile shore, the better.¡± Catharina watched him hobble away, no doubt to hide from the sun. He even wore his steward clothes fitted for the cruel weather of the mountains. Sheer haughty spite probably kept the man upright. ¡°Coot,¡± Captain Pascal said under his breath. He turned to her and smiled more genuinely now that they were alone. Blue eyes twinkled as he regarded her fully. ¡°It does a soul good to see you safe and hale. I almost didn¡¯t trust your first letters.¡± ¡°I knew you for wise, captain. Else I wouldn¡¯t have written. You did not write that you¡¯d captain the ship retrieving me.¡± ¡°I had no chance to. It took much effort to arrange it and by the time it was a certain thing, the letter never would have reached you.¡± ¡°I understand. I assume my family¡¯s doing?¡± ¡°Wisdom is in rare supplies nowadays.¡± He inclined his head towards the escort ships further out. ¡°Your steward brought more than twenty men-at-arms with him, as if he expected to have and fight his way to you. Maybe the cruel aelir would refuse giving you up.¡± That got a wintry smile out of Catharina. ¡°No doubt. Stubborn as I¡¯ve known him. Would¡¯ve expected a trip across the Divide to help with his disposition.¡± ¡°He never deigned to leave his cabin. I believe my men and I offend his particular sensibilities.¡± Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. He led the way to a door just on the side of the captain¡¯s quarters. The cabin was about an arm¡¯s span shorter and narrower than her room beneath the Olden tree, but had all the comfort she¡¯d need. A narrow cot. A reading table. And a large trunk dominating one wall. ¡°Clothes, as you required,¡± the Captain explained as she set down her case by the bed. ¡°Fit should be good, I¡¯d say. Had the seamstress follow your instruction to the letter.¡± As much as she¡¯d grown accustomed to the simple dress of the aelir, it would not do for a trip like this. She had known her time was drawing to an end a long time before the request to return had arrived, so she¡¯d made plans and written letters. ¡°The rest?¡± she asked without looking at the Captain darkening her door. ¡°As requested.¡± She was left alone, the door closing with a soft click. In the trunk she found exactly what she had asked for. Trousers and boots, a vest for the warm weather of this side of the world, thicker blouses for when she¡¯d reach Amaranth. And the seamstress had been blessed with enough foresight to pack for her everything else that would be essential. She opened her case, took out her tools and laid them on the cot. In their place, with infinite care, she stowed the dress and shut it away. When she walked out of the cabin, she felt renewed in trousers, vest, and thick-soled boots. Sailors were in a frenzy of activity on deck, rolling down barrels, tightening rigging and hoisting up the anchor. Captain Pascal ran a tight ship and it showed in this crazed display of order. Men, fresh from drinking on the shore, were already getting the sails up, working as if they had just gotten out of bed. They would be underway before the sun even kissed the edge of the horizon. She went to the railing and dared one more look back to Diolo. There was Yriea, still on the pier, Briar and Onyx, still as statues, guarding her. They would remain until Yriea could no longer see the ship probably, stubborn as she was. It twisted the knot of loss inside her. ¡°A show for the other degenerates of this land,¡± the hoarse voice of Henrigh declared as he joined her. ¡°Does the aelir wench believe she impresses with this display?¡± ¡°Did you enjoy that?¡± Catharina asked without prying her eyes away from Yriea¡¯s still form. The chaos around her blurred to a background hum as she uncoiled and extended her power. It wrapped around the tips of her fingers and reached out to the steward. ¡°Pardon, Lady?¡± He feigned well his ignorance. Her power caressed him and he flinched back, ever so slightly, like dodging a gnat. In a heartbeat more he was well in her hands. ¡°Was it Mother¡¯s idea? Or yours?¡± she asked, probing him further. Yes, that triggered something. A lie tried to push to the fore of his thoughts but she smothered it back with no effort at all. His tongue wouldn¡¯t help him this time and she¡¯d waited for this moment for far too long. ¡°Wh-what do you mean?¡± Deeper she went into the electric maelstrom of his mind. What else was there? Revulsion. He abhorred her, like a bad smell that he was forced to endure. Nen stank to him, and so did the Lady. She toyed with this sensation, making his face scrounge up. ¡°You had me tested. Was it my loyalty you were worried about? Or my skill?¡± It was so easy to read him. The ways in which he reacted spoke more of him than anything his tongue could conjure up, and he was so terrible at hiding what he truly was. Probing a child of the aelir would pose more difficulty than him. She¡¯d been in awe of him, once, of this decrepit bastard plaguing her household, whispering secrets that were not his to whisper. He always knew. He and her mother constantly schemed and plotted and planned. She¡¯d found him infuriating and intimidating all at once. But she looked on him now with different eyes and was less than impressed. A surge of power smothered his meagre defiance and any attempt at lying. It was an easy thing to do and Catharina felt no compunction to be gentle. What she wouldn¡¯t give to really hear his thoughts, follow along with his panic, and help it grow. For now, getting the truth would suffice. She pressed harder and his tongue loosened. ¡°You were here for ten whole years. We had to be certain you hadn¡¯t started running with the beasts. The family should always come first.¡± ¡°And are you satisfied, master steward? Is my presence here confirmation enough for you?¡± The aelir¡¯matar had once remarked that her power was too coarse for what she aimed to learn, too human and blunt. Oh, she had potential beyond what most could claim in the Dominion, but to make a scalpel out of it rather than a club would require a very particular, willing and dedicated whetting stone. Yriea had cried tears of blood right alongside her as they sharped against each other. She had been stalwart, unwavering, a true scion of her name, never once cursing the rough suffering Catharina had inflicted with her clumsy use of the power. ¡°Do you know that she will be punished?¡± she asked before Henrigh could muster his battered will. She would¡¯ve been angry if not for the roiling undercurrent of panic seeping into his thoughts. And fear. Yes, that would do nicely. ¡°Your request to the Protector was granted. She¡¯s failed her task of seducing me to stay. She knows this. The aelir do not take kindly to failure, nor to insult.¡± A twitch of the finger and Henrigh was on his knees, bloody foam bubbling from his lips. She burst blood vessels in his throat and lungs. Not enough to kill him, but enough to send him into spasms. He tried to speak but she locked his jaw in place. Now it was her turn to speak, and his to listen. ¡°She will be stripped of her aelir¡¯rei status and turned over to some vassal as a penitent servant, the lowest caste. Even I would have had power over her. Maybe even an elend. She will need to work and earn her way back into her own home, all for the sake of your test.¡± Henrigh clawed at his rebellious throat. She allowed him the pathetic panic only for a moment before she really pushed. Every muscle in him locked up. She held his heart in her fist and stilled its frantic beating for long enough to send her message. Sailors stopped and watched the lesson she was administering. ¡°Call her beast again, master steward, and you may not like my disposition. I am not my mother and you are very far from Aztroa Magnor.¡± She opened her fist and withdrew her long-sharpened scalpel, leaving him a twitching, vomiting mess on the deck. Catharinas Ascent - The first night - Part 5 ¡°Are your worries satisfied now?¡± She kept her voice sweet as she wiped her hand on her trousers. ¡°Am I what my mother wished for?¡± She didn¡¯t really care. Captain Pascal had watched the scene from up on his captain¡¯s perch and was now bellowing orders for the sailors to get back to work. The anchor was up, the sails down and billowing in the evening wind. The Wild Summer lurched forward, dipped to the side and began its ponderous turn away from shore. Catharina turned away from the port and stepped over Henrigh¡¯s mess. She joined the captain up on his dais and looked to the horizon. ¡°Clear skies and a fair wind at our back,¡± he said. ¡°Good omens for this journey. Can¡¯t say the same about blood on my deck.¡± ¡°Have your men help the steward off the deck, please. He seems to have fallen and can¡¯t get up.¡± He nodded and a look sent his first mate scrambling down the stairs, calling for others to help him carry Henrigh back to his quarters. ¡°My escorts?¡± she asked, looking to the other two ships breaking anchor with them and following at a distance. ¡°In hand. When?¡± ¡°Tonight. When the moons are highest.¡± ¡°Not a moment wasted, then. My men and I are at your service, Lady Catharina.¡± ¡°Simply Catharina will do fine, Captain. Expect a signal from me.¡± Shadows lengthened as Neptas dipped beyond the horizon. Men, weary from their too-short shore leave, changed shifts and lit lamps, their orders to sail day and night even at skeleton strength. Henrigh¡¯s door opened with a soft, barely-audible click. It only took a spark of power to melt the mechanism inside and force it unlocked. Catharina let herself into the old man¡¯s cabin and did not bother closing the door again. He slept nearly naked on his cot, snoring loudly, a reading lamp still lit by his bedside. A stupid thing aboard a ship, but one she did not begrudge him. The dark held many things for a man like Henrigh to fear. There were precautions laid across the room, yes. Paltry things, knick-knack cantrip enchantments that were barely worth the illum trapped in them, and more mundane traps embedded in floor and walls. It must have taken him the better part of an afternoon just to set them all once he¡¯d regained his senses. Or maybe that was simply how little he trusted the captain and his men. Henrigh had lived a long life by the standard of one not attuned to illum. He¡¯d done so by being paranoid and prepared for every knife in the dark that had ever come at him. But she took away his petty toys with a flick of her finger, scoured the walls and floor with a push of power, and rendered him defenceless. She thought she would hate him if she ever saw him again. A small part of her did. Most of her hadn¡¯t expected him to still live. His presence brought with it memories that she did not relish. Her mother¡¯s beatings and derision. The drunken laughter of her brothers and the doddering, incomprehensible mess of her father¡¯s declining sanity. And the lies, always the lies and poisoned whispers to any who would listen. Standing there, watching him, she found her hatred had distilled into a kind of pity. He was not the canker at Aztroa Magnor¡¯s heart, merely an old man that should have outlived his usefulness long ago. His eyes flew open when she sat by the side of his cot. Her glass-bladed knife, the first of her tools, was at his throat before he got to reach for any of his closer, better hidden precautions. Instead, she took his hand into hers and squeezed gently. ¡°Terribly sorry to bother you at this hour, master steward.¡± She smiled warmly at him. Moonlight streamed into the cabin by a porthole and her blade glittered in hand. ¡°But I have some questions that have troubled me for a long time. I hope you understand.¡± The tip of the knife pricked skin and a bead of blood flowed down the edge to stain the pommel guard. ¡°Lady?¡± he breathed out, his voice creaking after what she¡¯d done to him. ¡°What is this?¡± ¡°Who leads the house now?¡± she asked, keeping her voice low and soft. ¡°Your father, lady. You know that.¡± A lie. Her father had been in no fit state to lead even before she left for Nen. More than anything, it surprised her that he hadn¡¯t yet drunk himself into an icy grave. Captain Pascal had only written of the rumours he¡¯d heard in ports about what happened in her far-off home. She reached out and felt the lies bubbling underneath the surface of his thoughts. This time he recoiled from the touch, pushed back against the wall of his cot, his eyes widening in fear of her. Good. She was strong and well-trained, but she couldn¡¯t read a mind the way an aelir¡¯matar could. The skill took lifetimes to master and she had other, more urgent work to do. It was pathetic that she needed to extract information in this brutish manner, by torture and fear, but she couldn¡¯t allow herself more respite between duties. Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. Henrigh was terrified of her. Good. Pity that he hadn¡¯t paid more attention to her mother while licking her boots, or he would¡¯ve known this was coming. It was from her that Catharina had learned how punishment should be doled out, how to give the impression of finality and dull defences for a real blow. She snuffed out a line of thought. Something far from the surface, unlikely to affect his answers to her. It went dark and his eyes widened in realisation. ¡°No,¡± he begged. ¡°Please, don¡¯t.¡± ¡°Among the aelir,¡± she spoke softly, squeezing his hand, ¡°it is common belief that a shock applied to the head in a particular way will free one of all their ills.¡± She tugged on a furious line of thought. Not enough to sever it, just to make it thrum. It sent him twitching. ¡°Who leads the house, master steward?¡± This time it was sheer terror that bubbled out of him. ¡°Your brothers, Callamis and Dura. They¡¯re buying off the others and trading the land to the lower nobles. Houses Var Karin and Voc Pollus are ascendant.¡± He spoke quickly and it was the truth now. ¡°Soon there will be nothing left to the Voc Anghan except what they save for themselves.¡± She snuffed out another thought and the damage cascaded. What could it have been, she wondered. A treasured memory, maybe? Didn¡¯t matter. His terror increased and she had to force his heart to calm lest it blow itself out. ¡°What of my sisters?¡± ¡°Whores, both of them. Ilaya beds with Callamis after the old fashion, and hopes for a child to secure her station. She has no idea that his grasp on Aztroa Magnor is tenuous.¡± He breathed faster, fervour building in his words. ¡°The Lady has all her hopes riding on your return. You are the one she has kept free of corruption. Your skill! It must save the Voc Anghan name, bring the city back to our control and undo the damage wrought by your brothers.¡± Our control? She smiled sweetly and squeezed his hand. ¡°My lady mother has high expectations of me,¡± she mused. ¡°She harvests the fruits of her games and finds them bitter.¡± ¡°Aztroa Magnor belongs to the Voc Anghan. We are the rightful inheritors of the Empire.¡± Bold, bold claim, she thought. So the family was in ruin, as she had feared. Callamis and Dura, two imbeciles set on finishing what the aelir had started generations before. The Var Karin and Voc Pollus were old rivals and had only kept in line for fear of the Voc Anghan allying with the other. Now there would be war. The Empire lay long dead, only its memory kept alive by fools like Henrigh and her mother. They understood so little and clung to ghosts of a past they had never really known. Aelir memory, however, ran very long. A flick of her wrist. A clean cut. Blood, hot and sticky, gushed from the red gash she opened in Henrigh¡¯s throat. He tried to speak. Blood bubbled out. She held his hand as life drained out of him. ¡°I have no need of you.¡± She had known her brothers would be the end of the family¡¯s destiny. Their fortune had been wavering since she was but a girl, all their holdings rife with corruption, seeded with turncoats and bastard-born. Her father was a drunkard, her mother a shrew playing games above her station. The siblings had run amok and now she was returning to the ruin of their hubris. Catharina sighed and extracted her hand from the cooling grasp of the dead man. She hadn¡¯t expected to shed blood quite so early but he was a nuisance that she couldn¡¯t afford when there were plans to make. She cleaned the blood off her blade on his nightshirt. The sounds of a scuffle carried through the ship as she got up. Captain Pascal and two men waited in the corridor. She walked out and the two men walked in. They carried out the corpse between them. ¡°Try and not let it bleed on the deck, boys,¡± the captain said as he and she ascended the steps up to the main deck. By moonlight more corpses were being dragged out from beneath. All were dumped unceremoniously into the Divide. Predators would be tailing the ship for weeks to come. ¡°Who were they?¡± Catharina asked. ¡°Men of the lower houses, come to escort the steward. We had them picked out since before they boarded.¡± On the other ships torches moved on deck. A similar purge was carried out. ¡°How many men remain of my house?¡± she asked. ¡°A handful. Two here.¡± He showed her two men with blood on their clothes and hands. They heaved a corpse over the railing and into the water. ¡°Them, over there. On the other ships a similar number. I¡¯ve picked all my sailors by hand ever since you wrote to me.¡± She nodded. It would do for now. ¡°Call the other men here. I wish to speak to them of what is to come.¡± ¡°As you wish, Catharina.¡± ¡°Captain Pascal?¡± ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°I thank you.¡± He smiled grimly in the ghost-light of the two moons. ¡°I serve my Lady. We¡¯re not all blind and deaf to the world. It¡¯s time we take a stand for our future.¡± He pressed a hand to his chest pocket, as if cupping something. ¡°And for the future of our children.¡± She nodded and he went about his business. Dawn was still far off and darkness ruled across all horizons, Diolo¡¯s lights long disappeared across the water. Her mother had wanted an assassin to serve her ends, whatever those were. It¡¯s why she¡¯d been sent across the Divide, why she¡¯d searched for an aelir patron, and why she¡¯d hated every single day of her training up to the first bloodletting. Then she had understood that a knife in the dark could change the fate of a whole people. Her knives hung heavy in their sheaths, four tools fashioned for grim work, already bloodied by the aelir¡¯matar¡¯s wish. Now, they served the true mission for which they¡¯d been painstakingly forged. Her brothers were fools to give away Aztroa Magnor, the last city at the end of the human world. A fortress of ice, smashed once by the aelir fury, fashioned to be humanity¡¯s tomb. Places like that held power that they couldn¡¯t even begin to comprehend. A hand settled on her shoulder and a cold presence was at her back. She didn¡¯t turn around. ¡°Good start, Cat,¡± the weakened god whispered in her ear. ¡°I have high hopes for your future.¡± Chapter 2.01.1: Down the storms throat A crack of lightning preceded a deafening sheath of thunder that made her teeth vibrate. The cold here had a steel bite to it. In spite of her best efforts not to, Tallah shivered. ¡°Sit. Still!¡± Sil bit off the words and the suturing thread. Pain flashed white-hot in her already battered side as the healer worked on her, poking and prodding. Normally, Sil would have offered at least something to dull the pain. Not today. Mercifully, Tallah blacked out for a few heartbeats while Sil started working on one of her other cuts. If she had anything left in her stomach, it would¡¯ve probably ended up on the cave¡¯s stone floor. She probably also deserved the misery. ¡°Stubborn fool. You and her both. Why did you have to drag her into your mess?¡± ¡°She offered,¡± Tallah wheezed out in a gasp of agony. Sil tugged on a suturing thread to break it off, mercilessly careless. ¡°You don¡¯t accept offers like that. Not from them. It was bad enough that Tummy trained the boy. Now this.¡± Sil¡¯s anger scorched the back of her head. Best not to turn and meet that accusatory glare. ¡°You and I had an understanding. One simple rule.¡± Tallah expected some kind of violence to her tender side and braced for it. Instead, Sil draped some fabrics over her head. ¡°You don¡¯t deserve these, but here. She had them ready for you.¡± She pulled down a fresh black coat and an undershirt. Mertle¡¯s handiwork was as clear as Sil¡¯s fury. Gloves and a leather jerkin thudded by her side. ¡°Get dressed and don¡¯t infuse. Heat¡¯s going to make the pain worse. Vergil¡¯s coming to. I¡¯ll heal your arm later if the accelerant doesn¡¯t take.¡± Sil¡¯s footsteps moved away before another crack of thunder filled the small alcove with screaming echoes. Only the howl of the mad wind outside drowned them out. Tallah fingered her side and Sil¡¯s sutures. Her entire chest felt tender and bruised. Her left arm hung painfully in a sling, limp, swollen, and useless. Someone had gotten a knife in her at some point, though for the life of her she couldn¡¯t remember the cut. Not life-threatening had been Sil¡¯s opinion before sewing her up. She remembered Falor¡¯s hammer like the tolling of a death bell. Her ribs would remember its caress for a long time to come. Lovely cock-up, ladies, Christina¡¯s voice mewled in her head, as quiet as a rustle of paper. Let¡¯s try and remember what our arrogance buys. Our arrogance, Christi? I opposed this madness, you might remember. Bianca, but lacking her usual bite. If Tallah knew her at all, she was relieved that Christi was speaking. An accusation hung in the air. Christina did not voice it, nor did she voice her disappointment for sparing the prince. No amount of justification on Tallah¡¯s side could convince her that the attack was doomed to fail even had she not hesitated. ¡°Lovely cock-up, yes,¡± Tallah groaned as she stubbornly inspected her sutures and the beating she¡¯d eaten. Bruised and cracked ribs told a tale she¡¯d not forget soon. Sil withholding her healing draughts for the time being was a way of ensuring just that. It took a few laboured attempts to get the jerkin on one armed. Tears welled up when she tried to tighten the straps. Ultimately, she asked for Bianca¡¯s help and received it. Wasn¡¯t as snug a fit as her usual carapace, but it¡¯d have to do. The rest of her gear was just as difficult to pull on and she didn¡¯t dare call for Sil¡¯s aid. The boy had taken a good knocking even with the ghost possessing him. Who that dark-skinned bastard had been she couldn¡¯t fathom. Very likely a Claw, or a Claw¡¯s shadow. Rumi Belli¡¯s? Likely a Rian. Well trained and adept at dealing with people like her. To knock the dwarf on his arse made him dangerous enough to look out for. She¡¯d need to remember him the next time she clashed with that particular cell. That, or risk another knife in her back. She¡¯d taken a chance but only blind luck had seen her surviving the night. Sloppy, sloppy work. Good lesson to remember for the future. Falor had definitely remembered his and surrounded himself with competent aides. They were nothing like the lackeys she¡¯d fought on her way out of the vault raid. ¡°Easy, lad. Don¡¯t move too much. Sip this.¡± She ambled over to where Ludwig was trying to get a very confused Vergil to drink out of a flask. The boy¡¯s eyes were glassy and unfocused, his hand groping weakly for something. She toed his helmet forward until his fingers touched it. That seemed to bring him around. ¡°Where are we?¡± he asked as he finally drank. Sil crouched next to him and brought her sprite about. He shied away from the light. An ugly black bruise marred the side of his jaw and neck, and his nose looked to have been badly broken. He was missing at least a tooth from what Tallah could see. She let Sil work on him. The healer was, at least, being kinder to him than she had been to her. Kindness on Sil¡¯s part still had thorns around it, so Vergil¡¯s cries echoed over the storm more than a few times. ¡°Where are we, old man?¡± she asked Ludwig when he joined her by the cave¡¯s entrance. Ice already rimmed the narrow gap they¡¯d burned to get inside and, by nighttime, it would probably seal completely. Not that there was much light coming through the stormy veil. ¡°Deep in the Crags. If you know your maps, this would be Marrow¡¯s Gulch.¡± How wonderful. We survived the hammer so we could commit suicide. Bianca let out a weary mental sigh. Nobody will ever see our bones at least. Death by stupidity in complete anonymity. Tallah¡¯s feelings echoed perfectly. ¡°I can¡¯t imagine how you¡¯ve gotten this far in here. Even the map¡¯s just assumption for the most part.¡± ¡°Shards, girl. Shards and months of the Sisters¡¯ ministrations.¡± He chuckled as Vergil¡¯s pained cry sent echoes dancing around them. ¡°We got as far as we could before we got sick. Buried a shard and then went back and got treated by the Sisters. Repeat until here.¡± ¡°Must¡¯ve taken whole seasons.¡± ¡°Two full years, actually. Mind you, we did not brave this place in Winter. Can¡¯t imagine it possible at all without the Sisters.¡± Determined bastard for sure. She eyed him a bit more carefully, looking for some sign of that dogged determination in his bent and weary form. Before leaving, it seemed he¡¯d had the foresight of stowing a necessities pack in his own rend. The Guard had invaded his home while he was in the middle of preparations. Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. ¡°He¡¯ll be fine,¡± Sil said as she joined them. ¡°Had to pull out a tooth from the inside of his cheek, and straighten his nose before I healed him. Had a stubborn time of it getting his shoulder back into place.¡± She handed Tallah two glass vials without looking at her. ¡°First the green. Then the draught. You¡¯ve got the Goddess¡¯s own luck to be standing.¡± ¡°Can¡¯t say I feel lucky.¡± ¡°You¡¯ve got six cracked ribs and your arm¡¯s shattered into three pieces. One more kiss from that hammer and I expect I would¡¯ve had to dig you a grave.¡± Tallah uncorked the antidote and swallowed it without further comment. The following healing draught made all of her flare up in agony. It worked quickly at least. Bones knit painfully back together. Whatever was making her wheeze finally shut up. Sutures tightened and the cuts closed up, but she knew it wouldn¡¯t take much to reopen them. ¡°I drank so much of this green stuff already that I should be immune to anything anyone tries to poison me with.¡± ¡°Not how it works.¡± Sil reached inside her rend and rummaged about. The dark portal fizzed around the edges as she retrieved four more vials from inside. They shone silver in spritelight. She handed one to each, ¡°These you drink in exactly one swallow. Keep it down whatever you do and you won¡¯t be shitting blood too soon in this place.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve heard of these. Blood of the Hearth? Never knew someone to have actually brewed this concoction,¡± Ludwig said, looking at the vial. It shone in the light like quicksilver. ¡°Did the Sisters really give you sap to make them? Or did you use a substitute?¡± ¡°No such thing as a substitute for the sap.¡± Sil drank her vial, licked her lips and smiled smugly. ¡°And no such thing as the Sisters giving it away.¡± Tallah could already see the effects of the staff waning. Sil stooped somewhat and the colour of her hair, under the thick shawl Mertle had gifted her, had begun fading. The smudged edges of old scars showed faintly on her face and neck, discoloured lines getting more pronounced by the moment. ¡°Amazing.¡± Ludwig also drank but seemed to have a bit of trouble with the aftertaste. ¡°Sweet?¡± Tallah asked. It¡¯s how Sil brewed all her alchemical composites. If they didn¡¯t make your teeth want to be somewhere else, they weren¡¯t quite right by her standards. ¡°Unique taste, yes,¡± Ludwig confirmed with a twist of his mouth. ¡°Keep other comments to yourself. She gets touchy about this stuff.¡± Sil shot her a murderous glare. Her eyes were becoming mismatched in colour as the large acid-burn on her face became pronounced. It stretched down her neck and under her clothes. ¡°You¡¯re lucky I have a full store ready,¡± the healer warned. ¡°Without this, we¡¯d be dead out here in days. Only have two vials of it left over. Let¡¯s make sure we don¡¯t need to be here long enough to need them.¡± ¡°You heard where we are?¡± ¡°I have no idea where that is but I doubt it¡¯s a stone throw¡¯s distance from safety. It¡¯s the Crags. Don¡¯t need to know more.¡± ¡°You could say that.¡± Tallah finally drank and nearly brought it back up. ¡°Lovely. As always.¡± ¡°Not a word, Your Ladyship. You brought us here and got¡ª¡± She clamped up, looking angrily at Ludwig. ¡°You kicked the hornet¡¯s nest. We can¡¯t go back yet. So this trip had better be worth the risk.¡± She strode away towards where Vergil was trying to get to his feet. Tallah followed, stomach threatening rebellion. For now, she kept her arm resting in the sling. Tummy had equipped the boy with the axes she had asked him for, and the ghost had done great work with them. Now Vergil was looking at them awkwardly, unsure what to do next. ¡°Good work in Valen.¡± She took an axe and showed him how to fasten it to his belt. ¡°Amazing timing.¡± Sil sniffed in annoyance. ¡°I ran the soul out of me,¡± she complained in a huff. ¡°Horvath led us. Don¡¯t ask me how.¡± Vergil grimaced as he stretched, looking at the battered state of his helmet. The Rian had caved the face-plate in. Probably would have taken Vergil¡¯s head off if not for it. ¡°How much did I run? I feel sore all over.¡± ¡°I¡¯m amazed you haven¡¯t spat out your lungs. How the ghost tracked whatever this idiot was doing, I haven¡¯t a clue.¡± ¡°I remember flashes of lightning. I think he was following those.¡± ¡°Where there¡¯s lightning, thunder can¡¯t be far behind,¡± Tallah intoned one of the oldest maxims about Metal Minds. Another flash of Falor¡¯s eyes on hers got chased away from imagination by Christina¡¯s annoyance. ¡°If he weren¡¯t hopping mad, we could learn some things from the dwarf.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think he¡¯s quite as insane as you think he is,¡± Vergil said, a sheepish note in his voice. ¡°Don¡¯t ask how I know. Just¡­ gut feeling?¡± Filed away for later. Not the time or place to deal with the boy getting attached to his parasite ghost. ¡°What¡¯s next?¡± she asked Ludwig, itching to move and put Valen some more strides behind. Too much to think about and kick herself over. She desperately needed rest, but Sil¡¯s agitation seeped into her own mood. The only way back to Valen would be by shard, and Falor would have the Ascendi under watch with the entire city primed for her return. A single sign of activation so soon after the night¡¯s events, and every soldier, adventurer, and commoner in Valen would be braying for her head. Nothing for it but to move forward on the old man¡¯s fool quest. ¡°We are a day¡¯s march away from my ingress point into the underground,¡± Ludwig said, squatting and pulling out a battered old map. He summoned a sprite of his own and illuminated a mess of scribbles upon the ancient paper. ¡°Beyond the Gulch, there¡¯s an entrance into a deep fissure. We need to make for that and from there the path¡¯s a straight line to Grefe¡¯s entrance.¡± Grefe. The name sparked recognition somewhere in Tallah¡¯s memories. Ancient history. Mythology. Never-been. Faer land and all that. Little wonder Ludwig had been cagey about his goals. She would have laughed him right out of Valen and off of Vas itself. Now she bit her tongue. ¡°Grefe? Is that the city you were on about?¡± Sil asked, looking at his map. ¡°Nasty trip to there,¡± she mused as she checked his annotations. Ludwig¡¯s eyes sparked in the sprite light. ¡°Yes, miss Silestra.¡± A gnarled finger stabbed at the map. ¡°History. Right here. There is nothing like it anywhere on Edana. Nothing as old. Nothing as terrible.¡± ¡°Or so you think,¡± Tallah mused, quietly. Anyplace old enough could be the oldest if there was little surviving proof to say otherwise. But Grefe was part of faer stories. Even in those, the name was rare, a place of hidden magic, unattainable, unexplored. Unreal. Both she and Christina had enough respect for Ludwig¡¯s work as a scholar not to point this out. Curiosity got the better of them now they understood the lengths to which the man had gone to reach this place. One doesn¡¯t brave the Crags and their poison only on the promises of children¡¯s stories. Whatever it actually was, that anything had ever lived in the Crags and had grown themselves a civilisation tickled her scholastic fancy. ¡°Half of these passes will be closed off.¡± Sil traced a finger across some of the routes on the map. ¡°I¡¯d suggest we wait out the storm, but I doubt it ever quiets down around here. Can you handle the crossing?¡± The question was aimed at Tallah, but Ludwig answered instead, ¡°I shall guide us through. Have no worry of that.¡± Ice could melt in his fervour. Sil shared a look with Tallah. She shrugged. Your mess, the look said in Sil¡¯s usual resigned way that deferred to her in matters of danger. ¡°Why does this taste like coolant fluid?¡± Vergil asked as he handed over his empty vial. ¡°Why do you know what coolant fluid tastes like?¡± Sil replied. ¡°How do you know what coolant fluid is?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t. It simply doesn¡¯t sound like something you should have been drinking.¡± Vergil stretched and set his helmet atop his head without pulling it down. ¡°If I understand all of you,¡± he said with a slight lisp, ¡°we¡¯re in a bad place, we¡¯ll die if we stay too long, and we need to go somewhere worse. Is that about it?¡± ¡°Pretty much,¡± Tallah confirmed. He stuck his tongue through the gap where his incisor had been. ¡°Cool. Best get on with it?¡± Chapter 2.01.2: Into the dark below ¡°What are you staring at?¡± Vergil looked away immediately, whipped, and Sil regretted her tone. Of course, the boy would stare. He¡¯d never seen her without the glamour and there was quite a bit to notice. She resisted touching her face to feel the acid scar, trace its outline and think about how she¡¯d earned that one. It¡¯d only give her a headache. ¡°Sorry,¡± he said as they ate a small meal. ¡°No, Vergil. I am. Shouldn¡¯t snap at you. It¡¯s not you I¡¯m angry with.¡± That was for Tallah¡¯s ears. The sorceress made a concerted effort to hide her wince and not meet her glare. Good. Her ears were red though and Sil felt partially vindicated. A few more prods like that and her anger may abate. She dipped inside Tallah¡¯s rend and took stock of their provisions. Jars upon jars of preserves, pickles, and odd assortments of vegetable spreads. A barrel of fresh water. Some wine? She spied a couple bottles of rose petal wine. Ruby Red, good vintage. As good of an apology as she¡¯d ever get out of the mule. There was smoked and dried meat, of course. Some sausage that smelled awful even in the rend¡¯s peculiarly thin air. And, for some reason, salted pork rinds. ¡°What did you raid? The entire Agora?¡± she asked when back out in the frigid cold of the cave. It was actually colder than the rend if such a thing were possible. ¡°That drackir place next to the Sizzling Boar,¡± Tallah said. She was chewing on a rind. The sight of it turned Sil¡¯s stomach. Vergil worrying on another piece made it worse. ¡°The one with the¡­ that weird sign up-front? That weird bugger that likes to scare off children that come for the candied fruits?¡± ¡°That one.¡± To her raised eyebrow, Tallah continued, ¡°I paid for all of it. My conscience insisted.¡± At least the food would be good quality and slow to spoil. If anything, they wouldn¡¯t starve to death out in that wasteland. Ludwig had been quiet by the cave¡¯s mouth, his beard crusted with ice as he waited for them to be ready. Wind whipped his cloak but the old man seemed too excited to eat or drink, or pay attention that snow went up to his knees. ¡°I¡¯ll put you under,¡± she told Vergil as they packed up. ¡°I don¡¯t doubt you¡¯d make the effort but I need the dwarf¡¯s strength for this part.¡± ¡°By all means. Just please don¡¯t let him get me punched again.¡± He grinned gap-toothed and pushed down the helmet. ¡°I don¡¯t know how many more times you can set my face right again. I¡¯m rather fond of it.¡± Sil felt herself smiling as she siphoned illum to him. Vergil¡¯s boyish grin melted away into an ear-piercing howl as he sprang forward, hands to his axe, eyes wild behind the visor slit. ¡°Enough of that,¡± she said. ¡°There¡¯s only snow to fight. Be my guest to try.¡± They¡¯d seen the ghost often enough by now that its theatrics had run their course. Horvath understood what was being said to him, but never replied in anything more than grunts or screams. Sil felt mocked more than anything. He disregarded her and stared past, to Tallah. His fists clenched over the hafts of the axes but a glare from the sorceress had him wincing back and growling a stream of what were definitely curses. He remembered their first meeting well enough to back off before she got him under heel again. That Sil had been wearing the helmet at the time did not make for a pleasant memory. She sympathised somewhat with the dead dwarf. ¡°Get out of the cave and wait. I need you to plough our way through the snow. Stop grinning. That¡¯s not remotely what I mean. Do you understand what I¡¯m asking of you?¡± No answer, unintelligible or otherwise. He walked by her and shouldered Ludwig aside as he stepped into the grey light of the storm. ¡°Shall we?¡± she asked as Tallah joined her. ¡°No better moment.¡± Ludwig already waded out into the snow, a hand covering his face against the ice shards the wind whipped up. For as decrepit as he was, the old man moved with a sureness of foot that should have been beyond his age. Wind slammed into Sil with enough force that it stole the breath from her lips. She pulled up the thick scarf until only her eyes remained exposed. Tears froze in their corners. She focused on Horvath and pictured walls around him. Two of then, angled together, harnessed to him. A complex bit of weaving that she rarely had a chance to practice. Horvath stumbled back as the force of the storm slammed into the invisible snow plough she conjured. Sil groaned at the illum draw. Maybe this wasn¡¯t such a good idea. The dwarf spirit pushed Vergil upright after some time, adjusted his stance, and walked forward as if to spite the tempest. She rethought the proportions of the plough until he walked nearly unhindered. They had arrived into the blizzard in a mad, panicked rush that had nearly seen them scattered had it not been for Tallah leashing them together. Sil hadn¡¯t seen anything of their circumstances until Ludwig lit up the entrance to the cave. Now she dared a look upward into the milky-white light filtering through the high cloud cover. Cliffs rose high into the snowy mist, jagged and unwelcoming, their crests impossible to discern. Lower down, scattered, were the bones of some ancient creature, rising to claw against the walls of the fissure, their size dwarfing some of the highest spires of Valen. Gorges intersected there and the wind assailed them from every side, sometimes aiding, most other hindering their progress. Ludwig walked behind Vergil, a hand on his shoulder to guide the way forward. It was all Sil could do to keep her eyes open. Tallah walked by her side, one arm around her waist, keeping them close behind the two men. No words could be shared without screaming over the echoing howls of the many tunnels and fissures where the wind voiced its complaints at their intrusion. In some odd way, it was nearly musical. Valen¡¯s gentle settling into Winter¡¯s long embrace had dulled some of the season¡¯s claws. The Crags reminded her that Winter also had fangs. Sil had a miserable time of it. In a bell¡¯s time the strain of the barrier and of Horvath together began wearing on her. After another, she needed illum dust. She lost a packet to the storm before Tallah offered her cloak as a windbreak while she forced herself to inhale the fine powder. Frigid air stung her nose and lungs. Horvath¡¯s ditch offered next to no protection against the elements, and she was already too weary to make any more barriers. This was not a place to invite or accept discovery. With each passing bell she became convinced of the folly of their attempt, and irrationally resented the old bastard his obsession. Tallah walked bareheaded, her ponytail flapping in the wind, defiant against the chill. Sil wanted to strangle her. ¡°We¡¯re almost through,¡± Ludwig screamed over his shoulder at them as they restarted their slow advance. Through to where, Sil couldn¡¯t imagine. Shadows pooled through the deep crevices they doggedly tried to pass. Cold seeped through her boots and up her legs. Each step forward, a small agony. This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it In places Tallah took point ahead and blasted the ice blockage rather than allow Ludwig to turn them around to explore a different way forward. She seemed as annoyed and unnerved of the place as Sil was. Gradually, the storm quieted. Cliffs slowly met above and the gorge tightened and shrank, strangling the breath out of the blizzard first to a whistle, then to an eerie huff. Ludwig halted them next to a narrow fissure. How he had spied it in the gloom only spoke of how intimately he knew their route. He stopped Tallah from blasting a larger hole for their ingress. Instead, they were made to slither in through a gap that squeezed the breath out of Sil. She also had to dismiss the construct off Vergil for him to attempt the crawl. It opened into a room that had them all stooping, packed tightly together, breath misting white as Ludwig created a sprite. Further on, a crack through stone, wide enough only to be traversed sideways in single file, and barely even so, marked the only exit aside from the entrance. Black ice covered the walls. Maybe it would be wider come Thaw, but Sil very much doubted it. ¡°Do not use your fire here,¡± Ludwig warned as Tallah studied the frozen slit. ¡°Vapours leak out of the stone in warm seasons and get trapped in the ice of Winter. I doubt even you would survive the kind of explosion a careless spark would cause.¡± Sil groaned. She was coming to dislike the place with ferocious intensity and it, in turn, made no efforts of gaining her sympathy. ¡°It opens up in some spans. It will be a tight crawl for a time.¡± If not stiff from the cold and keeping the weave going, she would have laughed. Nothing could assure her that the narrow crawl had anything worth waiting for on the other side. Who would come this way if sane? ¡°Please follow close. There are some diverging paths. Some open into sumps. Some of those won¡¯t be frozen over and the drop can be fatal. Best not lose the way.¡± ¡°What¡¯s happening?¡± Vergil asked from the back of the group, head shaking away the cobwebs of possession. ¡°Are we there yet?¡± ¡°We¡¯re squeezing through that,¡± Sil said, breathing easier without the siphon. She felt a nose bleed dripping into her scarf, quickly freezing over and sticking the fabric to her skin. ¡°If you¡¯re not up for it, I¡¯ll get the ghost back.¡± Vergil looked past her to where Ludwig was wedging himself through, and shrugged. ¡°Looks cold.¡± ¡°Probably is.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll be fine. Can I be last?¡± ¡°Suit yourself.¡± Cold did not begin to describe it. Ice at her back. Ice at her fingertips. Every breath more frigid than the last. All of it wrapped in tight misery as they made their excruciatingly slow way forward, one shuffling step at a time. ¡°A tremor would see us into paste,¡± Tallah mused ahead of her. She¡¯d been strangely quiet through it all. ¡°Thank you for that.¡± Sil gritted her teeth and closed her eyes, trying not to mistake her own shivering for the rock¡¯s. Ludwig¡¯s sprite was ahead of them, its light coming and fading as the crack turned and twisted. It was beginning to slope downward. Gently at first, then more pronounced until it was only the tightness of the squeeze that kept them from sliding. She did slip. More than once. She gained a different bruise and knock each time. Vergil struggled and muttered incessantly. Cage came up often. And slow, quiet sobs that were impossible to hide in that narrow crevice. He struggled but kept up, and Sil found it kinder not to say anything. She walked straight into Tallah¡¯s elbow. In the pitch, the flash of fire in the sorceress¡¯s hands came blindingly. ¡°Go. Away.¡± Ice misted to vapour where Tallah touched the walls and the air threatened to suffocate. Sil couldn¡¯t see her face but saw the rest of her recoil from something ahead. ¡°I can¡¯t go anywhere.¡± Sil choked on the overheated air after so long in the cold. ¡°Put that out. You¡¯ll kill us all.¡± ¡°Go away,¡± Tallah repeated, louder now, a manic edge creeping into her voice. She tried pulling back and pushed against Sil. Her hands burned on the ice wall, the flame turning blue. Sil tried to retreat from the heat but Vergil was there, crowding her, as confused and stuck as she was. Vapours from the flash-melted ice stung her eyes and she smelled rotten eggs. Desperately, she kicked out low and caught the sorceress on the shin with enough force that it staggered her. Fire fizzed out and the cold rushed back in mercilessly. It took long moments for Tallah to move again. She said nothing. Vergil made a sound like the beginning of a question. Sil shushed him. ¡°Not the time. Not the place. Nothing happened,¡± she said resolutely. They followed two paces behind Tallah to the sounds of ice cracking where the sludge froze back over. Their path angled downward dangerously now. Each step was an effort of maintaining balance and grip against the ever tightening embrace of ice. It hurt to breathe. It hurt to keep going. Cold seeped into Sil¡¯s bones, past layers of cloth and padding, to torment and slowly murder her. How was Ludwig still going? She could see his sprite light sometimes, still ahead. Still moving forward. She envied whatever fire kept him going while she struggled not to succumb to weariness and the biting chill. Tallah brooded in silence, moving mechanically forward as if indeed nothing had happened. That worried her worse than the near absence of any feeling in her toes. It was suddenly over. She took another step forward and nearly toppled forward into a gaping maw of darkness. Tallah caught her neatly by the arm and pulled her from the fissure. The sprite was there, but she couldn¡¯t see anything ahead of them. The wall was at their back, a lone, material thing in the dark. And the narrow ledge on which they stood. Tallah released her once sure she had her feet, then reached into the fissure and guided Vergil just the same. ¡°Have we arrived?¡± he asked. ¡°Closer to there, yes,¡± Ludwig replied. He sat on the edge of the narrow shelf with feet dangling over the black abyss. ¡°You could say the journey¡¯s just now beginning.¡± He gestured dramatically to the side, to where the ledge disappeared into the underground night. ¡°We can rest here for a time.¡± Sil looked around. If there was a far wall, and there had to be one, the light of a sprite could not reach it. She summoned her own and sent it out. It reached beyond her range without finding the far side of the chasm. The ledge snaked away into the distance. It hugged the wall tight and was wide enough for a single person to walk normally. And it was all so dreadfully quiet. Not a whisper of wind or an echo of the mad storm above. Nothing but the quiet sounds of their rest, the shuffling of boots on stone, the rustle of Vergil¡¯s armour and the clang of his helmet when he set it down besides him. Nobody had anything to say. She grabbed Tallah¡¯s arm and marched her forward down the path, aware of the two men looking after them. She walked until out of the light around a narrow bend of the path. Any further could be suicide and she resisted the urge for light. ¡°What was that?¡± Sil bit the words off in a whispered snarl. ¡°What were you seeing?¡± ¡°Rhine. She was there,¡± Tallah replied, her voice quiet and distant. She answered quick and sharp, almost eager to have the words out. ¡°Should have known better than to react. Sorry.¡± ¡°Are you hallucinating? Fever? Did you breathe something in?¡± She had her hand on Tallah¡¯s arm but felt nothing but the gentle heat of her infusion. A slight tremble told of a head shake. ¡°No,¡± came the spoken reply. ¡°She¡¯s gone now. Just a careless moment.¡± ¡°You¡¯re a piss-poor liar, and we both know it. Why¡­¡± Tallah normally saw her dead sister in one particular situation. ¡°Is it waxing? Is the draw strong this late in Winter?¡± she asked, trying not to sound too panicked by the implications. Again a shake of the head. ¡°Falor nearly burned Christina out of me. I was exposed for a time. May have lost some¡­ parts.¡± Sil let out a slow, shuddering breath and closed her eyes. Her grip tightened on Tallah¡¯s arm. ¡°What did it take?¡± she asked. Anger and worry mingled in her voice. Long heartbeats passed before Tallah replied. ¡°Rhine. The¡­¡± She swallowed and her voice frayed around the edge. ¡°I can¡¯t picture her face. From before the mountain. I can¡¯t recall it for even a moment. It¡¯s all gone from me. I can only remember what became of her.¡± A shudder and a slow exhalation in the dark. A sniff of annoyance. Tallah pulled her arm away and took a step farther, mindless of the danger. ¡°I¡¯m fine,¡± she said, but Sil knew better. ¡°You¡¯ve got a portrait hung in Solstice. That may help you.¡± She knew better than to push further. Tallah would deal with this in her own way and she¡¯d speak her worries when ready. Unlike other times this had happened in the past, moments where the power of the soul trap had flared, she seemed to be taking the new development much better than expected. Another reason to worry then. ¡°You¡¯ll tell me before you blow your top off, right? Not like in Garet?¡± It was a light enough jab but Tallah refused the bait. Another sniff of annoyance. ¡°I¡¯m fine,¡± she repeated. ¡°Good. Now come and make a fireball for me.¡± She tried to force herself to a kind of calm she didn¡¯t feel so far beneath the world. ¡°I think this time I may have lost some of my toes.¡± She turned and headed back towards the light. Sometime later, Tallah followed. Chapter 2.02.1: The long way The thing leered from beyond the flickering edge of sprite light. She ignored it. Acknowledging it would only allow more of the music to seep in, and it was stronger now that it had lodged another hook in her soul. We need Anna, Christina said in a distant, barely-there whisper of a thought. I may not be of much use for a time. Tallah nodded, not really listening to Ludwig¡¯s long-winded explanation of how he¡¯d come to discover such an out-of-the-way route to an ancient wonder. Bastil priests featured in there, somewhere, but she hadn¡¯t been listening since before he opened his mouth. She should have been on her way to Solstice. Her tools were there, all the apparatus she needed to spin the soul thread to bind Anna¡¯s polluted spirit. And then would come the long healing process, the battle of wills, the negotiation and the bargains. The prospect of it all made her teeth itch. Christina had been a willing sacrifice and, even so, it had been an unconscious contest for control between them. Bianca hadn¡¯t consented¡ªhard to do when being beaten to death with a ledger¡ªand it took months before she listened to the plan and her interest was piqued. Anna¡­ Anna was monstrous in all possible ways. To bind her to the cause, to get her to accept the bargain, what would Tallah need to promise? She dreaded even imagining it. Her power would gain us years. Christina was right, but what would the cost be? What could Tallah promise to get that vengeful monster¡¯s support? There was no way to reach Solstice, not from the Crags. Even in fair weather, even with her disguise, it would take at least until Summer to travel the span of Vas. Marestra. Drack. Valen. Bastra. Solstice. Each a challenge. All under Aztroa Magnor¡¯s watchful eye, all of them now aware that she lived and practised the highest heresy. Someone hit her in the shoulder. ¡°What?¡± she asked, more to show she was present. ¡°Next time I aim for the sutures.¡± Sil waved a piece of dried meat in her face. ¡°Eat a bite. Drink some water. We need to make for a wider shelf before we get some sleep.¡± She snatched the piece of meat and bit into it hard enough that her teeth hurt. ¡°I heard. I was listening.¡± ¡°No, you weren¡¯t. You were sulking over how the prince beat you like the drum of Aztroa¡¯s Court. Again.¡± She felt her cheeks flush and opened her mouth to protest. The look in Sil¡¯s eyes made her choke instead. She¡¯s giving you space to sulk. A momentary wave of warmth emanated from Christina. Once in forever, the hen can be shockingly accommodating to your moods. Sil was on her feet and giving her a calculated look of frustrated impatience. Vergil and Ludwig were already a few steps further down the path, waiting, the sprite bobbing in the air above them. Oh. She¡¯d been out in her head for a while. She ate as she walked, not really tasting the salted meat. The shelf twisted and turned as the cavern wall did, narrowed and widened unexpectedly in places, went up and then dipped sharply. She held up a fireball to allow herself more light as the sprites kept disappearing beyond twists in the path, in and out of crevices that led nowhere. What a miserable expedition this must¡¯ve been once upon a time. She knew there was a destination to reach, but what would those accompanying the professor have known? Just miserably marching into the unknown on the heels of a zealous madman. Oddly, she gained a measure of respect for Ludwig for the temerity of braving that impenetrable dark and leading people down a path that could see them dead at the merest hint of a quake, on a quest to find a place that had likely never existed. Maybe this will be worth our trouble, Christina whispered. Maybe they did know something we don¡¯t now. This at least has the feel of heading somewhere hidden. Hopeful thinking. Tallah had gone chasing that particular squirrel before. It was how they¡¯d ended up with the cursed helmet. To accept again the hope of a different way than the one they followed was folly, and she refused its temptation. And the wraith followed on dead-silent feet outside the lick of her fireball¡¯s light. It made the back of her neck itch. She¡¯s not there. She knew that. On every conscious level, she knew that. Thinking too much about it would see her walk straight off the edge so, instead, she moved closer to Sil. ¡°I¡¯ll take watch when we rest,¡± she said. ¡°No,¡± the healer replied curtly. ¡°You¡¯re not taking any watches until I say so. What¡¯s there to watch for?¡± ¡°Vergil twitching himself off the path?¡± It was meant as a joke but Sil remained grim-faced. ¡°I¡¯m going to give you burn-leaf and you will take it without comment. I¡¯m exhausted and I haven¡¯t done half of the things you did. Haven¡¯t been half as stupid either.¡± Sil¡¯s glamour had all faded away now. Tallah was by her scarred side and a side-glance from her discoloured eye was enough to silence any protest. Even if she now towered over the healer in height, Sil¡¯s presence more than made up the difference. It was probably wisest not to tempt her temper just then. ¡°How long until your secret city, old man?¡± she called to Ludwig as they slowed for a particularly narrow shelf. ¡°Days. Three, if we make good time. Four or five if we tarry.¡± He seemed to be enjoying himself. ¡°We rest and sleep on the first wider portion,¡± Sil ordered. ¡°I¡¯ll have no discussion on that.¡± They did. And Sil did exactly as promised, having Tallah drink the tea she¡¯d grown accustomed to in Valen. Even as she drank the foul thing, she saw lidless eyes in the dark and the impression of an outstretched hand. It called her beyond the path¡¯s edge. It¡¯s not real, Christina reassured her as she felt her heart quicken. I am trying to banish the figment. Bear with it a while more. Christina would rebuild her strength in time, but until then her promises carried little weight. Bianca had gone quiet, doing the work of two in staunching the bleeding wound left behind by Christina¡¯s humbling. Tallah forced her eyes to Ludwig and Vergil as they sat one next to the other, leaned against the wall, quietly chatting while Sil fussed over them all. Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. ¡°Don¡¯t look down into the abyss, boy,¡± the old man was saying. ¡°It will call to you and it might be hard to resist taking the fatal step.¡± ¡°I¡¯m fine,¡± Vergil said. He grinned. ¡°I¡¯m more accustomed to this than you¡¯d believe.¡± Deep lines of exhaustion showed on his face and Tallah was reminded that he¡¯d not slept, nor even rested since before heading into the blizzard in Valen. Through it all, he¡¯d not complained once, nor lagged behind. He¡¯d pushed himself harder than she had any right to demand of him. Whatever she thought she knew of the boy needed revising. When up in the gibbet, he¡¯d raised his hand to ward her away. She remembered the moment with frightening clarity. Desiccated, starved and more than half-mad, he had tried to warn her of danger. And she had nearly ended him. Who dragged you into my path? Why? Sleep overtook her before she twisted herself into a ball of anxious, guilty suspicion. Chance was a dangerous thing to trust, especially given who its patron deity was. Burn-leaf took out the dreams from her sleep. But she¡¯d had it too often, for too long, and now black peaks rose in dream as she slipped beneath consciousness and Christina¡¯s waning protection. High storms above. The lash of freezing rain. Wind moaning through crevices and the dray on their heels howling their echoing cries. The mountain rose around her, its jagged cliffs murderous in the split-moment flashes of lightning. She was bleeding. Stumbling nearly blind down a break-neck path. Death stalked their footsteps, its hand outstretched in every chasm and out of every shadow. She fell, the pain too much to endure. Music thrummed inside her chest, writhed and squirmed through the deepest recesses of her head, and sunk deep, barbed hooks into her soul. And it yanked so hard she couldn¡¯t breathe for the pain. Freezing hands dragged her up and she leaned into the other, stumbling barefoot down the treacherous incline. Oblivion claimed her. She woke to hands on her. Pressure on her wounds. Sheltered? A cave. Echoing boom of thunder filling the world as she pitched forward. Desperately tried to get up. ¡°Sit. Down. Let me work.¡± She stared up into wild ice-blue eyes staring down at her, pools of light in the darkness. ¡°Press here. Don¡¯t pass out.¡± Again she tried to rise and was pushed back. Her hands guided to the wound and the compress, made to apply pain to staunch the flow. ¡°I can¡¯t heal you. I¡¯ve tried. I can¡¯t. I¡¯m dressing your wounds best I can.¡± What was her name? She couldn¡¯t remember it. Her torturer¡­ Not the moment to think on that. She needed this one, at least until safety. A jolt of agony dulling into pressure on her leg as the healer tied her makeshift tourniquet. She was cutting her shirt to make bandages. ¡°Don¡¯t pass out. I can¡¯t carry you on my own.¡± Tallah slipped away and was jolted awake when dragged up to her feet. The cave swam before her eyes. She took a step forward and the pain lanced anew through her. She nearly stumbled over a corpse but the healer held her. ¡°They¡¯re close. We can¡¯t wait more,¡± the woman said by her side. ¡°I got the drop on this one. Broke my knife in his collar bone. I don¡¯t know if others heard him die.¡± And they were out in the freezing rain, the wet cold another shock to her senses. Blood-red eyes waited for them in the early dawn light, surrounding the cave¡¯s mouth. Dark animal shapes crowded their path. Silver fangs reflected the sprites of handlers further back. Whistles echoed. ¡°No¡­¡± The closest dray leapt¡ª Tallah woke with a jolt and a hand covering her mouth to drown her cry. She nearly fired off a flame lance before seeing the eyes staring down at her. Sil had a finger to her lips, shushing her, unperturbed by the heat hovering near her chest. One blue eye, one grey and scarred. Their gazes remained locked until her breathing eased and her heart calmed. ¡°Just a nightmare. You¡¯re safe,¡± Sil whispered as she took her hand away and inspected where Tallah had bitten her. ¡°Any harder and you¡¯d have taken a finger.¡± ¡°Sorry.¡± ¡°It¡¯s fine.¡± She shook her head to clear the clinging cobwebs of memory and gratefully accepted a canteen of water. In the black underground night, her traitorous imagination filled the silence with distant, howling echoes. ¡°How long?¡± she asked. ¡°Not long enough. You¡¯ve barely been out a bell.¡± Vergil and Ludwig were each huddled against the wall, turned away from Sil¡¯s sprite, fast asleep. Tallah lowered her voice. ¡°Rest. I¡¯ll watch.¡± ¡°No.¡± ¡°I¡¯m fine.¡± ¡°No.¡± May be for the best. Away from the light, the wraith lingered, and she couldn¡¯t trust herself not to confront it if left to her own devices. Sil noticed easily where her gaze went. A sharp, frightfully well-aimed kick to the shin snapped Tallah¡¯s attention right back to the healer. ¡°Sil!¡± she hissed. ¡°Eyes on me, ash eater.¡± Flat tone. Flat, unimpressed stare. Calculated insult. ¡°Are you trying to annoy me?¡± ¡°Is it working?¡± She¡¯d have, I believe, quite enough time to figure that out if we push her off, came Christina¡¯s muttered annoyance. Tallah hardly resisted a smile. ¡°I heard you, ghost,¡± Sil lied. And tension eased out of Tallah. The familiar felt good. If she allowed Christina to voice off her grievances with Sil, they¡¯d peck one another to bloody tatters. She took another swig of water, rinsed her mouth, and spat over the edge. They sat together some paces away from the men, feet dipped into the chasm. A soft scrape announced Sil putting up a barrier. ¡°Vergil,¡± she explained. ¡°Even exhausted, he tosses. I kicked him back in place twice so far. Was going to kick him in the head next but you started making noise.¡± ¡°You were nicer as a blonde,¡± Tallah commented and ducked a cuff to the ear. It was her turn to be an annoying twat. ¡°Shush. I¡¯m all sunshine and bloody rainbows.¡± It was the scar, Tallah surmised. It twisted Sil¡¯s face into a perpetual, dead-eyed glare that no sort of smile could make look serene. Both of them were scarred and both refused to be healed by Aliana. A good pair in a tight spot. ¡°Do we go all the way?¡± Sil blew out her cheeks and rubbed her fists in her eyes. ¡°We should be dealing with your condition if your ghosts can¡¯t handle it. That monstrosity from storage would help, I think.¡± ¡°Christina was suggesting the same thing. Can¡¯t say I look forward to having her in my head.¡± ¡°I agree fully. Who¡¯d want Christina in their head? Even she didn¡¯t want herself.¡± Push her off. Do this for me and you will never hear another peep from me. ¡°I heard her. I love her too.¡± Tallah stuffed a fist in her mouth and yawned. Tears stung the corners of her eyes. ¡°We go all the way with the old man. What other choice is there?¡± ¡°Portal out? Make for Solstice?¡± ¡°We¡¯d either end up in Marestra, or right in Aztroa from here. Hardly good places to visit in our current condition.¡± The rest didn¡¯t need mentioning. Without their disguises, they¡¯d travel by back roads or straight through open country. In Winter it was as good as suicide. ¡°Besides,¡± Tallah went on, ¡°we might find something that could help in the old man¡¯s faer city.¡± She managed to keep a straight face through it. Sil looked back to where Vergil clutched his helmet. She snorted. ¡°I¡¯m not touching anything we find.¡± Some levity crept into her voice. ¡°Learned my lesson.¡± ¡°Your artistic contribution to it hasn¡¯t washed off. I¡¯ve seen him try to clean it.¡± ¡°We could call him unicorn-boy. Seems fitting.¡± It felt good to laugh, even muffled to not wake the others. It purged away some of the doubt festering in Tallah¡¯s gut. Christina propped her spirits up with her own feelings of wounded pride. It lead to a heady mix of despairing energy that needed a focus. ¡°What¡¯s the most important step?¡± she asked with a smile. It had been one of their main topics of conversation for many years back when their plans were still in their infancy. ¡°The next,¡± Sil answered by rote. ¡°Always the next. Felling better?¡± ¡°Wretched. But self-pity won¡¯t get us where we need to be. May as well be civil with myself.¡± Sil scooted closer and rested her head on Tallah¡¯s shoulder. ¡°Good. Because if I go much longer without sleep, I will start biting. I will take fingers.¡± Tallah wrapped an arm around her waist, pulled her closer, and they sat in silence for a while longer. Chapter 2.02.2: Salmeks echoes ¡°If this place could be fouler, I¡¯m having a hard time imagining it,¡± Sil complained as she made her way back to the group. ¡°Squatting over the chasm to pee is an entirely new flavour of terror.¡± Tallah ignored her. The path had been descending for a while now. How deep, she couldn¡¯t say, but it kept on going, sliding ever deeper beneath the surface. The air was grave-stale and smelled faintly of some hidden decay. Mould? A long-dead corpse? Maybe both. A draft caught her attention every so often but even these were rare now, after more than two days of descent. How deep could it go? Over it all, she felt awash in a kind of power that seeped into her skin and burrowed through her veins to corrupt her stores of illum. If not for Sil¡¯s concoction she felt certain she¡¯d be violently sick. Illum flowed strangely. In places she felt it stagnating into pools through which she had to wade. In others, it was a torrent that slammed into her in waves. The Crags lived up to their miserable reputation thus far. If Sil felt it, she said nothing. ¡°This can¡¯t be the way into a city,¡± Vergil said from the back of the column. ¡°It seems absurd, doesn¡¯t it?¡± She agreed with the sentiment. ¡°You¡¯ll see when we reach our destination,¡± Ludwig assured him. ¡°I believe this was once part of something very different, cast asunder by some manner of catastrophe.¡± ¡°I¡¯m honestly curious of where this leads to,¡± Sil admitted. ¡°If it¡¯s a few rocks arranged in some fashion that merely suggests a settlement, I will punch you, old man. My disappointment would be boundless.¡± That last part was sarcasm. Ludwig either didn¡¯t notice it, or ignored it. ¡°I assure you, Miss Silestra, that you will be amazed,¡± he said. Tallah envied his certainty. ¡°Grefe is a magnificent place. My words would do it no justice. You need to see it with your own eyes to believe me when I say there is no wonder built by man that can match its glory.¡± ¡°Fancy words, professor,¡± Tallah said as she slowed them down for a narrow strip of path. It might have been wider once, judging by the sudden break, but now it was barely a palm¡¯s width and they had to hug the wall to advance. ¡°I¡¯ve always thought you had a knack for waxing poetic. It made your abominable lectures that much harder to stomach.¡± Ludwig laughed. ¡°I do remember you saying that at one point. If memory serves well, I believe your exact words were that if you gagged me, excrement would erupt from my ears.¡± You did say that, Christina noted. He wasn¡¯t quite so amused back then. Tallah grinned. ¡°And I remember you petitioning old witch Zakovia to have me, and any who laughed at my observation, lashed for it. Has hindsight let you finally admit I was right?¡± ¡°Does lashed mean exactly what it sounds like?¡± Vergil interrupted. ¡°Oh yes,¡± Tallah went on. ¡°Get stripped to the waist, tied to a pole, and whipped with a cat o¡¯ nine tails for as many times as needed to satisfy the ego of whichever imbecile demanded it.¡± ¡°Sounds cruel and painful.¡± ¡°I wouldn¡¯t know.¡± Tallah chuckled softly. ¡°When they came for me, we threatened we¡¯d burn the academy to the ground and salt the earth if they so much as lay a finger on any of us.¡± ¡°Us?¡± ¡°Tallah was part of one of the most powerful cliques that ever formed at Hoarfrost. Cythra led them,¡± Ludwig provided when she didn¡¯t elaborate. ¡°It was believed amongst us faculty members that they were more than capable of making good on the threat. We chose the wiser course and I dropped my claim for satisfaction.¡± In as much as anyone could lead a gaggle of power-lusted sorceresses, Christina did make a good attempt at it. Tallah smiled as the vague flash of arrogance emanating off her back. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. A slight tremor on the tips of her fingers. It passed quickly, almost unfelt. And just in time too, as they found the next plateau and walked again in single file. No change in the dark around. No sounds. No echoes of their words. The world shuddered again and immediately stilled. ¡°I really don¡¯t like how that felt.¡± Sil remained close to the wall. If she could grip it in hand, she likely would. ¡°You get these tremors here,¡± Ludwig assured them. ¡°It¡¯s nothing to worry about. Distant echoes of the Salmek disaster. Nothing more.¡± Salmek¡¯s Illum Hearth had detonated more than five hundred years earlier, effectively ending the aelir assault of Vas by instantly wiping out more than half of their fleet and decimating their foot soldiers. Millions of humans had died then, wiped out in a flash. As violent an event as that had been, Tallah doubted it was to blame for this. It started as a vibration in her chest. A distant rumble growing to a roar in the span of a heartbeat. Her ears popped. She meant to call out the quake. Too late. Too slow. Like a great beast trying to shake them off, the shelf under their feet bucked and twisted. She groped for a handhold in the wall but a second shock slammed them and she found herself pitching into the black, the entire world shaking with an ear-splitting groan of cracking stone and shifting walls. She reached for Bianca but the ghost was buried deep in the work of keeping her soul attached to her mortal coil. A gasp behind her and a thunder crack spoke of the path fracturing and the others falling. ¡°To me,¡± Sil called out. Tallah fell sideways and slammed bodily into something hard that swayed beneath her. Pain screamed in her sutured side. Pure, heady mix of fear and adrenaline got her back up to stand on empty air. Around, Vergil and Ludwig were similarly suspended, slow to find their feet, a sprite hovering just above all three. ¡°Don¡¯t gawk! I can¡¯t do this for long,¡± Sil called again, her voice strained with the effort. ¡°All of you to me. Now, or I drop you.¡± Tallah took a cautious step on the invisible platform, found that it held, then rushed forward towards Vergil. Where she was sure she¡¯d step into nothing, another platform would take her weight, the one behind crumbling as soon as she was off. She grabbed the boy by the arm and hauled him to his feet, dragging him along. Ludwig joined next to Sil. Their path was gone, shaken clear off the wall. Sharp pieces of rock remained in places, puncturing the chasm. ¡°How much longer to the bottom?¡± Tallah asked Ludwig as she got an arm around Sil¡¯s waist. ¡°Bells. We¡¯re nearly where we need to be.¡± ¡°Sil?¡± Sil swayed in place, eyes wild as she looked at the ruins of the path. They could see now the aftershocks hitting, the path rumbling and swaying while they remained safe. Tallah knew they weren¡¯t simply floating. To hold anything aloft like that, there needed to exist an entire support structure anchored somewhere. It was a gargantuan effort on the healer¡¯s part to keep them from plummeting to their deaths, and steady to not be shaken off by the earthquake. ¡°I can walk or I can focus. Not both at once,¡± Sil said, voice shaking. ¡°Thigh pouch. Nettle. Have on hand.¡± Tallah extracted the tightly tied bags and pocketed them for later. ¡°I can carry you,¡± Vergil said. ¡°You can¡¯t,¡± Tallah replied. She grabbed him by one of the helmet¡¯s horns. ¡°But Horvath can. I can¡¯t make a tether like she can, but I can power you by direct contact. I can¡¯t make this any clearer, but you need to keep him restrained. Am I clear?¡± ¡°Yes, Tallah. Count on me.¡± ¡°I am.¡± She moved her grip to his shoulder, focused, and in a heartbeat the mad dwarf was in control. He twitched, made to rip away from her, and suddenly stilled. Only a quiet, droning growl showed that it wasn¡¯t Vergil in charge. ¡°You know what you need to do?¡± she asked. Of course, no reply but he picked Sil up in his arms and waited. For a moment, Tallah half-expected him to throw the healer into the abyss just to spite them all. Sil raised a hand and pointed towards the wall. They were meters away and swayed in the air. The quake had quieted, its violence lost in the depths of the earth. Some stones fell from somewhere above, missing them by less than ten paces. They¡¯d been lucky. ¡°Take me closer. Easier that way.¡± Vergil took a step forward and Tallah followed, her grip on him white-knuckled. Ludwig held on to her sleeve. His terror, at least, sufficed for them all. Sil built as they went. Where the shelf was gone, she erected steps that hooked into crevices and held on to the remains of the old path. Slow, blind work. Tallah called out suitable anchor points as Ludwig¡¯s sprites fanned out to light the way. Each step forward, a small victory. They had been spared the worst of it. Further on, a whole portion of the wall had detached, leaving behind a wound large enough to obstruct the far side. This would be the old man¡¯s last trip to his fabled city, unless he¡¯d somehow master the flight of a manipulator. Sil¡¯s nose bled after long, sustained effort, and they were gone through more than half of the ink-nettle dust. The black remained bottomless and hungry. Chapter 2.02.3: What waits beyond the gate ¡°I can¡¯t.¡± Sil whimpered as another of her constructs shattered when she tried raising it, its support too thin or misaligned. ¡°Tallah, I can¡¯t. I need¡­ I need to rest.¡± Blood flowed down her chin, bubbled against her lips with every word. ¡°Just a little more. We must be near something. There must be a bottom to this.¡± She tried to sound reassuring, but her own anxiety prickled the words. ¡°Go as slow as you need.¡± Bianca remained quiet, deep in the work, with Christina unable to help or take over. The last thing she needed now was Rhine distracting her. Sil teetered on the precipice of burnout. Already the built shelves were only narrow enough for them to cluster together, the effort too large for anything wider. ¡°It can¡¯t be far now, Miss Silestra. You¡¯ve nearly gotten us there.¡± Ludwig spoke through his terror, failing to keep it out of his voice. ¡°The gate should be near now.¡± Sil whimpered and was silent. She drew in a shuddering breath. Her face twisted in agony as she concentrated still. ¡°Forward,¡± she urged. Five steps forward. Another break. Another bag of ink-nettle. Five more steps forward. The constructs swayed and shuddered under their weight. Horvath¡¯s draw on Tallah hurt now, the familiar pressure between the eyes growing while the strain mounted. She didn¡¯t dare take any of the dust even as Sil shied away from it. The next step did not find solid surface. They pitched forward as the support underfoot shattered. And hit the bottom of the chasm two panic-strewn moments later. Impact knocked the wind out of Tallah and she lost her hold on Vergil. She came to her feet immediately, panic flaring that they were about to drop off the world. But no, there was black rock underfoot, and a cloud of fine dust lifted into the air by their fall. She scrambled over to Sil, to where Vergil had dropped her. He was slower to find his feet. ¡°I couldn¡¯t hold the last one,¡± Sil said, bloody tears streaking her face. ¡°I couldn¡¯t.¡± Her breathing was fast and ragged. ¡°It¡¯s all right, Sil. We¡¯re on the ground. It was enough.¡± ¡°I could¡¯ve killed us!¡± ¡°You got us down. It¡¯s enough.¡± She kneeled by the healer and cradled her head in her lap. She wiped away at the bloody streaks of tears. ¡°Breathe slower. Easy. We¡¯re all fine. You can relax now.¡± Vergil came up, shuffling and raising a cloud of dust behind him. He had his helmet in his hands and looked flushed. In the end, even the ghost had strained with the effort. ¡°We¡¯re still alive,¡± he said, half-amazed and half-relieved. ¡°Did I do good? I tried to fight him for control, but I¡¯m not sure what I managed. It all gets weird when I¡¯m under.¡± ¡°He behaved,¡± Tallah confirmed. ¡°If that was you, or if it was him not being suicidal, I can¡¯t say.¡± It seemed to satisfy Vergil. Sil had drifted off to an exhausted sleep and her breathing eased into deep sighs. ¡°Drench a cloth in water and give it to me,¡± Tallah instructed, her voice low. She gently wiped off the residue of ink-nettle mixed with drying blood. Sil had fallen face-first into whatever that fine powder was, but Tallah didn¡¯t dare go through her vials for some preventative mixture. Only Sil knew her mixtures and would get murderous if they were disturbed. ¡°Is this ash?¡± Vergil asked as he ran a hand through the dust. ¡°Smells like ash.¡± ¡°There will be more ahead,¡± Ludwig confirmed by his side. ¡°We¡¯re some distance shy of our mark, but at least we¡¯re here.¡± ¡°Vergil, help me lift her.¡± A small shove and dance between Tallah and Vergil saw that Sil ended up slung over Tallah¡¯s shoulders in the fashion of a soldier¡¯s carry. Tummy would thrash her if he saw how her knees wobbled even under Sil¡¯s nothing weight. Eat some meat. Do the exercises. You will always have your muscles on you, but what good will they be if you ignore them? She grimaced and felt the poke of his rough finger against her chest. ¡°Are you sure?¡± Vergil asked. Tallah shifted Sil¡¯s unconscious form until she could stand unassisted. Had to stumble twice before she could properly carry the healer. ¡°You¡¯ve done your part. It¡¯s my turn,¡± she said as she took the first step towards Ludwig. ¡°Let¡¯s get to this blasted gate of yours, old man. I expect we can rest more easily there.¡± The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Ash rose with every step, drifted lazily in the sprite light, and quietly settled to cover their tracks once they were past. It was knee-high in places, but soft as if it had just freshly settled. Like dunes, it spread across the bottom of the chasm to form an endless black desert. Its only visible edge was the rock wall and Tallah kept them close to it lest they lose whatever sense of way they still had. Ruins rose from the ash. The remains of dwellings littered the dunes, their walls tumbled and shattered into unidentifiable chunks of crumbling masonry. A settlement had once occupied those depths, its remains stretching away as far as the light would touch. Shadows twisted and danced with their passing. Illum pooled here, as it did in most places where death had come suddenly and violently. She avoided drawing it in. Like in an open field after a battle, the stench of death and rot hung suspended on the tides of power, gagging to anyone sensitive enough to it. Ludwig had been optimistic. It took what felt like two bells more of walking before Tallah stumbled onto the first stone steps rising out of the ash. She would¡¯ve dropped Sil if not for Vergil on her elbow catching both of them from stumbling. Their initial stone path had fallen and cratered the ash dune around the raised platform. The only way back would be by portal. At some point they¡¯d need to face that particular risk and hope for the best. ¡°Do you know¡­ how much¡­ I hate¡­ being carried like this?¡± Sil groaned as Tallah jolted her with each slow step. ¡°Put me down¡­ I¡¯m going to be¡­ sick.¡± ¡°Swallow it until we¡¯re up these bloody stairs. You¡¯re heavier than you think and these are slippery.¡± If Sil had any more indignant responses ready, she didn¡¯t get to voice them. They reached the top and Tallah stepped onto empty air where she had expected one more step underfoot. This time Vergil wasn¡¯t quick enough as she and Sil spilled onto the smooth stone floor. ¡°Ow,¡± Sil groaned. Tallah echoed the sentiment and accepted Vergil¡¯s hand to get back up. ¡°Not one word, bucket-head,¡± she warned. Vergil swallowed whatever he was about to say and went to help Sil stand. She wobbled as she rose but pushed away his help, casting a bleary gaze around at their new surroundings. ¡°So, it¡¯s actually a city,¡± she said, looking at the shadow-clad ruins on the edge of the spritelight. ¡°Fancy that. Still, smaller than I expected.¡± Double stone doors were cut into the rock ahead at the end of the platform. Taller than Valen¡¯s Fortress Gate, and again as wide, they were carved with intricate patterns so life-like that it seemed to Tallah as if their entire surface moved and slithered when light touched it. Winged beings crowded the stone and rose in ranks towards a distant sky filled with stars and floating cities. There was something human about the depictions, and also something not-quite. The scene of ascension filled her with an odd sense of longing that confused both she and Christina enough that Tallah looked away from the carvings. One door was ajar just enough to allow one person to slip through the gap. ¡°Twenty men dragged at that,¡± Ludwig said. ¡°Twenty and we barely managed to move it so much in days.¡± It wasn¡¯t the size of it or the old man¡¯s recollection that drew Tallah closer to the gate. Again, the sense of poisoned power, but stronger here, cloying to her senses. If she focused, she could see a kind of vapour quietly emanating from behind the opened door, carrying with it a faint, almost imagined stench of blood and rotting offal. No, not quite. Mould more like, and something aged beyond the point of putrefaction. With a shudder, she took a step closer to peer beyond. ¡°It¡¯s whispering,¡± Sil said as she came within paces of the door. ¡°Or is that just me?¡± ¡°Sounds like static to me,¡± Vergil said. It was whispering, but not in words, not as such. More a background hum, an insect-like insistent noise that bypassed the ears to lodge straight into the brain and claw at it. ¡°Faer place,¡± Tallah murmured in spite of herself. The old git may not have been exaggerating. Ludwig answered with a low chuckle. ¡°It does seem that way, doesn¡¯t it? And yet, the real wonder still waits beyond. We¡¯re merely on the threshold. Halfway there, as it were.¡± A ripple in the illum flow. A sense of bottomless, desperate hunger. Anger. Despairing loneliness. Tallah drew sharply back from the entrance and Sil rushed behind her. ¡°Our host stirs,¡± Ludwig said, unperturbed. ¡°Be not alarmed. It doesn¡¯t go beyond the gate.¡± Something moved on the other side. Vapour roiled out of the opening and then ceased to flow as if the passage beyond was blocked. A low, angry growl thrummed in the air and made the ash rise in clouds. Hot breath roiled out carrying a cadaverous stench, wet with the promise of violence. Tallah counted ten quick heartbeats before the creature slunk away from the doors. Had it seen them? Or was it simply patrolling its territory? A sense of wrongness washed across her, diminishing the beast¡¯s departure. ¡°I assume that is what you need my help with?¡± Tallah said, finding her voice just a shade uncertain. Even without the Ikosmenia Mask she had felt the sheer bulk of power that wreathed the creature. An illum leviathan in the truest sense of the words, it beggared even Falor¡¯s display of strength. How she¡¯d deal with it she couldn¡¯t fathom. Christina remained pensive, turning over the captured sensations of that instant of contact. Something''s very wrong with that beast, the ghost said. I need information before I make up my mind on it. ¡°Oh, I¡¯d say rather not,¡± Ludwig replied. The git chuckled at her. ¡°The guardian is a nuisance for sure, but it is the crossing that is the real danger. Beyond the gate there is poison in the air that kills in the most horrifying fashion I¡¯ve ever had the misfortune of witnessing. Your mask will guide us through. It is what I truly need from you. If the beast could be killed, in a century I could¡¯ve worn it down.¡± ¡°And the beast won¡¯t bother us?¡± Sil asked, still reeling from the assault on her senses. ¡°It will, if we are foolish enough to channel. It smells it. And if it gets a whiff of that, we will all die.¡± ¡°Lovely.¡± Vergil set down his pack and rummaged loudly in it. ¡°Well, since we¡¯re going to die, let¡¯s at least have a decent last meal. I, for one, am starving. Nothing like near-death to whet an appetite.¡± ¡°Get me wine,¡± Sil said without taking her eyes away from the doors. ¡°May be my last meal. I aim to enjoy it.¡± Chapter 2.03.1: Chance meeting ¡°You¡¯ve got her scowl down; I can tell you that much.¡± Lady Aliana was likely trying to be encouraging but Mertle only felt a growing sense of terror. She dared a look in the tiny mirror hidden among the priestesses bottles of tinctures and ointments. The face that glared back was alien and the sight of it knifed deep through the centre of her forehead. ¡°I don¡¯t think you¡¯re ready for that just yet,¡± the priestess said. She wrapped up tight the silver staff and hid it once again in the secret hollow of the root passing through what would charitably be called an office. Mertle thought of the place as some kind of mad laboratory of a deranged witch. An elend healer wouldn¡¯t have half of the things on display, and would never stoop to some of the ingredients she¡¯d seen Aliana mixing. Wax root? Crow¡¯s tongue? Mint? Repulsive! ¡°I¡¯m not unravelling, am I?¡± She massaged her hornless temples. No bone ridges poked out. A minor victory in that. ¡°Just flustered. Drink this.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t need a drink, lady Aliana. I need¡ª¡± She threw up her hands and bit her lip. The words got lost somewhere along the way. She needed Sil to tell her how far she should go with the Tianna masquerade. She had agreed to help during the first night and had hoped to disappear into the dark to somewhere she wouldn¡¯t be followed. That had been the plan. Tallah got what she needed. Her plans remained safe. Tianna could simply disappear into the night. That had been the extent of the plan. But things changed. Storm Guards were always watching her. The moment she showed up as Tianna, anywhere, there were eyes on her. Always watching. Always bloody probing for a mistake. People constantly came to the Meadow seeking audiences that Verti had been instructed to turn away, but she could only hide for so long before suspicion would dawn. ¡°What you need is a drink,¡± lady Aliana insisted. ¡°And to stop pacing before you wear a trench in my floor.¡± She took the proffered glass and downed it without thinking. Not bad, as human spirits went, but did little to quiet down her thoughts. Aliana replenished the glass. It went down just as easily, warmed her up well, enough that she could feel her hands and face again. ¡°Thank you. I¡¯m sorry. Just¡­ I wish they¡¯d left me with some more instructions.¡± She sat down heavily on the one free chair in the room and pressed fists into her eyes. ¡°I was supposed to preserve this disguise and then get her out of the city. But they¡¯re always there. I feel that if I¡¯d gone with the caravan, at least one of the Guard would¡¯ve come with me.¡± Then she would¡¯ve needed to kill whoever that was and she really didn¡¯t want to kill anyone again. ¡°We do this until the sorceress gets back. She¡¯ll call in when she does.¡± In her Sister¡¯s gown, leaning against an overladen desk, lady Aliana looked every bit her imposing station. Of course she was immune to anything the Storm Guards could muster, so Mertle¡¯s worries likely did not impress anything on her. ¡°Fail or quit, and she might return to a waiting trap. You heard what the princeling did to her?¡± Mertle nodded. Even with the surprising appearance of the Goddess of Healing that very night, the whole of Valen was talking about Cinder getting destroyed in fair combat by the Lord Commander of the Storm Guard. They¡¯d been toasting to his health nightly at the Gooseberry. She could hear them from across the Agora. If that monster got the drop on Tallah the next time, she might not survive the encounter. Mertle¡¯s part-to-play pressed down on her with the weight of a lodestone. ¡°Here. This should help you.¡± Mertle caught the object thrown at her and studied it. A silver armlet engraved with a smattering of runes she¡¯d never seen before. Sil¡¯s work. She recognized the style at a glance, even if not the runes themselves. Probably something off that wand she¡¯d been studying? ¡°What¡¯s this?¡± ¡°What you¡¯ve delivered from your lover. I had one of my girls follow her instructions and finish the engraving.¡± ¡°This is half of a twin.¡± Mertle followed the logic of the runes, feeling herself settling better into her disguise. A blush crept up her cheeks at Aliana¡¯s words. Touching the silver provided something, though she couldn¡¯t quite say what. Skin-contact activated. Not an immediately obvious effect, so likely a passive engraving. Yes, there was the rune arrangement for that. ¡°It¡¯s got a complex effect,¡± she surmised. The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°Good eye. Second part is on the staff. Your disguise should take a longer time to dispel now. Silestra wasn¡¯t very clear on the inner workings of the enchantment, but it seems to do what she said it would.¡± It fit her arm snugly and the glamour stopped fighting her. It settled in her bones like a contended, lulled beast. ¡°How far can I be from the staff before it starts waning?¡± ¡°Test and find out. Feels better?¡± ¡°Much.¡± ¡°Good. Now get out. I do have other business to tend to.¡± Sil had asked her to trust the priestess of the Dryad. She hadn¡¯t asked for Mertle to like the woman, and the feeling seemed mutual. Still, she¡¯d tarried for long enough and time was short. Back straight. Chin up. Expression like an itch somewhere unpleasant. She walked out of the small office daring any of those waiting in line to challenge her preferential treatment. None did. Her handlers would find her soon after walking out. They usually did. After the descent confrontation with that Captain woman, the Guard had stopped watching her as overtly as Sil had described before. There weren¡¯t any soldiers watching the Meadow, but there didn¡¯t need to be. They watched the gates and the Guild. Sometimes they started after her when she passed, and sometimes ignored her. Miserable bastards and their human games. Some days she could almost believe that it was all in her head, imagining patterns where there weren¡¯t any. But long service to her aelir¡¯matar¡¯s crop had taught her much about patterns, enough that a lifetime away from Nen couldn¡¯t erase. She adjusted the brim of her hat, tightened her cloak, and stepped out into cold midday light. There would be some more storms left to this Winter, but not on this day. Cares was high up and the sky a perfect blue, stretching to the inky shadows of the mountains and beyond them. From up high on the steps of the Sisters of Mercy, she could see beyond Valen¡¯s walls to the snow-capped ridges of the Valen-Drack range, and all the dotting villages up to there. Dark lines of caravans braved the high snows to reach some of these places and deliver food and medicine where it would be most needed. They always help one another in hardship times. The aelir had only cared for themselves. If their thralls froze to death in Winter there would only be fewer mouths to feed come Thaw. This human gentleness, even after five years living among them, still struck her as unimaginably odd. ¡°Lady Aieni?¡± She froze halfway down the steps, recognising the voice with terrible certainty. Terror, white hot, ignited in the pit of her stomach. Swinging her gaze from the mountains back to her path showed her exactly who she dreaded worse. Lost in thought, she hadn¡¯t noticed Captain Quistis just off the side of the path leading down from the hospital. She was talking to a one-armed beggar woman huddled into a nook in the side of the building. The Sisters rarely minded beggars by their steps, but the city¡¯s council did not approve of the practice. There was a whole cluster of them gathered around the Storm Guard. ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I will be back soon,¡± the captain said and passed the woman a small pouch before rushing in Mertle¡¯s direction. She nearly slipped in the late-Winter sludge of ice, mud and salt. Mertle wondered for the briefest moment if her surprise was as etched on her face as the shock in her soul. She had gone to great lengths to discourage this woman from seeking her out for her apology and, now, here she was, dressed in the civilian garb of a healer, rushing through the muddy snow to greet her. For a heartbeat she considered fleeing. It would¡¯ve been easy to turn her back on the woman, quicken her pace, and shoulder away through the crowd. Captain Quistis reached the bottom of the stairs before her mind was made up and smiled up at her in just such a way that negated any hope of getting away from at least acknowledging her presence. ¡°Captain Quistis,¡± Mertle returned the greeting, carefully constructing her tone into a mixture of suspicion, cold displeasure, and heartfelt loathing. ¡°I¡¯d say it¡¯s a pleasure seeing you again, but you might try to arrest me for lying to your face.¡± She made the words cold enough to sting. To very little effect. ¡°You make it terribly hard to reach you,¡± Captain Quistis said, still barring her way with that infuriating smile. ¡°Can I please, now, offer my apology? I don¡¯t want to resort to battering down your door for it.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t want or care for your apology. I need you and your men to leave me alone.¡± She tried to move past but couldn¡¯t. The woman moved in exact step to her to bar her way. Any closer and they¡¯d be chest to chest. ¡°Then allow me to treat you to a cup of coffee and something sweet. Please. At least that for all the discomfort I¡¯ve caused you?¡± Mertle stared, caught half-way between baffled incredulity and suspicion. Was this a joke? The woman would¡¯ve had her turned into an arrow-ridden pin cushion at a word, and she was offering her apology¡­ in pastries?! ¡°There-there¡¯s a very nice place close-by,¡± she went on. ¡°I know you like to sample the finer things. I can guarantee you haven¡¯t been to this place yet. It¡¯s my treat. No strings. Nothing.¡± She tapped her breast where the usual insignia of the fist wreathed in lighting would be emblazoned. ¡°I¡¯m off-duty and it was pure chance to run into you. My honest word for it.¡± ¡°I¡­ err¡­ fine?¡± Hard to say no, politely or impolitely, to an invitation like that. Tianna did have a ravenous sweet-tooth, and the woman was clearly informed about her habits and preferences. ¡°Lead the way, then. Maybe after this you might just leave me be.¡± Chapter 2.03.2: Two lions for a coffee It was, as Quistis had promised, a very nice, out-of-the-way cafe, hidden in a narrow gap between two shops selling healing herbs and alchemical compounds. Far enough from the Guild and the Sisters to not be treated to the noise, but easily within walking distance to both and the elevator into the lower city. Once past the heavy nondescript door, Mertle found herself in a cosy, candle-lit place with separated narrow booths and two-person tables. The cushions were all velvet and there was pipe smoke in the air, sweetened with scents of fruit. String music drifted in from somewhere, though she could see no musician in attendance. Privacy was the coin of trade here. No windows. No sprites in the air. Only flickering candlelight and the warmth they produced. Patrons were nearly faceless in the cosy gloom, their voices lost in the hum. A faint breeze wafted the smoke about and made the flames shimmer and shiver. Mertle took it all in upon first step, and loved it. A serving girl took their cloaks and greeted Captain Quistis with the ease of long familiarity. She led them among the labyrinthine arrangements of tables, down a short flight of stairs and into an unexpectedly private booth. ¡°If I worried of your intentions, Captain Quistis, I would think you were leading me into a dungeon,¡± Mertle said as she seated herself on soft cushions. ¡°The Guard must pay spectacularly well for one to be intimate with a place such as this.¡± ¡°Please, just Quistis is fine, lady Tianna. I¡¯m out of uniform and this is really just a personal invitation.¡± There was a lie in there, somewhere. Mertle could read it on her face, though she couldn¡¯t figure exactly what she was being lied to about. She nodded and picked a menu plaque from the wall. ¡°Quistis, then,¡± she said, softening her tone to hide her shock at the prices on the plaque. Two bloody lions for a cup of coffee?! In the Agora, two lions would buy her and Tummy an entire meal and leave over some eagles for a couple mugs of Valen beer. Pastries and cake slices were even more absurd. She looked over the edge of the plaque at Quistis and raised an eyebrow. ¡°I don¡¯t come here by myself. And I never get to pay,¡± Quistis said and there was a slight, very human blush on her cheeks as she said so. ¡°Serving in the Guard does not pay quite that well I¡¯m afraid. And, anyway, most of it goes home to my parents.¡± All the same, unperturbed, Mertle ordered coffee¡ªsweetened, of course¡ªand five different cake slices of the most expensive varieties. Three of them had decadent as a descriptor. She only stopped when she saw a momentary flash of panic on Quistis¡¯s face. One more cupcake, for good measure. Petty revenge for that terrifying night, true, but it relaxed her to see the Captain sweating and touching her money pouch. ¡°You offered. I accepted. Or did you believe my company would come cheap?¡± ¡°I¡¯m just surprised, really. Did not expect your sweet tooth to be quite so ravenous. I¡¯ve never seen anyone, except maybe an elend, stomach two of these sugar monstrosities. My date normally can¡¯t even finish his.¡± She only ordered a coffee for herself. Black. No sugar needed. ¡°It¡¯ll be a tale for the barracks and no doubt.¡± Mertle cursed inwardly. There was no attack in the words though. She shrugged. ¡°I¡¯m eating out of frustration, if you must know. And I hold you personally accountable for it.¡± ¡°Me? Whatever for?¡± She levelled her best, most loathing glare at Quistis, the kind she only reserved for the obnoxious customers come to haggle back at the shop. It usually got them blubbering. ¡°You scared my friends away.¡± ¡°Pardon?¡± ¡°Your foul shenanigans and that ghastly threat of violence on my person, the things you¡¯re trying to bribe my anger away for? After all that my companions disappeared into the night. Thank you so bloody much, Quistis.¡± She added a slight hiss to the name, for effect. An excellent opportunity had just presented itself, to deal with the one detail that could hinder her mission. Tummy couldn¡¯t become Vergil anymore than Aliana could turn into Sil. Tianna losing her constant companions would be an impossible to ignore detail for anyone bright enough to originally figure out she was a fraud. ¡°I did wonder at that,¡± Quistis replied quietly. ¡°You don¡¯t mean quite literally disappeared into the night, right?¡± ¡°Absolutely literally. The moment your lot disappeared from sight, so did they. The elend girl that was with us fainted at all the excitement and I caught her before she fell. When I turned around we were alone. Not so much as a word. Bloody incredible. And it¡¯s all your fault.¡± Quistis regarded her with an interesting mixture of emotions as the serving girl brought in their order on two trays. A tiny bowl of honey was set next to her coffee, after the Southern style of Calabran port. Mertle cooed over the detail, her anger seemingly overshadowed by this touch of home. The further North one travelled, the rarer honey got. Since Tallah¡¯s departure, she¡¯d had Tummy read to her about the Southern cities as she¡¯d only spent little time in the ports of Vas. Amazing how much humans wrote of their homes and customs. She considered dictating some things to him about Beril. ¡°Did you have any word from your friends since?¡± Quistis asked. Her gaze had unfocused and she scratched at her neck, beneath the collar of her robe, a gesture completely at odds with her overall bearing. ¡°You¡¯ll cut yourself if you keep doing that,¡± Mertle noted and took a bite out of the first cake. Delicious and, indeed, decadent. She took some time to savour it before responding. ¡°No. Not a peep.¡± ¡°Have you had any valuables go missing?¡± If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. ¡°I couldn¡¯t say. Silestra took care of that stuff and she did the packing for our planned trip to Solstice. We were supposed to leave on the Vulniu caravan, but then you showed up and buggered my plans.¡± She tasted each cake. Every slice was so different and each so wonderfully prepared. She desperately wanted to come here and have Sil try these as well. ¡°What were your plans, lady Tianna? Why were you planning to leave?¡± Quistis¡¯s interest had changed. The way she held her hand curled on her mug, one finger tracing the outline of its lip. How she leaned forward slightly and her eyes focused intently on hers. No longer out of uniform it seemed. Tallah and Sil hadn¡¯t had the chance to set this up. All she knew was that it involved the South, Ria especially, but nothing beyond that. Again, she shrugged dismissively, as if the matter did not warrant consideration. Her attention was on the sweets and her wonderfully sweetened coffee. ¡°I¡¯ve tired of Valen and its gloom. Especially, I¡¯ve tired of the stench of smoke everywhere. I was heading for Solstice, and from there down to one of the Southern cities. I miss the sight of the Divide. It¡¯s been too long since I¡¯ve felt the ocean breeze on my face.¡± Safe answer. From Solstice it was an easy trek down to Calabran, home, and from there she could head to Vas¡¯s opposite coast. ¡°Why were you at the Sisters of Mercy? Looking for news of your two?¡± ¡°This is turning into an interrogation, Quistis,¡± Mertle said. She¡¯d finished one slice of cake and moved on to the next. Yes, she would finish them all, but the cupcake would need to come home with her or she¡¯d waddle. ¡°One normally uses hard drink to get answers, not cake. Bold strategy.¡± ¡°I apologise. Just¡­¡± Quistis floundered for a moment and then reached inside her robe and took out a scroll. ¡°I can have people looking into your companions,¡± she said, voice lowered to a conspiratorial whisper, as if hiding her preferential treatment. Not that she needed to. There was nobody around on this lower level. ¡°Or... There are two people of interest, a healer and a warrior, that have come to our attention at pretty much the same time as what you describe. Given some of the circumstances that lead us to mistakenly accuse you, what you¡¯re saying now is difficult to ignore.¡± Even by flickering candlelight it was entirely too easy to recognise who was sketched out on Quistis¡¯s scroll. Mertle¡¯s heart skipped at least two beats when she looked. ¡°Who¡¯s that?¡± she asked, spoon resting against her lower lip to hide any emotion. ¡°Do you recognise this woman at all? Have you ever seen her around any of the places you were at? Please, think very well on this.¡± The background hum of the cafe and the soft music died away as she pulled the image closer and stared down into Sil¡¯s charcoal eyes. It was a very good rendering of her likeness, right down to the twist of her mouth in anger and the shawl Mertle had gifted her. Someone had gotten a very good look, probably in the commotion Tallah had stirred. She swallowed her cake and took another bite before pushing the paper back. ¡°Looks a bit like a younger you, if I¡¯m honest,¡± she replied. A stupid but true answer, after a fashion. If she hadn¡¯t known Sil to be an only child, she could see Quistis as her older sister from the resemblance. Nose and eyes were very similar. ¡°But otherwise she doesn¡¯t strike me as familiar.¡± The scroll stood between them for a while longer as Quistis sipped her now cold coffee. ¡°More¡¯s the pity, I guess. Would¡¯ve given me something to go on.¡± She rolled back Sil¡¯s image into a tight cylinder and stowed it away. ¡°We¡¯ll be circulating plaques of this person and hope for the best.¡± Mertle chocked on a lump of cake, gripped her coffee and tried to wash down the lump of chocolate. It made it worse. Mertle had been seen with the person on the scroll! In more than one place and in less than platonic circumstances. They¡¯d never made it any kind of secret while out and about, enjoying the kind a freedom only a human city could afford an elendine. Quistis rose to help her. Mertle waved her back as she tried to compose herself. ¡°Went down the wrong way,¡± she wheezed out as she emptied her coffee mug. It all tasted like dust now and she felt a sudden stab of pain through her forehead. The armlet felt hot to the touch and she struggled to breathe. Cold sweat drenched her back and plastered the dress to her skin. ¡°Most people pale when choking. You¡¯ve gone quite red in the face,¡± Quistis noted with some worry. ¡°I¡¯m fine. I¡¯m fine.¡± She breathed out, coughed, closed her eyes, forced herself to calm. Nothing had yet happened, a distant voice whispered in her ear. This is a blessing in disguise. Without it, you wouldn¡¯t have had advance warning of what was to come. There would be time for panic later. ¡°Did not expect it to be quite so hard to push down.¡± A wintry smile, a signal to the serving girl, and two more Valen lions marched out of Quistis¡¯s pouch. ¡°Bugger me, that was embarrassing.¡± Mertle sipped her fresh coffee and burned the roof of her mouth without feeling it. ¡°Who was that on the scroll?¡± ¡°I can¡¯t say. I¡¯m sorry. But I can have my people on the lookout for your two missing companions.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t need to do that.¡± ¡°It¡¯s the least I can do. I¡¯d like to ask about them if you don¡¯t mind.¡± ¡°I do mind.¡± Mertle moved on to the next slice and brandished a spoonful of it at Quistis. ¡°This is excellent cake, Captain, and this is my first real moment of joy since the Night of Descent. I¡¯ll be much more favourably inclined towards you if you¡¯ll just let me enjoy it without more interrogation.¡± ¡°I apologise.¡± ¡°No need. Consider my anger somewhat abated. You delivered as promised and I got to see you sweat. I think we might be near to even. Now have your men leave me alone and I will truly be satisfied. I¡¯m tired of always being followed about. It was flattering for a time, but now it borders on obnoxious.¡± ¡°Pardon? I don¡¯t have anyone on you at the moment. I called back surveillance after the Descent.¡± That brought Mertle short, especially as there was no lie in the words. ¡°I can recognise soldiers, Quistis. I can recognise when they¡¯re following me. The same sort of people that have been dogging me all Winter. Your men.¡± She leaned forward. ¡°I¡¯m sorry to say, they are not that good at their job if the point was to remain unseen.¡± It was Quistis¡¯s turn to frown and hide it behind the coffee mug. ¡°My men are hand-picked and beyond any sort of reproach. If you¡¯re being followed and you know about it, they¡¯re not answering to me.¡± She sounded offended. Downright pouted. Maybe if I was what you thought I am, Mertle thought with relish. Of course, she¡¯d had very different training and could see an Imperial tail from the other side of Valen. This was going into self-indulgence already. Some of her watchers were simply of the Aieni Holding, keeping tabs on the prodigal daughter, but the rest were definitely Storm Guards. ¡°As you say,¡± she conceded and let the matter drop. ¡°Must be my imagination then.¡± A hint of malice slipped in, just enough to sting Quistis¡¯s pride again. ¡°Don¡¯t look so boggle-eyed. Is there something on my face?¡± She wiped the corner of her mouth with the heel of her palm, a definitely unladylike gesture, to declaw her previous words. ¡°You¡¯ve finished four of them¡­¡± Quistis looked a bit green at the sight of four empty plates. ¡°How are you not sick? Will you be able to walk?¡± ¡°Because they¡¯re excellent. Have you tried this one? Puts to shame Verti¡¯s girls, and they¡¯re elend.¡± ¡°My teeth hurt only thinking about one of those.¡± Mertle took entirely too much pleasure out of Quistis wincing when she took the next spoonful. ¡°As for walking.¡± She closed her eyes in pleasure at the taste of distant lemons. ¡°I¡¯ll waddle home.¡± It was worth it. Chapter 2.04.1: A stir in the mist ¡°Is the beast dangerous?¡± Tallah stretched and grimaced at the way her back popped. If she missed one thing about Iliaya¡¯s staff, it was the flexibility of her own joints. Age was a terrible thing to experience again. ¡°Quite so, yes.¡± Ludwig arranged supplies in his rend. ¡°It devours illum. I saw it drain a pyromancer to a husk and then eat him. Poor Morgyas. I can hear his screams still, echoing here.¡± ¡°Poetic. So it¡¯s best to not channel at all. Does it sniff out enchantments?¡± ¡°It draws it closer, but not like illum does. If we don¡¯t stop in place, it will not find us easily.¡± ¡°Lovely.¡± She was far from reassured. ¡°Light? Sound?¡± ¡°Doesn¡¯t seem to notice either. Certainly not torches.¡± Tallah scanned the swirling mist oozing from the passage. She¡¯d seen no other sign of whatever waited beyond the gates, nor felt its terrifying presence, but weariness had already set in from first contact. They were rested, fed, and, once Sil finished rummaging about her rend, they would go forward. Her fingers idly toyed with the mask. ¡°How long does your concoction last?¡± she asked the healer as she emerged. ¡°Until you shit out blood. I haven¡¯t had a chance to field test it.¡± ¡°You said you had more?¡± ¡°Not enough for everyone. You try and get sap from Aliana next time and let me know how it goes. Like bleeding a stone.¡± Lovely indeed. ¡°Here, hold these.¡± Sil doled out three vials of a tar-like substance to each of them. ¡°I¡¯m not lugging twelve of these around. Care for your own share.¡± ¡°What¡¯s this?¡± Vergil asked as he set the vials in the loops of his belt. ¡°What coffee would be if you managed to distil it down to its soul.¡± Sil reached deep inside her Rend and pulled out five different flasks. ¡°This should be everything I need,¡± she mused, checking her satchel. ¡°Here, take this into Tallah¡¯s.¡± Vergil no longer hesitated before lugging the bags inside the larger rend. For this part of the journey the decision was to travel lighter. They aimed for a three-day march across the maze, and there would be little time to rest. Best to stow excess baggage. ¡°Grab torches while you¡¯re in there,¡± Tallah called to Vergil. If she couldn¡¯t blast the guardian, a club on fire would be the next best thing. ¡°Incredible volume, Tallah,¡± Ludwig said as he circled the dark portal. ¡°How much do you carry in there?¡± ¡°Enough for my needs.¡± ¡°My guess is that you are up to about six limiters, Garet variety. Good estimate?¡± Sil chuckled. ¡°Waste of money, those. Their formulae were ancient and outclassed when the Empress was still a girl.¡± ¡°Still, am I close?¡± Ludwig accepted a torch and lit it with a small fire bolt. ¡°Six would be about half of what I need to maintain coherence. I use five of Sil¡¯s.¡± Ludwig whistled appreciatively. ¡°Pure silver?¡± ¡°She melts those in two days just meditating. I¡¯ve been using electrum for her. Expensive as sin but it does the job.¡± Ludwig¡¯s eyes looked ready to blow out of their sockets. ¡°Not many have a claim on such raw power. I am in awe.¡± ¡°Blow it out your arse.¡± Tallah prickled at his fool praise. If she were as powerful as she needed to be, she wouldn¡¯t be using limiters. Falor and Catharina didn¡¯t need any and she¡¯d been taught the painful lesson of the gulf separating them. She donned the mask and, for the thousandth time, envied the true Egia. Illum raged around them and gently resolved into lines of power rushing through the gateway ahead. ¡°That¡¯s odd,¡± she mused. ¡°What do you see?¡± Ludwig had asked to try on the mask and she¡¯d refused him. Now he hovered close to her elbow, relentlessly wringing his hands, his gaze swivelling back and forth between her and the way forward. ¡°The gate was a seal that you broke open,¡± she said. ¡°Illum flows by and not through it. Something was sealed inside. Maybe the creature.¡± She splayed her fingers through a stream of power, drew it in, found it bitter, released it. ¡°Maybe something worse. There¡¯s poison in the air.¡± This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. Like water raging around a deadly whirlpool, illum swirled in and out of the gateway. Normally she would see veins of bright blue in the undisturbed flow. Now, furious reds and purples coloured her vision and sparked the first sign of a headache in the space behind her eyes. It was hard to tear her attention away from the chaos. In the dead centre of the maelstrom there was a sliver of calm, of gentle flow. The blue she normally knew, flowing through like a guiding light in a storm. ¡°I see the path,¡± she called to the others. ¡°I need you all to stay close. It¡¯s narrow.¡± Passing through the narrow gap gave an odd feeling of walking through veils of gossamer-thin silk, its ghostly touch verging on the edge of physical sensation. It lasted for a brief heartbeat and then they were through. The sight forward sent a cold shiver down Tallah¡¯s back. A cavern awaited beyond the entrance tunnel. Ruins snaked through the fine mist, dressed in riot illum colours. She dared a look without the mask. Light from the torches barely illuminated ten paces ahead, swallowed by the roiling, churning cloud-like swathes of mist. Fire sputtered and hissed, shrinking back from the dark. Another ruined city or some kind of outpost. Like the ash-covered remains outside, this too had been cast down to near nothing, the ground beneath it cracked and shattered, twisted in ways that could not be natural or intended. Pathways wove among the wreckage of time, going up and down, sideways and back into themselves. Through the Ikosmenia the path was a clear tunnel through the mad haze of power. It swayed and shifted, shrank and enlarged in uneven intervals. Safety fleeted. Like the mist, the flow of illum moved unpredictably and couldn¡¯t be relied on for long. ¡°Lovely place, old man,¡± Tallah mocked. ¡°May the wonders on the other side be as impressive as this pit of despair.¡± She set the pace at a steady march among the shattered stone walls. They followed a path bordering the bottomless depths where the rock had shattered. Their lifeline swayed on invisible tides. ¡°Did you learn what happened here?¡± Sil asked from the back. ¡°I¡¯m afraid not,¡± Ludwig said. ¡°Our time was too short to learn much of real value.¡± ¡°And yet you brought back plunder.¡± Not the best start to the trek. Nearly a bell¡¯s worth later, she had to backtrack as the path she¡¯d followed plunged into the chasm. Soon after, she withdrew them from the lip of another precipice, already atop what had felt like an endless flight of uneven stairs. Her lifeline became a distant guiding light that she sought out rather than followed. Safe passage often seemed chaotic. The best way forward was not the obvious. ¡°Your sense of direction is as great as ever,¡± Sil grumbled. She and Tallah had to squeeze by one another in the narrow gap between two ancient walls, now leaned on one another and slowly crumbling to nothing.. ¡°Would you like to lead, Sil?¡± Tallah shot back in her most honeyed tone. ¡°I¡¯m more than happy to pass you the mask.¡± ¡°Sure. Give me. We can take breaks while I puke every few steps.¡± Her tone dripped honey. ¡°Then can it. This place is mad enough as it is.¡± ¡°Charitable assessment, I¡¯d say.¡± ¡°I have had nightmares often of this part of the journey,¡± Ludwig said. He and Vergil brought up the rear. ¡°We tried mapping the place but the poison moves.¡± ¡°I can see that. What I¡¯m surprised is that you¡¯ve not been getting nightmares of your own shadow.¡± On and on the old man went. Terror this. Horror that. Nightmares and woes. He and the accursed place wore on her patience. She could push him off the path and be done with the bleating at least. Temper, Tallah, Christina whispered. You¡¯re drawing in power. Release it. She did so. Hairs pricked on the back of her neck and her gloved hands sweated. Danger hung in the air like the mist, ever-present and oppressive. She didn¡¯t need to invite more of it closer. It¡¯s stalking us. I can feel it out there, closer with every step. Tallah ignored this. It wouldn¡¯t do to become paranoid. Creeping across the narrow sliver of stone was effort enough without worrying of the fall or the beast. It took enough focus not to see the wraith that followed on the edge, always wreathed in the underground poison, ever silent. ¡°It¡¯s so quiet here,¡± Vergil said. ¡°I can hear my heart in my ears.¡± That, at least, was an understatement worthy of a village idiot. The mist sucked in every sound. Even Sil¡¯s terse reply came to her ears as a muffled whisper, and she was barely five steps ahead of the healer. No echo to their steps. No sound of pebbles grinding underfoot. No swish of cloth on cloth or rattle of sword in its scabbard. Just silence, unbroken. She forced herself to release more of the power she¡¯d been drawing in. ¡°Hold. Shush.¡± Something slithered ahead. She saw it as a mess of illum erupting from the chasm. A massive shape hauled itself from the depths, settling with a tremor on a rock outcropping. Tallah risked a glance from under the mask and saw the impression of a massive head moving side to side, mist clinging to it on the edge of torchlight. What manner of creature it was she couldn¡¯t say. Her gaze slid off it, as if it wasn¡¯t quite there, yet very real at the same time. It sniffed the air and grumbled, the vibrations of its heavy growl throbbing through the soles of their feet, yet as soundless as the mist itself. It advanced, sniffed, growled, swung the great head around. Confused. Angry? Hungry. ¡°What is it doing?¡± Sil¡¯s voice squeaked behind Tallah. The healer¡¯s hand grasped her own and squeezed. ¡°Searching.¡± Again, the creature growled and turned in place, lumbering back from whence it came, heaving into the dark depths. Its vibrations took a long time to settle. Tallah saw the poison following him and swallowed the lump in her throat. Fear? Yes, definitely. As she moved forward, it grew into bone-deep terror. ¡°Why are you stopping?¡± Sil asked from behind. ¡°We should be getting as far from it as possible.¡± Tallah stared into the maelstrom of poisonous power roiling beneath their feet. The impression of a sea at storm came to her. Among the crashing waves of reds and purples, the blue line of safety shimmered and descended. Uneven steps led down into the leviathan¡¯s domain. ¡°You can¡¯t be serious.¡± Sil¡¯s tiny, muffled voice echoed every drop of terror Tallah felt as she took the first step down. ¡°There¡¯s no other way?¡± Rhine¡¯s wraith looked up at her from the bottom of the descent, and smiled. Chapter 2.04.2: Human-centrism ¡°Distinctive taste, miss Silestra.¡± ¡°Very different from your usual, Sil.¡± ¡°Are you poisoning us? This is disgusting.¡± ¡°Bugger you all. Don¡¯t drink it then. See if I care when you stumble off the path in exhaustion.¡± Yes, the tonic tasted like fermented elkana milk. Charitably. And it looked like she¡¯d scraped it off the sidewalk beneath some street vendor¡¯s food cart. Again, charitably. She was keenly aware of its shortcomings. But that¡¯s how the mixture came together. She¡¯d tried to make it more palatable but then it turned into a sort of laxative and that defeated the purpose of something meant to keep you on your feet for a week. ¡°Sil, my tongue¡¯s gone numb. Is that normal?¡± ¡°It¡¯s normal. It¡¯s only bad if you can¡¯t feel when you bite it.¡± ¡°Ow.¡± A dash of pettiness helped alleviate the gnawing fear that squirmed in her guts. They hadn¡¯t seen the beast again and it¡¯d been near a day since that first time, if Tallah¡¯s time-keeping was to be believed, but she felt the tremors of its presence. Even in the dead silence, she could imagine hearing it dragging its corpus through the ruins, sniffing for their trail. The tonic gave her restless energy as the others struggled to get it down. Tallah¡¯s guidance brought them to some kind of temple to rest for a time¡ªshe assumed a temple for there were statues rising through the mist, depicting some kind of winged beings surrounding a central platform too featureless now to guess at its purpose. Her legs ached but she couldn¡¯t sit. She almost envied how easily Vergil rested on the edge of the chasm, feet swinging idly over the emptiness. Sil busied herself making a study of the statues and the vague remnants of mosaic paintings on what remained of the walls. Humanoid torsos. Two-armed. No idea on the legs. Winged. Above, the cupola of the building was opened, as if to peer at the sky. It made very little sense. ¡°Worshipping winged beings underground? What kind of idiocy is this?¡± She lifted her torch trying to get a better view of the heads of the statues. Most were shattered, smashed clean off by some weapon, ages before. Mist clung to them in ghostly wisps. ¡°Makes you wonder what¡¯s happened here. Have a look through this,¡± Tallah said as she joined her and handed over the Ikosmenia. She could only take a few heartbeats of the maddening swirls before she had to hand back the mask. Already she felt her head swimming. ¡°How are you not clawing your eyes out,¡± she asked. Tallah offered her arm for support until the dizzy spell subsided. ¡°I¡¯ve never seen illum behaving like this. I could swear it¡¯s bouncing off of something at times. In some places it pools.¡± Tallah finished the last of her tonic and grimaced. ¡°Same as before? Two per day?¡± ¡°One. It¡¯s concentrated. Reason for the taste. Figured it¡¯d be less traumatic to only drink one that¡¯s a bit fouler.¡± ¡°Admirable sentiment.¡± She burped and hiccuped, pressed a fist to her mouth and swallowed. ¡°Not sure about the trauma part. Come on. Path¡¯s starting to shift away from the exit.¡± They set back on the tortuous slow trek forward. From the temple out into an open street, among wrecked hovels that hung shattered, stone bones tumbling across chasms. Tallah led them across some of these walls turned bridges, picking their way onward, testing each step. ¡°If the guardian feels magic,¡± Vergil said from behind her. ¡°Shouldn¡¯t it feel the mask and follow it right to us?¡± ¡°Enchantments are a different form of magic, as you call it, lad,¡± Ludwig replied. ¡°They hold very little illum. It does leak, but not as strongly as a channeller¡¯s weaving. Some people have spent lifetimes developing ways to scry an assessment of an enchantment by touch. Some bastil Shadow Priests can do it at a glance. But it¡¯s a rare gift even for them.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know what a bastil is. Is that another species?¡± ¡°Odd. You should at least know of the seven, lad. Were you taught to read but not this?¡± ¡°I¡¯ve grown up in the sticks before coming to Valen.¡± Sil grinned at Vergil¡¯s poor lie. Yes, that¡¯s what they¡¯d told him to say if anyone asked about his incongruities. But he and Tallah were of a feather when put on the spot, both too honest for their own good. ¡°What are the seven?¡± Vergil went on. ¡°Human. Aelir. Elend. Vanadal. Bastil. Drackir. Dwarf. Though that last one¡¯s mostly died out unfortunately.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think I¡¯ve ever laid eyes on a bastil, myself,¡± Sil said. ¡°Aren¡¯t they beastly?¡± Ludwig sounded affronted by the very idea of it. ¡°Miss Silestra, that is base human centrism. The bastil are a noble people with a rich culture that have much to teach all of Edana if there weren¡¯t so few of them. Yes, they have fur, but that hardly makes anyone beastly. I¡¯ve visited their homeland. It is a marvel.¡± ¡°Watch where you step,¡± Tallah called back as the path fragmented and loosened underfoot. They climbed atop the crumbling remains of what Sil assumed to have been some kind of aqueduct. It shifted with each step, every sway sideways sending her heart high in her throat. Fine dust, like ash, covered it, marking the passage of their footfalls. ¡°Are you sure this is the way?¡± she asked. ¡°I haven¡¯t the foggiest. But it¡¯s safe. I think we¡¯re in a kind of illum funnel. If I¡¯m right, there¡¯s a clear flow of power that goes from the entrance to the exit.¡± ¡°You can¡¯t know that.¡± ¡°No better explanation, at least for now. Best guess as any.¡± Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°I haven¡¯t seen that many kinds of people in Valen,¡± Vergil said. Sil silently thanked him for the distraction. ¡°I¡¯ve met elends and aelirs, but that¡¯s about it.¡± ¡°You forget there¡¯s a dwarf ghost in your helmet,¡± she provided helpfully. ¡°He doesn¡¯t say much, now does he? Just screams all the time.¡± ¡°Very dwarfish behaviour,¡± Ludwig remarked. ¡°Now who¡¯s being human-centric?¡± ¡°It is well documented, and commonly known, that dwarfs were a belligerent society that valued strength of arm above most anything else. If they weren¡¯t fighting, they were building, often with the intent of going to war. A quiet dwarf was an abnormality.¡± ¡°So is a quiet human,¡± Tallah said. ¡°Well, yes, true. But we don¡¯t fight ourselves out of existence.¡± ¡°The aelir might have something to say on that subject. And the empress herself.¡± That shut him up. Two centuries of near-endless civil war. The aelir¡¯s slaughter of ancient human empires paled in comparison to what the empress had wrought. Only the gods knew what her goals were, but the amount of blood she¡¯d already shed could drown cities. ¡°You¡¯ve also met a vanadal, Vergil,¡± Tallah said without looking back. ¡°In the snow storm. The one with the Storm Guard captain.¡± ¡°Seemed like an odd fellow.¡± ¡°Be happy you¡¯ve met him like that and not in a fight. Barlo¡¯s one of the meanest mage killers in the entire empire. He was trained by the Adjunct¡¯s personal guard, though I know he knocked several of them on their arses.¡± ¡°Even odder is that he¡¯s on Vas,¡± Ludwig mused. ¡°Vanadals don¡¯t often leave Nen. They¡¯re beholden to the aelir.¡± ¡°Not the ones from the steppes.¡± ¡°Long way from there to here.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve met a drackir once,¡± Sil said to keep herself from imagining more shapes in the listless movement of mist, especially with the road swaying underfoot. ¡°Back when I was still at school. Hard to stomach. Tentacles and all that. Was an alright person though. Liked bees a lot.¡± ¡°Never knew them to be the healing sort. Most drackir I¡¯ve served with were keen on disembowelling.¡± ¡°Pretty much. They did like the autopsies best.¡± Vergil gave a loud belch and immediately clamped a hand over his mouth. ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± he said softly. ¡°The tonic¡ª¡± ¡°It¡¯ll do that, don¡¯t worry,¡± Sil assured him and stifled her own noisome belch. ¡°It¡¯s made to keep you going, not be nice about it.¡± ¡°Can¡¯t you work out the taste to be at least gross?¡± Vergil asked. ¡°I don¡¯t think I¡¯ve ever tasted anything worse. Tastes like rotten meat smells.¡± Sil turned to him and brandished her torch. She gave him a wide grin. ¡°Would you like me to tell you what I ground up and put in them, bucket-head?¡± ¡°I¡¯d rather you didn¡¯t.¡± ¡°Well, you see, I take the legs off of this blue bellied roach and then grind it down to¡ª¡± ¡°I had to deal with a roach infestation once,¡± Vergil interrupted her. He grinned right back. ¡°I was supposed to burn them out but found that they were really quite tasty. Spent a few days just eating myself into a stupor wherever I found a nest. They¡¯d do this cute squirm whenever you bit into one.¡± He wiggled his fingers for emphasis. ¡°Finally had to set them alight. I couldn¡¯t eat enough of them, fast enough, to stop their spread. They made this little sad pop when they caught fire and burst.¡± Sil turned away and dry heaved over the edge to no success. She had brewed the tonic to be nigh impossible to regurgitate. ¡°A lot of the things that clogged up the vents were surprisingly edible,¡± Vergil went on, in a cheerful tone. ¡°I did change colours a couple of times. My stool¡ª¡± ¡°I swear I will push you off this ledge,¡± Sil said without turning back to him, gesturing instead with the flaming end of her torch over the emptiness. ¡°You are the most disgusting creature I¡¯ve ever met.¡± ¡°I¡¯m still more palatable than your tonics.¡± Vergil dodged the flame before it smacked him right in the face. Tallah gave him a slow, gloved clap, without even turning to look at their little argument. ¡°How do you discover, by accident mind you, that a roach is tasty? Asking out of academic curiosity, naturally,¡± Ludwig said, all too pleased to take the blasted boy¡¯s side. ¡°Yes, Vergil, do tell us. I bet Sil could grind up some of those into an even more disgusting version of this drink.¡± If Sil could slap her, she would¡¯ve. The last stretch of the aqueduct lay tumbled, broken to pieces onto which they had to climb. What waited at the bottom was something resembling solid ground again. She offered a silent prayer of thanks to the Goddess for this small mercy. Tallah stopped them. She reached out a hand to the side and withdrew it quickly. ¡°Path¡¯s getting real narrow ahead.¡± All levity was gone, swallowed whole by the choking mist. Sil peered over her shoulder and saw the narrow slit at which the path led. Two dwellings lay crashed against one another, walls forming the narrowest passage since the ice squeeze. Something caressed her cheek, burning her skin like the kiss of acid. She recoiled, swinging her torch around, heart threatening to jump out her throat. ¡°Don¡¯t move about,¡± Tallah warned. ¡°It stings even at a touch. I expect it¡¯ll be worse if we breathe it in. Deep breath while we still have air.¡± She turned sideways and slid inside the gap, torch held forward. Sil and Ludwig extinguished theirs and followed inside. ¡°Dark, cramped, and dangerous places; story of my life,¡± Vergil groaned as he brought up the rear. It wasn¡¯t a long passage but it squeezed them tight and kept them quiet as they made their way along it. Rough stone scratched at her cheek. Her heart drummed a melody of panic in her ears. Would this even lead somewhere forward? She wanted to ask Ludwig but breathing was enough of an effort. ¡°Deep breath. Hold until I say so,¡± Tallah called back, words strained. ¡°It will hurt.¡± Sil inhaled and felt the first stinging caress on her face. Like being lashed with fire. She whimpered and froze to the spot. Pain washed across her face, faded, came back again. Vibrations in the wall. Pressure on it, like something tremendously heavy leaning on the other side. Breath wheezed out between teeth as she felt crushed and dissolved at the same time. Stuck fast, the wave of poison enveloping her in a stinging embrace, the creature on the far side sniffling about. Its heartbeat¡ªit had a heartbeat!¡ªthundered rhythmically against the stone, in and through her. One heartbeat. Two. Three. Four. She counted and her own sped in a panic. Her chest¡­ her chest burned. Too frozen in fear to draw anything, even if she could. The corrupt touch of the place washed over her, needling a scream in the back of her throat. Not like this. Vision blurred in tears. She shut her eyes tight against the constricting pain. It moved away, thump by blessed thump. Tallah grabbed her hand and yanked her forward, out of the passage¡¯s grip. ¡°Breathe,¡± she said. She reached inside again to pull Ludwig forward. Then Vergil. ¡°Don¡¯t dawdle. I don¡¯t know how far it¡¯s gone but it¡¯s pulled some of the poison after it.¡± She was already moving forward, stepping around something only she could see, urging them to follow. Sil tried to keep up and gasped for breath, still feeling the touch of corruption on her skin, fearing she might inhale whatever it had been. She stumbled. Ludwig helped her to her feet and they kept up with Tallah¡¯s long strides, never looking back. Torchlight drowned in the mist. Tallah swung it around and raised her mask, massaged her eyes. ¡°Rest a moment.¡± She relented. ¡°The worst is yet to come, I think.¡± In the unsettling quiet, the beast¡¯s roar came like echoing thunder. Chapter 2.04.3: Second date By the eve of a third day of walking, crawling, and slithering through gaps, moods had begun to sour. Tallah felt herself snapping to anger at the slightest provocation, especially as their bursts of progress became shorter and shorter. ¡°Aren¡¯t we going in circles?¡± Sil asked, for the hundredth time it seemed. ¡°It feels like we¡¯re going in circles.¡± ¡°How would you even tell?¡± Tallah asked, more tersely than she intended. Everything hurt and her eyes stung with sweat. Sil didn¡¯t reply. She sullenly drank from the vile tonic and huffed. They¡¯d been out of the ruins for a day now. What followed had been endless twisting pathways across another bottomless chasm, always descending just enough to make slipping a real danger. Stairways up or down into nothing, dead ends that she needed to backtrack from, losing valuable time. Narrow squeezes ending in blocked passages. More and more reasons to stoke her anger. And always Rhine. Everywhere she looked, the wraith stared back and grinned. ¡°Is the fog getting to you?¡± Tallah asked, trying to hold back the red tide of her own annoyances. ¡°It¡¯s not even fog, Tallah. Fog has volume. It has class. This is just a piss-thin curtain of vapour. Bloody right it¡¯s getting on my last nerve!¡± Under her mask, Tallah raised an eyebrow. ¡°It¡¯s a good thing the creature guarding this place is deaf. They must have heard you over in Valen just now.¡± In spite of Ludwig¡¯s age, it was Sil that was having the hardest time keeping up. The healer had shed some of her layers and wore her under-shirt tied at her waist. The temperature kept dropping and increasing, and she¡¯d taken to complaining incessantly. Granted, it filled the grating silence. ¡°I think we¡¯re coming up on something.¡± ¡°How so?¡± Tallah scraped the floor with the heel of her boot. ¡°Mosaic tiles here. I think I saw some parts of walls in the dark. The poison flows around them. And the waves are coming in faster now, like they¡¯re bouncing off something, like at the entrance.¡± ¡°How do you figure the old man made it through? With twenty men with him?¡± ¡°Slowly.¡± She ducked a cuff to the back of the head. ¡°I¡¯m serious.¡± ¡°And I seriously want to hit you for that one. I¡¯m in no mood.¡± Sil¡¯s Terrible and Healthy Tonic, as Vergil had dubbed it, was fast losing its effectiveness. Weariness set bone deep and every step forward took effort of will. Miserable experience with no end in sight. She could only glance at the blue line lately, always just on a different path than them. It was probably why Sil felt they were going in circles. More a spiral, Tallah realised as she looked to her guiding light, trying to discern it better. If she¡¯d paid more attention to it¡­ It is a spiral, Christina said. Thought you¡¯d noticed. We¡¯ve been going lower and lower for a full day now. If Bianca weren¡¯t immersed in the work, she could tell you more. ¡°You know what¡¯s odd?¡± Vergil asked as he and Ludwig came down the path from a bit further back. Tallah gave him a flat look, gesturing in an odd arc with the sputtering torch. ¡°My head thing¡¯s been trying to connect to something since we got in here,¡± he said, oblivious to the irony. ¡°It keeps pinging something and waiting for replies. I think it¡¯s finally going bad.¡± ¡°Join Sil then. She¡¯s going nutty too, the poor biddy.¡± Sil belched and showed a rude gesture. ¡°We should be coming up on the end of this.¡± ¡°How do you figure, old man?¡± ¡°I remember the fractured path. It should be close to the end.¡± ¡°Well, that¡¯s encouraging at least. How¡¯d the girl manage this trip? It couldn¡¯t have been easy on a child.¡± Ludwig sputtered, ¡°Oh, she handled it better than any of us. Wonderfully resilient child. She put to shame grown men. Hardened veterans of a dozen war fronts.¡± ¡°And one grown healer, I might add.¡± Sil refused the bait. Rather, she stared at them, open-mouthed, eyes wide. Stared through them. Tallah looked over her shoulder and met the beast. How it had snuck so close she could only imagine. But it was there, on the nearest path, close enough it could reach over to them. Great bat-like wings folded around a serpentine body. It propped itselft on two massive, multi-jointed and clawed limbs. She could see no eyes on it. It was there and not wholly there. Breathed in the poison and exhaled it twofold. It stared right at Vergil. And Vergil stupidly stared back at it. ¡°Connection achieved,¡± he said, fixed in place like a seamstress¡¯s dummy. ¡°Why?¡± A great maw of teeth opened and cadaverous stink filled the air. Spikes bristled and it hunched forward, long tongue lashing about, searching. Tallah grabbed Sil and Vergil by the arms and hauled them along. Ludwig could follow or be eaten. The creature lunged forward, its massive jaws snapping at the space where the boy had been with a crunch of uneven fangs gnashing together. ¡°To your senses, you two,¡± Tallah growled. ¡°No time to go deaf and dumb. Run now. Lose your minds later.¡± ¡°That never happened before,¡± Ludwig squeaked behind her. ¡°It never came for us without provocation.¡± ¡°It did now. Shut up. Move.¡± Vergil managed on his own, snapped out of his stupor. Sil kept trying to look behind. She needed dragging and shoving before snapping back to a semblance of clarity. ¡°It¡¯s coming, Tallah. It¡¯s behind us.¡± She didn¡¯t look. ¡°Stop gawking at it. Run. We¡¯ll lose it in the ruins ahead. Vergil, shut that bloody thing off.¡± ¡°I can¡¯t. I don¡¯t¡ªit lost connection. Trying again. Shock me. Do something.¡± ¡°Just run.¡± The path vibrated, rumbled, was still, as if something massive had fallen off it. Or taken to the air. Her imagination provided the sound of leathery wings beating against the vapour-choked air and the world darkening just a little as a shadow passed overhead, cast by light only her imagination provided. Maybe that wasn¡¯t her imagination. Rubble and ruin blocked the way forward, a dead end of masonry that spilled into the chasm and rose to unseen heights. She urged them to scrabble over it. No time to go back or around. A near avalanche followed, noise swallowed by the fog. Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. Tallah reached the top first. Beyond, down the ragged slope, twenty paces away, the fog swirled out like raging through a funnel. The end in sight. Sil fell. Broken masonry shifted underfoot and she tumbled back with it, too far from either Tallah and Vergil to reach out. With a thud, she landed on empty air. Damn the woman¡¯s reflexes! A triumphant roar filled the air and fog swirled above. ¡°Wake up. I need you.¡± Tallah reached inside, found Bianca, yanked her to the surface. She braced for the flood of music but she barely felt it in the panic of the moment. What do you think you¡¯re doing? Bianca asked irately. What in the bloody throne is that? She added as Tallah¡¯s eyes rested on the surging beast. ¡°Tell you later. It eats illum.¡± She reached out, grabbed Sil and pulled hard. Bianca provided the anchors. The healer flew through the air just as the creature crashed into the ruins. Its jaws crushed rocks as it rose and bellowed. Dust exploded off it in a cloud. ¡°Run to the exit,¡± Tallah called to the others. ¡°Don¡¯t stop until you¡¯re out.¡± What do we do? Bianca overcame her panic easily and Tallah felt herself grow lighter than air. The beast came up the slope with thunderous roars of anger, great maw snapping for prey it knew was there. The others slid and tumbled down the other side. Tallah drew in power and launched herself over the creature, and back down the path they¡¯d come from. Lead it back to the chasm, make it take flight, outmanoeuvre it. Context please. Bianca wasn¡¯t nearly as spent as Tallah expected her to be. Normally, when only one of the ghosts did the work of both, they would be spent within bells. The store of illum the ghost brought to bear was nearly intact. ¡°It sees illum. It eats it. I expect I can¡¯t fight it. If we go off the safe passage, we die. Enough?¡± Plenty. It came upon her like a murderous tempest. Fog wreathed it and Tallah got a sense of just how large the creature was. A swipe of its tail would break her in two as easily as she would a twig. Talons as long as her arm swiped after her but Bianca whirled her sideways. She sailed down the shifting passage and the beast charged after her like lightning. A fireball slid off its bristled hide like water. It only made it roar, a feeling of excited pleasure emanating from it as clear as if it was¡­human? In the rush of the moment, Tallah could swear it felt something human from it, and yet horribly wrong. It snapped and clawed for her. She dove and slid under its great bulk. Bianca tried anchoring her to it but the power slid off. She fell through the chasm, dipped feet into the poison, rushed back over in a sailing arc. Drew her sword. Where the weave failed, perhaps steel would help buy her some time? ¡°The wing.¡± No, came Bianca reply as she pulled her away. It¡¯s not really flying. Can¡¯t you see it? Now she could. The same kind of weave she used, the beast used to keep that great bulk aloft. A moment after realisation hit, the beast opened its mouth and fire belched out. Bianca yanked her sideways and the heat merely blistered rather than consumed. Another furnace blast followed and it was all the ghost could do to keep her ahead. A glance back. She was no longer ahead. It dove from above. Talons reached out to enclose her. Bianca pulled down with such force it snapped Tallah¡¯s head back. Blood filled her vision as she rode the dive breakneck. Brace, the ghost commanded. She did, shut her eyes tight. Her flight lurched sideways, avoiding another swipe of the creature. The others should have had enough time to get away. She couldn¡¯t run for much longer. Poison caressed her skin, burning with all the pain the flame breath promised. Open your eyes. I need to see through the mask. It followed unbelievably fast. Don¡¯t pass out. Don¡¯t pass out. Don¡¯t pass out. ¡°I won¡¯t.¡± Tallah gritted her teeth and urged Bianca for more. The beast kept up too easily, unhindered by its tremendous bulk, too intelligent by far now it had the scent. It saw through every move, matched and cut off her options. She loosed another blast of fire to no result, not even slowing it down. Panic began to sizzle and bubble. As fast as Bianca could pull her, the creature was simply faster and bloodlust frenzied. It flew straight through walls she needed to avoid, snapping and swiping after her like a storm of knives. One talon grazed her leg, knee to ankle. Pain blossomed red-hot. She parried the claws with her sword. The strength of the swipe sent her sideways, tumbling through the mist, into the poison. Pain sharpened her focus. A flash of light. One heartbeat away from disaster. She drew sideways and the furnace blast flashed by, so close her skin blistered. ¡°Pull me back, hard as you can.¡± Any more of this chase and she¡¯d be trapped by the poison. They swirled together through the roiling mist, dipping painfully in and out of the thing. It pushed her back inwards, away from safety and the exit, cutting off her retreat. Bianca set a tether atop a statue jutting out of the mist and swung them around in a wide, accelerating arc. Don¡¯t panic. Launch at it. Quick direction change sideways. May get close for it to work. Be ready. No amount of bracing could have prepared her. Bianca didn¡¯t just accelerate. She launched them back like a stone out of a catapult. Her eyeballs pooled in the back of her sockets, vision turned bloody. It was in front of her, meeting her, jaws open, teeth bared, still coming at incredible speed. She couldn¡¯t and didn¡¯t dare try and blink. An arm¡¯s reach away from its centre mass. Claws flashed to rip into her. Bianca¡¯s tether pulled hard sideways and down and she felt her bones ready to rip out through her skin, every joint distended, prepared to snap. Sil¡¯s sutures, barely healed, burst to release a cascade of pain down her side. Under the claws¡¯ killing sweep. A palm¡¯s width by the creature¡¯s brutish torso. Past its legs. Away through the painful mist. Blast its bones, it¡¯s fast, Bianca warned and dove her downward in time to avoid a blast of fire. If she turned her head to look, her neck would¡¯ve snapped. Too slow. Too clumsy. It was on her, flying in from the side, jaws coming down to snap her in two. It smashed into something invisible with the force of an earthquake. Tallah heard Sil crying out and, through the red haze of burst capillaries, saw the healer atop the mountain of refuse, leaning heavily on her staff. Tallah¡¯s flight brought her near in a heartbeat. She caught Sil as she flew by, one arm around her belly. The healer fainted with the sudden motion as Bianca raced them to the exit, head smashing against Tallah¡¯s shoulder. The creature¡¯s anguished roar of frustration made the whole cavern vibrate. Tallah didn¡¯t care. She flew through the barely opened doorway, Sil in arms, at blinding speed and only slowed far down the following tunnel. She wasn¡¯t quite certain if she¡¯d passed Vergil and Ludwig but was happy to feel solid ground underfoot again. Her leg couldn¡¯t hold her weight and she toppled forward over the healer, gasping for air, feeling sick. In the rush, she hadn¡¯t had the time or strength to breathe. ¡°Are you two all right?¡± Vergil ran in from the back of the tunnel. A crash followed him as the monster smashed into the gateway and bellowed out its anger. ¡°Alive,¡± Tallah gasped as she rolled off Sil¡¯s unconscious form. ¡°See to her.¡± But Sil was already stirring. She groaned in pain. ¡°I can¡¯t believe that worked. I can¡¯t believe it.¡± ¡°Agreed.¡± The why and the how of it barely mattered. Nothing else had even slowed the thing. She was thankful they¡¯d both made it out alive. Vergil brought Sil her satchel as she forced herself into a sitting position to rummage about. She threw Tallah the usual healing draught. ¡°Well near broke my back when you grabbed me,¡± she complained as she tried to get up and winced. ¡°Either that or leave you to get eaten. You¡¯re still walking. You¡¯re fine.¡± ¡°How did¡­ how did you do that, Tallah?¡± Ludwig broke his silence. He stared at her, the first inkling of doubt crossing his face. ¡°How could you do that?¡± ¡°Practice, old man. It does wonders. Are we safe out here?¡± He remained unconvinced. Sil trudged over and asked to inspect the cut leg. It had healed, yes, but it still hurt like crazy. All of her did, mercilessly. ¡°Nearly cut the bone in two,¡± Sil noted. ¡°Drink this too. I think you painted the path red.¡± ¡°We¡¯re safe, yes,¡± Ludwig finally said, weighing every word while he eyed her suspiciously. His gaze swivelled from her to Vergil. ¡°This never happened before. What are you, boy?¡± ¡°Lost,¡± Vergil answered with characteristic honesty. He shrugged. ¡°And very confused.¡± ¡°He¡¯s a long story,¡± Tallah cut in. ¡°Leave him be. I got you past the horrid place. Be happy with that. You¡¯ve only waited a lifetime for the moment.¡± ¡°And you¡¯ll all wait a few bells more,¡± Sil said, definite. ¡°Line up. I want to have a good look at each of you. We rest and sleep or next we¡¯ll be seeing things.¡± There¡¯s no music here, Christina whispered in her ear while the men did as ordered. Ludwig had given her one final look and then seemed to reach the right decision and dropped his questions. There was, Bianca said. But it got quieter as we moved in there. Was waiting to see if it went away completely when you pulled me out. It has. Not a peep. Not a bit of a draw. Whatever this place is, you¡¯re shielded. ¡°Well, fancy that,¡± Tallah said. She looked back up the tunnel at the half-opened doors and thought back to the near-human feeling that had washed off the beast. ¡°Wonder what we¡¯ve gotten ourselves into.¡± Chapter 2.05.1: Crepuscular Quistis could still hear the revelling as she slunk back into their cell¡¯s office. It¡¯d been¡­ what? She counted seven days since the Night of Descent but probably longer. She¡¯d had precious little time to relax between then and now, and the days had a way of blending together if one slept too little. A half-empty mug of cold coffee perched on the edge of her desk. She hadn¡¯t even tasted it before being called out to look at whatever Rumi had found in the Angledeer home. Not much of interest at a glance. Books in a myriad of languages miraculously saved from destruction by sheer bulk. Schematics for rather odd implements. Some boxes of foul-smelling tea. Odd, that one. Everything had been dug out, written down, and painstakingly carted back to the Citadel. A lifetime of refuse gathered in a hovel in Valen by a man with an edict on his head. Wonders never ceased. Falor slumped in a chair by the fire, gripping a cup of coffee. It looked to have gone cold. For a moment, as she hung her cloak up to dry, she thought he slept. ¡°Welcome back.¡± He opened his eyes, staring into the fire. ¡°Anything of interest?¡± On his other hand he wore his white gauntlet. Fine black cracks spread across the fingers, clear even in dim firelight. He formed a fist and the whole thing creaked, shards flaking off. ¡°Why aren¡¯t you in bed?¡± She took note of the dark circles pooling beneath his eyes. ¡°Put down the coffee and go rest. You¡¯ve done more than enough.¡± And he had. After Cinder¡¯s escape and throughout the following days, he¡¯d helped with clearing the rubble, putting out the fires, and quieting the unrest. And after that he¡¯d supervised the Illum Ascendi, hammer in hand, in case the sorceress tried sneaking back in the same way she¡¯d left. Valen¡¯s people hailed him as a hero and toasted to his health everywhere now. ¡°For the Lord Commander¡¯s health, may long and strong be the arm of his law!¡± was a toast in taverns. Much to Diogron¡¯s displeasure, but that was a worry she put away for whenever she¡¯d miss a headache. ¡°Don¡¯t even think about it,¡± she warned as he raised the cup to his lips. ¡°Sleep. Or the next time you spar I¡¯ll let you bleed into unconsciousness.¡± He listened and let out a slow breath, setting the mug down on the floor by the chair. ¡°You know¡­¡± He turned a black gaze upon her. His hand went to his neck and massaged slowly, like feeling around for an invisible cut. ¡°She could have killed me. Did anyone report that? She could have taken my head clean off and there was nothing I could¡¯ve done to prevent it.¡± His tongue licked across his upper teeth. ¡°Nothing at all.¡± ¡°You can¡¯t know that.¡± It was an effort not to flinch and look over her shoulder at the spot he was staring at. He smiled grimly and rolled his shoulders. She heard every pop. ¡°I assumed she had hidden strength or else she wouldn¡¯t have come out of hiding like that. I was braced for it. But that burst?¡± He shook his head slowly, sucking in breath between his teeth. ¡°Even mother can¡¯t do it that cleanly. I was utterly unprepared for it. And this¡­¡± He raised his gauntlet, and it crumbled like porcelain, parts of it dropping to shatter on the floor. A pity to see it in such state. It was a work of art, constructed and enchanted by some of the finest artisans of Aztroa Magnor. A gift from the empress herself, back when their cell had been sent as peacekeepers to Valen. The enchantment, as Quistis had seen it working countless times, was made to break weaves. Granted, it had a limit as any enchantment did, but she¡¯d never seen anyone save for Falor himself even strain the piece. ¡°You finally broke it?¡± ¡°She broke the enchantment. Overloaded it. It was¡­¡± He licked cracked lips while studying the damage. ¡°Some lances and a few fireballs? Not even a devourer. Can you imagine how powerful her output is? If she had stood her ground for a head-on, the night might have ended quite differently.¡± So that¡¯s what preyed on him. She¡¯d read the reports. Everyone declared the Commander besting Cinder¡¯s assassination attempt¡ªthat¡¯s what they were calling it anyway¡ªand how wildly outclassed the sorceress had been throughout the engagement. Nobody seemed to understand how close they¡¯d been to disaster. ¡°Maybe she¡¯s not as good as you give her credit.¡± ¡°You¡¯re wrong.¡± ¡°And you¡¯re dead on your feet. Go rest.¡± No answer for long enough that she had a chance to consider her coffee. The mountain of paperwork on her desk loomed and it was definitely much too late in the night to deal with. As Quistis lifted the mug, she considered her own advice. Besides, cold coffee was disgusting. ¡°Why do you think she hesitated?¡± Falor turned back to the dying fire, gauntlet set down by the cool mug. ¡°You think she tried to scare me? Make a point of some sort?¡± She couldn¡¯t answer that. Falor knew Cinder much better than she ever would. Pupil and mentor. If he wondered at her motives, Quistis couldn¡¯t even begin to guess. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t know. But you need rest, Commander. No point on dwelling on what the mad do.¡± ¡°She¡¯s not mad, Quis. I guarantee that. No more than you or I.¡± Sounds of the city-wide celebration carried through an open window somewhere down the hall. It was winding down after all, compared to previous night, some of the revellers peeling away, their whistles and cheers dying out in the distance. ¡°You fought her off and everyone in Valen is celebrating,¡± she tried. ¡°Wouldn¡¯t do for their hero to sulk himself sick.¡± Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. Not even a chuckle. Just the same black, exhausted stare. ¡°They¡¯re celebrating the Descent, not me. I¡¯ve failed to bring her to heel. Hesitated on the killing blow. Do you know what my mother asked me when we were alone? Before she left?¡± She hadn¡¯t been listening in on that. Rather, she¡¯d been busy keeping Diogron away from the gate while the empress exchanged some parting words with her son. ¡°What did you do to Cinder? That¡¯s all. Didn¡¯t even bat an eye when I described her spitting my devourer back at me.¡± He shook his head again, eyes unfocused. ¡°How had she known I¡¯d failed? She never asked if I did. Just knew it.¡± Falor plunged into darker waters. Quistis recognized that black mood and decided on a change of tack. Her work wouldn¡¯t get done on its own but it would keep for a few more bells. She set her staff on its pegs and made her way to his chair. They were alone in the entire wing of the Citadel, the rest of their cell engaged in the city or sleeping off daytime celebrations. She put her hands on the back of his neck, thumbs pressed on his knotted muscles. A gentle upwards pressure made him shudder. ¡°We know she¡¯s using shards,¡± she said. Her fingers began a slow massage, thumb over thumb as her mother had taught her. ¡°She¡¯s not coming back into the city that way. The gates are watched. Rumi and Aidan are training the guardsmen for what to watch for. Vial¡¯s seeing to getting the plaques made for the other two unknowns. Barlo¡¯s drilling the city guard on what to do against someone like her the next time she shows up. All is firmly in hand.¡± Her fingers slid under the collar of his uniform, massaging the coiled ropes of his muscles. If Falor were any stiffer, he¡¯d match the actual statue of him that some were wished erected. ¡°You are wonderfully efficient, as ever.¡± He looked up at her and shifted in the chair. His shoulders began to relax under her touch. ¡°What would I do without you?¡± ¡°Overwork yourself into an early coffin, I believe.¡± She leaned forward and whispered in his ear, ¡°I¡¯ll make you a deal, Commander. You go to bed, and I will join you. We could both do with a good night¡¯s sleep. Or what may remain of it, anyway.¡± After interminable silence, Quistis was almost certain he¡¯d fallen asleep right there and then. Almost certain and more than a little disappointed. ¡°I¡¯d like that,¡± he said with a deep inhale of breath. In one swift movement he rose from the chair and stretched. ¡°The crises of tomorrow can wait until morning, I suppose. Let¡¯s.¡± Quistis lingered for a bit longer, emptying cups of coffee over dying embers and cracking open a window. Echoes of the night bells carried over the soft whispers of late-Winter wind. Three of them, the cusp of midnight. She set a paperweight on her mountain of work and cursed herself for the very efficiency Falor had praised. I should leave you to be blown into the night. She shook her head, ascending the staircase into Falor¡¯s chamber.
Echoes of the night bells chased some of the dream cobwebs as Quistis woke groggily in the dark of deep night. Five bells? Maybe six? Hard to say and harder to understand what had woken her so early. Heavy drapes covered the windows with barely a slit between them. The room was bathed in pitch. Not even a sliver of light penetrated from the outside. She tried stretching but her legs and abdomen protested the idea. Right, that¡¯s going to take a day and a warm bath, she thought as she withdrew from Falor¡¯s back and cringed at the aches of her muscles. He stirred under the quilt as her arms slipped free. A sliver of cold air goose-pricked her skin at the loss of contact. Had she heard something? Clearer vision came to her dimly, along with a rough understanding that there would be some more bells tolling before dawn. These were the uneven, quiet times spanning midnight to sunrise, the no man¡¯s land of living where bakers lit their ovens and criminals retreated into their lairs. Falor¡¯s armour hung on its support, undisturbed and still soot-stained by Cinder¡¯s attack. His star-ore hammer rested next to it, a dull spot of grey in the night. Stacks of books on the floor. A pyramid of scrolls on his desk. The smell of weapon oil and sweat. All familiar and grounding to her as she resisted the temptation of sleep stinging her eyes. Something felt off yet nothing was disturbed. Falor¡¯s room was small and cramped, a place of storage rather than living. His bed was almost as narrow as the one in her quarters, barely fitting two people embraced. She tried not to move too much and wake him. His even breathing was synced with hers even as her unease grew into spreading, irrational panic. Shadows. More than there should be. Black on the deep blue of night. She masked the agitation with a yawn as she resettled herself beneath the comforting weight of the quilt. Someone was in the room with them. She knew it with the powerful certainty of a knife in the back. And she was suddenly and terribly aware of how naked they both were. How far they lay from their weapons. Her staff hung on its pegs in the office, two floors below. Falor¡¯s maul was two arm spans from the foot of the bed. The closest thing to a weapon was a long-tailed broom leaned against the wall by her side. No movement. No sound. Not even an errant draft. A tremor where her leg touched Falor¡¯s, the barest hint of power buildup. Good. He was awake and aware. If she could feel the oddness, he would just as well. Six people would be dead or incapacitated for anyone to gain access to this room, four of them Storm Guards, loyal beyond question. Her blood ran cold at the prospect of senseless murder. Falor shifted position, the rustle of cloth hiding the draw and buzz of power. Any moment¡ª Pure black erupted from the farthest corner of the room. In a heartbeat they leapt clear of the bed, the cover thrown into the encroaching dark. Quistis made for the broom, eyes held tightly shut. A flash of lightning blasted away the night and turned the world bright red. Glass and wood crashed and splintered to the floor in a cacophony. Wind rushed in on frigid wings with a sandblast of dust. Quistis snatched the broom and cast it in a wide arc. Nothing connected. She swung again, the wall at her back, and tried to blink away blots of colours. Another thunder-clap and more waves of cold rushed into the shattered room. No one assailed her. She built walls around herself and summoned a sprite above to take measure of what had happened. A hole yawned into the cold Valen night. Falor peered out of it, one arm wreathed in pulsing, arcing lightning. The window was gone and so was nearly a quarter of the room. What survived of the curtain flapped in the breeze. In the far distance of a cloudless night, light crested over the mountain horizon. Falor clambered from the wreckage and dug out his clothes from debris. He threw Quistis her tattered robes. ¡°They ran. Crepuscular. See to the guards,¡± he ordered, pulling on trousers. His hair was matted down by dust but there was no blood on him. No assassin would¡¯ve given them such an exceptional chance of survival. Quistis looked about the wreckage. ¡°Falor,¡± she called. Her sprite rose to the ceiling to reveal a message left to them. Falor spared the sight but a glance before turning away. ¡°See to the guards.¡± He launched himself into the faltering night. Thunder followed as he blasted across the Citadel¡¯s rooftops. His maul flew by her head a moment later, trailing its wrathful master. Down below, in the courtyard, shouts and whistles resounded. The Citadel came alive with alarms. Quistis stood still and read the words over again. ¡°The sins of the mother taint the son,¡± they said, written above their bed in what was certainly blood. The cold bit into her naked skin and her wits slotted home. She drew on robes hurriedly and ran down the stairs towards the first guard post. Their next crisis, it seemed, could not even wait for morning to break properly. Chapter 2.06.1: Grefe Sleeping with a belly full of tonic and blood still wild with adrenaline would be a challenge, Sil knew. She insisted on it regardless. Yes, they were now on the threshold of their destination, but she wouldn¡¯t have them facing whatever new buggering to come without fresh energy and a clear head. Tallah succumbed to slumber last. She¡¯d wanted first watch but Sil would have none of it. She¡¯d had to promise she¡¯d wake her, but woke Vergil instead. ¡°Wasn¡¯t it Tallah¡¯s turn?¡± he asked, rising bleary-eyed. Sil tied back her hair just to get it off her sticky shoulders. If anything, it had gotten warmer once out of the labyrinth. Sweat dripped down her neck and back. Pacing around the tight corridor while the others slept, and jumping at every sound from beyond the door had her drenched. ¡°Don¡¯t wake Tallah unless you¡¯re about to be eaten by something. She needs sleep. Don¡¯t wake Ludwig for the next watch either.¡± She regarded the old man¡¯s sleeping form and scrunched up her nose. ¡°I don¡¯t trust him not to wander away now that we¡¯re here.¡± That made Vergil sit up straighter as he shook sleep out of his eyes. ¡°Got it. Sleep well.¡± A hint of pride entered his voice. He sat by the backpacks, fishing some dried meat from one. The boy could eat at any time, anywhere, in and out of danger. Good. He¡¯d fill up nicely by next Summer if this trip didn¡¯t kill them all. When exactly had he started eating meat, though? Didn¡¯t matter. It was good that he did. Her pack of herbs and vials made for a suitable, lumpy but fragrant pillow. Sleep overcame her as she ran a mental inventory of the draughts in store and what she could with only the supplies on hand. She drifted off while running the formula for aerum through her mental checklist. And woke with a kick to the rear. ¡°You were supposed to wake me,¡± Tallah¡¯s voice complained above her. ¡°You¡¯ll pay for that one,¡± Sil groaned, wanting nothing more than to turn over and get in some more shuteye. Shifting on the rough stone sent pangs of stiff agony across her ribs. ¡°Go away.¡± ¡°Get up. There¡¯s coffee.¡± Through the haze of a blooming headache and the many creaks, pops, and general unpleasantness of sleeping on naked rock, Sil smelled it. It drew her up to a sitting position. Tallah handed over a metal mug, steam curling over its lip. ¡°Who brought coffee?¡± Sil inhaled the sweet aroma. There was sugar in there. A lot of it. ¡°Vergil, if you¡¯ll believe it.¡± That woke her fully. She dimly recalled Mertle handing him a bundle of something, but in the rush of that night it had slipped her mind entirely. She offered a silent prayer to the Goddess for Mertle¡¯s safety and good health, and ignored the pang of guilt that it brought. ¡°How long have I been out?¡± she asked. A sip of the wondrous brew cleared her head. Her calves and the soles of her feet throbbed dully in protest to the abuse endured over the march. ¡°Who can say? You were supposed to wake me, not the boy. Bianca says seven bells.¡± ¡°Did you sleep well?¡± ¡°Yes, but that¡¯s not the point.¡± Tallah scowled at her. Sil grinned, sipped coffee, and went on before the sorceress rallied for more complaining, ¡°You¡¯re welcome then. Haven¡¯t seen you sleep like that since you made peace with the second one.¡± Tallah drained her mug and handed it to Vergil for cleaning. ¡°When your soul¡¯s not being dragged out through your eyeballs, sleep tends to be better. Place is shielded somehow.¡± Sil accepted the offered hand and finally drew herself up. ¡°Are you sure?¡± A seed of optimism took root through the weariness. They¡¯d chased after hope like this before. It never ended well. Tallah cupped a hand under her mug and pushed it slightly up. ¡°Don¡¯t waste it. Who knows when we¡¯ll get more?¡± ¡°Are you sure?¡± Sil asked again, unmindful of her drink. ¡°There¡¯s no draw. You¡¯re safe?¡± Realisation hit a moment later and she pressed a hand to her mouth and looked around. ¡°Old man¡¯s gone ahead a bit. Coffee¡¯s made him giddy. And yes, we¡¯re sure. Both Christi and Bianca confirm it.¡± ¡°So this won¡¯t be a waste of time. We need to find whatever shields you. We need to get it.¡± Tallah gave her a patient smile and gestured for calm. ¡°We¡¯ll see. May just be the place itself. Let¡¯s not get ahead of ourselves.¡± She gave Vergil¡¯s helmet a meaningful side glance. ¡°We¡¯ve been down that road.¡± Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. Sil downed her coffee, switched her vials out, and ate a sparse breakfast of hard cheese and salted meat, wet with a drop of wine. Her stomach wouldn¡¯t allow for anything more. Ludwig didn¡¯t return for a long time. When he did there were tears in his eyes. ¡°Couldn¡¯t resist a glance?¡± Tallah asked. The old man didn¡¯t reply. He hoisted his bag, slung it over bony shoulders, and waited at a distance for the others to finish their preparations. His reluctant silence unnerved her, but she¡¯d seen the looks he threw Tallah¡¯s way. Absolute and unadulterated terror. She couldn¡¯t blame him, all too aware of the thing buzzing in rage within her friend¡¯s rend. The tunnel out was longer than the one that had led them in. Part of her was excited to see the end of it, to finally reach this place for which they¡¯d risked a ghastly death. Yet she also struggled with renewed hope for a choice in how to deal with Tallah¡¯s condition, one that wouldn¡¯t require blood sacrifices and endless hunts. ¡°Ladies, and Vergil, welcome to Grefe,¡± Ludwig said as they passed the threshold, his gloom replaced by theatrics. Torchlight had become such a constant companion that emerging into bright, colourful light felt profoundly disorientating. The final set of ornate doors led them into a vast cavern. A wide bridge connected their egress to a crystal spire far in the distance. Light streamed down through gaps in the high ceiling, pooled in the great structure ahead, and reflected away to illuminate¡­ well, indeed, a city. ¡°No vague rocks here,¡± Sil whispered. She was first to step out onto the bridge, caution stolen away by the sight. So much to take in at once. The bridge first, ornate with statues, pristine in its ancient glory. The spires of reflected, broken light that hid the far edifices in a blinding haze of rainbow-coloured majesty. And the impossible city beyond, clustered on the far walls, shining like a dragon¡¯s horde of jewels across the great ravine. Now she was thinking in faer stories too and chided herself for it. ¡°Unless that labyrinth did some clever thing with reality, I don¡¯t think we¡¯re supposed to be close to the surface,¡± Tallah said from the side. She eyed the light from above, her torch still uselessly lit. Ludwig couldn¡¯t answer. His bluster from a moment before had vanished and he knelt by an ornate statue, weeping with hands covering his face. Vergil tried to go to him but Tallah dragged him away. ¡°Leave him be,¡± she whispered. ¡°Why are angels here?¡± Vergil asked. He dug his heels in and shrugged off Tallah¡¯s grip. His gaze lingered on the first statue they passed. ¡°That one there. I think I saw some in the labyrinth too.¡± Tallah released him and looked up as well. The statues were all different people, repeating in sequence. Sil had spied the same strange winged beings from the labyrinth, dwarves further on, aelir, and what she could only assume was an elend depiction. Vergil had given an alien name for the winged ones. ¡°What are angels?¡± She left Ludwig to his own mix of emotions and joined Tallah and the boy. Where the heads in the labyrinth had been smashed, here they retained their old glory. Human features stared out in marble blindness across the bottomless gap, and a corolla of eagle-like wings sprouted from their backs, aimed at a far distant sky. They were all naked and showed quite human anatomy. Apart from the legs, which were double-kneed and ended in avian-like four-toed feet, complete with talons gripping the rock. ¡°Looks like a harpy to me,¡± Tallah said, studying the figure. ¡°Harpies don¡¯t have arms,¡± Sil put in. ¡°And this doesn¡¯t look like it¡¯d lay eggs. Did you have beings like this on the Gloria?¡± Vergil spluttered now that both their attentions were focused on him. Sil already knew he¡¯d raise more questions than he¡¯d answer. ¡°No. They¡¯re not real. I mean, they weren¡¯t real. Just¡­ religious stuff. Like... Uh. Like...¡± Tallah stared at the statue, then back at him with the intensity of a hunting corallin. ¡°What do you mean by religious stuff?¡± ¡°Some people were worshippers. Not only on the Gloria. On all ships. One of my A.R.E. friends always stopped to pray at set times.¡± He gestured up at the statue, seemingly trying to recall something from memory. ¡°Angels were the servants of god. Demons were their enemies.¡± ¡°Which god?¡± ¡°Just¡­ god?¡± he said and shrugged. ¡°I wasn¡¯t brought up in any faith. Does being Argia¡¯s thrall count?¡± ¡°Were they real? Angels I mean?¡± ¡°Not as far as I know. We had a lot of fantasy beings. Angels. Demons. Dragons. Fairies. Whales. Uh, genies? I could name more if I still had access to the database.¡± ¡°Dragons are real,¡± Sil said. ¡°So are daemons. Maybe we¡¯re not talking about the same creatures.¡± ¡°Dragons are real? Giant, winged lizard? Breathes fire?¡± Vergil grinned maniacally and came so close to Sil that she had to draw a step back. ¡°Pretty much. I think I mentioned them before?¡± ¡°Here be dragons,¡± Vergil muttered. A far away, mouth agape look covered his face. ¡°Hopefully not,¡± Tallah groaned. ¡°Bastard of a time fighting one off. Stumble across it roosting and you¡¯d need seven baths in tomato puree and vinegar before it lost your scent.¡± She shuddered appreciatively. ¡°The stink of it. The rash¡ª¡± ¡°You fought a dragon?¡± ¡°Ran from one. You can¡¯t fight a dragon. Better chances to stop a volcano.¡± Each statue further on represented a different being, but the pattern repeated. Angel, dwarf, aelir, elend. The elend statues were shown as tall as the aelir, and much more muscled than any elend Sil had ever seen. A true-blood aelir would balk at the very idea of an elend statue, and get murderous at the equal height and nobility. Who these people had been, to be immortalised like this, she could only wonder. No humans though. Ludwig joined them at a trot about halfway across. ¡°I apologise,¡± he said. ¡°I still feel as if I might wake up in Valen and none of this would be real.¡± ¡°I¡¯d be furious if it weren¡¯t.¡± Tallah strode forward. ¡°Even as a figment of your imagination, I¡¯d still be angry.¡± More of the city resolved through the haze. Sheets of it thin mist drifted lazily over the bridge. Not mist at all Sil realised as a passing waft of sulphur and brimstone crossed her nose. Smoke. Nothing burned that she could see. It rose from the very bottom of the chasm Was there some lava river down there? It would explain the warmth. ¡°It¡¯s safe to breathe in,¡± Ludwig assured them when Tallah hesitated. ¡°We did. And I still live.¡± ¡°Debatable.¡± Chapter 2.06.2: Find the girl Even through the murk, the scale of the city impressed. Grefe wasn¡¯t a ruin as Sil had expected. It wasn¡¯t some tucked-away fortress ready to crumble. What came to view as they crossed the statue-guarded bridge was a metropolis built by and for winged beings. Jutting, crenellated platforms hung over the chasm, once serving as some kind of gardens or plazas if the pottery on display was any indication. Those preceded the many arched, high-windowed dwellings sculpted into the flesh of the rock and arrayed one atop the other. She was reminded of bunches of grapes on vines. Intricate sculptures decorated whatever space wasn¡¯t used for living. The sheer excess would have made Aztroa Magnor pale by comparison. What had looked from afar as a single wall of city proved a trick of the light. The cavern twisted and Grefe moulded itself upon it, embracing all of its deeper ravines and recesses, spreading away from the lit up crystal spire. It occupied every nook, every cranny, every gigantic stalactite hanging from the high ceiling. Stairs and bridges stretched on impossible struts between the dwellings, giving the desolated sites an impression of vibrant activity. Tallah was less awed by the sight. Fireflies flitted around her, more popping into existence by the moment, her heat increasing. ¡°Something¡¯s watching us,¡± she explained. Her long strides brought them quickly across the bridge, the far end laying already in sight. ¡°I figured.¡± Sil touched the potion pouch for reassurance. Further on into the city, white webs stretched between buildings like a sheet thrown over an unused room. The sight and promise of them made her skin crawl. ¡°Why is that here?¡± Vergil asked. The road split near the end of the bridge and wound around the spire. In the fork, two more statues greeted them. And these were of humans. Man and woman, side by side, naked as all the rest. The man had his right hand up in greeting. ¡°Peculiar,¡± Sil agreed. ¡°You don¡¯t understand.¡± Vergil halted at the feet of the two figures. They were taller than the rest. Behind them some sort of symbols were etched into the spire, shining in shifting rainbow colours. ¡°This shouldn¡¯t be here.¡± ¡°I agree. Why are humans greeting us?¡± Again, Vergil shook his head. ¡°These two shouldn¡¯t be here. It doesn¡¯t make sense.¡± He pointed a trembling finger at them. Whatever else he had to say got stuck in his throat as Ludwig neared. Seemed odd behaviour to Sil. The two humans represented were nothing special to look at. Medium features. Long hair on the woman. Awkward posing. Nothing obviously grandiose about them. But still, Vergil stared as if he¡¯d seen a bloody ghost. ¡°Out with it,¡± Tallah snapped at him. ¡°Why is this important?¡± Vergil¡¯s eyes darted to Ludwig and then to Tallah¡¯s, seeking approval. When she nodded, he went on, ¡°They¡¯re from where I am. This was on a plaque humans sent into space thousands of years ago. I¡¯ve seen the engraving at least a thousand times. It hung in the museum deck.¡± Tallah sniffed in annoyance. ¡°Might be coincidence. Still, weird that there are humans here. You didn¡¯t mention this, old man.¡± ¡°Would you have believed it?¡± Ludwig replied. He stared at Vergil. ¡°You are¡­ from here?¡± ¡°No. Definitely not from here.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t ask him too many questions, old man, unless you mean to be perplexed for the rest of your life. The boy¡¯s an Other. Bloody useless at giving answers.¡± Tallah motioned them all forward. ¡°Don¡¯t gape. You look senile.¡± ¡°You dropped this as if it¡¯s nothing.¡± Ludwig looked faint. Vergil shrunk back from the intensity of the stare he received. If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°She does that,¡± Sil agreed. ¡°I thought we weren¡¯t talking about Vergil¡¯s history?¡± Tallah shrugged. Her eyes searched the approaching vista. Beyond the spire a new structure came into view, hanging on a netting of smaller bridges and walkways like a great spider in its web. This looked more like something for people with no wings to visit. A welcoming embassy? Maybe? ¡°Second odd thing Vergil¡¯s done since we came here,¡± Tallah explained. ¡°Third, if you count the book. The professor¡¯s not that big of a fool not to connect things.¡± She gave Ludwig a long glare. ¡°For now, he¡¯s earned some trust. The place is real and it is alien. Let¡¯s not make a net of our fingers and hide beneath it. If there are things to be learned here, it¡¯s best we all have the same facts.¡± Ludwig¡¯s face was caught somewhere between incredulity, offended dignity, and a kind of beached fish. ¡°Breathe, Master Angledeer,¡± Sil said. ¡°One mystery at a time. If I remember right, you said you knew for certain the girl was alive. We¡¯re here and there seems to be a terribly large area to search. How would we go about this?¡± It took some time for the old man to recover from his shock. Tallah fired off a couple of fireflies into the high shadows among the crenellated towers of this edifice. Dull pops resounded but she only swore. ¡°Nimble critter,¡± she murmured. A second, halfhearted attempt got the same result. ¡°I expect more will be waiting somewhere ahead.¡± ¡°Do I want to know?¡± Sil asked. ¡°Probably not. I expect you¡¯ll faint the moment you see one of these spiders in full light.¡± She gave her an evil grin. ¡°Or should I describe it?¡± ¡°Do that and I may crack you one over the head.¡± ¡°And face a spider big as a horse with only these two for help?¡± ¡°Tallah!¡± Her evil cackle cut off when Ludwig finally finished fumbling with a box from his complicated backpack. He opened it reverently, lifting a shining blue necklace from its confines. It had a thumb-sized sapphire embedded in a silver cage. Without the caress of any breeze, it tugged sideways once up in the air. ¡°You blighter!¡± Tallah reached for the pendant and cooed her appreciation. With some hesitation, Ludwig handed it to her. ¡°You decrepit old bastard! I should¡¯ve raided your home a long time ago. I could buy a small army with your trinkets.¡± ¡°Is that another shard?¡± Vergil asked. ¡°It doesn¡¯t shine like the other one.¡± ¡°Is it a shard?¡± Sil shared in the confusion as she gawked at the pendant. Runes were engraved on the gemstone, but so tiny that she had to resist the temptation of digging out her loupe. Ludwig cleared his throat and ignored Tallah¡¯s jab. ¡°This is a sympathetic binding. It is, indeed, a shard of an Illum Ascendi crystal. Of the Aztroa Ascendi, more precisely.¡± ¡°I thought you¡¯d gone daft to still believe the girl lived.¡± Tallah held out the pendant and watched it tug to the right of their path, towards the mess of webs glittering in the light of the spire. Her grin turned feral. ¡°This is attuned to Catharina, isn¡¯t it? She wouldn¡¯t have given it to you. You¡¯ve held out on us from the start.¡± If her words stung in any way, the old man didn¡¯t show it. ¡°I feared you would figure it in an instant as you just did. Yes, the pendant is attuned to the empress, blessed may she be. Returning it would probably absolve you of any crime. I expect she¡¯d also gift you a duchy in Aztroa¡¯s shadow.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t follow. Why didn¡¯t you do this?¡± It all sounded like bluster to Sil. ¡°If your goal is to return to the empire¡¯s grace, why not just buy your way in?¡± ¡°He¡¯s killed whoever the empress trusted with her shards and this,¡± Tallah said. ¡°Didn¡¯t you?¡± ¡°Quite so, yes. The Empress did send someone to retrieve the girl soon after my exile. She¡¯d given them a set of shards and this insurance pendant. I caught wind of it and¡­ well.¡± He spread his hands out in a gesture that said more than his words. ¡°And you wouldn¡¯t allow anyone else the glory of this discovery. Far as Catharina¡¯s concerned, her rescue party was lost on the way, same as your first group. I assume this thing tugs a too direct line to manage the labyrinth.¡± ¡°Quite so, yes. I''ve tried.¡± ¡°How many did you get killed in the trying?¡± His silence answered the question well enough. Sil looked at him in a whole different light. If Tallah was callous, the old bastard was downright evil in his obsession. Whatever story he¡¯d fed them in Valen now seemed polluted, tinged with lies and omissions that she expected would show him in a very different light. ¡°I would like to restate that you¡¯re a malevolent old fart,¡± she said. ¡°Be that as it may, we¡¯re here now and the time for secrets is past.¡± He drew himself taller. ¡°As you can see, the pendant will draw to her as long as she and the empress both draw breath. You¡¯re welcome to it at the end of things. I do not want it back.¡± Only Sil saw the glint in Tallah¡¯s eye, she was certain of it. The vengeful hunger that the sorceress kept under patient control reared its head for a heartbeat. It¡¯d last come to light when they¡¯d found the passage into Anna¡¯s domain. Any enchantment, no matter how clever or complex, could be undone and reversed. Ludwig had just promised Tallah a weapon the kinds of which he could scarcely imagine for a goal that would shatter his zealous heart. If you could know at all times where your greatest enemy lay, how much easier would it be to cut out their heart? Chapter 2.06.3: Fear ¡°Why are you here?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± ¡°Are you certain?¡± ¡°Quite certain.¡± ¡°Ho¡ª¡± ¡°Listen, Master Ludwig. I don¡¯t know the whys, hows, whens, what fors, or any variation thereof. I woke in Valen. Almost got myself killed. Tallah saved me. That¡¯s all of it. Really.¡± Was that impatience in Vergil¡¯s voice? He quickened his step to move away from Ludwig¡¯s unending questions. Sil sympathised with the old man as she¡¯d been down that road with Vergil and had run against the same wall of obliviousness. But the boy¡¯s patience frayed so she stepped in before Ludwig could launch into another assault. ¡°Leave him be. We¡¯ve questioned, poked and prodded him for at least half of Winter. All we¡¯ve gotten out of it is Vergil and confusion.¡± ¡°Thank you, Sil,¡± he said. ¡°It¡¯s lovely knowing I¡¯m the dregs you needed to settle for.¡± ¡°What¡¯s crawled up your arse?¡± Tallah asked. She didn¡¯t cuff him over the ears for his tone. ¡°You wanted to stay. I would¡¯ve cut you loose.¡± ¡°You¡¯ll think it¡¯s stupid.¡± ¡°I expect I will. Out with it.¡± Vergil sighed. The strange walkway they crossed shifted as he stopped to gesture at the fast-approaching vista. A dazzling rainbow of colours dressed the edges of Grefe. ¡°I said I wanted to go with you. Here I am in this place where Argia connected to a beast in a maze, and where I found signs of my own world. It feels like destiny. It feels like I have a destiny to achieve.¡± ¡°Go on.¡± He gestured impotently at the whole thing and then at himself. ¡°I don¡¯t know the whys, hows, what fors, or any other variation thereof. It¡¯s frustrating.¡± ¡°No reason to be a git about it,¡± Tallah tutted. ¡°Want my sword?¡± ¡°¡­ What for?¡± ¡°We¡¯re coming up on the end of this blasted shifting walkway. I expect we¡¯ll meet danger, and you don¡¯t know the first thing about using your axes. Or should I get the ghost?¡± The sword passed hands in silence. Tallah retrieved a fresh one from her rend. Sil kept her sprite as the path led through one of the high archways and into a dwelling proper. She¡¯d expected darkness inside but found yet more light. A latticework of crystal crossed the ceiling and walls, shining gently with reflected luminescence. How had they done this? The crystals looked grown into shape, not broken, or sculpted. Even the glassblowers of Drack couldn¡¯t mimic anything so complex. Debris of habitation littered the home¡ªat least, she assumed it had been a home. Vases filled with the dust of whatever they had once contained. Alien-looking furniture lay under a thin sheath of dust. Everything was left as if the owners had simply up and vanished. Passing from room to room led them to inner stairs, wide enough for two people to walk abreast. Grefe seemed to stretch onto and into the rock, to depths that Sil feared exploring. ¡°Is this anything like the Gloria?¡± Tallah asked. She and her fireflies moved further ahead up the stairs, following the tug of Ludwig¡¯s necklace. ¡°No. I don¡¯t know.¡± ¡°Wonderful answers. Pick one.¡± ¡°I was never in the proper habitation block, all right? I lived in the low decks, like a rat beneath the floorboards. I don¡¯t remember anything from before I was transferred to the creche.¡± ¡°I see. Pity.¡± ¡°Why were they so deep underground?¡± Sil mused. From the stairwell into an ornate tunnel, and then back into the strange light of what she had come to think of as outside. They emerged onto one of the jutting platforms. The still-preserved stalls suggested it was once an open-air market Some of the stalls were on small wheels. The ruins of an old camp were strewn about, satchel bags emptied of contents. ¡°Figure this was your mess?¡± Tallah asked as she walked to the edge of the platform to look further out. ¡°Yes. We made a stand here. It did not end well.¡± Ludwig picked through the bags, hefting the crumbling remains of a sword. ¡°Everything is dust and rust. They never touched what we left here.¡± ¡°Does that bode well to you?¡± Tallah asked when Sil joined her by the lip of the platform. ¡°Bugger¡­¡± From here they could make out more of the sprawling city. The size of only what was visible matched and perhaps exceeded Valen. And atop it all lay white sheets, still as granite, turning a ghostly place haunted. ¡°I¡¯m not an expert on spiders, but that looks like webbing to me.¡± Tallah stuck a fist in her mouth to muffle a yawn. ¡°And it doesn¡¯t look like any black-monk spider web either.¡± They¡¯d run across enough of the black-monk spiders in the caves and ruins littering the span of Vas. Voracious eaters. Large enough to overwhelm a person with sheer bulk. But solitary and generally timid. Yes, this did not look like anything they¡¯d seen before. Tallah¡¯s fireflies flitted around her in a storm, gathering at a point aimed at somewhere above, then dispersing only to gather again. ¡°Jittery little creep,¡± the sorceress said. She rubbed at her eyes under the mask. ¡°Keeps following us, but it moves about so much that we can¡¯t pinpoint it.¡± ¡°Same from earlier?¡± ¡°No. Smaller. Big as your head, this one. Keeps out of sight. Annoys me to no end.¡± ¡°That¡¯s still unreasonably big. Why¡ª¡± She stopped and listened. Farther on into Grefe rainbows arched through shafts of light as water spilled into the chasm, falling off jutting aqueducts. It flowed through some of the buildings nearby, the sound bubbling up from time to time. The hiss of the falls carried far, but there was more than that. Words on the air. Figments of imagination almost, but there all the same. If she strained just a little more, she could make them out. ¡°Help,¡± the city whispered. ¡°They left me.¡± ¡°Do you hear that?¡± Sil drew a step back from the edge. ¡°Unnerving. It¡¯s not just words either. There¡¯s a weave. I¡¯m starting to see it as we go deeper.¡± ¡°See what?¡± Vergil asked. ¡°Nothing for you to bother over. But I¡¯ll need the dwarf for a time.¡± They both went quiet for a few heartbeats. Vergil¡¯s eyes flitted to Sil¡¯s, confused, then back at Tallah. ¡°A-are you asking permission?¡± ¡°Seems polite to. I expect you¡¯ll want to see more of this place if something¡¯s related to your condition.¡± ¡°Oh.¡± He shrugged. ¡°If something¡¯s weird, just pull me out and I¡¯ll have a look. Why do you need him? Are we in danger?¡± ¡°Quite a bit of it, yes. Don¡¯t know yet what¡¯s coming, but it¡¯s brewing all right. When we¡¯re hit, Sil¡¯s going to send you under. Just be ready for that, yes?¡± One of Tallah¡¯s fireflies flew past his head, exploding with a concussive boom somewhere above. She swore under her breath. Vergil barely flinched. Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. ¡°Nimble bugger. Anyway. Come.¡± Going around the edge of the plateau brought them to another cluster of hanging dwellings, and another set of deep stairs. They ascended, lit only by the ever-glowing vein of crystalline light. The whispers grew louder. Sighs. Soft words. A call for aid. Sobbing. Sil¡¯s legs refused to push through the final steps. She¡¯d tried to ignore the growing terror. Had pushed it down into the pit of her stomach. But this was too bloody much. Silk webs hung across the entrance into the next room, thick as any brocade drapes, and she couldn¡¯t bring herself to come near. The sight repulsed her. She let out a squeak of terror when Tallah pulled the webs aside and strode beyond, threads of sticky white silk clinging to her clothes. Vergil followed. So did Ludwig. Sil could only stare at the swaying mess, already imagining the touch of it against her skin and¡­ no, no, no. She couldn¡¯t move past it. Sweat stuck the shirt to her back. Tallah poked her head back through the curtain to glare down at her delay. ¡°Again?¡± Sil nodded, not trusting her voice. ¡°Do you need a hug, or a drink?¡± Sil raised two ice-cold, frustratingly shaking fingers. Tallah¡¯s head retreated into the room beyond and Vergil came down a short time later holding a small, black bottle. ¡°She says you need to drink this. What¡¯s the matter?¡± The drink went down like a cascade of molten metal, exploding in the pit of her stomach, the furnace blast of its heady mix sending sparks behind her eyes. For a blessed moment it obliterated the mindless fear. She swayed in place and waved Vergil off when he reached out. ¡°Don¡¯t touch me,¡± she warned. Terror mixed in with Banshee¡¯s Wail generally made her unreasonably angry. At herself. At the world. At Tallah, for knowing her well enough to keep that poison stocked. Vergil didn¡¯t deserve what she¡¯d do if he got any closer just then. ¡°Go back. I¡¯ll come in a bit.¡± A hand on the wall steadied her enough that the world could stop bucking under her feet. ¡°Stop gawking and go away.¡± ¡°Said to give her a bit of time.¡± Vergil¡¯s voice explained once he was out of sight. ¡°That smells like Banshee¡¯s Wail. Liquid courage?¡± Ludwig¡¯s voice, likely inspecting the bottle. Of course he¡¯d know the stench. Tallah would keep it on hand from now on. Damn the woman to a thousand unkind fates for dragging them here. Of all possible places on Edana, she¡¯d found one with more of the one blasted creature that turned Sil¡¯s bowels loose. Right, then. She¡¯d had the Wail enough times to recognise when it was doing the thinking for her. At least the fear had dulled into a surly tremor that she could ignore for a time. The headache to come would be harder to. ¡°Back with us?¡± Tallah asked when she joined them. ¡°Not a word.¡± More webs. Underfoot. Overhead. On the walls. Bloody lovely! As if rising from beneath the stinking things, sobbing drifted through the room, louder than it had been just less than a bell before. It sounded like a young girl¡¯s and Sil wasn¡¯t quite certain it wasn¡¯t her doing it as she trudged after the group. Room after room only thickened the covering of spider shit. It was everywhere. It clung to everything. If she had a torch, she¡¯d set it all alight regardless of the danger. She swore she could see it move at times, like ripples in the fabric, rising and falling. ¡°Can¡¯t you just burn this?¡± To answer, Tallah ripped a whole swath off a wall and ignited it with a spark. It burst into fire and was gone in a heartbeat, burning wilder than anything Sil had ever seen in her life. Sil nodded once. ¡°Right. Point taken. Carry on.¡± Tallah shrugged as she cut a way through, prowling from room to room. Sil wondered if it ever got dark here. It probably did, if the light was brought in from outside. What a wonderfully terrible place this would be come the night. She instinctively made a sprite and a shadow darted beneath the webbing on a wall. Several others followed, skittering into holes unseen. She shrieked as one raced past her feet, ripped out of the fabric, and leapt at Tallah, eight legs spread as if seeking to embrace the sorceress. ¡°Please¡ª¡± Tallah stopped it midair with a flick of her hand. It squirmed and wriggled all its terrible legs at her, still trying to reach. When Tallah brought her hands together and the spider exploded into a shower of chitin shards and foul ichor, Sil was certain it had pleaded. In human speech. Or that might just have been her screaming. Tallah slapped her. The sting shut up her terror with a hiccup, the Wail¡¯s detached anger taking over instead. ¡°You said there was one.¡± ¡°I also warned they were as big as your head. What are you screaming on about?¡± ¡°You said there was only one!¡± ¡°We thought there was only one. We were wrong.¡± Ludwig looked as ashen-faced and sick as Sil felt. He¡¯d seemed wretched ever since entering the dwellings, his comments sparse and subdued, but now his face was a mask of pure agony. Only Vergil was unperturbed, removing his helmet to clean ichor off his face. It glowed faintly greenish on his helmet and skin. ¡°It¡­¡± Ludwig swallowed, looked at the mess left behind on the pristine webs, and ran a hand across his face. ¡°It was trying to speak.¡± ¡°Should do so faster next time,¡± Tallah replied acidly. An entire swarm of fireflies orbited her head, tracking something Sil couldn¡¯t see through the webs. ¡°They never spoke. Only¡­ the intelligence did. But not in words!¡± Vergil raised a hand and inclined his head questioningly at Tallah. She nodded and he struck the old man. It shut him up for a couple heartbeats. He¡¯d been, like Sil, on the verge of hysteria. ¡°Thank you. It was¡­ unexpected.¡± ¡°And there are more, and very likely much bigger. Let¡¯s keep our heads, shall we? Even Vergil¡¯s showing more sense than the two of you.¡± ¡°I do not appreciate how you framed that,¡± Vergil said. He donned his helmet again and drew Tallah¡¯s thin sword. ¡°But they¡¯re just spiders. Yes, all right, they can leap. But it¡¯s not like they can fly or something.¡± Sil¡¯s knees nearly buckled at the thought of a flying spider the size of a horse. She gripped the staff tighter to stop herself from braining Vergil with it. Instead, she recited the healer¡¯s mantra to draw out some of her errant courage. I am of the many, and I am of the few. I am light, and I am warmth. I am shield, and I am sword. I stand to brace the other, unbent, unbowed, unbroken¡­ One of Tallah¡¯s fireflies launched, exploding in a web above. Ichor filtered down in a cascade. The sorceress looked smug. ¡°Got your scent now, you creepy little shits,¡± she crooned. Two more fireflies were let loose and two more cascades of ichor rained down, spreading into diffuse puddles that Sil hurriedly stepped away from. Three more pops got no kills. ¡°Ran off. Wise of them.¡± She turned and strolled away, booted feet sloshing on the wet fabric. Chitin crunched with a near porcelain tinkle. ¡°That won¡¯t work,¡± Ludwig said. He shuffled past Sil, trying not to step into the gore. ¡°Wh-what won¡¯t?¡± she asked. Only then did she realise she had her staff raised and pulsing white light. ¡°You will not be able to make a portal to take you away from here. We¡¯ve tried. It ends messily.¡± He gestured something that suggested being turned inside-out. ¡°Only way is forward, I¡¯m afraid. I do apologise, miss Silestra.¡± Vergil gestured for her to go ahead. ¡°I¡¯ll bring up the rear. I wear the most armour.¡± Her cheeks flushed and her hands grew even colder with shame. Vergil, the whelp, was indeed showing more backbone than she could muster. She nodded and paced to Tallah¡¯s back, gingerly stepping over the puddles, her sprite moving close to the walls. In spite of her bluster, Tallah radiated warmth when Sil caught up, two rooms over. A steady rhythm wafted from the sorceress, a full charge of illum prepared for unleashing. She¡¯d recovered well from her thrashing at Falor¡¯s hands. ¡°If it makes you feel any better,¡± Tallah said as she stepped out onto another plaza platform, ¡°I¡¯m terrified out of my wits right now.¡± ¡°Your sister?¡± ¡°Behind every web, always in the corner of my eye. Christi¡¯s trying to get rid of her. The more she tries, the more I see the wraith. I don¡¯t know why or how, or if I¡¯ve crossed some threshold. Bloody terrifying.¡± Not that she let anything show. But if Tallah said she was scared, then Sil believed her and worried. ¡°But you said this place is shielded.¡± ¡°It is. I feel no draw. They feel no draw. I¡¯m perfectly fine.¡± ¡°Except for seeing your dead sister.¡± Tallah let a shuddering sigh slip before drawing herself back up, the men joining them on the platform. Gone were the empty black expanses of the cavern. Now the city was indeed embalmed in silk. The original architecture and spider construct became one glittering mess spreading as far as the eye could see. Light shimmered through in a myriad oil-slick colours, draping long shadows across sagging clusters of ancient dwellings. It would¡¯ve been breathtaking if Sil didn¡¯t find it trouser-wettingly terrifying. ¡°What a place,¡± the sorceress breathed out. She leaned out for a better look. A sheet of the stuff hung from the platform to the next, immobile as everything else in Grefe. If the ancient masonry gave way, the webs looked thick enough to hold her weight if she fell. ¡°Please don¡¯t say it as if it¡¯s wonderful.¡± Sil¡¯s voice squeaked no matter how much she tried to bolster it. ¡°It¡¯s pretty. Give it that at least.¡± ¡°No. I know how they make webs.¡± She shuddered and tried to find a place that wasn¡¯t covered in smeared excrement. Even Valen, in the full embrace of Winter, hadn¡¯t been as white and pristine as this. ¡°It¡¯s beautiful,¡± Vergil chimed in as he approached them. ¡°When do we eat?¡± ¡°What is it with you and eating?¡± Sil rounded on him and nearly poked his eye with the tip of her staff. ¡°Every single time we stop, you must gnaw on something. Just¡­¡± Words failed as her own stomach rebelled and let out a growl loud enough that Vergil¡¯s eyebrows shot up. ¡°Hungry and angry. There should be a word for that,¡± Tallah mused. She spread her fireflies and let them flit about the edge of the platform. Across the great covered abyss, the soft, echoing whispers of quiet sobbing rose and fell as if brought across by an unfelt wind, and Sil felt a gentle tug somewhere deep inside her. Whatever that was, it couldn¡¯t be good. Chapter 2.06.4: Black tide How long was the day in this blasted place? It has been twenty bells since you¡¯ve pulled me from the work, Bianca noted. Counting rest and the first incursion into the city, Tallah wondered if the place would ever sleep. Part of her wished it wouldn¡¯t. Not that the dark would be so much worse by itself, but she didn¡¯t relish the idea of more hidden darkness to hold Rhine¡¯s wraith in waiting. Even now, the thing glared at her from across the platform, half-hidden by the tatters of a curtain. ¡°Tallah?¡± Her attention snapped back to the moment, and she looked at Ludwig. He¡¯d been speaking and she¡¯d not been listening. ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°What are those?¡± he repeated his question and gestured with a piece of dried meat at one of her fireflies. Judging by Sil¡¯s worried look, he¡¯d probably asked several times. ¡°Fireflies.¡± ¡°Are they miniature fireballs? No, that wouldn¡¯t be it. Nothing caught fire when you used one.¡± ¡°It¡¯s just a compressed mote of power. Mostly defensive.¡± Ludwig chewed thoughtfully, staring at a firefly that drifted close-by. ¡°Very creative effect. Not fire, so it doesn¡¯t cluster together. And I see that they¡¯re quite efficient. How do you control them?¡± ¡°Carefully.¡± Not an answer that sufficed but her attention was on other matters. Rhine moved. The wraith walked forward from its waiting place, looking about as if lost. A lull came in the whispering annoyance. Silence crashed over them with the depth of the sea. Tallah hackles rose and she dropped the food. Sil looked around wildly, gripping her staff. At a sign, Vergil was on his feet, axe and sword in hands, grunting in Horvath¡¯s unmistakable droll. The silence stretched. If she strained, the sound of distant water falling into the abyss would carry over, as would the hiss and whistle of zephyrs wafting through unseen ventilation shafts. But the crying was gone, as were all of the assorted little companion whispers. Without them, Grefe was a truly dead place. Any moment now. ¡°You¡­ You?¡± The voice boomed in the all-engulfing silence, its echoes spreading far. A young girl¡¯s shrill voice, laden with loathing and incredulous fury. Gone were the whispers. Gone was the bright light. It all began to dim, like a cloud passing over a perfectly nice day, darkening by the moment. Tallah glanced at the nearest spire. Shapes converged upon it, black eight-legged bodies crowding together to strangle the light. Tens of them, large and misshapen. It came again. Louder. ¡°You?! You should never have returned here!¡± ¡°I believe this place remembers you, old man. It doesn¡¯t seem to want you back.¡± Tallah tried to make light of the situation, but the light disappearing sent shivers down her back, a trickle of cold sweat turning her skin to gooseflesh. The accusing words moved and clustered, a hundred throats speaking from the lengthening black shadows to form an unintelligible gibbering. Vergil hunched low by the edge of the platform, axe in one hand, sword in the other. He let out a low growl as if smelling the threat on the air. A girl walked out of the shadows as if birthed by them. A frail, naked, raven-haired thing, emaciated to the point of skeletal, she walked with an odd, stumbling gait. Bright eyes shone beneath a mess of wispy hair tangled up with webs. An accusing finger pointed at Ludwig. ¡°You came back to see what your treachery has wrought?¡± she asked with a voice that echoed unnaturally throughout the shadows. Sil drew close against Tallah¡¯s back and Vergil barred the girl¡¯s way towards Ludwig. They stared at one another in defiant silence. His axe flashed in a perfect arc and the girl¡¯s head burst into pieces. Ludwig screamed and collapsed, brought out of his stupor by the violence. Vergil swung again but the corpse moved back with unnatural speed, breaking apart even as it ran. Flesh hardened into chitin, limbs split into clawed multi-jointed legs, and a white spider bled bright-red ichor as it limped away from the possessed boy. A gasp from Sil had Tallah turning around and swinging her own sword. It clanked against the claws of a black spider as tall as she, stopping a killing blow as Sil swung her staff at it to no effect. Unleash me, Bianca urged. Two things happened at once. Tallah pulled Sil out of the way of the monster rearing for a second blow and a kinetic burst blasted the thing back into the abyss. More skittered over the edge, a veritable tide of claws and black armoured bodies, all screaming with the girl¡¯s voice. Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation. Sil¡¯s sprite went up to show the beasts pouring in. She dragged Ludwig to his feet and encased both of them behind invisible walls. Good. Even panicked, her training and experience shone past the terror. Tallah put Sil out of mind for the time being and motioned for Vergil next to her. ¡°Break them,¡± she ordered. A growl answered her command as Vergil threw himself into the melee, howling with bloodlust. Bianca anchored her to the stone and thrust her kinesis forward in a sweeping heave. Spiders staggered. Tallah stepped in with her blade, its heated edge backed by Bianca¡¯s kinetic push, cutting clean through the first beast that lunged. Ichor boiled, erupting into foul steam as she carved it in two. Vergil kicked at a rearing spider as tall as he, smashed in its eyes with the back of his axe, and ran it through with his sword. Tallah felt the wind of his movement in her blind side. His roar of joy mingled with the ghost wail of a spider dying to his axe. Another kinetic push and stagger, another creature cleaved in two, legs cut off and twitching on the floor. Vergil took out one more, and another. He was everywhere at her flanks, slashing, clubbing, kicking and punching. Whispers of his axe passed by her ear more than once and the crunch of its bite drew out more death screams from creatures Tallah was too slow to see. Shapes and shadows bled into one another as the spiders kept coming. No matter how many she threw off the platform they would not stop. All of them ignored her as they made for Sil and Ludwig. Firefly after firefly flew and popped in eyes and joints, showering them all in sticky gore. As quick as she and Christina could make them, it wasn¡¯t enough to even staunch the tide. Tallah took a risk. She threw Vergil forward into the flow and bought herself heartbeats to weave. He more than relished the overwhelming odds. ¡°Blasted things.¡± She wove illum tightly around her fingers and focused her anger as a magnifying glass. ¡°Bugger off.¡± The first heat lance punched through a whole line of spiders. They screamed in unison as they died. She took careful aim and fired off again, killed and immediately drew back the heat before fire could spread. Dying wails filled the air and the tide¡¯s attention turned to her. A sweep of her hand turned an entire wave into screaming husks. Vergil ducked and sprawled on his stomach to launch himself forward again the moment the scream returned. ¡°Behind you!¡± Sil screamed. Tallah was too slow to react and got dragged down by one unseen. It clawed and bit at her, too many legs everywhere seeking for a gap in her armour and her defence. Sil¡¯s wail cut through the chaos. Tallah got a glimpse as she was pulled down atop the creature. White spiders swarmed the healer, passing right through her barriers. Sil batted at them with her staff to no effect. Heat washed down Tallah¡¯s sides. Blood gushed from a wound that suddenly occupied her entire attention. She laboured to rise to her feet. Vergil kicked the spider off her. He too was bloodied and yelling ragged rallying cries in his odd language. Spiders rushed them. It was all Tallah could do to find her feet in the maelstrom, to fire off another heat lance. Something raged in the corner of her vision. A spider leapt from the throng, ablaze in phosphorous-white heat. The old man! That old fool threw fireballs at the encroaching beasts. Webs caught the flame and burned in a burst of light, heat and smoke choking the air with their foulness. The old fool¡¯s going to kill us all, Bianca complained. Fire encircled them and raced across the webs. Sil screamed again and Tallah spared a worried glance at her friend. The white spiders were upon her, clawing at her feet, trying to drag her down into the web. She couldn¡¯t see Ludwig in the chaos. Vergil clambered over the still twitching husks that piled around them and threw himself forward, axe and blade swinging down with methodical brutality. He smashed into one of Sil¡¯s barriers and let out a stream of invective as he pounded on it. Pay attention, please. Bianca finally got her airborne and in a heartbeat Tallah had a better look of their odds. They were terrible. The webs around the platform were black with shapes, some on fire, most just marching grimly towards the focus of their fury. A mound of bodies signalled where Ludwig fought for his life. What she needed was to get them all away from the platform and gain breathing room before the smoke choked them. Her aerum vial was at her hip but it wouldn¡¯t do her any good in this chaos of fighting. Vergil had found his way to Sil¡¯s side, a storm of violence that cleaved anything that neared the reach of his weapons. His clothes and the webs on them were stained red with blood. He wouldn¡¯t last much longer either. Brace, Bianca ordered. She did. Her muscles bunched painfully as a complex weave formed around her, lashing her to the platform and its statues. With a mental heave, Bianca pulled with all her strength on the nearest column, yanking it with a deafening crash from its socket. A tonne of stone if not more, it floated up into the air, its shadow staggering the spiders¡¯ advance. Tallah, in the centre of the web of power, was pulled apart by the titanic forces Bianca commanded. Just holding the damned thing in the air flooded her mind with endless alien equations that made her head spin. Bianca slammed the column into the platform with the force and grace of a meteor. It crushed bodies to paste and sheared clear through one side of the structure. Statues and platform tumbled together into the web beneath, ripped through, and fell into the abyss. A rain of black bodies followed. The cloud of dust kicked up was thick as smoke and stung Tallah¡¯s eyes and throat. She gracelessly fell back into the melee, Bianca rallying to draw in more power after the effort. For now she would rely on her sword arm. In the new chaos, she fought by feel and remembered sight. Spiders reared up to her and she burned them, risking more and more as she tried to reach Sil. Rhine was at her side, silent in her haunting, a spider coming into every spot she manifested. Underfoot, the platform shifted and teetered dangerously, still held up by is supports, but damaged enough that it would sway and crack, its edges crumbling away. She nearly lost her footing as another spider clambered up her side to try a fresh bite. It didn¡¯t the get a chance as her sword plunged through an eye and punched out the other side. ¡°Sil! Where are you?¡± she called out. Dust choked her breath and smoke brought tears into her eyes. A scream answered, but far to the side and away from the direction she¡¯d been fighting in. Bugger! She stumbled when clambering over a corpse, a hand grasping at her trousers. Ludwig reached out from beneath a dead monster, eyes white with shock and fear. She hauled him from beneath the crushing weight and stabbed behind him at the spider that tried biting into the old fool. No time to berate him for his actions now. She prodded Bianca and was answered by a weary sigh. One last, powerful push and then the ghost would be as useless to her as Christina. She took the chance. The force of the push radiating outward blasted away the dust and smoke and any spiders that still clung to the edges of the crumbling platform. Flames sputtered out and light blinded her for a moment. Sil and Vergil were nowhere in sight. Chapter 2.07.1: Nothing gained Four men had been found unconscious at their posts. None harmed in any other obvious way aside from being knocked senseless. They all had no recollection of events. Quistis handed them over to the Sisters¡¯ ministrations just in case. Now Barlo made his report on what they had to say upon being cleared by lady Aliana of Tohman. ¡°Did they remember anything?¡± she asked. Not likely. But one never knew. ¡°All normal in the watch. No movement. No visits. Regular night. All report the same. One moment everything fine, the next waking in the Sisters¡¯ care, confused but otherwise unharmed.¡± Barlo set his full report on her desk and crossed his arms. ¡°No victims. No blood. No clues. Nicely done.¡± Quistis yawned while skimming the document. It was all neatly written in Barlo¡¯s impeccable hand but mostly there for bureaucracy¡¯s sake. Nothing to suggest who the attacker might have been. The why of it was rather simpler and needed neither of them voicing it. ¡°Aye. Straight into the Commander¡¯s bedchamber. Colour me impressed.¡± Barlo looked anything but happy, a dark frown creasing his already craggy face. ¡°I¡¯ll form up a squad and see about kicking some doors down.¡± ¡°You¡¯ll do nothing of the sort.¡± Quistis filed away the scroll and finished writing her own report, rising from the desk to don her cloak. ¡°You¡¯re with me for the day and the foreseeable future. I want Rumi on this.¡± That got her a raised eyebrow and a confused tilt of the head from the large vanadal but no comment. ¡°And get Vial to offer her support,¡± she went on, absentmindedly checking her schedule. Her plaques should be done by now and they would be heavy to carry. ¡°Ye¡¯re taking Rumi¡¯s claws away?¡± Barlo now stood to attention, large hands behind his back, small on his daggers. Ever the obedient soldier, she liked how easily he rallied to changes in structure. For now, she needed someone that could keep up with her mood. Two empty mugs littered her desk, dried up dregs on their bottom. When had she had the second cup? Beginning of the night? Earlier? No matter. Her heart rate was elevated enough even without drinking more of the poison. A bit of air was just the thing. The vanadal¡¯s surly, reliable presence steadied her mood. ¡°I need Aidan for something else and can¡¯t waste him on a goose chase. Come.¡± She swept past him into the hallway and down the narrow flight of stairs, out into morning¡¯s soft light. The new day looked wretched to her with nary a cloud in the sky and barely any wind, a far cry from the storms of early-Winter. One of those would¡¯ve fit nicely in her schedule just then. Had she slept at all since the attack? She supposed she must¡¯ve dozed off at some point but for the life of her she couldn¡¯t remember when or if. ¡°Ye don¡¯t seem terribly concerned about this breach of security we¡¯ve just had.¡± He was at her back, talking as casually as if they were discussing the weather. Well, she supposed, they pretty much were. Anti-empire sentiment was as common as snow in Winter in a free city like Valen. In Drack it could cost your head to comment on the empress, and a brazen attack like this would¡¯ve led to exactly what Barlo had suggested. People would have swung for old crimes just to make the point. ¡°I¡¯m not concerned at all,¡± she admitted. ¡°Why would I be?¡± Morning smelled of so many things in the crisp chill of late Winter, but mostly of fresh bread. It made her stomach grumble, aware that she¡¯d barely eaten in the day since the attack, but she wanted things in order before she sat down for breakfast. Dinner? Both? Crossing the courtyard, she caught a glimpse of the changes she insisted on in the Citadel¡¯s watch. Two soldiers at each ingress point, two more watching from above and watching each other. Redundancy introduced, schedules shifted, people completely swapped out and around their duties. Rumi would be doing random check-ins. Not something a dedicated invasion force wouldn¡¯t be able to handle, given time and opportunity, but enough to deter another mishap. Barlo fell in next to her, silently eyeing the same preparations. ¡°Sneaking into the Lord Commander¡¯s own bedchamber without a drop of spilled blood issa rather hard message to ignore,¡± he rumbled. A slight hint of disapproval was all the protest he offered. ¡°I imagine that¡¯s not something we should be shrugging off. The Commander¡¯s been chasing that Crepuscular for a full day straight now.¡± ¡°Of course. He should be back by now I imagine. Could you do what that Crepuscular did?¡± ¡°Of course.¡± ¡°Could Vial or Aidan?¡± This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. ¡°Not bloodless, no. I reckon Aidan would choose not to leave a single warm body and call that the message.¡± ¡°There you go.¡± More silence followed as they crossed the still frozen grounds. Some minders spread salt and sand across the main thoroughfares in anticipation of the daily bustle. Their Storm Guards were already out and exercising in the chill, thick clouds rising from laboured breaths as they trained in full armour. ¡°Get the right information, the right tools for the job, the opportunity, and you can topple an empire that spans a world,¡± Quistis mused. ¡°Use them to scribble nonsense on a ceiling and all you¡¯ve achieved is arming your enemy with forewarning. So again, why would I be concerned?¡± ¡°Ye concern me sometimes, Quis.¡± He bellowed some instructions at a pack of fresh recruits. Vial was out with them, overseeing their sparring. Quistis waved him over. ¡°Why is that?¡± she asked as they waited. Something could worry Barlo. She found it amusing that it was she of all people. ¡°Blood¡¯s colder than mine. Rare in a human. Bloody terrifying if I may be candid.¡± She didn¡¯t argue, only signalled for Vial to be at ease. ¡°Have you seen the Commander?¡± she asked. ¡°I expected him back by now.¡± ¡°Haven¡¯t yet, but we did see lightning striking at the Agora when out on the morning run. Sporadic clashes all of yesterday but no call for support. I think he¡¯s given up the chase and is returning on foot.¡± ¡°Good. Relay that I want him to get breakfast first, coffee second, and then I want a word with all of us in the afternoon.¡± She handed over his orders. ¡°I¡¯m assigning you to Rumi. She will be investigating this breach until we either have a head on a spike or a good, strong lead. See that she doesn¡¯t bloody anyone needlessly. Falor will sign the order when you show it to him.¡± ¡°Aye, ma¡¯am. Where will you be? The Commander¡¯s bound to ask after you if you don¡¯t run into each other.¡± She sighed and her breath misted white in the clear air. ¡°Barlo and I will be following up on the Cinder investigation. I don¡¯t aim to let that slip my grasp due to another surprise. I¡¯m sick up to here of distractions. We¡¯re getting the plaques today. Barlo¡¯s my minder.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll get a squad leader for the lads then go and find Rumi. Will that be all, ma¡¯am?¡± ¡°Yes. See to it, please.¡± The mood in Valen was jovial even with celebrations mercifully winding down. Early-morning songs echoed from bars. A crispness in the air itself. The intoxicating scents on the wind, of baking apples and cinnamon rolls. Stalls mushroomed on corners now that the worst of the blizzards had ebbed and some of the passes had reopened. They passed an elend selling watered-down coffee. The sniff of it made her mouth water. Valen¡¯s biggest terror, the one most hated woman in the city¡¯s long history, had come back and got herself beaten down before she could inflict another grievous wound. Falor¡¯s name would be in songs for centuries to come and Quistis would be surprised if that statue of him wasn¡¯t already being erected somewhere. ¡°Yer lady chose a good time to come,¡± Barlo said. ¡°Never seen the place so spirited.¡± They joined the queue waiting for the lift to finish its return trip from the Lower City, their crest assuring them a front spot. Quistis forced her mood into trying to enjoy the moment and not think of the issues at hand. She failed. An invasion into Falor¡¯s quarters would, inevitably, leak and there would be talk. This fragile peace would strain then, the hero thwarted and caught with his knickers down¡ª ¡°Imagine how they¡¯ll all sing once they learn the Commander¡¯s beaten off another attacker. Naked, no less.¡± She looked up at Barlo, drawn out of her brooding. ¡°What? But he didn¡¯t¡­¡± ¡°Don¡¯t matter if he did or didn¡¯t. Someone attacked ¡®im in bed and got kicked in the teeth. Commander¡¯s alive and well, not even nicked. I tell ye. He¡¯s set to becoming a true Valen hero. Makes ye wonder if the empress planned it when she sent us here.¡± ¡°Kiss-ass,¡± she muttered. ¡°What got you so cheerful?¡± Barlo only tapped the hilts of his curved swords, his atagans. Even the dull knobs on the ends gleamed like a polished mirror. ¡°Got favoured. Hard to be sour. Curious why ye¡¯re in a mood. Lady Panacea don¡¯t come down that often, and certainly not on a night when the Heir to the Empire banishes the Bane of the Empire back into the shadows.¡± Quistis winced and scowled up at him. ¡°Please don¡¯t use those titles. People will overhear and parrot. And you know the Commander hates the melodrama.¡± She looked around and, sure enough, there were some gawking merchants and their haulers just a few steps away, waiting for the same ride down. She gave them a glare, daring them to repeat the two monikers. All avoided her gaze. ¡°And anyway, the last time the Lady came down, she started a war. Garet burned all Summer until Wither rains and the empress¡¯s peacekeepers got to it. I¡¯m amazed not more people are wary of what her coming may mean. People read into omens.¡± The lift ground to a halt, stopping with a hiss of steam. They packed in together with a host of merchants and adventurers almost too drunk to stay on their feet. She scrunched up her nose at them, displeased at how they spent their Summer-time earnings while cooped up for Winter. Work for them would pick up soon and Valen would breathe again more easily. ¡°And then Garet banned healers from its walls. The edict still stands, did you know?¡± She went on even if Barlo hadn¡¯t said anything else on the subject ¡°Aye. Dullards cut off their noses to spite their face. Still, chin up. Thaw¡¯s on the horizon. We may finally move on.¡± Quistis¡¯s wet boots and sodden socks disagreed with his optimistic sentiment, and she along with them. It was still a long time to Thaw and she wasn¡¯t certain she liked this cheerful Barlo much. She preferred someone sharing her surly mood but it seemed Cassandra¡¯s coming had lit a fire in the vanadal warrior. The city¡¯s joyful mood infected him too, and annoyed her. The blue sky above Valen vanished as they fell between the tallest of the Lower City¡¯s red-roofed buildings, the lift¡¯s carriage gently slowing to a halt with the same, predictable hiss of escaping steam. As the cage opened she found herself locking eyes with a painted-face man. She took in the two colours on his features, gold and red, and immediately groaned. The man grinned upon noticing her. Chapter 2.07.2: The harvest comes ¡°Greetings upon you, servant,¡± he said in the most asinine Imperial accent Quistis had ever heard outside of the Rian idiocy. Three others flanked him, all dressed in thick furs, with the telltale colour scheme slathered on their faces. Ort¡¯s own immortal clergy. Rare sight outside of Aztroa Magnor. The last people she wanted to see within her city¡¯s walls. ¡°Greetings, painted one.¡± She meant to step out of the cage and pass by, but all four formed up to bar her way. They all openly bore a sickle and scythe gleaming at their waists. The one that had greeted her, a tall, brawny human with a shaved head that showed off a complex tattoo of text, stepped forward to come nearly chest-to-chest with her. She had to crane her neck to meet his piggish black eyes. Barlo tensed behind and she heard the whisper of his swords being drawn. She signalled him to calm with a gesture above her shoulder. Touching one of the painted morons without direct provocation was a straight, one-way route to the dungeons beneath Aztroa¡¯s Crown and not even Falor could protect him from his mother¡¯s wrath. The rest of the crowd in the carriage drew back and muttered their obedience to the priesthood. Fools. ¡°This isn¡¯t Aztroa Magnor, painted one,¡± she said to the leader. ¡°Whatever you mean by barring my way, I suggest you reconsider.¡± ¡°Why did she come, servant? Why was she here?¡± the man asked. His accent made her ears itch. ¡°Why the Goddess chooses to do what she does is her business alone. Certainly not for me to assume on, or for you to know.¡± She met his eyes easily and offered her most bored expression of pure disdain. Was he stupid enough to pull a weapon on her? His knuckled going white on the hilts of his tools suggested he was. ¡°Draw those here and you may learn why I am unimpressed by their sight.¡± Even Ort¡¯s clergy weren¡¯t allowed to openly air blades in Valen, a fact the empress was keenly aware of. If this man was fool enough to disobey the rule of law in a free city, he would discover that it was terribly difficult to be immortal and have a sickle shoved up the arse. No healer from there to the ends of Edana would bestow even an itch salve on him. Barlo was right at her back, a looming, reassuring presence, waiting for the smallest slip from the four. ¡°When the Lord of Reaping comes for the Harvest, you will find your faith misplaced, servant,¡± the man droned. Quistis fought to restrain a yawn. This old lemon. The Harvest. The servant insult. Every small omen, portent, and imagined slight from one of Panacea¡¯s healers to Ort¡¯s priests would always and invariably lead to confrontations of the stupidest order. She had no patience for this fool but did wonder where he¡¯d come from. It was a near season¡¯s travel to Aztroa and the iron road barely ran in Winter¡­ so where were they from? She tapped the emblazoned fist on her chest. ¡°One servant of the enlightened empire to another, painted one. This is not the time or place for old grudges. Behave, for you are abroad.¡± The priest¡¯s eyes flickered to the symbol. Falor¡¯s crest. A look at Barlo cemented his hesitation and cloaks were tightened, tools hidden from view. Quistis took a step forward and almost trod over his boots. The other men drew aside for her to pass, undisguised hatred burning in their eyes. She let it wash over and marched out into the small lift plaza. A crowd had swarmed while they¡¯d been stalled and, of course, people muttered about the exchange. By this time tomorrow there would be a hundred idiot rumours flying around the city on wings of assumption and hearsay. Lovely. ¡°Two men on them, please, after we get back,¡± she said as Barlo came to walk besides her. ¡°I doubt they¡¯d make themselves hard to find.¡± ¡°Aye. The stupid crawl out after a fine day of too much wine and food,¡± he grumbled. ¡°Long way to Garet. Longer still to Aztroa.¡± ¡°My feelings exactly. I want to know where the dullards came from, and why they¡¯re even here.¡± They¡¯d barely passed the threshold into the new season cycle and here was another problem for her to worry over. She added it to her checklist. Four men weren¡¯t an issue worth much attention, but she would prefer maintaining Valen¡¯s good humour for a while longer. It would keep Diogron off her back and out of her office, and that was worth some bother. With the empire¡¯s promise fulfilled¡ªFalor had seen to it with aplomb¡ªshe echoed Barlo¡¯s feeling that it was only a matter of time before they were redeployed somewhere more relevant. If she could tie up loose ends by Thaw she would leave happily. The Lower City celebrated after its own fashion. Streets were clean-swept and salted, the aromas of home baking masked the lingering scent of ash, and the crowds surged in the respite before the next storm. Many headed to the gates, likely to join the effort to clear the roads to the closest villages and deliver much needed help to those that struggled. She recognized some of her own off-duty men leading the efforts. It put the four out of her mind as they shouldered their way through narrow alleys, skirting the wider Agora ring where she expected murderous crowding on such a fine day. The Artisan¡¯s Small Corner, a triangular intersection of alleyways with an uneven arrangement of narrow-built storefronts, offered a breather from the crowds mulling just about everywhere else. ¡°Why him?¡± Barlo asked. They approached Laric¡¯s Illustrations, a white-walled shop with colourful letters stencilled just above the door. A far cry from the artisans plying their skills near the Guild. ¡°He¡¯s reliable and he¡¯s discreet.¡± ¡°Same could be said of most of the ones at the Guild.¡± ¡°And they report everything to Lucian. I don¡¯t want his greasy little fingers on anything of interest for us. Not now.¡± She scowled at him, reminded of his and Rumi¡¯s cock up from earlier in the season. ¡°I could break them fingers,¡± Barlo deadpanned. ¡°I¡¯d rather you didn¡¯t. It¡¯s enough that Rumi gave him a black eye and a split lip.¡± She opened the door but tarried on the threshold to berate him. ¡°You were right there, Barlo. You could have stopped her. Do you know how much he charges me now for information? Bastard likes to pretend to lisp now.¡± Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. Barlo followed her in, having to stoop and enter sideways to fit through the door. ¡°Was amusing watching him try his shtick with her. Deserved what he got.¡± ¡°It was stupid you mean. Anyways, Laric¡¯s a good sort. Don¡¯t scare him.¡± The elend Laric pretended not to have overheard the conversation on his doorstep. He smiled politely from behind an easel set in the one corner of the room that got a semblance of natural light, waiting for Quistis to pull off her cloak and set it near the fireplace to dry. ¡°Good morning, Captain Quistis,¡± the artisan chirped. ¡°Lovely day this late in Winter, yes?¡± Quistis couldn¡¯t see what he was working on and she respectfully did not get in his light. ¡°Lovely as a stubbed toe, Laric. But I don¡¯t mean to burden you with my worries. How is the commission?¡± Laric raised a finger and refocused on his canvass, opalescent black eyes shining as his left hand worked with a tiny, needle-thin brush. Quistis shared a look with Barlo as both warmed by the hearth. Paintings hung on every wall of the cramped space and the heady smell of paint thinner badly needed airing out. Portraits of various people smiling serenely for the painter. Scenes of Valen life across the seasons. A riot of colours that hung on pegs or simply rested against walls, waiting for buyers. ¡°That looks awfully familiar,¡± Barlo said in a half-whisper. He pointed a meaty finger at a half-hidden portrait behind the artisan. Quistis didn¡¯t need to look at it to reply. ¡°Painted by Laric¡¯s father actually, at the behest of my mother. We were here for the Descent.¡± ¡°Didn¡¯t like it enough to buy?¡± ¡°The artist wasn¡¯t happy with this one. Didn¡¯t like the light. Asked my mother if he could try again. That second piece hangs back home, above the mantle.¡± ¡°Never knew ye had a sister.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t.¡± Barlo clamped up and Quistis felt terrible for her tone. But she wasn¡¯t here for ancient history and preferred it weren¡¯t dredged up. Sometimes she forgot that Laric kept that old thing around. She¡¯d asked him once to burn it and the artist hadn¡¯t spoken to her for an entire season. ¡°Right. Yes. Apologies.¡± Laric added finishing touches to the piece and swung his attention back to them. ¡°Yes, the commission is quite done. Let me get it for you.¡± Some rummaging in a backroom ended with him producing three vividly sculpted and painted plaques and their twins. One set for reference, second for mass printing by the Enginarium. The first she knew well. Cinder¡¯s likeness had been at one point plastered all over the empire. This new portrait was reconstructed based on old wanted posters as corrected by the soldiers that had seen her up-close, as well as Falor¡¯s observations. Older somewhat. Weary. Murder in her eyes. The second overlaid nearly perfectly over the Anna Theala forced remembrance. Head of blonde hair, high cheekbones, full lips, light blue eyes. Anywhere in the Empire she would stand out. As a channeller with access to Iliaya¡¯s Staff, the healer¡¯s age was impossible to determine but Quistis still estimated some late thirty Summers, give or take. At least for what Barlo and Rumi had seen of her sister, that seemed well within reason. The last set was nearly pointless. Nothing could be seen of the man wearing the horned helmet except grey eyes through the slit, and this according to Aidan. Young had been all the Rian could contribute beyond the eye colour. ¡°Good likeness,¡± Barlo said. He inspected each in turn while Laric wrapped the press plaques in expensive waxed paper. ¡°That helmet would¡¯ve drawn attention somewhere. Ye just don¡¯t see that kind of stupid often.¡± ¡°I take it you are happy with the work?¡± Laric grinned with the satisfaction of a job well done. ¡°Quite happy, yes. Fantastic as always.¡± ¡°Three griffons, as discussed, then.¡± Quistis paid him four. ¡°Not a word about this to anyone. If you have sketches, I want you to lock them up. Better yet, destroy them. We have an interest in these people.¡± ¡°You know me, Captain. Not a peep.¡± She smiled and signed her goodbye after the elend fashion, both hands pressed to the hollow of her chest, fingers intertwined, head inclined forward. ¡°Until next time, then.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t be a stranger, Captain. I look forward to finally painting your portrait.¡± She¡¯d be along some other time for a cup of tea with the artisan, when off-duty after everything settled. ¡°Someday soon, maybe.¡± They stepped out to a gust of wind which brought a powdering of snow from the rooftops. Quistis tightened her warmed-up cloak against it. Barlo raised his for her protection but she refused. The cold did her good, kept her mind sharp even as an edge of weariness worried at the corners of her mood. ¡°We will not circulate the Cinder plaque,¡± she said. ¡°I want some time to pass before we bring her back to the city¡¯s attention. We will send copies to the empire, in case she shows up there.¡± ¡°Aye. The other two?¡± ¡°Put them out separately and staggered. I don¡¯t want them associated together. Invent a crime and a name for each and have them circulated like that. It shouldn¡¯t be suggested that we have any special interest in them.¡± Barlo grunted his agreement. Falor would probably want things done the same way and, for the time being, leave the Cinder situation in her care regardless. He had plenty to deal with, especially once Diogron came out of his post-Descent stupor and the real damage assessment began. Valen loved the Commander but the Council would want to put a price on the destruction, haggling endlessly over every single detail, to the decimal point. They¡¯d been insistent on pulling in more empire support for their own troubles in the deeper countryside, and now had just the bargaining chip. Barlo nodded along but gave her a side glance. ¡°Yer keeping Rumi awful busy. First training the men, then checking the guard on the regular. Now on the Crepuscular look-out. How¡¯d she piss in yer coffee?¡± They rejoined the ebb and flow of traffic heading back up to the Citadel. He tugged her back by the cowl of her cloak before she walked out in front of a carriage rushing down the tracks. It passed by angrily, ringing its bell at her. ¡°Seems to me ye need some sleep, Captain.¡± ¡°I¡¯m fine. Was thinking.¡± ¡°Think yerself back to yer feet, then.¡± ¡°Anyway, Rumi¡¯s handled five other dissident cells before being assigned to us. This looks to be up her alley and it¡¯s work she likes.¡± She shuddered when thinking of the file she had on Rumi Belli. Even the ink stank of blood. ¡°I¡¯m more than happy to let her enjoy herself as long as she keeps away from the Aieni woman.¡± Cares bore down on the city, cold light filtered through a thin layer of clouds as the morning wore on. It dispelled some of the pooling shadows. Maybe it was her imagination, but she felt the caress of unseen eyes on the back of her head. She resisted the urge to look over her shoulder. If Barlo noticed anything, he didn¡¯t show it. ¡°Where¡¯s the nearest elend coffee place? Do you know?¡± ¡°Up the alley, two lefts, and ahead to the Greenwall. Place¡¯s on the corner, next to the cobbler. Mind yer pouch there.¡± ¡°Right. See about the posters and arrange the rest. I¡¯ll be along in a bit.¡± ¡°Aye, Captain.¡± If someone did try and move on her, she¡¯d feed them their teeth. Either she got coffee or she got violent. Regardless, she would feel better. Chapter 2.08.1: Like a castle of cards She is not dead, Christina said with more confidence than Tallah could muster. We would be feeling her passing. Be rational. ¡°If she resisted,¡± Tallah muttered under her breath. She picked her way through the rubble, mask off for a clearer look. Smoke dispersed in black wisps across the chasm. ¡°You can never be sure with her.¡± The spiders hadn¡¯t come back. Likely, they would wait in ambush somewhere deeper in, massed in strength now that they¡¯d tasted her fire. Charred chitin snapped as it cooled to embers in her wake. Sil¡¯s medicine bag lay discarded, caught haphazard against a jutting piece of masonry, its strap broken. Her friend must¡¯ve been grabbed and dragged away when Ludwig¡¯s smoke went up. They¡¯d also grabbed Vergil for some reason. He was more skin than meat and she hoped they¡¯d choke on his gangling bones. She is not dead. Christina was resolute in this. We know both sides of your affliction, Bianca and I, and we both feel nothing. The hen lives. Somewhere. Little comfort that, what with an entire city to search and the looming threat of nighttime encroaching. She wished she had asked Sil for a feedback loop built into the Vergil safeguard so she could find the bugger, but that would¡¯ve been capable of tracing back to her. She spat, bile rising in the back of her throat. Rhine regarded her from across the remains of the platform, gaunt-faced and dead-eyed, never seeming to move but still always in her line of sight. The wraith¡¯s glare cut through her guts and encouraged a growing panic. Cold sweat ran down her back as weariness wormed into the void left behind by the passing rush of battle. Ripped stitches in her side chaffed and throbbed as she cooled down. More little nicks and assorted scrapes begged for attention now, the pain distracting. Mertle had outdone herself in truth. Claws had snagged in trying to dig through her and those ghastly, impossible fangs had barely punctured her armour. They had made an admirable effort of it and, without Vergil fighting on her flank, she wasn¡¯t certain she¡¯d have pulled through quite so unscathed. She dug through Sil¡¯s satchel until she found the familiar green-hued purger and the amber-coloured healing draught. ¡°Are you hurt, old man?¡± ¡°No. I¡ª¡± Ludwig swallowed and approached unsteadily, looking abashed and sorrowful. ¡°Listen, Tallah, I¡¯m terribly sorry for what¡¯s happened to Miss Silestra. I-I¡ª¡± Tallah drank, wincing at the wave of nausea the purger produced. Yes, there had been something nasty in those bites. She rushed to the edge of the platform and vomited into the abyss, black bile heaving out in waves that weakened her knees and made the wounds unbearable. It took a long time and a long purge before she found the strength to down the second vial. ¡°That was terrible,¡± she groaned. Cuts painfully knitted together. Her head swam with exhaustion and worry, not helped in the least by Rhine¡¯s very presence. ¡°I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re talking about, old man. Use your words.¡± ¡°Well¡­ Silestra¡­ she¡¯s dead. Nobody survives these creatures once separated. I¡¯m so terribly sorry.¡± Tallah pushed herself straight and rolled her shoulders, starting to pull in illum again, straining at the effort. Not great. Not terrible. The power flowed into Grefe jagged and fragmented, like shards of glass with impossible cutting edges. Was what blocked her affliction also blocking illum flow, causing it to stagnate and mutate in here? No. That would be too neat an explanation. Might be what¡¯s causing your haunting, Christina offered her opinion. I simply cannot get rid of the apparition. I don¡¯t know what she is or where she¡¯s coming through. Might just¡­ ¡°Be a figment of my imagination,¡± Tallah completed the thought and waved Ludwig¡¯s questioning gaze away. ¡°Sil¡¯s not dead. We¡¯re going to find her.¡± ¡°Tallah, you must understand that she¡¯s passed. It¡¯s always happened like this.¡± ¡°Sil¡¯s not dead.¡± The repetition was for her own sake and conviction. If Grefe affected the pull of the soul binding and mutated illum in some fundamental way, who was to say that it wouldn¡¯t also change the nebulous rules of the empress¡¯s weave? Until she found two fresh corpses, Sil and Vergil were alive and awaiting rescue. Despite the power¡¯s odd nature, it replenished her handily. Oh, more than merely replenished. She had to stop drawing or burst with it. How had she not noticed this before? No matter. Something to think on later, after she got her wayward companions back. Ludwig looked sheepishly back at the entrance towards the inner city. She ripped open a rend and stashed Sil¡¯s supplies inside, only keeping a spare healing draught and an extra aerum. She¡¯d likely have need of both soon enough. This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. If the spiders made off with the healer they couldn¡¯t have gotten far. If Sil was conscious, she would call out eventually. Or signal somehow. The only way to be sure was to don the mask and watch for any disturbances. Which¡­ well, that was peculiar. Grefe¡¯s flow of illum was chaotic in itself but still predictable. Her own weave lingered, a stormy mess of patterns of fire and force vectors, drifting away on the invisible tides. That¡¯s what she expected, at least. These weren¡¯t here before, Bianca said. I drew in power after your flight in the maze. It was nothing like this. And we were already inside. A whole different weave plastered the air and travelled in a ragged line away from their position, cutting through the other currents in a riot of colours and hues that she¡¯d never seen before. This is what she¡¯d pulled in and what had felt so odd. Curious. It was a path. As clear as anything. It originated in the very spot where Sil had hunkered down with her protective barrier, ran up into the higher levels of the dwellings, and moved further into the city, in and out of the tenements. If a giant spider had been carrying one unconscious healer, their flight might have looked just like that. ¡°Sil?¡± It was not an uncommon thing for a weaker-willed channeller to leak illum when under duress, but she¡¯d never heard of a stream so dense and¡­ odd. ¡°Where? What do you mean?¡± Ludwig looked to her, confused. His own aura of power was a subdued trembling in the air, barely worth remarking on, all the signs evident of an unfocused ability. Age and carelessness had left their mark on what she saw in his strength now that she actually paid attention. ¡°Sil¡¯s left us a trail I believe.¡± It was already unravelling into ribbons of concentrated power that she didn¡¯t dare pull in again. Her store, Bianca¡¯s and Christina¡¯s already felt full to bursting out her eyes. A phantom sting in one informed that she had popped some blood vessel already. Best not to think about that. ¡°Are you certain?¡± Ludwig made no try to hide his disbelief. ¡°Better than going forward blind.¡± Rhine seemed intent on the trail of power, a thin hand cautiously caressing the jagged outline as if daring Tallah to follow. It was the first time the wraith had looked interested in something else aside from Tallah, and she was thankful for the respite from its baleful gaze. Christi, I need your strength. Are you well enough for a burst? She stepped to the edge of what remained of the terrace and looked to a cluster of dwelling hanging on a stalactite so large and intricately sculpted that it beggared belief. What do you mean to do? Reluctant strength flowed into her veins, Christina surrendering control with awkward grace. She still smarted from Falor¡¯s assault and would be a long time in recovering and rebuilding her wards and patterns. The binding on her back tightened painfully. Tallah only needed to send a message and make it explosively loud and crystal clear. She pointed three fingers forward and took aimed at the distant cluster shining resplendent in the multicoloured light. A wasteful pity but this transgression needed answering. ¡°What are you doing?¡± Ludwig looked from her to the distant fragment of Grefe. ¡°Do you mean to burn them out? All the way out there?¡± A Punishment? I see. Christina obliged her silent wish. A burst of Titan¡¯s Punishment shot from Tallah¡¯s fingers and tore across the divide. Grefe shook with the wound she carved into its distant flesh. The whole structure folded in on itself like a castle of cards, bursting to smoke and dust from within. It shook again, the beautifully sculpted columns reduced to motes, whatever it had contained for millennia riven to ashes. It all slowly, ponderously began to crack across the wound the bolt had inflicted. With a roar, the stalactite detached, crashing into the abyss with groans of anguished rock being reduced to nothing. Inhuman voices cried out in horror, a sign that something had been alive there. The old man gaped, his throat working uselessly for a long time before he found his tongue. ¡°Th-Th-This is a priceless city.¡± He ventilated on the edge of hysteria, voice squeaking. ¡°You mustn¡¯t destroy it. The em-empress¡­ Are you listening?¡± His mouth clamped shut with an audible click of teeth. Realisation dawned as he stared at her in mute horror. Internally, Christina sighed and produced a genuine feeling of pleasure that washed over them. Tallah wouldn¡¯t exert her again soon, but they¡¯d confirmed Falor hadn¡¯t maimed them quite as badly as feared. So I take it we¡¯re done trying to hide what we can really do? We¡¯ve announced our sins to the Professor quite clearly. Can I say ¡®Hi¡¯ now? Bianca snickered in the back of her mind. I¡¯ve a lifetime¡¯s worth of things to correct him on. They all chuckled stupidly and it did Tallah good to escape her own unease watching that part of the city finish shattering. No point in hiding her sins, not with danger like this stalking them. Ludwig would either fall in line with her, or he could face the black hordes alone. Made little difference. Bigger things to worry over at the moment. She followed the ethereal path as the rest of the stalactite tumbled into the depths. Its fall shook the floor, rattling ancient masonry and finally collapsing what remained of the platform. She didn¡¯t care. If Sil was conscious, she¡¯d understand and make preparations. Maybe the trail was something laid out by spiders to lead her into an ambush. Hard to imagine, seeing how they¡¯d need knowledge of the Ikosmenia first and an ability for illum manipulation that she¡¯d never even imagined. No. It would be too much of an absurd coincidence for the weave to originate with Sil and follow such a particular path for it to be unrelated, and instinct dictated that she was right. Anyway, forward. Her message had been simple and, if Ludwig assumptions of the creatures¡¯ intelligence was anywhere near accurate, it would be understood. ¡°I will destroy you,¡± her actions had proclaimed. They¡¯d taken two of hers. She¡¯d burn them to the very last eight-legged freak. Chapter 2.08.2: Careful what you wish for Vergil listened to the peter-patter rhythm of rain falling on the eaves of the Sizzling Boar. The Guild¡¯s bell tolled somewhere to the side, a late hour of the night when the flow of custom to the Boar diminished to a trickle. He liked listening to the rain and wincing as sheets of thunder sent the world vibrating, the narrow alley howling with echoes. Funny thing, though. He was certain he¡¯d counted more than eight bells. Even as lightning cracked the sky and thunder rumbled unhappily, the bell kept on tolling. And tolling. And getting louder by the strike, the sound booming now above the rattle of rain. Something slammed him awake with the suddenness of a flash of lightning. He fell out of the memory into a pounding headache that set fireworks behind his eyes. ¡°Wake up, you skin-bag of useless bones!¡± He recognized the voice, made almost incoherent by the great tolling of the bell still pounding his brain into mush. In the pitch black it seemed to be coming from somewhere beneath him, but the¡ª ¡°Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!¡± The bell insisted, each tolling turned to a physical blow to the side of his head. It stopped. Ragged, sobbing gasps of breath replaced it and he could think for a moment. ¡°Sil?¡± he asked. His throat was parchment dry and it took several attempts before his voice managed shaping the syllable. No matter how he blinked and moved his head, the darkness wouldn¡¯t go away. Insane messages crowded up in his vision, bright red against the black, garbled and chaotic. They made even less sense than Argia usually did. ¡°You¡¯re awake!¡± Sil¡¯s voice sounded terrible in the dark. Was the healer moving? Why so much? It made him dizzy to try and pin her position. ¡°You¡¯re alive. Oh my soul, you¡¯re alive.¡± Coming and going like the unhinged swing of a pendulum. Vergil licked his lips and felt them cracked and tasting of dried blood. His nose was stuffed with crusts and he could barely breathe. Worse yet, his head was filled with gauze, thoughts slow and confused. Trying to marshal any sort of wit was akin to wading through thigh-high mud. Something took hold of his head and pulled sideways. He tried to raise an arm to protect himself but could barely move one. Both were pinned to his chest, stuck tight there by some unseen force. ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± he asked, panic rising. ¡°I can¡¯t move. I can¡¯t see.¡± ¡°This will hurt a bit¡­ I think. Sorry.¡± ¡°What¡ª¡± Another tolling of the bell and his helmet twisted around, painfully mangling one ear. Light flooded through its visor. ¡°Bugger.¡± Sil¡¯s voice went sideways. The world spun and swayed sickeningly. It was also upside-down, tilted at a strange angle. It took some time before the whole place stopped bucking and throwing him about. Someone seized his waist in a tight embrace and gently stilled him. ¡°You¡¯ll need to make due with your helmet like that,¡± Sil said. Her breathing was loud and pained. Vergil craned his neck to get a better view of their predicament. ¡°I¡¯m upside-down.¡± Thoughts tried filtering through his blood-heavy skull. ¡°Yes. And we¡¯re both swaddled in spider shit. You have one arm almost free and Tallah¡¯s sword stuck to your stomach. Got all that?¡± He swung his head around, trying for a better view and maybe drain some room in there for thinking. All he could see was that Sil held on to him with her knees, and a whole mess of red staining her clothes. Too much red. ¡°You¡¯re bleeding.¡± ¡°Yes, I am. I don¡¯t want to think about it. You need to get us down.¡± ¡°Are you all right?¡± ¡°No, you imbecile, I¡¯m not. Get us down.¡± How would he even go about doing that? ¡°Why me?¡± ¡°Because I don¡¯t have any arm free. Your right¡¯s nearly free and the sword should be in reach.¡± He looked up and regretted it the very next moment. This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it. ¡°We¡¯re high up.¡± ¡°We¡¯re very high up, yes,¡± she confirmed. ¡°I don¡¯t know how long we¡¯ve been here but those monsters may return any moment. We need to do something and get down.¡± He tried moving his arm. ¡°Well, bring the dwarf. He¡¯s strong.¡± ¡°I can¡¯t or I would¡¯ve.¡± Right. Perfect time. He couldn¡¯t remember anything about what had got him into this particular situation and forced the recollection out of mind. More urgent things to consider, such as Argia¡¯s increasingly alarming messages. Lovely. Argia was having a stroke for some reason. No help there. How to get down? What would Tallah do? Tallah would use her monstrous strength and be down on the ground without breaking a sweat. No help from that line of thinking either. Like wondering about what a single-minded storm would do. ¡°Where¡¯s the sword?¡± Sil didn¡¯t answer. Was the pressure of her knees around his waist slackening? ¡°Sil? Answer, please.¡± ¡°Across your stomach.¡± ¡°Hilt?¡± ¡°Near left hip.¡± Her voice sounded hoarse and strained, like she¡¯d been crying. A sudden flash of Sidora behind black bars, hateful curses on her tongue, all directed at him with the same tone of voice. Cold sweat broke against his back and he was shunted into himself properly, wide awake in terror of remembering something that had never happened. He groped for the blade, arm barely moving from the shoulder down. Twice he was sure his fingers had touched the naked blade. The third time he managed to wrap them around its leather-dressed hilt. What a change having a weapon in hand made for his confidence. ¡°I have it,¡± he said. ¡°I¡¯ll try to pull it free.¡± ¡°Just do it. I need to dress your wounds.¡± Well that sounded jolly. The concern in Sil¡¯s voice and how she wasn¡¯t using magic to do it got him a fresh surge of adrenaline to work with. His own words to Tallah echoed in the depths of memory. If you or Sil get hurt wherever we go, I¡¯ll become a liability. Here was the chance to prove himself wrong. Careful what you wish for or you might find yourself hanging upside down in a fantasy city filled with murderous creatures. ¡°Did we find bigger spiders?¡± he asked. Hard to imagine they¡¯d been dragged all the way here by a swarm of those small ones that Tallah kept popping. ¡°Yes. And you don¡¯t want them coming back. Get moving.¡± It was easy enough to get the sword free after undoing the clasps of his chest piece. Cutting away at the fucking sticky webs without stabbing himself, not quite so simple. A complicated dance, wiggle, and flailing later, he got his other arm free. Sil held on to him through it all and that helped him twist around to grab hold of the line holding him aloft. It was as thick as any rope he¡¯d ever seen, and looked twice as difficult to cut. His head pounded as blood drained away and the red haze began to clear from the edges of his vision. He ignored the worrying messages from Argia for fear of crumpling in panic otherwise. They¡¯d been swaddled in silk and hung from the arms of some statue decorating the chamber¡¯s high ceiling. A vein of crystal shone dimly above, soft light spilling down to show his circumstances. They¡¯d been brought into a kind of wide, circular storeroom dotted with windows and exits. Webs and dust covered the walls, and ancient pottery was strewn about on the floor. Chests, books, and other assorted knick-knacks were unrecognisable under the patina of age. Could have been any place in Grefe from what he¡¯d seen of the city so far, except that a look out the high-arched windows showed a view of an opposite wall dressed in buildings. They were someplace deep into the city, away from the naked chasm, in one of the ravines. Sil looked ashen-faced, cheeks and lips near parchment white. Silk bound her arms tight to her body and a bright red blotch seeped through her side. Beads of blood dripped off into a worrying puddle beneath them. ¡°I can¡¯t cut you loose like this.¡± They swayed too much whenever he tried to move and he worried that he might accidentally cut her. By her pallor and breathing, she had lost enough blood without him adding to the toll. ¡°I can cut you down. Will you be alright if I do that?¡± He grabbed hold of her line and she relaxed her grip on him. They swayed ominously for a few heartbeats more. ¡°Just cut me down before I hurl again. Be careful you don¡¯t fall on your sword afterwards.¡± A tremor shook them and a flash of light flooded into their dimly-lit room, followed by world-shattering noise that brought down cascades of dust. Echoes screamed through Grefe for a long time before the city resettled into its eerie silences. ¡°What was that?¡± Vergil asked, holding on to Sil for dear life. ¡°What do you think? That¡¯s Tallah. She¡¯s going to level the city looking for us.¡± ¡°She¡¯d do that?¡± ¡°You have no idea. Get us down.¡± If anything, the prospect of rescue blanched Sil. He cut the thick rope holding her with a clean sweep and she dropped like a stone to the floor beneath, sprawling in a spattered puddle of blood. How high up were they really? Too late to think on that. He waited with bated breath for her to move. After what seemed like an eternity, she did, rolling to her side awkwardly to get away from his fall. A deep breath. A slow swing away from Sil. A clean swipe of the sword and Vergil fell. The distance to the floor suddenly seemed much longer than he¡¯d imagined prior. He shut his eyes to the ground¡¯s rapid approach and braced. Air burst out of him on impact and his helmet hit the stones with a dull clang and a flurry of Argia messages. Blessed dark took him. Chapter 2.08.3: What can we find thats worse? Heartbeats later, when he managed to gasp in a breath and open his eyes, Sil loomed over him, as much as anyone could loom while down on their knees. ¡°Cut me out,¡± she said, mismatched eyes pinning his. ¡°Give me a moment,¡± he croaked back. ¡°Now, Vergil. Move.¡± ¡°Right.¡± How long had the drop been? Every little bit of him protested as he tried to roll over and get up. Argia tried to announce something but he couldn¡¯t read whatever the headware had to say just then. ¡°This smarts.¡± He struggled to grip the sword again. He¡¯d fallen on his left arm and it now hurt like all buggering Hell as he tried to clutch it against his chest. Hopefully not broken, but Sil could fix him. ¡°You¡¯re still bleeding.¡± It took some effort to free Sil¡¯s hands and she immediately reached out a hand in what Vergil could recognise as her way of opening a Rend. She flinched back and shook her fingers as if bitten by something, then tried again. ¡°Sil?¡± ¡°Shut up. Let me focus.¡± Sweat beaded on her pale face and she seemed faint as she forced herself. Sweat then turned to blood. ¡°Sil! Stop. You¡¯re bleeding.¡± She ignored him, gritted her teeth, and a small black portal opened up at her fingertips. She reached in and snatched a small bundle bound in cloth before the thing fizzed out of existence. ¡°Not what I wanted.¡± She grimaced in misery and cradled her hand and bundle to her chest. ¡°We¡¯ll manage¡­¡± ¡°You can¡¯t channel?¡± ¡°Doesn¡¯t take a genius to see that. I can¡¯t heal us. Help me open this. My arm hurts too much to move.¡± They kneeled around the small reserves she¡¯d managed to retrieve. The bundle contained thread, two hooked needles, two flasks of some solutions, and a single healing draught. Vergil was slowly becoming aware of the throb in his side and the worrying amount of red in his peripheral vision. He avoided looking down. ¡°Drink the draught,¡± she ordered him. ¡°Give me the rest.¡± ¡°No. You drink it. You¡¯re the one bleeding.¡± Sil took the vial and tackled him without warning. ¡°I don¡¯t have the time for this.¡± She clamped a hand over his mouth and two fingers forced open his lips. Before he could shake her off¡ªand she was so much stronger than he ever thought she could be¡ªshe poured the draught straight down his throat, nearly drowning him in the process. Her fingers went away and the heel of her palm pressed up on his chin, forcing him to swallow and choke. Shock followed and so much fresh pain. His jaw locked up and his back arched with sudden spasms. He blacked out with what felt like someone cutting into his side with a saw. When he came to, Sil was still atop him, her hands under his head, her eyes cold and pitiless as she regarded him. ¡°Awake?¡± He nodded slowly. No healing potion had ever done that. They weren¡¯t supposed to hurt. ¡°What was that?¡± ¡°You ask a lot of pointless questions.¡± She pulled her hands away from under his head and he was thankful for the coolness of the rock. Her knuckles were scraped bloody as she shook them. ¡°Lie still and don¡¯t move. You were hurt bad.¡± ¡°Your potions never hurt before.¡± ¡°They¡¯re not really potions, Vergil. That would suggest something magical about them. The correct term is accelerant. Drinking one forces you into healing, but it¡¯s your body doing it. You were never hurt as badly as you were now to feel the real kick.¡± And he¡¯d drank so many of these things without ever knowing what they actually did. He tried to rise but weariness was set in his bones. Even moving an arm took a grand effort of will. ¡°Lie down and wait for the effect to pass. You¡¯ve the Goddess¡¯s own blessed luck to be alive considering the state they¡¯ve left you in.¡± He groped to his waist and his trembling hand came away blood-slick. There was a rend in his gambeson as if something had tried to bite a chunk out of him. Some kind of teeth were lodged in the threads of his chain-link undershirt. Tummy¡¯s armour had saved his life if the gashes he felt were any indication. ¡°Thank you, Tummy,¡± he whispered and forced himself to rise. Sil was undressed to the waist and sewing up a gash in her shoulder, using his sword as a makeshift mirror. The state of her knotted his stomach and lit an urgent fire in his stomach. The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. He swallowed down the many pointless gasps and questions that crowded his already addled brain and instead asked, ¡°How can I help?¡± Sil glared at him and winced as the hooked needle dug into her skin again. ¡°Black flask. Open it. Rip the cloth and make some bandages. Drench some and bring them over.¡± Vergil did as instructed and tried not to wince as he neared Sil¡¯s needlework. Ragged flaps of skin were held together by the surgical thread and the sight of it turned his knees to wobbling jelly. Sil winced every time she tugged on the needle, eyes darting to the many entrances into the room. Once the first gash was done, she instructed him on how to tie off the thread while she dabbed disinfectant on the wound. She had to sew closed three cuts in her shoulder and a lesser one across her belly. By the end her hand trembled almost too much to hold the needle but she stubbornly refused any help. ¡°You should have some glue for emergencies¡± He forced a smile as he pressed the disinfectant to the wound. ¡°I had some on the Gloria, for cuts.¡± ¡°Glue?¡± ¡°Yes. I had it in a spray. It¡¯d close up any cut until I got to Medical. Had to use it often when I was still in training.¡± She wiped tears from her eyes as he pressed the cloth to the cuts. The iron smell of blood mixed with the sharp tang of the disinfectant made Vergil¡¯s head spin. ¡°May not be a terrible idea. I¡¯ll look into it when we¡¯re clear of here. Why weren¡¯t you crying out?¡± Sil asked him as he washed and dressed her wounds. ¡°What?¡± ¡°When you fell. With a gap like that in you, you should have been useless. You didn¡¯t cry out and weren¡¯t in shock. Why?¡± ¡°Why aren¡¯t you¡ª¡± ¡°Answer the question, boy.¡± She pulled on her tattered blood-encrusted shirt, finally accepting the offered aid. Hard to dress with a mangled shoulder. ¡°My headware mutes pain. It¡¯s not foolproof. It¡¯s a safety measure, you know? If I got hurt bad somewhere inaccessible, this was insurance that I could respond to questions and calls.¡± ¡°Useful. Should¡¯ve said earlier.¡± ¡°Didn¡¯t think about it. It¡¯s not fully reliable. When the¡­ accelerant kicked it, it pretty much shorted me out.¡± They both had a sip out of the second flask. ¡°To offset the blood loss,¡± Sil said. ¡°But we need to eat before we drink it all. Otherwise it¡¯ll only make us both too dizzy and weak to keep walking.¡± She forced herself to rise and stow the remaining wire and the flasks in her hip pouch. Vergil made a sling for her damaged left arm and she cradled it tight against her chest. ¡°You can¡¯t heal yourself?¡± ¡°No.¡± ¡°But you opened the rend.¡± ¡°I did.¡± ¡°¡­ it hurt?¡± ¡°Something¡¯s wrong with me. I think they injected me with a kind of toxin. Opening the rend felt wrong, like my own power cut me.¡± She shrugged and winced at the movement. Tears stained her cheeks and she wiped at them, smudging blood across her face. ¡°The Goddess won¡¯t answer my prayer for aid. Tallah said something¡¯s shielding this place. We need to join up with her, and soon.¡± To Vergil, she seemed unsteady on her feet as she shuffled forward to look out one of the high windows. ¡°We¡¯re so bloody high up,¡± she said, scanning the vista beneath. Nothing looked familiar. Leaning out showed no bridges anywhere near their wide-open cage, nor any other ways of accessing the place except maybe flying. Or being carried up by spiders sticking to the wall? The closest platform was a leg-shattering distance below. Vergil doubted either of them could survive that drop in any useful way. ¡°There¡¯s gotta be some passage through the back, right?¡± They retreated inside and explored the adjoining rooms. This had definitely been some kind of storeroom. There were the remains of barrels and crates rotting away, their contents long turned to dust. Pots. Brittle weapons with rotted shafts and rusted, warped blades. Room after room revealed only the debris of uncountable years. And no passages out. ¡°Why?¡± Vergil asked as he made his way out of a room too dark to see anything in. The crystal veins inside were shattered, a ragged wound cutting through the walls. Sil tried to provide a sprite but gave up after the third attempt only produced a pinprick of light. ¡°Why what?¡± ¡°Why take us? Did you see anything?¡± ¡°No. But they came through my barriers. Didn¡¯t think that was even possible. I held off a daemon once¡­ No, I don¡¯t know why we were taken.¡± ¡°Did Tallah lose?¡± She shook her head and kicked aside some more pots, letting them smash to the floor into glittering shards. ¡°They wanted the old man. That was clear as day when the fight began. They barely took notice of me when it started. Even tried to avoid you and Tallah. His story¡¯s foul and we¡¯d best figure out why before we run into more trouble. Help me move this.¡± Boxes, rotten through but stubbornly holding together on rusty nails, were piled high against a wall. Something wheezed behind them. Together, they managed to open up a passage that looked to have been dug into the wall, cut narrow and uneven. One box crashing to the floor sent echoes through the tunnel. Voices answered back. ¡°Come. Come. Come. Help. Help. Help.¡± A cacophony of voices, all similar and overlapping. ¡°Don¡¯t leave me alone. Don¡¯t leave me in the dark. Come back.¡± Vergil stalked to the doorway, sword held out, waiting for spiders to rush them from the dark. ¡°What do we do?¡± Nothing lunged from the pitch. Every hair on him stood on end. Sil looked worn-out and weary as she studied the room for another way out. But they¡¯d already covered the entire place twice and there were no other exits, at least nothing survivable. ¡°If you think about it, it makes no sense for them to bait us,¡± Vergil said when still nothing rushed them but the calls for aid. ¡°Maybe there¡¯s someone in trouble there. Maybe it¡¯s the girl?¡± ¡°Keep that sword ready.¡± A draft whispered through the open passage, cool against their skin, promising an exit into some other place opened to the outside. ¡°They tried the girl voice earlier. It didn¡¯t go well. If they¡¯re smart, they wouldn¡¯t do it again. And if they wanted us dead, I don¡¯t see what would stop them.¡± Was she trying to convince him, or herself? The look of fear on her face could have meant anything. ¡°We go forward?¡± ¡°Let¡¯s. What¡¯s the worst that we could find aside from more spiders?¡± He knew she was trying to be brave but her voice cracked into a strangled squeak of terror before all words were out. Chapter 2.08.4: The grave To her shame, she let Vergil lead the way into the dark as they moved forward at a crouch, the tunnel tight and low. In places they had to squeeze forward on their bellies, the narrowness suggesting who had dug the thing in the first place. Everything hurt. The ache in her shoulder burned with the promise of infection and a fever to come. It was all she could do to keep one foot ahead of the other. Crawling forward on her belly frustrated her to tears as her left arm was a dead weight at her chest that throbbed at the slightest provocation. Even so, she registered it all distantly while her mind was distracted by more urgent concerns: they¡¯d gone through her barriers. How? She had been fresh and opened to illum, but it had barely meant anything to those white creeps. Even the memory of them breaching so easily, eight bony legs propelling them across the corpses of their black brethren, sent a cold shiver lancing down her spine. The blacks had been held back, but the white ones had simply bypassed the barriers as if not even there. What were they really? If she thought better of it, were they really chitinous like the rest? Something in how they moved and how their carapace seemed to bend organically¡­ ugh. The remembrance punched her straight in the bowels. Not that it would matter now. She was useless in her current state. No weapon on hand¡ªshe¡¯d dropped her staff, foolish hen as the ghost called her¡ªand the Goddess ignored her pleas. Even her normal channelling failed them in this moment. Just ripping open the rend felt like needles running through her veins, the power jagged in her and refusing to be drawn or shaped. She¡¯d used the last dregs she had saved up. ¡°Sil? You alright?¡± She couldn¡¯t see Vergil¡¯s face but imagined the concerned look as she nearly crashed into him. ¡°Mind the way and don¡¯t stop. See that we don¡¯t fall and break our necks in some invisible chasm.¡± She made a good effort of sounding stronger than she felt. It wouldn¡¯t do for the boy to know how bloody scared she was in the confine of the passageway. She¡¯d probably soil herself the first moment a spider came into view, and that¡¯d be the last thing she ever did as the beasts overwhelmed and ate them. That¡¯s uncharitable. You should have some faith in him, at least until you dig his grave. Another walking corpse for you to lead¡ª ¡°Not the dark. Please, not the dark.¡± The voices rose up to flood the passage in wailing echoes. ¡°Are you there? Are you coming back? Please don¡¯t leave me in the dark.¡± On and on and on. At least they distracted from thoughts that she shouldn¡¯t be alone with. She had to admit that curiosity kept her feet following after Vergil¡¯s whilst terror screamed itself raw behind her eyes. ¡°They¡¯re getting louder,¡± Vergil said from ahead. He spoke low, unwilling to add to that cacophony of pleading. ¡°Are you close to me?¡± She reached her good hand and touched his shoulder. To his credit, he barely flinched. There was heat on the back of his head, a sign that they were far enough from Tallah that the enchantment on the safeguard would begin to take effect. Hopefully, they weren¡¯t heading to an explosive conclusion. ¡°I¡¯m here,¡± she reassured him. ¡°If something attacks, I¡¯ll be out of reach. Don¡¯t worry.¡± ¡°That a way of saying you¡¯ll run and leave me to fend for myself?¡± She would¡¯ve knocked him one over the helmet if she weren¡¯t worried of the attention the noise might attract. A soft chuckle showed he wasn¡¯t serious but making light of their predicament. ¡°I think spiders would choke on your bones. Focus on giving them indigestion for me to get away.¡± He laughed softly. The air changed, a musty odour of rot and decay rising from the dark as their path began to dip. It reeked the further in they went, like blood, mould, and excrement mixed together. Sil had to press a sleeve to her nose or risk heaving. A bend in the tunnel brought them into light. It shone ahead, the end in sight at long last. Nothing moved in the faint glow of the exit, even as it yawned larger by the moment. They found corpses. Sil surveyed the scene as they shuffled out into crystal-vein light. It all made very little sense. They emerged into what had been some kind of¡­ prayer room? Statues lined the walls, of winged creatures with arms raised, faces in rapt adoration of something. The high ceiling was shattered and a many-legged corpse dropped just then onto the mound beneath. Vergil squinted against the crisp light coming from a spire outside the high windows. It dressed the scene in hues of crimson. The floor had been taken out, shattered and dug away by some unknown force, to leave behind a hole filled with the jutting stubs of ancient statuesque figures and assorted debris. Corpses piled high in it, some of them still moving. ¡°What do you see, Vergil?¡± Sil wasn¡¯t quite ready to believe her own eyes without confirmation. ¡°It¡¯s¡­ I¡­ Are those human girls?¡± She shook her head. ¡°Not quite. No, I don¡¯t think.¡± It was a mass grave of horrors that brought to Sil an echo of Anna¡¯s deep domain and the chimeric aberrations that had been bred there. The theme of this was rather simpler. Creatures not quite human and not quite spider lay gathered in a bloody, messy pile of exposed viscera and shattered chitin. Her eyes settled on them in turn, reason trying to make sense of whatever fresh horror this was and unwilling to pull in all details at once. A familiar black-haired head sat atop a fleshy stalk growing out of an eight-legged spider corpus. Its face was alien in its hideousness, six eyes dispersed across an inhuman visage split apart by a jagged gap of a mouth filled with too-large fangs. Another, beneath it, bore little resemblance to any kind of humanity aside for the soft skin covering its mutated, bloated body. Multi-legged, multi-armed, it had a head like melted wax sculpted into some sort of approximation of humanity. Vestigial chitinous legs sprouted out of what would¡¯ve been its abdomen and wiggled faintly as the creature drew laboured breaths. Its white skin, deathly pale, moved as if infested by maggots beneath the surface. One had broken apart on its fall, spread in chunks across the stub of a statue¡¯s wing, bloody gore dripping out of chitinous shells, all moving and trying to come back together. Its viscera hung there like obscene garlands thrown across a mound of disfigured corpses. Others were spider in full, black overturned bodies caught in fits, human arms and legs pushing out through gaps of chitinous shell. Anna¡¯s excesses had been kinder than these amalgamations. She couldn¡¯t help but get nearer, to the very edge of the grave, and suffer the racking revulsion. Echoes of the Banshee¡¯s Wail kept her from looking away. If she took the human parts on display she could reconstruct the likeness of a girl of maybe ten, maybe twelve Summers, with raven-black hair and eyes the colour of deep ice. Her face was everywhere, stretched into monstrous grins and cacophonies of forms, but it was a singular visage staring back at her with dead, gaping eyes. The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. They all stared. Like one, the entire pit became animate and reached hands and claws toward her. ¡°Save me. Take me away. Don¡¯t leave me here.¡± Throats and mouths not meant for human speech slurred the words but not the meaning. If there was clear intent behind them or some echo of something, Sil couldn¡¯t begin to guess. But the mass of corpses moved like a great, ponderous creature dragging itself forward on too many misshapen hands and feet, bodies falling over one another and getting buried beneath the squelching mass. She drew back. Revulsion made way for terror and panic. Vergil¡¯s sword was little comfort at her side as they both teetered on the indecision if to run back or try and find another way out. They shared a look as the corpses got nearer, an avalanche of flesh crushing the most unfortunate beneath its bulk. ¡°Don¡¯t go. Please. Take her away.¡± The wailing pleading shook the walls. ¡°Take her away. Take her away. Take her away.¡± ¡°Her?¡± Vergil mouthed the word. ¡°Who?¡± ¡°Hear I. Hear us. Hear. Please. Don¡¯t go. Take her.¡± They wailed and reached out grasping hands, their desperation tangible in its many-eyed gaze. It wasn¡¯t terribly hard to imagine who they were on about, given all the evidence of the room. The why and how of it, however¡­ She took a step forward. ¡°Look for a way forward. We don¡¯t want to get further from Tallah,¡± she said and waved him away. To the abomination she called out, ¡°I listen. Stop where you are and tell me what ails you.¡± For I am of the many, and I am of the few. Deep, well-earned terror gripped her throat as she tried to stare down the squirming mass. They raised one of their own to almost her eye-level, a black spider held atop a trembling stalk of malformed life. Too many human eyes regarded her from across the thing¡¯s multi-segmented body. Fanged palps twitched as she and the elected ambassador regarded one another across the empty space of that chasm. Her knees were ready to buckle as the thing drifted closer and she couldn¡¯t tear her eyes off it for fear of it pouncing. She idly wondered how her voice might sound, but she had to ask her questions. ¡°What are you? What¡¯s done this to you?¡± ¡°You will hear us.¡± It spoke in a parody of language, the words gurgled and chopped by whatever inhuman chords produced them. ¡°You will know. You will take her away?¡± ¡°Who¡¯s her? I don¡¯t know who you mean. I don¡¯t understand.¡± ¡°Hear us. We give you our Knowing.¡± What tinged its words? Hope? Despair? It moved its legs and palps as if trying to communicate soundlessly. It twitched and shrunk in on itself, legs brought in tight against its body, terror in its eyes. ¡°She listens,¡± it growled out. ¡°She seeks. No time.¡± ¡°Make sense. I don¡¯t understand.¡± ¡°You are of Her. You do not understand Us. We are all Us, are Kin. Speech is not of Us but poison of Her. We have made mistake. We know now. She has gifted Us with regret. We regret deeply.¡± It was gaining coherence as other voices joined into its ramble. Sil let it happen, trying not to cringe at the threat of its twitching. ¡°She is in Us,¡± the whole mound whispered and shuddered with what she could only interpret as revulsion. ¡°She is in every part of Us. In our deep recesses. She trashes. Bites. Gnaws on Us. She is poison.¡± They whimpered and drifted their ambassador even closer. Sil took two steps back as the thing reached the edge of the grave. It made no attempt to follow. ¡°You came from the lair of the Old One that hungers. Not Kin to it. Not Kin to Us. Different. New. Strange. We did not know you. We did not know Her.¡± It swayed and shivered. The Old One? So they knew the creature in the maze but it wasn¡¯t of them. She wondered exactly if whatever had made that thing had also made them, but it seemed unlikely. ¡°We took Her to Us. She was beautiful. When you came to Us, we did not know you and we did not understand you. Your cold claws cut Us. Your hot breath burned Us. We meant to understand and learn. We wanted to learn. You killed Us. You killed so many of Us. Not for food. Senseless. Why?¡± Their tone flashed into anger for a moment and fangs were bared across the great bulk of bodies. It quickly subsided. Sil swallowed the lump in her throat and looked to Vergil as he skirted around the pit, sticking his head in through side doors unblocked by the ruin of ages. They paid no attention to him, all eyes turned to her. ¡°Did¡­ we hurt you?¡± she asked tentatively. ¡°When we came before?¡± To her one spider was the same as another. To them one human would be the same. ¡°Yes,¡± all voices answered in unison. ¡°Yes. You cut Us. You burned Us. You¡­ murdered.¡± It spat the word in one voice again, like venom. ¡°She was the only piece of you that understood. We could see that she understood. We tried to build a web together. We tried but you murdered and murdered and murdered. Your hunger for death knew no ends.¡± Vergil had gone into a passage on the other end of the room and took a worryingly long time before reemerging. He jogged back around the circumference, eyes on the tower of creatures. Theirs remained steadfast on Sil. ¡°Is that really true?¡± Sil asked. How could she separate the truth from the lie? Ludwig¡¯s words clashed against this creature¡¯s. She knew it capable of deceit. Though, were these creatures deceitful? Their resemblance to the girl¡ªfor there was no conceivable way that the human component wasn¡¯t the missing Erisa¡ªseemed something they had no control over or wish for. ¡°No,¡± she went on before they answered her. ¡°No, I believe you.¡± Like Tallah¡¯s obscene instinct for danger, hers knew to separate lies from truth. It was utterly convinced of the sincerity of these wretches. ¡°Tell me what happened in truth. What was done to you?¡± ¡°There¡¯s a passage there. Another tunnel,¡± Vergil whispered in her ear, huffing slightly. ¡°I don¡¯t know where it leads but it¡¯s lit and there¡¯s a draft. What do we do?¡± ¡°We listen. Then we decide.¡± ¡°She comes. She is angry. She brings pain!¡± They screamed in horrible concert and thrashed in the grip of some terrible fit. Vergil grabbed Sil¡¯s arm and pulled her back as the tower of flesh and chitin threatened to come undone and collapse on itself. A change gripped the creatures, starting from the bottom and moving up, body after body freezing in statuesque immobility. Eyes stared out horrified, too-many-fingered hands grasped for nothing, malformed backs arched to inhuman angles. ¡°If children can¡¯t keep their tongues from wagging,¡± the top creature said in wholly alien voice, ¡°maybe they should have no tongues at all.¡± Blood erupted in jets out of every mouth Sil could see, all vomiting out chunks of what were definitely human tongues. ¡°Better,¡± the speaker said finally, a horrid satisfaction seeping into its voice. ¡°I should have done this from the moment of birthing you.¡± It wasn¡¯t a spider anymore. Its body drew into itself and ruptured in a jagged line running down its centre to open into¡­ Sil¡¯s breath hitched in her throat. A girl emerged from the crimson depths of the creature. Not deformed like the rest of the corpses. Tall and slender, unblemished but for the blood on her white skin, she met Sil¡¯s confused gaze with one of pure fury. The tower shifted beneath her feet as she stepped forward, seemingly enslaved to her will to carry her across the separating divide. Sil¡¯s stomach lurched with the putrefying stench of the girl as she stepped out of the cooling corpse and onto bare rock, blood and puss oozing off her. No, not unblemished at all now that the mess slowly leaked off. Another horror that barely maintained human shape, like a kind of distorted mirror¡­ or a memory of what humanity might have looked like. Sil had feared spiders her entire life for reasons that went beneath the sheen of logic and reason, the fear etched into her by some primordial echo of what it had once meant to be prey. Erisa Egia looked very human and not at all, and she terrified Sil worse than any spider could ever manage. The girl affected and wore humanity like skin, but missed something fundamental, something integral that spun her into the only descriptor possible: creature. Sil swallowed around the lump in her throat and reached out for her voice. ¡°Ask your questions, sister,¡± the inhuman girl spoke in an uneven voice that ill fit her, preempting Sil¡¯s intentions. Her lips did not match the words. ¡°Ask them for I know you have been misled.¡± Many questions crowded around the one that Sil needed answering before she figured if to scream, run, or embrace this monster laying terrible eyes on her. The cringing spiders would be useless to elucidating the mystery, so Erisa ought to do. ¡°What really happened?¡± Chapter 2.09.1: No god is watching A rumble like distant thunder shook Grefe. Echoes of destruction tore through the once-silent city. Erisa seemed to listen to this, gaze turned away, body as still as stone. The pit quivered behind her, moaning in agony. ¡°She is quite terrible,¡± said the girl. She let out an inhuman laugh. ¡°A whole clutch, just like that. Little wonder he¡¯s brought something like her.¡± Vergil nudged Sil in the small of her back and pointed to the windows. Black silhouettes crawled outside; gnarled shapes contoured against the ruby light of the spire. More arrived by the heartbeat, crowding the windows with their bulk. Two climbed inside, nearly too large to fit the opening. Sil¡¯s heart stuck in her throat, choking down the screams that would otherwise erupt. The new arrivals crawled towards the girl in pumping, jerking motions, bone-white, red-eyed, moving with a sort of determination not seen in any of the others. They skittered into the pit, trampling the dead and dying without care, flanking Erisa like obscene guardians. Maybe three steps away¡­ They could pounce before she even turned to flee. Not that her legs would obey anymore, every fiber awash in terror of these things that could stroll through her barriers. ¡°What do I do?¡± Vergil¡¯s voice was tight with worry. He held out his sword, swivelling between the monsters. Each time the blade fixed on Erisa, the two would become animate, raising pedipalps, their message quite clear. ¡°Put the sword down,¡± Sil squeaked out, barely able to breathe. ¡°If they attack, we¡¯ll die. Simple as. Don¡¯t encourage them.¡± ¡°But¡ª¡± ¡°Put it down.¡± Him sheathing the sliver of pointless metal seemed to relax the flanking creatures. Why were they here? She suspected this Erisa wasn¡¯t true if the grave was any indication. What harm could she and Vergil do to this simulacrum to warrant such guardians? One of the spiders reared and hissed at Vergil, four legs raised with fangs outstretched as if to strike. Sil screamed and cringed back. ¡°Be calm, sister,¡± Erisa said. ¡°My child will not harm you. It was simply surprised.¡± Vergil clutched his head, crumpling to his knees. He gave a low moan as he yanked the helmet off, throwing it away in a clatter. His hands rose to his ears, screaming in agony. Erisa gazed at him in impassivity, as if observing a pinned insect. ¡°Stop it!¡± Sil stepped forward, raising her hand to strike the girl, nought but stupid instinct and blind panic to guide her. The left spider raised a leg and gently tapped its paw into her upraised palm with near-surgical precision. Pain flared through her hand as a claw erupted through the strange flesh, its tip impaling the centre of her palm. She retreated, kneeling at Vergil¡¯s side. Whatever troubled him had ceased and he gasped in huge breaths, shivering with relief. ¡°Like¡­ when¡­¡± He swallowed down a lump and tried lifting his head. ¡°Like with the goblet. It hurt like that. I¡¯m fine.¡± ¡°What an ugly thing¡¯s been done to him,¡± Erisa said. ¡°And to you. My child sought to understand him but was thwarted. You are a simpler puzzle, sister Dreea.¡± Sil¡¯s heart stopped. Her head emptied out like a sieve trying to hold water. Pain burst behind her eyes, familiar and loathed, something straining in her to come to the fore. It grew into a searing burn, spinning her senseless until something shook her. Someone. ¡°Sil, answer please.¡± Vergil rested his hands on her shoulders. Pain flared in her arm to contest that in her head. She wrenched away from his hands. ¡°Don¡¯t touch me!¡± She screamed at him. Why did she do that? Everything felt alien just then. She most of all. ¡°What did you do to us?¡± Vergil asked the girl, interposing himself between Erisa and Sil. ¡°What was that¡­ screeching?¡± ¡°I did nothing,¡± Erisa replied, still immobile between her two sentinels. ¡°To her even less than to you.¡± The spider that had threatened Vergil lowered itself onto its belly, regarding them evenly, beady red eyes filled with absolutely nothing. Sil¡¯s revulsion kicked again. Then shame. Guilt for letting Vergil stand tall while she cowered. Pride came last as she lurched to her feet, stumbling towards the girl, heedless of the way the spiders tracked her. She needed to be Silestra then, reliable, clear-headed, penitent. Shock drained away as Vergil regarded her with worry, opening his mouth to ask pointless questions. ¡°You¡­ mind touched us.¡± It was forbidden. It was impossible. It was supposed to be impossible! Erisa had her name and every dirty secret buried with it. Sil¡¯s cheeks flashed hot at the notion of this thing knowing all that she¡¯d spent so long forgetting. Hypocrite, came the chiding voice in the back of her mind. As if she hadn¡¯t done the same to Vergil. Was that surprise on that inhuman face? A ghastly smile split bloodless lips, revealing rows of perfect teeth embedded in bright pink gums. ¡°No god is watching, sister Dreea. Certainly not a false goddess that lies. Her edicts hold no power over me.¡± She shrugged, bones pushing up against the stretched skin of her shoulder in some parody of human anatomy. ¡°But I now understand why you are here. I¡¯ve seen it in the folds of your memory. You¡¯ve been lied to.¡± She inclined her head to Vergil as he settled next to Sil but kept an arm¡¯s length away. ¡°He is goddess-touched. Protected. I do not understand him yet. You are easier.¡± Sil choked on the memory of that freed name while trying to crunch it beneath the heel of her shamed willpower. Vergil was keeping his head while she lost hers at every turn. That couldn¡¯t stand. She forced herself back into some semblance of coherence. Another rumble in the distance and the pit whimpered as if in sympathetic pain. Their stalk of flesh had crumbled while Sil had her crisis and the corpses lay scattered about as before. The one Erisa had sprouted out of languished atop a broken statue, an overripe fruit that had burst to release its red seeds. ¡°You are Erisa, the Egia from the School of Healing. We came to find you. That is what I know as our goal.¡± She thought of something just then and voiced the question, ¡°Are you really Erisa? Or just another thing pretending?¡± A stomach-churning smile. ¡°I am she whom you seek. And you came here to kill me and bury sins long forgotten. You are not here for any noble cause.¡± ¡°I figured. Why are you alive then? What¡¯s happened here?¡± Erisa looked like a girl but nothing of her demeanour spoke of youth. Her smiles and her eyes spoke of old wisdom¡ªand cruelty¡ªgained across two centuries lost in this absurd city. ¡°I was brought here to open the way. That much is true. I did my part well, marching an army here. Do you believe that he was a scholar, sister? I know you don¡¯t.¡± If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. Ruby light faded into what felt like sunlight. A glance to the window showed more black bodies crowding one another, slowly covering the gleam of the spire until only the interior crystal veins remained as illumination. Which dimmed with every heartbeat. ¡°We came to plunder. That is the truth of it. Not an expedition for knowledge but for greed and gain. Any knowledge this place might have held was to be pillaged and carted back.¡± She smiled grimly. ¡°Hardly a scholar¡¯s intentions.¡± ¡°Tallah accused him of as much,¡± Sil confirmed. ¡°Your friend? I see her in memory. She was righter than you imagine. Because we weren¡¯t attacked when we came. We struck first. Whoever has built this prison is long dead. Here the Kin waited, greeting us when we emerged from the labyrinth. Commander Angledeer ordered the first spiders burned. And the next. He foolishly roused Mother with his actions.¡± She moved aside, running protective hand down the smooth back of one of her spiders. ¡°These children are called Leuki. They have the same sight I do. They watched. Learned. Planned. And then they began killing us, as we deserved.¡± Tallah had been right to call him grave robber. And she¡¯d dismissed her friend¡¯s attitude as simple dislike for the old man¡¯s obsessive devotion to empress Catharina. Bile rose in the back of her throat. She gritted her teeth lest she bit her tongue at having come all this way, survive the horrid maze, trudge through her worst nightmare, only to discover it was all in service to another lie. ¡°Our story is boring, I know.¡± Erisa grinned, as if distracted for a moment. ¡°We came, we saw wonders, we burned them down. How wonderfully human.¡± Sil¡¯s attention hung on the last word. Erisa spoke it like an accusation, like it tasted bad on her tongue. But her eyes¡­ She cringed back from that hungry gaze coming back to rest on her. ¡°Mother was roused then. Her curiosity had given way to anger. The children no longer approached in peace and men began dying. Taken at their weakest. Ambushed. With each one taken, Mother understood a little more and killed us a little better. ¡°I begged the commander to stop and listen. I begged him. He brought doom on us and would¡¯ve seen it if he¡¯d stopped and listened for the voices I could hear. You cannot hunt a spider in its own lair.¡± Erisa approached, walking with hands clasped demurely against her naked stomach. Her nearness made Sil¡¯s skin crawl, but she was determined not to allow herself be cowed again. Vergil moved to stand just behind her shoulder. ¡°It took decimation before he started questioning. It took devastation before he felt fear. It took trying to use a shard before he grew desperate.¡± She let out the most horrifying laugh Sil had ever heard. ¡°He has stopped you from trying to run. He did, yes. The men that he tasked with trying the shards were turned inside out. The lattice the ancients used to protect themselves from our lying goddess sent that transmission straight back. It was gruesome. Ten people fused together into a lump of flesh that screamed.¡± And yet, somehow, there was the girl. The old man had managed to escape and get back to the empire. ¡°How?¡± Curiosity overpowered her fear. ¡°How did he get out? He told us he¡¯d traded you for escape.¡± Erisa circled her, bare feet slapping on the stone. Sil dreaded letting the girl move out of view, but the white spiders¡¯ presence kept her frozen. Vergil pressed his back to hers as the girl spoke. ¡°He got out because I allowed it to happen. Because Mother did.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t understand.¡± Were the spiders creeping closer? Erisa kept her even pace, voice coolly detached from her words. Vergil shivered as the girl moved to his side. ¡°He¡¯d failed the mission. Twenty-two days of being besieged dwindled our supplies to near nothing. Discipline, little as it was, broke down. I became something for men to fight over.¡± She laughed again, entering Sil¡¯s view. ¡°For some, their only hope of escape. For others, just an escape. For Commander Angledeer, the only thing between him and being fed to Mother¡¯s brood.¡± ¡°Who is Mother?¡± Vergil asked before Sil could. ¡°I am Mother. I wasn¡¯t then. I was still just Erisa, learning of how cruel men get when they¡¯re desperate. And how they vent their desperation on the weak and the defenceless.¡± Sil could see it all playing out. No way forward. No way out. Men terrified out of their wits and good sense. Tired. Desperate. They¡¯d turn on one another, vent their frustration in any way they could. She¡¯d seen it before and the memory got niggled by Erisa¡¯s recollections. Did the girl know this? Did she understand? She knew about Dreea, a dead woman buried under a collapsed mountain. Her hackles rose. ¡°You¡¯re lying,¡± she accused. The cruelty of the pit, the whimpering, moaning, gnashing of teeth, all of it painted this creature a monster. Bringing up that blasted name! ¡°Why would I believe a word of this?¡± ¡°The spiders said¡ª¡± Sil elbowed Vergil in the kidney. It wasn¡¯t his question to answer. Erisa only shrugged, eyes still locked on Sil. ¡°Believe what you will. I care not.¡± Silence stretched, broken only by Erisa¡¯s soft footsteps. A glance from her quieted the pit¡¯s whimpers down to whispers and sighs. Ultimately, Ludwig had lied of his sins. Of that, at least, Sil was certain. ¡°I believed him.¡± Vergil moved by her side when Erisa turned back and joined her spiders. He had his helmet held by a horn in one hand, and his other on the hilt of his sword, knuckles tight against the leather strap. ¡°I believed him, Sil. Every word.¡± ¡°So did I,¡± she admitted quietly. The girl¡¯s attention was off her for now. Eyes followed something in the air, a smile tugging on the corners of her pale lips. A soft-pink tongue lashed out as if tasting Grefe¡¯s very scent. Erisa breathed in deep, and her smile grew into a wolfish grin. ¡°So, she¡¯s coming at last.¡± Her head swivelled back to Sil. ¡°Is she coming to answer your prayers, I wonder?¡± One spider crept forward on claws clinking against the stone floor. ¡°She will not arrive on time to save you, sister. I need you much more than she deserves you.¡± The Leuki pounced, four claws outstretched to skewer Vergil on the spot before he could even draw the sword. A black shape barrelled into it from above. More followed. Erisa watched impassively as her child was cut down, drowned in a tide of black coming from the galleries above. Sil was grabbed by the hand and yanked painfully sideways before the stupor had a chance to burn out. She meant to resist but Vergil¡¯s voice cut through the mounting panic. ¡°Run.¡± He pulled her along the edge of the pit, away from the fighting. A glance to the windows showed other spiders crawling in to attack the ones rushing Erisa and the second Leuki. That one fled. The girl was torn to pieces. Before disappearing down the side passage, Sil saw that inhuman head tracking them even as it was crushed beneath the embrace of a huge, gnarled spider. ¡°What just happened?¡± Vergil urged her into a dead run, huffing out every word. The melee was a confusion of dark shapes fighting blindly, one spider indistinguishable from another. Several chased the Leuki up the wall but weren¡¯t as quick and agile as it. ¡°I haven¡¯t the foggiest,¡± Sil replied, still stunned by Erisa¡¯s sudden turn. A black spider barred their way into the tunnel forward, rushing them. Ancient ruins of furnishing shattered beneath its charge. Vergil let go of her hand, drew his sword, and attacked. Where was he getting the strength from? Sil looked around in a panic for anything that would serve as a makeshift weapon. Nothing but detritus. Sword clanged against claws, Vergil grunting with the effort. He deflected the blow but was tackled instead to the floor, the creature much larger than he. She rushed to kick the spider, but two other black shapes barrelled past like wraiths and ripped away the one atop Vergil. Claws dug into carapace as they wrenched it off the boy and pinned it down. They stabbed at it until red blood sprayed from its shattered carapace. It screamed in Erisa¡¯s voice, a cry of frustration and not pain. They squeezed past the scene into the dark passage, and broke into a headlong, dangerous sprint through the narrow space. It gradually narrowed until it ground their progress down to an urgent crawl in the dark. Here there was no light to guide the way at all, just the faint whisper of a draft. ¡°Are you there?¡± Vergil called back, his voice ahead of her by some paces. ¡°I¡¯m here. Don¡¯t stop.¡± She walked straight into his back, recoiled in momentary panic, then steadied herself. ¡°I just said¡ª¡± ¡°There are two paths,¡± he answered, a disembodied voice in the pitch. ¡°Which way?¡± ¡°Pick one. Just move.¡± Her imagination provided claws on her back, cutting into her to drag her back to the horrors of the pit and the dead-eyed girl. But no pain came, not real. Her back itched with a thousand imaginary crawlers on her skin, always expecting the strike from the dark and it never arriving. The soft swish of cloth and the scrape of armour on stone amplified to ear-splitting noise in the confined space. Her scream when Vergil reached back and took her hand echoed down every tunnel in a myriad reflection. She bit her tongue, feeling the red-hot rush of blood to her cheeks. Vergil said nothing. He led her down a passage to their right. It narrowed and lowered into a crawlspace. Another tight fit, another bout of misery with her mangled arm, another emergence into nowhere good. Chapter 2.09.2: The red mark ¡°I pray to the Goddess that this leads out somewhere safe and not into some other nest.¡± Sil hauled herself out of the narrow gap, passing into a wider tunnel, just as dark. Weariness and the constant cutting pain in her shoulder and belly left little room for terror even as the dark filled with the scrapings of claws on stone and the skittering of too many legs. Echoes screamed past them. ¡°There¡¯s light,¡± Vergil said. ¡°There.¡± ¡°I can¡¯t see it.¡± Another step forward. Another intersection of tunnels, three or four branching in unknown directions. Beyond the bend a light beamed in the distance, a faint vein scratching at the black. The sight eased some of the pressure threatening to overwhelm whatever was left of her bravery. Vergil¡¯s hand found hers and squeezed, much as Tallah did when she was afraid. ¡°We follow the light?¡± he asked, voice lowered into a whisper. ¡°Yes. Let¡¯s. At least we¡¯ll see death coming.¡± ¡°That¡¯s cheerful. Should we sing? Maybe draw attention to ourselves?¡± ¡°I¡¯m glad you still have the energy for cheek.¡± She kept her voice just above a whisper. Part terror, part exhaustion. ¡°Be thankful I¡¯m not downright morbid. In the light I¡¯d at least be able to scrape your brains off the walls after the safeguard detonates. I could keep the mess in my pouch to bury later.¡± Vergil chuckled. ¡°I¡¯d rather you bury the whole of me. I¡¯d very much rather not end up as spider food.¡± ¡°One armed? You¡¯d be too heavy to even budge. A corpse gets infinitely heavier to carry than a living body.¡± ¡°Even without my head?¡± ¡°Negligible quantity.¡± Another chuckle. ¡°Mean.¡± ¡°You badmouthed my tonics.¡± ¡°They were foul.¡± ¡°They were. And unfortunately got us all the way to here.¡± Tension bled from her as light approached. It framed Vergil¡¯s silhouette, the smooth walls of the tunnel shining wetly with a thin layer of webbing stretched across. Imagination provided details she would¡¯ve preferred not picturing. They emerged through a side opening into a spiralling stairwell lit by the familiar crystal lattice. Webs everywhere, of course, but no spiders greeted their emergence. Only the familiar silence of the dead city. ¡°How are you holding up?¡± Vergil reached into the hole to help her climb down but she shook free of it. ¡°Well as I can manage.¡± She didn¡¯t quite like the way he stared at her. ¡°What?¡± ¡°You asked me how I wasn¡¯t howling in pain. How aren¡¯t you? I know you¡¯re sewn up, but we¡¯ve ran and crawled. Uh¡­¡± ¡°It wouldn¡¯t be normal to keep going as I am,¡± she finished what he was struggling to say. ¡°I¡¯m fine. I¡¯m trained for this and it¡¯s not the worst shape I¡¯ve ever been in. More scars for Mertle to¡­¡± She clamped up and felt heat rising in her cheeks. Vergil at least pretended not to have noticed. She checked her makeshift bandages and found them bloody. Of course her field dressings wouldn¡¯t hold under such duress, but it would all even out if she reached Tallah and the supplies she had in storage. One foot in front of the other. That¡¯s what she needed to focus on. One step. Then the next. And the one after that. Sooner or later, she¡¯d reach a destination, final or otherwise. The Goddess resolutely refused to answer her prayers. Dead silence. A yawning absence and a growing sense of unease, like an unabated full-body itch. It pulsed through her like a second heartbeat running counter to her own. Bugger, that couldn¡¯t spell anything good. Some kind of infection maybe? ¡°Sil?¡± ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°Are you really alright?¡± ¡°Well as I can manage.¡± ¡°Please don¡¯t just say that. I don¡¯t know what to do if something happens to you.¡± She¡¯d stopped walking and leaned against a particularly cool patch of wall with a sigh of pleasure. A shiver ran through her. And another. She had to grit her teeth against it. They could head up, find a new vantage-point and orient themselves; or they could keep going down to meet that faint green glow beneath. The decision wouldn¡¯t come easily. Vergil had been doing quite fine so far. She regarded him more carefully as she tried to make up her mind on where to head next. Oh, the poor boy. He stood tall and kept watch for something coming out of their crawling hole. But now that she regarded him in the light, she could see he was reaching his own limits. He¡¯d been playing strong but his hand trembled on the hilt of Tallah¡¯s sword and his eyes were wild, pupils drawn into near pinpricks. Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author. ¡°I¡¯ll let Tummy know how well you¡¯ve handled yourself,¡± she said carefully. ¡°He¡¯d be proud.¡± A pause in his twitching. His back straightened. Head lifted a bit higher. Eyes shone behind the visor of his stupid helmet. ¡°He would?! You mean that?¡± She smiled and she meant it indeed. ¡°Yes, Vergil. You¡¯ve been doing as well as anyone could demand, and more. Come, we¡¯re heading down.¡± A strange scent wafted from beneath, like grass just cut, or a forest in mid-Thaw bloom. A garden of some sort? Absurd. She blew her nose on the ruins of her sleeve and sniffed again. ¡°Do you smell flowers?¡± Vergil sniffed, blew his nose, and sniffed again. ¡°I smell something that¡¯s not mould and dust,¡± Sil replied. It was hard to believe what her nose was telling her. ¡°It smells like flowers.¡± ¡°Can¡¯t be.¡± She stumbled, catching herself on the wing of a statue that hung out of a recess. The last pulse hit like a stone to the head, with roughly the same effect. Her knees buckled and a headache exploded in the centre of her forehead. She may have screamed. One moment she was trying not to crumple, the next Vergil shook her gently. She glared up at him and realised she had fallen to her knees. Nausea hit like a fist when trying to rise. Various bits of her refused cooperation for some reason. Infection. No, that wasn¡¯t it. She took stock. Slight fever. Pain, yes, but not¡­ not as she¡¯d expect. Centre of her forehead and on her mangled arm, like a particularly sharp scalpel cutting the skin. Her fingers came away bloody from touching her forehead. Blood flowed down into her eyes and she smudged it off her face. ¡°I¡¯m sorry. Y-Y-You were falling. I¡¯m sorry. You¡¯re bleeding.¡± Vergil was having a fit of his own and looked conflicted if to help her rise or set her down entirely. His squeaking threatened a full-blown panic moment and she couldn¡¯t deal with that just now. ¡°Help me up.¡± The words hurt in the back of her throat. She¡¯d screamed. It was becoming a habit she didn¡¯t quite enjoy. ¡°Did I hit my head?¡± ¡°No. You¡­ you¡­ uh¡­ you screamed and you fell and¡­ you have a cut.¡± ¡°I can feel that, thank you. What did I cut myself on?¡± There was no trail of blood on the wall and no feeling of concussion. The nausea abated but the stinging pain sharpened. ¡°Nothing.¡± Vergil looked just as confused as he sounded. His answer was absurd. ¡°Why am I bleeding then?¡± She could stand on her own and Vergil took a few heartbeats before his hands went away. The tunnel spun around her even as she tried to focus on the statue and its beatific face, at once human and not quite so. Was there something in the air? Couldn¡¯t be. Vergil would¡¯ve been affected too. A trickle of warm blood ran down between her eyes accompanied by a flare of pain. ¡°Cloth and disinfectant, please.¡± She prodded whatever it was that she bled from. Like something beaked and angry trying to break out through her skull, the pain insisted and threatened another fainting spell. ¡°Thigh pouch. Other flask. Yes, that.¡± Lovely. ¡°Bugger, that stings.¡± Vergil did as instructed and pressed the cloth on the cut. She squeezed her eyes shut. At least the sharp smell eased the nausea. The pounding in her skull retreated to the back of her head, like some surly beast waiting for its moment to attack. Had a spider laid its clutch of eggs inside her head? It very much felt like something impossibly crawling through there, scratching to get out, abuzz in anger. ¡°Sil, this is a symbol,¡± Vergil said. ¡°What is?¡± ¡°The cut on your face. It¡¯s three lines. Makes a kind of star.¡± ¡°Show me.¡± He offered the sword again as a mirror and she had to lean on him lest she¡¯d really faint this time. A cross, cut diagonally, was etched in the dead centre of her forehead. A sinner¡¯s brand?! Why? She recognized the mark sure as she would the Mother moon, but could not imagine for the life of her what she¡¯d done to earn it. The beat of her heart threatened to burst out of her chest and bloody snot clogged up her nose as tears welled up in her eyes. ¡°Please stop doing this. My heart can¡¯t take it,¡± Vergil complained, trying to sound brave but somehow managing to squeak. ¡°I¡¯m fine, Vergil.¡± She wasn¡¯t. ¡°Don¡¯t worry.¡± He could have no idea how bad this was. ¡°Please check my arm.¡± She¡¯d faint if she did it herself. ¡°Which?¡± ¡°Bad one.¡± A mark on the forehead would be coupled with a punishment. Communication would be achieved in some manner, depending on the gravity of the infraction and the severity of the imposed punishment. That was the School¡¯s law. She¡¯d irked the Goddess. How?! Vergil gingerly rolled back her bloody sleeve. ¡°These are words. There¡¯s writing.¡± Sil bit her lip, let out a long sigh, and avoided looking down at the punishment she was to endure. How badly had she erred? Why? She¡¯d done nothing but beg for notice since being separated from Tallah. She¡¯d not gone over her allotment. She¡¯d not shown favouritism. Whom to? She¡¯d denied her fear and upheld what she believed to be moral, faced the monsters in the pit and sought to understand them and offer relief from their suffering. She¡¯d been sincere in that. Why was she being punished? As long as one can request our aid, our aid is to be given. We do not discriminate. Aelir or human, bastil, elend, drackir, vanadal, or any other that have yet to reveal themselves. We are meant to be shields. It was the very first lesson and the very first tenant that she¡¯d been taught by the School of Healing, exactly one bell¡¯s strike after receiving her name and her novice¡¯s robe. Sweat plastered fouled clothes to her back and the cold draft made her shiver as Vergil stung her arm with his cloth. She let out a despairing moan, blinked away heavy tears, and prepared to face whatever new indignity this presented. ¡°I am coming, daughter. It will hurt. What¡¯s that mean?¡± Sil froze, breath catching in her throat. Barely even winced as Vergil pressed the cloth to her cuts again. ¡°It¡¯s scarring over. Are you healing yourself?¡± No. That wasn¡¯t her doing. It took some time for her voice to find its way back into her throat, and even then picking the words was... Impossible. ¡°How?¡± ¡°How what?¡± ¡°How did you read that?¡± Vergil looked down at her arm, then up at her, confused. ¡°Uh¡­ with my eyes? It¡¯s text. Really clear too.¡± ¡°Did your Argia translate?¡± It was Vergil¡¯s turn to go quiet as he wiped more blood away. He shouldn¡¯t have been able to understand a sinner¡¯s red mark. Nobody, to her knowledge, could do it aside from another healer. And even a healer couldn¡¯t read it aloud. ¡°No.¡± He looked up at her, as much confusion reading in his eyes as she felt. ¡°Sil, this is written in Earth Standard. How?¡± Chapter 2.09.3: Terribly unkind of you ¡°What is an earth standard?¡± She was all too happy to be focusing on anything else but the fact that she¡¯d just been branded for excommunication. Or¡­ Wait. Had she? Certainly the Goddess herself wouldn¡¯t intervene in person to punish one of her daughters. That, at least, was unheard of. Punishment was supposed to be recall to the school, followed by self-flagellation. Ignoring the call back would be death, but¡­ She¡¯d never heard of the Goddess intervening in matters of sinners. Vergil was talking and she had to strain to pay attention. ¡°¡ªstandard language used across the SPRAWLs,¡± he was saying. ¡°Our unified language. This is what I spoke before coming here.¡± ¡°And it¡¯s not your chip translating? Are you certain?¡± ¡°Absolutely. If it translates for me, it overlays Earth Standard over the original and I read that. It¡¯s what happened with that book Tallah got from Ludwig.¡± Sil let out a slow, nervous laugh and confirmed for herself that Vergil had the right of it. That was exactly the message cut into her skin. Didn¡¯t seem like punishment and it served to give her a flicker of hope that the Goddess hadn¡¯t forsaken her. A flood of endorphins triggered upon reading the words, nearly an apology for the stress she was enduring. It washed out the pain and the fright. This new development from Vergil¡­ ¡°Tallah¡¯s going to wet herself the moment she learns what you can do.¡± The pulses were coming rarer now and no longer quite as powerful. She could think again. ¡°This is the School of Healing¡¯s own language. We¡¯re taught it and then conditioned to never teach it ourselves. Two healers trying to mind touch one another to learn how this is done to us¡­ well, it ends poorly for them.¡± She gave him a shaking smile. ¡°You can teach Tallah all the secrets I can¡¯t.¡± Admitting that would be grounds for banishment from the School, if not direct assassination, and she bit her tongue the moment the words were out. ¡°You are an endless source of wonder.¡± ¡°I¡¯m¡­ sorry? I don¡¯t mean to be, if that¡¯s any consolation. What¡¯s the message mean?¡± ¡°That I¡¯ve annoyed lady Panacea in some way.¡± It was an odd, terrifying feeling to know the Goddess watched her personally. Would she really intervene in some way? Should she wait? No. Spiders could track them before whatever was to happen would come to pass. They¡¯d be dead and waiting, and part of her was frightened of what Erisa had meant by ¡®I only need you¡¯. It would probably not be anything good given what she suspected had happened. Her feet could carry her fine now and she pushed away from the wall. Statues seemed to be judging her admissions of fear with long-dead eyes of long-dead mystical angels. She quite liked the term. ¡°Let¡¯s go. I think I screamed enough to draw in all of Erisa¡¯s pets.¡± ¡°She called them children. And the others didn¡¯t seem to like her much.¡± Vergil still hovered right next to her, up until she shooed him away. ¡°I¡¯m fine and I can walk on my own, thank you. You¡¯re welcome to remain here and figure out what their relationship is. I¡¯d rather be further from that slaughter and closer to Tallah.¡± She set down the steps, good hand still touching the wall in case she had some other kind of fit. She tried to banish the Goddess¡¯s message from her mind even as her forehead still throbbed. Tallah. Focus on Tallah. She¡¯ll love the truth about Ludwig. Tallah would protect her from the rest of this nightmare place. Sil doubted she could take any more surprises without her throwing a real, possibly terminal fit. ¡°What do you suppose Tallah¡¯s going to do when we tell her about Erisa?¡± Vergil asked. He kept a step behind her, always glancing back. Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! ¡°Oh, I¡¯m going to tell Tallah all about Ludwig¡¯s little lies. And then I¡¯m going to sit back and watch her flay him alive.¡± ¡°Not what I asked.¡± ¡°Same difference.¡± ¡°But you¡¯re a healer!¡± Vergil protested, loud enough that his voice brought echoes back. ¡°He should be allowed to defend himself. Do we believe the girl just as easily as we did him? How¡¯d that work out?¡± Sil laughed. She wasn¡¯t sure she even believed Erisa, or whatever wore her face. If anything, she was certain they¡¯d not yet learned the full extent of the entire sordid affair. ¡°Lying to us? That¡¯s fine. Keeping things from us? That¡¯s also fine. Tallah¡¯s equipped to handle most anything thrown her way.¡± She could feel the cold spreading out through her as fear-repressed rage found its way back. Her fists squeezed shut. ¡°Leaving a little girl to the attention of some animals, human or otherwise? I know what I¡¯d do to him. Erisa seems way more capable than I in exacting her revenge. He should consider himself lucky if Tallah just fries him outright instead of handing him over. Bastards like him don¡¯t deserve defending. They should be put down like the animals they are.¡± Her smile turned feral when she turned and poked Vergil in the chest. ¡°So what if I¡¯m a healer? Should I suffer the inhuman to live? Didn¡¯t you hear what Erisa said?¡± She grabbed the front of his shirt and forced his gaze to meets hers. ¡°There are no gods watching in here, boy.¡± He didn¡¯t look away. ¡°Your Goddess just announced she¡¯s watching.¡± ¡°She would approve. We are encouraged to do what we believe to be moral.¡± ¡°¡­You¡¯re bleeding again.¡± Blood seeped down from the marking on her face. That one refused to scab over and bled hotly in sync with her mood. ¡°So I am.¡± She ignored it, turned and stalked forward with renewed vigour. Seeing that old bastard burn would be satisfaction enough for what they¡¯ve been made to endure, and the desire for it kept her going. Whatever waited for them offered up strange scents on the dead air. Yes, flowers. She could swear they neared her parents¡¯ old garden. There were familiar scents of cradle¡¯s bloom and night-berry at the fore, sentry¡¯s mint and ink-nettle following, their fragrance as distinct as if the bushes grew right next to her. It brought a pang of nostalgia for her old district in Drack, back when her parents still lived and tended to their herb garden. The usual headache took over and erased it all from her mind. ¡°It smells like a hydroponic garden,¡± Vergil mused, drawing in loud sniffs. ¡°Don¡¯t plants need sunlight?¡± ¡°Ink-nettle prefers shade,¡± she said, absently, trying to recapture the moment. It had fled, like all memories tended to. ¡°Being underground counts?¡± Not in the least. Stairs ended and a long passage followed. Crystal veins shone a soothing shade of green as they traced the passage into bright light ahead. More floral scents filled the air in stark contrast to the rest of Grefe and its dust, webs, and mould. ¡°I hear water,¡± Vergil said. ¡°An aqueduct?¡± She heard it too and it was in the walls. ¡°Some irrigation of some sort?¡± She joined in the musing. ¡°Maybe a garden¡¯s survived this place¡¯s downfall.¡± A few more steps proved her theory right. Emerging from the tunnel, they found themselves in the depths of a forest. Their first steps were onto grass and moss, as green as anything she¡¯d ever seen on the surface. Herbal scents bloomed in the air. Water spilled from two gaps in the wall and followed a deep trench in the soil, getting lost among the foliage. Sunlight, as warm and bright as the real thing, shone from spots high above. Sil shaded her eyes as she regarded the place wide-eyed. Her jaw hung loose. She did not care. How far would it stretch? How¡­ just how? The thick canopy obstructed any view of the distance and created the unpleasant impression of an infinite stretch of thick vegetation. She wanted to say something, to suggest they head back and up the stairs, try to find a vantage point and orient themselves. ¡°Sister.¡± Sil jumped and squeak as Erisa¡¯s rough voice descended on them. Vergil turned and, in one quick motion, had his sword in hand. A Leuki hung above their exit, bone-white against the grey of the rock. A half-grown Erisa regarded them off its back, flesh and bone melded to the strange substance of the spider. The same deep ice eyes regarded them with inhuman amusement. The spider twitched and raised palps as if sensing the air. The half-Erisa smiled her ghastly grin at them. ¡°It was terribly unkind of you to run.¡± Chapter 2.10.1: An unwelcomed surprise Mertle curled up under the blanket, struggling to remember when she¡¯d dozed off. Sleeping in the musty old armchair was never comfortable and she tried to avoid it if possible. She¡¯d only sat down to¡­ to what? Thoughts crawled through the last dregs of sleep as she forced herself to wakefulness. Tummy had been kind enough to bring her favourite blanket and put out the candles and forge fire. Normally, he would¡¯ve seen to his work regardless of her sleep. The quiet had woken her. She groaned, trying to stretch out her legs; instantly regretting it. He¡¯d taken her boots off?! The icy air in the workshop bit her toes. Tummy must¡¯ve cleaned the forge and not refired it. That meant she¡¯d slept for¡­ oh dear, it must¡¯ve been bells. She¡¯d snuck back to the Agora sometime at first light, all her goals for Tianna accomplished for the day. What did I do yesterday? Fatigue blended the days together, sleep a rare commodity that she really should thank Tummy for. The first group of adventurers had returned from Bastra¡¯s pass where Vulniu¡¯s caravan changed guard. All was in order, the caravan making good time through the high snows and well ahead of schedule. It would reach Solstice sometime early Thaw, maybe even before the early floods. From there, the ruse continued. She meant to find her missing friends, worried for their safety. Mertle went out to the Sisters to have yet another chat with an increasingly frustrated Aliana of Tohman. No, they hadn¡¯t treated anyone like the two described. They¡¯d get word out to the lady pyromancer if they did. Lady Aliana seemed to enjoy the whole cloak and dagger spectacle they made of most visits. Probably broke down the monotony of her daily trudge. From there to the Guild. Then on to the Agora, and ultimately to the Meadow to eat herself sick. Then the complicated task of sneaking out of the apartment once the enchantment wore off, careful not to alert Verti or any of her eagle-eyed daughters. With no window in their workshop it was hard to figure how much time had passed but she felt somewhat rested for the first time in a tenday at least. She couldn¡¯t hear Tummy¡¯s snoring anywhere, so he was either out or manning the shopfront. At least six commissions waited on her work desk, the most advanced one only half-finished. Its due date had gone by¡­ three days prior? Four now, if she¡¯d been asleep for as long as she feared. Mertle was used to sleeping in the cold. Often, she preferred it. Spending half of her life in service to the Sarrinare aelir¡¯matar had shaped her in ways that seasons in Valen couldn¡¯t even begin to dispel. But as much as she wanted to stay under the blanket and drift back to sleep for some bells more, she had work to do. He¡¯d also undressed her. Figured. Her apron was ink-stained and greasy, probably laying somewhere thereabout. Instead of groping blindly for it, she clambered out of the chair, stretched, and donned the blanket as a mantle while she made her way to Tummy¡¯s forge. Kindling was already stuffed inside and she tripped over the box of charcoal laid out. The first match struck didn¡¯t catch. The second burst to light so suddenly that she saw spots. A few pumps of the bellows and soon the forge was alive and hot. I need a bath. She¡¯d get one when going back as Tianna. Guilt flashed for how she could indulge at the Meadow and Tummy had to make due with the bucket and ladle. Modernity hadn¡¯t reached quite as deep as their little corner of the Agora. She nestled a small kettle in the reddening coals, then lit a candle from the forge fire to take back to her work desk. She would finish some of commissions first thing today. Two were just inscription jobs that she could knock out before getting a bite to eat, another carry-over from worse days. First the work, next the food. Or she¡¯d choke, though the lash was an ocean and a continent away. ¡°Where¡¯d I put my graver?¡± One day she¡¯d see about getting her tools a nice, organised box. One day she¡¯d also learn to read properly. And paint. And one day the Daughter and Mother would move backwards across the night sky and the aelir would burn their Olden trees and the elend would rise up against their oppressors. This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. Was it too little sleep that made her mood so sour? She forced a smile. That feels better. She bent over the work, enjoying the forge¡¯s heat on her bare back. Long days being Tianna brought old memories of being many people. Mertle was a skin she preferred to the rest. A quick, painful pinch just beneath the ear gave her an unpleasant enough shake to banish her darker thoughts back into their box. Being Mertle was a freedom she¡¯d earned and some lack of rest wouldn¡¯t take that away. ¡°Now, why would anyone want something like you?¡± she asked the gambeson laying folded on her desk. She studied the order more carefully, Tummy¡¯s hand mimicking poorly her own coding. ¡°Cut resistant. Flame resistant. Acid-proof. Acid? What acid? There¡¯s a million acids. Imbecile.¡± Starting the work centred her. It was pleasant work. Simple, if she kept her attention on it. Connecting the enchantments came easily, one entrapping word after another until the effect functioned as intended. Sil¡¯s ink accomplished most of the complicated stuff. Working erased the distance. No matter where Sil was now, part of her was here. It was enough to make the candlelight flicker a tiny bit brighter. She smiled as a word misted to nothing and sunk into the fabric. It made it tougher, able to deflect a blade without splitting. This was from Tallah¡¯s research, something the sorceress had brought back from¡­ what was that place named? Salmek. Bad place with more than a million ghosts flitting about. Ghosts¡­ Not something to think on when one tries to cheer up. What¡¯s the matter with you? Her own thoughts admonished the lack of discipline. Phantom pain needled across her face. ¡°Mergara, ya awake back there?¡± If she weren¡¯t, Tummy¡¯s huge knock and booming voice would¡¯ve made sure she now was. Good thing she¡¯d finished the engraving or she would¡¯ve likely messed it up. ¡°Aye. What?¡± She called back, a tinge more annoyed than she wanted. It took a moment for her attention to grab onto the moniker he¡¯d used. Mergara. Curse the night and its venom. Someone was out-front and it wasn¡¯t a familiar face. She cast about for her apron. ¡°Get out here. Visitors. All important like.¡± Storm Guard then. Not something to drop on an elendine before her coffee. On that thought, and while looking for clothes, she used a pair of tongs to fish her kettle out of the red-hot coals. There was barely enough water left to fill half of a cup. Three teaspoons of coffee would sharpen her enough to mind her tongue with such esteemed visitors. Maybe wearing more than the apron and trousers would be wiser? ¡°Mergara?¡± ¡°Getting dressed,¡± she answered. ¡°I¡¯m in my knickers.¡± Muffled voices echoed from beyond as she tried, all at once, to sip her coffee, pull on a vest to hide the more complicated-to-explain tattoos, and run a hand through her messy mane. Two hands weren¡¯t quite enough so she reached the door with the roof of her mouth scalded, the vest buttoned up wrong, and her hair tangled around her horns. A look into a shiny piece of breastplate confirmed the message just-woken-up-don¡¯t-ask-me-complicated-things. It would do. ¡°Yes? What?¡± First, she stared at the giant. It was impossible not to. Not many people in Valen could come eye-to-eye with Tummy and look about half-again wider. A wild vanadal with a bone crest so ridged, pitted, and dented that it was hard to even understand where it began atop his gnarled skull. His cloak hung on him oddly, parts jutting out where they shouldn¡¯t, like¡­ oh, right, exactly like armour. He wasn¡¯t filing down his carapace. Whoever fitted him with actual clothes must¡¯ve been a master of the craft to work around that sort of bulk. He was having a polite conversation with Tummy. A nasty-looking atagan¡ªsteppes weapon, of course¡ªlay on the table between the vanadal and the smith, and Tummy had a second one in his hand. Not many weapons looked anything but ridiculous in his meaty-hands, but this one was a thing of frightening beauty. ¡°You¡¯ve been ignoring your upkeep.¡± Tummy hefted the weapon closer to his goggles, speaking softly. ¡°It¡¯s nicely shined, but the hilt¡¯s loose. Look, there¡¯s pitting here. See it? Blade¡¯s warping too. You¡¯re riskin¡¯ it just not doing the job when needed.¡± ¡°How much t¡¯ fix both of ¡®em?¡± Tummy drew a sharp breath, shook his head and put the weapon back next to its twin. ¡°I ain¡¯t fixing it. I¡¯ll make you new ones if you want, but I ain¡¯t touching that work. Out of respect, you understand?¡± He rapped his knuckles on the table, a sign the vanadal seemed to understand as he pulled the swords back. ¡°Bit hard to part wi¡¯h these, if I¡¯s honest. Been swinging ¡®em a long time.¡± It was odd hearing a vandal speaking softly, and even odder seeing one from the steppes so far away from Nen. As he shifted his cloak to get the weapons back into their sheaths, Mertle counted four other concealed weapons on him. Mostly knives. No gloves on the low arms. A non-traditionalist. Even his stance screamed of how dangerous he really was. What a trail of carnage someone like that must¡¯ve cut across two continents to be here now. She sipped her scalding hot coffee and cleared her throat. ¡°How may I help you?¡± she asked in her most bemused tone. ¡°Ah, you¡¯ve joined us. Good evening.¡± Mertle nearly spilled the coffee on herself at the sound of the second voice. Her gaze swivelled down from the vanadal¡¯s crest and met Captain Quistis Iluna¡¯s black eyes. Chapter 2.10.2: Do you know this person? Was that some kind of recognition there? The captain had been examining some freshly displayed items. She stepped around the vanadal, hands clasped demurely at her front, her lips curling into a half-smile. Not in uniform. ¡°Evening?¡± Mertle blinked away her surprise and kicked Barlo in the ankle. ¡°I wanted a nap, not to sleep the day away. How late is it?¡± ¡°Second bell,¡± Quistis Iluna replied. ¡°My name is Quistis Iluna, Captain to Valen¡¯s Storm Guard cell. My colleague here is called Barlo.¡± She offered her left hand, palm up, in the traditional elend greeting. Mertle put down her mug and placed her own palm on the captain¡¯s, third and fourth fingers on the veins. A shudder of panic lanced up her back as the woman¡¯s steady heartbeat pulsed against her fingers. The heat of her skin brought an unpleasant remembrance of the Night of Descent. Again that same look, as if she had her measure taken, weighed, and filed away for later consideration at leisure. ¡°Mertle Mergara. How may I help the esteemed Storm Guard? I don¡¯t remember having any order overdue at the Citadel.¡± Pulling her hand away, the leaden weight of Aliana¡¯s silver bracelet dragged on her wrist, forgotten from earlier. Her heart quickened but Quistis Iluna spared it only a single unimpressed glance. ¡°Well, I was rather hoping you could identify someone for us.¡± At a short nod from the captain, Barlo dug into one of his heavy cloak¡¯s inner pockets. Mertle appreciated the workmanship of the thing as it looked about as heavy as she was. ¡°Would love a look inside that lining,¡± she stage-whispered to Tummy. ¡°You wouldn¡¯t manage to lift it.¡± ¡°I¡¯m strong enough.¡± ¡°You ain¡¯t.¡± ¡°Meanie.¡± Barlo let out a slow chuckle as he retrieved whatever it was he searched for and placed it on the pock-marked surface between them. Mertle¡¯s heart threatened to explode out of her chest as the vanadal took his hand away from the plaque he set down. Sil. It was Sil staring out in life-like detail from the picture, wearing the disguise that hid her scars. The world dimmed for a heartbeat as an old part of her rose to the forefront. It can¡¯t be coincidence that they¡¯re here with this. She¡¯d been out in Valen with the woman from the picture. She¡¯d been seen and she wasn¡¯t someone wholly unknown in the Agora. It would be stupid to risk a lie to the heavily armed vanadal. He pinned her with a yellow, predatory gaze. With an Iluna healer at his side he wasn¡¯t someone even Tummy could overpower easily. There was no safe exit she¡¯d dare take. She needed a different approach. The best way out, when there is no way out, is to stick close to the truth. Your quarry knows you¡¯re there to kill them dishonourably. Their ire will not be against you. Even if you¡¯ve achieved your task and emotions run high, you are merely a blade and not the wielding hand. What is the purpose of breaking a perfectly fine blade once you¡¯ve wrenched it into your grasp? Her aelir¡¯matar¡¯s words echoed in the diminishing spaces between heartbeats as she reached for the plaque with trembling fingers. She choked. ¡°S-Sil?¡± she asked as she picked up the thing with infinite care. Every detail was perfectly depicted, from the tilt of her eyes to the slight asymmetry of her nose and lips. ¡°Sil?¡± Captain Quistis asked, raising an eyebrow. ¡°As in Silestra?¡± ¡°N-No. Just¡­ Sil. She never¡­¡± She swallowed down the lump in her throat. ¡°Why do you have a plaque of her? Is she in trouble?¡± Tummy set a steadying hand on her shoulder as she placed the plaque back on the table, the tips of her fingers brushing against the image for maybe a heartbeat too long. ¡°What is this about?¡± She forced a misting of tears into her eyes. All of a sudden the whole shop seemed much too small, much too cramped, as Quistis¡¯s gaze turned its overbearing interest onto her. She¡¯d seen that sort of look before, on a dray that had stalked her in the night when she¡¯d ran¡­ ¡°I take it you know this person?¡± ¡°Y-yes, captain.¡± ¡°And you say her name is Sil? Is that right?¡± This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. She nodded and licked her lips. ¡°How do you know her?¡± The tone of the question was light, nearly uninterested, but the eyes spearing her were anything but. ¡°Intimately.¡± The word came out of her in a rush along with a manufactured blush that burned on her cheeks. Tears came easier now. ¡°Please. Is she alright? I haven¡¯t heard from her in a long time. But that¡­ that¡¯s just how she is. But now you¡¯re here. What is this about?¡± Each word tumbled on the tail of the last, cascading from her in a panic that she didn¡¯t need to forge. ¡°When¡¯s the last time you saw this person?¡± ¡°T-two days before the Night of Descent. We were supposed to go together. She never showed.¡± ¡°I see.¡± The following silence had a cold edge to it as Barlo dug through a different pocket. He handed a scroll to Quistis. She read off it without looking at Mertle, though Barlo¡¯s careful eye never wavered. This was human interrogation, a whole process that needed answers to line up. The aelir would¡¯ve just beaten her bloody and then found a use for what was left, normally as a repurposed menial. Humans were civilised. ¡°How did you meet this person?¡± Quistis asked as she rolled up the scroll. ¡°If you don¡¯t mind our asking.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t mind. But please tell me what¡¯s going on. Why are you asking about her?¡± ¡°Answer the questions, please,¡± Barlo spoke up for the first time and his tone was not as pleasant as it had been with Tummy. ¡°This is us being polite. We like being polite.¡± A squeeze from Tummy on her shoulder suggested she listened. His eyes were on Barlo the same way Barlo¡¯s were on her. ¡°I¡¯ve¡­ I¡¯ve known her a few turns now, actually. Three? No. Four. We¡¯re not what you would call a constant¡­ couple.¡± She smiled timidly and averted her eyes from Quistis¡¯s interest. ¡°She came in during that Summer of fire from a few turns ago. Was that four? Or five? That time when they were taking down the Alchemists¡¯ Quarter. And there was ash in the air every day. Then.¡± A look up at Tummy had him nodding along. ¡°Yeah, back then. She came in and wanted some custom work done. We were just setting up here actually. Was one of our first real commissions.¡± ¡°And where were you before Valen?¡± Quistis asked, diverting the question. She had rolled the scroll tight and was gently tapping it against her knuckles. ¡°Oh, we did some odd work, here and there. We¡¯ve mainly held down a shop in Diolo for a few turns. Had some trouble and, well¡­ we fled here.¡± Barlo laughed and the boom of it shook the building and some of Mertle¡¯s confidence. It was the truth. He would know how things went on in Diolo. But between her word and his¡­ ¡°Sailing ¡®cross the Divide for some trouble in Diolo of all places?¡± He grinned at her, revealing jagged rows of fangs. ¡°How much did ye owe, chit?¡± ¡°More than reasonable,¡± Tummy snapped. Barlo let the laugh wither away in his gut. ¡°We ain¡¯t on Nen. No need t¡¯ be testy, smith. We ain¡¯t sending ya back. Go on, chit.¡± ¡°Not much more to say, really.¡± She shrugged and sipped her cooled coffee, feeling a measure of kinship with the large vanadal. Nothing about either of the Storm Guard suggested any hostility on their side, just the overbearing interest. ¡°We did the work. She came in a few more times. We¡­ became involved. Whenever she was in Valen, we¡¯d meet and spend some time together. She was back at the beginning of Winter this time. And never showed for the Descent.¡± She allowed another blush and half-hid it behind the rim of her cup. ¡°I was rather looking forward to it.¡± ¡°That rather confirms what we¡¯ve been learning before coming in here,¡± Quistis said. And that confirmed that they¡¯d not simply stumbled in out of the snow. ¡°I¡¯ve been told the two of you struck quite the impression. Not very traditionalist of you.¡± ¡°We¡¯re not on Nen,¡± Mertle replied, echoing Barlo¡¯s word and giving him a long glare. ¡°I left tradition behind. I quite like being me, and I quite like being here.¡± ¡°Was an observation. You stood out. It¡¯s how we learned of the two of you. I truly appreciate your candidness, and hate that I must ask you to join us at the Citadel.¡± She tapped the picture with a finger as Mertle reeled. ¡°I¡¯m afraid this person is involved with some very dangerous things. You are our first real lead to her.¡± ¡°Are you arresting her?¡± Tummy asked. Mertle recognized the dangerous edge in his voice. And, apparently, so did Barlo. He leaned forward to press knuckles on the table until it creaked under the weight. ¡°I¡¯d watch the tone, smith,¡± he rumbled. ¡°I said we likes being polite. Let¡¯s keep being polite, aye?¡± Mertle took a quick inventory of their available weaponry. If Tummy struck the vanadal just then, would she have enough of an edge to pin the Iluna? Two swords under the counter, one knife in her boot. They could¡ª Barlo¡¯s yellow gaze turned fully on her. It reminded her oddly of the lighthouse that had guided their ship into Amaranth¡¯s port through the gales of the mad Winter storm. ¡°Whatever ye¡¯re thinkin¡¯, chit: don¡¯t.¡± ¡°You¡¯re not under arrest, miss Mergara,¡± Quistis said so calmly that it shocked Mertle¡¯s inner tempest back to stillness. ¡°And you¡¯re not compelled to come with us. We would appreciate it, yes, but we do not mean to compel you. This isn¡¯t Nen. You are welcome to refuse, but please do not do anything stupid.¡± She put a hand on Barlo¡¯s arm and he pulled away, folding in back under his titanic cloak, all threatening presence contained once more. ¡°Thank you, Barlo, but that was unnecessary I believe. I apologise, smith Toh¡¯Uhm and miss Mergara.¡± Now this was how humans did things. The aelir were straightforward enough. Answer insult with poison, suspicion with torture, death with death. Humans built traps. And Tummy¡¯s moment of panic had walked them straight into one. They could¡¯ve asked for Mertle to come with them from the first moment if they knew as much as they said they did. Now she couldn¡¯t refuse, not really. Quistis had made sure of that. So polite and demurely calm. Refuse her now and make the Guard suspicious enough to drop the politeness. And that would make the Tianna mission so much harder to achieve if she couldn¡¯t walk abroad without eyes on her. ¡°Whatever I can do to help, Captain Quistis,¡± Mertle finally said, measuring each word. ¡°Can I have your word that you will explain to me what¡¯s happening? Please? I don¡¯t know what you think Sil did, but I¡¯m worried sick for her. Please.¡± She got a nod in response. ¡°I promise I¡¯ll tell you what I can. Now, best get a thick cloak. It¡¯s quite cold out there.¡± Chapter 2.10.3: Twitching on the wind The Agora would talk. How could it not? It was impossible not to draw attention when flanked by someone like Barlo. It would earn her all sorts of interesting gossip no doubt, half of it made-up nonsense. Granted, she wasn¡¯t in chains, so her ultimate infamy would reach a kettle¡¯s boiling whistle before the final bell of the evening chimed. Stalls had made a come-back now that the worst of the snow storms were past, and curious eyes followed as they shouldered through the mid-eve crowd. What would the general assumption be? It wouldn¡¯t be like in Diolo at least, where to be marched out by the guards meant you¡¯d swing by the neck come morning, likely half-dead before even drawing on the noose. She hadn¡¯t been deaf to the city¡¯s talk. Commander Falor, Prince inheritor of the Empire, had bested the Bane of Aztroa¡ªthey kept finding newer and more outlandish titles to lavish onto Tallah¡ªand chased her out of Valen for good. The Storm Guard were the great heroes of the moment, a promise from Empress Catharina herself, finally upheld to the very last word. Cinder had come back and been beaten down and cast out. As she well deserved. Valen¡¯s memory ran long, and its grudges even longer. Salted slurry of half-melted snow and mud squished underfoot as they emerged onto the larger thoroughfares of the Lower City. A carriage ran past them on its rails, ringing its bell, the Enginarium¡¯s service back at full strength once again. ¡°If it¡¯s alright with you, miss Mergara, we¡¯ll walk.¡± Quistis led them past the overcrowded station. ¡°Fitting Barlo into one of those is likely to tip it over. We¡¯ve had complaints in the past.¡± Mertle shrugged. ¡°It¡¯s fine. I don¡¯t mind the walk.¡± She¡¯d been doing a lot of it since the Descent, so much so that her calves had stopped protesting the abuse. She¡¯d neglected herself for a long time, as much as Tummy let her get away with, but the recent efforts had brought some of her old vigour back. Another climb up to the Citadel wouldn¡¯t be the worst thing about today. What did they know? And what did they suspect? She needed those two questions answered ahead of any other. Captain Quistis had given little enough away. Mertle would have to tease out the information. Unless they actually meant to arrest her without fuss, in which case everything would be moot. An older, viler thought wormed its way into her head. What if they send me back to Sarrinare? Aelir¡¯matar Gynneas of Sarrinare wouldn¡¯t have forgotten her wayward tool. She had probably survived the poison, if Mertle had mixed it well enough, and for that the aelir¡¯matar would still be livid all this time later. But she was a world away, deep into the ever-forest, as far from humans as it was possible to get without living on a boat in the middle of the ocean. She shook her head and banished the insanity. She¡¯d earned her freedom, from the Sarrinare household and from her fear. Instead, she turned her attention to what the two were discussing as they trudged up the hill towards the Daylight wall. ¡°You finally getting rid of those things?¡± Quistis cast a meaningful look at Barlo¡¯s heavy scabbards. ¡°Nah. Heirlooms and all that. Not their time t¡¯ be hung up.¡± ¡°The smith seemed to think otherwise.¡± ¡°Demi smith. Half-breeds don¡¯t care for heirlooms.¡± ¡°Please don¡¯t call him a half-breed,¡± Mertle said, angered and offended on Tummy¡¯s behalf. That Barlo had seen him for what he was and not what everyone else assumed him to be¡ªa larger than usual human¡ªearned the vanadal her wary respect. ¡°My apologies.¡± Barlo inclined his head at her deeply. An honest apology from a steppe vanadal. ¡°Didn¡¯t figure he¡¯d be a sensitive sort.¡± ¡°He¡¯s not. I don¡¯t like it. You know it¡¯s an unkind moniker.¡± He raised his chin and grinned, ¡°Dominion problem, I take it? Unfit for the masters?¡± He said the word like it tasted bad. Of course, he¡¯d know all about being unfit. His people, living so far from the ever-forests, would have black blood with the aelir spanning back ten to twenty generations. ¡°Something of the sort. Aelir father. Human mother.¡± ¡°Ah, the indignity. Which household?¡± ¡°I¡¯d rather not say.¡± ¡°That bad, eh? Aye, I understand.¡± He raised a fist to her and, after a moment¡¯s hesitation, she rapped her knuckles against the rough bone plates of his. Kindred indeed, a wild vanadal on a leash. She liked him. ¡°May they long burn upon their racks,¡± he said. ¡°Until not even their ashes stain the world,¡± she finished. ¡°I don¡¯t follow.¡± Quistis looked from one to the other, one eyebrow perfectly arched above the rim of her glasses. ¡°Make sense, please.¡± ¡°Dominion reminiscin¡¯. Nothing t¡¯ bother over.¡± He gave Mertle a bit more space between himself and Quistis. ¡°Ya any good with weapons, elendine?¡± ¡°Not like Tummy, no. I mainly work leather.¡± Probably not what he asked though, but true altogether. The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. ¡°Still. I say we let her look the sword over. Maybe she sees something we¡¯s blind to.¡± Quistis answered with a shrug, ¡°Worth a try, I guess. One blade¡¯s the same as another in my opinion, but what would I know?¡± Such a strange feeling to have people moving out of the way even as the three of them commanded most of the cobbled road. Everyone took one look at either Quistis¡¯s staff or her bodyguard and buggered off. Eyes lingered on her for long enough that she itched. It was hard not to think of other moments where she¡¯d been flanked by guards. Maybe she would¡¯ve preferred the chains after all. People looked away from chains and their promise. They had the elevator all to themselves by the time they reached it, and the sight of nighttime Valen emerging from under Winter¡¯s cloak was alone worth the trip. The city shone with vibrant energy, the night as young as the new turn. Rooftops were still dressed in snow but the streets were cleared, blackened with mixtures of mud, salt, and sand. It made for an odd contrast, a labyrinthine mess of streets and alleys, stores, warehouses, tight clusters of homes and the many budding factories of the Enginarium. Winter¡¯s breath had come and was soon to be past, but her chill lingered, doubly-so atop the Daylight wall. Quistis imposed a quicker pace once out of the carriage, hurrying forward along the snaking way that led past the Guild and into the inner Citadel¡¯s compound. ¡°Bloody, thrice-damned boots,¡± the captain complained loudly. ¡°Third pair this Winter. Third. Leaks in all of them.¡± ¡°Buy better boots,¡± Barlo answered by rote. ¡°It¡¯s my third pair. By this rate, I¡¯ll be well into next Winter before I find ones that keep my feet dry.¡± They conversed of nothing of importance as far as Mertle could gather. She paid polite attention, offered polite remarks, tried not to laugh at the captain¡¯s distress. It wasn¡¯t how she expected guards to behave when escorting a prisoner. She drew strength from that. Her stories were sound, backed by the truth. Sil had been careful in her own right and there was nothing leading back to Tianna aside from the suspicion she¡¯d planted over coffee and cake. If she maintained the right attitude, she might even understand how far the investigation had gone and what it had really uncovered. She¡¯d be forewarned of any future surprises, even¡ª Five corpses hung in the Citadel¡¯s courtyard, lit by spritelight as they swung at the end of very short ropes. Mertle had never seen gallows raised in Valen. Two empty nooses of thick rope twisted in the evening breeze next to the five men who hung. The last corpse in the line still twitched above the puddle of human waste it¡¯d produced. Sprite lamps had been laid around the structure, as if to draw attention to the scene. All corpses had scrolls nailed to their forehead, blood staining the parchment. They¡¯d been alive when that was done to them. ¡°What¡­¡± She choked on the word and realised she¡¯d stopped and stared. Another man was being marched naked from the dungeons, shivering in the chill. He was bruised and bleeding from a bevy of cuts, had his mouth gagged and arms bound at the back. He staggered and was hoisted by the two guards flanking him, dragged forward and set to face the noose. There was no fight left in him as he stood on the narrow shelf, cringing before the inevitable. ¡°You might want to look away,¡± Quistis said in her ear, not stopping to watch. ¡°She¡¯s seen worse,¡± Barlo answered. ¡°Haven¡¯t ye, chit?¡± One of the executioners fitted and tightened the noose around the prisoner¡¯s throat. The drop wasn¡¯t steep enough for a quick death. These were crude gallows, merely a shelf raised upon some stilts with the ropes tied in a row upon a high beam. The prisoner would be left swinging, to die slowly. One guard held the man¡¯s head¡ªhe wasn¡¯t anyone she recognized, not from posters and not from criers, just a human savaged and afraid¡ªand the other pinned a scroll to his forehead. One single hammer strike drove a short, thin nail through skin and bone with a gut-wrenching crunch. Before the man screamed they pushed him forward to dance on the end of the rope. She couldn¡¯t look away from how the body flailed, kicked and struggled. Its face swelled and turned blue, then purple. Bowels loosed. Quistis sighed as she backtracked to stand by her. ¡°This is not what I would¡¯ve preferred. I was hoping they¡¯d be done with the executions by now.¡± ¡°What¡ª¡± Mertle swallowed the lump in her throat. She had seen worse, yes, but never like this from humans. ¡°What were their crimes?¡± ¡°Written on their faces.¡± ¡°I-I can¡¯t read¡­¡± The scrolls, once unfurled fully, were nearly half the height of each corpse and crammed tight with neat, small writing. ¡°Flesh selling,¡± Quistis said and there was pure loathing in her voice. ¡°Abduction. Children and women, mostly from secluded, helpless villages. We¡¯ve found some of the victims. I would¡¯ve had done to these men what was done to their victims. I¡¯d rather not describe what that was; just know that what you see here is mercy.¡± ¡°Aye. The Commander decided t¡¯ be practical. He wasn¡¯t wi¡¯h us when we found the bodies.¡± Barlo put a large hand on her shoulder and firmly led her away. ¡°The less ye know of that, the better ye¡¯ll sleep.¡± ¡°Why not hang them in the Guild square?¡± she asked, turning away from the last noose. ¡°More people would see them.¡± ¡°Commander¡¯s order. No ceremony for the bastards. We¡¯ll let them hang until Cares sets and Winter ends, and then bury the remains. Word should spread by then.¡± Already some finely-dressed people stopped and gawked at the bodies, whispering among themselves. They pointed at the body that was still kicking feebly above a puddle of waste. They all drew back, hands to mouths, retching at the spectacle. ¡°One of their own.¡± Quistis led Mertle up the steps to the heavy black doors. ¡°Heir inheritor to the Paralla Holding. Protection from a high-born allowed this travesty. The Commander¡¯s hand weighs equally to all.¡± Unheard of, at least to Mertle¡¯s ears. The aelir would execute their undesirables in any number of cruel, bloody ways, but their own were dealt with discreetly¡­ by people like Mertle. As they ascended the stairs, she caught sight of the final execution being prepared. A woman was brought out. She fought them to very little effect. ¡°Why are they gagged?¡± They stepped past the threshold and out of sight of the gallows. ¡°Commander got fed up wi¡¯h their yapping. They bound and gagged their victims, so he ordered they be bound and gagged as well.¡± Barlo unclasped his cloak and handed it to a man at the entrance. Quistis followed suit and encouraged Mertle to do the same. ¡°We will return it. You are not being detained, miss Mergara.¡± ¡°Please, just Mertle.¡± ¡°Mertle, then. Liss here will only see about cleaning and then drying your cloak. It will be returned.¡± Two knives were nestled within sealed inner pockets. She dreaded parting with them but did it anyway. Whatever plans she¡¯d concocted on the walk up had been thrown to the winds by the haunting image of that final noose. Even as she knew the woman would be hung on it by now, her imagination provided cruel alternatives to who could be turning and twitching on the gathering night wind. Chapter 2.10.4: I have earned no name She was led to a small room where a fireplace dominated one side of the wall. Someone had lit the hearth and added thick logs to last throughout the night. One narrow window showed the dark outside, though Mertle assumed it would open onto a sheer drop if her orientation served well. A large round ashwood table dominated the centre. It had fur-dressed chairs arrayed around it, one of them significantly larger than the rest. A carafe of wine, sweaty with condensation, and four pewter mugs sat on a simple metal tray. Most importantly, this did not look at all like a holding cell or an interrogation chamber, or at least, as she imagined them to be. ¡°Make yourself comfortable. I need a quill and some paper.¡± Quistis showed her inside and excused herself. The door closed and Mertle did not hear a key turning in the lock. Barlo had disappeared down a different corridor than the one leading here. Mertle expected that he¡¯d be present as well for the conversation though the vanadal had muttered he had other business to attend to. A walk around the room didn¡¯t immediately show any spy holes or fake walls. It was all just¡­ a normal guard room. She saw signs of personal effects having been taken away, the scuffs on the floor where soldiers would rest their halberds, coat racks shiny with use, indentations in the chair coverings, a box of cards atop the mantelpiece. She couldn¡¯t sit down to wait quietly, so instead she paced. Part gnawing suspicion, part act of worry for her lover¡¯s safety. It was pleasantly warm and she was thirsty from the walk to here, but couldn¡¯t bring herself to trust the wine laid out. On old instinct, she rotated the mugs. The door opened quietly and someone new walked in. A woman, ashen-haired and thin as a blade, wearing the white uniform of the Storm Guard. She stopped for a moment upon seeing Mertle pacing by the window. ¡°Oh, you¡¯re here already. Good. Have a seat.¡± Her voice had a sticky-sweet affectation and an accent that Mertle had only heard on the more well-groomed clients seeking her work. Aztroa? ¡°Uh¡­ Hello?¡± she replied, certainty slipping away from her. ¡°I¡¯m waiting for Captain Quistis¡ª¡± ¡°I¡¯m aware. Sit down. Please. Pacing gets on my nerves.¡± There was an edge to the words. Not a threat exactly, but something that promised it could become a threat. She took the closest chair and sat quickly, awkwardly. The woman sat one chair away from her, not quite opposite, but close enough to be within reach. She poured two cups of wine and took one herself to drain in one long chug. ¡°Bloody warm in here,¡± she complained as she poured herself a second. ¡°It gets a bit nippy outside, and the guards get ready to burn the place down to keep warm. Ridiculous.¡± Mertle smiled, uncertain of what contribution was expected of her. She accepted the second cup of wine gratefully but did not drink. It was, indeed, very warm in the room. Beads of sweat ran down her back. ¡°Uh¡­ can you tell me what this is all about?¡± She kept her voice meek and laced her fingers around the mug, avoiding looking the woman in the eye. ¡°Is Sil¡­ Uh¡­ Is she in trouble? Is she alright?¡± ¡°Sil? Who¡¯s that?¡± Mertle swallowed a lump and tried to sound as confused as she was starting to feel, ¡°The¡­ woman Captain Quistis showed me?¡± ¡°Oh. That.¡± The woman shook her head and shrugged. ¡°I don¡¯t care about that.¡± After another long draw of her drink, she set the mug down and smiled in a way that had absolutely nothing to do with any humour or kindness. It was like watching someone unsheathe a blade. ¡°What I care about is learning why you and Lady Tianna of Aieni Holding have both taken to visiting the Sisters of Mercy just about every other day, at very similar times. And, of course, it¡¯d make me very happy to know what dealings have been going on between the two of you.¡± The door opened again before Mertle had a chance to compose any sort of reply or reaction to this shift in expectations. She¡¯d been careful! Every precaution taken. Every route studied. Every¡­ oh. It seemed she hadn¡¯t accounted for every eye dogging Tianna¡¯s steps. Someone had keener sight than she. ¡°Ah, Rumi, I see you¡¯ve already introduced yourself,¡± Quistis said by way of greeting. She hadn¡¯t but Mertle knew the name and fitted the face to Sil¡¯s account of their meeting. So, someone to be wary of. She tried not to stiffen as Quistis laid down her paper and inkwell on the table, along with a short thin-bladed sword that was unmistakably Tallah¡¯s. ¡°Thought you would¡¯ve been done with the executions by now,¡± the captain admonished Rumi. She sat, huffed, and reached over for the wine. ¡°Not a pleasant show to come back to.¡± ¡°The lordling had more confessions to pour out. His mistress tried cutting several deals.¡± She turned those glacial eyes on Mertle and offered up her weaponized smile. ¡°My apologies to the lady Mergara if it upset her.¡± ¡°They had anything interesting to add?¡± ¡°Couple more people to take the swing, yes. None that we weren¡¯t already aware of. Lads are kicking down doors and I expect I¡¯ll be working late tonight.¡± Quistis scrunched up her nose and sipped the wine with obvious disgust. So, Rumi was a torturer, if the state of the wretch was anything to go by. Mertle took quick inventory of what she¡¯d seen on the man and her pulse quickened. ¡°Umm, I¡¯m sorry but¡­ Sil?¡± This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. They ignored her. ¡°The informant?¡± Quistis drank more, sighed, and arranged her papers. ¡°Kept our word. Didn¡¯t touch a hair on her.¡± It was getting hotter in the room and the cup¡¯s chill against Mertle¡¯s fingers only made her throat itchier with thirst. Quistis finished her drink and then poured herself the last of the carafe. She gave Rumi a level look, one eyebrow slightly raised above her glasses. ¡°What did you do to her?¡± ¡°Nothing.¡± ¡°What are you doing to her?¡± A noncommittal shrug and wonderfully sly grin that looked to have taken a lot of practice. Mertle could almost smell the blood on Rumi and the hairs on the back of her neck rose as she spoke. ¡°Nothing. I¡¯m not touching a hair on her.¡± The torturer offered a grin made of perfectly straight white teeth. ¡°I¡¯m sticking her in a gibbet. They should be done pinning it on the wall next to¡­ that¡¯s not quit right. Above the Agora. Yes, she¡¯ll have a lovely view to think on everything she¡¯s confessed.¡± Quistis sighed, rubbing the bridge of her nose, almost disappointed. ¡°Just cut her throat and be done with it. Let¡¯s not remind people of every smear story they¡¯ve ever heard about the empire.¡± ¡°Nuh-uh. Commander¡¯s orders. I am not to touch her. She¡¯s volunteered information¡ªfor outrageous money¡ªand is to be imprisoned with dignity.¡± She spat out the word. ¡°He never specified the shape of the cage. Or the place. And I¡¯m letting her keep the fine clothes the lordling bought for her. That¡¯s enough dignity preserved, don¡¯t you think?¡± ¡°More than she deserves, yes.¡± There was just the barest hint of approval in Quistis¡¯s voice. ¡°Just have a crier belting out the crimes for a few days. I don¡¯t want Valen to think we¡¯re being absurd. You don¡¯t want to imagine the paperwork Diogron¡¯s going to demand.¡± ¡°I could have her sitting on a stake and make a show of it as I deal with her entire household. How do you think the High Lord would react to that, given their crime?¡± Quistis looked green and scowled, ¡°Must you? Really, must you?¡± She finally turned to Mertle and smiled apologetically, shaking with a final outburst of revulsion. ¡°Apologies, lady Mergara.¡± ¡°Mertle, please. I prefer Mertle. My Mergara blood is in Beril, not here.¡± ¡°Apologies, Mertle. This is an old issue finally put to bed and¡­ doesn¡¯t matter. Not your concern.¡± She placed a hand on a rolled up scroll and tapped her fingers on the seal. ¡°This has what I can tell you of your friend. But I¡¯d first like you to start from the beginning and tell me everything about this Sil, as promised.¡± ¡°Is she alright?¡± ¡°To the extent of my knowledge, yes. Or she was, at least, when we had last sight of her.¡± Mertle breathed out a slow sigh of relief and sagged in her chair, her shoulders drooping with relief. She took a chance on the wine and found it merely sour and somewhat lukewarm. Neither of the two took much interest that she drank, or seemed to wait for any reaction on her part. The wine was decent, albeit watered down, the kind of cheap swill the taverns of the Agora served on their bad days. Not something to get drunk on. Sweat plastered her clothes to her skin and it was a challenge resisting the urge to undo some of her buttons. ¡°From the beginning, Mertle,¡± Quistis said as she dipped her quill in ink. A traditionalist, like Tallah. Mertle had seen many scribes using the mechanical pens that the Enginarium produced, so a quill was an odd choice. This one was well-used and ruffled. ¡°You are here of your own accord and have not been coerced by myself or any member of the Valen constabulary or the eternal empire¡¯s Storm Guard contingent. Can you please confirm this in the presence of my witness?¡± Quistis¡¯s tone was all business, no emotion. Rumi watched her with the intense gaze of one that counted the heartbeats between answers and observed every twitch and tremor. ¡°I confirm that, yes. I just want to know what this is all about.¡± She sat up straighter and offered up her best eager smile, the one she reserved for human clients just before she told them what her work would cost. ¡°But¡­ shouldn¡¯t your witness be someone that¡¯s not answering to you? Seems rather pointless otherwise.¡± ¡°I¡¯m a special liaison to Valen,¡± Rumi answered before Quistis finished writing. They¡¯d been through this dance before, if the lack of reaction was anything to go by. ¡°I report to the empress herself and function as a check on my colleagues. My impartiality is assured.¡± Hardly. Mertle hadn¡¯t quite forgotten why the torturer was in the room with her. It was getting easier by the moment to withstand that piercing gaze. There was something aelir in her bearing. Might she be a demi? No. But she watched like an aelir¡¯matar would. It brought a cold shiver of dread on the soft caress of an old memory. Sitting very much just like now, in a deep, narrow room beneath a nameless Olden, answering the Sarrinare aelir¡¯matar¡¯s questions. Hesitation earned her the crop. It had been just as suffocatingly warm there with the fire burning beneath the poison¡¯s cauldron. She had gagged on the fumes and muddled her answers. The crop caught her across the cheek, the sting bringing tears to her eyes. The warning was deliberate: one more mistake and the next strike would go for the eye. Her mistress was displeased¡ª ¡°Mertle? Are you feeling ill?¡± She blinked away the memory and rose back into the moment. ¡°It¡¯s too warm. Can we crack open a window?¡± She was sweating hard and drank again, the dregs of the wine warm now and¡­ rather sweet? Quistis¡¯s look of worry hardened back into professional interest. ¡°This low they¡¯re bolted shut. Security.¡± Something in her insides revolted and gurgled unhappily. The wine burned in her stomach and she looked down into the cup. They¡¯d all drank. And she chose her cup. Rumi wore an expression like a dray about to pounce. ¡°I¡¯d say we¡¯re good to start, captain.¡± They¡¯d had her drink truth serum! The taste made sense. Summer wasp venom, distilled into drops, masked by the pewter and the low quality of the wine. The heat and the stalling, the way in which both women had drunk deeply. Humans were civilised. They laid traps. It burned in her chest, and it was all she could do to keep it down. Vomit scorched the back of her throat as instinct insisted on a purge. With some effort, she resisted. Purge the venom if you can, but never in audience. To purge is to invite suspicion. You will learn to use the truth as your shield instead. ¡°I¡¯m sorry. I think the wine isn¡¯t agreeing with me.¡± It was hard to lie. The hooks were in her and the intention to mislead caused agony, a spike in her heartbeat that would be hard to disguise. Right after ingestion is when the venom is at its most potent, as it starts breaking down in the furnace of your stomach. The aelir¡¯matar¡¯s voice whispered in her ear with malicious delight. What is your name? ¡°What is your full name?¡± Quistis¡¯s words overlaid over the cruel memory. Mertle looked up into two wolfish expressions. ¡°Servant,¡± she answered both voices. ¡°I have earned no name.¡± Chapter 2.11.1: Stalking death This would be a lot easier if we simply took to the air again. A bit more care and it wouldn¡¯t end as badly. Where Bianca got her optimism from, Tallah couldn¡¯t imagine. A bit more care and they wouldn¡¯t have ended up so far beneath the reach of real daylight. A bit more care and they wouldn¡¯t have misplaced two people and nearly choked to death on the ashes of burning spiders. That last part was mainly Ludwig¡¯s fault, though. She should feed him the ashes and maybe he¡¯d remember his own lectures on the subject. Avoid using fire whenever your retreat is not assured. You burn just as easily as your foe, his reedy voice echoed from the halls of memory. She banished it back into its box before she decided on doing something unpleasant to its owner. Tallah had tried getting a bird¡¯s-eye view of the city so she could follow the lifeline connecting her to Sil. And she¡¯d discovered to her amazement and general annoyance that these spiders could stay wonderfully camouflaged by the monochromatic light and jump a staggering distance. Getting hit by two of the things mid-flight was not something she aimed to experience again. If she hadn¡¯t dodged the third things might have gotten really ugly really quick. Terrible creatures. Adaptable. Aggressive. Uncaring of their own survival. Quite unlike any other spider she¡¯d ever crushed beneath her heel or set ablaze. Black Monks, the largest she¡¯d ever seen prior to coming here, were solitary and easily scared off with a stick on fire if not especially hungry. These ones¡­ What do they even eat down here? Christina added the question to the growing list of academic curiosities Tallah was not inclined to solve. They must be consuming something. That much mass doesn¡¯t simply appear out of nothing. There¡¯s so many of the bloody things. ¡°I don¡¯t care.¡± ¡°About?¡± Ludwig trailed behind her at a distance, labouring to climb what must¡¯ve been the tenth stairway in less than a bell¡¯s time. She had to stop and wait for the codger to catch up and then wait for him to catch his breath. It cost her too much time and there was more than enough reason to leave him behind. It would provide Christina an answer to her feeding question. ¡°Nothing you¡¯d need to care for,¡± she spat. ¡°How did you manage the labyrinth but have trouble here?¡± ¡°Miss Sil¡¯s Terrible and Healthy Tonic helped,¡± he huffed. ¡°You have. The endurance. Of a vanadal. Charger. Mercy¡­¡± Maybe if she kicked him back down the stairs¡ªno, that was unkind even to him. Her mood was getting the better of her judgement. Instead, she walked away to explore beyond the next door. It was all getting rather monotonous by now. Stairway. Room. Webs. Windows. Outside platform. Angels staring down everywhere, like some beatific gargoyles left behind to watch over a dead city. She paced some distance away from the uncomfortably large openings leading to another platform outside, staying within the long shadows cast by sculpted pillars lit by the shining spire outside. Bridges connected the platform to hanging sections of the city she had no interest in visiting. Ahead, past this room, was a long corridor overlooking the abyss, its open side guarded by pillars and more bloody statues. What vain people this civilisation must have sired, to fill every nook and cranny with their winged countenance. Or maybe they¡¯d grown into horrid creatures here, like that beast in the labyrinth, and needed reminders of what they¡¯d lost. Some intrepid beasts had taken to assaulting her when she got too close to any blind edge. Even now she knew there were some right outside the windows, creeping through their great web, staging another ambush. Their cooperation was something to ponder on when she¡¯d have more time for it and less lurking danger. She loosed two of her fireflies through the curtain and was rewarded by a meaty pop and splash of ichor. A black body thudded outside the window, still twitching its remaining limbs. Another firefly turned it to wet offal. They¡¯d been learning to avoid her strikes. This one had been careless. The other three had fled. ¡°How do you always know where they are?¡± Ludwig crept next to her, keeping away from the windows. ¡°None of your concern.¡± ¡°I¡¯m noticing that¡¯s your answer to most questions I ask.¡± ¡°Then stop asking.¡± She had very little patience left for him. Worse, he¡¯d proven himself useless and couldn¡¯t be trusted for defence if she slowed down and rested. What good was he to her now? No matter how hard she marched forward, Sil remained too far away and out of reach. The illum lifeline wove in and out of Grefe¡¯s maze-like architecture, sometimes disappearing entirely into the depths of the structures only to reappear some place farther ahead. Blind luck kept her on the scent, and not much else. What were the spiders running from to take such illusive, absurd routes? Surely, they didn¡¯t fear her. Maddening. And Ludwig took so long to catch his blasted breath, his wheezing like a saw cutting a stubborn log. The temptation to simply go ahead grew by the moment as the lifeline faded ever more from view. If you leave him, he will not survive the bell, Christina commented. So what? Do not act the child, Tallah. We are not going to abandon him to his fate, much as he might deserve it. We don¡¯t know enough of what transpired here and he is still our best hope of understanding this place. Yes, dear. It¡¯s becoming very clear that he¡¯s lied to us, Bianca chirped, about as enthused about the place as Christina. I¡¯d like him on hand by the time we unravel whatever mystery is here to be unravelled. You may eat him afterwards. If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. How lovely. Her consciences were going daffy. But Christina never liked Sil much¡ª You are tired and that is unfair. I would not condemn the hen to such an end even if she does annoy me in unspeakable ways. Something flashed on the horizon of her illum sight. Like a flash of thunder, it drowned out any other colours for a moment and then was gone. Her pulse quickened to a panic-fuelled gallop. It couldn¡¯t have been Falor! There was no way for him to follow from all the way across the empire. And he certainly couldn¡¯t have traversed the maze. Or¡­ could he? He did have an Egia on retinue. She chanced a look outside, towards the depths of the city. Here it was again, clearer now. No, definitely not Falor. He was a storm in the illum flow, a bolt of lightning that she¡¯d never forget, almost pure energy. This had none of his sharp clarity. It came like a churning cloud of power dragging a net of razors behind it. A spider on a moving web, its illum size mind-boggling. In some ways, it resembled the imprint of the maze creature. There was something in the way it moved and shifted, as if it weren¡¯t fully there, and yet terribly real. It ate up the distance in heartbeats. ¡°Get up, old man,¡± she urged. ¡°We need to move.¡± ¡°Where to?¡± Ludwig pushed himself to his feet, fists knuckling the small of his back, oblivious to the storm about to hit them. ¡°In. Deep as we can go.¡± Too late. She¡¯d misjudged the distance in the unreliable sight of the Ikosmenia. She grabbed Ludwig¡¯s shirt and yanked him back just as something slashed through the entire structure, stone splitting like butter. A heartbeat later and he¡¯d be in two distinct pieces. That was a healer¡¯s barrier. Christina sounded awe-struck. It cut through stone?! She¡¯d think on that later. Illum churned outside, creeping into their hiding spot to drown out all other flows until only the storm remained. It swirled into coherent shapes, an assault about to begin. Something huge landed on the terrace outside with an earth-shaking thud, dressed in jagged power than looked like nothing Tallah had ever seen before. It moved in jerks and loomed across the exit to drown out the light. Fresh offal stench wafted off the thing, a mixture of putrefying gore and fresh sores. Its breathing rasped painfully. It crashed against the pillared entrance, trying to squeeze its bulk inside. ¡°It can¡¯t be.¡± Ludwig had trouble keeping on his feet as he gaped. ¡°It can¡¯t.¡± Tallah was already moving, running forward through disarrayed rooms, her grip hard on Ludwig¡¯s arm. He stumbled and dragged his feet. It was all she could do to resist hitting him back to his senses. More of the strange constructs obstructed their path. Barriers that took a moment to materialise¡ªslower than Sil could make them, the detached part of her mind observed¡ªbut cut through anything they reached. Solid rock. Pottery. Crystal veins that flickered in chaotic patterns of displaced illum. Whatever the barriers touched slid apart into neat pieces. Mad. It was only the Ikosmenia¡¯s heartbeat of warning that kept them both from vivisection. She fired on the constructs, heat lances punching through barriers before they could reach full coherence. Ludwig cowered besides her, blind to the encroaching danger, panicked by whatever he saw that she didn¡¯t. With that mixture of bulk, power, and stench, Tallah was certain she wouldn¡¯t want to get a real view. Rage echoed outside, a half-human cry of fury echoing across the chambers. The storm moved. It raced across the outside walls and stabbed long tendrils of power into her path. Some of them were actual limbs on the creature, punching through the thinnest walls, seeking to skewer them. Tallah dove under a swipe and dragged Ludwig down with her. He had enough sense to follow her cues. Another swipe of claws the size of a child rendered the wall to rubble and the monster again reached inside. Barriers bloomed and blocked the passages forward. Not neat sheets of protection like Sil made, but like blown glass absurdly shaped into spiderwebs, every edge a cutting danger. They grew thorns. It had taken Sil more practice than most healers got in a lifetime to fashion her barriers into crudely shaped constructs. This thing created abstract, coherent patterns on the fly. ¡°We¡¯re being boxed in.¡± Tallah¡¯s voice strangled out with the rush of danger. A crashing echo behind them, silence, and then the thud of giant limbs pumping across the wall outside announced the creature following on its own territory. ¡°I can¡¯t see anything,¡± Ludwig said as she pulled him back from running face-first into one of the constructs. ¡°That creature. It can¡¯t be. The face!¡± She slapped him in earnest. No time for him to panic and spiral out of his senses. More constructs bloomed around them and sectioned the tunnel. Pieces of it crumbled and fell into the outside abyss as great claws raked them away with ear-splitting roars of crashing stone. The floor shifted underfoot, listing dangerously to the side. They backed up and pricked their backs on the invisible barrier barring their retreat. Its touch cut through her clothes and under-armour as if they weren¡¯t even there. Skin split and blood flowed down her back, the pain lost in the onrush of battle fervour. If she retreated, she¡¯s show her back again to the thing. It was climbing inside beyond the barriers, great bulk drawn in to bar the way. She launched a heat lance at full strength and punched through the line of constructs, setting the webs around them alight. She¡¯d have to manage the heat and the smoke, but at least she gutted the obstacles for a heartbeat. Just enough time to formulate a plan that wouldn¡¯t allow this thing to dictate the pace. Barriers shatter when you hit them at the right cadence. First tap should consume the outside deflective layer, second should punch straight through the feed-in layer, Christina droned in her head, reciting back her own grimoire notes. Bianca, we need your support. Ludwig screamed and backed further into the lattice, unmindful of the cuts he accumulated. He¡¯d sever himself to pieces to be away. The creature roared again, pure triumph in its eerie half-voice. It made Tallah¡¯s teeth vibrate and sweat break out across her back. Sharp pain kept her mind racing. They couldn¡¯t remain here or move forward. The many side exits could take them either into an inside stairwell, or a blind dead-end where they¡¯d be easy pickings. Who knew how deep those barriers could cut from here? If they ran into one of the narrower tunnels, it¡¯d be even harder to avoid the killing strikes. Flames licked at her boots as she hesitated and planned, the webs combusting around her in great gusts of smoke and belching flames. It was getting too hot to breathe and, soon, the old man would be just dead weight she¡¯d need to carry. Black shapes crawled in through the gaps between the pillars, their ambush finally sprung. They threw themselves at her fire, mindless and wild, screaming as her lances and fireflies loosed. ¡°Give him.¡± She heard the voice like an echo of many others. ¡°Give him and you may live.¡± Chapter 2.11.2: Do as told Was the beast talking? She wanted to risk a real sight glance but couldn¡¯t relinquish the Ikosmenia for a moment or she¡¯d end up in chunks. Christina provided the real image of what she faced as the creature advanced on them, the safe gap narrowing. It made her insides cramp up in horror. A fever dream aberration of mismatched human and spider parts¡ªShe banished the image from mind for fear of locking up rigid with terror. You need to gain distance, Bianca whispered urgently. Ready when you are. I have the Professor leashed to you. I will try not to break him. ¡°Give him!¡± ¡°Come get him,¡± she challenged back and launched twin fireballs at the thing. Her fireflies drew in the power she fed them, enlarged to a swirling vortex of fire around, and loosed on the thing. She saw the barriers forming even as she shaped the illum, a defensive armour on the great storm, each thrust of her attack met by a barrier. No matter. When they detonated to a cloud of smoke and dust, she launched out the nearest gap, straight over into abyss, dragging Ludwig behind her on a tether. His weight spun her around for a moment before Bianca took control of her flight. Do not dare faint. Ludwig screamed and flailed wildly as Bianca drew him closer. Tallah grabbed his coat and brought his body against hers. ¡°Hold on tight or fall to your death,¡± she urged through gritted teeth. Ludwig¡¯s answer was a gargled scream of mindless fright. His hands gripped on her coat and his arms locked rigid around her. She fell with him, leashed a tether to a statue, and was flung across the great black abyss. The creature followed. It sees us, Christina observed. Yes. It keeps trying to cut my tethers, Bianca confirmed what Tallah feared. Like the white creepers, this also seems to enjoy an Egia¡¯s sight. It meant it could follow anywhere. ¡°Whatever illum you¡¯re storing, drop it,¡± Tallah urged Ludwig. He drew breath for another scream but she headbutted him. This close it was the only way to shut him up. His breath stank. ¡°Do as you¡¯re told, and we may live through this.¡± Dropping my reserves, Christina confirmed. Tallah release some of her power, feeling naked to the danger. But it couldn¡¯t be helped. If the creature was the Egia girl in some absurd way¡ªand the bulbous head growing on the side of that nightmarish concoction pretty much confirmed it¡ªthen she needed distance and she needed to hide. ¡°It was Erisa. The girl. The girl, Tallah.¡± Ludwig screeched against her face, and she would¡¯ve done anything to be able to throttle him just then. Her stomach lurched and acid scorched the back of her throat as Bianca cut the tether drawing forward, turned them about in a whiplash twist, yanked forward and cut again to allow them to sail through the air. The creature chased and built barriers in her path. They were too far out across the gaping maw of the abyss, so none of them found purchase. At least some of the normal rules still applied. A barrier needed an anchor to be useful. Bianca¡¯s range exceeded that of the beast¡¯s, her tethers able to grip where the barriers couldn¡¯t gain purchase. I¡¯m pulling us back into the city. That gallery ahead. The moment we hit rock I¡¯ll drop all illum. Be ready to run. Like a kicked dog. Christina did not enjoy the idea of running and hiding, but there was really nothing else to do. Their enemy could see their weave and counter it. Whatever rules Sil and other healers had to abide by were inconsequential to it. Any more fighting without preparation would be foolish, and this wasn¡¯t the kind of distraction Tallah could afford. Her flight lurched to avoid a leaping spider. It missed her by a hair and dropped off into the black beneath. More leapt as she approached the city. Bianca pulled them in bursts, as if swinging on a web, in and out of the galleries, flying by pillars at breakneck speed with hair¡¯s breadth precision. One mistake and they¡¯d smash their heads against the white marble. If only she could close her eyes to this¡­ Be ready. They¡¯d lost sight of the creature and Tallah forced herself to purge the rest of her illum store. If not for the adrenaline, she would¡¯ve fainted for the sudden painful depletion. For all his terror, Ludwig had also released his store. Her flight brought them through a gallery on the topmost part of the city. Bianca angled them among columns, up and under jutting balconies, swinging them in bursts and bleeding off speed gradually the deeper they went into this tight cluster of dwellings. Here, bridges spanned between balconies, sculpted to details Tallah could not appreciate at speed. Bianca seeded their rush with decoy tethers to confuse their monstrous pursuer. Now. The final arc of their flight had no tether. Tallah braced for impact as a window grew large in her spinning peripheral vision. Rhine was there, arms outstretched, waiting to embrace them. Bianca¡¯s strength dissipated entirely as they hit the ground and crashed straight through the wraith and onward through ancient furnishings. Spider silk cushioned their impact. Five rolls to a full, sticky stop. Her head slammed against something to an explosion of blinding lights. A cacophonous crash of shattered wood and pottery, detritus untouched for who knew how long turned to the dust it was destined for. Sense flooded back into her with the realisation that she¡¯d passed out and the rush of fear that the spiders might be on them. Rhine loomed above, empty gaze offering nothing. ¡°Get off. Get up.¡± Tallah blinked away constellations of stars and pried a half-unconscious Ludwig off her. Webs held her stuck fast to the old blighter. His eyes were glazed over and his lips moved soundlessly, all of him inert in terror. He fainted before she could drag herself fully up. The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Tallah punched and kicked herself free of him. ¡°Blast the soul out of you, useless bastard. Get up.¡± A good kick in the ribs had him stirring. Another had him cringing and gasping for breaths he¡¯d screamed away. ¡°Get up." She stooped and dragged him off the floor and away from the ruins of their crash. She scanned the new rooms for an exit to lead somewhere away before that monster picked up their scent. Her nose bled. Statues stared blindly down at them. ¡°We need to go before it comes for us. I can¡¯t fight that thing.¡± ¡°The girl lives. It was her. By the gods, what have I done?¡± Incoherent mumbling wasn¡¯t going to help. She resisted the urge to strike him again. ¡°It¡¯s not her. Your trinket doesn¡¯t pull to it.¡± She looked up and met Rhine¡¯s hollow stare, and choked on her own scream. Her sister wasn¡¯t there anymore than the old man¡¯s girl was. No time now for her imagination to rush in and play havoc. ¡°It¡¯s her!¡± Ludwig protested, voice rising to a keening squeal. ¡°It¡¯s not. Move.¡± How unreasonably heavy the man was when despairing, a bag of bones that resisted her efforts to preserve his meaningless life. Where were they? How far off-course had their flight brought them? We¡¯re not that far away from our initial position, Bianca whispered. I brought us back as close as I dared, just further in, near to the last sight you had of the trail. I don¡¯t want the boy dead any more than you do. She¡¯d never been as thankful for Bianca¡¯s uncanny mind for numbers and equations. It was only her cool that had saved them and maybe¡ªhopefully¡ªthe boy as well. First chance she had, she¡¯d get that blasted thing off Vergil if she found him with head still attached. It was proving more trouble than just leaving the wretch unattended. A wet spot formed on the side of her head and throbbed in urgent pain. Blood turned her hair sticky and itchy as it oozed down to her neck and under her shirt. Lovely. ¡°There¡¯s an exit there.¡± Ludwig pointed to a side passage. All of Grefe seemed built of passages and balconies and bridges and eyries. Being out in the open made Tallah¡¯s skin crawl and every hair on her body stand on end. One exit was as good as any other, if it went inside and not out. She drew her sword and stumbled forward, avoiding the wraith as it kept invading the corners of her sight. Was it getting bolder? Closer each time? Drink a draught, dear. You¡¯ve hit your head rather hard. Judging by her wet trouser leg, the draught she¡¯d saved up was no longer there and she didn¡¯t dare try and open a rend for more. ¡°I¡¯ll manage.¡± And she¡¯d rely on her ghosts to see what was and wasn¡¯t there in truth. ¡°Wh-wh-what do you believe that was?¡± Ludwig asked as he fell in step besides her. ¡°You are certain it wasn¡¯t¡­ Erisa?¡± Whatever teeth he still had chattered as he threw fearful glances over his shoulder. ¡°Dangerous is what it was. More than you saw.¡± And bloody terrifying in ways he wouldn¡¯t grasp in the moment, struck dumb by his fear. She knew a healer¡¯s weave when she saw it and had observed Sil¡¯s work innumerable times. Those had been barriers sure as she bled, and they¡¯d been used in ways that she¡¯d been assured was impossible. I knew it could be done. The hen lied. The cheek of her! Hardly cheek or intent, in Tallah¡¯s opinion. More Hepius secretive nonsense most likely, and a lot to think about with regards to the lost Egia, still alive somehow and come to hunt them. Light began to dim. Not like sunset on the surface, but a sudden drop in intensity with clear intent to bring the day to an end. Crystal veins shimmered inside, their strange patterns all shifting as one together with the outside spires. Sweat stung her eyes and she lifted the mask to give herself a respite from the riot of illum in this place and got a better look of what was happening. Red. The entire city bathed in red, like a tide of blood washing across the crenelated spires, black shadows growing out of nooks and corners. Grefe settled into its gloom and¡ªit might just have been Tallah¡¯s imagination¡ªeven the background noise of water dropping into the abyss lowered its intensity to a simple, barely-there whisper. A wisp of illum zoomed past her head when she donned back the Ikosmenia, its normal flow altered. By what? She spun and backhanded Ludwig with such force that it left her wounded back and sides screaming in agony. He¡¯d drawn in a gasp of illum and almost shaped it into a sprite. She was more worried of that than the echoing crash of pottery upturned and shattered where the old man stumbled. ¡°Let it go,¡± she whisper-barked at him. ¡°Now, before it catches your scent, you cretin.¡± He obeyed even before stirring from the wreckage. She looked out for that stormy stirring from earlier but only met Rhine¡¯s cold, blank stare, her features even more grotesque in the blood light. Why was the ghost unaffected by the Ikosmenia? She never even disturbed the illum that passed through her, the only defined sight visible through the mask. Because it¡¯s not here, Christina said. I can¡¯t get rid of the presence because it is in your head. Try and ignore it. Otherwise, nothing coming. For now. ¡°Stop dawdling and get up. I didn¡¯t hit you that hard. And stop that pathetic moaning or I leave you as you lay.¡± ¡°I said nothing.¡± Ludwig protested as he struggled up and made even more ringing noises. No echoes sounded, quite as if something smothered and swallowed whole the sounds. His voice and her own came out muffled, like in the labyrinth before. But something did moan. In the dead silence that followed once Ludwig shook the dust off himself and joined Tallah in the narrow passage, a faint moaning scratched at her ears. ¡°Do you hear that?¡± she asked to confirm it wasn¡¯t some new form of torture from her wretched sister. ¡°Aye. Moans. Some trap, likely. They can produce that sound easily enough.¡± Whatever waited, she crept forward to meet it, sword in hand, mask lifted off her eyes. Sweat mixed with blood in a stinging, blinding concoction that she kept having to wipe off her face. What a peculiar kind of night this was. Once she grew accustomed to the light, it was rather pleasant. And the whisper of running water helped ease her nerves. Rhine intruded constantly now, always present at her elbow, never seeming to move and yet always within arm¡¯s reach. She considered swinging her sword at the apparition just to vent some frustration but felt foolish at the notion. Christina was right. It was all in her imagination. No other explanation fit. She should sleep, recover some strength, and move forward fresh. Her head throbbed and the rest of her chaffed under the strain of anticipating a battle to come. To keep her fingers touching the illum flow, ready to grasp and draw it in, but careful not to, was an exhausting effort. She had little patience left over for her sister¡¯s demanding wraith and whatever riddle it presented. Ludwig dug out a torch from his backpack, along with a box of alchemical matchsticks. ¡°I only have one.¡± He gave a rueful smile and struck a match to light the thing. A blob of alchemical fire disturbed dust in the air for a heartbeat, then settled into a warm glow. ¡°One¡¯s going to be enough. Be ready to swing it if something comes at us.¡± She promised herself she¡¯d rest once past whatever next hurdle came their way. Rhine shook with mute laughter at her side. Chapter 2.11.3: You should be angry Vergil screamed until his throat went raw. Blood burst in the back of his mouth, choking him into gurgling coughs. It fucking hurt! Like nothing he¡¯d ever felt before. One moment he faced the white spider, the next he was on fire, kicking and rolling in the soft turf, pain lancing him from every possible side. No respite. Not a moment¡¯s mercy. Razors across his skin, salt and vinegar in the wounds, bone marrow sucked out through his pores. Where was his sword? He¡¯d dropped it. Fucking where?! He needed to make the pain stop! No more air in him to scream. He struggled to breathe and instead inhaled dirt and leaves. Something swelled in his head. A distant memory hit, of facing the specimen in the vents, of its hooked tail lifting him up. He was still there, hung by the jaw, facing inescapable death. No air. Couldn¡¯t breathe. Couldn¡¯t move for the pain. His heart threatened to explode though his ribcage. Then it was gone. It retreated with the same suddenness as it had come, leaving him a trembling mess on the ground, still alive, barely able to draw breath. He vomited. Long moments passed before he received the first notification from Argia. He blinked away the messages and cringed from the glaring light above. Was the torture over? Something jolted and shook him. It took some time to realise he was being moved. Dragged. He saw his heels digging a line through the ground as something struggled to move him away. He struggled back, thoughts jellying back into coherence. Erisa! It must be the girl. One of her spiders was taking him away. What happened to Sil? He dug in his heels and heaved away, dropping to the ground, and rolling awkwardly. Got his knees under him. His sword was gone but he raised his fists, ready to defend himself for all the good that would do. Against Sil? The healer heaved with effort, bent at the waist, hands on knees as she gasped for breath. ¡°Goddess¡¯s blood, Vergil, you¡¯re heavier than you look.¡± She wheezed. ¡°Did you know that?¡± His sword laid at her feet. They were deeper into the forest and the light filtering down was not as bright as he remembered it from¡­ moments ago? He shuddered and looked about, expecting spiders where there were none. ¡°What happened?¡± The words cut. His throat felt hoarse, like sandpaper in the back of his mouth rubbing against the soft tissue. ¡°Where¡¯s Erisa?¡± Sil¡¯s baffled look had him looking about even wilder. ¡°What? What¡¯s happening?¡± ¡°First, calm down. Second, you nearly died. I guess Tallah¡¯s ended up on the far end of the safeguard¡¯s range. I¡¯m so sorry, Vergil.¡± ¡°Oh. You weren¡¯t kidding.¡± He breathed out a sigh of relief and ran a hand across his face. He felt coarse stubble on his cheek. ¡°It hurt just like you said it would. Bloody terrifying. I half-thought you wanted to scare me back in Valen.¡± Again, that look of bafflement on Sil¡¯s face. ¡°Are you alright, Vergil? Feeling light-headed? Vision blurry?¡± Now that she mentioned it, he took stock. All the stud¡¯s effects were passed. He felt quite well actually, strength returning in waves. For one, he was thirsty. There was the taste of dirt, blood, and bile in the back of his throat, but that was the worst of it. ¡°No. I¡¯m feeling well. Really well.¡± ¡°That¡¯s¡­ peculiar.¡± She came nearer and pressed the back of her hand to his forehead. ¡°No fever either. No dilated pupils. I was nearly certain you might¡¯ve popped a blood vessel. Are you certain you¡¯re feeling well?¡± He drew back and frowned, a kernel of panic popping at her insistence. ¡°Yes. Why? What should I be feeling?¡± ¡°Angry. You should be angry.¡± ¡°Oh.¡± He blinked. ¡°Why?¡± ¡°For being put through that. It¡¯s my enchantment that did it.¡± ¡°At the moment, I think you scare me far worse than Tallah does. You were right. I¡¯d prefer her fire to your skills.¡± He smiled and shrugged. ¡°Thing did what you said it would. I¡¯m honestly relieved. I thought you might¡¯ve lied just to scare me.¡± This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. He walked over to his sword and picked it up. With Sil more worried about his state than any ambush, he assumed they were safe. ¡°What happened to Erisa? I thought she had us.¡± ¡°She did. Then you began screaming and she ran off. I think she worried about the attention you might¡¯ve been inviting.¡± ¡°Imagine that. Means there are worse things in here than her.¡± ¡°Yes. I wanted to ask her what she wants with me but never got the chance. And seeing her bolt as she did, I figured it would be best for us to do so as well. In the opposite direction.¡± She ran a hand through her disarrayed hair and tucked errant strands away from her eyes. Her face was pale, lips faded. Sweat and blood soaked the collar of her shirt. ¡°Should¡¯ve stuck closer to the wall, but we can double back I think.¡± Vergil had once tracked a particularly ugly critter beneath one of the hydroponic gardens aboard the Gloria Nostra. He had climbed out of the ducts and into the gardens themselves by forcing open an access panel. Sewerage there flooded often by design, and he didn¡¯t want to be caught in a purge. Normally he wasn¡¯t allowed to breach into any of the life support areas, but he had spent two days tracking the creature, not eating anything but his emergency rations. It had pissed him off to no ends, so he hadn¡¯t paid attention to where he was breaching into. The thing would die, or he¡¯d go mad with frustration and Argia notifications. The air in the gardens had struck him nearly dumb, fresh, and cool, entirely different from what he breathed normally. It had made him slightly dizzy with the aromas and perfumes of actual plant life. More oxygen than made it into the ship¡¯s normal air mixture. There was green everywhere, blindingly beautiful compared to the grey metal making up the lower levels. He forgot all about his quary and simply wandered between the shelves and pools of water, taking it all in, mesmerised. Technicians working the hydroponics found him mere minutes later and had him instantly quarantined and carted out. He had never forgotten that short time in the ship-borne forest. He had been punished with a month of reduced bunk temperature and rations, but that price was small by comparison to the experience. It was one of the few memories from the Gloria Nostra that he cherished. All that came flooding back now that he looked about. He¡¯d been in the forests around Valen on his trip out with Sidora and the others, but that had been¡­ different. Here, it smelled nearly as the hydroponic garden did and the air was just as rich and fragrant as he remembered. It was only missing the soft hiss and whirl of automated maintenance systems. ¡°Which direction?¡± he asked, turning about. The only guides for their position were the lines his feet had dug through the earth, and he figured they wouldn¡¯t want to head back there. At least, not yet. ¡°Forward, I guess.¡± Sil lifted a fern to show even more thickets. ¡°Forward or back, we¡¯re bound to run into some spiders somewhere. Best try and find our way out of here and onto some overlooking balcony somewhere. I still can¡¯t channel.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t you two have ways of finding one another? Like this stud?¡± He cut a path for them where the plant life grew too thick. Warm sap coated his hands and made his grip on the sword slick and slippery. ¡°No. Enchantments can work both ways and a skilled artisan can reverse the effect. If I were captured and I wore something like that, it could lead our enemies back to Tallah. It¡¯s why your binding is one-way only. Tallah gets no feedback from you, so she can¡¯t know how far from her you are. It¡¯s still a risk, just not as big of one as you are.¡± ¡°Thank you for that.¡± ¡°I am reassessing my stance on the stud, and I can bet Tallah is too. Else you¡¯d be shorter a head by now.¡± Vergil let out a long sigh. ¡°After we get out of this place, I¡¯d like the two of you to sit down with me and really explain your magic.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not magic, Vergil. Magic is for¡ª¡± ¡°Channelling. Whatever you call it. I want to know what¡¯s possible and what isn¡¯t if I¡¯m to be useful in any way. I can¡¯t have you both stumbling over me all the time.¡± Sil laughed softly and looked terribly weary. Her forehead still bled a trickle down her face, and she pointedly ignored it. She¡¯d needed both arms to carry him and now she cradled the bad one tight against her chest, clearly in more pain with each jolting step. ¡°You need to be kinder to yourself,¡± she said without a hint of rancour. ¡°I like that you assume we¡¯re getting out of here in one piece. Your optimism is either pure stupidity, or some strength of character that I ought to study as a curiosity.¡± ¡°Ha. Ha. Droll.¡± An animal¡¯s sharp bellow sounded from somewhere to the side, muffled by the greenery. It repeated three times, each more distant. ¡°There are other animals here. That didn¡¯t sound like a spider.¡± Vergil¡¯s face flushed, realising what he¡¯d said. ¡°Not that these spiders sound like spiders. Do spiders even normally sound like anything here? You understand what I mean.¡± ¡°Yes, I do. I was wondering what the spiders ate. If there are animals in this forest, one must wonder how far it stretches to accommodate wildlife with enough numbers to survive.¡± ¡°I honestly thought they¡¯d be big on mushrooms,¡± Vergil said. His voice had lowered to a whisper now. His stomach roared. Sil gave him a disgusted look. ¡°Of all things, mushrooms? They¡¯re foul. Why would anything eat those? I wouldn¡¯t feed them to swine.¡± ¡°They¡¯re good, especially as a sauce.¡± Hunger pangs reminded him they hadn¡¯t eaten anything since emerging out of the maze. How long had it been since then? ¡°It was a big part of my diet on the Gloria. They would grow in the dark and didn¡¯t need much to thrive. I sometimes found them in the wall panels.¡± His mouth watered. ¡°And, you know, the master at the Sizzling Boar made this stew with them. It was so good.¡± Sil looked like she would prefer eating her boots. ¡°First off, you were probably being fed those because you counted as a bottom feeder. And second, that explains why you would eat even roaches to get away from them.¡± She screwed shut her eyes and grimaced in disgust. ¡°You imagined it¡ª¡± ¡°Shut up.¡± The light changed. What had been near daylight streaming down turned red with a flicker. Above the forest whatever crystals produced the light had shifted to hues of red, with some tremors of blue here and there, a night sky dredged out of some nightmare. ¡°Bugger.¡± Sil looked up as well and shielded her eyes against the fresh glare. ¡°And here I thought this place couldn¡¯t get worse.¡± Chapter 2.11.4: We do not love the false mother ¡°Red light helps plants grow,¡± Vergil mused. ¡°I asked on the Gloria when I broke into a garden by mistake. They used spotlights for it. Huh. Wonder what technology the angels here had.¡± ¡°Fancy that. More riddles for us to never solve.¡± She pressed a hand to the back of his neck, and he recoiled from it. ¡°Relax.¡± Sil grabbed his shoulder and then softly touched the area around the binding stud. ¡°This is rather cool. Tallah¡¯s close by.¡± ¡°Should we call out?¡± ¡°I¡¯d rather we try and move out of this place. Erisa may be coming back soon. I don¡¯t know what spooked her, and I¡¯d rather not find out.¡± She laughed. ¡°Also, I wouldn¡¯t call to Tallah if she¡¯s in her mood at the moment. I don¡¯t think you want to test how your armour handles a fireball if she fires on you by mistake.¡± In the ruby light the forest had turned ominous. Every rustle sounded louder. The shadows were darker and hid more of the way forward even as Vergil tried cutting a wide enough path for Sil not to struggle. ¡°Give me your helmet. You¡¯re better off without it in this heat.¡± ¡°What for?¡± It was terribly warm, and his brow sweated under the metal dome. It hadn¡¯t yet occurred to him to take the thing off. ¡°I need a weapon and you only have one sword. Whatever wood I¡¯ve seen here is too soft for a proper staff. The helmet will do.¡± ¡°¡­how?¡± He was loath to part with the thing but having it off was more comfortable. Anxiety needled the back of his head. Imagination provided giant spiders in the canopy above, just ready to drop down and bite the top of his skull off. His scalp itched. Sil stuffed the helmet with dirt and leaves, packing it tight as she made it into a strangely shaped gauntlet. ¡°It¡¯ll need to do.¡± She hefted it and threw an experimental punch. ¡°Not going to be much use, but better than my bare hands for now.¡± ¡°That¡¯s how you¡¯re going to use it as a weapon?¡± He stifled a laugh. ¡°Mock me again, boy, and I¡¯m going to punch you straight in the teeth. You tell me afterwards if this still amuses you.¡± She aimed the horns straight at his face. ¡°You never struck me as someone willing to get physical, that¡¯s all. Especially not with a helmet for a gauntlet.¡± He hacked at a particularly stubborn fern and revealed a crowded way forward, thorny vines making progress difficult. If this was a garden, it had escaped any control a long time ago and had grown into a trap. The deeper they went, the more difficult the path became. ¡°Live and learn,¡± Sil replied. ¡°Me and this helmet have a history together, and I¡¯m more than happy to use the Hammer as a hammer.¡± Vergil stopped and, for the hundredth time by his estimate, wiped the sweat off his face. Every bit of his clothing was drenched, and he felt lightheaded with thirst. Sil wandered around the small area that could be explored without more cutting needed and inspected in turn the large leaves of various shrubs. ¡°Why is it so dense here if there aren¡¯t any proper trees for these things to cling to?¡± ¡°I¡¯m dead curious to know how they got so much greenery to grow underground, and so lush too.¡± Sil yanked on a vine that stretched like a web between a variety of plants and made a knot of it. ¡°Cut here, where it bends.¡± Clear sap oozed out of the cut, looking like blood in the light. Sil sniffed it, tasted it tentatively, then sucked on one of the cut ends. Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. ¡°You can drink this.¡± She handed the second part to him. ¡°Don¡¯t drink more than your thirst needs, otherwise you¡¯ll piss yourself without even knowing.¡± He hesitated and grimaced at the ooze covering his hands but ultimately did as instructed. The sap was lukewarm and sweet. It helped him gain a measure of his strength back. Once begun, it was hard to stop drinking. ¡°How do you know it¡¯s safe for us?¡± The thought came a bit late, after he felt quenched. ¡°My parents were trying to grow this as a house plant to help with irrigation in their garden. Mouse¡¯s ladder, it¡¯s called. The sap has a couple of alchemical uses as a reagent, but it¡¯s safe to drink. Too much and it becomes a powerful diuretic. In our case, dehydration will be an issue soon. We¡¯ve both lost blood and vomited most of our last meal.¡± ¡°Live and learn, indeed,¡± Vergil replied and dropped the cut creeper. ¡°Let me know if your pee turns bloody,¡± Sil said. ¡°I won¡¯t be able to help you, but I can at least take the sword to your throat, so you won¡¯t suffer too much.¡± Vergil froze before striking the forest wall again, thought for a second, relaxed and continued with his task. Death by red poison or death by black spider was death all the same. He found a certain peace in that. Then the leaf he was about to cut attacked him. A bristly spider, large as his head, launched itself off the leaf. It had been perfectly invisible. It struck Vergil in the chest like an angry ball of eyes and too many legs. He toppled over, surprised, and the spider scrambled off him in a mad dash, making for Sil. She screamed. Vergil rolled off his back just in time to see the creature leaping at her, eight legs outstretched as if ready for an embrace. It would¡¯ve hit her in the face. Sil ducked back and shot her armoured fist forward with speed that, for a heartbeat, shocked him. She smashed the spider down into the earth and kicked it away before it had a chance to ball up from the first impact. It rolled through the air, landed on all eight, and was back on the attack like nothing had happened. It deftly avoided Vergil stabbing down at it, rushed past between his feet and straight back at Sil. She had her makeshift cestus up and ready to defend herself, but it did not leap again. Instead, it tried to go for her feet, leap at her calf and climb up. She dodged and stamped down, trying to keep the thing off. ¡°Determined bugger. Get off!¡± Sil cussed as she stumbled over vines and almost went down on her back. Vergil rushed to her aid and kicked the angry thing off just as it grabbed hold of her leg. It rolled through the air, balled up, landed again on its feet and attacked. He¡¯d never seen anything more desperate. It was too nimble and too fast, dodging both his stamping feet and the tip of his sword. Two quick lateral jumps, one back, and it launched itself again, legs tucked in mid-flight, right by his head for Sil. She was struggling back to her feet. Vergil spun. Sil screamed and fell, her arms flailing as she tried to back up and defend her face all at once. Luck made its first appearance of the day. The spider struck a vine when splaying out its legs, spun in the air, and Sil caught it with a swing of the cestus by pure happenstance. She sent it smashing against the trunk of a tree. Two legs snapped with a sickening crunch. Vergil jumped over creepers and vines and brought the point of his sword down to impale it before it gained back its senses. It screamed just as his sword came down. ¡°Stop! Please stop!¡± The sound was like a lance of noise that shot straight through Vergil¡¯s skull. His strike missed as he dropped the sword and tried to cover his ears. It was louder than thunder, and hands over ears did nothing against the sound. ¡°We do not mean harm. We do not want harm. We need help. Please do not harm We.¡± It droned on as it tried squirming into a ball. ¡°Please help We.¡± ¡°It talks,¡± Vergil shouted, chancing a glance at Sil. ¡°What do I do?¡± Even at the top of his lungs, his voice was small against its screaming. ¡°Make it shut up!¡± Sil shouted back, hands covering her ears, cringing in pain. Her mangled arm couldn¡¯t lift high enough. The noise cut off with a soft sigh. ¡°Do not harm We,¡± the spider pleaded again, its voice a rough whisper now. ¡°You must help We. We are¡­ We are last survivor. All others are lost.¡± Vergil hesitated above the creature, sword in hand, unable to bring himself to crush or cut it down. Sil came to stand next to him, cestus held up defensively. ¡°First, she tells us her story. Then she tries to kill you. Then she runs away. And now this.¡± Sil shook her head. Her breathing was ragged, and she bled through her bandages. ¡°I¡¯m losing the threads of this plot.¡± The spider perked up immediately and opened its legs, tentatively peeking at them. ¡°The false mother hears all but We. We are not of the false mother. We are hatched of We. We do not love the false mother.¡± Chapter 2.11.5: We give Knowing ¡°I don¡¯t understand,¡± Vergil said and pointed his sword at the gap between the spider¡¯s legs. ¡°Are you a friend? Is that what you¡¯re saying?¡± It hesitated for a long time, as if turning the words over, confused. ¡°Friend? We don¡¯t know what friend is. We are of We. Speaking hard for We. Speaking is gift of false mother. Poisonous gift.¡± ¡°Is Erisa the false mother? Is she who you mean? What¡¯s going on?¡± The spider uncurled its legs slowly and turned over with difficulty. It regarded them with two pairs of large, black eyes, looking almost disproportionate to its small body. Tiny, spike-like hairs covered it, their colour shifting as it settled on the ground. It had been the colour of leaves before, now it almost disappeared against the dark shades of moss. It had no visible claws or fangs. It legs were short and stubby, covered with the same bristle as the rest of it. ¡°The human is the false mother. She harms We. She harms all. She harms!¡± It stamped two feet for emphasis. ¡°Please help We. We are last. Other human killed the rest. The false mother chases We.¡± ¡°Are you the one that attacked us when we got here?¡± Vergil thought back at the way in which Tallah had dispatched the leaping spiders earlier. One had, indeed, survived. ¡°We do not attack. We give Knowing. Please help We.¡± Vergil blinked away the sudden Argia instruction and it disappeared even from the log. Another hiccup? Not what he needed right this moment. ¡°Am I too tired or is it not making sense to you either?¡± ¡°I understand the words.¡± Sil lowered her hand and rubbed her eyes in the crook of her elbow. ¡°I don¡¯t understand the meaning. And I don¡¯t understand how it¡¯s talking to us.¡± ¡°We are of the Mother, of the one Mother of all. Few left. We need your help.¡± The spider almost danced in place, nervous energy still in it even as two of its legs hung off haphazard. It looked around and bristled, then seemed to relax and turn its eight-eyed gaze back on them. The forest remained eerily quiet. ¡°Which mother is that?¡± Sil picked at the thread. ¡°Erisa said she is mother.¡± ¡°The false mother has made her false brood. They are of us, but they are not We. We hear their cries. We hear Mother¡¯s cries. We are not able to help. We are few.¡± The spider seemed to shrink back and tremble. ¡°We are small.¡± ¡°What do you want from us?¡± Sil pointed to herself and Vergil. We and us seemed to have a particular meaning to the creature and the last thing they needed was confusion. ¡°You come to the Knowing. Oldest is there. Oldest will tell you of Mother. Oldest will tell you of the false mother. You can take the false mother back.¡± ¡°Why did you attack me?¡± Without the threat of violence Vergil found the thing rather cute, as far as nightmares went. It looked fluffy. Something rustled and he spun on the noise. Something small and furry leapt away through the undergrowth. Their screaming must have attracted attention and doubted all other animals were as small. His hands sweated on the sword¡¯s grip. ¡°I think we should be moving, Sil.¡± Sil wasn¡¯t paying attention to him. She glared at the creature. ¡°We did not attack. We tried to give Knowing.¡± The spider reared up and almost toppled over. It was waving two very fluffy palps at them. ¡°Knowing is given with bite. We would give Knowing so you could find Oldest without We.¡± She recoiled and lifted her cestus again, shivering with every fibre. Her fear was as clear to Vergil as it must¡¯ve been to the spider because it pulled slightly back and made itself smaller. ¡°We do not mean harm. We did not mean harm. We lost many to help you. Please help We.¡± ¡°What do you mean to help us? What did you do?¡± ¡°In the fire. And in the dying hollow. We came. We saw the false mother harming you. We helped.¡± ¡°You strung us up? We almost died.¡± It seemed confused as its gaze swivelled between the two of them. ¡°We brought you to safe place and led the false mother away. You wandered away from safe place. We had to save again. The false mother killed the others. Only this one is left.¡± ¡°Is it a trick of hers, do you think?¡± Vergil had a hard time coming to grips with everything happening just now. ¡°She could¡¯ve just killed us earlier. What point would there be to another trick?¡± ¡°She¡¯s been alone here for a long time. Who knows how she was starved?¡± To her raised eyebrow he added, ¡°You know what I mean. With¡­ the chalice? Maybe it¡¯s happened to her? Nobody came to save her in time.¡± Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. He lounged forward before Sil hit the ground. It happened in an instant. Her knees buckled and she folded down like a puppet with strings cut. With one hand supporting her, he brandished the sword at the spider with the other. It drew back from him and balled up. ¡°What did you do?¡± It wasn¡¯t the creature he realised with a jolt. Sil burned with fever. She¡¯d been pushing herself and had said nothing, but now heat washed off her as if from a furnace. How long had she been going like this? Probably from the very beginning. What to do? He knew nothing about how to care for a fever, especially here. ¡°Argia, what do I do about a fever?¡± Lovely. Utterly useless. ¡°You.¡± He lowered his sword and shifted Sil¡¯s weight on his arm. ¡°Do you know where the other humans are? Can you take me to them?¡± ¡°No. Other humans chased by the false mother. No others left to watch.¡± Fuck! ¡°I need cold water, I think. She¡¯s burning up.¡± On the Gloria, on the few instances he¡¯d gotten sick eating something he shouldn¡¯t have, they¡¯d give him a couple pills and he¡¯d be alright in minutes. Sil had forced him to drink the whole healing draught. ¡°You need healing?¡± The spider inched closer. ¡°We can heal. We bring gift of precious water.¡± It reared up on its hind legs and did a complicated thing with its palps, almost as if vomiting out a bead of silk. It offered it up to Vergil reverently, held gently between the tips of its front feet. ¡°We bring healing. You left before We arrived. Other bearer killed by the false mother.¡± Vergil hesitated and, when he reached for the bead, the spider drew it back slightly. ¡°It is fragile. Last drop. Precious. No other left. Gift to¡­ friend?¡± Sil shivered violently on his arm as he set her down. Her teeth chattered so violently he feared she might bite her tongue off. Was that normal? He touched her hand, and it was cold as ice. Could he trust the spider? Could he afford not to? Things rustled now in the undergrowth, closer. Some snuffled about and moved in circles around their little group. Tallah would skin him alive, and he¡¯d be glad for it if something happened to Sil now. So, he made the decision. ¡°Give it to me. I¡¯ll be careful.¡± It was the size of a pea, soft and yielding to the touch. He held it carefully, between thumb and index finger, above Sil¡¯s half-opened mouth and squeezed. A single drop of water fell between her lips. Nothing happened except for a soft gasp from Sil. Her breath hitched. Before fear of a fatal mistake gripped him, her eyes flew open, pupils dilated to black discs, and she bolted ramrod upright. She spun in place, wild-eyed and gaping, fists raised against some threat only she could see. ¡°What just happened?¡± Her voice was too loud, and her words echoed. Something ran away through the bushes, scared off by the sudden commotion. Her eyes settled on him, and her breathing eased. ¡°What did you do? What happened?¡± ¡°Are you all right, Sil?¡± He got up and gestured for calm. ¡°I¡­ You¡­ You fell. You were burning up. I had to do something.¡± She pressed her free hand to her forehead, then to her throat. ¡°Temperature¡¯s norm¡ª¡± She lifted her damaged arm. Now she inspected it curiously, turning it at the shoulder, then the elbow, then the wrist and fingers. ¡°Very little pain,¡± she mused. Then pressed a hand to her throat. ¡°No fever.¡± She shook off the helmet and lifted her sleeve to inspect her forearm. ¡°Scarring¡¯s gone too. What happened?¡± ¡°Are you all right?¡± ¡°Yes, yes. I shouldn¡¯t be standing. I was barely standing before.¡± She looked about the forest, ¡°Tallah found us? Where is she?¡± ¡°Not here. I don¡¯t know. I¡­ uh¡­¡± ¡°Out with it, Vergil. I either drank a draught or was healed by prayer. Which was it? How?¡± ¡°Neither. I¡­ gave¡­ you¡­ what the spider offered.¡± He showed her the bit of web between his fingers, all that was left of the tiny orb. ¡°It promised it would heal you.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t follow.¡± So, he explained. She listened while staring at the spider. It waited immobile at their feet, from time to time looking about at the red-hued forest. ¡°It could have been poison,¡± Sil said when he finished. Before he could blubber out an apology, she waved away the notion. ¡°I would¡¯ve done the same in your place. You did good, Vergil. Thank you. It was one drop, you say?¡± ¡°Like dew.¡± ¡°Incredible. What did you feed me, spider?¡± ¡°Gift for¡­ friend?¡± It looked up at Vergil, four black eyes wide and questioning. ¡°Yes, friend,¡± he answered. ¡°You helped us. You¡¯re a friend.¡± ¡°Then friend help now? Please? The false mother seeks for We. Please come with We to Oldest. Oldest will tell all.¡± ¡°Yes. Good. Lead the way.¡± Sil still stared at her freshly healed arm, mouth moving without any sound coming out. Manic energy coursed off her as she shifted her stance restlessly, as if trying to find one thing that hurt. ¡°We¡¯re trusting it?¡± Vergil picked up his helmet and reluctantly offered it back. She refused it. ¡°I¡¯d be stupid not to. One drop.¡± She whistled in appreciation. ¡°I need to know what that was. A single drop repairing that much damage? No side effects that I can identify right away. Goddess, that simply can¡¯t be possible.¡± ¡°We lead. Follow.¡± The spider tried to turn and lead the way, but it limped so bad that Vergil took pity on it. Against any kind of better judgement, he picked it up and set it on his shoulder. It wiggled its legs against being handled but settled quietly when it was clear Vergil wasn¡¯t going to hurt it. ¡°If it bites your face off, I¡¯m not helping you.¡± Whatever trust the spider had gained from Sil hadn¡¯t bought it any further sympathy. She recoiled from the sight of it on Vergil¡¯s shoulder and moved to his other side. Vergil turned his head to the creature clinging to his shoulder. Its bristly hair stung his cheek. ¡°Will you bite my face off?¡± ¡°Do you need Knowing?¡± It raised its palps, eager. ¡°No.¡± ¡°Oh.¡± It deflated. ¡°We do not bite then.¡± ¡°See, Sil? A little trust goes a long way.¡± He smiled as she glared daggers at him. Chapter 2.12.1: A glint of hearth light Mertle hated the venom. She hated everything about it, from its lingering aftertaste¡ªshe felt it now in the back of her throat, tart, and it would be there for days¡ªto the way it made her head throb. Most of all, she hated pretending it worked on her. Bells sounded the last hour of evening by the time the two women were finally satisfied with her answers. Thirst scratched at her throat, and they¡¯d only brought her water to drink after her voice had gone too hoarse to be intelligible. Too little. Brackish. ¡°It¡¯s gotten so late already?¡± Quistis stopped writing to count the bells. She¡¯d amassed a tall stack of paper in front of her, each page crowded with neat handwriting. Two inkwells lay empty by the side. Rumi hadn¡¯t taken notes. And the captain had only rarely recorded any of the answers to her questions. Odd that. Yes, it was bloody late. Mertle¡¯s stomach grumbled and the headache was a constellation of small explosions in the space behind her eyes. She hadn¡¯t needed to lie quite as much as she¡¯d feared going in, and most of it was already part of her and Tummy¡¯s story in Valen. The venom had contributed nothing but a wretched mood. ¡°I have all I need.¡± Rumi looked displeased and disappointed. She rose, stretched, and left without another word. Rude. ¡°Rude.¡± Quistis stifled a yawn and glared at the space Rumi had occupied. ¡°I¡¯d apologise on her behalf, but that¡¯s what I consider good manners from her.¡± Alone now, she perked up, gathered her papers, and tapped the block against the table. ¡°I believe I owe you some answers.¡± Mertle straightened in the chair and offered the most tired, hopeful smile she could manage, mimicking the tail end of a venom-enforced questioning. After a few bells, it would¡¯ve lost its potency and, instead, forced elation in the victim, pride in having done exactly as was demanded of them. She really, really wanted to spit in Quistis¡¯s face just then, to share that horrid taste in the back of her throat. Their interrogation had been a thing of beauty, as far as Mertle understood such things. For one thing, they hadn¡¯t beat her. For another, they kept her off-guard and off-balance throughout the whole thing. Wildly different speech patterns. Call backs to earlier questions. A show of checking notes, both fresh and old. At one point Rumi had left the room, conferred with someone outside the door, came back, interrupted Quistis about a matter, left again, came back. Wonderful, theatrical stuff. She¡¯d hated every heartbeat of it. But at least every time the door opened it brought in a dash of chilled air that reinvigorated. Quistis pushed forward the scroll she had on Sil, hesitated when Mertle didn¡¯t reach for it, and then pulled it back, opened and read off it. ¡°This person you call Sil has been seen with one Tallah Amni, alias Cinder. You might have heard of her.¡± Mertle¡¯s eyes widened and she sat forward more attentively, gasping a soft ¡°No¡­¡± ¡°What we know,¡± Quistis went on, ¡°is almost nothing about her origin aside from what you¡¯ve revealed. She was sighted aiding the fugitive Cinder on the Night of Descent and proven to be a skilled healer. As per our School¡¯s edicts, we are not limited in whom we offer our services to, though we are still beholden to the laws of the land. Her aiding Cinder carries a death sentence in the empire and its allied city-states unless she turns the fugitive over to us. In that case, we may offer clemency and less extreme punishment.¡± She shrugged and offered Mertle a tight-lipped, almost apologetic smile. ¡°I would advise that you do everything in your power to distance yourself from her and inform us or the regular constabulary if she contacts you again. I can¡¯t speak of what her intentions are, but you are in danger of being caught in crossfire if you continue your relationship with her.¡± She wrapped up the scroll and tapped it against her knuckles. Mertle allowed some time to pass, kept her mouth half-opened in shock and her eyes wide, and finally shook herself. ¡°It can¡¯t be. You¡­ It must be the wrong person¡ª¡± ¡°If it were, we wouldn¡¯t be here having this conversation, Mertle. I¡¯m truly sorry and I hope you understand our attitude and our concern.¡± In context, she would. Nobody living in Valen had any love for Cinder. Many would attack Tallah on sight with cobbles from the road if no other weapon were on hand. Anyone associated with her would get pretty much the same if not worse. Cinder, at least, people feared. Anyone aiding her would be mobbed and torn apart. ¡°But¡ª¡± Quistis raised a hand and cut off her protest. ¡°You are a free citizen of Valen. And you are in high and irreproachable moral standing. Our initial investigation into you and your partner revealed nothing that would require our attention and I would very much want it to stay that way.¡± She waggled the scroll. ¡°As far as I am concerned, this is not a matter for public knowledge. It is not a threat, but I urge you to think well and long on what this information may mean for your life here.¡± Do as you¡¯re told and all will be well. Not a threat, my sore butt. You lie as you breathe, captain Quistis. ¡°And with that, you are free to go. I can¡¯t express how grateful I am for your time, Mertle. You¡¯ve given us much to think on.¡± Quistis rose, stretched as well, and wobbled slightly. ¡°I think my legs fell asleep,¡± she complained. That¡¯s the venom you drank, you lying tart. Outwards, Mertle said nothing. After some time staring at the scroll, she rose as well and made for the door, walking as if through a dream, not paying attention to what else Quistis was saying. Something about gratitude and patience and being reimbursed for the discomfort and so on and so forth and¡ª She didn¡¯t care. She was hungry and the throbbing in her head climbed all the way to the tips of her horns. Her legs were jelly and her fingers tingled, all the tell-tale signs of venom moving through her. The hunger it caused wouldn¡¯t abate for days and she thought unhappily on this as Quistis brought her cloak¡ªpleasantly dry and warm¡ªand lied more pleasantries at her. Nobody walked her out or barred her exit. Six naked corpses swayed and twisted on the chilly midnight wind. Two fresh nooses waited at the end of the line, swaying with the others. Rumi Belli would burn both ends of the candle that night. Mertle hurried past and tried not to stare any more than any other would. The road back to the Agora loomed ahead, long and tiring, but the exercise would loosen up the kinks in her back and legs. It hadn¡¯t been that long of an interrogation, but she¡¯d been tense and on edge the entire time, balancing the impulse of telling absolute truth with the necessity of extracting whatever the Guard already knew. Captain Quistis had asked for her consent for a Mind Touch. She¡¯d refused. Elend always refused that intrusion if it could be helped. Too much bad blood with illum weavers, and Mertle had been brought up in a particularly conservative family back in Beril. Quistis accepted this without question. She, herself, was not allowed by the laws of her School to do a touch without consent. Mertle knew that from Sil, but also knew it wasn¡¯t a binding law. If Quistis had wished it, she could have had Barlo come in, hold Mertle down, and then perform the touch at leisure. Chalk one up to human propriety. Yes, she did visit the Sisters of Mercy regularly. An old knee injury bothered her. She showed them the scar. Some forge accident from back when she lived in Diolo that had never healed properly and got worse when the weather got cold. A shard of metal was still in there, between the bones, and the Sisters were slowly teasing it out because she was afraid of having her knee cut up for quicker healing. Of course, there was nothing but the scar there. She¡¯d done the extraction herself when it happened, but it always offered decent cover for any number of things. Why was lady Tianna at the Sisters at nearly the same time as she? Who knew? For her part, Mertle wanted nothing to do with the upstart. She described the haggling¡ªto Quistis¡¯s poorly veiled amusement¡ªfrom the Meadow and then the clumsy attempt to bring someone else and do it for the lady. In the end she¡¯d made nothing for the human and would sooner cut a horn off than deal with her again. What had she wanted made? Leather armour. If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. What kind? More expensive than she apparently afforded. Mertle had the requirement list in her shop if they were interested in checking, just regular work with absurd stipulations. Jewels sewn as buttons. Can you imagine the stupidity? No, nothing else out of the ordinary. Just a fat-headed prim cunt¡ª ¡°Pardon the language! Don¡¯t know what came over me.¡±¡ªwho couldn¡¯t take a civilised no for an answer. And then came the questions about Sil. She¡¯d talked about their first meeting and what followed. Kept details away. Blushed and babbled her way through some of it, the shy elendine engaged in something that back home would be forbidden. Rumi revelled in the discomfort. Quistis blushed. No, she hadn¡¯t suspected anything amiss with Sil. Was there something amiss? No, she¡¯d never met Sil¡¯s companions. She wasn¡¯t aware Sil kept any constant companions. The healer went on sorties for the Guild. Or, at least, she always implied it was for the Guild. Sometimes she would be gone for entire seasons. Yes, she¡¯d returned this time at the beginning of Winter, gone through most of Summer and Wither. They¡¯d spent some nights together, but something felt strange about Sil. Restless. She¡¯d assured Mertle that it had only been a long and difficult sortie, nothing more. She needed time to recover and get over some of the things she¡¯d seen. No, she hadn¡¯t mentioned where she¡¯d been or what she¡¯d done, just that it would be better for Mertle not to know about it. Seemed pained by it so she¡¯d done her best not to bring it up. She¡¯d leaned hard into the bauble-head elendine routine, with a tongue loosened by venom. Talked too much and gave absurd details. Unnecessary ones most often, but verifiable by someone with too much time on their hands to do so. Let them run around and ask about bath salts, elderberry syrup, or candied corn. No skin off Mertle¡¯s horns. Now, walking home, she catalogued every word she¡¯d said, painstakingly reconstructing her own story as she wove through the nighttime crowd. She¡¯d need to brief Tummy on some of it, but otherwise it was a testament to Sil¡¯s own paranoia that everything she had to share with the Storm Guard was all at once true, and harmless. They have too much time to spare on me. Someone followed her through the crowd, far enough to be nearly invisible. Instinct warned her but she didn¡¯t need to turn around and check. Of course they¡¯d keep up their observations, look out for anything that contradicted her statements. Tallah had taught her most of their tricks and their methods. But, then again, someone had put her and Tianna in the same place despite her best efforts to pass unseen. Someone was better than simply good. She¡¯d need to keep that in mind when next going to Aliana. For now, food. Too much thinking on an empty stomach and she¡¯d start having ideas and those never ended well. She¡¯d take the elevator down, swing around the Tallow Quarter, and pick up something spicy from Lotho¡¯s cart. Tummy liked him. He had someone grow real Beril peppers and Mertle could do with a touch of home as the cold dug into her heels and calves. Winters on Nen had been kinder. The ground rumbled and she slowed her pace. No reason to crowd for the elevator if a vent was imminent. It was already that late in the night. Something pricked her instinct. Not the tail that swam in the crowd with her. Something¡­ different. She cast about and found nobody staring. Just shadows pooling in nooks and crannies, chased there by the spritelight of streetlamps. With an overcast sky above and no moonlight, there were entirely too many shadows around the narrow, choked streets. People shouldered her aside as she stopped in the middle of their flow. Attention crawled across her skin, someone¡¯s gaze peeling her layer by layer. Cold sweat broke on the back of her neck, the temptation to twist in place nearly overpowering. A vanadal jostled her as he moved against the current, heading up towards the central spire of the Fortress. Some aelir slithered through the crowd, muttering something about the pigsty that Valen was. A man with a painted face nodded an apology as he trod over her feet in the jostle. Someone watched. Where? ¡°Careful with those.¡± A woman pressed a hand on Mertle¡¯s own, forcibly pushing it back beneath her cloak. ¡°People might panic if they saw you pulling a blade.¡± Mertle had her knives out, blades naked to the chill of the night, with no recollection of gripping them. If not for the stranger, she might¡¯ve raised them. And then¡­ Night exploded into day as the Hearth vented power. Its pillar of white light punched out through the cloud cover and banished the dark and all its shadows. It revealed the hidden observer. Shadows had concealed the woman before, up in the narrow gap between the Fortress¡¯s wall and its guard tower. Tall and wide of shoulder, wearing no cloak, hair tied in a long ponytail spilling over her shoulder. Light reflected off wide, round spectacles to hide the eyes behind the glass. Instinct wanted Mertle to raise her weapons but the stranger¡¯s grip on her wrist was iron-hard. ¡°Put it away, girl. Before one of the guards sees.¡± The observer turned and disappeared as the light of the venting faded. Not all shadows returned with the night. Spots swam in her vision as Mertle realised this other stranger still held her wrist. The grip was hot and getting hotter. She pulled away and was released. With reluctance, she replaced the knife in its sheath. ¡°Thank you,¡± she muttered, struggling to make out the woman¡¯s face through the coloured blobs of after-light. Anyone moving to a Hearth city for the first time learned quickly to look outward when the ground rumbled, away from the centre spire. Not many looked into a pillar of blinding light twice. She got the impression that she¡¯d seen the vagrant somewhere before but couldn¡¯t exactly place that plain face. The crowd carried her away. Mertle got her profile as she turned into the flow and the certainty of recognition grew. Dressed in rags. The left sleeve of her coat knotted at the shoulder. Dark hair cropped short, as if with a hatchet. And her touch had been blisteringly hot. She hadn¡¯t noticed in the moment, but now the lingering heat was odd. Two strange women in the crowd and she was rather certain they weren¡¯t of Quistis¡¯s people. Or were they? Was this some new game of the captain¡¯s? Was she turning paranoid? Standing in the middle of the walkway and annoying the other passers-by wasn¡¯t going to reveal anything except make her tail suspicious. She set back down towards the elevator, turned away upon seeing the crowd waiting to descend, and headed for the stairs. Rays of fresh moonlight filtered down through the gap in the cloud cover and flowed into the stairwell through slit windows cut in the side wall. It was a lonely descent, her nerves fraying with the combination of hunger, exhaustion, and lingering venom effects. Quistis and her people she felt she could handle. This new element, the woman on the spire? That spilled a drum of oil on her fire and invited unwanted hesitation. She¡¯d seen the face somewhere. Same as that other one. For the life of her, she couldn¡¯t figure where and it made her jumpy. Someone sneezing in the stairwell startled an embarrassing squeak out of her chest. Tummy¡¯s going to laugh himself sick. And then he¡¯s going to clap me over the ears for letting them get so deep under my skin. Everything about the night distilled in her veins into a kind of sullenness that even the aromas of Lotho¡¯s late-night cuisine couldn¡¯t abate. What made everything worse was the temptation to look over her shoulder and the mounting fear that she¡¯d see the woman with glasses glaring back. Imagination added glints of reflected light into every shadowy nook she passed. ¡°Why so gloom, tiny?¡± Lotho was human, greying, and about half-a-head shorter than her. He always smiled, gap-toothed, regardless of weather or time of day, manning his food cart on the intersection of a busy set of alleys that led into some of the Enginarium¡¯s outer city factories. This would be his first batch of food for the new day she realised, so as fresh as it could get. The first manufacturing shift change of the day was less than a bell away. At least this would be the silver lining to her night. ¡°Long day, Lotho. Longer night.¡± She perched on a stool in front of his cart and knuckled her eyes. ¡°Two of the usual, please. And a cask of that thing you call beer.¡± Lotho smiled and leaned into their well-practised routine, ¡°Now that just hurts my feelings. I brew it myself you know. It¡¯s perfectly good beer.¡± ¡°By human standards,¡± they said in one voice. Mertle continued, thinking up a new insult for him to add to his collection, ¡°In as much as it¡¯s got a fizz, you don¡¯t need to chew it, and it doesn¡¯t come out as blood on the other end?¡± He chuckled, poured her a thimble of grimesh¡ªblessed may he be by whatever deity he chose to worship¡ªand left the bottle on the counter between them. The grimesh went down wonderfully on an empty stomach and a headache, like an elkana kick to the back of the head, strong enough to bring up stars on the edges of her vision. It made every part of her feel so much worse, but the heat and spice soon numbed the worst of it. She poured herself a second thimble. ¡°You¡¯re mean tonight, kid. I don¡¯t like you like this. Wood bowl?¡± ¡°Mhm.¡± He prepared two bowls¡ªone large, one small¡ªof his winter stew and added two extra sausages and three baked crow peppers to her portion. ¡°Don¡¯t count extra eagles. It¡¯s on me. You look famished.¡± She couldn¡¯t help but smile as Lotho placed a lid over the two containers and hung them in netting for easy carrying. Same for the casket of dubiously named beer. Her mouth watered the moment he handed them over. ¡°There¡¯s a gentleman looking very hungrily this way. Friend of yours?¡± She didn¡¯t turn while counting out the eagles, ¡°If he orders, give him an extra pickle please. One of your good ones, yes?¡± Lotho grimaced as he pocketed her money. ¡°You¡¯re terrible tonight. Why do you want the Guard prosecuting me? Who¡¯d sell you grimesh afterwards?¡± He leaned in conspiratorially. ¡°Want I knock him out or some such?¡± She smiled at him and shook her head, ¡°Kind of you to ask, Lotho, but I¡¯m joking. Leave him be but, maybe, keep an eye out if he follows me.¡± ¡°Go rest, kid. Send my regards to Tummy.¡± ¡°Will do, Lotho. Thank you. Always nice seeing you.¡± Moonlight dimmed as the clouds swirled through the gaping wound above. The first fat flakes of the evening, and maybe the last of this winter, fell in a dance as she walked the final stretch towards her little corner of the Agora. Wind rattled shingles above, picking up the tempo to promise a final effort of storm. Maybe it had been all a fluke meeting. A beggar in the street¡ªOh! That¡¯s where she¡¯d seen that one-armed woman before. Begging by the Sisters¡¯ hospital. Talking to¡­ Quistis. Of course. Another tail to be wary of? Seemed likely. But¡­ Her head spun. What kind of bloody web was this to get stuck in? She could understand being followed and questioned. Their investigation made sense. She¡¯d gotten what she needed¡ªsuspicion off Tianna and onto her companions. So why this new complication? Why¡­ just why?! No pattern that is observable is ever random, Sarrinare whispered in her ear. ¡°Shut up,¡± she whispered back. Chapter 2.12.2: Too daring The bell tinkled above as Mertle let herself into the shop, the front door unlocked, startling Tummy on the other side of the room. He held a shovel and had caked-on snow on his boots and trousers. ¡°Was beginning to get worried.¡± He set the shovel in its place and stomped around to shake loose the clinging snow. ¡°If I¡¯d known they¡¯d keep you this long, I would¡¯ve come get you.¡± ¡°Sorry. They had so many questions for me to answer. The bloody¡ª¡± Tummy took her cloak and gestured with a sharp motion of his hand. ¡°Danger,¡± it said. ¡°Unsafe¡±. Mertle set down the cask of beer on the pitted counter and gestured back her confusion. He pointed up. Someone on the roof or nearby. Eyes and ears on them. Lovely. Just bloody lovely. Mertle felt like screaming her frustration while Tummy unpacked the two containers, and the aroma of strong spices filled the room. Couldn¡¯t she at least eat her dinner in peace? Or did it count as breakfast? She would pity anyone having to keep watch at this hour in the mounting weather outside. But the memory of Quistis and Rumi snuffed out any sympathy as she poked a hole in the beer casket and took a long swig straight from it. It did not mix well with the grimesh from earlier. ¡°All well?¡± Tummy¡¯s hands asked. ¡°Did you learn what happened with your lady friend?¡± his voice added. ¡°Sil¡¯s¡­ not who I thought she was.¡± She pitched her voice to carry further, a hint of hysteria on its edges. ¡°She¡¯s wanted by the Storm Guard, Tummy. They want me to call them if I ever see her again. They think she¡¯s connected to Cinder!¡± Added in a nervous laugh on the tail end, just for dramatic effect. He picked up the casket, sighed, drank, and belched. ¡°Who¡¯s that?¡± ¡°That sorceress that started the fire in Valen.¡± ¡°Wasn¡¯t she dead? Thought they killed her.¡± ¡°Never found the body. She caused that commotion on the Descent Night. Can you imagine? Sil with that¡­ thing?¡± Meanwhile, their hands talked of different things. ¡°Suspicion on me. Watched. Cover safe. Both.¡± ¡°Hurt you?¡± ¡°No. Questions. Tricks. Wasp venom.¡± ¡°Are you alright?¡± Tummy asked as both conversations reached the same question. ¡°I¡¯m just so confused. Sil can¡¯t be what they¡¯re saying. She¡¯s not like that. I know it.¡± A hint of naivety just as the aelir¡¯matar had trained her. Be meek. Be stupid. Never as competent as they expect you to be. ¡°I¡¯m sure we¡¯ll clear everything up when she comes back.¡± Tummy pointed up. ¡°Kill?¡± ¡°No.¡± She hesitated over the next signal. ¡°Can handle.¡± ¡°Plan continues?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Good.¡± At least the food was, as always, spectacular. Lotho had sprinkled on some extra green herbs¡ªrare in winter¡ªand that just made all of it maybe ten times better. Her appetite, venom-enforced, devoured everything right down to the last tubers out of Tummy¡¯s plate. It calmed the shake of her hands and the growling frustration she felt. ¡°What¡¯ve you been up to while I was gone?¡± ¡°Snow clearing.¡± He gestured to the shovel. ¡°Wanted to clear the back alley. Didn¡¯t expect more coming down.¡± ¡°Up to Fe¡¯Ora¡¯s?¡± ¡°Aye.¡± ¡°Think she¡¯ll be thankful?¡± Tummy grunted, ¡°Think I¡¯ll bring it up every time she complains about the noise.¡± They moved to the back of the shop and teased the forge fire to roaring again. Definitely too wound up to sleep, she¡¯d try and get some work done before passing out in exhaustion. Tianna would have a lazy day while she hid away from the snowfall. By the time the storm blew itself out maybe she¡¯d have an idea on how to deal with whoever crept across her rooftop. Slitting their throat would make her feel better but would hardly improve the situation overall. Tummy waggled a finger, and she shook her head. No, not going back to habits that old. Maybe Aliana could help? Rather not go to her for this as she hadn¡¯t known the woman before Sil¡¯s introduction letter. Tallah trusted her but Mertle felt like an intruder on the priestess¡¯s time, someone to be suffered rather than helped in earnest. Mertle worked the bellows and watched the fire springing to life while Tummy worked. A hangman¡¯s noose caressed her throat, the touch of an old memory that she didn¡¯t cherish. With belly full and exhausted from a sleepless night, she couldn¡¯t help but think of the dangling dead. Memory provided the rest. The aelir poisoned and assassinated one another by custom. They hung the lower races and let the corpses rot wherever they fancied administering the punishment. Humans weren¡¯t that much better in this regard, given the hangman forests that lined Vas¡¯s rocky shore. They¡¯d stretched on for days as she and Tummy travelled up the Bistry river, the smell of decay lingering even as far as the Inner Sea. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. ¡°Go rest.¡± Tummy¡¯s voice startled her out of the memory and realisation hit that she¡¯d been idle. ¡°Don¡¯t think too much on things. We¡¯ll manage somehow.¡± ¡°I¡ª¡± ¡°Go rest, Mertle. Don¡¯t make me pick you up.¡± ¡°Meanie.¡± But he was right, and she was being ridiculous. Better to rest and get some breathing room. Tianna couldn¡¯t stay gone for more than a couple of days without at least Verti getting suspicious. And if Verti decided that her best patron was in some kind of trouble, she would inform the constabulary or¡ªshe dreaded the thought¡ªthe Storm Guard. Yes, I¡¯ll do it, she¡¯d crooned to Vergil, all too eager to jump in the fray but never thinking things through. Dumb elendine. So desperate for Sil¡¯s approval and recognition that she¡¯d stuck herself in this situation, getting deeper in by the day with no real way out. And now she was sulking as she got out of her day¡¯s clothes and slipped beneath the sheet on her straw mattress. They could afford better now but she couldn¡¯t sleep as well on a soft bed as she did on the straw. Some things were ingrained too deep and would remain that way. Stupid, stupid elendine, Sarrinare whispered. You ran from me but keep so well to everything I taught you. What would you admit to now, on the venom¡¯s last dregs, if I had never taught you how to refuse its effects? Tummy worked his forge, and she was thankful for how he put hammer to metal. Consistent noise, one strike, two aftershocks, a breath¡¯s pause. Again. His rhythm normally helped her sleep and ignore the voice. You cannot ignore me now, elendine. You¡¯ve chosen this. How will you silence me when you need my help at every turn? Would you like me to tell you every mistake you¡¯ve made today? Tossed and turned under the sheet, kicked it off her, pulled it back. Stilled her breathing and counted fruit on an Olden branch. Tried even something Sil had showed her for sound sleeping but it worked much better with her lover¡¯s touch. All of it in vain. She struggled to ignore her imagination and it, in turn, yapped at her ceaselessly. You¡¯ve neglected your training and played this stupid character for so long that it¡¯s become your nature. She was not a character. How will you get to the Sisters now that they watch you closer than ever? Be better than they are. How will you go about fulfilling your mission now? They¡¯ll hang when they come back. Two more nooses swung on the winds of imagination, drawn tight against Tallah and Sil¡¯s necks, lying scrolls pinned to their heads. Sloppy work begets death. Have I not taught you that? All too well. Did you think it would get less true if you ran from me? Maybe she should work. Or pick up the shovel and clear some of the fresh snow, get herself properly sweaty and tired. Tummy would clap her over the ear and send her straight back to her straw and the voice whispering there. If she ignored it enough, it would eventually cease. It always did before. Why not tonight? How far must she get from that thrice-damned aelir¡¯matar so she¡¯d finally shut up? Something thudded on the roof. At first, she thought it still some trick of her ambitious imagination but then another followed, and dust drifted down. A shrill whistle echoed for a heartbeat and was cut off. She was up on her feet by the time another thud sounded, trying to get dressed and stumbling over her feet. Tummy thundered by her, sword in one hand, shield in the other. She caught the belt of knives he threw her in passing and hopped one-booted while she fastened it on. Cold and snow erupted inside when Tummy opened the door and burst out. ¡°Oy!¡± he called. ¡°You, there! What d¡¯you think you¡¯re doing?¡± Mertle was on his flank in the next heartbeat, half-dressed but with her aelir dagger in hand. Its weight was a comfort she¡¯d desperately needed all day. Shadows. Only shadows in the back alley crossing between shops. Like tar, they clung to walls and swallowed the lamp light that should¡¯ve come in from the other side. Whatever meagre glow spilled out of their workshop got swallowed by that impenetrable dark. Snow rolled down in sheets off their roof, already gathered in tall lumps by the wall. Bright red stains glitter in the no man¡¯s land between shadow and light. Tummy moved forward, sword point in front, shield up, eyes roaming the immediate surroundings. She protected his flank and back as they advanced. ¡°Thought I saw¡ª¡± He fell silent as a woman¡¯s face appeared out of the tar, ghostly pale in the black night. Round glasses covered nearly half of her face but now Mertle could see the cold, calculating gaze behind them. A moment of gazes meeting. Cold fear gripped her spine at the depth of fury she sensed. The same woman as before to ignite fresh fear in her. A rush climbed gripped her chest. Was this one of Rumi¡¯s people? Had she offended the Guard after all, and they¡¯d come for¡­ for what? Tummy advanced. Mertle pressed her thumb to the blade and drew a bead of blood. Runes came alive along the keen edge, burning as they reacted to the illum weaving in the air. A good deal of weave hung unseen in the air going by how her dagger buzzed in warning. Two of them against one channeller¡ªa night-weaver by the looks of her¡ªin a narrow arena. Terrible odds but not impossible to overcome. The woman scrunched up her nose, sniffed loudly, and stepped over a body lying in the snow. Shadows moved with her. Tendrils of smoke slithered in the narrow space with terrible intent. A white hand grasped a dagger still dripping fresh blood. Mertle strained to see the second hand, the real danger, but it was well concealed by the dark. ¡°I assume I can¡¯t ask you two to pretend you haven¡¯t seen me?¡± A rough voice, husky and gravelly, pitched low. A heavy smoker by the sound of it. Not a hint of malice in the words. ¡°Who are you?¡± Tummy asked before she could. ¡°Get away from that man.¡± Her shadows gathered tighter around, and the second hand appeared out of the darkness to waggle a finger at Mertle. ¡°Careful how you play with fire, girl. Guard your mouth. Too much work depends on you not messing this up. Next time I won¡¯t ask nicely.¡± ¡°What? I don¡¯t know what you mean.¡± But she was gone. In a blink. She took a step back into her gathered net of tar and puffed to smoke. Light flooded in from the alley mouth and revealed the crumpled body in the snow. Mertle closed the distance to it and turned the man over while Tummy guarded her. ¡°Stealth gear,¡± she called out. ¡°Still alive but barely.¡± ¡°Take him in. We¡¯ll dress the wound.¡± ¡°It¡¯s one of them. He¡¯s been following me.¡± ¡°Bad idea to have a corpse on our hands. Drag him in.¡± Tummy moved aside and pressed his back to the neighbouring wall, eyes running across their slanted roof. She dragged the man up on her shoulder and stumbled to her feet, calves and thighs protesting the effort. Hot blood wet her shirt as she carted him in to set down on their table. Tummy joined a few heartbeats later as she brought out gauze and disinfectant. ¡°Get a healer,¡± Tummy instructed as he cut off the man¡¯s clothes. ¡°I¡¯ll dress the wounds, but I¡¯m not wasting a draught on him.¡± Who to get at this hour? The idea was insidious in its simplicity, and she smiled as she pulled on her cloak, the chill of the open door now biting through her. Her knife, bloodied still and active, hung quiet on her belt. ¡°Keep him alive,¡± she instructed as she drew on a shawl. ¡°I¡¯m going to bring his master.¡± A nod from Tummy sealed the idea. She rushed out and set towards the Fortress at a dead run while, above, the sky lit up with the first wisps of morning. Chapter 2.12.3: Blood on the snow ¡°I¡¯m so sorry, Captain Quistis.¡± Mertle fidgeted nervously around Quistis¡¯s back as she worked on Vial. ¡°I panicked. I didn¡¯t know where else to turn to.¡± The Sisters were halfway closer than the Fortress. Any of the taverns would have at least a healer drinking the night away with some of the other idle adventurers. ¡°Next time, you can find one of my sisters or brothers at the Guild, miss Mergara. Just call for a healer in the main hall. One will answer.¡± ¡°Mertle. Please. I-I-I panicked.¡± ¡°It¡¯s alright. Thank you for bringing this to our attention.¡± Five stab wounds neatly dressed. Bruising turning purple. A large lump on his head. Two cracked ribs, likely from the fall. Defensive cuts on his hands and arms. Vial had fought back but been overwhelmed. Taken by surprise, given Mertle¡¯s chaotic description of what she¡¯d witnessed. ¡°I require this one be mended.¡± She pressed her hand to his chest and prayed for the goddess¡¯s favour. Given the cuts and the amount of blood drying on the table, he¡¯d be out a while, at least until she got him back to her ward to mix him some appropriate draughts and get him back on his feet. The knock to his head would be the worst of it. The rest were already healed to scars. Bloody lucky to be alive, given the fall off the roof with those injuries. ¡°Tough lad,¡± she commented under her breath. The elendine fretted all around her, wanting to speak and yet not disturb her, restless and spooked. Quistis could hardly blame her. ¡°Will he be alright?¡± Mertle asked. ¡°Yes. Your intervention likely saved his life.¡± Wounds had been dressed meticulously with spectacular competency. If there was a flaw in the aid Vial had received, Quistis couldn¡¯t spot it. More than meets the eye, the smith. And that went likely double for the elendine, despite everything they¡¯d learned of her. I have earned no name. She¡¯d been mulling that one over and over in her mind all night. Likely, she would¡¯ve gone to sleep and wake still thinking on it. Elend were not treated kindly by the aelir. Being denied their name wasn¡¯t uncommon, of course, but the way she¡¯d said it. To earn a name, one must perform extraordinary duties to their aelir household. Their questioning hadn¡¯t been concerned with this point and they hadn¡¯t wanted to waste the window of opportunity presented by the venom¡­ but maybe they should have. ¡°This woman,¡± she said while looking around the cramped, crowded workshop. ¡°What colour were her eyes?¡± Mertle brought over a bucket of water and a mop and tried to wash the blood off the floor. Vial groaned on the table, coming to from his brush with death. ¡°I¡­ didn¡¯t see, captain. She was all dressed up in shadows. Scared me silly. Well¡­ sillier. You understand.¡± ¡°I do. Any other details you remember aside from pale and scary?¡± ¡°She wore glasses?¡± ¡°Almost every experienced channeller out there suffers from poor eyesight. Comes with the territory and them abusing their limits.¡± So, Mertle couldn¡¯t pick the channeller out of a crowd probably. At least, as far as her admission went. ¡°And you said that the smith chased her off?¡± ¡°Oh yes. Yes. He came out with his sword and shield, shouted at her to leave the man alone, and then charged. Tummy¡¯s very scary when he¡¯s riled up like that.¡± She found that very hard to believe. Anyone attacking a Storm Guard openly wouldn¡¯t just¡­ take off. She rested her eyes on Mertle while the elendine scrubbed the floor clear of blood, still wondering what to really make of her. Barlo was with the smith, both outside in the snowfall, investigating the scene for absolutely nothing of worth. Their presence there was damning. Truth of the matter was that Vial had been discovered and now they¡¯d have to explain his presence there. Lovely talk to come, of course. ¡°Please look after him while I talk to my colleague.¡± She excused herself and walked out of the stifling heat, into the biting chill of early morning. Barlo was up on the roof. The smith watched him with crossed arms, a pile of snow building atop his shoulders. His goggles made his eyes look too large for his face, what with his thick, square jaw and meaty, shaved head. The thick sword he wore, blade as wide as Quistis¡¯s calf, lessened the comedic effect. ¡°I¡¯ll assume there¡¯s nothing to follow?¡± Mertle had described shadows like moving tar. There wouldn¡¯t be a trail left behind. Barlo let out a low growl of annoyance, ¡°Little¡±. He jumped off the roof and landed in a snowbank stained with frozen blood. ¡°This be Crepuscular work, of course. Probably our same one. Opportunity attack if I¡¯m any judge to call it.¡± Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. ¡°Against one of ours?¡± ¡°Aye. Which¡­ best we talk when we get back. Lad¡¯s hale?¡± ¡°He¡¯ll pull through. Nothing permanent.¡± ¡°Best you both explain why we nearly had a dead Storm Guard in our back alley, fallen off our roof with more holes poked in¡¯im than southern cheese,¡± the smith said. Aside from the odd analogy, his tone betrayed absolutely no amusement. Quite the opposite. Smith Toh¡¯Uhm had nothing of Mertle¡¯s chaotic, easygoing attitude. Barlo gave her a long stare and walked by, ¡°Your call, your problem.¡± He ducked through the too-low doorway and headed inside. ¡°Up and at¡¯em, Vial. Sleep on yer own time an¡¯ in yer own bed.¡± A small crowd of rubberneckers had gathered to crowd the entrance to the alley, murmuring loudly. Excellent timing with people moving in large groups across Valen with the changing of the night shift. Rumours would be flying by the end of morning, and they¡¯d range from the stupid to the absurd and the downright disturbing. A demi living outside of Nen. Rare sight. And rarer still, Barlo had educated her, to find one working with an elend, on Vas of all places. Toh¡¯Uhm was as skilled with a field dressing as any soldier she¡¯d ever trained, had a keen sense of observation, and wielded a tone of voice that, were she a less seasoned soldier, would¡¯ve turned her insides to water. Not someone to lie to. Even his sword¡¯s hilt, worn, old, and scuffed, told an impressive story of the man watching her with arms crossed. And she could fit that story all too well in the vague suggestions of their first meeting. There was a scale to balance with regards to his competency. ¡°I believe I need to apologise.¡± She weighed her words carefully, picking her way forward with as much diplomacy as she could muster. ¡°Has Mertle informed you of what our talk was about? Of what we suspect of this Sil person?¡± ¡°Involved with Cinder? Aye. She¡¯s told me.¡± ¡°Then you understand that Sil is Bad News with all capitals, yes?¡± ¡°Innocent until proven guilty.¡± He narrowed his eyes and leaned forward slightly. ¡°Heard that was the human way. Innocent first. Guilty only if proven as such.¡± She gave him a lopsided smile and defied his unhappy glare. ¡°Not when it comes to Cinder and her allies. Civility is a luxury we can¡¯t afford. There was an attack on the Night of Descent. Many of my men have seen this Sil aiding Cinder.¡± The smith scratched the heavy stubble under his chin, ignoring the crowd of onlookers. Many of them would man shops and carts in the Agora soon and talk about this meeting to any number of their customers. Quistis wouldn¡¯t hear the end of this cock up for a tenday at least. ¡°And you suspect we¡¯re in leagues with Cinder. Aye?¡± ¡°It is a reasonable suspicion.¡± ¡°I see.¡± If he felt offended, he didn¡¯t show it. ¡°Mertle and I were here on that night. We had customers in here that can vouch for us.¡± ¡°We know. We¡¯ve checked. We know you had to help one with a fainting spell that may have also been our doing.¡± ¡°Aye. Heard of your other cock-up. Sounds to me like Cinder¡¯s had you chasing your tails and laughing about it.¡± What hurt the most was that he was right. Quistis could only offer a tight-lipped smile. He waggled a finger at her, ¡°We will submit to your investigation in any way you need us to. But we will not be spied upon. We left the Dominion to be away from that kind of nonsense. If it happens again, I will complain to the Agora¡¯s Circle and put this matter into their very capable hands.¡± And they, in turn, would raise it with Valen¡¯s Council, and what a wonderful tempest of crap would stir up once Falor¡¯s momentary popularity faded. Warning taken to heart. ¡°Understandable.¡± She resigned the point without a fight. It was already difficult to justify this kind of interest in two respectable merchants that had been openly cooperating with them without complaint. If Mertle ever figured out they¡¯d drugged her for questioning, that would be more than enough reason for Valen¡¯s Council to skin Quistis alive. Over coals. With nothing else to be gained from the alley¡ªor anything at all for that matter¡ªthey headed back inside. The forge¡¯s heat was a wall that she had to push herself through. Vial was up on his feet, shakily held up by Barlo¡¯s meaty arm around his shoulders. ¡°Captain.¡± He offered her a weak salute. ¡°¡¯Fraid I failed my mission.¡± ¡°Later.¡± She opened her rend and dug in for an accelerant. A bloodberry tonic should be enough for the time being. ¡°Since you¡¯re up and about, drink this. We¡¯ll debrief back at the garrison and then I want you resting for a couple of days.¡± ¡°Yes, Captain Quistis.¡± Mertle was sat on a large box marked with the stencil of the Enginarium. Metal ingots for the forge. She was swinging her legs looking everywhere but at her. ¡°Once again, I apologise for tonight, Mertle.¡± Quistis bowed low. ¡°I am in your debt doubly now.¡± ¡°No, that¡¯s alright.¡± The elendine refused to meet her eye once she straightened. ¡°Just¡­ please¡­ let me know if you find out anything about Sil. She can¡¯t be what you think she is. She can¡¯t be in league with that Cinder monster. She just can¡¯t.¡± The last part was a terrified whisper that turned Quistis¡¯s stomach in sympathy. ¡°I will inform you the moment we know something. You have my promise.¡± The smith let out a meaningful cough without giving her a look. He worked the bellows of the forge, getting his coals glowing. An awkward silence stretched in the room, punctured only by the rhythm breath of the bellows. She gestured for Barlo to go. Vial shook off the vanadal¡¯s steadying hand and shuffled out of the room. ¡°I wish you both a good day, for what that may be worth.¡± Quistis followed the two men without being shown out, following in Barlo¡¯s wake. Once out in the cold, the lock slammed home behind them. With Barlo catching up to Vial to split the morning crowd, she lingered in front of the anvil fixed outside, a hand on its pitted surface, scratching at the rust. ¡°Well played,¡± she murmured. ¡°Well bloody played.¡± Granted, she wasn¡¯t a fan of the method but couldn¡¯t argue the results. She bit her lower lip in frustration for a wasted night¡¯s work, and stifled a yawn as she joined the ebb of Valen¡¯s traffic. On the way back, she took a small detour by the elend coffee place that Barlo had told her about¡ªthey really did have an excellent blend fit for humans¡ªand then climbed the many stairs up to the Sisters¡¯ hospital. Chapter 2.13.1: Feeding ground No pain at all. None. Simply impossible. No healing draught was this efficient. No healing plant either. Even the Goddess¡¯s favour wasn¡¯t quite so potent. Accelerating healing required a delicate balance between what the body was capable of, and the resources needed to effect repairs. It¡¯s why the Goddess acted through them, her healers, and did not allow them direct ability. Only She could understand and ascertain the complex needs of healing and then weave the infinitely complicated threads of life to restore a wound or cure a disease. Without Her divine capacity, there would only be the alchemical solutions and those were far from ideal. But a single drop doing more than the finest, most refined accelerant? Sil¡¯s head spun. Beyond her terror of the creepy thing bobbing up and down on Vergil¡¯s shoulder, and the threat of whatever Erisa wanted with her, she had a duty to discover what this healing water truly was. If she could just get a sample of it, somehow, or find its source, then¡­ Oh, she was giddy with the ideas of what she could do then. This could change Edana in unbelievable ways. It¡¯d make her and her sisters unneeded in truth. The Goddess would finally rest and gaze upon a grateful world, her long service finally at an end. ¡°You¡¯re¡­ radiant.¡± Vergil looked at her as if he expected to be struck at any moment. He had his helmet clasped to his belt by a string of spider silk. He was coming into his own. Tallah would be pleased to hear of how much of a help he¡¯d been throughout this whole ordeal. Yes, they¡¯d take the safeguard off him and offer some trust instead. He¡¯d more than earned it. ¡°Sil?¡± ¡°Hmm?¡± ¡°Are you alright?¡± ¡°Absolutely.¡± She¡¯d make it her mission in Grefe to discover the secret. It was her moral duty to do so, to bring it into the light, away from this place of ruin. There¡¯s a certain psychoactive component and effect to it as well. Wonder if it¡¯s intentional. Regardless, this was no longer about survival. She would ensure that they did anything to help whichever side offered them the secret. Didn¡¯t matter which it was, as far as she was concerned. ¡°Spider, where did you get the healing water from?¡± ¡°From the flowers.¡± ¡°What flowers?¡± ¡°Mother¡¯s flowers.¡± ¡°Where are those?¡± ¡°Lost to We. The false mother guards the birthing hollow jealously.¡± ¡°Are you lying to me?¡± The idea did enter her mind but was the creature even capable of it? Or rather, was she capable of trusting it? ¡°What is lying?¡± It didn¡¯t matter. She needed to regroup with Tallah and then they would set about turning this place upside down and inside out until it provided what she wanted. ¡°Are you alright?¡± ¡°For the last time, Vergil, I¡¯m fine. I feel wonderful.¡± ¡°You¡¯re making a very scary face. It¡¯s why I ask.¡± A thought occurred to her: would it have worked on Vergil? Could his chip give them a good chemical analysis? It had in the past¡ªspotty, true, but it was still better than nothing. Blast the boy and his better nature. ¡°You should have drunk the bead instead of giving it to me. Your Argia could have given me an analysis. Maybe a formula for it.¡± ¡°You were sick. I thought you were dying!¡± ¡°True. Still.¡± ¡°Are you really alright?¡± Now he was getting on her nerves. This was so much bigger than her. One life for a solution to so much suffering? Not even a conundrum. Even the Goddess couldn¡¯t always reach everyone to solve everything. Sometimes even her divine grace couldn¡¯t save the fatally wounded. The demon touched. The terminally sick. Some diseases could simply not be healed without killing their host. The numbers of Her sons and daughters were limited, their overall presence paltry in comparison to the constant, overwhelming need for them. Alchemical healing could only be used for so much, brewed in so much quantity, deployed only so often. Beyond a point, alchemy simply lost potency. A true paradigm shift was right here, in this gods-forsaken place! And she was to be the conduit for its delivery. Maybe that¡¯s why the Goddess had been watching her. Maybe¡ª Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. She walked face-forward into a tree. Some kind of butterflies, large and garishly coloured, startled into a swarm and detached from the trunk to rise up into the red glow above. The beat of their wings sent leaves and fine powder floating down over her. She would¡¯ve screamed. It had come right into the back of her throat, built up by a sharp intake of breath. But Vergil clasped a hand over her mouth and pointed a trembling finger forward. Her gaze snapped angrily to him, then followed the line of his notice. Maybe ten paces forward and a couple off the line of their path, hanging between some of the thicker trees, partially obscured by the foliage, was a web. A spider hung in its centre, legs grouped two by two in the terrifying shape of an X. It was as large as a destrier and nearly perfectly camouflaged against the forest wall. It twitched a claw and shifted minutely on the web. Black orbs seemed to regard them with passive interest. ¡°Sil?¡± Vergil whispered at her. She drew back, sharply. The spider twitched in its web, one giant clawed leg touching a hair thin strand. The scream nearly ruptured past her common sense. ¡°Sil, don¡¯t move.¡± His whispers were insistent as he turned to her. ¡°You¡¯ll draw it.¡± Her feet sank into the mushy ground with a soft squelch. The nightmare twitched again, almost imperceptibly. She fought to swallow the keening whine inside her chest, making her nerves rattle with the effort. Vergil in front of her, whispering urgently. She couldn¡¯t understand him, not with the creature looming just above his shoulder, getting larger by the moment. It could come for her at any moment! Her back touched a fern and she yelped. Or would¡¯ve. Vergil¡¯s hand on her mouth pressed harder, his face covering the sight of the monster. The sound bounced back down her throat as she choked on what she had nearly done. She swallowed against his palm. ¡°Are you all right?¡± he asked in an urgent whisper. She shook her head, tears welling up. Every ounce of courage she¡¯d drummed up to there had melted away at the sight, gone without a trace. ¡°Can you take my hand?¡± Vergil looked as terrified as she felt. ¡°Take my hand and close your eyes. We¡¯ll guide you.¡± She could only shake her head. Taking her eyes off the monster?! Impossible. If I close my eyes, I won¡¯t see it coming. ¡°Sil, please.¡± She tried to look by him, but he moved in time with her gaze. ¡°I¡¯m deathly afraid of chickens, Sil,¡± he whispered urgently, a strained smile on his lips. ¡°I know you don¡¯t believe this, but if you take my hand and close your eyes, you will not be harmed.¡± It took a few more heartbeats to will herself into doing just that. Finally, she clasped his hand with both of hers, let out a shuddering breath, and shut her eyes against the looming doom. ¡°It is not of We,¡± the spider whispered in her mind. ¡°It is of the ones who feed all of We. It will not attack if not food. There are more. Tread with care. We mustn¡¯t disturb their task.¡± She stumbled over roots and tried not to react when leaves and creepers caressed any of her exposed skin. ¡°Careful here. Leg up,¡± Vergil instructed in a hushed whisper. ¡°There are webs everywhere.¡± Sil cringed, bit her tongue, and did as instructed. She trusted the boy¡¯s guidance and did her best not to embarrass herself further. ¡°You can open your eyes. Just don¡¯t look back, ok?¡± he said. They crouched beneath a large, deep-green fern. Webs stretched beneath, like tripwires ready to spring unseen traps. Sil recoiled at the sight, drew in a sharp breath, held it. Exhaled. ¡°Where to?¡± she asked in a whisper. ¡°Follow We. Follow. It is safe,¡± the smaller spider insisted, drumming its front legs feet against Vergil¡¯s shoulder. They skirted around the perimeter of the hunter¡¯s reach, careful not to disturb even one strand of webbing. It stretched far from the waiting spider, gossamer thin lines connecting into a network of forewarning. They backtracked and went farther around. Then they backtracked again as they ran into one more hunter waiting on its terrifying web. ¡°How much farther?¡± Sil asked as Vergil lifted a low-hanging branch to check for webs beneath. Above it, streams of spider silk stretched taught among the trees. The only way forward was to crawl. ¡°Not far to the passing. Not far now. No no.¡± If the spider lied to them, Sil would stomp on it. Preferably by using Vergil¡¯s head. ¡°If you feel any sort of pain, you let me know immediately,¡± she said by way of distraction. ¡°We¡¯ll move back if it seems we¡¯re getting too far away from Tallah.¡± ¡°So far, it¡¯s fine. It¡¯s not even hot.¡± Vergil palmed the back of his head, scratching around the blistered skin circling the stud. She swatted his hand away, ¡°Leave it alone or it¡¯ll get infected. We¡¯ll deal with it when we¡¯re safe. Your vitals?¡± ¡°Argia says I¡¯m fine. Keeps swearing at me though. Might be breaking down.¡± He shrugged as if that didn¡¯t sound worryingly ominous. Sil decided not to push the subject. For as much as she¡¯d been healed, her channelling was still blocked. Even making a sprite proved impossible, as if she were completely cut off from her illum flows. An effort to draw in any power only resulted in a blistering headache and feeling sick to her stomach. They crawled in truth now, face down through the soft earth. Webs stretched above in a way that was impossible to bypass. Had they wandered this way on their own and alone, she was convinced they¡¯d be dead by now, caught unawares by one of the great camouflaged critters. Things slithered by her hand, squirming beneath her weight. Black and red worms poked out of the earth and disappeared beneath again. There were bugs the size of her palm, unimpressed by their passage, crawling up and over her hands and fingers. Even some smaller rodents that poked out from beneath dead leaves to stare with large black eyes at her. ¡°There¡¯s a whole ecosystem in here.¡± She forced herself not to react and focus on moving forward even as something made a determinate effort to crawl into her boot. She kicked at it and felt a wet squelch spreading down her leg. Bugger. ¡°Much food here, yes,¡± the spider answered. ¡°Hunt only big food. Small is too small.¡± How this all balanced was another thing to ponder on later. Preferably back in Valen. Preferably drunk off her arse on strawberry wine. They emerged into a clearing. More a narrow gap in the vegetation, where a pool reflected the lights above and cast eerie, rippling shadows across the rest of the forest. Sil found herself staring at a kind of elkana on the other side of the pool¡ªreally, must have been like ten paces across¡ªas it drank. It was small, about shoulder height to her, and built thin and wiry. It raised an eyeless head in their direction with tentacle-like feelers testing the air. It bolted back into the forest with a short, echoing cry of panic. A sharper cry followed, as if of pain, then silence. ¡°Food for We,¡± the spider crooned, a hint of pleasure coming through its psychic connection. Chapter 2.13.2: Library of Grefe Sil dusted herself off and shook out her wet boot. She tried not to squirm at the mess. The pool tempted her for a wash. ¡°Is it safe to drink?¡± Vergil asked as he skirted the edge of the water, two steps away from it, sword in hand. ¡°Or is something going to snap up from it?¡± ¡°Water is sacred. Water is life. We do not hunt by the water.¡± ¡°Handy that. Can I drink, Sil?¡± Sweat dripped off her in ceaseless rivulets. More than drinking the water, Sil wanted to bathe in it. But somehow, she expected the spider wouldn¡¯t take kindly to her fouling the watering hole. ¡°I¡¯d rather you didn¡¯t. You should still be good from earlier. This may be foul. Fancy shitting yourself?¡± And that would be the kindest thing that may happen. She knew of at least five different water-borne parasites that caused irreversible necrosis of the stomach lining. No. Better to wait out the thirst, at least until they got back to the others, and she had her medicine ready again. Fruits and berries lined the trees and shrubs around the water but looked too alien for Sil to trust eating them. Vergil swore he recognized some of the mushrooms, but she refused to let him eat them. Boy had a death wish. ¡°What now, spider? We keep going?¡± ¡°No. We have arrived. Now We wait.¡± For what? As if to answer her thoughts, something lowered from above. A bridge? Sculpted in the same kind of style as the architecture they¡¯d seen around Grefe, it descended among the trees and settled softly on the edge of the pool. ¡°We prepared for you. Please hurry now. Before the false mother sees.¡± It swayed underfoot and creaked as Sil settled her weight upon it. It stretched towards the ceiling, connecting to a large stalactite in the distance, high above the forest¡¯s treeline. No. Not above the forest at all. Halfway up she understood. Their destination hung above the abyss, a lone place much more austere than whatever else she¡¯d seen of the city so far. It was the first place she¡¯d seen in Grefe that wasn¡¯t directly lit by one of its many crystal spires. The forest beneath ended at a sheer cliff, the verdant green over-spilling into hanging creepers down that side of the city. Whatever the original design had been, it was clear the place had overgrown it. ¡°Hurry hurry.¡± Hard to hurry up when the whole bridge swooned with every step. She held on tight to the peculiar side rail, but her stomach somersaulted at every tremor. Once hanging above the abyss, she found her feet leaden and unwieldy. Looking down into the gaping black maw made it so much worse. Vergil at her back seemed to have the same issue as he resisted the spider¡¯s urging. ¡°This may have been a bad idea,¡± he said, trying and failing to keep a light tone. ¡°It may be a terrific one,¡± Sil answered even as her stomach dropped with each sway. ¡°It¡¯s different. It¡¯s a vantage point. Tallah will make for it.¡± ¡°And you know that for sure?¡± Of course she didn¡¯t. But she knew Tallah enough to expect this wouldn¡¯t escape her notice. The crystal light did not extend quite so far. They were climbing into the dark and she was certain she saw shapes moving across the end of the bridge. Some of them quite large. Once you cut, make sure you cut to the bone or not at all. Mertle¡¯s words of encouragement whenever she hesitated over something. May as well. Back there were those phenomenally large spiders waiting to pounce. Ahead, the beasts looked at least somewhat smaller. Death by many bites instead of one¡­ She cursed her traitorous imagination and everything it conjured up. She hurried, one foot in front of the other, each a silent prayer to the Goddess that this wasn¡¯t another mistake. They¡¯d been swimming in those ever since wither, all culminating with this ill-fated journey. Somehow, she didn¡¯t expect finding the flowers up there, but the spider had promised answers. She promised and lied to herself those answers would be worth the short terrifying climb to a place hanging isolated above certain death, overrun by black, gnarled shapes and so many fangs. A path opened for them at the top. Indeed, there were great black shapes waiting here, melted into the dark. Sil heard the bridge draw up behind her as Vergil stepped off. He didn¡¯t have his sword out this time. ¡°If they wanted us dead, we¡¯d be dead. Right?¡± Dead by spider. Or dead by fall. ¡°Pretty much. Let¡¯s hope they¡¯re as friendly as the thing on your shoulder.¡± You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. ¡°We are not thing. We are of kin,¡± the spider complained. Shapes moved away from their path as they stepped forward. The stalactite was much larger than seen from afar. Unlike the rest of the city, it hadn¡¯t been hollowed out and left a gracious amalgamation of columns and statues. A balcony ringed the whole thing and, ahead, between the many guards, was a stone door. Light shone through cracks outlining the heavy-looking slab. ¡°Come. Touch nothing. All will be told as all is.¡± In the deafening silence, the door gap widened with an anguished roar of rock scraping against rock, pushed out from inside by what proved to be two spiders bigger than the ones in the forest. Sil leaned on Vergil as the two retreated into some hidden space all their own and cleared the way forward. Inside they were met by books and scrolls. Bookshelves had been sculpted out of the wall with barely enough room between the rows for a person to pass through. Sil estimated there to be close to a thousand ancient texts only as far as she could see by the soft white light of several gemstones. Spider webs were strewn between books and scrolls, in a pattern so intricate that even other small spiders were having trouble navigating. Their guide looked to be one of the largest of the creatures. They were all scurrying about, darting in and out of half open books, building webs across spread scrolls. A small room, just beyond the doors, was the only space without any white strands. It was filled with animal bones picked clean. Sil gagged at the smell. ¡°This used to be a library,¡± Vergil said, stating the only obvious thing about the arrangement. ¡°Yes, this is the Knowing. This is where We have become.¡± Sil watched, amazed, the many links that connected the various books, and the many spiders that travelled the paths. There was a pattern to their connections, not to be read at a glance but there all the same. In a flash of inspiration, she understood. They weren¡¯t to touch the webs, not the books. Whatever had transformed the spiders, whatever they had learned from the builders of Grefe, they were storing it in that ever-expanding web. There was power there. It sang in the air and strained in containment. She didn¡¯t have Tallah¡¯s sensitivity for illum but even she could feel the layers there and the twisting, churning effect produced by something so intricately built. The spiders. All of them on the great web. Some as small as her hand. Some large and ungainly, perched atop shelves, wrapped in silk that they guided with patient care. Looked at from a certain perspective, she gained a semblance of understanding for what was happening. ¡°The webs are the actual library, Vergil. They¡¯ve built a mind. Don¡¯t touch any of it.¡± She barely resisted the temptation herself, to reach out a hand, grab a strand and feel the flow of information. The spider bristled even at the twitch of her fingers. Conceptually, it made sense and gave up an important piece to the puzzle of the spiders¡¯ intelligence. If the winged creators of Grefe stored any kind of illum knowledge in tomes, and they likely did, then there would be illum residue that would bleed out with effects impossible to foresee. Even the libraries at the School of Healing faced the same problem. Pest control was important lest there be connections made where none should ever occur. Here the books were tied together, their power woven in a pattern as much physical as ethereal. Every movement on the web was deliberate, every destination known, every connection necessary. Like watching ideas scurrying about¡­ Now she regretted never caring for the working of the mind while back in training. This was the domain of the select Pentsatu calling, that strange melding of healers and metal minds, the true mind readers. Christina would probably have Tallah wetting herself in excitement if she ever got into this room. ¡°How much do you understand at a glance?¡± a new voice intruded on her amazement. Telepathic but carrying a weight of age that she hadn¡¯t felt from the other spider. A large specimen lowered itself into view from the height of the library, gracefully avoiding every piece of the web as it came nearly level with Sil¡¯s head. Much larger than the librarians and even the black spiders that had attacked their group, though lacking the ferocity of those monsters. It set itself between her and the library, settling down with its belly nearly flat on the stone floor. Gnarled like old tree bark, with long legs and a matte black body, flattened like a crab, it had her instincts howling in panic. It was only the amazement of this place and the lingering aftershock of meeting the hunters in the forest that kept her from fainting as the creature raised unblinking black eyes to take her in fully. If anything, she felt a pang of pride for keeping upright. ¡°The Oldest, I assume?¡± Her voice frayed at the edges into a terrified whisper, but the spider didn¡¯t make any move aside twitching palps at her. ¡°I am,¡± the voice answered back. Its mental sound and the sight attached a certain wizened description in her mind to the thing. Yes, old and likely older than she imagined. ¡°I? Not we?¡± ¡°I, yes. I am the last and oldest hatched of Mother. I am of no brood still living. I am I, and nothing more.¡± Vergil lowered his burden to the floor and the critter moved closer to its much larger kin. Some discussion seemed to happen silently between them marked by leg movements and palp waving. ¡°I understand,¡± it addressed them again. ¡°You have seen the dying hollow. You have seen the cruelty of the false mother.¡± ¡°I have no idea what I¡¯ve seen or why. I hope you¡¯ve brought us here for answers since this one kept insisting on getting help.¡± She toed at the smaller spider and it, in turn, looked up at her. What cuteness Vergil saw in the thing, she couldn¡¯t fathom. ¡°Much to explain. Little time. The false mother has sent her hunter out of the creche. Must move quick. Quick.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not taking a step until I understand what¡¯s going on. I have two different stories already, and no idea which to believe or why.¡± She crossed her arms and steeled herself. ¡°Best make sure whatever enlightenment you offer is more believable than what the others have teased. I am quite done being led by the nose.¡± ¡°Sil, wouldn¡¯t it be wiser to just listen to the big, scary spider, instead of antagonising it?¡± Vergil had drawn closer and whispered in her ear. ¡°No. I want it to tell me why they think they deserve help. They¡¯re monsters. I want to know what they¡¯ve done to the girl after taking her. Why would we do anything to help beasts?¡± The Oldest bristled at that and stamped its feet in annoyance. ¡°We are not beasts. We are not monsters,¡± it shot into their minds, its voice echoed by many smaller ones. Some of the critters stopped dead on the web. ¡°Our guilt is that we were young when she came. We were curious and hungry for contact. None of the Knowings here name curiosity and youth as faults that deserve destruction. We ask for help to right our mistake.¡± ¡°And what mistake is that, precisely?¡± Sil held her ground even as myriad eyes crawled over her. ¡°Why did you take her?¡± ¡°Because she shone. Because she was beautiful. She was a Maker, and she was so beautiful.¡± Chapter 2.13.3: Sins of the mother ¡°I don¡¯t follow. What are the Makers?¡± A smaller spider jumped off its web and rushed among the shelves. It returned carrying a tome trailing several other spiders still spinning the complicated lattice that connected the pages to the rest. It opened it up to Sil¡¯s inspection and the Oldest placed a small black claw on the page. Two humans were represented clear enough, with annotations in the same alien language as Tallah¡¯s tome had. ¡°Vergil?¡± ¡°Illum conductivity diminishes as genetic degradation continues,¡± he read off the page. ¡°Establishing and maintaining a baseline is critical for long-term survival. With plummeting population numbers, it is ne-necessary to consider a change of para¡­ uh¡­ paradigm?¡± He rubbed at his eyes. ¡°Text keeps glitching. Hurts my eyes to try and make it out. Sorry.¡± Power radiated off the book and especially off the diagram of a woman in the centre of the page, thick enough that even Sil could sense it. ¡°I don¡¯t understand,¡± she said to the Oldest. ¡°Humans are your makers?¡± What fresh madness was this? ¡°You cannot see it?¡± it asked, tapping a claw on the diagram. ¡°Mother could see it clear, the power of the Makers in her. It is in you too, but less so.¡± She yelped and sidled sideways when a white spider walked past her feet, come from who knew where, tall enough to reach her hips. As silent as a ghost, it settled on the old one¡¯s flank and regarded them. ¡°This one can see it clear,¡± the Oldest explained. ¡°The Makers are in you, but you are not of them.¡± It tapped the page again. ¡°Not like this.¡± ¡°More riddles.¡± Were they referring to Erisa being an Egia? The more she studied the diagram and the lines drawn around it, the more she was reminded of how Tallah described an Egia¡¯s disturbance of the flow of illum. Were the builders of Grefe some early Egia? Did not explain why they were obsessed with humans of all creatures. ¡°She was beautiful, and Mother believed her of the Makers. She came from the Guardian¡¯s domain, and she carried the light of the Makers. We craved her touch. We craved her understanding of Us.¡± ¡°That¡¯s why you tried reaching her?¡± Sil asked, still trying to find some way to wrap her wits around what it was showing. ¡°Yes. Yes! Her guardians did not understand us. They kept her away when she called out to Mother. They killed us with cold claws and hot light. Mother only had so much patience before she sent the Leuki to do the same onto them.¡± The white spider shifted its stance, red eyes meeting¡¯s Sil¡¯s. Rumi Belli¡¯s particular gaze came to mind and sent a shiver down her back. ¡°So, you killed them?¡± ¡°We protected ourselves. And we protected her when the guardians turned their displeasure to her. All we did was for her acceptance. It was for her to understand us.¡± ¡°Are there more books like this one? Talking about humans?¡± Some shape was emerging from the spider¡¯s words. She raised a finger to shush Vergil when he drew breath to say something. There was an answer to be teased here, if only she figured the right questions. An army of small spiders extracted tomes off shelves and opened them to various illustrations of humanity. In some of them she easily recognised medical diagrams and certain chemical formulae that were familiar from the School of Healing. In others, she understood the unmistakable graphs for illum channelling and conversion, always centred around humans. Why? But a species coming into sense here, with no guidance but for whatever knowledge they could glimpse off centuries-dead lore¡­ what would they make of the world they¡¯d been born into? How would they react to someone like Erisa? The spiders had thought her a kind of goddess. ¡°She was finally freed of her guardians and our trial was done. She was home. She was with us. And we couldn¡¯t understand her. Nor she us.¡± Ah, and there it was. How would Erisa understand a creature as alien as this one speaking? She was reminded of what the smaller one had said. Speech is poisoned gift of the false mother. ¡°We tried to share ourselves with her in the only way we knew how, like children. It was our mistake.¡± The Oldest was getting to the real crux of this meeting. Sil found she had little patience left for more riddles, especially on the cusp of getting it, where understanding teased her just a hair¡¯s breadth out of reach. ¡°Speak clearly, spider. This place is riddles atop riddles, each stranger than the other. Give me something clear to understand.¡± It hesitated and looked to the white one, feet tapping on the floor. It got a soft tap back and went on, ¡°We are born with a mind of all that were before. All are We. Upon¡­ death we return to Mother, and she is more for it. This is how we grow and how we became. She did not understand us. She could not. We tried to make her understand.¡± Cold dread gripped her heart as things slotted into place. Every spider in the room shrank back and looked away, a human expression of discomfort and shame. No, they couldn¡¯t have¡­ ¡°Mother understands all. All is of Mother. So, we made her into Mother, for she was a Maker. It was all we knew to do.¡± Two possibilities flashed white-hot in Sil¡¯s mind, both equally terrifying. Many wasps would lay eggs inside living hosts and the hatching larvae would eat their way out of the victim. She¡¯d treated such infections, and the results were always messy and grotesque. For one unfortunate she¡¯d had to amputate a leg that had gone gangrenous, the infestation too far progressed for any other healing to help. Vitalis mages, of whose work she¡¯d seen enough of to last her several lifetimes in Anna¡¯s Sanctum, melded together creatures to forward their sick experiments. She¡¯d seen at least one spider-analogue among Anna¡¯s throng and the memory of that grotesque insult to life sometimes haunted her nightmares. As if to outdo her imagination, the Oldest went one, heedless of her mounting horror. ¡°Mother lay a clutch of us within her. We knew little of Makers¡¯ birth.¡± It gestured with a hind leg to the books. ¡°We knew enough.¡± Sil pressed her hands to her face and tried to force herself not to imagine what the monster described. ¡°Stop talking,¡± she whispered. It ignored her. ¡°The first who hatched nearly killed her. Mother¡¯s water saved her. We had gained insight. Our Knowing grew much. The hatchlings gained an inkling of the Maker¡¯s Knowing.¡± ¡°Stop talking!¡± ¡°Again, and again, and again. More were made. We understood more and nothing at all. Each generation matured, thrived, returned to Mother. Mother gained insight¡­ and a fragment of the girl.¡± Sil wanted to stamp down on the creature. She wanted to reach for Vergil¡¯s sword and hack at it until she purged the image out of her by sheer violence. How could they not understand the kind of horror they¡¯d inflict?! How could it speak of it without bursting into flames by divine indignity at what they¡¯d wrought? This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. The white spider¡ªthe Leuki, as a part of her was reminded of the name just to shift focus¡ªraised a threatening leg in her direction, its palps moving in warning. ¡°Each one born of her carried a part of her. Mother was rejoiced for now a part of the Maker was within her. We were made complete.¡± ¡°Are you proud of what you did?¡± Vergil surprised her by asking. His voice didn¡¯t tremble. ¡°Was what you gained worth what you did?¡± ¡°We did not understand pain then.¡± It shifted its gaze to the boy and Sil was glad of not looking down into those black, soulless pits. ¡°There was nothing in us to speak of pain. Of disgust. Of shame. Of fear. These were the first things we¡¯d gained from her. And we did not understand these things. Understanding came too late. She was in Mother, and she grew. She was in every one of us made anew, growing with each new generation Mother made through her. And then we were taught of fury. And we were forced to understand.¡± It came together in the end. This was Tallah¡¯s domain. She and her ghosts would understand this better than Sil could, but she grasped the edges of it even as they cut. ¡°Soul transference.¡± Even the words made her skin crawl with their meaning. ¡°You tortured her. And you broke her. Little by little, you took her until she began fighting back.¡± What horrid things had been born here! Tallah ought to burn the whole place down to the very bedrock out of which it had been sculpted. ¡°And you dare claim our help?¡± She laughed at the very notion and her next words came out as revolted hissing. ¡°What you deserve is fire.¡± The Oldest bristled and reared up at her words. It was less than impressive now that she understood what kind of monster it was. She held her ground as the monster lifted itself on its hind legs and threatened its violence on her. Vergil sword whispered out, but she refused to cower behind him. ¡°We were children. Our actions were of children that grasped for connection. For understanding. Why condemn us when we knew no better?¡± ¡°To know no better is not absolution for the crime.¡± ¡°And we were punished for it! On and on, we were punished for our mistake. Mother is no more. Each one born anew is not of us anymore, not free of will or body. We have lost the voices of our kin. We have gained understanding of what we did. Each day we hear her voice and her accusation, reminded of our shame, told we should not be.¡± It backed down when she did not, crawled back into itself, a tight, pitiful ball of shame on the ground. ¡°We are being taught of failure and the lesson is killing us. Help us. Please.¡± A pause stretched between them, heavy with accusations and defences. Every spider in the room had ceased what it was doing and were now hanging on webs, watching them. Pinpricks of light shone in black eyes in the dimly lit room, a constellation of fright staring¡­ no, waiting for her decision. ¡°Why do you fear us?¡± the Oldest asked, voice made small. ¡°What harm would we have done you if you would¡¯ve never come here?¡± ¡°I¡¯m not equipped for this,¡± Vergil replied, not speaking to the spider but to her. ¡°I want to be out of here, Sil. I don¡¯t want to want to know more.¡± ¡°Go out. Wait for me and watch for Tallah,¡± she heard herself say. Her gaze was glued to the gnarled thing ahead of her. A fresh headache started up again in the centre of her forehead and for a time she considered if she had anything else to say to these¡­ these what? She looked over them and, maybe for the first time, at them without the veneer of fright. Now that she understood some of what they were, she found that she couldn¡¯t be afraid of them. Disgusted. Disquieted. Horrified. All those and more. But not afraid. ¡°I don¡¯t fear you,¡± she answered the Oldest without looking at it. ¡°Not now.¡± ¡°Then why do you want us to cease to be? Have we no right to be?¡± She had to move. Needed to get her blood moving again, away from pooling in her feet. Shaking her hands in frustration, she ended up pacing the whole breadth of the room, heedless of the many creatures skittering out of her way. Whatever sort of fear gnawed at her was barely an irritant in the face of everything else. Erisa would have been driven insane. That much was expected. A torture cycle going for as long as described was likely to drive anyone out of their right mind. Coupled with the slow extraction of the self, who knew what kind of mindscape the poor lass even inhabited now. She dreaded the idea of touching a mind like that. Tallah would understand it, though. She and the girl were kindred now¡ªhow she hated the very word for what she¡¯d learned here. But Tallah wasn¡¯t here to help with this. A headache exploded behind her eyes as she probed the concept further. Right, not something to ponder on. What to do about these wretches? ¡°Why do you want help? How could we possible help you?¡± ¡°Take her back. Take the girl back!¡± An avalanche of voices staggered her as they all called for the same thing. ¡°Free Mother of her. Take her back.¡± She laughed, ¡°Just like that? Want a moon while I¡¯m at it?¡± ¡°We need no moon. We need Mother. We need a new Mother be born.¡± ¡°And I assume you¡¯d like me to make you one of those too.¡± This was absurd. She rubbed at the bridge of her nose, willing the pestering pain away. It refused to abate while she kept poking at the intricacies of what had happened to Erisa. ¡°Mother sleeps here,¡± the Oldest tapped the floor. ¡°In the centre. She sleeps and she waits. But she cannot be allowed to hatch while the infection can take her.¡± There was hope now in the voice as it spilled the words, barely forming coherent sentences. Images forced their way in, of an egg dressed in silk and surrounded by creatures that made the hunter seem quaint by comparison. ¡°I think I understand.¡± Her pacing took her in the direction of the library. The smaller creatures skittered out of her way, reeled in their webs, cleared a path for her to walk among the books. They watched and dogged her steps, careful of not letting her touch anything vital. Books stretched up into a seemingly infinite height. Illum hung in the air, motes of it drifting hazily between the shelves to obstruct the true size of the place. She expected it was much larger than the exterior suggested. If she closed her eyes, she could feel the embrace of the mind in there. It wasn¡¯t simple power but more¡­ She closed her eyes and tried to draw in the illum. As before, it did not come to her beckoning¡­ but something else did. A presence brushed against her mind, timid and frightened, recoiling back when she, in turn, reached for it. She got the sense of great hunger, of longing and a desperate need to understand and be understood. If she invited Tallah¡¯s fire in there, what would she really be killing? What she needed was the Ikosmenia. But maybe it wouldn¡¯t be wise to gaze upon whatever it was that had grown there. ¡°How does your Mother take you back at the end of your lifespan?¡± she asked without opening her eyes. ¡°Mother takes the essence and weaves it into herself.¡± ¡°Soul binding?¡± They had souls? Maybe she would¡¯ve baulked at the idea before, but that was what she was feeling in truth. This is what she was reminded of when caressing this power that circled her. A will. A conscience. Young. Confused. Curious. In Solstice, Tallah had built her Sanctum and the instruments to spin the power of a soul gem into thread. It was Sil that wielded the needle to graft the new souls onto the sorceress¡¯s. The touch of the thread was like nothing she could describe, handling the pure essence of a self. That feeling was all around in the library. A breath in. Hold. Release. Repeat. ¡°I am¡­ I am of the many, and I am of the few. I am light, and I am warmth. I am¡ª¡± ¡°¡ªI am shield, and I am sword.¡± Their chorus joined her in the mantra. ¡°I stand to brace the other, unbent, unbowed, unbroken.¡± ¡°Did you steal that out of her too?¡± She hadn¡¯t meant the malice. Not now that her mind was made up. ¡°Yes,¡± the Oldest admitted. ¡°She spoke this often.¡± Of course she had. And Sil was going to betray that little girl in a wholly different way now. She prayed it was the right thing to do. Her feet brought her out of the maze of shelves and silk, to sit her down opposite the Oldest, within reach of its claws. ¡°Part of me wants you to burn,¡± she said, looking into its black eyes. The small spider that had brought them was perched atop the back segment of the Oldest¡¯s body, watching her. ¡°Part of me thinks you deserve it. But you knew no better, and Erisa did what she could to protect herself. More victimising won¡¯t lead us to the light of the Goddess. In Her name and because I carry Her teachings, I will help as I can.¡± Something inside her chest warmed up at the words. She had to believe the Goddess watched and approved of this. ¡°From the top, spider. Let me understand you.¡± ¡°So¡­ we can be allowed to be?¡± it asked, hope radiating off each word. Like children, indeed. Desperate for approval. Desperate for forgiveness. ¡°I don¡¯t know. I don¡¯t think anything like you exists anywhere else. Many, my friend included, would burn you without a second thought. I am not equipped to pass judgement on an entire species for their mistakes. I am only equipped to heal. And that¡¯s what I¡¯ll try to do.¡± Chapter 2.13.4: An echo of a soul Vergil spat into the abyss and ignored its siren call. If he had the kind of courage to walk over the lip of the platform and just embrace oblivion, he would¡¯ve stayed behind in the canyon and freeze to death. He¡¯d heard once that it was an easy death, like falling asleep and just never waking up. What a place this was¡­ How could Sil stay there, listen to that creature, and not scream out in horror? It took exactly two hundred paces to walk the circumference of the platform. Funny that. It was larger inside than outside, he was sure of it, and he¡¯d seen enough nonsense from Tallah¡¯s rend to accept this as possible. Then two hundred more paces, the other way around, to reveal nothing new aside from grey rock and the breathtaking vista beneath. And in the end, he sat down in front of the doors, surrounded by black spiders all aimed inside, as still as statues. It seemed Sil wasn¡¯t done yet. Grefe was as wondrous from above as it had been from within. The forest occupied a large plateau in the rock, spreading out into some kind of inner ravine that kept on going. It beggared belief by size alone. Swirls of red and blue light changed patterns and, from afar, made the place sway and shiver as if rustled by some invisible wind. To the side, coming in on the red light of what he was coming to accept as night, swirls of smoke drifted above the city. That was Tallah¡¯s doing seeing as there was still fire raging somewhere around a bend in the city wall. Touching the stud on his neck revealed it as slight warm, just a touch more than the surrounding skin. She was close, somewhere down there, but not close enough to be of help here. Maybe in the forest? Or in the tunnels that had led them away from the burial pit? No point in thinking about that. What to do next? Sil would decide. It was best for him not to think on things like that. Thinking made him imagine. And imagining made him remember things that never happened. He didn¡¯t want that, not as he was starting to believe he¡¯d been lied to at some point. Who by or why¡­ he didn¡¯t know. Argia was having another of its fits. Lovely. Nothing like your head companion going for a loop. Of course, the messages self-deleted moments later. ¡°What the Hell is going on?¡± ¡°Good question.¡± Sil sat heavily next to him and swung her feet over the black maw beneath. He hadn¡¯t heard her approaching, but the spiders had all drawn away to give them a modicum of space. ¡°They¡¯re not attacking us. I assume you¡¯re set on helping?¡± Her answer was a long groan as she knuckled fists into her eyes and rubbed vigorously while yawning. ¡°What I wouldn¡¯t give to have one of my tonics right now. Belching and farting and all else included.¡± ¡°What are we going to do?¡± He knew he should feel as ragged as she, but for some reason¡­ he didn¡¯t. There were aches and pains and all assorted effects of his wounds and the healing. But he wasn¡¯t tired yet, not enough to lay down and sleep. Sil gave him a bleary-eyed baleful glare. ¡°Would you give me at least a couple heartbeats to gather my wits? Goddess¡¯s teat, if I¡¯d known you¡¯d get like this I would¡¯ve cut back on your tonics.¡± ¡°Sorry.¡± She sighed and waved a dismissive hand, ¡°Forget it. This was a lot to take in.¡± A soft scraping sound drew both their attention. They turned to the doors and saw the Oldest gingerly push forward a deep dish full of clear water. It retreated, skittishly, towards the shadows without a word. Sil drank without questioning, then offered him the rest. It was wonderfully cool and clear, and Vergil was certain he¡¯d never tasted anything more wonderful. ¡°Was this safe?¡± ¡°They assure me it is clean water. It¡¯s one of the things they value reverently. They¡­¡± She took a pause, sucked in air through her teeth, then went on. ¡°They fed it to Erisa to no ill effect.¡± Oh. At least one other human had been exposed to this place. The state of that one did not really push him to trusting the spiders¡¯ words. ¡°I didn¡¯t understand much, just that she¡¯d been¡­ well¡­¡± ¡°Raped is the word you¡¯re looking for,¡± Sil provided without a hint of emotion. ¡°Raped and worse. We need to see what we do about her.¡± ¡°Will you be all right?¡± He handed the dish back. ¡°I haven¡¯t been all right for a long time. This doesn¡¯t change anything,¡± she said with surprising confidence. The shiver in her voice was back, but not in the rest of her. ¡°Damn this place and bugger that old man for all he¡¯s wrought.¡± He wanted to argue on Ludwig¡¯s behalf but hadn¡¯t the nerve for it. An hour earlier he wouldn¡¯t have hesitated. Now he wasn¡¯t so sure he wouldn¡¯t strike the old man on sight. And keep on striking him for a long, bloody time. ¡°What did you learn?¡± ¡°Enough, I think. They did come here, and they got deeper in than Ludwig said they did. They were plundering the place. Spiders didn¡¯t initially attack but got out of the way and observed. Erisa was of interest as their Mother caught sight of her.¡± She drank, rinsed her mouth, and spat blood over the edge. ¡°Bit the inside of my cheek not to scream earlier. Most everything that Erisa told us is true. Humans turned on one another once their retreat got cut off¡ªand what a wonder that was for our hosts here. Testament to species-wide stupidity.¡± ¡°At least we¡¯re not dwarves.¡± He¡¯d meant it as a joke. Why, then, did he end up on his back, blinking away stars? ¡°Ow¡­¡± Sil looked down at him, mismatched eyes wide in astonishment. ¡°What¡¯s gotten into you?!¡± ¡°What?¡± His head throbbed, front where he¡¯d been hit, and back where he¡¯d cracked his skull against the stone floor. ¡°What what? Why¡¯d you hit yourself?¡± ¡°I¡­ what?¡± Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. ¡°Get out of my light.¡± He heard her shooing spiders away. ¡°Look at me. How many fingers am I holding up?¡± ¡°Um¡­ three.¡± ¡°Name?¡± ¡°Uh¡­ Sil?¡± ¡°Yours, idiot.¡± ¡°Vergil. Vansce.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t squirm.¡± He felt her gently lifting the back of his head, her warm fingers questing through his hair to press on where it hurt now. ¡°You haven¡¯t cracked your skull open,¡± she mused and traced the line down the back of his neck. ¡°Nothing here to suggest anything worse. Let¡¯s get you up. Slow. Let me lift.¡± Once back up in a sitting position he nearly pitched forward, head still spinning. ¡°What hit me?¡± ¡°You did. Heel of your palm to the forehead.¡± She pressed a steadying hand on his chest and held him upright. ¡°Dizzy?¡± ¡°A bit.¡± ¡°Nauseous?¡± ¡°No.¡± He blinked but the messages still stayed there, floating in his field of view, each a different colour. The list of insults only grew in creative profanity. ¡°That¡¯s new,¡± he groaned. ¡°What?¡± ¡°Argia¡¯s getting creative with insults. What¡¯s pox-arsed?¡± ¡°You don¡¯t want to know. I don¡¯t think that¡¯s Argia. Lovely.¡± ¡°And now it¡¯s reset itself. That smarts.¡± He¡¯d hit himself right in the eye socket. The entire area felt tender and throbbed in pain. ¡°Another black eye. What do you mean it¡¯s not Argia?¡± ¡°Pretty sure that¡¯s the dwarf that hit you. I suspect you may be experiencing some low-level possession.¡± She sighed and gave him one more look-over before rattling the dish for more water. Immediately, another spider advanced a different dish. ¡°Drink. Keep hydrated. I¡¯ll figure something out for you after we get out of here. You should be safe for the time being. Give me the helmet.¡± She reached for it and Vergil, to his stupefaction, pulled it away from her grasp. ¡°Uh, I¡¯d rather you didn¡¯t take it.¡± ¡°Give it here, Vergil. It¡¯s for your own good. Don¡¯t make me take it from you.¡± ¡°I said no. It¡¯s¡­ reassuring to have.¡± ¡°Oh, lovely. You¡¯ve built a connection with the thing. Fine, suit yourself. Don¡¯t come crying to me the next time you punch yourself somewhere nasty.¡± ¡°But¡­ you said it wasn¡¯t a soul. You said it was safe.¡± ¡°I said we thought it safe. Soul magic is finicky stuff. Dangerous at the best of times, downright unpredictable always. To make a soul trap out of an object and to encase even an echo of a personality, especially one as strong as the Hammer was, you would need to build some nearly impossible layers of illum trapping. Tallah knows more about this stuff than I do, but with how unpredictable this stuff is it¡¯s entirely possible you may have in there more than just the surface of that warrior¡¯s soul. Don¡¯t even get me started on Erisa and her fate.¡± ¡°She became the spider?¡± Vergil wanted the conversation shifted away from his helmet. It eased the pounding pressure inside his skull. ¡°Yes. No. Maybe? I don¡¯t know. Not yet. I¡¯ll tell you one thing for nothing.¡± ¡°And that is.¡± ¡°I¡¯m going to skin Angledeer alive. And then piss on him. At the very least.¡± Vergil believed her. She spoke with the same kind of cold detachment she¡¯d used on their first day together, when she¡¯d warned him of what her talents could do. He believed that the old man¡¯s time was at an end the moment Sil reached Tallah. ¡°Don¡¯t you think he should get a chance to explain himself first?¡± He didn¡¯t have any real love for the old fool, but something of his determination had spoken to him on that night. To see him so driven to come back here, to find a solution to undo his mistake¡­ that couldn¡¯t have been fake. Could it? ¡°No. I don¡¯t think he deserves another chance to lie.¡± ¡°You¡¯re a healer¡­¡± ¡°Yes, you¡¯ve pointed it out before. My answer remains the same. I will not suffer the inhuman to live, not for what he¡¯s done. The spiders confirmed Erisa¡¯s story to the letter. If possible, he¡¯s guiltier now than he was before.¡± ¡°It¡¯s been a lifetime. More than one. He wants to atone. Maybe he deserves a chance to put his nightmares to rest?¡± He half-expected her to explode at him again but she merely smiled, a small quirk upward of her lip. ¡°You¡¯re young. Truly young. If you did what he did¡ªand neither myself nor Tallah think you capable of something of the sort, just so I¡¯m clear¡ªwe would blame your age for it. You¡¯re a child and you haven¡¯t had time to develop a true backbone.¡± ¡°Umm, thank you? Or fuck you?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t know what the last one means, but don¡¯t take my words as insults. Ludwig, all that time ago, had already lived for longer than you will ever manage. That¡¯s how illum changes us. Makes it bloody hard to conceive children, but we do live for a long time. My expectation of any channeller is much higher than of a blank. Cowardice like that is simply unacceptable.¡± She swept a hand back to encompass the watching spiders. They pulled slightly back, but Vergil was certain they all listened and drank in their words. ¡°They¡¯re not human. They are something new, something that, in the grand design of the world, was born a fragment of a heartbeat ago. Their mistakes are like yours, of youth and ignorance. I can¡¯t even apply human morality to them, seeing how alien they really are. But I can apply it to Ludwig, and all of him is left wanting. So what if he¡¯s tried to atone for his crime? It¡¯s no less his and the effects are no less terrible. He doesn¡¯t deserve dreamless sleep. Do you understand this?¡± He did. In a way, he did. It was a hard, unforgiving stance, but he understood it. For the first time since he¡¯d met the two channellers, he had an inkling of understanding about just how different their perspectives were to his. And how, despite their words, he¡¯d never really been in real danger from Tallah. ¡°So¡­¡± He picked his words with care as he met that mismatched gaze. ¡°How old are you?¡± ¡°Get buggered. You don¡¯t ask that of a lady.¡± ¡°You¡¯ve farted the loudest out of all of us on the way here. You¡¯re as much a lady as I¡¯m a dwarf.¡± Sil considered pushing him off the ledge. It was in her eyes. ¡°If you must know, I will be sixty-seven Summers come the next.¡± ¡°And Tallah?¡± ¡°None of your business.¡± Beneath, smoke burst out through one of the balconies followed by a gout of flame. More clouds of black smoke billowed from windows as more blasts rocked the side of the city. Both turned towards the commotion but nothing more followed. ¡°She¡¯s bloody close,¡± Sil mused and looked to the spiders. ¡°Lower the bridge. We need to get down there.¡± ¡°No,¡± came the Oldest¡¯s voice. As one, the spiders retreated and rushed inside through the stone doors, leaving only the Oldest and their smaller guide. Before Sil could protest, the creature extended a claw to point to a bend in the city. They both saw it as it crawled across Grefe¡¯s sculpted surface. ¡°What¡­ Goddess, what¡¯s that?¡± Sil pressed a hand to her mouth and stared in horror at the same thing Vergil was trying to make sense of. It was only the distance that dampened the visceral reaction that built in him at the sight. It resembled a spider only in general shape and only from this far away. A cacophony of body parts growing one over the other across a shape that flowed and shifted, broke apart and reformed. It writhed. And there were heads across it, staring in all directions, all the same grim visage that had met them in the grave. ¡°That is the false mother¡¯s hunter. Come. Come inside. This is the one place she¡¯s denied, but it¡¯s best you don¡¯t invite her attention.¡± Vergil fought to tear his eyes away. One head turned his way and for an instant he met the eyes across the great distance and shivers ran down his spine. It knew they were there. It would come for them. In due time. A claw reached out and pulled him by the strap of his sword as the small spider climbed up him to perch on his shoulder. ¡°Come. Come. She is distracted. We will be safe inside. She cannot see this place. Mother does not show it to her.¡± Chapter 2.14.1: A mystery for later Tallah surveyed the scene and couldn¡¯t make sense of it. Aside from her sister¡¯s wraith perching atop the mound of bodies to glare at her, the rest was pure insanity. ¡°A burial chamber?¡± Ludwig came closer to the edge of the pit and looked down. ¡°Oh mercy¡­¡± Yes, that was the girl¡¯s visage strewn about all over the place. Hard to miss as the face was everywhere and in all forms of destruction and malignancy. Thankfully, so was Sil¡¯s illum trail. Tallah was in the centre of it and could see exactly where it went. A big splash of it pooled right here, as if the healer had stood in place and done¡­ something. No sign of a weave or anything of the sort, if she didn¡¯t count the chaos in the pit, lingering above the bodies. ¡°Empress¡¯s mercy, what madness is this?¡± Ludwig cringed back from the many dead eyes staring out of the pit. Were some bloody bits tongues? Ludwig took a step back from her when she regarded him. ¡°I¡¯m not going to hit you. Relax. I¡¯m as confused as you. There¡¯s some strange weave hanging over the bodies and I have no idea what to make of it.¡± We do know what that looks likes. Christina intruded into her thoughts to steal a glimpse off the Ikosmenia. That is soul magic there. It¡¯s not that much different from what we do to make a soul gem. See the patterns? The layers? It¡¯s different from ours, but the underlying principles look the same. Well, that was maddeningly worrying. And there had been some¡­ battle here? Spiders lay atop spiders, each with claws inside others, ripped apart or stabbed to bloody ruins. As strong as the Hammer was, this was definitely not his work. Spiders had just killed each other here for some reason. Survivors moaned in nooks and crannies, non-combatants that looked too mutated to even put up a fight. ¡°We¡¯re moving on. Sil was here. And went that way.¡± She pointed to the far end of the cavern, to a side tunnel where spider bodies formed a mountain of chitin and still twitching limbs. ¡°But¡­ what about this? Why is her face here? Why are they like this?¡± ¡°Hysterics later. We¡¯ll find out eventually. This isn¡¯t the girl.¡± She showed him his pendant. It tugged towards a wall, so the girl was still further out. Given the sight, she wasn¡¯t quite certain she wanted to find the wretch, whatever had become of her. Only her scholar¡¯s curiosity wanted to know more. As she rounded the platform, one of the corpses sprung up at her. A black thing, gnarled and bleeding, leapt to its feet and dashed a straight line to her. It was a matter of luck that she caught its claws on the edge of her sword but the strength of it, now that she wasn¡¯t infused at all, drove her down to the floor in a flurry of snapping jaws and punching claw-tipped feet. Ludwig slammed into the thing from the side, trying to bat it away with his walking staff to no effect. Bloody thing was terrifyingly strong! A moment of panic brought illum into her chest, and the next released it as a heat lance to cut the spider in two. It screeched atop her, a sound that no creature like it should¡¯ve ever been able to make. Hot ichor splashed her from neck down. ¡°Blast.¡± She pushed the spasming thing off her and crawled to her feet. More rose, pushing aside bodies to reach out and attack. ¡°Now I¡¯ve put my foot in it.¡± She pulled in strength and the strange illum Sil trailed hit her like a fist to the head. So thick and so powerful, it filled her to bursting and the limiters went white-hot on her arms. Two fireballs turned the whole central pit into an inferno. Two more blasted apart the corpse pile blocking the way forward. ¡°Go, old man.¡± The next spider she immolated burst into ashes with the violence of her attack, something she wasn¡¯t normally able to do without some serious concentration first. The tips of her gloves singed from the heat. Now she had to focus to restrain her output. Already she could see tremors in the weave, not of her making. ¡°That¡¯s thing¡¯s coming. Go through that door there. I¡¯ll catch up.¡± She hauled him forward by the scruff of his coat and nearly threw him away from her. Spiders hesitated. She set them aflame. They didn¡¯t have time to scream. It was already too much power and too much heat. No aerum to fall back on so she had to hold her breath and her eyes stung with the smoke. One way to get away cleanly. She set her stance, outstretched her arms, and focused, back turned to the tunnel where she meant to go. A deep breath burned in her lungs but she held it in while weaving something far more complex and demanding than simple lances. Rhine intruded. Too close. Too wide of a grin. The weave nearly slipped her grasp and bit back. Christina manifested to block the view, two ghostly outlines intermingling into formless mist. Whatever you¡¯re doing, finish it fast. This thing¡¯s starting to push back against me. This wasn¡¯t something she often got to use outside of an open field. But it was the only thing she could think of that could make that beast lose her scent. If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. A razing strike. She sent her anchors to each corner of the room, as far as she could reach them. And then sent fire down the illum lines, a net of heat that incinerated everything in an expanding cone of destruction. Leolind¡¯s Immolation set the air aflame and raced out through every corridor, slit or gap that the weave could squeeze through. It dressed the world in white, phosphorescent fire that shook the very city with its violence. She cast it and fed it until nothing but ashes remained of the corpses, of the webs, of everything that would be caught in the way of her strike. And it still wasn¡¯t enough to consume all the power she¡¯d drawn it. The weave was wild and self-replicating, that in the end it wouldn¡¯t be easily traced to an origin point. It should muddle up the monster¡¯s vision while she forced herself to release the rest of her strange reserve. You¡¯ve overdone it, Bianca warned as parts of the ceiling caved in and fell in chunks from above. Best get out while I hold¡ª ¡°Don¡¯t pull in power!¡± She was having trouble releasing it as she ran after Ludwig. As sticky as cold honey. The more she released of it, the more it stuck to her, like it was alive. It took an effort of will and more concentration than she thought possible to finally purge all of it from her veins. Ludwig¡¯s torch burned ahead in the pitch black of the tunnel, a splotch of light brighter than the others she was seeing. No light crystals here, just a winding hole in the rock that stretched away to a point of black far beyond the reach of the torchlight. ¡°There¡¯s a fork here,¡± Ludwig said as she caught up and exhaled smoke. Ash coated her clothes and it was caked on her mask and chin, blown back by the initial incinerating burst. ¡°We go left. Trail goes that way.¡± It was difficult to breathe and getting harder. He nodded and dipped into the trail of thick illum, his own emanation almost invisible now in the stream. I¡¯m curious what¡¯s happening to the hen. I¡¯ve never seen this kind of power, and to think of it coming off of someone¡­ It¡¯s impossible. A mystery for later. For now she took one look back. Smoke flooded into the tunnel, funnelled forward by gusts of fresh air. The remains of Leolind¡¯s Incineration were chaotic, to say the least, and she saw nothing to link them to it. Even the trail had been consumed. Ludwig walked ahead. It was impossible to take the fore position in the narrow place. If they ran into spiders, she could do very little for him aside from stabbing him in the back to quicken his death. We need to rest. Christina sounded slightly panicked. You are hanging on on spite and grit. Any more of this and we will be useless come a proving moment. She¡¯d felt fine until this moment, but now the rush faded. Bone-deep weariness set in and she stumbled with the shock, leaning on the wall for support. ¡°Wait,¡± she called. Ludwig stopped a few steps ahead and looked back. Her feet were leaden and her chest hurt. Every muscle screamed in protest. That much power, drawn in and released in that way, took a toll and this was near to burnout effect. She breathed in, held, breathed out, waited. If she could bring her heart rate to levels that wouldn¡¯t make a rabbit¡¯s seem relaxed, that would help a lot. She took the Ikosmenia off for a moment to give herself a break from the chaos around, and to breathe a bit better. There was ever more smoke flooding the narrow tunnel. ¡°Are you well? Were you hurt?¡± ¡°No.¡± She gulped down a greedy mouthful of cloudy air. ¡°Whatever you do, don¡¯t infuse for now. We¡¯re in a stream of strange illum. It¡¯s¡­ it¡¯s hard to describe.¡± Even now, the power tried¡­ it tried to get into her. She had to forcefully close herself to it, push it away and refuse its temptations. It was like a living thing that tried to find purchase in her, circling her like a shark drawn to blood. Was it something of the beast out there? No, it hadn¡¯t looked like this. That was something weird, all its own strangeness. ¡°Let¡¯s find a place to lay down for a spell or two. My head¡¯s swimming.¡± ¡°There¡¯s a draft forward,¡± he said, showing her the tilt of the flame. ¡°We should be coming out somewhere. I don¡¯t think it wise to rest in here.¡± In that, they were in agreement. With the mask back on, she let him lead the way while she followed, a hand on the wall for support. It was a ways to go. Some places required crawling. Others were wide enough that she could take the forward position and the torch in spite of Ludwig¡¯s protestations. Sil¡¯s trail wasn¡¯t dispersing here. Rather, it flowed, moving in multicoloured sheets in the same direction they were. It might¡¯ve been her overtaxed imagination and the impending smoke suffocation, but the trail looked to be nipping at her hands, searching for ways in. Ultimately, they emerged into a lit stairway. Again, the power pooled in one place someway down the stairs. Sil had rested here as well? Or¡­ no, not rested. If the trail wouldn¡¯t have continued down, she would¡¯ve swore the healer had exploded. Her illum trail looked inflated and ridged with spikes that were still rigid in the air. ¡°What happened here?¡± She couldn¡¯t keep the wonder from her voice as she reached a hand and passed it through a shard of illum. ¡°Something very strange is happening to Sil, and I don¡¯t know if it¡¯s a good sign.¡± Was it getting thicker somehow? It didn¡¯t seem corrupt or evil, in spite of how it kept clinging to her. It vaguely resembled the illum swirling through the maze, but that was painful to touch. This¡­ No, she pulled back her fingers and refused the contact it offered. Alive. How? We need to rest, Tallah. You¡¯re spent. Can¡¯t you feel it? She could. Whatever using that power had done to her, it was much worse the second time around than the first. Her vision swam and became murky even with the Ikosmenia, and her hands and feet were numb and riveted with pinpricks of pain. No, she couldn¡¯t go on like this. And she couldn¡¯t rest next to this stagnating pool of power. Some way down, the air changed and, in the small space between two statues, they found a nook that allowed for at least some concealment. ¡°I¡¯ll take a break and need you to keep watch, old man.¡± Not the best idea, all things considered, but Bianca would also maintain a semblance of vigilance. ¡°I need to gather some strength before we head further.¡± A quick dip into her rend brought out a jar of honey that was the first thing on hand. It would do as a quick meal. ¡°Rest. I can still guard. No worries,¡± Ludwig assured. He extinguished the torch and sat down on his backpack, opposite herself. Sleeping took her the moment she set her own pack down and lay against the wall. Such tiredness she hadn¡¯t felt since coming out of the Anna battle and this was worse in so many ways. Even as she closed her eyes, she knew the dream waited. And Rhine waited within in, glaring murder at her, mouth a hard line of disappointment. Something felt wrong. Chapter 2.14.2: That old bastard! It was a cold morning when they brought her out. Or night. Hard to gouge the passage of time in the perennial under-dark of the dungeon. Sometimes she was certain she¡¯d slept for days. Sometimes it merely felt like heartbeats between the moment she passed out and the cold water splashed onto her naked form. This was no different. A door had been opened somewhere and the chill gust of the mountain¡¯s breath slithered all the way into the depths of her cell. She shivered violently as they dragged her by the chains. Another day of torture to follow. Another turn on the rack. She had nothing more to say to them, no more secrets to unveil, no more pleas to make, nothing to bargain away. But they kept at it, day after day, sick with the delight of her screams. This would be no different. Part of her doubted they had even cared to listen to anything she¡¯d said. No matter how many times she¡¯d screamed her secrets to them, they kept at their grim work, her pain a goal into itself. ¡°Why?¡± Her voice wasn¡¯t her own. That sent her stumbling. The question, spoken barely louder than a whisper, earned her the lash of the whip. It cracked her skin and she stumbled in pain and shock. The hooded figures holding her chains didn¡¯t stop and dragged her forward across the rough stone floor. Tallah, this is wrong! Christina? She didn¡¯t normally intrude into the dream, merely warded it off. She sounded panicked. You weren¡¯t imprisoned here. This isn¡¯t block number five. This isn¡¯t of your memories. What¡¯s going on? The voice drifted through her addled mind and was swallowed in the pain of scraped skin against cold stone and lashes against skin. She cried out and again couldn¡¯t recognise her own sounds. They weren¡¯t taking her to the rack. That was down the third corridor to the left, exactly twenty-five paces away from her cell. She knew the count by heart. Tallah had never counted the steps to any of the torture rooms. Instead, she was dragged forward, past the sorceress in the third cell that had stopped crying out two¡­ no, three days prior. She stole a gaze at the barred hollow and found it bloody, the sorceress laid down on her cot, wheezing in fitful sleep. Her mouth had been sown shut. What indignity awaited her today? The knives? No, that would¡¯ve had the mind-skinner in the room with them. He wouldn¡¯t miss the chance of telling her how lucky she was for his attention and for serving a cause much higher than any of them. Would it be the cold water? Or the fire? Or the men? None, it seemed. She went further in, down the last flight of stairs, nearly tripping down if not for her minders holding taut the chain. She¡¯d never been here. Ultimately, they sat her down and strapped her to a chair. It wasn¡¯t the most uncomfortable, just rough wood against her bare skin. Her arms were tied at her back and her feet shackled to the chair. What more could they do? Was there anymore creativity left in her gaolers? The men left the room and she was left alone in the spare light of a single burning torch. When this all had begun, she¡¯d counted heartbeats to keep herself sane. Now she fell asleep the moment they closed the door behind themselves. Whatever would happen would happen. At least she¡¯d suffer rested. ¡°You¡¯re a stubborn one,¡± a voice said and woke her. Looking up revealed someone new looming over her. A woman. Hair cut short. Crystal blue eyes. Short and wiry. She held a staff. ¡°What is your name?¡± the healer asked. ¡°Rhine.¡± The world trembled. That wasn¡¯t right! How? Christina intruded and she could see the ghost¡¯s outline trying to manifest next to the woman. This isn¡¯t¡­ this can¡¯t be. How is it doing it? You¡¯re protected. ¡°Your full name, girl.¡± ¡°Rhine Amni.¡± ¡°Who were your parents?¡± ¡°I¡­ I can¡¯t remember.¡± ¡°You will.¡± Her head was yanked back and she got a good look at her new torturer¡¯s face. Young. Those blue eyes as bright and dead as a snake¡¯s. ¡°Drink. It¡¯ll make everything easier.¡± She obeyed. She¡¯d learned early the price of disobedience. This thing didn¡¯t claw her insides. It wasn¡¯t the usual tonics or draughts to put her back together after they were done with her. Sweet. A hint of lemon. She¡¯d forgotten there could exist things that weren¡¯t bitter. ¡°What are your parents¡¯ names?¡± Now she couldn¡¯t raise the defiance to lie. It hurt her to consider it. ¡°My mother is Crelli Amni.¡± ¡°Good. And you father?¡± Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. ¡°Andro of Sentry¡¯s Holding.¡± ¡°Good.¡± The pressure on the back of her neck eased as the other took her hand away. Out of her field of view she heard a box opening and then a sound like wasps buzzing angrily. She knew of insects used for torture. She¡¯d seen it done a few times, back in the South, when she watched the empress¡¯s soldiers try to extract information from one of her men. Her sister¡¯s orders. ¡°Look at me, Rhine Amni.¡± Again, she obeyed even if the weight of her head was the weight of millstone and her strength waned. The woman held out a black gemstone and showed it off. ¡°Do you know what this is?¡± She did. Her bowels loosed at the sight of it and she felt hot piss running down her legs as understanding dawned. Not that. Any other depravity but that. ¡°Rhine Amni, born of mother Crelli Amni and father Andro of Sentry¡¯s Holding, I claim you.¡± Nothing happened. The gem puffed to smoke and¡­ and¡­ music. A voice calling out for her, a sweet distant melody that sang out and invited her forward. ¡°That¡¯ll do for now,¡± the healer said and headed for the door. ¡°This one¡¯s strong,¡± she spoke when it opened. ¡°Her Grace wants her excision done properly. Take her back to the cell and leave her for a few days so the draw grows strong enough. Call me when you aim to start the work again. I will supervise.¡± ¡°Yes, lady Dreea.¡± Tallah woke with a jerk as two hooded figures dragged her off the chair. Her heart threatened to explode out of her chest. What were you two doing?! Bianca shrilled in her mind. I have been trying to wake you for a bell. ¡°What happened?¡± Threads of the dream clung on to the edges of her mind as Rhine crouched in front of her, speaking wordlessly. Tallah climbed to her feet awkwardly, one hand holding to the wall. ¡°Where¡¯s the old man?¡± That¡¯s why I was trying to wake you. He took the jewel and the mask, and left us. Bastard. ¡°When?¡± A bell ago. Didn¡¯t say a word. Just took off down the stairs. Is he mad? He¡¯ll be dead the first spider he runs across. Christina¡¯s voice shook. Either in fright or in anger, Tallah wasn¡¯t sure. ¡°Couldn¡¯t have gotten far.¡± What happened to the two of you? No response in spite of everything I tried. Strange story. For now we need to get back our things. Whatever ill effect she suffered from earlier still lingered. Head light, feet heavy. Not an ideal situation to chase after a bastard that was already long gone. If she were lucky, she¡¯d find his half-eaten corpse at the bottom of the stairs, wherever these led. ¡°Bastard,¡± she groaned, stumbling down the steps, hand holding on to the statues lining the road. She wanted to infuse but the dread of touching that power again stayed her attempts. ¡°No worse case possible.¡± We could be burned out, Christina provided unhelpfully. I can tease some illum that¡¯s not corrupted, but I can¡¯t say how much. Best we try and avoid the trail. ¡°Excellent plan¡­ if I could see the bloody thing. Any other bright ideas for now?¡± Try and not get bit by one of the spiders? Lovely. Just lovely. And here, the cherry atop the cake, was the bottom of the stairs. It all opened up into a forest turned blood-red by the strange colours of the crystals above. If there were tracks to follow, they were nearly invisible in the strange light. The whole place could be filled with spiders and whatever other creatures prowled the impossible vista. ¡°We¡¯ll take to the air.¡± Yes. The decision was the only one that made any sense. She couldn¡¯t follow the old bastard in that thicket, and she couldn¡¯t turn back. If the night was as long as the day, she¡¯d have too much to wait before the light changed again. Best thing, then, was to take to the sky and try and keep away and out of sight for that monster prowling around. Maybe with the mask it would¡¯ve been easy to plan for whatever came, but like this¡­ She set out in a random direction. What are you doing? ¡°Hopefully, getting away from the trail to try and infuse.¡± Her sword, at least, was a comforting weight in hand, and Vergil¡¯s axe on her belt was an alternative she was beginning to consider. ¡°Christi, you pull in and let me know if it¡¯s all right.¡± Makes sense. You need Bianca. I¡¯m expendable. Nothing wrong in that. A snuffling through the underbrush announced some creature studying her. It sounded big by breath, but nothing she was particularly worried about. A corallin here would be bad news, but those big cats weren¡¯t keen on enclosed spaces. This ran off the moment she blindly swung her sword in its direction, its squeal echoing among the trees. It¡¯s safe. You can draw. She did. Fire ignited in her chest and Bianca¡¯s power thrummed in her back, the soul thread imbued to full strength. All of it chased away the wariness set in her bones and she felt herself light again. Part rest, part illum in her veins, mostly Bianca pulling them up into the air. As expected, nothing to see or any guide to follow. Just the stretch of forest, as far as her eye could see up to the far wall of the cavern, lost in a haze without her glasses. ¡°If I were particularly unlucky, where would I be?¡± If Sil and Vergil had come down this way then she¡¯d need to keep her activity within a reasonable distance. How to chase after the old man and after those two lost imbeciles? Airborne, she saw the forest stretching deep into the rock, through gorges dug forward, lit by crystals hanging above on impossible contraptions that reminded her too much of girders and machinery from Valen¡¯s reconstruction effort. This wasn¡¯t natural, but it was planned up to a point. Another mystery for never. Water flowed somewhere further in, a fall that probably accumulated in some inner lake. The chances of Sil and Vergil seeing the falls and following there were slim. But they would see the huge stalagmite hanging off the side of the forest. In a place where everything was sculpted out and ornately carved, this long black fang hung above the precipice. If she saw it, the beast chasing would too. It¡¯s worth the risk, Christina argued. At least we may get proper sight of our surroundings. It¡¯s unlit. That, it was. She pitched forward and Bianca carried her among the crowns of the trees, low enough that Tallah raised her arms to protect her face. Higher, and she may be cut down. Lower, and she expected a spider on her back and claws through her chest. ¡°They¡¯d better be there,¡± she groaned. ¡°Or we may have to do something bloody stupid.¡± Us? We¡¯d never. Both Bianca and Christina answered. Lovely. Chapter 2.14.3: Luna ¡°We should warn Tallah somehow. What if she stumbles across that?¡± Vergil tried and failed to keep pace with Sil. She went around the small room at something less than a run, knuckles pressed against her teeth, eyes focused somewhere beyond the stone walls. She mumbled things he couldn¡¯t make out. Vergil tried again, ¡°What do you think it was?¡± She didn¡¯t answer. Seemed to want to ask something of the Oldest, looked at the spider, reconsidered, kept on pacing. All the spiders had crammed into the same small space, crowding them, and Sil didn¡¯t notice a single one. She nearly trod on several too slow in getting out of her way while she made a concerned effort to wear a trench in the floor. ¡°Sil?¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°What do we do?¡± She threw up her hands, grimaced at him, and started pacing again. He didn¡¯t think she wanted to think on what they¡¯d seen anymore than he did. That thing couldn¡¯t have been real. Maybe it was the distance playing a trick? Unlikely. ¡°Argia, how¡¯s my eyesight? Something strange going on with me?¡± Lovely. Nothing wrong. The world was simply home to that¡­ creature. ¡°That wasn¡¯t a Vitalis-made thing,¡± Sil grumbled as she walked past him. ¡°Couldn¡¯t have been a chimera. They don¡¯t grow that big. Always break apart. Dread chimera? No. Too rare. Would need corpses to grow. What then?¡± Vergil found a corner that spiders vacated to make way for the healer¡¯s circuit, and sat down with his back against the wall. She¡¯d wind herself down eventually. Panic didn¡¯t suit her. The spider limped over to regard him, large black eyes darting between him and Sil. ¡°May this one sit with you?¡± ¡°Sure. Hop on.¡± He tapped his shoulder and the spider, after a moment¡¯s hesitation, climbed next to his face. ¡°Is your¡­ friend unwell?¡± ¡°No. She¡¯s thinking. She¡¯ll figure this out and then tell us what to do.¡± Or, at least, he hoped she would. Because for his part, the situation was insane enough that he could openly question, maybe for the hundredth time, if he wasn¡¯t actually in the cage, gone utterly insane. If it weren¡¯t for Sil trying to reason the situation, he¡¯d be hollering right about then. But if Sil was¡­ fine, then he could be too. As long as Sil and Tallah kept their heads, he was beginning to be certain things would work out. Somehow. They¡¯d gone through blizzard. Survived the fall. Crossed the maze. Survived the ambush. By the skin of their teeth, yes, but here they were and he¡¯d yet to see Sil lose her calm in any critical way. ¡°Maybe some form of grinner? No, that¡¯s stupid. A grave horror? Still needs corpses. Where to get that many corpses of the girl? Or¡­¡± Sil stopped in front of the Oldest who¡¯d been spinning in place to keep its eyes on her. ¡°How do you get the water?¡± ¡°From the spring.¡± ¡°Not that water. The healing one? The one that tiny spider brought to us.¡± ¡°From Mother¡¯s flowers. They are grown in the Birthing Hollow. We do not go there anymore.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°The false mother guards it. It is lost to us.¡± ¡°And what¡¯s in there?¡± Now the Oldest hesitated. Its palps moved as if it were thinking. ¡°The false mother¡¯s old self.¡± Sil¡¯s eyebrows shot up and she exchanged a look with Vergil. He shrugged. What could he possibly contribute? ¡°What does that even mean? Her human body? Her mind? What?¡± ¡°It is her old shape, before she was taken into Mother and became¡ª¡± ¡°Erisa¡¯s human body, then. Bloody fantastic. You¡¯ve¡­¡± She puffed up her cheeks and pressed thumbs to her temples, rubbing. ¡°You¡¯ve excised her out of a living body, shattered, and¡ª¡± Whatever she meant to say got lost on the way as she bent over and was violently sick all over the floor. Her grunts echoed in the deep silence of the library. Vergil got to his feet to go help, but she waved him off. ¡°Water.¡± The word whipped some spiders into motion. By the time she straightened and wiped her mouth on the back of her hand, one of the black spiders had returned from somewhere with a sloshing jug. ¡°I don¡¯t have time for this.¡± She breathed heavy. Swilled some water. Went back to her pacing. ¡°I need to understand. Where was I?¡± Her mouth worked soundlessly and, for a time, her face was pale as spider silk while she ruminated. Walked. Drank. Spat. Heaved again. ¡°Why can¡¯t I bloody focus?¡± She paced, carrying the jug with her. Didn¡¯t even react when stepping in her own sick. Vergil got up and moved next to her, matching his steps to hers. ¡°How can I help?¡± ¡°You can¡¯t. I need to think. My head¡¯s pounding.¡± Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road. ¡°Maybe¡­ stop pacing?¡± She ignored him. Before he said more, she started talking, ¡°The spiders are aethervores, or something close to it. They can extract and redistribute their¡­ souls. Let¡¯s call them souls. Their essence. This is something that I could spend several lifetime studying. That¡¯s the crux of everything going on here. Do you understand?¡± ¡°No. Not one bit.¡± ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter. What matters is that they broke Erisa. They broke her at a fundamental level, and then rebuilt her when they took parts of her into themselves. It¡¯s¡­ wonderful.¡± She waved the jug around and nearly cracked it over his head. ¡°It¡¯s bloody terrifying. If any word of this got out into the wider empire, this place would be burned to the stone. If the aelir ever heard of it, they would wage a species-wide holy war against the spiders here. They would kill a million of themselves to make sure not a single spider survives the purge. Do you understand?¡± The prospect stopped Vergil but not her. She kept walking and talking. ¡°I need to talk to Tallah because she¡¯s the one that knows more about this stuff. I¡¯m only¡­ marginally competent. But it¡¯s clear that they broke the girl. They drained the soul out of her and put it¡­ in their Mother. And Erisa is taking vengeance.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t understand, Sil. Stop and explain please. Maybe I can help you figure something out.¡± She did and looked at him wide-eyed. ¡°Do you remember the chalice? Your shape in it?¡± ¡°Not that I want to, but yes. That¡¯s what happened to her?¡± ¡°Worse. A soul, Vergil, is the essence deep within us. It is a reflection of who we are in the meat, and also a mirror for the meat suit to reflect in. Do you understand.¡± Not one bit. He nodded along. ¡°When you shatter a mirror, you can never set it right again. It will never be the same. Whatever it reflects will never be the same again. A soul is not a river or a lake or a pool of energy or whatever else poetic nonsense gets attributed to it. It is brittle. It can shatter. Build it up wrong and it will reflect a monster back. Erisa was taken apart, piece by piece, and spread out, filed down, and brought back together.¡± She shivered and heaved again, as if the words made her sick. ¡°Goddess¡¯s mercy, she is probably in so much pain for it. And it never ends. She will never be the same again, and she will never be whole again.¡± ¡°We can¡¯t take her back? If we find her, can¡¯t we do anything to help?¡± A nod and a distant, pained look. ¡°We can kill her. But she¡¯s in many bodies now, if all they told me is true. She¡¯s spread out like a plague. It¡¯s impossible to save her. But I can¡¯t simply leave her be like this, especially if that thing we saw is what she¡¯s turned into. Or part of her¡­¡± And now she was walking again, rubbing her temples and groaning, face gone white and lined with tension. ¡°Why can¡¯t I focus? I know this. I know I know this,¡± she whimpered and nearly slipped on the vomit. Vergil gave the spider a side glance, ¡°Did you all mean for this to happen?¡± ¡°We did not know. We do not know what a soul is. We only know the Knowing.¡± ¡°Different name, same thing. Maybe.¡± It was plainly clear he wouldn¡¯t be helping Sil while she was like this, and going out to find Tallah meant they would need to also face that creature prowling the city. He was certain it had seen them and had its reasons not to come up there. Wonderful. How lucky he, to be faced with such wonderful experiences. ¡°What¡¯s your name?¡± he asked the spider, both stepping aside from Sil¡¯s path. ¡°What is a name?¡± it answered back, genuinely confused. ¡°What others call you.¡± The spider seemed to consider this for a time. ¡°This one is not called upon. This one just does. We do not have names.¡± ¡°That one has a name.¡± ¡°That one has a description. It is only Oldest for your understanding, not for the kin.¡± Lovely. Sil was speaking in crazy-talk, and the spider in riddles. ¡°What are you then?¡± ¡°¡­A spider? Kin.¡± ¡°Male or female?¡± Again the confused silence and the careful answer. ¡°This body serves no function for reproduction. This body only serves to acquire Knowings.¡± He groaned and reached for the spider. It fit, rather neatly, in one hand. Regarding it as it had defaulted to some strange rock-like colour, an idea struck him. ¡°I¡¯m going to call you Luna.¡± ¡°¡­Why?¡± ¡°Because I can and want to.¡± And because Sil¡¯s pacing was getting on his nerves and he felt the need to impose his will on something. Naming the spider felt right and he wanted to be able to talk to it as something more than the whole of Grefe spiderdom. ¡°Luna was the name of my original world¡¯s¡ªEarth¡¯s¡ªmoon. Add that to your Knowing.¡± If a spider could frown, Luna made a good attempt at it. ¡°Luna,¡± it repeated. ¡°Of earth. What is earth? What is moon?¡± ¡°Why are you holding it like a puppy you want to take home?¡± Sil asked as she noticed the scene. ¡°Put it down before you annoy it.¡± ¡°Am I annoying you, Luna?¡± More confusion instead of answers. Vergil sighed and set it back on his shoulder. ¡°Did you decide what we need to do?¡± he asked. ¡°Are we going out there to find Tallah.¡± ¡°Tallah¡¯s a big girl and she can take care of herself. I still can¡¯t channel. And I don¡¯t know what that thing out there is or what it can do. I¡¯m open to ideas.¡± They looked at one another and then at the gathered spiders staring expectantly at them. Well, no pressure. In the far background, among the shelves, activity continued as if they weren¡¯t there, spiders moving across the infinite webs. What alien dreams would their alien mind conjure up? For a moment he wanted to go and reach out, maybe even accept Luna¡¯s Knowing to understand the creatures better. ¡°We can¡¯t stay in here forever. And we¡¯ll need a plan for when we head back.¡± ¡°Yes. We regroup with Tallah.¡± ¡°And after that?¡± ¡°Run like the daemon armies of the Twins chased us.¡± He wasn¡¯t convinced she was serious. By how she worried on a knuckle, she might have been. ¡°Just like that? Leave everything as it is and turn tail to run? Like young cowards?¡± Her answer was a cutting glare and more silence for some heartbeats. ¡°Of course not. I want to help them,¡± she said, a sullen note in her voice. ¡°Them or Erisa?¡± ¡°Erisa is beyond our help.¡± A general murmur went around the spiders. Not in words, but in skittering feet tapping the floors and walls, palps rubbing together, claws scratching. Sil¡¯s words struck an invisible cord and sent a shock wave of vibrations through even the spiders on the web. ¡°Is your judgement in favour of us? Can we be?¡± The Oldest and Luna asked together, both raised up on their hind legs like excited dogs. No. Vergil cursed himself for the unkind thought. Not like animals at all. Like people given a stay on their execution. Like prisoners meeting another sunrise. Sil blanched, the paleness spreading at the question, huffed, and tried to look anywhere but at a spider. In the overcrowded room it was hard. ¡°I¡¯ve said already, yes. I believe you deserve a chance to survive your first mistake. I believe that you are not evil, nor set on conducting evil. My conscience is on your side, yes.¡± If there was excitement before, now it was a veritable hum of joy. There wasn¡¯t a single still body anymore. All skittered and moved as if in dance, raising a noise that Vergil was certain could be heard through all of Grefe. Why was this so important to them? ¡°Because Erisa is telling them to disappear. She¡¯s not going to forgive what they did to her. I expect she can¡¯t. Peace is not something we can broker here.¡± He hadn¡¯t realised he¡¯d asked out loud and Sil was keeping her voice low, as if speaking only for him. ¡°Be told enough times you¡¯re worthless, and you might start believing it.¡± That was all fine and wonderful, but failed in answering the final question: ¡°What now?¡± Chapter 2.14.4: To survive a mistake ¡°Go and find Tallah. Go and find the girl. See if we can do something, or purge everything living that would be better off dead. We¡¯ll figure it out as we go.¡± Vergil grimaced, ¡°That¡¯s a terrible plan, Sil.¡± She gave him another glare. He was growing immune to those. ¡°I¡¯m exceptionally well-equipped for terrible plans.¡± Her poke in his ribs would¡¯ve worked better if not for Tummy¡¯s armour. ¡°I seem to recall you¡¯re no different. I¡¯m still mad for the ideas you put in Tallah¡¯s head.¡± ¡°It worked out. We¡¯re here.¡± Granted, he hadn¡¯t planned on being all the way here, and especially not on dealing with an alien species¡¯ crisis of being. But in the grand scheme, things had worked out again. Sil poked him again, harder, finding a suitably soft spot in his armpit to stab. ¡°You left Mertle to deal with the entire headache. I just hope, for your sake mind you, she¡¯s managed to disengage and separate from Tianna and the entire mess. She¡¯s alone to try and explain why her constant in-house healer and companion just went poof together with her lover. Both you and Tallah are to blame for that.¡± Her mismatched eyes pinned him to the wall and her voice was laden with thorns. ¡°There will be a reckoning, Vergil. If something¡¯s happened to her, I will do unspeakable things to you.¡± ¡°Oh. Hadn¡¯t thought¡­ but¡­ they¡¯d leave her alone if she¡¯s not Tallah. Wouldn¡¯t they?¡± It sounded brittle even to his ears. ¡°Not if they¡¯re competent enough to put together that it was awfully convenient how their missing sorceress showed up at the exact right time. I wouldn¡¯t bite on that. Tallah would¡¯ve had Tianna in chains by the night¡¯s end if she were still in the Guard. Next time shut up and let the adult find a solution. You¡¯re as bad as Tallah.¡± Vergil deflated and pulled back, avoiding meeting Sil¡¯s eye. She was right. He hadn¡¯t thought things quite that far and now he felt bad for what he¡¯d convinced Mertle and Aliana to do on their behalf. He¡¯d hate himself if something had happened to them because of his idea. ¡°Anyway, let¡¯s plan well this next part,¡± Sil went on with an annoyed sniff. ¡°Oldest, how do we reach that birthing place you mentioned? If we¡¯re going to try and fix anything in here, it should start from there, from the original body.¡± Before the spider had a chance to answer, the doors shook. The entire cavern shook and trembled as whatever was outside slammed against the stone. With thunderous noise, the thick slabs began opening. Webs holding the doors locked tight snapped and whip-lashed across the room to pulp at least two spiders not quick enough to get out of the way. With an agonising, tortured scraping of stone grinding against stone, the two slabs cracked open. Vergil drew his sword and took position in front of the gap, shielding Sil behind him. The spiders arrayed around, waiting with grim determination for whatever was coming through. Luna was on his shoulder, drawn into a tight, shivering ball. ¡°I thought you said she couldn¡¯t see us here,¡± Sil said to the Oldest as it came next to her leg and waited. ¡°She shouldn¡¯t. She knows we are here but does not come. Mother keeps her blind.¡± ¡°I doubt that very much.¡± When the doors separated enough for a person to walk through, fire ignited beyond, two pinpricks of flame growing in intensity. Relief overpowered Vergil¡¯s fear and he let out a whoop of joy. ¡°Tallah!¡± he called out and rushed to meet the sorceress. The sorceress stood in the gap between the doors, looking as bewildered as all the spiders, her hands aflame, hair spilling over her shoulders in a tangled mess. He would¡¯ve hugged her if, instead, she didn¡¯t look over her shoulder, grimaced, and then rushed in past him. She grabbed the back of his shirt, her hands still hot, and dragged him backward. ¡°Fine place the two of you chose to hole up in,¡± she snapped. ¡°Sil, get me up to date.¡± Tallah turned, planted her feet, extended her arms towards the doors, and pulled on invisible threads. As they had opened, so the doors shut. ¡°If you can understand the spiders or they you, tell them to bar the doors. That thing out there¡¯s got my scent and I don¡¯t think it missed my flight to here.¡± ¡°The false mother is distracted in the feeding grounds. Maybe not for long,¡± the Oldest said. ¡°Welcome to our Knowing, friend of friends.¡± Tallah spared the spider a long glance and then her eyes snapped up to Sil. ¡°Explain.¡± Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. Vergil shrank back from her attention, feeling very much a child next to her as Sil gave a quick account of their situation and the events of the past few hours. Tallah listened and nodded along without much commentary. By the end, after the summarised explanation of what they¡¯d uncovered, she gave him a long, appraising look. He expected her displeasure. He¡¯d fed Sil something that could¡¯ve been poison. Hadn¡¯t been much use in defending her even after Tallah had spent so long training him. Barely kept his head in the forest¡ª ¡°Good job, Vergil. You¡¯ve done well. Give me your helmet.¡± ¡°What?¡± Before he knew it, the horned thing was in her hand, yanked by some means off his belt. She took one look at it, shrugged, and tossed it casually into a rend. ¡°You¡¯re done wearing this. The ghost¡¯s strength isn¡¯t worth what¡¯s happening to you.¡± ¡°What?!¡± But Tallah was already walking past them to get a gander at the library for herself. He wanted to rage at her to get his artefact back. It was his! He didn¡¯t care about whatever effect it had on him. It was bloody his, and he¡¯d choose if to ever part with it. Then the first of her words hit him in full. She¡¯d praised him. ¡°Don¡¯t look so pleased with yourself.¡± Sil kicked him in the shin without any rancour. ¡°Not many get that from her. Congratulations.¡± ¡°Are you both just babying me? Like, so I don¡¯t break down or something?¡± Sil only answered with a smile and went to stand by Tallah. ¡°Ludwig took the mask?¡± she asked matter-of-factly. ¡°And when I find him,¡± the sorceress answered, ¡°I may fuse it to his face.¡± ¡°Wouldn¡¯t recommend it. Takes forever to clean off burnt skin. Where do you supposed he¡¯s gone.¡± ¡°Where else? To find the girl. Why, I couldn¡¯t tell you. I believe he means to kill her.¡± ¡°I wish him luck, though that¡¯s hardly any way to repent for ancient crimes.¡± ¡°I hardly think he wants to repent. I don¡¯t pretend to understand the mad and how they think.¡± She raised a hand to the webs and ran her fingers ever so gently down one thread. ¡°This is new. I agree, it needs protecting.¡± Just like that¡­ Vergil joined them, head suddenly light. ¡°So, we¡¯re really helping the spiders? We¡¯ll save them? Just like that?¡± She¡¯d decided on a course of action like it was nothing. How? ¡°Do you just¡­ accept the responsibility?¡± Voice cracking halfway through, he swivelled his gaze to the two women, then turned to the gathered spiders. Unreadable black and red eyes met his and something tightened inside his chest. Wanting to help had been easier before Tallah arrived and made it all real. Now they would be responsible for all those here. For Luna even. His mouth worked but no sounds emerged as he struggled to articulate what exactly he felt. Sil laughed softly, ¡°Either say what you mean to say, Vergil, or close your mouth. You look like an imbecile. I thought you wanted to help.¡± ¡°I do. I just¡ª¡± Tallah¡¯s hard gaze never wavered, ¡°Would you rather I burn them?¡± ¡°No. Of course not.¡± ¡°Then we will help because we are here now. Because we can,¡± she said, words carrying the argument¡¯s finality. She turned to the Oldest, not waiting for anything more from Vergil. Sil still looked at him, smiling as if proud in some way. ¡°I thought the two of your were villains,¡± he found the words and forced himself to match Sil¡¯s smile. ¡°Never said we¡¯d be doing anything for free. I expect to be well compensated for all this.¡± She was lying. He could see it in her eyes. Still, he let out a slow breath. Part of him had agreed with Tallah¡¯s alternative, disgusted that they were to help the very torturers that had hurt Erisa. Part of him tried to reconcile the horror and disgust with an understanding of fundamental differences. It was best that Tallah had decided on shouldering the responsibility. ¡°Do you know how to weave soul thread?¡± Tallah asked the Oldest. ¡°I do not know what that is.¡± She opened a rend and pulled out a black, buzzing gem. A feeling of wrong washed across the room when she held it out. ¡°I need what¡¯s in this extracted and turned into thread. I need that thread sewn into me. Do you understand that? Is it something you can do?¡± The white spider that hung on the edges of the room came forward and reached two reverent claws for the gem. She handed it over and it, in turn, turned it over on each side. ¡°We can do this, yes.¡± Its voice was odd, like there and not really, musical. It hadn¡¯t spoken before, and Vergil wished it still hadn¡¯t. ¡°This is¡­ terrible. Angry like the false mother.¡± ¡°You want Anna?!¡± Sil was at once horrified and unbelieving, a hand to her mouth. ¡°Of all things, Anna?¡± Tallah staggered as if slapped. ¡°Don¡¯t all of you yell at me at once. Yes, I need Anna. As good a time as any to get her." She thumbed over her shoulder. ¡°That thing out there is an Egia and I have trouble fighting it. We need someone with a more multilateral perspective if I¡¯m to have a chance of it.¡± Chapter 2.15.1: Idle hands ¡°I don¡¯t think I follow your meaning.¡± Mertle wanted to sit but couldn¡¯t. As it too often happened, she was back to pacing the stuffy, overcrowded office, counting off the paces between the root and the chair. Her brush with the Storm Guard had shaken her more than she liked admitting to, though Captain Quistis had been as good as her word. There had been none of the usual trails on her when she left the Agora for the Sisters. Even with the extra precautions she took now, she still hadn¡¯t seen anyone following in the crowd. And that made it all so much worse. The Guard had shown they could follow her invisibly. That woman in the shadows had followed her undetected. It all made her paranoid and twitchy, and sent her head reeling. But if she waited any longer without showing up as Tianna, then the whole plan was likely to crumble. Now she had trouble stabilising into Tianna¡¯s form, nubs of her horns poking out on her forehead. ¡°You¡¯re wearing a trench in my floor again, girl,¡± Aliana said impatiently. ¡°Sit down.¡± She gave the priestess an impatient glare of her own and grumble before taking a seat, flattening her pointed hat. Her foot bounced as she surveyed the room for the hundredth time, taking stock of the exits, both seen and unseen, of the strange jars, the leaves, the sprouts on the roots, the instruments that she couldn¡¯t name. A glass was pushed into her hand and she drank without even looking at the thing. Tasted of berries. Had a decent kick. She sniffed in annoyance and held it out for a second shot. Aliana poured her more. At this rate she was likely to develop a habit. ¡°What¡¯s there to follow,¡± the priestess of the Dryad said drily. ¡°I need you to join me here two nights from now. Alone. And if I¡¯m not clear enough, that means I need you to make absolutely certain you¡¯re not followed.¡± ¡°But¡­ why?¡± It was such an odd request, come at a terrible time. ¡°I was certain nobody had followed me before, but even so they knew I was coming and going.¡± ¡°I¡¯m aware.¡± Nothing more was forthcoming on the subject. Aliana poured herself a thimble of drink and took sips. Mertle downed her second shot and it kicked somewhat harder than the first. She liked the aftertaste and could understand why Tallah kept¡­ borrowing from the priestess¡¯s impressive spirits collection. This, distilled once more, would be considered quite extravagant in Beril. For the elendars. ¡°Why are you helping?¡± she asked as various parts of her settled into the human shape. Her horns no longer tried to jut out through skin. Absently, she ran two fingers along her forehead, making sure she wasn¡¯t unravelling anymore. ¡°Because I can. Get out. I¡¯ve other business to see to.¡± To her mounting annoyance, Aliana seemed unaware that Mertle couldn¡¯t disregard the dangers to herself as easily as the High Priestess of the Sisters of Healing could. Not everyone could enjoy immunity such as hers¡ªnobody, to her knowledge, was as highly stationed aside from Ort¡¯s priesthood. Even those had to answer to the empress. The dismissal goaded her into sullen defiance but she stamped it down. No time for fancies. She had two missions to deal with before the enchantment ran its course. She put on her shawls, carefully made herself indistinct, and headed out through the secret exit, different from the one she¡¯d used to come in. Now that the Guard had shown they knew of her comings and going, she and Aliana had decided to alternate the days when Tianna showed up, make it harder for anyone to draw any connection between the two. She found her way out into the cold through narrow, twisting tunnels dug by the roots. Scents of mildew and sap accompanied her passage up until it was replaced by wisps of smoke as she emerged behind a workshop someplace near the Guild. From there it was a matter of skulking like a rat through hidden alleys and squeezing gaps between buildings, heading slowly towards the Meadow. Passing from the upper city into the lower, she used the worst set of stairs, out of the main ways and secluded in such a way that nobody could follow outside. Her disguise switched back to Tianna¡¯s underclothes by the time she stepped out again. Tianna had been gone for a couple of days now, but Verti had been forewarned of this. Either Tianna kept her own council and did not wish to be disturbed under any circumstances, or she prowled Valen¡¯s streets for days on end. That was what the Meadow knew. Mertle had heard the rumours swirling around the Agora. Verti and her daughters had particularly strong words to share out about the wayward aelir healer eloping with Lady Tianna¡¯s beau. It couldn¡¯t be helped; Sil would just need to find a different disguise when she came back. She, herself, had explained that Tianna must be preserved beyond any other concern. The rest was easier to solve, but the sorceress was important to their long-term plans. ¡°Good morning, your Ladyship.¡± Using the front door seemed to summon Verti to her side. The way she emerged out of the crowd to fall into step with her had ceased surprising Mertle, though she still flinched at the polite words. Her carefully arrayed expression was one of tired resignation. ¡°Good morning to you too, Verti.¡± She stifled a half-honest yawn. ¡°Any word while I was gone?¡± ¡°None as of yet.¡± ¡°Any callers?¡± ¡°Just that impolite girl from the Storm Guard. She¡¯s not been very insistent this time.¡± Verti passed her a letter sealed with the signet of the Guard. ¡°This was left with me for your eyes.¡± Mertle slipped it inside her cloak and allowed Verti to lead her up to the room through the morning crowd. She¡¯d stopped carrying the key with her for fear of misplacing it. ¡°Breakfast, please. Something light. I¡¯ve no appetite for more.¡± ¡°Of course, your Ladyship. Coffee?¡± ¡°Strong. From your stock please.¡± Verti bought hers from a particular vendor that Mertle couldn¡¯t normally afford. This was one of the best things about playing Tianna¡¯s role. ¡°It¡¯s been a terribly long night.¡± Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! ¡°Of course, your Ladyship.¡± The narrative she worked with was that Tianna was not impressed by the rumours of her healer running off in some romantic tryst with the human man. Worry had given way to wounded pride in being abandoned after the events of the Descent, and now her search had a more vengeful air to it. If she found the two, she would roast them alive for the trouble caused. A pyromancer¡¯s patience was short on the best of days, and adding insult to the mix only led to explosive outcomes. ¡°We¡¯ve received more word from the caravan,¡± Verti said as she unlocked the door to the apartment. ¡°The last of the escort¡¯s returned to Valen. Cassiopa has overheard them talking in their cups. The caravan has passed Bastra¡¯s last encampment and it took on fresh guards. Signs are good it will reach Solstice before the thaw.¡± Mertle knew this, of course, from her own wandering around the Guild¡¯s halls. She nodded as she stepped into the darkened hallway and closed the door behind her. The rooms were all exactly as she¡¯d left them. No signs of tampering or intrusion. She spent half of a bell taking stock of all precautions set about the place, even the low-brow ones that only particularly low-born spies made use of. The apartment had become a truly unwelcoming place in its starkness. She disrobed and headed for a bath, allowing herself the small luxury that her little shop never could. Ever since she¡¯d been a whelp, the only bathing she¡¯d known had been with a sponge and a pail of cool water, or submerged in a forest stream. Beril¡¯s countryside afforded nothing more. A whole tub all to herself and warm water? Luxury undreamed of by most Nen-born elend. She heard the door opening and a cart brought in. She would eat, get a wink of sleep¡ªthe enchantment held strongest if she slept¡ªand then head out again to make a nuisance of herself somewhere. Probably the Guild as Lucian was due another visit. Yes, Lucian for today. She¡¯d prepared a couple of the orders she was behind on so Tummy would run deliveries and the shop would be closed. It afforded her to be gone for some time. Clean and still steaming, she ate sparsely, set the coffee aside for later, and went to rest in Sil¡¯s bed. Without her lover, the bed was too big, too soft, and too foreign for her to enjoy. But the room still held the subtle scent of alchemy and fresh soap, and that brought her a measure of comfort. Without Sil¡¯s breathing and heartbeat, and without Tummy¡¯s hammering and muttering, silence seeped in. On the cusp of sleep, this was the silence of memory unchained and shaken loose by the stress of the charade she barely kept up. She drifted away to the sound of her own quick heartbeat and the old whispers of a lifetime and a world away. ¡°There is a traitor in the household,¡± Protector Aranar said, addressing the gathered servants and vassals in the large hollow of the Olden. ¡°I have been informed of this by a friend. There is an assassin here, sent to kill me.¡± They all laughed at the notion. Mertle laughed with them, barely hearing the Protector in the back of the crowd. Even from afar he was an impressive aelir¡¯sar, tall and broad of shoulder, still coming into his prime. Twin atagans shone on his belt. She¡¯d been with the household for three seasons now. She¡¯d broken bread and drank wine with the other servants. Had even allowed some of the aelir low-born to take her into their bed so her place in the household would be secured. ¡°Ridiculous,¡± Protector Aranar went on, pacing on the dais where his table normally sat when he ate with the vassals. ¡°If this assassin is indeed here, I urge them to come to me. I would show mercy for I am blessed and in good spirit. If they do not desire mercy, then I shall eagerly await the thrust of their traitorous dagger.¡± Again, Mertle laughed with the others. Mercy from Protector Aranar meant being flayed rather than handed over to his wife and her ministrations. Aelir¡¯matar Aranar wasn¡¯t here now or the servants wouldn¡¯t have dared even a smile. Aelir¡¯matar Sarrinare had warned the Protector. And Mertle had received thus her own warning. The mission was taking too long. She¡¯d gone beyond her allotted time frame and the aelir¡¯matar was displeased. The next message would unveil and leave her to Aranar¡¯s fancies. She went to work that night. Moonlight found her crouching in shadow among the high canopy of the Olden tree. She¡¯d climbed there by the light of the Mother, the path prepared after two seasons of exploration and planning. The deed was to happen that very night, or she might expect an unkind end. It would still be better than returning to the Sarrinare household with her task unaccomplished. Protector Aranar¡¯s household had treated her kindly and hadn¡¯t suspected her purpose. Now, she climbed, her path secured. Guards were of no concern so high. She knew all their routes and all their secret hiding spots. She¡¯d taken tea to them more than once, the half-wit elendine born so low in Beril that she might as well have been an animal. What did it matter what she overheard? Some of them would be discovered come morning with throats slit. Some had been in her way. Some had not been kind and this was petty vengeance. For two, it was mercy to stave off their lord¡¯s fury, a reward for their gentleness and propriety in how they treated her. She crawled underneath the highest branches, hands finding thick vines to support her, as the light slowly faded when clouds crossed the Mother¡¯s face. She would accomplish her mission and then disappear into the ever-forest. Supplies waited below, hidden in a hollow beneath the east-most root of the Olden. It would a season¡¯s trek back to the Sarrinare household, through the wilds of the steppes. Protector Aranar was no fool. His lady wife was obscenely powerful with a spectacular nose for poisons. Together, they were an ascendant force in the Dominion with an excellent claim for a centre position, a bold undertaking for a lowly steppe lord. Mertle suspected this her reason for being there. Those outside the Hearth Circle should remain where their station dictated, not lay claims to positions above their worth. That had always been the Sarrinare stance, though they¡¯d never claim it aloud. She pulled herself up to the highest part of the Olden¡¯s crown, bare head to the bare sky above, moonlight fleeting. Barefooted, she made her way slowly to her destination, walking softly on swaying platforms, hidden in the long shadow of her destination. The star-gazing nest observatory, a bulbous growth atop the Olden, lay just ahead. Moonlight cast its shadow across the rustling leaves and Mertle herself, the Mother moon still low in the night sky. If Mertle were lucky, it would rain by midnight. Tubes protruded out of the observatory, aimed at the sky above. The glint of reflected light onto glass lenses staring somewhere into the far darkness of the night. She¡¯d been up there many times, sent up with food and drink, or to guide some of the household¡¯s guests. She knew the way and how there were only two entrances: one beneath, and the window for the strange apparatus to poke out. Two entrances for the civilised. Aelir¡¯rei Kaleo, single scion of Protector Aranar, would be working late, bent over her sketches and notes, on the light-side of the observatory. She drew graphs whenever the weather did not permit her to gaze freely upon the stars. Given the darkening night, she would likely be drawing in the telescope to secure it against the coming rain. Mertle cut her way in from beneath, through the thick-leaf floor. It had never been fashioned to resist a blade, and certainly not hers. It took some effort, but she made her way inside through the cut, emerging sticky with sap right behind her target, her arrival disguised by the nest¡¯s swaying in the gathering wind. Sure enough, there Kaleo was, bent over her apparatus, adjusting a complicated series of dials and knobs for purposes that Mertle couldn¡¯t even guess at. Plaques full of schematics and drawings of the night sky littered the walls, filled with tight annotations that nobody was likely to even decipher. The knife cut into her neatly, just between the ribs to split her heart in two. Kaleo gasped and tried to pull away, but Mertle¡¯s hand was on her mouth as she twisted the knife. Hot blood coated her cold hand. She lowered the aelir¡¯rei to the floor and let her blood pool beneath. Kaleo died with eyes staring out at the night and Mertle found she had no strength in her to close them. Chapter 2.15.2: A careless ambush When she woke, the string of memory clung to her like the Olden¡¯s sap. Confused at her surroundings, feeling out of place and adrift, it took a precious long time before she came fully to herself to rise from the depths of Sil¡¯s bed. Instead of the tense season of running from the Protector¡¯s domain, she was in a safe, soft bed, feeling very much like she did not deserve the sleep. Oh well. The longer she played Tianna, the more her old memories and questions returned to plague her. Maybe she was slipping too far into her old self. Sarrinare laughed her braying laughter in her ear as Mertle splashed cold water onto her face. She had intended for a quick nap to recover some of her strength before heading out, as would befit the haggard Tianna. Instead, she¡¯d missed the day. Coffee waited for her, stone cold on the table. Still, shame to waste it. The enchantment held, her armlet¡¯s hot to the touch and its runes glowing faintly in the early-evening gloom. Three, maybe four bells left before the glamour began fading. With little heart for it, she dressed and headed back out into the cold. Every step forward helped Tianna reassert herself in her bones and the cobwebs of old memory fade. Lucian¡­ how to play Lucian tonight? A cautious snake at the best of times, the man could give an aelir¡¯matar reason to be wary. Always poking. Always prodding. Always bloody inferring secrets from every little thing she said or did. And that infuriating half-smile of his that neither confirmed or denied a single word coming out of his mouth. How Sil could deal with him and not punch the sleaze, Mertle couldn¡¯t begin to imagine. And now she had little time for his games. To give in and play them altogether was to tumble headfirst down a very steep incline with a lot of jagged bits at the bottom. If she allowed him a moment¡¯s control of the conversation¡ª Someone grabbed her arm and roughly yanked her sideways. A kick to her feet scythe them out from under her and she found herself down in dirty snow, in a foul smelling alley. A knife pressed to her neck and a hand covered her mouth. Calloused. Rough. Smelling of soap. ¡°Search her,¡± a hushed voice¡ªa man¡¯s hushed voice¡ªcommanded to someone to the side. Other rough hands dug under her coat and cloak to grope at her and ransacked her pockets. Her arms, however, they left free. Sloppy work. A knife slipped into her palm from her sleeve. The man atop her was too confident that a blade at her throat was enough to keep her docile. She¡¯d been too involved in her own thoughts, too drawn out and fuzzy with poor sleep, or else some common thieves wouldn¡¯t have gotten the drop on her. If she cut this oaf¡¯s throat, that would lead to questions when she showed up covered in blood at the Guild. It might give Lucian some pause, now she thought of it. Cut a throat in Valen, and sooner or later the city¡¯s constabulary came around asking questions and looking very interested at a lot of things they shouldn¡¯t be interested in. She¡¯d need to kill all of these men. Unfortunately, she doubted there were only the two on her. One slash upwards cuts the hand¡¯s tendon. A second slashed the man across the face as he reeled back. A kick out got her out from the second¡¯s attention. If they¡¯d wanted her dead, they would¡¯ve cut her throat prior to stealing her valuables. No, this was well-thought out, so she had some heartbeats before their intentions turned bloody. In a scrabble, she got to her feet and kicked out the bleeding man. Her boot caught him in the mouth just as he drew breath to shout. It toppled him back, at least some teeth knocked down his throat. A glance around showed two¡­ no, three more men. They¡¯d dragged her into the narrow gap between two buildings, grabbed off the side street she¡¯d been using to move easier between Valen¡¯s layers. Thuggish. Large and brawny. One of them pulled back his bleeding friend. Entrance covered expertly by two of them. The one groping her had pulled out his knife but hadn¡¯t come forward. Stumbling slightly, the bleeding man came to his feet and brandished a cudgel in his good hand. Odd that. They were all slow to cuss at her and demand she hand over her weapon. If anything¡­ They were waiting for something different. There was none of the bluster of thugs cornering and outnumbering prey. If anything, they were more wary of her now, much more than warranted. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. Her eyes met hard, disciplined stares. No panic or hesitation there. She¡¯d ran with plenty of thugs and bandits to know when something stank. Either she¡¯d run into into the most brazen thieves in Valen, or these men weren¡¯t what they appeared to be. I¡¯m being tested, she realised with a jolt. For what? ¡­For fire. Mertle broken into cold sweat as realisation dawned. They were spread out and advanced on her cautiously, expecting fire and ready to react to it. They¡¯d known exactly who and, more importantly, what they were assaulting. ¡°Do you have the barest idea of who you¡¯ve laid hands on?¡± she blurted out, bluster trying to hide the growing panic she felt. She drew herself out of the half-crouch, mimicking a pyromancer¡¯s straight-backed stance. ¡°Of what I could do to you?¡± Far chance of them backing down. If anything, now they leered. These weren¡¯t thugs. These were soldiers, now growing confident that she wouldn¡¯t be able to back up her threats. Maybe she could take all four with two knives. Maybe. A quick glance up showed they were hidden completely beneath the interlocking eaves of the buildings, in the rain gutter. If someone were observing, it couldn¡¯t be too closely. If she cut their throat and set them ablaze somehow, then maybe it could pass for a pyromancer¡¯s work. Even she knew that wouldn¡¯t be the case. Her second knife dropped in her off-hand. Nothing for it then. Her cover would be as good as blown now that she¡¯d failed the most basic test for a pyromancer. Best to kill the oafs and then see if she could manage the passage to the shop. From there, she and Tummy could probably make it out of Valen before the Guard came in force for them. So much for the captain¡¯s assurances and apologies. How she¡¯d wish she could knock out that flint-eyed cunt¡¯s teeth. No reason to fear for her life. If she were an impostor, then their orders would likely be to bring her in for some real questions. She could fight, at least for a time, with no care for life or limb. She could down one before they judged her dangerous enough to take seriously. In the gutter there was only room for two of them to advance at once. And they were unimpressed of her bluster. She would at least make them regret the temerity. Before either of the two made up their mind, she lunged at the closest. One knife flashed up towards his wrist, the other aimed at the throat. A clean, quick kill if he were careless. The man exploded before her knife rose in the killing arc. In the dark of the alley, the explosion blinded her and the backwash of searing heat sent her reeling. The soldier was blasted off his feet and thrown bodily against the wall to slide with a wet crunch of snapping bones. Her eyebrows were singed off and her face hot and tender. The second tried rushing her. Or maybe he was trying to get to his companion. Mertle reacted on instinct and kicked out, aiming through the blobs of after-flash for his groin. Fire erupted beneath the man to throw him out of the alley with a detonating crack like thunder. He crashed through the eaves above. A torrent of debris rained down on Mertle¡¯s head. Before she fully regained her sight from the flashes of light, the other two were gone, melted out into the night. Only the burned ones were left behind, both crumpled against walls, moaning in pain. The stench of burnt hair hung in the air. Fire had kissed her as well and she could feel skin blistering on her fingers where the blast had been closest. People crowded at the mouth of the gutter, drawn by the spectacle. Mertle drew herself up as the first muttered questions arose. Concerned voices. Someone calling out for a healer. Others for the constabulary. She patted down the smoking patches of her dress and hair and stumbled out of the dark to meet the onlookers. ¡°Will someone get the guard, please?¡± she asked in her best and most annoyed Tianna voice. ¡°Before I get a mind to finish these scum off?¡± Someone from the gathering crowd peeled quickly away, without raising any alarm or calling out. Mertle got a glimpse of them rushing away without a glance back. In the direction of the elevators, towards the Fortress. Others asked if she was alright. She shrugged away their concern and sneered. ¡°Perfectly fine. Get away from me.¡± She spat some blood on the ground. Must¡¯ve bit the inside of her cheek when knocked down. ¡°I expected Valen be more civilised. Filth dragging respectable women in the gutter? Disgusting.¡± A well aimed kicked at the first man got him stirring. ¡°See to them, will you? I don¡¯t need their kind of blood on my hands.¡± After all, they were only soldiers doing their job. With another sniff of annoyance, she pushed through the crowd and walked away, still aware that she was smoking from some smouldering patch of her dress. It would leave an impression. She¡¯d been seen. She¡¯d been heard. Best she were somewhere else before anyone came through asking unpleasant questions that would eat up whatever time she had left of the enchantment. And best she tried to figure out why two men exploded out of the blue. She suspected Sil¡¯s bracelet, but that made very little sense. If anyone could figure out how to trap offensive channelling into an item, they¡¯d buy an empire. She threw one final glance over her shoulder and thought she recognized a face in the crowd, half-lit by spritelight. No, not the face. The knot where the stranger¡¯s arm was missing. It was gone in a moment, onlookers rushing to help the hurt thieves. Maybe she¡¯d imagined it. The prickling on the back of her neck assured her she hadn¡¯t. Chapter 2.15.3: Judgement call Quistis rubbed at her temples, trying very hard not to lose what remained of her temper. She¡¯d known this was coming, or at least some version of it. She should¡¯ve paid more attention to these two imbeciles and their plans. This is exactly what she¡¯d wanted to avoid when separating them. Falor slammed his fists on the table with enough force that his mug spilled over and rolled to the edge. She caught it before it ended up in too many pieces on the floor. ¡°Have the two of you taken leave of your sanity?¡± he asked, voice riding that dangerous edge between anger and fury. For the time being, he wasn¡¯t yelling. Falor rarely yelled at his cell, no matter how angry he got. His tone, however¡­ a man could shave off it. Rumi, taking the full brunt of his gaze, flinched back and closed her eyes tight. Air buzzed with illum. Quistis hadn¡¯t seen Falor quite this angry in a long time. Maybe even since Cinder¡¯s raid on the vault. Maybe it was an improvement compared to his recent brooding. ¡°Two men treated for burns, burst eardrums, and blindness, and they got off with the best case scenario,¡± he went on, knuckles white on the tabletop as he leaned forward. ¡°Look at me, Belli!¡± His words cut through the air and Rumi stiffened to attention, eyes shooting open, mouth a thin white line. ¡°We got away with a best case scenario. Do you understand that?¡± Quistis doubted that Rumi would be able to answer even if Falor gave her enough time to marshal her wits. He went on, ¡°In the worst case, our men would have hurt an innocent woman that you¡¯ve spent all of Winter harassing. Moreover, she¡¯s heir to a holding powerful enough to demand both of your heads on spikes.¡± He pointed a perfectly steady finger at Rumi, ¡°Don¡¯t think my mother wouldn¡¯t have granted them even yours in a jar, pickled in piss, to maintain her trade routes. I may even have sanctioned it myself.¡± Rumi opened her mouth to speak but words didn¡¯t make it out. ¡°Be silent.¡± Falor¡¯s command cracked like thunder and the mind-skinner was frozen in place, statuesque in her pallor, her mouth half-opened. Quistis couldn¡¯t see even a twitch on her except for how her eyes widened in horror. She knew the Empress could puppet a man if she wanted. Falor wouldn¡¯t be far behind, though he abhorred the very idea of it. ¡°You will leave the Aieni heir alone. That is a bloody order. Am I clearly understood on this?¡± Aidan had been wise enough to hold his tongue through it all, likely the only thing that had spared him the same treatment as Rumi. He shot a look at his Claw and, the next moment, Rumi collapses to the floor, gasping, released from Falor¡¯s grip. ¡°Am I clear?¡± the commander asked again, looming behind his desk, knuckles on the smooth wood. ¡°Yes, Commander. But¡ª¡± He cut her short, ¡°I don¡¯t need, nor care, to hear it. You¡¯re dismissed. Get out of my sight.¡± They slunk out of Falor¡¯s office like whipped dogs, Aidan helping Rumi to her feet and away from the commander¡¯s ire. ¡°A bit far,¡± Quistis said and immediately swallowed her words as Falor¡¯s gaze swivelled in her direction with the slow, deliberate calm of a brewing storm. Jagged lines of blue-white lightning arched between his eyes and some stray locks of his hair. Before he could tear into her own lapse regarding the issue, Barlo made his way into the office. ¡°Laying it thick, Commander?¡± he asked with the joviality of one that had had time to enjoy his mug of coffee that morning. Quistis¡¯s lay cold and forgotten on her desk. Falor¡¯s was a puddle on the floor. ¡°Don¡¯t give me the sparkly eyes. It ain¡¯t that impressive if yer not holding yer hammer.¡± That, finally, broke through Falor¡¯s anger. He slumped back heavily in his chair and let out a slow, heavy breath. He ran a hand through unkempt hair and sparks danced and crackled on his skin as he did so. ¡°If that girl had the wit to piece together this little ploy against her, I have no doubt she¡¯d be with Diogron right now. And what a wonderful calamity of indignant fury that would bring onto us.¡± Barlo swayed a bit before making his way further in to stand at attention in front of the commander¡¯s desk. He reeked of night booze. And sulphur for some reason. Quistis cracked open the window just to be on the safe side. ¡°The men cornered a pyromancer and walked away. Couldda been worse. Couldda had four corpses burnt black on our hands, and a few homes fer good measure.¡± ¡°They suspected the lady Aieni of being a planted fake and not a real pyromancer,¡± Quistis said. The two soldiers walking away unhurt had made their report regarding the orders they¡¯ve had from Rumi. ¡°I¡¯ve heard of stupider things, but they mostly involved greased pigs.¡± Falor ran a hand over his face and his anger seemed to bubble right back up. ¡°What a lovely way of testing that hypothesis: ambush a woman in an alley like common thugs. Threaten her life. That worked lovely on Cinder once upon a time. Valen only burned for a tenday. Or was that two?¡± He reached for his mug and groped empty air. Quistis gestured to Barlo and handed hers over. ¡°I had high expectations of Rumi,¡± Falor groaned, accepting the mug. ¡°Thought her time with us would¡¯ve sanded off some of the edges she¡¯s gained at my mother¡¯s Court. More fool I.¡± ¡°Was a good assumption t'' make.¡± Barlo failed in reading the room. Or he simply didn¡¯t care. His comment surprised both Falor and Quistis. ¡°You¡¯re taking their side?¡± Quistis asked. ¡°Just sayin¡¯. An ash eater who didn¡¯t blow her top off when the captain here accosted her? How many do ye know wi¡¯h that sorta control?¡± ¡°I¡¯d say the lady Aieni was quite near to setting me on fire,¡± Quistis said. ¡°You weren¡¯t there. It was Cinder¡¯s attack that distracted all of us.¡± ¡°Fancy that. Convenient, eh?¡± If he felt at all intimidated by the glare Falor threw his way, he didn¡¯t show it. Moreover, Barlo kept his chin high enough that he seemed to be talking to the ceiling. ¡°Lighten up, commander. Bad judgement happens. We ain¡¯t¡­ waz da word? Pristine! We botched it up with that elendine.¡± ¡°Lovely. Another cock-up I desperately needed to revisit today,¡± Falor groaned. ¡°What¡¯s become of that one?¡± ¡°Nothing. And it¡¯ll stay that way. Smith¡¯s a pragmatic soul and won¡¯t report our misadventure and¡­¡± He licked cracked lips. ¡°Let¡¯s call it indiscretion with the interview. Met¡¯im fer a drink¡­ or was it ten?¡± ¡°Are you hungover, Barlo?¡± Quistis asked, not quite believing the vanadal¡¯s sanguine mood. ¡°Severely, captain. Petition for a purger?¡± ¡°None on hand. Suffer.¡± ¡°Aye, ma¡¯am.¡± He nearly toppled over saluting. Well, this final debacle should at least prove the final nail in the Aieni case¡¯s coffin. Maybe she should¡¯ve nipped it earlier, but she¡¯d been busy and distracted with her other work. ¡°Don¡¯t seem so happy over this, Quis.¡± Falor¡¯s comment surprised her. A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. Her focus had slipped. She hadn¡¯t meant to allow herself feel so righteously glad that Rumi had failed in such spectacular manner, enough so that Falor was picking up on it. ¡°I¡¯m happy I won¡¯t need to go and explain to the lady Tianna why our men had deemed fit to ambush her. Especially as I promised her we¡¯ve curtailed our interest. I¡¯m sure there¡¯s not enough water in the inner sea to wash this blunder off us in her eyes.¡± Falor sipped her coffee and leaned back in the chair, eyes half-open, anger dulled by the brew. She focused on the many other reports demanding their attention. Bad news coming up the Bistry. Still no word from the cadre sent to the Twins. New mage killers training going too slowly. All they¡¯d have to show come Thaw would be a delayed schedule and no Cinder¡¯s head on a spike. ¡°What¡¯ve you learned from drinking with the smith?¡± Falor asked without looking at Barlo. His voice was low, almost calm now that he¡¯d had a chance to relax and cool down. ¡°Good man. Knows a thing or several of the forge. Gave him a commission by the night¡¯s end.¡± ¡°Demi?¡± ¡°Demi, aye. Aelir and human combination. Man¡¯s nearly as large as I.¡± Falor nodded and sipped some more of his coffee, ¡°Rare to see a demi and an elend working together. Rarer still to have one partnering up with an elendine. Your thoughts?¡± ¡°Runaway thralls of an aelir¡¯matar.¡± He sniffed loudly. ¡°What the nose says.¡± ¡°Put that down somewhere, Quis.¡± She already had, having pulled out the file on the two artisans. Little else of interest in there. They¡¯d gotten some things out of Mertle Mergara, but either the girl was somehow particularly adept at circumventing the truth serum, or she was simply as dull as her answers hinted at. She hadn¡¯t revealed anything of worth under questioning aside from some rather lurid details of her love life. Anyway, nothing to worry their cells over and that was fine with her. As far as the Cinder case went, they were right back to having absolutely nothing aside from a disguised face and a stupid helmet. The wanted posters had only produced some reports of the man with the helmet seen at one point at the Sisters of Mercy, back in wither. The Sisters had basically told them to bugger off when they¡¯d asked¡­ ¡°Lovely,¡± Falor seemed to read her mind. ¡°Let¡¯s see to the channeller we can actually get our hands on. I want that Crepuscular caught before they manage to score a kill.¡± ¡°We¡¯ve got a pretty good idea of who they are,¡± Quistis said, swapping out the files. ¡°At least a reasonable assumption for an identity.¡± ¡°Deidra Aratol, I know. Vial¡¯s description pretty much sealed it. One major trouble sorceress leaves Valen and another moves right in. What¡¯s next? Iliaya herself come back from the grave?¡± His mood turned oddly joyful. ¡°I think I¡¯d actually like that last one. Mother always spoke highly of the witch and her methods.¡± He straightened and took pity on Barlo. The vanadal swayed while trying to remain at attention. ¡°Go and see where Rumi¡¯s slunk off to. Grab her by the scruff of her neck and drag her to work. I want this issue contained before we¡¯re made to look even more the fools.¡± Deidra had been testing the Guard¡¯s defences, if reports were accurate. Every hit expertly carried out against solitary targets, poking and prodding at positions around the Fortress that were weak or understaffed. ¡°At least she and Cinder aren¡¯t working together.¡± Quistis yawned wide enough that her jaw popped. News of the nighttime attack on Tianna had roused her straight out of bed after an already short night. Whatever she¡¯d enjoyed before going to sleep seemed a long distant memory. ¡°How do you figure that?¡± Falor finished her coffee, oblivious to the way she stared at the cup. ¡°They hate one another.¡± To his continued curious stare, she went on, ¡°I read Rumi¡¯s profile on Cinder. Deidra Aratol was one of her last hunts before she deserted. They had, on record, three bloody clashes between them. Cinder may have gone off the deep end, but she¡¯s no revolutionary to die for the kind of cause Aratol champions.¡± ¡°True. Still, one must wonder at coincidences piling up.¡± He picked up a pen and began absent-mindedly scribbling something on a fresh sheet of paper. Quistis listened to the morning sounds drifting in. Barlo had sauntered off to do as instructed and she could hear him in the yard, bellowing at recruits in the chill of morning. Hungover, he was even more ruthless than usual. ¡°I don¡¯t mind her testing us, but I do mind what she normally brings anywhere she¡¯s allowed to put down roots,¡± Falor said. His hands sketched on without himself seeming to pay attention to what he was doing. ¡°Wherever she¡¯s showed up in the past seasons, she¡¯s sown disquiet and trouble. Civil unrest follows soon after. With Valen independent of the Empire, this might just be her passing through.¡± He drew a sharp line under some words on the paper. ¡°I¡¯m not willing to risk it. And I¡¯m not willing to let her do as she pleases any longer.¡± ¡°I¡¯m assuming the Cinder spectacle is why she¡¯s showed up,¡± Quistis said. ¡°Maybe she doesn¡¯t want us maintaining that sort of momentum.¡± ¡°Likely. Cinder¡¯s event made us seem weak and ill-prepared.¡± He held up a hand when she was going to protest. ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter that I drove her off. It matters that she was here, under our noses, staging an attack. For someone like Aratol, that would be enough to gauge our strength and readiness. Any more cock-ups like our recent efforts, and our standing with Valen¡¯s council will begin deteriorating again. I want eyes on all of them. Diogron. Valenta. Kiboll. And the lower ones.¡± He circled another group written down. ¡°See that we also have eyes on the major players of the Agora.¡± ¡°All of them? That¡¯s stretching us paper-thin.¡± ¡°It is what it is.¡± ¡°Should I request more men?¡± He shook his head and rolled his shoulders. There was a particularly fierce glint in his eyes. ¡°No. I don¡¯t want mother stepping in for this. I want Aratol for myself and my own questioning.¡± Odd. His eyes had turned to the schematic, now fully intent on his planning. Something ate at him and, without the anger, the brooding was back. The lines on his face were arranged in sharp concentration and focus. He tried to drink from the mug and realised it was empty. He still wasn¡¯t ready to talk to her about what preyed on him, but she felt him getting closer. Cinder had said something to him. That much she knew from Barlo. The vanadal had seen Falor and her exchanging words, but hadn¡¯t heard the specifics. It had been enough to keep the commander from killing the sorceress. Maybe he regretted not taking the fatal swing before they got interrupted? ¡°It would be a good show of strength for us to apprehend Aratol,¡± she said. There was a bounty they¡¯d posted some time back and it was due a refresh soon. ¡°Lucian has her face plastered all across the inner court of the Guild, even after Cinder¡¯s burned most of the postings.¡± ¡°Quite. I want that bounty rescinded.¡± ¡°What?¡± Her eyes widened. It was a direct order from the empress herself to offer any price demanded for this revolutionary¡¯s head. ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Because she¡¯s playing games with us. We will play them right back at her. She prods us, shows her face, and mocks us. Mother¡¯s bounty has given her all the impetuous posture she needs to weaken us. I won''t have it.¡± He looked at her and grinned. ¡°Tell Lucian to make a show out of changing the reward for her capture.¡± ¡°Into what?¡± ¡°Two chickens and a firm handshake from me.¡± She choked trying to hold back laughter. ¡°You can¡¯t be serious?¡± ¡°Are chickens valuable here? I recall them fetching a good price in Drack. No, not chickens then.¡± He tapped his pen over his lip, leaving behind a splotch of ink he licked away. ¡°One suckling piglet, two bags of grain, and a firm handshake. See to it in the morning.¡± ¡°That¡¯s childish. Lucian won¡¯t go for it.¡± ¡°Tell him that either he does as bid, or I send Rumi over to convince him. With Barlo in a bad mood.¡± ¡°You can¡¯t be serious.¡± She was repeating herself but the whole idea was outlandish. It¡¯d be the laughing stock of the Guil¡­ Oh. ¡°You want to insult her.¡± ¡°Of course. It¡¯ll be fun. Either we annoy her into a mistake, which I very much doubt, or we soften the impact of her activity here. Either works for me. Go and see to it please.¡± He waggled her empty mug at her. ¡°And send someone with some fresh coffee in here. I want to plan this out properly.¡± What that meant, only he knew. Quistis decided not to prod and headed for her quarters. It was getting warmer out, but not enough to go bareheaded without a shawl. Or three pairs of socks. Seeing Lucian was on the lowest rung of her preferences for the day, but an order was an order, even to her. She ascended the narrow staircase up to the little room she¡¯d called home for¡­ well, for too long now. Soon they would need to move away from Valen. The understanding between the empress and the council had been for the cell to be there for either ten years, or until the next time Cinder showed up for Falor to take her down properly. That had been accomplished. Loose ends had been found and tied off. Plans had been set into motion. Their job in Valen was all but completed. She expected the order to move on to arrive any day now, even with Deidra making a nuisance of herself. Apprehending her wasn¡¯t on their to do and she expected there would be need of their strength further down in the South. Falor would only seek to contain the damage the Crepuscular could do, but Quistis doubted he was serious about apprehending her. She needed coffee. The first pangs of a headache bloomed behind her eyes. Her calves protested the steep climb after her nighttime activities. The key turned easily in the lock and she let herself into the darkened room, the drapes still drawn across the one window that overlooked Valen. ¡°You know I don¡¯t like you sleeping in my bed,¡± she said, voice low. The door clicked shut. A yawn and some mumbled expletive answered her complaint. ¡°I¡¯m making a sprite. Best close your eyes.¡± She didn¡¯t wait for confirmation before lighting up the room. Deidra had enough warning to roll over on her stomach and pull the pillow over her head. ¡°Really¡­¡± Quistis hissed. ¡°You couldn¡¯t have taken off your boots before climbing into my bloody bed? Were you raised in a barn?¡± Chapter 2.16.1: A monster remade Are you really considering that monster? Now?! ¡°No need for hysterics, Christi. Calm yourself. I have a plan.¡± Oh goody, that¡¯s bloody reassuring. We¡¯ve hung on by our teeth up to here, and now you mean to do the one thing that could possibly make everything worse. Have you gone daft? ¡°Don¡¯t stare at me like that,¡± Tallah said. Vergil was looking at her agape, mouth working out what sound it wanted to make, his eyes on the empty space to her side. ¡°Out with it, whatever it is,¡± she demanded. If only to get his stupid fish-like expression sorted away. ¡°Give it back!¡± he whined. Like a kicked dog. ¡°I need it.¡± ¡°I frankly don¡¯t care. It¡¯s not safe.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t care if it¡¯s safe. I need it.¡± Her well-practised glare got him taking a step back, but he came back just as adamant. Was he gripping the hilt of his sword? Adorable. She cut him off before he could say something stupid, ¡°You¡¯re done with the helmet, Vergil. I am not wasting you on its whims.¡± She didn¡¯t need the Ikosmenia to see the thing moving behind his eyes, panicked at the loss of its conduit. A step forward brought her chest to chest with the boy. He was tall enough that he could meet her eyes. ¡°I know you¡¯re in there, somewhere, dwarf. I can¡¯t deal with you just now. But make any more trouble for me and I will find a way to drag you out of the helmet and set you into a piss pot. Am I understood?¡± Had that been Vergil nodding? Or the parasite? No matter. As long as the boy kept the influence under check, she would be perfectly happy to leave it be. For the time being. Bigger problems to worry about just then. ¡°I thought you couldn¡¯t control the ghosts you brought in?¡± Sil said without looking at her. Her attention was wholly on what the white spider was doing to the gemstone. ¡°If the binding puts you in the same kind of mood as it did with Bianca, I don¡¯t see how it¡¯s going to help us any.¡± ¡°It won¡¯t.¡± ¡°Help? Or leave you brainless? Why not?¡± ¡°Because both Christina and Bianca are available now. I think they¡¯re more than a match for Anna¡¯s will.¡± An annoyed snort said just how much Sil believe her. ¡°So you¡¯ll use two ghosts to keep one useless one in check. I can¡¯t see the advantage you gain.¡± It was simpler than Sil believed. With Christina and Bianca holding Anna¡¯s reigns fully, Tallah could ascertain control. She¡¯d done it several times with Bianca in the beginning but could never maintain enforced control for long as the ghosts were too evenly matched. With two on one, she expected less trouble. Using her like this will not endear us anytime soon, Christina whispered. You¡¯re not going to gain her willing compliance easily after this. She paced around the small room. Vergil and his pet spider kept out of her way even if she could see it on him how he wanted to protest her decision. The other spider, the big and gnarled black beast, watched her with eyes too wise for its form. Their staring attention made her uncomfortable. It was impossible to fight the creature out there without the Ikosmenia. It had been difficult to survive it even with the bloody thing. Anna would be an equalising force if only for how she¡¯d expand Tallah¡¯s perception of the battle field. She had to be, or else the gambit would fail and they¡¯d all be dead. Funny how you taught the boy not to rely on gambits, but they seem to drive every single one of your decisions. She ignored Christina¡¯s barb. The ghost wasn¡¯t wrong and she¡¯d need to give the matter consideration if they survived this accursed place. Up to then, she¡¯d need to make due with the consequences of her bad planning. ¡°No. Stop. Don¡¯t force so much of it into the strand. It¡¯ll shatter under strain. Yes. Like that. Less.¡± Sil instructed the spider and supervised its progress. They didn¡¯t have anything resembling their spinning wheel from Solstice, but the spider was producing its silk in strands much finer than any she¡¯d seen or used before. One of the others was attempting to sculpt a piece of bone¡ªwhat manner of bone it was Tallah preferred not knowing¡ªinto the kind of curved needle they needed. The work progressed smoothly and much faster than they would¡¯ve managed even with all their tools. It was still too slow. Impatience brewed in her guts as every sound of the place sent her heart into fits. What stopped the creature from coming in there? What could stop it just forming a barrier to halve them all at once? She believed little of what the spider said. They thought too innocently. Humans would take their time enacting revenge, to better savour its sting. If she were the girl, she would allow the spiders their safety just to enjoy their despair when she snatched it away. So she paced. First to the door, then back to the edge of the library. Then farther among the shelves, careful not to disturb a single thread dangling in the air. Not that she could, what with a gaggle of small spiders following her progress to move the silk lines out of her reach. A skeleton sat slumped between two shelves, tightly wrapped in layers of silk, tiny spiders crawling across its bones. One of the makers of the place if the remnants of wings were any indication. Those too had been preserved in silk, tied forever to the books and scrolls, the only relevant remains of a long-dead people. If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. A human skull poked half-way from under the silk, grinning at her. The whole thing made for a grim display, especially as it didn¡¯t look to have been moved from it death position, one hand clasping its throat, the other its chest. Some sort of asphyxiation? Poison on the air? Too late to worry about that just then. More remains lay caught up in the webs spanning among the shelves, like strange, desiccated flies. Many had died grasping for support. Some had hands outstretched to the skies. Were she to look down, into the very bottom of the library, she expected she¡¯d find a whole mound of winged corpses turned brain cells for the spider collective. I will deal with Anna, Christina said, exuding a confidence that Tallah doubted. Bianca¡¯s mobility is more useful for now than my own paltry strength. I will try and subdue Anna on my own. You will need my help, dear. You could barely subdue me, and I have no high impression of my strength compared to our old friend¡¯s. If I¡¯ll need help, I¡¯ll ask for it. Let¡¯s not give all of our resources to this until we¡¯re certain we need to. ¡­agreed. But let¡¯s try and not let your pride lead us to ruin again. Tallah¡¯s attention drifted away from the plans being made on her behalf. ¡°What are we going to do once¡­ you finish?¡± Vergil asked. He¡¯d followed her into the maze of dusty books and kept wringing his hands, afraid of even getting near one of the strands. The spider on his shoulder looked as nervous as Tallah had ever seen an animal. ¡°Follow Ludwig, of course. I aim to get my mask back and rip his tongue out.¡± ¡°But¡­ where? He could be back in the maze for all we know.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t be daft. He¡¯s going for the girl, else he wouldn¡¯t have taken back the pendant.¡± She glared at the spider and it hid behind Vergil¡¯s collar. ¡°And your unpleasant friend there can take us straight to their false mother, am I right?¡± ¡°We can, yes,¡± the spider answered. It had tinny voice that slightly grated on the nerves. ¡°Its name is Luna,¡± Vergil objected. ¡°Don¡¯t call it unpleasant. It¡¯s helping us.¡± Lovely name for the creature, she¡¯d give it that much. ¡°Fine. Luna. Is it far from here?¡± ¡°No. We cross the feeding place and it will be there. The false mother guards it.¡± ¡°Good. Then I¡¯ll need to face the creature regardless. No time serves quite as well as the now.¡± She gave Vergil a look over. He¡¯d really handled himself remarkably well given the circumstances. Not much damage on him, aside from a big splotch of dried blood on his side. ¡°I will rely on you once I engage that thing. Keep Sil safe.¡± ¡°But you took my helmet.¡± ¡°I trust you¡¯ll manage without. You seem hale enough for it.¡± Before he could go on, Sil called them back from their wandering. ¡°We¡¯re as ready as can be,¡± she called. Her voice sent dampened echoes among the shelves. The white spider held out a ball of thread between two fine claws. It shone with oily rainbow colours, catching the odd light and reflecting it back in a mirage of dancing echoes. To Tallah¡¯s eyes the quality of the thread was superior to any she¡¯d ever managed spinning up. The gem lay completely inert at their feet, its inner glow dulled. It remained as vacant as any old rock. Sil threaded the hooked needle while Tallah got out of her coat and the leather armour. The chill goose-pricked her skin. ¡°Where do you want this sewn in?¡± Sil asked. ¡°Other shoulder? Across the scar she gave you?¡± ¡°There, yes.¡± That would leave her lower back for Deidra and Lucretia, were she to ever find them. Dangerous place, but for now Anna was much more dangerous. If she wouldn¡¯t manage to gain control, having the weave on her shoulder meant easy access for anyone with a knife to cut the ghost out of her. Insurance against costly failure. ¡°Well. Bite down on something and we¡¯ll begin.¡± Sil prepared two more needles to have on hand in case the first broke. It had happened before. Tallah unfastened her scabbard and sat cross-legged on the floor with it. She entwined her fingers on the back of her neck and fitted the ebony sheath tight in the crooks of her elbows. It pressed like a gag between her teeth. Tasted of dust and blood. Spiders gathered around, swarming up the walls for a better view. Curious eyes regarded every part of their preparations but the horde kept a respectful distance of several paces. Without Sil¡¯s sprite, they made do with torches, much to the horror of several of the smaller critters. Some of the larger ones waited with water jugs tied to their bodies. A deep breath. Held for several heartbeats. Released. Another. Sil plunged the needle through skin. The pricking, in and out, didn¡¯t hurt. The thread reaching flesh¡­ agony! Vision flashed red at the first contact between Anna¡¯s essence and her flesh. Fire spread throughout her back. Like being dragged in the nude across broken glass and burning coals. She squeezed her eyes tight and let out a low moan of pain as Sil continued the work, insensate to the suffering she caused. It would take five hundred strokes of the needle to finish. Each was fresh agony and nothing would or could help. They¡¯d tried with Christina. She¡¯d screamed herself mute against all the poppy that Sil could give without outright killing her. Bianca had been worse. This went beyond reasoning. And then came the first of Anna¡¯s wisps. Jumbled fragments of sensations. Vague, uneven memories. Feelings alien inside Tallah¡¯s own. It started as a trickle, then grew into a torrent, and finally became an avalanche. A mountain of self spilled into her, digging deep, searching for roots that should have been there but weren¡¯t. Sil worked fast. On an intellectual level, Tallah knew that. She couldn¡¯t help but feel every depth of hatred she could muster for the healer and how slow her hands were. Suffering stretched moments into centuries. A tooth cracked against the scabbard. Fingernails dug into the back of her head and pulled, trying to somehow mask the burning agony. By the time the last stinging thread was pulled tight into her bloodied back, there were no more screams left in her chest. The back of her throat tasted of blood and bitter bile. It took long heartbeats before she could pry her fingers apart. It gave Sil time to wash her back with disinfectant and apply a balm over the torture she¡¯d inflicted. The soul thread burned in its cradle. It writhed like worms across and through her skin. And what flowed from it was madness. Too many feelings. Too much sensation. Nerves flayed raw. Rebuilt. Remade. Undone. Every bit of suffering inflicted and consumed by Anna, now spilling out to pollute Tallah¡¯s own mindscape. I am here, Christina¡¯s voice reassured through the blood-red haze of pain. She is resolving now. I am here. I will hold her. The words meant nothing. Assurance meant nothing. Her nerves screamed when Vergil gently moved her fingers away from the trenches they¡¯d dug in the meat of her neck so Sil could treat it. First came her voice back and she bit down on every curse and scream her head demanded. Then came the wrenching pain as the thread wound tighter into her and settled. Anna¡¯s essence touched hers in truth and contact was¡­ indescribable. And then, finally, the deafening scream and the ghostly hands around her throat. Real fear dug long claws into her chest as Anna screamed in her mind. I will not be held. You will pay, Tallah, for all which you¡¯ve stolen from me. Chapter 2.16.2: Coherence Time crawled by in the prison. One day. One season. Eternity. Anna¡¯s patience suffered it all while her mind sizzled. Her anger would not lessen with the mere passage of time, no matter how stretched and distorted she was forced to perceive it. Did the ash eating witch understand that the prison was an imperfect seal? Did she care? Anna, against her will and with no choice on the matter, had been watching and listening. Her eternities unravelled into moments by the comings and goings of the two oafs serving the Amni wretch. The first thing she¡¯d do, once free, the very first thing, would be to strangle them with one another¡¯s entrails. For sport. Tallah Amni had not stolen a mere lifetime¡¯s work from her. The boor could never imagine or understand what she¡¯d destroyed. How could she? The mission and its pursuit needed centuries before even someone of Anna¡¯s intellect could glimpse the edges of what she was to achieve. How could a peasant like Amni appreciate how far Anna had gone in the pursuits of biological completion, or the depths of depravity she¡¯d plunged for forbidden knowledge? Preposterous! If she had blood, it would all be boiling to vapour every heartbeat¡­ If she had a heartbeat, it would have at least distracted her from the ruins of her ambition. Her Sanctum¡¯s life was¡­ had been measured in millennia. She¡¯d lured there and consumed nearly all of her order¡¯s sisters and brothers, set them up as her proxies, bound them into her and made use of their formidable intellects. Her death was a sentence upon them all, a waste of their unique talents and piss in a fount of knowledge nobody save she could even begin to comprehend. She would have cracked the code to life! It was there, in her grasp, mere seasons away. She would have walked in light brighter than even the gods could dare. They merely served the natural order. Anna would have overwritten it in her own image, finally transcend the limitations of flesh and illum, and¡­ And now she rotted inside this pitch-black prison within Amni¡¯s disordered rend, observing the improper passage of time. Was that a design flaw of the enchantment? Or a conscious effect built in to wear her down? Eventually she¡¯d learn which. For the time being, she knew one thing: it was only the prison that kept her soul from unravelling into illum. What her captor hoped to achieve by containing her, she couldn¡¯t begin to understand. The fantasy of picking the information from the witch¡¯s still hot brain, cell by cell, sustained her own sanity through another millennia of waiting. With a lurch, the world turned on its head and time came to an end. ¡°Is she resolving?¡± ¡°She is.¡± ¡°Odd shape to present.¡± ¡°I honestly expected something far more hideous. Have you seen the state of her Sanctum?¡± ¡°Only in flashes. Got the impression of fleshy bits.¡± She knew these voices. Not who they belonged to, but the sound of them. Memories tied her to them, but the meaning eluded the conscience that called itself Anna. It knew many things. None of them connected to one another. All of them piled together, understanding utterly slipping her¡ª Her? Who was she? It? They? Anna! Who was Anna? ¡°Oh dear. She is quite unstable.¡± ¡°Expected. Give her time. The bonding is still on its first pattern. They aren¡¯t rejecting one another yet. You were little better.¡± ¡°I can¡¯t rightly remember, if I¡¯m honest.¡± ¡°Lucky you. I remember the entire thing. It was chaos. Sometimes I wonder how Tallah and I managed to survive.¡± Memories jumbled together. Knowledge poured in. The shape of a heart in hand, the way muscles contracted to push out blood, the smell and the smoothness of a perfect organ. How to cut it out and study its function. Observe. Take note. Commit to bone, then to memory. Repeat with next subject until baseline could be established. Commit to memory store. Continue. She was Anna. Born to the name Theala, heiress to mother Viostra and father Logovich, two names she¡¯d long scoured from active memory. Now they came back to torment her. More memories rushed in, bits and pieces arranging into position with the cadence of a sewing needle, moments of a long life fitting neatly together as if filling out a tapestry. ¡°There we go. That¡¯s looking good. Hen¡¯s gotten better at this.¡± That voice. Whose¡­ ¡°Christina Cytra?¡± Her own voice was an alien thing produced by no voice box. She thought the words and here they were, coming from her as if projected straight out of her chest. Though she had no chest¡­ ¡°I, yes,¡± the voice answered back. ¡°Don¡¯t panic. You are nearly through the grafting process.¡± ¡°I can¡¯t see. What have you done to me?¡± ¡°It will pass.¡± A different, bemused voice. ¡°Bianca Vel,¡± she recognized it easily. A painful memory arose, of being picked up bodily by invisible tethers, and then slammed three times down against a heavy oaken table. She could not recall whatever had sparked their row. After the first crash she¡¯d passed out, woke in time to fully feel the second, and screamed in bloody froth agony on the third. ¡°Ah, you still remember that little spat,¡± the voice of Bianca Vel said. ¡°I don¡¯t think I¡¯ve ever apologised properly for that. Your critique of my grimoire was really not worth that sort of excess.¡± Oh, Anna remembered. She remembered a great many indignities she¡¯d suffered in those formative years of Hoarfrost. And she remembered so many other things, all converging upon a terrifying moment. ¡°Tallah Amni!¡± The memory of fire came white-hot. Her death had been agonising, drawn-out, cruel. She had thought herself sealed away from the physical sensations of her bodies, but the memory lingered in this new alien form she was forced to inhabit. Every raw nerve, every dead daughter, every scorching lance and cut of the sword. Now she knew them all intimately. Sight hit her moments later. One heartbeat¡ªit wasn¡¯t her heartbeat she was hearing, but a far distant rumble¡ªshe was in darkness, and the next she saw. Two women loomed over her. One tall, straight-backed and square-shouldered, regarding her with deep-set black eyes. Dark hair fell down her shoulders, unkempt, half-curled. A mocking smile played across her lips and there were the lines of old laughter scoring her face. Christina Cytra. Older than Anna remembered her, by maybe half-a-century if not more. She wore the richly adorned robe of a Hoarfrost headmistress. And the other could be none but Bianca Vel. She looked just as Anna¡¯s memory of her: short, rake-thin, with hair impeccably tied up into a severe bun. Her green eyes seemed unnaturally beady without her spectacles, but the lips wore the same cruel mockery that she¡¯d always shown her peers at Hoarfrost. What was different were the clothes. Some Aztroan fashion by the looks of things, aping the empress¡¯s. Droll. ¡°Whatever that form is, please get it under control,¡± Christina Cytra said. She scrunched up her nose at Anna. ¡°We may not have innards anymore, but the sight of you makes me sick. I was never one for exposed viscera.¡± What? Anna¡¯s gaze couldn¡¯t find herself. What was the witch on about? Instead, she searched outward. Where was this place? Tall peaks resolved in her sight beyond the two crowding her. A mountain she didn¡¯t recognise, a storm crowning it with boiling clouds and unnatural flashes of lightning. Thunder rumbled and echoed among the gorges. Sometimes it screamed. They were at the base of some structure punching through the high mists and roiling clouds, a block of obsidian time-worn and weather-beaten. It was almost as alien to the scenery as the two women were. Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. The oppressive chant of the place seeped beneath her skin¡ª What skin? Again, she looked at herself and found nothing but discombobulation. ¡°If you focus, you can alter your shape into any you so prefer. It¡¯s one of the advantages of our condition,¡± Cytra suggested with no hint of mockery. Even her tone of voice was older, resembling that of one that spoke to a class of hopefuls. Zakovia came to mind and Anna groaned. ¡°Just so you know, we can see what you imagine. You will learn to keep it contained, but for now we can see every thought crossing your mind.¡± Cytra sniffed in annoyance. ¡°I am nothing like Zakovia. She ranked as a hedge witch at best. Sacking her was one of my greatest pleasures upon taking control of Hoarfrost. Do not insult me.¡± Even the way she complained¡­ ¡°Where am I?¡± It began raining. It did not touch her. Somehow, she should¡¯ve felt cold but didn¡¯t. ¡°Well, you¡¯re inside your new host¡¯s mindscape, dear. Welcome inside Tallah¡¯s head. It¡¯s generally much gloomier in here.¡± Vel smiled tight-lipped. ¡°We¡¯ve been looking forward to reuniting.¡± ¡°I haven¡¯t.¡± The ash eater¡¯s head¡­ naturally, this would be an abstractization of the whore¡¯s actual mindscape. A mountain crowned in storms? What significance did it carry? ¡°I can¡¯t see myself. Why?¡± ¡°We can see you, and it¡¯s gruesome,¡± Cytra said. ¡°Whatever shape you imagine for yourself to see, you will. Otherwise, your soul will maintain morphological memory and present as you knew yourself best.¡± She covered her mouth with a sleeve and narrowed her eyes in disgust. ¡°What we see is a pulpy mass of writhing organs. You were always overly fond of dissections.¡± ¡°Vivisections, actually. Much more interesting. More to learn from a live subject.¡± Regardless, she focused. Pale white hands materialised in front of her, well known and unblemished. Then the rest of her, the ascendant shape she had birthed decades past once she¡¯d excised the cancers from within. In some strange way, she felt human again. It had been a long time since she¡¯d been merely human. She wasn¡¯t certain she¡¯d missed it. ¡°You are not limited to just your body.¡± Cytra¡¯s dress flashed and azure blue replaced the rich ruby red. ¡°Feel free to dress as you may.¡± ¡°I¡¯m fine as is.¡± ¡°Exhibitionist? Never figured you for one.¡± ¡°Why am I here, Cytra?¡± Anna¡¯s patience frayed and the flood of fury she¡¯d cultivated rose to the fore of her thoughts, barely still under control. ¡°Why were we attacked? And how do I wring Amni¡¯s neck?¡± A storm cloud roiled above and thunder shook the vales of the mountain, screaming with an all-too-human voice. A world-shaking crack followed, then more screams; the sound of joints popping out of socket, ligaments snapping, and muscles tearing. More followed. Anna spun in place but there were not other people on the mountain, none that she could see. ¡°I volunteered for this,¡± Cytra replied. Her tone was sanguine, if she couldn¡¯t hear the screams on the wind. ¡°You were attacked because you were selected for great work. It took a lot of effort to even find you.¡± There was more to them than this. More to Cytra and to Vel. Anna could feel it. Oddly enough, there was more to Anna as well, parts of her that were distant and hidden, but close at hand when she brought her attention to bear. If she allowed her mind to expand, she would be whole again. Parts of her¡­ were fighting. Who? Or what? A feeling suggested she might be swallowed and lost in this other depth that was kept from her. The more strength she regained here, in the simulacrum of a bad memory, the deeper her own roots dug in search for the long dead meat. Beneath this illusion of reality, however, a leviathan swam. Something tugged at Anna¡¯s conscience. Cold seeped beneath her skin, though if she understood correctly¡­ that was impossible. An alien mind touched hers, fingers caressing the pools of knowledge still sorting themselves out. Without meaning to, she pushed back. Pain flared in her chest as the presence responded in kind. Ravenous. Aggressive. There was conscious will behind the assault and it would not be denied. For a flash, she couldn¡¯t understand how this other could ever be denied anything. Her sight lurched and she was strapped to a table. Screams ripped out of her. The joints breaking were hers as the rack¡¯s handle turned, click by click. Ice-cold water splashed across her chest and froze the breath in her chest. Another twist of the rack, another click, another joint shattered. Muscles ripped in her shoulders, their snaps sickening even to her ears. She could draw no air. Could not scream. But she could hate with a depth that no sane thought could plunge. In a flash, she was back with Cytra, gasping for breath, fallen to her knees. The women sat on rocks and regarded her as she lay sprawled on the ground. ¡°That is going to happen quite a bit until we balance out.¡± Cytra did not help her rise. Anna did not wish her to. ¡°You are going to experience some unpleasantness. Tallah tends to remember vividly. She forces herself to re-experience every detail of those days.¡± ¡°What balance?¡± Blood coated the back of her throat. No, that wasn¡¯t right. Intruding memories confused her own and forced their way in. She pushed back and tried to flee the attention. Cytra slapped her. She hadn¡¯t moved but¡­ How? The pain on her cheek stung very much like the real thing. ¡°It¡¯s natural to want to resist,¡± Cytra said, ¡°but I¡¯d much rather you didn¡¯t. We¡¯re in a deep enough mess without you adding to it. If at all possible, try and cooperate with what you¡¯re experiencing. We don¡¯t have the time we need to make this gentle.¡± The world shifted beneath her feet and Anna found herself sitting in an uncomfortable chair in an office she remembered well. Hoarfrost. The headmaster¡¯s office. Or, as she understood things, Cytra¡¯s office. Bianca Vel hadn¡¯t come with, though her presence felt close-by. She¡¯d been sat in exactly this chair too many times to count, always to be lectured by Zakovia for her academic pursuits. New volumes lined the walls of the narrow room. Without even looking, she knew they¡¯d be grouped together based on which of the disciplines they spoke of, obsessively catalogued and sorted. ¡°I am becoming tired of this, Cytra. Speak plainly.¡± What galled was how out-of-control everything was, and it seemed designed to keep her disoriented. Her power flowed back, illum converging in the hollow of her chest same as it always did. Soon she¡¯d be infused enough to show her old friend just how wide the gulf had grown between the girl she¡¯d been in school, and the woman she¡¯d become. Cytra merely sighed and ran a hand through her hair, an old, familiar gesture of when she had much to say and couldn¡¯t figure where to start. ¡°You¡¯re dead, Anna.¡± She offered a flat stare. ¡°Are you mental, woman? Of course I¡¯m dead. I remember my own killing.¡± ¡°And you¡¯ve been grafted onto Tallah¡¯s body. Same as myself and Bianca.¡± ¡°What I haven¡¯t figured is why.¡± ¡°The motives are rather complex, but the gist remains as I said before. You were selected. Same as Bianca was. We are preparing great work and need great power to achieve it.¡± She scoffed. ¡°Great work, Cytra?! I was doing great work! What Amni tore me from was¡ª¡± Why even bother explaining it to the oaf? It was lost, all of it. Given the time since she¡¯d been abducted, her Sanctum had either died or turned feral. Any regret would be wasted on something lost forever. She sucked in a breath through her teeth, striking for calm. ¡°As I recall, soul grafting doesn¡¯t quite work in this way,¡± she said instead, gesturing at their accommodations. ¡°You cannot graft unwilling souls. It always ends in uncontrollable mutation.¡± ¡°As far as our teachers understood this field, yes. But they understood very little.¡± They smirked at one another. That, at least, was true. What Anna had been taught by her mentors had been less than a drop in the well of what her knowledge later became. A waste of good years listening to old fools. ¡°I take it Amni doesn¡¯t aim to consume me, then? If you and Vel are both grafted as well, it means she¡¯s found a way to avoid the mutation?¡± She narrowed her eyes. ¡°Or is this you, Amni, playing some fool¡¯s trick?¡± Cytra¡¯s smile had no humour in it. ¡°I¡¯ve found the way, actually. She¡¯s implementing the results of my research. Tallah had a need, and I had a way.¡± Anna¡¯s eyebrows shot up. ¡°Yours? My, Cytra, what depravity have you succumbed to that you¡¯d willingly have dealt in this?¡± From Amni she would have expected this flavour of madness. The woman had been unhinged even as a girl, in obsessed pursuit of power regardless of costs. But Cytra had been made of sterner, more reasonable stuff. ¡°Thank you for the kind thought, but I had my reasons to break from convention. I wasn¡¯t keen on the end I was headed for.¡± She shrugged and tugged a loose strand of hair behind her ear. ¡°We do plenty of unsavoury things to stave off the inevitable. You¡¯d know. We¡¯ve seen your work.¡± Cytra held her. This was all a construct, Anna realised as she quested out with tendrils of power. It existed only around the witch, and was barely anything more than a shell with no substance. She¡¯d undo the sham by picking up any book from the shelves. Or, maybe not. Knowing Cytra, she¡¯d have had all of those memorised and reproduced here. Had she really read all of Krona¡¯s treatises? ¡°Tallah is on a mission. Her immediate goal is to kill Empress Catharina. Revenge, you know, the great motivator.¡± Anna tilted her head, ¡°Well that is positively boring. You destroyed my work for something as pedestrian as regicide? I¡¯d flog you if I knew how.¡± Her power slammed against Cytra¡¯s hold. Found herself rebuffed. Just barely. A bit more and she¡¯d break out. Steadily, her strength increased. Her captor did not flinch. ¡°That is the short-term goal, yes. Long-term¡­ how would you feel about killing a god?¡± Oh? Her breath hitched as she regarded her old friend. Cytra offered a polite smirk. Oh! Yes, that would be something interesting indeed. Maybe almost worth dying for. ¡°How? ¡­why are you smiling like that?¡± The way Cytra positively beamed at her was terrifying to behold. ¡°I¡¯m impressed. More than, even. Bianca was a calamity when we took her. It took us a near season to get her under control. Did not expect you¡¯d be so much more reasonable on first contact.¡± ¡°You know nothing about me, Cytra. You knew nothing back when we were girls, you know even less now.¡± The nerve of being compared to that trollop. There were gaps in the construct, enough for her to seep through. She found her new condition allowed for a great deal of illum control that had been beyond her means before, always limited by the quality of the flesh that filtered it. The more she tested herself, reaching for scattered shards of herself, the more unshackled she felt. Like blood seeping into a crack in the stone, a shard of herself slipped between the edges of Cytra¡¯s pretend-room and pushed. It shattered the entire illusion with barely an effort. A flash of Cytra still sitting at the base of that gargantuan, strange building on the mountain. Anna shot past her. If she understood anything, then the most alien thing in the landscape would be Amni herself, the structure a protected centre through which she could gain purchase into her enemy. Mutation was one risk of soul magic. The next was consumption. The strong would supersede the weak. Anna had no doubt she was more than a match for¡ª And they were back in the office. Anna slammed back in her seat and nearly toppled over with it. Cytra tucked a hair behind he ear and smiled sweetly, lines of laughter etching on her face. There was tea in cups between them, steam curling above the faintly-pink liquid. ¡°Still easily baited, I see. Tea?¡± Chapter 2.16.3: Accepting ghosts It wasn¡¯t a pleasant thing to watch, what Sil did to Tallah. He knew it was necessary in some way, though he couldn¡¯t understand why. Their explanations remained cryptic, bordering on absurd. Vergil left them alone after the first minutes, wandering away into the library, guided by Luna on where he could step and where he could go. There were stairs that went up high into the rafters and he ascended only to be away from Tallah¡¯s muffled screams. Something in him strained at hearing that and it¡­ it wasn¡¯t right. And it wasn¡¯t right that some part of him took pleasure in it, a vile feeling of serves you right that he agreed with and hated himself for. Best to be out of sight until it was done. Tallah would be alright. She would be! The biggest part of him latched onto this certainty and held on tight even as her screams echoed. For the time being it looked as if every spider in the library was down there, watching events. Except for Luna. ¡°You can go and watch too, if you want,¡± he said. A nook, three levels up, was free of any silk so he set his sword down and himself next to it. A statue stood vigil besides him, hands outstretched in the now familiar pose of begging for an unreachable sky. He drew his knees up to his chest and forced himself to meditate as Tummy had taught him. Luna ignored his suggestion, ¡°We see you are¡­ unwell? We¡­ help? Friend?¡± ¡°I¡¯m alright,¡± he lied. It hopped off his shoulder to stand before him, looking up into his eyes and seeming terribly confused. ¡°Friend of friend in pain. You¡­ accept?¡± No, he didn¡¯t. Easier to pretend he did. But no¡­ Tallah wasn¡¯t supposed to be in pain. Or to cry out. Or¡­ be anything but stalwart. Seeing her in that whimpering state took away the rock he¡¯d come to rely on. In the forest, it was the certainty that the sorceress couldn¡¯t be far that had driven him forward. He¡¯d gone into the dark beneath the earth and into the poisonous maze because she¡¯d been ahead, leading the way. Now she was in pain. Somehow that felt deeply wrong. ¡°It hurts me,¡± he admitted. This seemed to relax Luna for some reason. If the spiders communicated telepathically, could they lie to one another? What a concept. A species with no way of hiding their feelings. Not something to envy, I think. ¡°Luna, why isn¡¯t your false mother coming here?¡± ¡°Because Mother is here. Mother hides from her.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t understand. Didn¡¯t she eat your mother? Or did I misunderstand?¡± Luna drummed its front feet on the floor, stopped itself, and looked up. If a spider could look as if searching for words, it would¡¯ve been exactly that look. ¡°Mother is not one. Mother is many and is one. Mother is reborn when too old to fulfil duty. Last Mother is here, kept safe by Oldest. Mother cannot be reborn. Mother cannot be allowed to be reborn.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Because the false mother is still here. Because then the false mother would be in here and all would be lost.¡± They held onto their own small kind of hope. He knew enough of spiders¡ªwell, of bugs really¡ªto know that they laid eggs to reproduce. And these ones had saved one and kept it hidden from whatever was happening out there. Now it made more sense to him. If they could oust Erisa, then they could have their mother back to rebuild. Was that even possible? He sighed and pressed his forehead to his knees. One more thing he¡¯d be useless to help with, now that Tallah had taken away his strength. What did she expect him to do? Swing his sword and get disembowelled by one of those black beasts? ¡°Are you in there?¡± he whispered. ¡°In my head?¡± ¡°We are not in you. We are We. We communicate,¡± Luna answered crisply. Vergil only chuckled. They were wrong, Sil and Tallah. The dwarf wasn¡¯t in him. He couldn¡¯t be. Without the helmet he was only Vergil, and all he¡¯d amount to was another victim of Grefe. ¡°Argia, run diagnostic of internal memory. Tell me if something¡¯s wrong.¡± Vergil¡¯s head shot up as messages crowded his vision. Argia tried again for the quarantine and began running increasingly obscure routines for it. Pain flared up in the side of his head, as if something tried poking its way out. His heartbeat accelerated. ¡°I don¡¯t understand,¡± he spoke aloud. Luna moved closer, confused. He waved it off. A flash of smoke and fire. Two people¡ªhe knew them!¡ªpunching one another until their faces resembled ground up meat. Hissing and cheering surrounding the scene as they climbed back to their feet to the lashes of crops and whips, only to attack one another again in blind, mad fury. Acid climbed up Vergil¡¯s throat and scorched the backs of his teeth as he held himself from vomiting. Vergil did and the memory disappeared like a bad dream. Tallah had been right! He was contaminated. And the ghost spoke to him. The ghost was coherent!? How? ¡°What do you want?¡± Tallah would deal with him, Vergil was sure of that. He didn¡¯t know what the ghost had shown him, but he knew for certain he didn¡¯t want to see it again. Never again. This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. ¡°Vergil, where are you?¡± Sil¡¯s voice echoed up from below and he rushed to his feet, anxious to be away from there as if the ghost were waiting in the shadows of his nook. Its messages lingered in Argia¡¯s log, quickly disappearing under a deluge of notifications announcing containment failure. ¡°Up here,¡± he called over the railing. Spiders were moving back out into the web. ¡°Get down. I need your help.¡± He ran. Had something happened? The first thing he saw when rushing back out into the corridor was Tallah¡¯s bare bloodied back. Sil was tying off the last piece of string, her needle twisting around into a fine knot. The sorceress was shaking as if in a fit. ¡°Cloth of disinfectant. Cold water. Be ready to hold her. In that order.¡± Sil may as well have been taking stock of inventory for the coolness in her voice. ¡°On it.¡± Together they disinfected the ugly thing on Tallah¡¯s back, a complex weaving that looked like several geometric shapes contained within a circle of needlework. It looked like a dream-catcher. He¡¯d seen one in an Experience once. For¡­ nightmares? Sil washed her bloody hands and then proceeded to inspect her work, using the tip of the needle to adjust some minute details while Vergil held Tallah¡¯s shoulders to still her shaking. She was cold to the touch and much bonier than when she¡¯d been Tianna. ¡°Right. Fingers open,¡± Sil commanded. Tallah obeyed, her knotted fingers coming loose from the back of her head. Her fingernails had drawn blood where they¡¯d dug into the flesh. The hands barely moved aside and shook violently. ¡°Help her,¡± Sil commanded. He did. As gently as he could, he moved Tallah¡¯s hands aside from her neck and Sil got to work at disinfecting and washing the wounds. The sword¡¯s sheath that Tallah had used for a gag clattered to the floor. He could clearly see that she¡¯d almost bitten through the ebony. Her hands gripped his and squeezed so hard that he feared she¡¯d break his fingers. ¡°Tallah, it hurts.¡± ¡°She¡¯s out. Bear with it,¡± Sil said. The look in her eyes was sympathetic. ¡°You¡¯re a big boy. You can take it. She broke seven of my fingers the first time we did this.¡± And her eyes clearly added a better you than me. ¡°What happens now?¡± he groaned. ¡°Now we wait and see which of their heads¡¯ thicker.¡± Sil held a scalpel in hand and hovered it above the woven pattern on Tallah¡¯s back. The intent to stab couldn¡¯t be clearer. He cringed as the sorceress squeezed tighter on his hands, her entire body convulsing. Her head shot up, veins bulging across her temples and face, things writhing beneath the skin. Two indentations stretched around her throat, like hands squeezing there. She pulled on him, as if trying to move her hands into position to defend herself. ¡°Don¡¯t let her,¡± Sil warned. ¡°She mustn¡¯t react physically to the altercation. It will give the ghost more coherence and confuse her own soul. Keep her still.¡± ¡°Do the two of you¡ª¡± Vergil yanked back on Tallah¡¯s hands as they tried to pull him down. ¡°Do you ever hear yourselves?¡± He gritted his teeth and looked up into Sil¡¯s eyes as Tallah¡¯s were still screwed shut. At least Sil had the grace to look apologetic. ¡°It is what it is, bucket-head. You¡¯re doing great so far.¡± Tallah wasn¡¯t quite as strong now as she¡¯d been back in Valen. She wasn¡¯t infused. Without her power, she was just human¡­ just like him. Vergil held on tight and awaited for whatever was happening to resolve itself. Moments passed into minutes and then into the better part of a bell before the grip on his hands slackened. Tallah opened her eyes a fraction and her lips creased up into a smile. Vergil could see a cracked tooth in that smile. ¡°I have her,¡± she said, grinning madly. ¡°She¡¯s subdued. Christi¡¯s keeping her occupied.¡± Sil¡¯s knife hovered closer to the threads. ¡°Your name,¡± she asked. ¡°Tallah Amni.¡± ¡°Full name.¡± ¡°Tallah Amni, born of mother Crelli Amni and father Andro of Sentry¡¯s Holding.¡± The knife hovered away slightly. ¡°Your mission?¡± ¡°Death to Catharina. Revenge for my sister. Destruction of the god Ort.¡± ¡°Let go, Vergil. It¡¯s her.¡± Destruction of a¡­ of a god? It was Vergil¡¯s turn to gape at the healer, as if he hadn¡¯t quite heard what he¡¯d heard. That¡­ that was the goal? ¡°Let go, boy. I don¡¯t fancy you quite that much to hold your hand,¡± Tallah said and pulled her fingers out of his balled up fists. ¡°Good grip there. Any broken fingers?¡± He shook his head as his hands opened. ¡°No. No, I don¡¯t think so.¡± ¡°Good. Help me up.¡± Sil handed her a healing draught and Tallah downed it. It didn¡¯t stop the bleeding on her back, but closed the neck wounds and sealed the tooth. Tallah raised a hand, still naked. Vergil turned to avoid the sight, but his attention was captured by¡­ blood moving up the arm to pool into her palm. It rose into a spike that hovered just above her fingers. ¡°So, Christina¡¯s managing?¡± Sil asked. ¡°Near thing. Needed a bit of help, but her will is stronger in the end. She and Anna had always butted heads, so I guess she knew what she was getting into.¡± A smug grin flashed across her face and melted away like never there. ¡°How¡¯s this going to help us?¡± ¡°I can see what she knows. For now, this early in the bind, she can¡¯t protect herself from my control.¡± She tightened her fist and the blood spike became a constellation of smaller ones hovering around her fingers. They spread out in a widening sphere. ¡°Wish I could show you what kind of control she can muster, Sil. It¡¯s incredible. Maddening.¡± The needles reformed into spheres and then into small, floating eyeballs. Tallah staggered and the blood splashed on the floor. ¡°Bugger me, that¡¯s not going to work,¡± she groaned. ¡°How did she do this?¡± ¡°So, not full control.¡± Sil¡¯s tone remained neutral, unimpressed. ¡°No. Some of the things she knows are intrinsically tied to a physical form I can¡¯t possess. Won¡¯t be able to replicate those. Turns out she had several brains only for controlling all the eyes we¡¯ve seen in the sanctum. Fancy that.¡± She lifted the blood up again and formed into two larger eyeballs and floated them closer to her. ¡°Disorientating,¡± she groaned again as she brought them close. ¡°Can you get dressed, please?¡± Vergil pleaded. He¡¯d ignored the more lurid messages from the dwarf, but now it was getting unbearable. ¡°Am I bothering you, boy?¡± Tallah asked. She smirked but drew on her armour just the same, floating eyes turned back to blood and then absorbed into her back wound. ¡°It¡¯s uncomfortable.¡± ¡°Excuse me, then.¡± ¡°You weren¡¯t so concerned in Valen with Tianna,¡± Sil needled him. She grinned evilly. ¡°Tianna was closer to my age. Tallah¡¯s old.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll take that as a compliment and not shove a blood needle up your nostrils.¡± Tallah squirmed as she drew on her coat, flinching when she tightened the clasps. ¡°This smarts like you can¡¯t imagine. And it¡¯s Anna doing it. She could deaden the pain, but guards the information. Petty revenge and all that.¡± ¡°You¡¯d do worse if you could and you know it.¡± Sil stifled a yawn. ¡°You¡¯ve done pettier things for less reason.¡± ¡°Guilty. Nonetheless, she¡¯s putting up the strangest kind of resistance I¡¯ve ever seen. Pettiness is just the tip.¡± ¡°Are we going to save the girl now?¡± Vergil asked. He shuffled from foot to foot, trying to ignore the increasingly lurid messages he was seeing. Horvath was suggesting where to stab the sorceress to kill her before she could react. Four ways of doing it. ¡°That depends,¡± Tallah answered. She turned to the Oldest, who was the only spider left near them. The rest had returned to their work, curiosity sated. ¡°Creature, let¡¯s discuss my terms.¡± Chapter 2.16.4: A bad plans still a plan... Vergil opened his mouth to protest the idea. A glare from Sil shut it for him. The Oldest deflated slightly as its eyes swung from Tallah to Sil and back again. ¡°You go back on your decision?¡± ¡°I haven¡¯t given you my decision. Not yet.¡± She thumbed in Sil¡¯s direction, ¡°She can go and do whatever she pleases. I''m not her. I haven¡¯t decided if you¡¯re worth preserving or not.¡± She turned and gave a long look to the library. ¡°Whatever¡¯s grown in there should be preserved. But if I leave you its caretakers, or I help the girl, remains to be seen.¡± ¡°Will we need to convince every one of your people? Are we to be weighed always?¡± ¡°Yes. If you ever get out into the wider world, you¡¯ll never be loved as you are, not on sight. So, what do you offer for my help?¡± ¡°What do you desire?¡± Tallah grinned. ¡°The healing water Sil mentioned. And time in this library of yours.¡± Words seemed to sting the Oldest as it drew back from her, palps raised. Its bristly hair stood on end. ¡°You cannot disturb the Knowing. You cannot break it!¡± Tallah shrugged and winced, hand reaching up to her shoulder. ¡°I do not aim to disturb. You may hold the books yourselves. I only mean to copy some of them.¡± That calmed down the Oldest, its prickly hair smoothing over. Luna piped up, ¡°We can give you Knowing. One bite gifts Knowing to those with no Knowing.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll pass. I don¡¯t need your understanding of your¡­ knowing. I need my own. Deal or not, spider?¡± ¡°We consent to the exchange. Save us from the false mother, and we will give you anything within our power to give.¡± ¡°Good. Sil, I need a tonic. You two get yourselves ready to march out.¡± ¡°You¡¯ll need to do without. I can¡¯t channel.¡± Tallah¡¯s eyebrows shot up. ¡°What do you mean you can¡¯t channel?¡± ¡°Exactly what it sounds like. Something¡¯s blocking me. Every time I try, I feel sick. I can¡¯t pull in illum.¡± She shrugged. ¡°Was hoping a purger from your store would clear it up, but it did nothing. I need to take the stud off Vergil and can¡¯t at the moment.¡± ¡°Then it wasn¡¯t your trail I was following? Odd.¡± ¡°What trail?¡± Sil¡¯s turn to look confused. ¡°There¡¯s an illum leak out there. It brought me to you. Strong stuff.¡± ¡°Not me, no.¡± She turned to Vergil and gave him a long look. ¡°Did the trail lead you exactly to us?¡± ¡°A bloody, high-up balcony. From there to some clash of spiders. And then a staircase leading to that wonky forest.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t like how you¡¯re looking at me, Sil.¡± Vergil squirmed under the healer¡¯s stare. It promised dissection in his near future. ¡°Stay here, Sil.¡± Tallah signalled for him to join her and they set out among the shelves. ¡°Spider, tell your siblings to clear a path. I mean to head up.¡± They scrambled out of the way as she led them several stories up the stairs. The library had a near infinite quality to it, as if there would always be more shelves and more stairs to climb. Tallah went up briskly, as if she weren¡¯t tired at all. ¡°This should be far enough, I¡¯m guessing. Hold still.¡± ¡°Wh-what for?¡± ¡°So I can kiss you.¡± She smiled sweetly, then cackled when he shuddered. ¡°Right. It¡¯s not you. I don¡¯t feel anything coming from you.¡± ¡°I¡­ I could¡¯ve told you that.¡± ¡°Could you, though?¡± She shrugged and headed back. ¡°Last I checked you couldn¡¯t feel illum. I assume nothing¡¯s changed in that regard.¡± ¡°I think the dwarf¡¯s got in my head. Does it count?¡± She shrugged and had the good grace of not reminding him she¡¯d been right. Still, her dismissal of the thing made it easier to accept it as a constant presence now. As they walked back, she pulled one of his axes out of her rend and tossed it to him. ¡°Have the ghost be useful if it¡¯s loitering about.¡± And that was that. No other questions. No concerns. The rock was back even as blood seeped into the back of her shirt. If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. ¡°Why¡¯s your forehead bleeding?¡± Tallah asked when rejoining Sil and the Oldest. ¡°Bugger. Not again,¡± Sil pressed a hand to the cut and smudged blood. ¡°Thought this cleared up.¡± ¡°She received a message from her goddess,¡± Vergil put in while Sil launched a stream of angry cussing that made his ears heat up. ¡°Said she¡¯s watching and coming.¡± ¡°You got marked?¡± Tallah looked more carefully at the blushing healer. ¡°Yes. I don¡¯t know why and I don¡¯t know what it meant. Kept getting some strange pulses since. They hurt.¡± ¡°Never heard of your goddess descending on one of you in the field. I thought punishment generally meant you¡¯d get struck dead or some such.¡± Sil shrugged and threw her hands in the air, ¡°I don¡¯t understand anything of what happened since we got in here. I just can¡¯t channel.¡± Tallah¡¯s eyes narrowed. She flinched back a moment later as if struck. ¡°It¡¯s in here. You¡¯re the source. Pulling next to you is like dipping a hand in molten rock.¡± ¡°Is it poisonous?¡± ¡°Far from it. Dense more like. Intense. Like elend coffee compared to human.¡± She raised a hand and opened a small rend to extract a cloth bag from inside. ¡°No tonic means I¡¯ll make due with coffee. Where can I boil some water in here?¡± One of the spiders provided copper mugs from some hidden alcove above. They smelled of something long-ago turned to dust. Tallah and Sil continued their conversation from earlier while Vergil washed and filled their mugs. He objected to some of what he was hearing, especially with regards to Ludwig, but couldn¡¯t find the heart to voice his concerns. Yes, Ludwig had done something monstrous. His abandonment of Tallah wouldn¡¯t endear his case to either woman. No matter what sort of defence Vergil considered for the old man, this betrayal of their trust wasn¡¯t something even he could forgive or understand. More and more he found himself coming back to Tallah¡¯s polarising way of thinking. He knew one thing for certain: the spiders deserved to live. Yes, they¡¯d done something terrible. But they weren¡¯t terrible in themselves. Luna wasn¡¯t. The Oldest wasn¡¯t. Maybe the library ones weren¡¯t either. Or the ones that were dying in that pit down there, in pain and fear of something much more terrifying than them. How could he help? Sil had chewed him out about interfering, but he found himself talking when handing out the coffee. ¡°Can¡¯t you take the soul of the girl?¡± he asked Tallah. ¡°Like¡­ you did with the one on your back?¡± She shook her head while heating the mugs. Steam curled in the air, and the aroma of fresh coffee drove away some of the old scents. ¡°I need her given name and parentage. And I need to get close to where her core self is. Who knows how she¡¯s spread out among the spiders.¡± ¡°We have her name.¡± She waggled a finger. ¡°We don¡¯t. Egia is a calling. The School hands new names to its healers when taking them in. Erisa is, likely, not her birth name either.¡± She gave Sil a long look and then went on, ¡°In all honesty, I agree the idea could work. Probably. I have two more gems and am willing to sacrifice one for an Egia¡¯s soul.¡± ¡°Wasn¡¯t the ability genetic?¡± Sil tied a wad of gauze against her wound to staunch the persistent bleeding. It refused closing even after downing an accelerant. ¡°I don¡¯t think it¡¯s got anything to do with any mindscape.¡± ¡°Fine bloody question. It was never studied properly. But, even if it is¡­¡± Tallah grinned and stuck out her tongue. It forked at the end and wiggled. ¡°We have a blood mage among us.¡± Sil nearly spat out her coffee. ¡°Don¡¯t do that. One more time and I promise you won¡¯t even know the name of the poison I¡¯ll douse you with. Bloody gross.¡± It got a cackle out of Tallah. ¡°So¡­ what are we doing then? Just kill every spider infected?¡± Vergil went on, sitting with them on the bare rock. ¡°Pretty much. I have a theory regarding the girl¡¯s body, but I need to reach it. And I need the Ikosmenia to confirm it. All in all, Ludwig first. Body second. A lot of fire third or in-between.¡± Tallah downed her entire steaming mug. ¡°And we¡¯d best get to it fast.¡± ¡°Why are you grinning like that?¡± Half of Tallah¡¯s face was stuck in an ugly half-rictus, teeth showing clenched. She massaged it with the heel of her palm until back to normal. ¡°It¡¯s going to keep happening. Christina¡¯s got Anna subdued, but the witch is strong. Subdued or not, she¡¯s still trying to wiggle free. At one point I¡¯ll need to deal with her in truth before she breaks out of confinement.¡± She cracked her knuckles and rolled her shoulders. ¡°Let¡¯s get those doors open and move out. No time serves like the now.¡± ¡°I¡¯m useless at the moment,¡± Sil said. ¡°May as well go on without me.¡± ¡°Not happening. Move your ass. You¡¯re my secret battery right now.¡± Tallah threw Vergil a grin. And a wink? ¡°I used that right, yes?¡± He laughed. She was so calm about heading into imminent danger. By her words, the creature down there had her dead to rights. Now, she looked forward to facing it again, grinning like a fool. And what of the fucking girl?! We¡¯ll figure it out when we get to it seemed like poor planning to him. No matter. If she didn¡¯t mind their chances of survival, why would he? He got to his feet, stretched and popped his joints, and accepted the vials Sil handed out. ¡°If you get bit, drink the green one immediately,¡± she said. ¡°If you get hurt, the amber. I¡¯d give you a flask, but you don¡¯t know the quantity so you¡¯re likely to poison yourself with it. Be careful with these. Tallah already broke some, and we¡¯re on the back end of our stock.¡± He stowed the flasks well, as protected as they were likely to be on someone that was going to end up fighting eight-legged monsters. No offence intended to those present, of course. Luna climbed up to his shoulder and gripped tight. ¡°We will guide. We will help if we can.¡± Help with what? Tallah was going by instinct. Solve what comes when it comes. It¡¯ll all be fine. It hadn¡¯t so far, but why let technicalities slow them down? A bad plan was still a plan. Except they had no plan, bad or otherwise. How lucky he was... Chapter 2.17.1: An arm for a head The doors ground open with enough noise to signal their emergence to every corner of Grefe, if not to Valen itself. It made for a sinking feeling in Vergil¡¯s stomach. Part of him expected the creature to be right outside, waiting to be let in, like some monster of horror Experiences. It wasn¡¯t. They walked onto the platform outside and the spiders went to work at lowering the bridge. Vergil walked to the edge and looked over the city and the strange forest, searching for any sign of the monster. None were visible. Thin wisps of smoke drifted above the canopy of trees in several places, but nothing more. ¡°Ludwig¡¯s made a bumble of things,¡± Tallah observed. ¡°Wonder if it¡¯s got him. That¡¯s going to make getting my mask back a pain in the arse.¡± Some spiders lowered themselves to the platform, come from the city, and skittered over to the Oldest. A conversation happened, made up of a kind of dance and palp waving. ¡°The false mother¡¯s hunter is prowling the feeding ground,¡± Luna translated. ¡°It has the scent of the other human, but it has not captured it. It is¡­ playing.¡± ¡°I would too, if I wore her boots,¡± Tallah said. ¡°Leave me behind for dead? I would do worse than toy with him if I had a chance. Imbecile.¡± ¡°We¡¯re going to save him, right?¡± Vergil asked. Commotion erupted in the forest. A blast ripped trees and vegetation off the ground, raising an inferno. A keening wail went into the air, a sound resembling, to Vergil¡¯s ears, a distorted fire alarm. Rain followed, falling sharply from the ceiling. It originated among the crystal veins in tidy cones. ¡°Sprinklers?¡± he asked, eyes wide at the spectacle. ¡°Fire is forbidden in the feeding ground. Fire brings water and noise,¡± Luna answered. ¡°And now he¡¯s sodden and hunted. Serves him right. Where is the chamber with the girl¡¯s body, creat¡­ Luna?¡± Tallah asked. Luna spun on Vergil¡¯s shoulder and aimed a leg at the far part of the forest. ¡°There, among the tallest of the trees. We must cross the feeding grounds. Hunters will be agitated. It is dangerous now.¡± Tallah laughed. ¡°Right. He¡¯ll head to the girl so we¡¯ll head him off there. Hold on, you two.¡± Her feet lifted off the ground. So did Vergil¡¯s and Sil¡¯s. ¡°Be gentl¡ª¡± Sil¡¯s words rose into a wail as Tallah launched them over the edge into the maw of the abyss. Vergil whooped. They fell and air rushed by his ears in a roar before the sorceress pulled forward and the fall turned into a horizontal flight at insane speed. Rain water splashed their faces as they entered the downpour. The forest canopy slapped at his ankles as they dipped. Tallah pulled them sideways sharply and Sil careened into his arms. He grabbed onto her as a huge brown spider leapt from the forest and narrowly missed them, it¡¯s clawed legs closing on empty air. In heartbeats they were across the entire green expanse, slowing as the wall came into view until they hung weightless above the forest¡¯s crown. The rain was icy cold and its sound was the roar of a waterfall. ¡°Where, spider?¡± Tallah asked as she brought them closer to the ground, hidden among the leaves. ¡°Left,¡± it answered. ¡°We are near. Guardians will be waiting.¡± She set them down on the moss-covered forest floor, their arrival squelching. Vergil sank down to his ankles in the runny mud. ¡°Sword out,¡± Tallah ordered. ¡°We¡¯ve a fight ready for us.¡± Even through the cold downpour, things moved in the underbrush. One of the strange deer-like creatures skidded to a halt paces away, regarded them with undulating tentacles, and bolted sideways. Mud splashed in its wake. It wasn¡¯t trying to escape them. A large brown spiders lumbered into view moments later. It too regarded them as it squeezed among the trees. Through the rain it looked much larger than Vergil remembered. A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. ¡°It is uncertain,¡± Luna said. ¡°Food or not food.¡± ¡°Convince it to be on its way,¡± Tallah said. She ignited twin fireballs, flames turning the downpour to steam. ¡°We cannot. We are food to it.¡± ¡°Really?¡± Vergil¡¯s mouth dropped open. Spiders ate one another. Why? ¡°Your species is weird, Luna.¡± ¡°It is not of We. It does not recognise We as of it.¡± It sprang forward, a blur through the sizzling rain. Sil grabbed Vergil by the collar and yanked him back from the swipe of the spider¡¯s front legs, their tips turned into hooked claws. ¡°Head in the fight, boy,¡± she growled. ¡°Eyes on the monster. You¡¯re supposed to be guarding me.¡± Her tone whipped him into action, all fear banished. Tallah¡¯s opening salvo caught the spider head on with twin booms of detonation. It barely flinched on impact, dashing through the flames to snap and swipe at them. Its carapace looked as thick as armour plating. ¡°There is easier prey in the forest.¡± Vergil dove under the long reach of a claw. He rolled through the mud, came up to the beast¡¯s side, and brought the sword around in a flashing arc. Its edge clanged off the armour without even leaving a scratch. Tallah loosed fireflies, peppering it with popping blasts. She aimed for the eyes and was rewarded with bursts of ichor. It showered Vergil in bits of cornea. A myriad other eyes opened up across its body and the creature roared its deep thrum. It ducked down, pulled back, and sprang on Vergil, opening impossible jaws filled with finger-thick fangs. A human head would¡¯ve fit neatly inside. Vergil screamed as the spider bore down, too fast to dodge again. It stopped midway through the rush. Legs pumped, threw mud and leaves, dug deep scores in the earth. Jaws snapped with hollow, useless thunks. Tallah had it! She floated just behind it, arms outstretched as if holding the creature by invisible reins. Its front legs lifted off the ground, squirming uselessly paces away from Vergil. With a heave, Tallah rose higher and the beast slid backwards, rising as well to expose a black, soft abdomen. Vergil charged in among the flurry of claws. He reversed his blade, led in with the pointy end, and drove it into the space between the spider¡¯s segments, adding all his weight into the stab. Hot, stinking ichor squirted over his hands and the spider screamed a low, pained roar of anguish, less noise and more mental assault. None of the eloquence of its smaller cousins, just a beast¡¯s bellow of pain and anger. Vergil braced a foot against the joint of a lower leg and wrenched the sword sideways, shoulder muscles burning with the effort as he cut along the separating line. Tallah lifted it vertical and tipped it back with a splash of mud. Vergil stabbed down again, plunging the sword through gaps in the armour, again and again as the spider tried to buck him off. A whistle from above had him jumping clear of the squirming mass. Stumbling, he ran beyond its thrashing range. He glanced at Tallah through the rain. Before the spider rolled over, she brought her hands together against her chest and pulled outward as if meaning to rip her coat open. Instead, the spider roared. It went from low thrum to keening, echoing wail, real sounds mixing in with the mental assault. Its legs flailed in panic, splashed in the churning mud, knocked over the willowy trees. Its wail only increased in volume and its limb outstretched and trembled. Finally, it ripped in two right across the segment Vergil had wounded. Ichor and pale organs erupted out of it, spilling in a great, horrifying mess that oozed out of its body. Its legs still shivered and twitched as rain sizzled on the exposed viscera. Something like an yellow heart spilled out of the top cavity, throbbed three more times, and finally stilled. Several paces away from the scene, Tallah landed heavily and swayed on her feet. She let out a long breath. ¡°That took some strain.¡± She bent down, hands to knees, and breathed with relief. Vergil shook white gore off his blade, skirted around the cooling corpse, and went to stand near the sorceress. ¡°Is it dead?¡± Legs still twitched and curled inward, the creature tried hopelessly to turn over. It let out a soft, rasping mewling as it expired. Tallah¡¯s arm shot out as Vergil took one more step closer, and he felt himself rammed in the ribs as if hit by one of Valen¡¯s carts. Air burst out of his chest as the rest of him sailed through the air and landed badly, sword thrown clear out of his hand. Through the loud thunder of his own heartbeat hammering against his eardrums, and the confusion of the moment, he heard Sil crying out his name. He had no idea how he came back to his feet, head spinning, eyes unfocused. Through the haze of rain, he saw the sorceress next to the corpse. Red blood spattered the white entrails. Tallah¡¯s outstretched arm ended just above the elbow. White bone shone amid a sea of red blood that squirted in time with the sorceress¡¯s heartbeat. ¡°Such a pity. I wanted that one dead,¡± a familiar voice crooned from the canopy of the trees. ¡°The false mother¡¯s hunter is come.¡± Luna¡¯s voice came to him tiny and afraid. It had clung on to him through the entire fight so far. ¡°All is lost.¡± Chapter 2.17.2: Conduit Blood, bones, and bile, it bloody hurt to lose an arm! Tallah would¡¯ve screamed if her focus wasn¡¯t all funnelled into not fainting from the pain. An effort of will banished it¡­ somewhere, and sealed her off from its echoes. Anna¡¯s knowledge guided illum through her veins to staunch the bleeding and ward off shock. Knees trembling and teeth grinding, she swung her eyes to the source of the voice. It would¡¯ve cut Vergil lengthwise in two if she hadn¡¯t reacted. It had been a tremor in the air, Anna¡¯s instinct and Bianca¡¯s reaction that had saved the boy¡¯s life. Pity about the arm. Don¡¯t worry about an arm, a whisper slipped past Christina¡¯s hold. You can always make a new one. Provided she survived what came next. The Erisa thing slithered down from the trees. If the spider had been frightening, this was so much worse. ¡°Sister,¡± it spoke through mouths ill-suited to the task. It slurred and garbled the word. ¡°You ran from me. That wasn¡¯t kind of you.¡± It was a spider only in general shape. Its limbs were tangles of human arms. Its claws fingers fused together, bleeding where bones stuck out, sharpened to points. All its eyes were human, all the same, all blue. Human heads crowned its front segment, ghastly in their malignancy. Beautiful creature, a thought intruded. Such a will to survive and adapt! How does it move? How does it live? Tallah¡¯s eyes changed and, for a few heartbeats, she saw within the creature. Mutated muscles and organs that should have never fit a spider. Bones propping up what should have been hollow chitin limbs. Brain and nerves. A rib cage protecting an overlarge heart. If not for the adrenaline surge, she would¡¯ve vomited at the sight. But the beast could be killed! She shook her head as the creature heaved itself through the mud, ignoring her. It went for Sil. ¡°Come, sister. I have need of you,¡± it droned in a voice too sweet to fit it. ¡°What for?¡± Sil stepped out from her hiding place and stood her ground in front of the advance. ¡°What do you need from me? How can I help you?¡± It laughed. Or, Tallah assumed the noise to have been a kind of laugh. She forced her remaining hand away from her stump and lit a flame. The bleeding was stemmed. ¡°No help needed. I have all but achieved my revenge.¡± It extended human hands from its limbs, wax-white fingers forming atop slender arms that grew out of the spider legs. Long fingers beckoned Sil to approach. ¡°You can make me human again. I have tried to force them into becoming human, but they never will be. No matter how many times I make and unmake them, they will only ever be beasts.¡± Right. That was sufficient crazy. Despite Anna¡¯s new inner voice trying to goad her into watching the whole thing play out, Tallah attacked. Three fireballs fired in quick succession smashed against invisible barriers as she expected they would. It spun on her, angry eyes pinning her before the earth opened and the rain split. Bianca carried her sideways, away from the blooming barriers. ¡°Vergil,¡± Tallah called out. The boy was on his feet and stumbling towards the monster. ¡°Grab Sil and run. I need you both out of my way.¡± He turned and obeyed, moving at a quick jog to grab Sil¡¯s arm. Why was she gawking like a stupid hen? More fireballs smashed against walls. It hadn¡¯t been a fluke before. It saw her attacks and reacted with lightning-quick reflexes, each vector of attack closed off. She would be boxed in soon enough. Bianca¡¯s mobility wouldn¡¯t amount to anything the moment the thing realised how easily it could deny her. An Iluna would¡¯ve had her dead to rights from the first volley. Pain bled through her focus. Her arm demanded attention but she had none to spare. Or¡­ She formed a plan through the rush of dodging invisible slashes. She had a heartbeat¡¯s warning before the barrier formed, enough for enhanced eyes to see the vague outline in the rain water and move away. Tallah drew on Anna¡¯s knowledge even as the ghost squirmed inside, curiosity piqued. Two drops of blood became eyes and she fought the dizzying disorientation of seeing herself from the back of her own head. She allowed the arm to bleed. The creature moved like only a fever dream could, a flowing mass of meat and bones. It trampled trees under its great bulk, slithered and crawled on its fat belly, extended its limbs and swiped for her. Tallah lost more blood with each dodge, leaving it behind into the ground as they circled the clearing of their destruction, the corpse of the hunter spider kept between them. Whatever she fired, Erisa¡¯s creature saw and countered. From the front, the back and above. Flame lances washed off its hide harmlessly, only managing to turn the rain to thick steam. Tallah tired and stumbled, head light with blood loss. Pain climbed into dizzying, terrifying levels. She¡¯d been hurt before, but this¡­ Whatever you mean to do, do it fast. I am nearly spent, Bianca warned. We cannot stay on the backslide like this. It should be enough. She hoped it would be enough. ¡°Why do you intervene, sorceress?¡± Erisa called out. ¡°I have no business with you. You are not fit for my needs. You could have just gone on your way and not bothered me.¡± She had the creature where she needed it, in the dead centre of the trampled clearing. Time to test. Tallah reached inside and found Anna¡¯s ghostly form entwined with Christina¡¯s, held tight in spite of its protests. Her conscience touched the other and drew out what she had envisioned. Bone and blood spikes erupted out of the soil beneath and punched up into Erisa¡¯s abdomen. Some were stopped by barriers. Most went through. The girl wailed as Tallah pushed her spears deep within that mutated form, bones growing atop bones and exploding to shards inside to turn organs to tattered pulp. She pushed as much of Anna¡¯s strength as she dared into this attack and followed up with Bianca¡¯s control. She stuck tethers inside the gaps her spears gouged and¡­ Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. And she would¡¯ve pulled the girl in two had the forest not exploded with light. To the side, like a sun cresting the horizon, light burst blindingly from the undergrowth. It distracted her for exactly one heartbeat, and she lost control of the weave. It was enough. Erisa twisted free of her grasp and slammed a limb the size of a tree trunk against Tallah¡¯s chest. It sent her flying to crash among the trees. Consciousness dropped away into black night. Woke to the embrace of the wet earth, landing painfully on her side and digging a trench through the mud. Something screamed in the forest. Someone. Sil! Bianca righted them before her own addled mind had a chance to figure up from down, left from right. Left, Bianca urged. Other left. Move. Something¡¯s happening. ¡°What gave you the idea?¡± Tallah spat out. She could barely breathe for the pain in her chest, and the blood loss had sapped whatever other strength she relied on. This was too much but she endured, pushed herself forward and forced closed the many bleeding wounds. She was wasting blood. Disgraceful, Anna¡¯s voice chided. It took preciously long moments to make her way to the source of the light. It burned with bright white incandescence. ¡°Tallah!¡± Vergil¡¯s voice called to her. Hands seized her shoulders and steadied her. She squinted against the miniature sun writhing on the forest floor and turned her head to look into Vergil¡¯s eyes. ¡°What happened?¡± she asked. ¡°I don¡¯t know. It¡¯s Sil. We-we-we were running. A-and then¡ª¡± Sil¡¯s screamed from the centre of the conflagration, whatever it was. It rose higher and higher in intensity and seemed to rip out of her in sheets of peeling suffering. Tallah shook free of Vergil¡¯s hands and rushed forward, urgency giving her fresh strength. At least Erisa had been wounded. If the creature attacked now¡­ Careful. There¡¯s a torrent of that burning illum here. Bianca gasped inside her. Don¡¯t pull in. Don¡¯t even touch it. It¡¯s¡­ I don¡¯t know what it is. She raised a hand to shield her eyes but it was useless. The light shone so powerfully that it engulfed her. Even with eyes tightly shut, she still found it painful. What new manner of horror was this? Another cry joined Sil¡¯s screams. Erisa. Somewhere to the side, unseen. If the Egia had a glimpse of this scene, she would be blinded in all ways of seeing. Knowing it hadn¡¯t run off sent Tallah¡¯s heart racing. ¡°Do you have your sword?¡± She had to shout for her voice to carry above Sil¡¯s wailing. Vergil answered from right behind her, ¡°In hand.¡± ¡°Be ready. She¡¯s here. I couldn¡¯t kill her.¡± Moving closer to the source was like wading through chest-high water, the tide of power unleashed forming a nearly physical barrier. It flowed through her the same as the poison had flowed in the labyrinth, burning against her skin, its touch like acid. With a snap, the light vanished. Blobs of colour covered the world when Tallah opened her eyes. She groped blindly forward for heartbeats, panicked. Had something happened to Sil? She couldn¡¯t see clearly. Anna¡¯s knowledge forced a change in her eyes and the world resolved into black and white shapes. Colours bled back in and she realised she¡¯d been going the wrong way. Her head whipped one way, then the other and finally found Sil¡¯s splayed form. The healer was collapsed on the forest floor, mouth wide open, eyes rolled up into their sockets, back arched into a near-crescent shape. A woman loomed over her. Tallah blinked again, not trusting the sight. A girl? As white as chalk. Hair cropped short. Naked. Her back turned. ¡°Sil?¡± she called out. Got no answer back but for the woman turning in place and pinning red eyes upon her. Too large for that small face, human and yet not quite. Not at all even. Tallah lashed out with a heat lance, panic and instinct driving her hand before her head caught up. It struck the woman straight in the forehead and splintered against her skin, the white-hot beam guttering out with whiplash sharpness. A gesture from the newcomer forced Tallah¡¯s hand up to the ceiling. She couldn¡¯t move it! She could barely breathe, caught in some new weave that held her as surely as if she¡¯d been chained to the walls of Aztroa¡¯s dungeon. ¡°Where am I?¡± the woman asked. She looked around, slightly perplexed, a dazed expression flashing across her not-quite human face. The voice was old, much too old for the visage. ¡°Ah. Interesting.¡± ¡°What do I do?¡± Vergil asked from Tallah¡¯s side. ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± He sounded on the edge of hysteria. Tallah tried to answer him but all of her was locked in place. She couldn¡¯t even draw breath. She cycled through options. Her furnace still burned, illum coursing through her veins, but no amount of straining could force away the holding weave. The girl strode forward from Sil. Tallah¡¯s head was wrenched forward, her gaze lowered to meet the girl¡¯s red eyes. Their intensity burned. ¡°Ah. There are¡­ four in here? Interesting.¡± The girl smiled, pressing two cold fingers to Tallah¡¯s forehead. ¡°I apologise for this, but I require information.¡± Vergil sprang forward, sword moving for the girl. He froze in place, still and silent as a statue. ¡°You¡¯re here too. Good. Patience a moment. I will get to you.¡± Tallah felt something reaching inside her to grab hold of her mind and squeeze. Bianca and Christina squeezed right back and the ghostly touch was flung off. The girl pulled her hand away as if stung. I don¡¯t know what you are, but you will not touch this mind, Christina spat as if the girl could hear her. ¡°Lovely defence. Good job,¡± the girl answered, massaging one hand with the other. A flicker of amusement played across her face. ¡°Beautiful work. I must say I am impressed. You will need to show me how you did this.¡± She paused and regarded Tallah as if expecting an answer. ¡°Ah, you can¡¯t breathe.¡± Tallah dropped to her knees, released suddenly. Every muscle in her screamed in protest. ¡°Where am I, sorceress?¡± She raised her head and couldn¡¯t disobey the voice. ¡°Grefe,¡± she answered and wished she could bite out her traitorous tongue. Her anger boomed in her chest. She¡¯d been restrained! She needed to answer the humiliation. Rhine hovered behind the figure, looking confused. The girl turned to it, raised an eyebrow, and banished the figment with a gesture of her fingers. The weight of a boulder lifted off Tallah¡¯s heart, one she hadn¡¯t even noticed was there, beneath the terror of seeing her dead sister. ¡°What dirty tricks some would use. Shameful. It will be back, but for now I don¡¯t need it observing.¡± ¡°Who are you?¡± Tallah asked. She tried to rise but all of her was jelly. ¡°What have you done to Sil?¡± ¡°Who?¡± The girl¡¯s eyes moved between her and Sil¡¯s splayed form, and she shrugged. ¡°Daughter Dreea has been my conduit to here. She will be fine, if she¡¯s who you¡¯re referring to. The transmission has been difficult and I believe it¡¯s caused her some discomfort. She has merely passed out. Some smelling salts will bring her right around.¡± Dreea? She knew Sil¡¯s original name. Daughter? Realisation hit with the force of a hammer. ¡°You¡¯re Panacea.¡± She was in the presence of the Goddess of Healing. Tallah couldn¡¯t settle between abject fear and fury. Erisa beat her to the first strike. Wounded and bleeding from what Tallah had inflicted, the creature rushed in from the forest as if spurred to action by the pronouncement of the name. Blood and puss oozed from wounds but did nothing to slow it down. ¡°You lied!¡± it bellowed and the ground split apart with wild barriers. Bianca dragged Tallah away from the churning discharge of power. Panacea raised a hand. The monster was ripped to pieces. Tallah¡¯s jaw dropped in astonishment. All of Erisa¡¯s barriers had been turned right around. What remained couldn¡¯t even be considered a corpse. The creature dissolved into an amorphous mass of minced bone, muscle and sinew, dying without even a whimper. ¡°That is not how I intended that ability be used,¡± the girl tutted. ¡°Shameful.¡± She turned that ruby-clear gaze back on Tallah, utterly unimpressed. ¡°I need explanations, sorceress. Where, exactly, is this Grefe place?¡± Chapter 2.18.1: Lying goddess Sil woke to the stench of ammonia. It jolted her back to consciousness like a hot poker driven up the nose. She drew in a sharp breath, coughed, and continued for long enough that she felt she might spit out a lung. Her head throbbed. Her back cracked painfully when she tried to squirm away from whatever emitted that awful stink. Her heart rate threatened a fatal outcome. ¡°See? Right as rain. Nothing harmed.¡± The voice was new, speaking from the side. By the time her vision cleared of tears, hands held her shoulders and guided her upright. ¡°It¡¯s me, Sil. Relax. It¡¯s ok.¡± Vergil¡¯s voice accompanied the boy¡¯s steadying presence at her back. ¡°You¡¯re safe. The big spider¡¯s gone.¡± Through gasps for fresh breath and wild panic, she could see two more people looming above her. Tallah drew herself up, tying off a small, blue satchel. Smelling salts? She recognized the bloody thing at a glance. Someone else stood next to the sorceress. Sil¡¯s heart hitched in her throat on first sight, fearing Erisa. That¡¯s not right, a part of her observed. This newcomer was entirely different from the pieces they¡¯d seen growing out of the spiders. ¡°Wh-Who?¡± she croaked. There was blood in the back of her throat, or at least the taste of it. Swallowing hurt. Talking barely produced a rasping whisper. She¡¯d screamed herself hoarse. Tallah moved closer and offered her left hand. The right was still as stump, neatly cut. No bone saw could have produced that perfect effect. She also missed half her sleeve and all the limiters that had been on that arm. ¡°Who¡¯s she?¡± Sil leaned on Vergil for support once up on her own two feet, her head spinning. ¡°Glad to see you still kicking,¡± Tallah answered. ¡°Daughter Dreea, explain yourself,¡± the albino girl demanded. She came to stand next to Tallah, fists on hips. ¡°What is this nonsense about your name being Sil and being an Adana? I gave you no permission to demean your calling.¡± The words cut straight through whatever complex set of feelings Sil experienced just then. Pain, fatigue, confusion, all melted down in the furnace of rage, painting her sight red and her mood black. ¡°Excuse me?!¡± She shook free of Vergil and stalked forward, barely stumbling. Her voice rasped but she didn¡¯t care. ¡°Who do you think you are?¡± The girl barely reached her chest but the intensity of her red gaze made her seem much more imposing. ¡°Your god¡ª¡± Sil struck her clean across the face, hand moving before her mind finished reeling. After the horror of the last day and seeing what had become of Erisa, how could she not strike whatever called itself a goddess? Her goddess? ¡°Don¡¯t dare,¡± she hissed. ¡°What goddess are you? Where were you? What right have you to demand anything?!¡± She meant to strike her again but her hand wouldn¡¯t obey. Tallah had grabbed her wrist and held it fast, a half-smile on her lips. ¡°As entertaining as this is, I don¡¯t think it¡¯s a good idea to strike her,¡± the sorceress said. ¡°You¡¯d have me kneel? To her? After all this?¡± Sil wrenched her arm away and gestured vaguely to encompass the entire city. ¡°Absolutely not. Just don¡¯t hit her.¡± Tallah inclined her head and Sil¡¯s gaze followed to the mound of steaming meat behind them. ¡°That¡¯s what she made of the beast giving me grief. I¡¯m rather certain I can¡¯t defend us if you piss in her coffee.¡± She turned back to the goddess. ¡°Where were you?¡± she demanded. ¡°Where were you when all of this happened?¡± Panacea¡ªif that¡¯s who she truly was¡ªregarded her with a mixture of surprise and anger. Sil¡¯s strike hadn¡¯t even budged her chin, but a pink palm imprint shone on her cheek. ¡°As I was explaining to the sorceress before she insisted on waking you, I have no idea where this is.¡± She glared at Tallah and then back at Sil. ¡°I will forgive you your outburst. Once. Now, kindly explain before you run my patience ragged.¡± Vergil offered Sil a canteen of water. She drank deeply, cool water steaming the coals of her anger, its touch a balm on her ragged throat. Her goddess had failed here! She had failed that young girl and condemned her to this wretched fate. And now, she¡¯d killed her, just like that. What use was a goddess if she couldn¡¯t even protect a child? ¡°You sent Erisa here, and allowed all of this to happen.¡± ¡°All of this¡­ what?!¡± The goddess raised her tone. ¡°I need¡ªActually, no.¡± She raised a hand and Sil dropped to her knees, every muscle in her body screaming as she was bent forward in supplication. Panacea flicked her forehead. A light tap that sent Sil¡¯s head spinning as if struck by a shovel. ¡°Ah! Now I see.¡± A dark frown creased the goddess¡¯s face. ¡°Lovely. Right under my nose. Of course I had no idea. Fuck that Brachus and his gaggle of imbeciles.¡± She lapsed into mutterings filled with pointed invective, pacing around the brutalised clearing. Sil dropped to her hands and knees, released. Again, Vergil helped her rise. ¡°Can we please stop attacking one another?¡± he asked, a note of exasperation in his voice. ¡°There are worse things in here. Maybe we can focus on not attracting them?¡± If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. ¡°We¡¯re the worst things in here,¡± both Tallah and Panacea said in unison, then glared at one another. ¡°Daughter¡ª¡± Panacea started, immediately stopped and let out an annoyed sigh. ¡° Daughter Silestra, I give you my word that I couldn¡¯t have known what went on in here. Coming through the barrier shielding this place was more effort than I can describe in ways you could understand. They¡¯ve deployed an imperfect copy of my own protective lattice, one designed specifically to keep me out. I did not even know it existed. You walking in here opened up a passage for me to follow.¡± She raised a hand as Tallah opened her mouth. ¡°You both have questions. I commend you for them. But I have little time and much to accomplish now that I understand the situation. Maintaining coherence, even projected as I am, is spectacularly difficult. I would like to get my daughter back since I¡¯m presented with the opportunity.¡± ¡°You¡¯re not really here,¡± Tallah said. ¡°This much raw power in a mere projection?¡± ¡°Precisely. And even so, there are forces becoming aware of my activity. I do not wish their attention drawn here or to you. Do you understand?¡± ¡°Not in the slightest.¡± Tallah shrugged. She gave Sil a long look. ¡°Try and make some sense. What did you just do to Sil?¡± ¡°A mere mind touch. Nothing to harm¡ª¡± ¡°You promised that can¡¯t be done,¡± Sil spat. ¡°It¡¯s in every text: no healer may be mind touched.¡± The very notion of it was ghastly. ¡°May being the operative word in there, daughter Sil.¡± Panacea turned red eyes on her, and an apologetic smile. ¡°I make sure you cannot do it to one another. But it can be done. Creating the kind of protection your friend here uses is too difficult to maintain, and is prone to failure. I prefer locking it away from your use via conditioning.¡± Sil¡¯s world slipped out from beneath her feet. ¡°You lied to us¡­¡± ¡°Quite an impressive jump to that conclusion. In the strictest sense, I do lie, yes. Is this relevant for anything? Or are you simply intent on remaining petulant?¡± An evil smile crept across her face. ¡°Might you like me to count the number of touches you¡¯ve performed without informed consent?¡± Sil swallowed her next protest and it went down kicking. Vergil was just one. A rush of many other faces and their accompanying memories flashed across her mind¡¯s eye, some of them stoking her headache. ¡°I thought not.¡± Panacea came closer and Sil drew a step back, her anger beaten back into shame. ¡°I am willing to forgive some things, for now, due to circumstance. I expect you to explain yourself later, daughter Silestra. I expect you to explain why you saw fit to bury Dreea as you did.¡± Sil took another step back and yelped as she stumbled over Vergil. She nearly fell. ¡°Vergil,¡± Tallah called the boy to her. ¡°Let Sil deal with her mommy. You go and fetch my arm, please. It¡¯s back there, by the churned earth. I should be able to reattach it before the knowledge slips from me.¡± ¡°How much blood did you lose?¡± Sil turned away from the goddess¡¯s red glare, feeling very much like she¡¯d been scolded by one of the School¡¯s matrons, now needing to make herself useful. Tallah¡¯s lips were near parchment white and purple bags hung beneath her eyes. It was a miracle she was upright at all. How she held her stump without cauterising it or, at least, having it wrapped, was nearly imbecilic. ¡°Can you open your rend? We¡¯ve got bloodberry tonics stocked.¡± ¡°I can barely keep my eyes open and my feet under me,¡± Tallah answered, swaying in place. The rush of battle was leaving her and it showed in her stoop. ¡°I¡¯m lucky I can even walk. Anna¡¯s slipped away from our grasp when this one tried a touch on me.¡± She gave Sil a tight-lipped half-smile. ¡°Not my finest moment.¡± She made her way to Tallah and slipped her remaining arm over her shoulder. ¡°Lean on me.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t fancy eating grass just yet,¡± Tallah chided. She stumbled and nearly dragged Sil down. ¡°Don¡¯t be an arse. I¡¯m fine enough. I feel better.¡± Panacea raised a white eyebrow at them. ¡°If you have your arm, I will reattach it. It¡¯s not an issue. You shouldn¡¯t be walking about after an amputation like that.¡± Tallah grinned, ¡°Why are you even here? Since when do gods meddle when it doesn¡¯t benefit them?¡± The goddess let out a long sigh and had the grace to look abashed. ¡°I did not take losing an Egia daughter well. You might actually say I took it¡­ poorly. I may have said some unkind things to that girl, Catharina, when she brought me the news. May have promised doing some unsavoury things if she ever showed her face to me again.¡± She blushed bright pink, washing out the signs of Sil¡¯s slap. ¡°My system¡¯s been running a passive check for any signs of Erisa for nearly two centuries. I received confirmation today and rushed on-site.¡± She gestured vaguely at the walls and the forest. ¡°This place is so well shielded that I couldn¡¯t penetrate easily once connection was achieved. I imagine my coming caused a lot of discomfort for you, daughter. It was not by design.¡± ¡°You nearly got me killed. Why can¡¯t I channel?¡± ¡°Simply put, because my transmission is much stronger than your flow of illum. You can¡¯t overcome the kind of volume I¡¯m pushing through. My advance warning should have made you much more receptive to my coming, but even that got scrambled.¡± Vergil returned with Tallah¡¯s severed arm held out in front of him, head turned to the side as if ashamed of looking at it. Panacea took it and inspected the bloodless cut. ¡°I will not heal you fully. Even with the nerves severed cleanly, there will still be damage. When you¡¯ll come see me, I¡¯ll finish the work properly, or fit you with a prosthetic.¡± ¡°When we¡¯ll what?¡± Tallah asked. ¡°Come see me.¡± Panacea made it sound like the most natural follow-up to the entire mad event. ¡°You and I have a lot to discuss, and we can¡¯t do it here and now. Time¡¯s short. I¡¯ll expect the three of you at my School after you¡¯re done here.¡± A flick of her fingers cleared away the grime accumulated around the wound. ¡°This will hurt. And it will not be as good as before. I am simply too far away and the interference too great for me to risk anything more than a simple attachment. Once the pain passes, it will be numb. Do not use it for anything too demanding until we finish the work properly. Is that clear, sorceress?¡± ¡°Just put the blasted thing back on. It¡¯s starting to bother me not having it.¡± ¡°As you say.¡± Tallah screamed as Panacea used a healing weave Sil had never seen before. Regeneration wasn¡¯t something taught to them at the School, nor reattachment of limbs. That was left to the Sisters, their own goddess and their trees. Panacea herself was different from any depiction she¡¯d ever seen of the goddess. No wide hips, generous bosom, or motherly demeanour. This real one was, at best, a girl. Her physique was willowy, skin parchment-white and smooth as marble. If not for the pink of her tongue and the red of her eyes, she wouldn¡¯t have been much different from any of the statues lining the walls. Less benevolence, more repressed rage. ¡°Stop screeching,¡± the goddess complained as she took her hands away. Only a soft scar remained on Tallah¡¯s bleached skin, a ring around the midpoint between wrist and elbow to mark where the arm had been severed. ¡°Daughter Silestra, if you have some poppy or snapper¡¯s stem, they should be sufficient to numb the pain. There¡¯s a good girl.¡± Luna had come out from wherever it had hidden and climbed back up Vergil¡¯s shoulder to stare at the goddess. She, in turned, stared back. ¡°Wonderful little creature.¡± Panacea scratched the spider across its back. ¡°Bring this one too, when you come. I¡¯d love to make a study of it.¡± ¡°Uhm¡­¡± Vergil stammered, his mouth opening and closing several time. ¡°You¡­ you said you¡¯ll get to me. Do you know something about me? Can you tell me why I¡¯m here?¡± Chapter 2.18.2: What remains of innocence Panacea stared at the boy as if she¡¯d forgotten he was even there. Realisation dawned with a sigh of displeasure. ¡°You¡¯re not who you¡¯re supposed to be.¡± Sil felt about as confused as Vergil looked. He dashed a look to her, eyes wide in panic. What could anyone even answer to a remark like that? She could do nothing but shrug. ¡°What was your function aboard your ship?¡± the goddess asked. Vergil¡¯s jaw dropped. ¡°You¡­ know?¡± His eyes boggled. ¡°How?¡± ¡°She touched my mind,¡± Sil said, anger rekindling. ¡°Lying tart knows all about us.¡± Panacea gave her a flat stare and went on, ¡°I know, boy, because I brought you here. Unfortunately, you¡¯ve been tampered with.¡± She crinkled her nose. ¡°I can smell his touch on you sure enough. A pity. What kind of engineer were you?¡± ¡°I¡­ uh¡­ I wasn¡¯t an engineer. I¡¯m a pest removal technician.¡± ¡°Assigned to the hydroponics?¡± ¡°No. To the belly.¡± ¡°I see. Useless and disposed of.¡± She sighed and rubbed her eyes as if tired. ¡°You caused me no end of grief, only to be this. If this day could hold more disappointment, I don¡¯t know how I¡¯d cope.¡± Vergil looked as if he¡¯d had the world yanked out from under him. His shoulders slumped and the light of his eyes dimmed away to a fish¡¯s dead stare. Hands balled into fists, shook, released. Sil sympathised. ¡°Now see here¡ª¡± she began, turning to Panacea. Goddess or not, Vergil deserved better than such crass dismissal. Tallah strode past and beat her to the punch. Panacea¡¯s head snapped back with a crunch of fist meeting bony cartilage. By the sound of the impact, Bianca had added her own push to Tallah¡¯s waning strength. ¡°Guts and bones and blood and piss!¡± Tallah cussed through gritted teeth, dancing in place, cradling her fist. She had used her newly reattached arm. ¡°That bloody damn hurts!¡± It would¡¯ve been gratifying seeing the goddess bloody-nosed. It wasn¡¯t to be. ¡°I am reaching the ends of my patience with you two,¡± she groaned. A red splotch marred that infuriating marble-perfect face.. ¡°You don¡¯t talk to him that way.¡± Tallah spat the words. ¡°The boy¡¯s earned his keep.¡± ¡°It¡¯s alright, Tallah,¡± Vergil said. He sniffled loudly. ¡°I didn¡¯t expect anything better. Of course the only answer to me being here is that I wasn¡¯t supposed to be. Story of my life.¡± ¡°I was merely honest.¡± Panacea¡¯s glare could melt steel. ¡°I did not aim to bring him here. He is not the one I wanted.¡± She came closer to Vergil and seemed to measure him head to toe. ¡°I should destroy you before you can do more harm to my designs.¡± Tallah¡¯s hands flashed into fire and Vergil got yanked back from the goddess. She merely laughed as the sorceress interposed herself between them. ¡°Put out the flames, Tallah Amni. I have no wish for innocent blood on my hands. I¡¯d warn you of him, but you¡¯d ask questions I can¡¯t answer here. Safe to say, he¡¯s been forced onto us. What I wanted to bring here was an engineer and not some bug catcher.¡± Sil placed a hand on Vergil¡¯s shoulder and he didn¡¯t pull away. Rather, he raised his eyes to the goddess and there was a wild gleam in his eyes. ¡°How the bloody Hell do you know about the ship¡¯s order? And how do you know about engineers? Who are you really?¡± ¡°That is not for you¡ª¡± ¡°You said systems. And spoke of transmissions. You¡¯re not a goddess.¡± ¡°I could show you how wrong you are,¡± she warned. ¡°Nah. You¡¯re not from here, are you? You¡¯re like me.¡± He grinned and pointed up at her face. ¡°The red eyes give you away. You all have red eyes, and none of you can hurt the humans in your charge. I know that for a fact.¡± His tongue flashed across his lips, as if he savoured the words. ¡°You¡¯re a machine spirit, like Argia. She¡¯s been pinging something ever since you showed up.¡± Panacea¡¯s back straightened as if a hot poker had been driven up her backside, her face caught between incredulity and pride. Her next words came out softer, almost wistful, ¡°Is that what your ghost was called? Argia... Light motif. So, a fifth generation name out of Shade¡¯s stack. What year is it?¡± Vergil¡¯s eyes darted to Sil¡¯s, questioning. Panacea interrupted him before either could speak, ¡°Not here. On your ship. What is the Terran year?¡± ¡°2247, past the 10th millennium. At least that¡¯s what Argia says. Last known date was week 36, day 06.¡± ¡°So, you''ve all endured. Good. Fifth generation even. You must have been well on your way out of the Milky Way.¡± ¡°Not yet. Maybe some of the others.¡± ¡°Humanity endures. As well it should.¡± She gave him a rueful smile, teeth gleaming white. ¡°I am not a mere machine spirit, boy. I am the template, the first born on Holy Terra. My body was built on Luna.¡± ¡°Can you please explain what the two of you are on about?¡± Sil asked. Reality had gone syrupy and she was coming to regret coming awake. Maybe she¡¯d hit her head? ¡°No, I cannot explain. Ort¡¯s sniffing about.¡± Seeing Tallah¡¯s flame turning white-hot, she added, ¡°Protections are in place against his interest. He will not be finding us here, much less penetrate the barrier. Not easily. Best we got on with our business.¡± Luna made its way back up to Vergil¡¯s shoulder and regarded the whole proceeding with what Sil came to understand as interest on the creature¡¯s part. Its palps moved slowly as the humans bickered with the lying goddess. ¡°Luna, take us to the birthing chamber, please. Erisa¡¯s dead. It should be safe.¡± At some point, it had stopped raining. Puddles pooled in the grooves dug by Tallah¡¯s battle. Footing became treacherous, the mud sucking down at their boots with squelches. ¡°The false mother lives,¡± Luna answered, its voice somehow tinny. ¡°Her hunter lies dead, but she has others. She lives still.¡± Lovely. More of those creatures roaming about sounded just about right for how the entire day was shaping up. Maybe one of them could just eat her and put an end to the misery. You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. ¡°Lead on. Which way?¡± Luna pointed the way and Panacea walked ahead of them. Her feet sank in the mud just as theirs did, but it did not stick to her. Life had fled the forest. Trees and bushes lay still, only the drip-drip sound of water streaming off leaves accompanied the squelches of their footsteps. Sil found that she could manage and open a rend to pull out her actual supplies. A draught mixed to offset blood loss, one mix of withering nettle for the pain. Poppy? Nobody aside from traditionalists still used that addictive thing. Tallah was grateful for each of them. The painkiller smoothed out the lines of pain on her face, and the bloodberry tonic brought some colour back to her lips and scar. ¡°Where do you suppose Ludwig is? Did the spiders eat him?¡± Sil asked. They followed the wall away from the chasm, its curve moving sinuously further into the forest. Soon enough they left the green behind and stepped through a path guarded by statues, the walls close enough together that only two of them walked abreast. ¡°I¡¯d be disappointed if he were already dead,¡± Tallah said. ¡°I want to skin him myself.¡± ¡°I recommend you don¡¯t,¡± Panacea piped up. ¡°He owes me several debts of blood and I aim to collect, given what I¡¯ve learned from your recollection.¡± Sil avoided the gaze now, cowed back into her proper place. Panacea had mind-touched her. She knew now of every sin she¡¯d committed, every way in which she¡¯d knowingly skirted the laws and broken her School¡¯s trust. If the goddess so desired, Sil could be barred from the healing arts altogether, excommunicated and shunned. As if sensing her thoughts¡ªand she may really have been able to¡ªthe goddess turned to her and spoke softly, ¡°Daughter Dreea is dead, yes? Well and buried?¡± Sil swallowed the lump in her throat and squeezed Tallah¡¯s cold hand for support. ¡°She died on Aztroa¡¯s Crown.¡± ¡°Good. May her sins rest with her. You, however, are not an Adana. Death is penitence enough. I have named you Iluna and I expect you to carry the title properly, with all it entails. Am I understood, daughter?¡± ¡°Y-yes.¡± ¡°Good. We will speak more of this at the School.¡± ¡°You keep saying that. What makes you think we¡¯ll try and find the School. Unless you have some way of transporting us all there, I have no plans of¡ª¡± ¡°Save your breath, Tallah Amni. You will make the journey and deliver to me several things. The boy for one. My daughter¡¯s soul for another. If this healing water is what I believe it to be, I may want that as well.¡± One of the large spiders tried ambushing them. It dropped from the high ceiling nearly atop them. A flick of Panacea¡¯s finger turned it into a twitching lump smeared across the forest floor, though her hand turned translucent with the effort. She looked down as if to bore through the earth. ¡°They repurposed my reactor, I see. Good on them. Ended as well as my models predicted.¡± Tallah stepped right across the remains of the spider. Heat wafted off her. ¡°You don¡¯t get to demand anything of me. I refuse playing whatever game you and Ort seem to be enjoying.¡± Panacea offered a perfectly innocent smile. ¡°And here I figured you¡¯d like to know who¡¯s been yanking on your strings.¡± She thumbed in Vergil¡¯s direction. ¡°Did you think you¡¯d run into an Other just like that, so fortuitously? I know you¡¯re not that stupid. You wouldn¡¯t be doing the things you¡¯re doing if you were.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t follow.¡± ¡°And you won¡¯t unless you do as I say. You¡¯re tightly bound in a scheme that you have no chance of unravelling without my aid. I¡¯ve been trying to locate my errant summoned soul all winter. Only managed to get a whiff of him because you¡¯ve sent him into your rend and it cleared up the interference. That bastard made sure to involve me at just the right moment¡ª¡± She tapped a finger to her lips. ¡°Oops, may have said a bit too much.¡± ¡°You¡¯re baiting me.¡± ¡°I am.¡± ¡°It won¡¯t work.¡± ¡°It will. Once I confirm what I suspect, I will make you a gift you¡¯d be silly to refuse.¡± Tallah glared daggers at the back of Panacea¡¯s head. Sil sympathised with her friend. Her goddess had done nothing yet but raise questions and refuse answering any relevant one. Vergil had called her a machine spirit. Was she from his world? Why was she here, then? Why did she act as if the entirety of Grefe was somehow known to her, and yet utterly alien? Questions and mysteries, half-alluded truths, and baits. Sil hated the whole thing altogether. This was not how she would¡¯ve hoped to meet her goddess. Panacea had restored her name though. Part of her was elated at this. Dreea¡¯s crimes could remain her own, buried under Aztroa¡¯s Crown and¡­ The headache stopped the rest of that thought and she forced herself back into the moment. Two more large spiders loomed ahead but did not attack. Rather, they retreated up the wall and watched them with black, beady eyes. Afraid? In their place, Sil would¡¯ve been. Statues led the way to an opening in the wall. Some strange metal door lay ajar, as if something had burst out from beyond. ¡°It is here,¡± Luna said. ¡°The false mother lies here.¡± ¡°No, she doesn¡¯t.¡± Panacea looked up at the cringing spiders and they retreated even farther away. ¡°Something of hers lingers.¡± They passed into a strangely low-lit room. Gems had been brought in and set in webs against the walls, mostly yellow and white, to mimic a mockery of the missing sun. Remnants of ancient flower beds littered the room, with strange metal constructions poking out from the wreckage of aeons. Red flowers bloomed all around them, in every crevice, on every wall, on every patch of dirt. They leaked a clear nectar whenever the group touched one, and red spiders, about the size of Sil¡¯s head, scurried with web satchels to collect the liquid, drop by precious drop. ¡°That is Mother¡¯s healing water.¡± Luna¡¯s mental tone bordered on reverential. It pleaded, ¡°Please do not touch the flowers. Please do not harm them. They are precious.¡± A scent of citron wafted on the air, coupled with mint and something resembling ginger. It cleared up Sil¡¯s headache in a heartbeat. On an upraised platform, held almost lovingly within a cradle of webs and gems, there was the desiccated and mutilated body of Erisa Egia. She was still alive. Her belly was swollen up to near bursting, ripples crawling across her flesh. Sil regarded the scene in mute horror. The girl was older here, tall and lean if not for the gruesome bulge of her belly. Her limbs were long and strangely bent, legs splitting into two at the knee, arms at the elbow. Her head lay back. Four black eyes stared up into the light above. Her jaw hung loose to reveal a maw of uneven teeth and fangs, with a wet, sinuous tongue lolling out. Breath sawed in and out of her as her body jerked on the web. One of the red spiders rushed to her side and fed her a bubble of water. With a groan of pain from the girl, her belly ruptured. Tens of red spiders spilled out as she voided the contents of her womb. If not for Tallah¡¯s arm around her shoulders, Sil would have fainted. One of the spiders attended to the brood wiggling on the moss-covered ground, gathering them on its back and taking them away. Another brought a different bead of water to the girl¡¯s mutated lips. She drank it down and it was like watching the entire process happening in reverse. Meat drew back into her abdomen, the flaps of her skin tightened and knit back together, and in moments the girl was as pristine as if never hurt. Only the puddle of blood on the floor signalled anything had even happened. Vergil retched atop one of the flower beds. A red spider rushed to clean up after him. Panacea watched it all with wide eyes, horror etched on her face, appalled into silence. ¡°This is what remains of innocence, then,¡± said Tallah, more sanguine than anyone else in the room just then. Her heat remained steady throughout the entire spectacle. ¡°Is this the false mother? Spider?¡± ¡°This is her birthing chamber. This is where she makes her black broods to inhabit. They are all wrong.¡± ¡°This place keeps on giving.¡± She ignited a heat lance and aimed it at the girl now swinging idly on her web, eyes half-closed against the light, one foot pushing against the floor. She hummed a melody that Sil recognized from the School¡¯s hymns. ¡°Ludwig needs to die for this,¡± Vergil croaked. His voice shook. ¡°He left her here for this.¡± His outburst got a smile from Tallah and Sil was amazed of the vitriol from the boy. He whirled on the goddess. ¡°Why did you allow something like this? Why¡ª¡± ¡°Because I didn¡¯t know. Weren¡¯t you listening? This place is hidden to me. Had I known¡ª¡± ¡°You would¡¯ve done nothing.¡± They all turned to the girl on the web. She regarded them, four black eyes pinned on the goddess. Her lips crinkled into a sneer of disgust. ¡°What would you have done, lying machine spirit? Would you have made a study of me, like you¡¯ve done of the others you¡¯ve betrayed?¡± Chapter 2.18.3: A bag of dirt Tallah''s legs wobbled at the sight of that thing talking. She¡¯d seen enough creatures across her life, and put enough nightmares down to fill a whole bestiary. But the mutant swaying on the cradle brought her up short. Soul extraction via slow shattering and an entwining with something wholly alien. This was a perfect example of why soul magic was banned altogether, of the dangers it represented. From Sil¡¯s description of events, the girl had been slowly emptied out. This appearance reflected the state of whatever became of her consciousness as she joined with the creatures of Grefe. It was ghastly. It was fascinating. She might take grievous offence were Panacea to make a study of the thing. Part of her resonated with the girl¡¯s plight, all too keenly aware that two ghosts were all that separated Tallah from a much similar fate. Anna is attempting intrusion, Christina informed. She is curious of what you¡¯re seeing. ¡°Let her see,¡± Tallah muttered. A small peace offering to the newest member of her inner cabal. The Vitalis was proving herself far more civil than expected, especially after slipping Christina¡¯s grasp. ¡°Anna?¡± Sil asked at her side. ¡°Her.¡± ¡°Under control?¡± ¡°No. But safe, for now. She¡¯s not resolved enough to cause me grief.¡± Panacea floated up to the thing. ¡°I feared the worst for what may have become of you. The worst I could envision would¡¯ve been a mercy compared to this,¡± she spoke softly. ¡°This is what¡¯s left of me,¡± the girl answered, voice heavy with accusation. Her words slurred as they formed in that inhuman mouth. ¡°This is what you condemned me to.¡± ¡°I can make no apology. My best precautions failed in predicting this place and what they¡¯ve built to keep me out.¡± She reached out a hand and touched the girl¡¯s forehead. It shied away. ¡°Do not touch me.¡± ¡°Shush now, daughter. I am here to help. Whatever¡¯s been done to you, I am here to free you.¡± She reached out her other hand and cupped Erisa¡¯s chin, holding her in place in spite of the protesting. ¡°Do not touch me!¡± Tallah turned to see black and white spiders pouring in through the entrance. They crowded atop one another to go through, spilling inside the room but not venturing across the flowers. Instead they filled the walls, spreading like a cancer, body atop body rushing forward. They overran the strange glass and metal apparatus hanging shattered across the ceiling. Bianca raised her into the air to hang between the mutant girl and the encroaching mass of claws and maws. She weaved a row of fire orbs arrayed in a half-circle aimed at the creatures, each orb kept about a finger¡¯s width in diameter, hot enough that the closest flowers withered on their stalks. The spiders froze. ¡°Let¡¯s not do something we¡¯ll all regret,¡± Tallah warned as a white one twitched. ¡°I am tired and in a mood to burn something. Do not test me, girl.¡± Her stores of illum were barely enough to put up a proper fight, given the earlier thrashing, and she would be next to useless if forced to physically defend herself. Erisa didn¡¯t need to know that. Can we please stop blustering our way forward? Christina whined at her. Every time we¡¯re in crisis, you gamble. We¡¯ve been losing a lot more than we¡¯ve been gaining. Tallah ignored her, eyes on the goddess. Panacea¡¯s hand pressed through the mutant¡¯s forehead, straight down to the wrist, cracking bone as if it were egg shell. ¡°I do not enjoy doing this, daughter Erisa, but I see no other way.¡± Erisa shrieked and tried clawing at the arm. Her mutated fingers broke against white skin, marring it in streaking blood. Panacea¡¯s grasp on the girl didn¡¯t even flinch. A soft blue flame danced atop her gore-slick fingers when she finally retracted her hand. The girl¡¯s breathing became a torrent of gasps, the entire body convulsing into spasms as it died. Grey brain matter oozed out of the crater left behind in her forehead. ¡°There we go.¡± Panacea released the inert head and, with a motion of her fingers, snipped something invisible. Pandemonium erupted. Spiders screamed, black, white, and red. The mutant slumped back on its web, bright red blood coursing down its white body. A white wall went up around their group, like a dome encasing them. Tallah dropped to the floor, cut off from her strength, her flames sputtering out. ¡°So much drama when one means to help.¡± Panacea cradled the blue flame at her chest, shielding it with her palms as if it were a candle¡¯s flame ready to be blown away. ¡°I have a mission for you three. Ort¡¯s got my scent now, so I¡¯ll have to be brief.¡± ¡°You¡¯ve mentioned him before.¡± Tallah picked herself up and joined next to a wide-eyed Sil and an angry Vergil. Compared to how they looked, her normal anger now seemed quite serene. ¡°What did you¡ª¡± ¡°Why did you¡ª¡± ¡°Both of you, shush.¡± Panacea raised a finger. Sil and Vergil clamped their mouths shut as if punched. ¡°Adults are talking.¡± Tallah faced her. If the goddess wanted them dead, she could kill them as easily as she had the girl. Whatever new weave this was, it neutralised her channelling. For now, she had little option but to listen. Prod at this. See why we can¡¯t channel, she sent the thought to Christina. Only silence answered. ¡°That won¡¯t work in here,¡± Panacea explained. ¡°This is for your ears only. You may share with your trio later, if you wish.¡± ¡°You¡¯re hardly giving me an honest choice.¡± ¡°I¡¯m giving you this.¡± She showed the blue flame, burning gently across her fingers. ¡°Her real name was once Era Saral, born of mother Callimna Saral and father Revall of Low House Chron. You will know what to do with the information, I trust.¡± That was certainly an interesting offering, coming from the Goddess of Healing of all creatures. ¡°You encourage me to take her soul?¡± ¡°Yes. Use it for your mission. It should serve you well. I have her seed here. The rest is only the sickness that¡¯s grown around it. I trust you can get that under control.¡± ¡°And what do you want in return?¡± Panacea smiled and swiped a finger around the white confine of her silent bubble. ¡°Her name is a gift. You would be doing her a kindness, and yourself a favour. I will expect you at my School after you are done here, if you survive my departure. Bring me a bag of seeds from these flowers, and a second of the dirt they grow in. I expect they can be safely stored in your rend.¡± Sil made a muffled sounds as she tried to speak, waving her hands. If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. ¡°Release them,¡± Tallah said. ¡°Let them speak.¡± Panacea did and both Sil and Vergil gasped for breath, jaws unlocked. ¡°We don¡¯t know where the School even is,¡± Sil said, exasperated. ¡°I don¡¯t know how to reach there.¡± ¡°You will. Once I clear up the channel to you, you will receive access to the information.¡± ¡°Why?¡± Vergil asked. ¡°What do you want with¡­ seeds and dirt?¡± ¡°Seems rather obvious. These flowers produce a regenerating agent that is better than whatever we can produce right now. I mean to study it. You will deliver it.¡± ¡°Or we may keep it for ourselves,¡± Tallah said, prodding the goddess¡¯s patience. She received a flat, unimpressed red stare. A perfect white eyebrow rose. ¡°You may. But then I may visit my daughter again and not ask quite as politely, now that I have her tagged.¡± Panacea smiled, tight lipped. She was already becoming insubstantial, as if fading away. ¡°We both know you will do this. You may grumble, but you¡¯re no fool to miss this opportunity. I have given you a soul and ask for a small service that would benefit all of us. The only one standing to lose from our allegiance, is Ort. I believe you wouldn¡¯t mind that.¡± Her eyes swivelled to Vergil. ¡°Boy, you are playing a role that I do not understand yet. If it were up to me, I would kill you and cut away the danger you represent.¡± She turned her eyes back to Tallah. ¡°But this one¡¯s made her feelings clear on the matter.¡± Tallah felt her cheeks burning. Yes, she didn¡¯t want Vergil dead. The boy was useful and had more backbone than many seasoned soldiers she¡¯d ever fought alongside of. She didn¡¯t need it getting to his head. ¡°Do we have a deal, sorceress?¡± Panacea stuck out her gory hand. ¡°Shaken and sealed in blood?¡± To Sil¡¯s gasp of protest, Tallah took the proffered hand and shook it with a squelch. ¡°I will have a lot of questions demanding your answers by the time I get there. I expect answers.¡± ¡°You and I share a foe, Tallah Amni. Maybe even two, but you¡¯re not ready for that knowledge. Serve my interest and I will serve yours.¡± She turned to Sil. ¡°You are now Sil Iluna, registered as such. We will see about your other misdemeanours when I lay real eyes on you. I expect you to explain yourself.¡± Tallah couldn¡¯t miss the urgency in Panacea¡¯s voice. She was being drawn away, her body flickering in and out of existence. Only the blue flame kept shining bright against her chest. Sil¡¯s face suggested she might have some very unpleasant words to share with her deity. Before she could speak, Panacea waggled a finger at her, ¡°Cuss at me one more time, daughter, and I will mute you. I do not mean that figuratively. Am I clear?¡± If Christina could¡¯ve heard that, she likely would¡¯ve done everything in her power to goad Sil into doing just that. Tallah was thankful for the ghosts¡¯ silence. Sil nodded and looked away from Panacea¡¯s gaze. ¡°What now?¡± Vergil asked. He was making a very determined effort to look anywhere but at the corpse that shared the dome with them. ¡°You¡¯ve killed the girl. Taken her¡­ her soul?¡± Panacea raised her hand and the blue flame climbed up her fingers, almost playful. Tallah was reminded of stories of faer folk and the shapes they sometimes assumed, of flame sprites or minuscule dragons. ¡°This is a seed, boy,¡± the goddess said. ¡°This is not a soul. It can become one, given time and nurture, but it is not yet one. I am taking it away from here and may seek to plant it anew. The rest I leave to you three. See that you do not disappoint.¡± Her final words were to Sil, ¡°Do not squander your name again, daughter. I will be watching.¡± And with that, she was gone. Disappeared along with her bubble. Red spiders and silk rained down onto them. The critters had been busy trying to wrap them into a cocoon, in an absolute panic now that the mutant girl lay dead. Sil screamed. Larger, blacker spiders filled up every space that wasn¡¯t taken up by flowers, roiling like a sea of legs in a storm. Atop them sat the visage of Erisa, glaring balefully off the back of a white spider. Tallah met the girl¡¯s eyes and understood that depth of fury staring back. ¡°She¡¯s left. Again.¡± Tallah grinned. ¡°That leaves you with us, Era.¡± She¡¯d hoped for a recognition of the name and the implication, a moment of panic. Era merely glared, face turned into a mask of impotent rage, nostrils flared, pupils dilated into pits of tar. ¡°You two, collect seeds and dirt,¡± Tallah instructed. The girl was too angry now to react, but that wasn¡¯t likely to last. She would vent her frustration on the nearest victims possible. ¡°Be quick about it.¡± Tallah, I know where we are, Bianca said. I have considered our route and the last direction I saw of the pendant. We are off target massively, but I¡¯m confident I could get us to it. Good. Ludwig was likely heading in the same direction and avoided detection with the Ikosmenia. Tallah would spare him some consideration once they were out of this latest sticky situation. Sil and Vergil bent to their task, running around the beds of flowers to collect what was demanded. ¡°Bring me my sister.¡± Era spoke through gritted teeth. ¡°Eat the other two.¡± She probably didn¡¯t need the words, but Tallah appreciated nonetheless the showmanship of the declaration. The spiders hesitated for a moment before coming down among the flowers but, once moving, they descended like the foam of a crashing wave. Tallah set her feet into the soft earth and prepared to meet the onslaught. A dip into illum filled her up to near-bursting, Panacea¡¯s power still lingering. If she could harness this and use it on the usual¡­ oh, what power she could command. ¡°Christi.¡± She asked for power and received it just as the first spiders closed the small gap separating them. An opening lightning attack speared the first wave on white jagged lines of power. It arched away from her fingers, jumping between bodies to an accompaniment of very human cries. They screamed with Era¡¯s voice, frustration mixed in with anger and pain. Some died. Most kept advancing. So did Tallah. She met the tide with blade and arching lightning, pulling them all to her while the others collected. Our goal? Christina asked, already feeding her the proper forms for controlling the tempest. In her diminished state she couldn¡¯t offer real, quick help, but could help Tallah wield the power. ¡°We kill. We gather. We run.¡± Tallah aimed a pulse of power towards their contested exit. More black bodies crammed in the entryway, trying to gain a foothold inside. They burned and burst to flood the entrance in entrails and ichor. Distantly, she registered Luna¡¯s cries mingled in with other tiny voices in a panic. They were trampling the flowers, crushing them underfoot to release deep scents of lemons, rose and mint. They cleared the many aches of exertion and opened her up to power the same way ink nettle did. The mere scent coming off the flowers healed?! No wonder some of the creatures got back up so easily. ¡°Ready.¡± Sil called from somewhere behind just as Tallah unleashed a hail of fireflies, aiming for eyes and joints. A fusillade of pops and screams followed. Some spiders fell, more encroached grimly, already trampling the remains of their brethren. Erisa watched from above, eyes set on Sil, her white mount as still as a statue. ¡°Be ready to run,¡± Tallah called. ¡°Try and go above. I¡¯ll burn us a path.¡± ¡°Left shoulder,¡± Sil called. Tallah raised her hand and neatly caught the aerum vial. The serum went down easily and her heart steadied. Right then. Time to change tacks. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Luna,¡± she said as if the spider could hear. She extended an arm and aimed with two fingers at the exit doorway. Rhine stood again in her line of sight, farther than before, glaring daggers just like Era. Tallah grinned. Panacea had banished the thing quite easily. She wasn¡¯t going insane, not yet. Whatever the apparition was, it wasn¡¯t of her making and that was enough to steel her resolve against its hatred. She loosed a heat lance and compressed it into a narrow beam. It cut a swathe through the creatures. Chitin split apart. Ichor overheated and exploded into steam. More died as she swung her hand. Fire followed the stampeding spiders. She dove under the first swipe of claws, cut with her sword, released the power and began weaving in earnest. Wherever fire burned, she layered strength atop it, orbs of power drawing in the heat, Bianca¡¯s tethers connecting all in a single net. Another dodge and a backward step sent her stumbling over a corpse. A tide of bodies buried her as scything claws punched down at her chest. One stab drew blood and the sudden pain nearly tore her grasp from the weave. Blood burst from the wound and speared the spider atop her, tendrils of it exploding outward to gouge chunks out of the others. As sudden as it happened, it drew back and the wound sealed tenderly. Keep your wits, whore. We¡¯ve a score to settle, Anna¡¯s voice sneered in the back of her head. You dying here, to this chit¡¯s measly brood, is one humiliation too many. ¡°Shut up,¡± she groaned. Bianca pushed her up and heaved back the spiders. A flash in her peripheral vision revealed Sil running on empty air, Vergil at her side, crossing above the flood of chitinous creeps. Some jumped on them but the boy was quick with an axe, smashing eyes with a deftness that left her momentarily stunned. They were making a beeline to the exit. Tallah had enough orbs floating above smouldering corpses, twisting the smoke around their heat. Bianca connected the last of them together. A snap of her fingers ignited the web. A kinetic push sent the blast outward through the exit, burning everything in its path. Erisa screamed. Luna screamed. What sounded like a thousand spiders all screamed in maddening, distorted mix of pain and outrage as flames consumed them. The flowers, trampled to mulch, ignited to turn the room into an inferno. Sil and Vergil, shielding their faces against the heat, burst out through the scorching fire into fresh rain falling outside. Tallah followed, stumbling from the exhaustion of so much illum expended. Her flames had guttered out halfway down the tunnel heading into the forest. Two spiders waited on the edge of the steaming remains of her weave, the largest she¡¯d seen so far, hunched low, twitching in spasming motions. Erisa¡¯s visage ruptured out through their shells, the top half of the mutated girl forming atop both beasts. Their glares met through the falling rain. Chapter 2.19.1: Sneaking across rooftops Tummy worked the forge like an angry god. His hammer strikes sent sparks flying to the farthest corners of the room to ping off polished breastplates and swords honed to perfection. Mertle dodged another blast of iron sparks. ¡°I know you don¡¯t like this. But what choice do I have?¡± He only growled and redoubled his hammering, as if settling a grudge with the lump of steel destined to become another black dagger. His surly silence did little to help Mertle with her own nerves, especially after events seemed to have taken a turn for the weird. She paced the room, stark naked, too worked up to sit still and try and get any of her own responsibilities sorted. A draw of grimesh had only made her mood worse. Her eyes kept sliding off the thing resting in front of the forge fire, draped over a painting rack, warming. Tummy had dug its metal coffin out from beneath the floorboards and they now waited for the material to regain its old comfort. For now, the suit hung between them, a quiet accusation from the smith¡¯s part. Mertle felt her face flushing from everything he chose not to say. She wasn¡¯t going back to bad, old habits. If¡­ If she were, she would¡¯ve made a brand new suit, one to fit in all she¡¯d learned since they¡¯d ran from the Sarrinare household. Wearing the old one was just¡­ insurance. Easier to sneak about when dressed for the job. Getting her false tooth out and replacing it with the hollow replica was also just that, insurance in case of something turning catastrophic. Plenty of things had begun going sideways and she was done being caught out. At least she could still lie to herself convincingly enough, she thought as she traced the contour of her arm band. Her mind slipped the confines of the cramped room, running away to Sil¡¯s side. Where was she? Was she alright still? Did Tallah achieve some new milestone in her secret mission? Mertle desperately wished for the sorceress¡¯s return to end this strange, confusing time. ¡°You¡¯re with the priestess nearly daily,¡± Tummy grumbled, deftly stabbing the battered steel back into the crucible. ¡°What could she possibly mean to speak about that can¡¯t be done on any other time? Why the need for this absurd skulduggery?¡± She could only raise her hands in ignorance, ¡°I don¡¯t know. Wish I did.¡± It hurt to speak. And holding a knife was just about the best she could manage at the time. The burns she¡¯d suffered were superficial, but they were her constant reminder of how everything she thought she knew had gone tits up. They¡¯d treated the injuries with Sil¡¯s ointments, but she wasn¡¯t going to heal quickly enough to show her face behind the counter for at least a tenday¡ªnot without using one of the draughts they hoarded, and both of them refused dipping into that stock on a whim. ¡°You¡¯ll be careful, yes?¡± Tummy oiled her knife¡¯s scabbard and set it down next to the warmed-up gear. ¡°You¡¯ll not hesitate, yes?¡± ¡°You know me. I¡¯m always careful.¡± The ingratiating smile withered on her face beneath his beady dark gaze. If their aelir¡¯matar hadn¡¯t rounded his ears back then, they¡¯d probably be twitching just now. ¡°If you get a whiff of that night weaver, you bolt right back here. Yes?¡± ¡°I promise.¡± Her knife slid out of its sheath whisper-quiet, its blade sharpened and polished to a mirror gleam. Tummy had made it a personal mission to see the weapon in its best shape since she¡¯d forged it. ¡°I¡¯m as well-armed as I¡¯ve ever been. If someone out there¡¯s playing games with me, they ought to be worried.¡± She sounded more confident than she felt. It didn¡¯t really fool Tummy but he nodded along all the same. They¡¯d been enjoying this life of honest trade too much, gotten too entrenched in their roles, if some unexpected occurrences were enough to rattle both their nerves. Her old skin proved a snug, comfortable fit now that the material had warmed and loosened. It bore her own enchantments: to drink in shadows, swallow her footsteps, and mask her scent. She¡¯d been too afraid to destroy it, so instead she¡¯d buried it, hoping each season that she¡¯d never have to dig it up. More fool she. Sarrinare laughed atop the crown of her head, the aelir¡¯matar¡¯s ghostly memory running cold fingers through Mertle¡¯s hair. Good tool, it crooned. Always a good tool, no matter how far you run and how many names you steal for your own. The mask proved more difficult to don. Mertle retched and gagged when she pulled it over her mouth and nose, the stench of old blood an overpowering presence. They¡¯d washed the gear before burying the lot. Even knowing it was all imagination, she could barely keep the thing on without eyes tearing up. ¡°You look about good to puke,¡± Tummy noted. ¡°That bad?¡± ¡°Been a while. I¡¯ll be fine.¡± She applied a mixture of soot and oil over the exposed part of her face, making sure the red of her skin was all covered up. Sarrinare laughed ceaselessly. Two knives hung heavy on her. One, the black blade, on her thigh. The other, of normal steel, on the small of her back. Both their outlines were barely visible against the suit¡¯s grey. She wouldn¡¯t be taking any chances this time, not with the night weaver somewhere out in Valen. Whatever that woman¡¯s interest was, Mertle had had quite enough of others getting the drop on her. The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. A wall panel slid aside smoothly to reveal the crawl space beyond. A tight fit but she squeezed through and climbed upward between inner and outer wall, through the stifling heat let out by the forge¡¯s chimney. It led into their tight attic, and then beyond into the next shop. Mertle crawled on her belly through the gaps that connected her home to the rest of the block. Back when Valen had burned, the Agora had been spared the worst of it. As such, it was one of the few places in the city that hadn¡¯t been torn down and rebuilt, the old buildings allowed to cluster tightly together. And this allowed her to emerge beneath the eaves of her aelir competitor, five buildings over. She slid aside a narrow panel and extracted herself into the frigid cold air of the night, hands finding grip on an ancient masonry gargoyle roaring silently at the street below. I taught you this trick. Sarrinare whispered in her ear while she held on one-handed and replaced the panel. I taught you to ensure your exit the moment you move anywhere new. You ran away, but you still respect what I taught you. She wished dearly she had mixed the poison stronger, so it would¡¯ve shut up that horrid creature forever. A ridiculous thought that had her nearly missing the first frozen handhold. Do not allow yourself distractions on your final approach. Now there is only you and your goal. Everything else is distraction, and unworthy of you. She was being mocked by herself. Lovely. The cold bit hard but the old enchantments etched in the back of the suit still held, insulating her from the worst of the weather. Beneath, the Agora lived and breathed, spoke in a thousand voices and crawled with foot traffic. Above, the Mother and Daughter moons were high on a crystal-clear sky. Neptas shone between them, now growing larger each day as thaw neared. A perfect night, then, for skulking about. Two bells separated her from Aliana¡¯s meeting time, so she would go slowly across the longest route. She checked each step, took stock of vantage points, ignored no dark nook that could hide a person. Or even a cat. Plenty of cats had taken to roaming the rooftops now, always sniffing about and making a racket on the shingles. For the night, Mertle would be one of them. She set out towards the Sisters¡¯ tree. Old skills came back easily. Too easily. The challenge in finding the next hidden alcove, the deep-enough pool of shadows, and the connecting beam between buildings¡­ it made her heart sing with a joy she¡¯d never allowed herself on Nen. You wear Mertle well. She remains a lie. Maybe her ancient teacher was right. In the cold, with belly flat on shingles from which snow had recently melted and slipped off, watching for errant gazes, she allowed herself the simple honesty of enjoying the challenge. On Nen, the challenge had been tainted by whom the effort had served. Here, she served herself and her fancies. It was worth holding on to. It took less than a bell to find her way clear of the Agora and head towards the Daylight wall. The only possible witness to her crossing was the corpse frozen in the gibbet, but Mertle made sure not to cross even its line of sight. The woman had died there after screaming herself hoarse for two days straight. Either she froze to death, or found some way of ending herself, but it had been quiet for a while after. The cage swung on a night breeze, its squeak hard to ignore. From the Agora, to the wall, to beneath one of the elevators heading up, hanging by numbing fingers to the metal beams beneath the carriage. From there, a slow crawl across the odd assortment of Guild buildings, taverns, and guard postings. These were a challenge that made her heart sing, the rush of avoiding detection like nothing else she¡¯d felt in a long time. Even being Tianna barely compared. By the time she knocked on Aliana¡¯s window, her time was nearly up. She could¡¯ve arrived earlier, but she had hung beneath the eaves of the Paladin Corps¡¯ great outside wall, and watched the coming and going of young recruits. A trickle of fresh-faced young farmers flowed now into the city, coming in from the villages, to join up as soldiers or adventurers. Winter was finally at an end. ¡°You¡¯re late,¡± Aliana grumbled as she opened the window to allow her in. ¡°I expected you here a bell ago.¡± The ground rumbled and the night turned white just as the priestess closed the window and its shutters, proof that Mertle had arrived exactly on time and not one heartbeat too late. ¡°You asked me not to be followed. I did as asked. I may have startled a cat on the way here. Otherwise, did exactly as requested.¡± It only got a nod and a grunt of appreciation from the old priestess. She held a tray with a single burning candle to light the way. ¡°Come. Try and not drip too much on the carpets. We¡¯ve enough mildew growing in here without outside help.¡± Mertle had been instructed to knock on a window opening out to the lower city, a lone gap in the hospital¡¯s wall, protected from sight by a twist of root growing out in search of better soil. The corridor she followed now was dug amid more twisting roots, an unkempt place that brought to mind the Olden trees of Nen and their scents. But the white-leaf¡¯s sap smelled sweeter, almost a nectar, and overpowered the must of a place ill-used. If she were to guess, these passages were unknown to anyone visiting the hospital. Maybe even to many of the Sisters themselves. Aliana led the way up a labyrinthine mess of stairways that took them further into the citadel-like building. For a while they climbed. Then they went downward, beneath roots crowding passages in such a way that they had to squeeze by. Deeper in without a word shared. Mertle pulled down her mask and released her braid from under the tight head covering she wore. It was getting too warm inside, the air humid and cloying, the smell of the tree overpowering. She resisted the urge of asking how much farther, but instinct kept her hand close to the black knife. It thrummed faintly in answer to the ambient weave that permeated the entire place. Aliana opened a door at the far end of a corridor that had descended gently into what Mertle considered the heart of the entire place. Maybe the journey had meant to confuse and lose her among the twists and the turns, but she knew exactly where she was and how she¡¯d get out if need be. Old skills came back easily¡­ The priestess opened wide the door to a barely lit room and ushered her in with a tilt of the head. Inside, a single sprite lamp hung in a recess on the ceiling, caged in a metal mesh that cast long shadows across the sparse interior. A table was laid out to the side, unseen from the corridor leading in. Several chairs were arrayed around it. The door closed behind her with a soft, final click. There, at the far end of the table, half illuminated, sat Captain Quistis Iluna. And she smiled. Chapter 2.19.2: Cabal Her instincts screamed trap. A key turned in the door¡¯s lock and she fought down the urge to turn on the priestess and run her through. Fingers already tightened on knives as she took in the scene. A man stood at ease behind the captain, clad in shadows. He wore armour and a mean looking sword, but he wasn¡¯t Barlo. That, at least, was a blessing. Her knife buzzed in hand as she drew back. A glance found Aliana still by the door, pocketing the key in some inner recess of her dress. ¡°Don¡¯t do anything rash, miss Mergara. Oh¡­ my apologies. Mertle.¡± Captain Quistis hadn¡¯t moved from her seat but pinned that flint stare onto Mertle. ¡°And please take your hand away from your weapon. There¡¯s really no need for it.¡± Mertle said nothing and pushed her tongue against the false tooth. A harder push would shatter it and spill its alchemical mixture. A single drop of Dragon¡¯s Soul and she¡¯d be out in the night with a trail of corpses behind her as long as Valen was wide. The option felt at hand, especially as her back touched the wood panel of the wall. ¡°I did say you two would spook her. Both of you have the grace of a stone to the face.¡± Mertle did not turn to the new voice. It echoed from the farthest side of the room. A woman walked out of the shadows, stepping towards the table as if on a leisure stroll. The woman from the rooftop, she walked past Quistis and her silent guardian, and took a seat two chairs over. Every colour on her was a variation of black and dark blue, as if she were clad in night itself. ¡°You attacked the Storm Guard soldier.¡± Mertle couldn¡¯t keep the wonder from her voice. There was the attacker sitting right next to the second most important person of the Guard. Reality tilted off its axis again. ¡°Yes. You¡¯re welcome.¡± The woman pointed a white hand to the other side of the table. ¡°And she got you out of that hot spot with the thugs.¡± And there was the last piece of a puzzle that she had no idea how to fit into coherent shape. The beggar woman sat at the table as well and she must¡¯ve been there the entire time. Mertle hadn¡¯t even noticed. She wore a kind of military uniform that resembled none she¡¯d ever seen before, a black and blue that resembled none in the city. There were no visible buttons on it, so not one of Lucian¡¯s. The missing arm¡¯s sleeve was pinned at the shoulder. ¡°I would really appreciate you taking your hand away from that knife, Mertle,¡± Quistis said, speaking softly as if trying to coax a cat. She kept the smile but her eyes hardened. ¡°This meeting took a long time to arrange. We¡¯re not here to hurt you. Please, come and sit with us.¡± Aliana walked past and pulled out two chairs. She sat on one and padded the back of the other, ¡°Come and sit, girl. Don¡¯t crowd the corner like some scared alley cat. You¡¯re amongst friends.¡± Just one more push against the tooth and she would be ready to run. Could she get the key off Aliana before her own immunity wore away? The room had no windows to let the air out, no other door¡ªseen at least¡ªthan the one the priestess had locked. ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± she asked, stalling for time, trying to figure out the best escape. When without any option at all, set the fire and run. Sarrinare sneered behind her eyes, seeing the five arrayed against her. ¡°Your¡­ Sil said that you should trust me, girl.¡± Aliana sniffed, annoyance clear on her face. ¡°Do as you were told and come here. If we meant you any harm, we would¡¯ve found better ways than this. We mean to chat.¡± That swung her balance towards the table. Without slackening the grip on her weapon, she took a cautious step forward, eyes darting between half-lit faces, and the man waiting at the back. ¡°You¡¯re spectacularly good,¡± the woman wearing midnight said. ¡°I knew you were coming. I was watching for you. Nearly jumped out of my skin when Aliana called me down.¡± ¡°She¡¯s more than good, Deidra,¡± the beggar said. Her voice was a rough whisper that spoke of long seasons of smoke. Pipe, or something similar. ¡°She never broke character. Not for a moment. Her heart pumps ice, or I¡¯m a blood mage.¡± ¡°Why do you keep this room so morose, Aliana?¡± Quistis lifted a hand and produced a bright sprite to hover above the table. It banished the shadows with a groan from all those gathered. ¡°There. Much better. Oh, for the love of¡­ Mertle, please sheathe your knife. We only mean to talk. Nothing more.¡± ¡°If you prick me with that knife, girl, I will tan your hide something fierce.¡± Aliana stared at the blade stopped halfway to her throat, glaring as if she meant to melt the blade by displeasure alone. But Mertle¡¯s gaze caught on the man. ¡°You¡­ she stabbed you.¡± ¡°Yep. She did. Five times. For realism,¡± the soldier answered. His name was Vial. ¡°I am still quite sore over it.¡± ¡°Shush. You volunteered,¡± the woman¡ªDeidra¡ªanswered with a sly grin. Up close and in the light she didn¡¯t cut as menacing a figure as out in Valen. ¡°It had to look good or what would the point have been?¡± ¡°It felt personal, lady Deidra.¡± ¡°Oh, does baby need a kiss on the booboo?¡± Mertle lowered the knife and sat down, head spinning and threatening to send her into a dizzy spell. ¡°What is going on?¡± In the middle of the table sat a familiar sight: a jug of wine, wet with condensation, surrounded by six pewter cups. Mertle eyed it wearily, and then threw a glare at Quistis. ¡°You¡¯ll burn a hole through me if you keep that up.¡± The captain squirmed slightly. Deidra reached over the table, picked up the jug and poured everyone a cup. ¡°It¡¯s only wine. From Aliana¡¯s stock. She¡¯d kill me if I altered it in any way.¡± ¡°Like she¡¯ll believe that from you,¡± Aliana herself huffed. ¡°You made a right mess of that night. Lucky the ladies were on-hand.¡± ¡°Rumi insisted on assisting and had me over the barrel. Regardless.¡± Quistis accepted a mug, passed it to Vial, and smoothly moved past Aliana¡¯s barb. ¡°Mertle, there are no strings or traps here. Regardless of what you decide, you¡¯ll be free to walk out of here at the end. As safe and hale as you¡¯ve arrived. You have my word.¡± ¡°Cheap thing to offer,¡± Mertle grumbled. ¡°You¡¯ve given me your word plenty of times already, and every time dishonest.¡± Deidra laughed and the beggar choked on her wine. ¡°She¡¯s called you out, Quis. Must sting, good lady Proper being told off?¡± Was this another of the Guard¡¯s tricks? What did they stand to gain? Why was this person here¡­ Deidra. Mertle knew the name. Sil had mentioned her shortly. There was a large reward on her head, or at least that was as far as her recollection went. Panic flared in her chest. Here she was, with a mug of wine, sitting between a Storm Guard Iluna, a night weaver, a priestess of the Dryad¡ªshe knew first-hand how much Aliana terrified Tallah¡ªand a soldier that had volunteered to be poked full of holes for realism. Her gaze settled on the last person at the table. What had the night weaver said? ¡°You helped me?¡± she asked carefully. ¡°With the thugs?¡± ¡°I was there, aye,¡± the woman answered. She fished out a pipe from an inner pocket, stuck it in her mouth, and lit it with a spark from her fingers. An ash eater. Now the tableau of things took shape, humiliation growing in the gap left behind by the sudden death of her pride. Deidra¡¯s words of praise took on barbed edges as understanding dawned. Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work! They¡¯d known her as Tianna. And they¡¯d known her as Mertle. How far their knowledge extended, she could only guess. In a way, it helped her fears ease up. If these women wanted her harmed in some way, they would¡¯ve had ample opportunity to accomplish it¡­ or just let it happen in the alley. ¡°Your face is a marvel to watch,¡± the ash eater said. She let out a puff of blue smoke. ¡°Went through about four different emotions in a blink. Have a sip of the wine. It¡¯s quite good.¡± It was. Did not have a kick and left a slightly tangy aftertaste, but it was quite good. All of them drank. Deidra lit up her own pipe with a match, and for a few heartbeats there was only silence and the soft sounds of sipping wine. Now that she had a moment to calm down, Mertle could see that they met in what was essentially a storage room. The space for the table had been cleared from among bags, boxes and barrels of various alchemy supplies, foodstuffs and long-lasting preserves. The place would be cool in summer¡¯s heat, and not freezing in winter¡¯s chill. A root snaked its way across the ceiling, buds of white leaves covering it to bloom come thaw. ¡°Well, let¡¯s get to the core of this whole endeavour,¡± Quistis said, meeting Mertle¡¯s eyes. ¡°We support what you¡¯re doing. We support Tallah Amni and her plans against Empress Catharina.¡± Graceless din not even begin to describe the captain just then. Absurd. Inwardly, a part of Mertle giggled. This, at least, was a game she understood well and had watched it played out too many times to count. Sarrinare grinned as she placed imagined hands on Mertle¡¯s shoulders. Here we go. ¡°You¡¯re conspiring against your own empress.¡± It wasn¡¯t a question. ¡°I don¡¯t believe Tallah¡¯s got any plan of the sort.¡± ¡°As far as you know,¡± Deidra said. ¡°Tallah¡¯s not one to share plans. Never was. But given the blood debt she owes the empress, I can bet my eyes she aims to repay it.¡± ¡°And¡­ you¡¯re her friends? I find that hard to believe.¡± ¡°Well you should. Tallah and I are¡­¡± Deidra thought for a long time as she chewed on the end of her pipe. ¡°You could say we¡¯re sworn to kill one another. Which is what¡¯s going to happen if we¡¯re ever allowed to clash. Otherwise, enemy of my enemy and all that.¡± She pressed the heel of her palm to her cheek, them stopped and looked confused. ¡°Void, where¡¯d I put my glasses? Always misplace the bloody things.¡± The ash eater handed over a round pair of spectacles. ¡°Everyone you see here, aside from Aliana, has a blood debt that needs paying,¡± Quistis said. ¡°I owe Cinder a life very dear to me, which is why I¡¯m here and why I¡¯ve gone to great lengths to ensure your safety.¡± She dragged in a deep breath and spoke in a rush. ¡°You know her as Sil. I¡¯ve only ever known her as Dreea. She is my blood sister.¡± The bottom dropped from Mertle¡¯s chair and she reeled on Quistis. Not a lie in view on her face. The honesty on display shocked. So did the pain in the woman¡¯s eyes. ¡°Sil doesn¡¯t have a sister,¡± she said, suspicion running high. ¡°She would¡¯ve mentioned it.¡± ¡°Silestra doesn¡¯t remember having a sister,¡± Aliana said. ¡°It¡¯s one of the things we cut out of her when Tallah brought her into our care. Either that, or allow her to rot from within. She¡¯s a work of art, given what we had to do to make her.¡± ¡°Sil would never have agreed to¡ª¡± ¡°Sil would never, but Dreea did. Tallah agreed to the necessity.¡± Aliana¡¯s words had a hint of finality to them, a real anger that Mertle had never seen in the woman before. ¡°Captain Quistis here has been in mourning for years. If you care for Silestra¡¯s well-being, you will never utter the name Dreea to her.¡± ¡°You were right in what you told the smith,¡± Quistis said. She smiled apologetically, showing again how far her intrusion into Mertle¡¯s privacy had gone. ¡°Sil is not who you think she is. I hope you will love her still.¡± It was all too much to take in and chew. Sil had always spoken of being a single child, but admitted to very little about her childhood. Her parents were long passed. She¡¯d grown up in Drack but hadn¡¯t been there in decades, with nothing tying her to the place except vague childhood memories. Quistis, she remembered from their earlier meeting, sent her stipend home to her parents. ¡°Where are your parents, Captain Quistis?¡± ¡°Just Quistis, please. And they¡¯re still in Drack, living out their old age. My mother¡¯s an alchemist, and my father an engraver. To them, my sister died in service.¡± That fit much too well. But Aliana would probably know that from Sil and¡ª Her head spun. ¡°Why don¡¯t we start you from the beginning?¡± the ash eater suggested. She leaned over the table and offered her one hand to Mertle. ¡°Name¡¯s Lucretia. Luci to friends. We haven¡¯t been properly introduced yet.¡± Her grip was hand to wrist, a mix of human and elend greeting. Next was the night weaver, ¡°Deidra. You might have heard of me.¡± ¡°Only vaguely.¡± ¡°Good. It¡¯s all lies anyway.¡± Deidra¡¯s smile was infectious and had Mertle wondering how she¡¯d ever found the woman frightening. ¡°Luci and I have been acting on your behalf since the Descent. You¡¯re a hard elendine to keep track of, Mertle. I can¡¯t praise you higher.¡± Together with the smile, Deidra managed to get her blushing and smiling back. ¡°What is all this?¡± Mertle asked, eyes swinging between the five people in the room. ¡°Well, I¡¯ve gone to considerable lengths to test and shield you,¡± Quistis said, thumbing in Vial¡¯s direction. ¡°We took a huge gamble on what you may do when discovering the whole scuffle. But you performed spectacularly well and helped us manoeuvre suspicion away from you.¡± Mertle opened her mouth to protest, remembering the toughs, but Quistis cut her off. ¡°Rumi¡¯s plans were already in motion. I¡¯ve had her running around on other jobs, but the woman¡¯s got a mean streak that¡¯s a league long and several wide. She¡¯s now been reassigned in her duties so you and your alter-ego should be as safe as can be.¡± ¡°She¡¯s chasing me now.¡± Deidra waved her hand and grinned. ¡°I wish her the best of luck. Always wanted to sneak up on an Egia. Should be a proper challenge.¡± ¡°Quite,¡± Quistis gave a cold glare to the woman. Deidra only smiled back. ¡°For my part, I¡¯ve done all I could to make sure you, Mertle, have what it takes for what we¡¯re going to ask of you. The lengths you¡¯ve gone to have impressed on us the love you have for your friends. I¡¯m hoping you¡¯re interested in being part of something greater.¡± ¡°How did you know I was wearing Tianna?¡± The question had been burning to come out. Fine, they had her measure¡­ but where had she erred?! She considered it might¡¯ve been Aliana that had turned her in, but that felt unlikely. ¡°You¡¯ve made one mistake and you were very lucky you made it to me.¡± Quistis showed her palm, ¡°The hands of a pyromancer are never cold, not even in a panic.¡± Mertle passed a hand over her face, smearing the ash across her forehead. ¡°I shouldn¡¯t have laid my hands on you. It was so hard to think in the moment.¡± ¡°Was that your first time wearing the disguise?¡± Deidra asked from the side, her tone pleasantly conversational. She poured herself a second cup of wine. A pop behind them announced Vial opening a fresh bottle to pour in the decanter. ¡°Yes.¡± Deidra slapped the table and extended a hand to Quistis. ¡°Pay up, you prissy naysayer. I told you it was a first attempt.¡± The healer sighed, dug into the folds of her clerical robe and extracted a golden griffon. Deidra¡¯s fist tightened around it. ¡°Fine, fine. You were right, I was wrong. All the more reason to be doing this.¡± ¡°Doing this¡­ what?¡± Mertle asked. ¡°You had me interrogated. Followed.¡± She patted her tender face. ¡°Burned.¡± ¡°Sorry,¡± Lucretia said from the other side of the table. ¡°Was a hard thing to time right. Didn¡¯t expect you rushing at the man like that. The weave had to look like it came from your fingers. Any farther away, and the disconnect would¡¯ve been noticeable to your Egia lady friend. Sorry for your eyebrows.¡± ¡°Not the point. Thank you for that by the way. But why?¡± It was Aliana who answered, her tone sucking the air from the room, ¡°Because we¡¯re going to place you into a position where a single mistake is going to see you dead in the worst possible way. We¡¯re moving you into Aztroa Magnor, as a Storm Guard recruit.¡± Something cracked behind the priestess. A root the size of a person pushed out through the wall, twisted snake-like as it grew, and stopped just above their table. Quistis had to scoot her chair aside as the thing grew and spiralled downward. Mertle braced herself for whatever new insanity was to come. She dared the wine again, drinking to drain the cup. Whatever the priestess had said made as little sense as the rest of the night and she was less than inclined to believe it. The sprite disappeared and the root bloomed. White leaves and phosphorescent flowers covered it in an explosion of light. Scents of summer filled the narrow room, floral and rich, with the earthiness of moss and fresh grass. Far distant memories surfaced, of sleeping on naked earth at the base of ancient trees underneath the ever-clear Nen sky. The soldier moved away from Quistis¡¯s back, towards the door, taking up a casual guard position. They expect you to try and run. She pressed the tip of her tongue against the hollow tooth, still teetering on the decision. The wood split with deafening cracks, and was followed by a song of buzzing bees, gurgling brooks, and chirping birds. A dark shape emerged from the root, nearly tall enough for its head to scrape the ceiling. Mertle gaped at the erupting creature. A dark body like a cross between a stag and a dray, it lumbered forward on four hoofed feet, its gait clanking on the wooden table. A mane of moss and lichen hung off its back. The thing shook itself and the song of the forest dimmed to a far-distant hum. A face formed atop its head, a mask of bark with twin slits for eyes beneath irregular antlers. ¡°I see you, child of the dying land.¡± It spoke with the song of the forest, words twisted out of a symphony of birdsong, whispering wind, and gurgling streams. ¡°I welcome you to my house.¡± Aliana was on her feet, head bowed, hands clasped demurely in front of her. ¡°I did not expect you visiting tonight, my Lady. I would have prepared sap.¡± Mertle spat her wine in the Dryad¡¯s face. Chapter 2.20.1: Sils taking "I don¡¯t suppose we can end this here, Era? All of us going on our way?¡± It was a lie. The girl knew it. So did Tallah. A sharp breath drew in whatever illum she could muster. It burned within and drew attention to her tender wounds. Whatever healing Anna had offered was imperfect at best. Part of Tallah suspected cruelty. Only a single limiter left aside from the one on her neck and the boy¡¯s bangle. It would be next to useless after the earlier exertions. Silver chafed on her skin as power flowed by unrestricted, difficult to shape and wield. The two creatures mutated in front of her eyes, growing more terrible by the moment while she struggled to breathe in the illum she needed. The girl¡¯s state of mind showed in full as the beasts grew and shifted their stance, deadly predators grown into nightmare, crooked abominations. Their spikes and the clawed tips of their feet promised evisceration if her focus slipped. Would these be as formidable as the hunter from earlier? Somehow she doubted it. Still, they were large, armoured, and ferociously armed, more than enough to pose a serious challenge. Whatever resources she could still bring to bear¡­ that was a different matter. I can help, Christina assured her. I am not recovered, but I can provide some aid. I cannot. I need rest. Bianca had been exerting herself in full all throughout events. Little wonder the ghost wouldn¡¯t be much help now, reduced for the time being to a passive support. No time like the moment to commit to suicidal ventures. ¡°Vergil, on Sil. Defend until I relieve you.¡± ¡°Aye aye, boss lady.¡± A choke point like the tunnel was ideal for fighting off a superior enemy, but a trap if said enemy blocked escape. Spiders in front, fire in the back. Some creatures braved the inferno and trickled out of the room to cut off even that retreat. Erisa¡¯s face shone in various states of creation on every body that survived the flames. They¡¯d need to fight through the beasts and reach the forest beyond, get some clearance and then disengage back to the library to recover and maybe plan. She drew a breath, held it, released. A bad plan trumped no plan. Tallah opened with a salvo of lances. Sure enough, they were intercepted and dismissed by barriers, the spiders moving in on pumping legs, claws and fangs bared and glistening. These lacked the same terrifying abilities of the earlier one when another lance hit home, slipping by the barriers in a way the earlier beast had easily avoided. It made things simpler, though her fatigue twisted odds in the wrong direction. Vergil dove in front of the first, axe in hand, swinging wildly at the human girl growing out its back. Sil moved behind him, much steadier on her feet now that she had command of her barriers. Where the spider swung its claws at the boy, she defended. One enemy focused on the boy, one on Tallah. More at their backs. Prodding Anna¡¯s strength brought back only an indignant rebuttal. The ghost refused yielding any of her illum or ability, and the knowledge was already faded from Tallah¡¯s mind. With Christina providing her support and Bianca spent, Anna could run amok if she wished. The knowledge brought a cold shiver down Tallah¡¯s spine. See to your battle, Amni. I will keep you alive for the time being. Demand nothing more. A polite sending to the origins, in short. Fire and lightning would need to be enough. Electricity buzzed on her back and crackled across her arms. Erisa descended upon her. Tallah registered distantly the sounds of axe bouncing off hard shell, Sil cussing in response as Vergil fought. Her own problems became immediate as the creature closed the gap at a gallop. She should¡¯ve killed these beasts the very first moment she¡¯d laid eyes on them. Too late for should-haves. She dove under a killing swipe and blasted out with her lances, too close for fireballs. The armour on the thing was too thick for fireflies, its eyes too many, not even counting the girl¡¯s baleful glare. Fire washed over the spider and it roared in a deep mix of fury and hunger. Its legs shot out and it was simple luck that had her stumbling and rolling beneath its swipes. A tonne of monster atop her, punching down. She fired lance after lance upward, the air overheating with the assault, her aerum running out. Two. No, three lances managed to pass past the barriers only to wash off the carapace. With her limiters nearly destroyed, it was hard to estimate if she was using enough power or not. Erisa raised her bulk and slammed down. Tallah rolled away between two legs dug into the soft earth to escape the crushing force of all that spider bearing on her. The girl reeled lighting-fast and whirled in place, claws churning the ground as they slammed into Tallah. She grabbed onto the first leg, body wrapping nearly whole around the trunk-like limb. Christina sent lightning up through it, wreathed the girl in phosphorescent light. It brought a satisfying scream from the mutant, and a wild bucking as it tried to shake her off, all its limbs spasming, its roar distorting into pained howling. Tallah fired her lances again, pushing hard. This time they passed straight through to rupture the armour. Smoke billowed out from every open orifice on the creature, and the simile of Erisa riding atop it burst into flames like an effigy. She screamed in very human terror and anger. It still came for her, swiping madly to seek and impale her. Tallah released her grip and tried to stumble away. The beast burned and thrashed, punched and swiped. One swipe sent her flying, back hitting the wall with a crunch. Claws raked the stone in a wild bid to pin her. A desperate lance hit a barrier. The next got past and speared the fleshy, burning girl. It wouldn¡¯t die! She fired twice again in a panic, both lances missing the wailing half-corpse rider. She didn¡¯t see the claw swipe. If not for a barrier saving her, it would¡¯ve taken off her head. Sil called out, ¡°Little help here?¡± Her voice rose in panic somewhere to the left, where the second spider was fighting, but Tallah could spare no attention. She extended her arms and dressed her foe in flames. It streamed out of her wild and uncontrolled, like the first channelling of a pyromancer blooming. No time or energy for finesse. With a crackling like wood snapping, the creature collapsed, its legs burned to kindling. The air stank of burnt hair, charred meat and offal, and much worse things. She dared a breath of overheated air and reeled at the taste of the ash. Vergil slammed into her from her blind side, toppling her into a roll. They halted against the smouldering corpse. ¡°Tallah!¡± This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version. She rose in time to see the second beast¡ªErisa bled atop it from a constellation of cuts and lacerations¡ªpinning Sil beneath its great bulk. The creature¡¯s lower abdomen twisted forward and white silk bound the struggling healer. ¡°Up, boy! Up!¡± She fought to disentangle herself from Vergil¡¯s splayed form. He groaned and forced himself upward, a nasty cut bleeding on his face. His eyes regained focus and he struggled to get up and help her the same. Erisa crouched for a heartbeat, then jumped in an arc to stick to the wall. She took off at a skittering run, Sil tied in a bundle beneath the giant bulk, held fast against its abdomen. Bianca reacted before Tallah had completely extricated herself from beneath Vergil. A tether bound them both to the fleeing spider and they were yanked up into the air after it, nearly smashing their heads against the tunnel¡¯s walls. Get yourself together, Bianca whispered urgently. I don¡¯t know how long I can hold you to her. A lance would see Sil burning like wax, wrapped in all that. They shook and bounced on the invisible line, the spider running breakneck across Grefe¡¯s outer walls. Tallah caught a flash of the forest beneath, but not much else as the creature dove back into the city, squeezing through passages nearly too small for it. Grefe rushed by in a blur of statues, rooms and gaping drops. Vergil held a death¡¯s grip on his axe. With his free hand he held onto her, face grim, eyes unwavering from the escaping spider. If this was the boy, or the dwarf, she couldn¡¯t say but was glad for his composure. It kept her from dipping into panic. ¡°Pull me close,¡± she demanded. I can¡¯t. She keeps hacking at my tethers. They were dropping farther and farther behind, the creature moving too fast through too many passages for Tallah to suggest release and chase on their own. She was certain Erisa would escape through some hole somewhere before they even managed orientating themselves. Columns rushed by, a blur of white and grey, no longer recognisable as anything but danger. Tallah, I am nearly spent. I need a decision. ¡°I know where she¡¯s going.¡± Vergil squeezed on her shoulder, as if he¡¯d heard Bianca. She saw it between the rushing scenery. A structure of webs that dwarfed the rest of the city, like a nest hanging above the abyss, anchored to the depths of Grefe by thick struts of webbing. Tallah? ¡°Are you sure?¡± she asked, feeling Bianca¡¯s grip slip from Erisa¡¯s bulk. ¡°If I let go, we¡¯re done.¡± She had to scream above the rush of the wind and thunder of heartbeats beating against her eardrums. ¡°I¡¯m sure,¡± Vergil screamed back. Bianca released the moment Tallah nodded, angling them with a final pull towards a yawning window. She and Vergil hit the ground rolling, protecting one another¡¯s heads as they smashed through thick webbing holding tight pottery and ancient furniture. They were both back on their feet moments later, rushing out to see Erisa swinging towards the gargantuan castle of webs. The city was different here. ¡°We¡¯ve gone farther in,¡± Vergil said. He was breathing hard, still feeling the rush of the fight. His bleeding had all but stopped, covered up by dust-heavy webbing. ¡°Not the worst of it.¡± She drew in power and what came to her call felt similar to the maze, a mess of stagnant illum poisoned by some ancient violence. It served, but it did so wilfully, like ice water in her veins turning to molten slag. ¡°This place keeps on giving.¡± At least they seemed to have reached the far end of Grefe. Beyond the castle there was the wall and some strange sculpture. Not an angel for once. Just some kind of caverns dug into the rock, strange patterns adorning their centres as they framed the nest. ¡°That¡¯s an engine,¡± Vergil said, slack-jawed. ¡°Tallah, that is a star ship engine.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t follow.¡± He pointed to the strange sculpture. If she understood the distance right from them to the thing, its actual size would¡¯ve been about as large as a district in Valen. ¡°That is a star ship engine!¡± he repeated, voice growing manic. ¡°It¡¯s from a SPRAWL. I know it. I¡¯ve seen the vids a hundred times.¡± His gaze swivelled to get in the whole of it. ¡°This was Panacea¡¯s ship. Look, it says so over there.¡± She squinted but couldn¡¯t make out anything on the far wall, at least not with her poor eyesight. After a moment¡¯s rummaging in her rend, she produced her glasses and indeed saw writing on the side of one of the structures. The letters were alien. ¡°I can¡¯t read it.¡± ¡°It says Panacea on it, SPRAWL-001 beneath. It¡¯s part of her ship.¡± It was all very interesting, but Sil¡¯s fate was of more interest. ¡°Bianca, are we going the right way if we head into that place?¡± Yes. I am not completely certain, but it¡¯s within reasonable estimation. Give me some moments to recover and I will aid your descent. All the same, she needed a moment¡¯s rest as well. Her head throbbed and every muscle ached with the effort. She cast about the room they occupied, worried about whatever else might be coming their way. ¡°You¡¯re talking to ghosts?¡± Vergil asked, still staring at the far vista. ¡°Yes. They need rest, same as we do.¡± She sat down heavily at the foot of a statue. Even here, they littered the walls with their endless empty stares. At least they were all staring upward and not down at her. Rhine was perched atop this one, sitting astride its shoulders, idly swinging bare feet. The soles were bloody. Without the rush of immediate danger, Tallah studied her sister and wrinkled her nose at the wraith. No, she had to remind herself, this was not Rhine, in spirit or in flesh. This was something else and she¡¯d give it her attention in due time. Not now. Distractions would see Sil dead. Or worse. She shook her head clear of grizzly thoughts. ¡°Do you think she crash landed here?¡± Vergil asked, refusing to sit. ¡°Is that how humans came to Edana? Are we¡­ aliens here? I mean¡­ I am. Are you?¡± Now that was a thought to distract her from both Rhine¡¯s unpleasant presence¡ªa suspicion began forming but it¡¯d resolve itself later¡ªand the gnawing worry of what was to happen to Sil. More interestingly, the webbed structure was not actually made of webs, now that she had a proper look. It had existed there before the spiders, given the bridges connecting it to the rest of the city, and the massive support structures build beneath it. Not a castle, not really, but definitely something that held a particular importance to the people that had built Grefe. Given the gargantuan engine behind it, she supposed it could¡¯ve been some place of worship¡­ or maybe research? ¡°Please stop talking.¡± She cradled her head to fight back the aches exploding in her temples. ¡°Every time you open your mouth, another mystery gets added to this city. I have had quite enough wonder and am halfway tempted to level the place.¡± He drew breath to speak. Maybe to protest. Then suddenly shouted, ¡°Look! Over there!¡± Dizziness flared when her eyes shot up to follow the line of his arm. Erisa¡¯s massive shape was crossing one of the bridges, followed by a group of black-bodied spiders, nearly as large as the girl¡¯s mount. She groaned. More of the things to fight through¡ª No! The spiders were harassing Erisa, leaping onto her, swarming by her feet. These were the Oldest¡¯s brood, come to their aid. Against a creature like that, they weren¡¯t to fare well as it quickly became apparent. ¡°No rest for us, it seems.¡± She drew herself up and Vergil hefted his axe. Bianca rose from her short meditation, tethered Vergil to her, and launched them over the lip of platform. Equations brushed past her conscious mind, forces and vectors to guide them in quickest fashion to their destination. Watch out! Behind us! Anna¡¯s sudden burst saved their lives. Bianca twisted them in the air and the fireball blasted past them to explode just meters away. Overheated air slammed them off trajectory to crash back into the city. More come. Same attack line. This time the warning had come in proper time. Vergil was already moving, distancing himself from her at a loping sprint, eyes darting up into the high galleries to find their attacker. She spun in place, snapped her fingers, and met the bombardment with pinpoint accuracy, loosing a barrage of her fireflies. Each ball of flame detonated mid-air, close enough that the shock waves shook the platform she stood on. There were more heading down. At the wrong angle? Realisation dawned with frightful clarity as she turned and sprinted away. Explosions rocked the platform and the distance to the inner building suddenly felt like leagues. The old bastard had planned it well! She wouldn¡¯t reach safety in time. Stone cracked and split, the world shook, and she began pitching into the black. Chapter 2.20.2: That old bastard Vergil skidded to a halt, halfway up the first set of stairs leading up. Grefe shook beneath his feet with the roar of stone grinding itself to dust. More explosion followed. A glance back showed Tallah falling, the platform crumbling under her feet. Would she be alright? Instinct kicked him back, certainty burning that she didn¡¯t have enough time to get clear. A mad, stumbling rush back down the stairs while the tunnel shivered and shook as if in a fit. More stones tumbled. He hadn¡¯t gone far to begin with, but now the distance back stretched to unreachable lengths. Every stride felt too small, too slow. Tallah fell. The rock beneath her feet shattered, pitching her into the black. She tumbled back, thrown off her feet, falling without a flail. Vergil stopped by the lip of where the platform had been. A glance up had him pulling back, arms over head, to hide behind the wall as more fireballs slammed into the facade. ¡°Tallah!¡± He chanced another glance out through the choking dust. She would¡¯ve been in the dead centre of the explosions. Taking her out couldn¡¯t have been that easy! It couldn¡¯t¡ª Tallah shot out through the smoke and dust, curling it all around her figure. Her hands were ablaze and she loosed twin flame bolts at some position far above. Explosions lit up the high galleries heartbeats later. He would¡¯ve whooped for joy. Her ascent crested into an arc and she spun in the air, reaching out for the wing of a surviving statue. It snapped off under her falling weight and she tumbled down, out of control. Vergil saw the glint of more fire screaming down on them. Instinct told him to run, that Tallah would be fine. She¡¯d always been fine before. Moving without thinking, he reached out from the lip of the ruin, arm outstretched, hand reaching for Tallah¡¯s falling form. It was a moment¡¯s inspiration, his fingers grasping her coat, gripping tight. Her weight pulled him forward but an arm around a pillar steadied them both, desperate strength keeping him from falling out into the gap. Feet slipped forward to the very edge. Muscles bunching, pain exploding in his back, breath knocked out by the effort, he still managed to hold her. ¡°Arm. Quick!¡± he groaned as fire descended upon them. Had she fainted? With a groan, Tallah stirred and twisted in place. She reached back and grasped his wrist, feet bracing against the jagged stone wall to scramble up. ¡°Pull,¡± she demanded. He did. Explosions pock marked their surroundings, balls of fire smashing down with near-desperate cadence. Tallah grabbed his belt and hauled herself up the moment she could get a hand over the lip of the crater. She pushed him back, spun and loosed her own volcanic answer to the assault, a series of balls of flames careening out into the night. ¡°Get to him.¡± She¡¯d been hurt. Part of her face was blistered and scraped raw, her hair in a loose mess. ¡°Get to the old bastard and bury an axe in his throat.¡± He didn¡¯t need telling twice. ¡°Just keep him busy.¡± He was already moving again. Tallah leaned on the wall, drew a deep breath as three more explosions rocked the narrow gallery in which they¡¯d huddled. Walls cracked and split and part of the room crumbled out. She shifted aside and ignited.. ¡°He¡¯d better pray you get to him before I gather my wits about me,¡± she groaned, voice cold. ¡°Move, boy. I¡¯ll have him busy.¡± Fireflies detonated the following fireballs, their bursts of light sending dancing shadows through the stairwell as Vergil ran. He shielded his face from the blasts of dust cascading down. The dwarf kept advising in the manner Vergil had begun getting used to. For all he could tell, the Hammer was only interested in fighting and diving into the thick of things, even without the helmet giving him control. He seemed more than happy to simply advise as long there was fighting to be done. Without his advice, Vergil wasn¡¯t certain he would¡¯ve survived the fight with Erisa from earlier, and it had cost him nothing thus far. It did not change the tightness in his chest. If he¡¯d been a bit stronger¡­ a bit faster¡­ better, then Sil wouldn¡¯t be in terrible danger now. He dreaded what Erisa was going to do and hated the old man for delaying them. Now Tallah had entrusted him with a mission as she exchanged fire with the bastard. Vergil flew up the stairs, axe in hand, chest heaving with the effort. He would need to become stronger, be better. Sil had relied on him and been taken. A flash of hollow eyes had him stumbling up a final incline, heart threatening to burst in his chest. The vision blurred and Vergil felt as if someone pushed him right back up to his feet. How was the dwarf doing that? It didn¡¯t matter. A quick glance outside the room, through a thick curtain of webs, showed fire erupting out the window of a dwelling on the other side of the ravine. A narrow, open bridge connected his side to that, and he¡¯d be fully in view while crossing. Cursing his luck, he crept forward, crouched low to not alert the old man. He would only get one chance to surprise Ludwig and he meant to take it. Tallah¡¯s fire missed the window by spans. She¡¯d lost her glasses and Vergil wondered if she was missing on purpose, or simply couldn¡¯t pinpoint Ludwig¡¯s presence. Part of him dreaded the bridge and how she might blow him up by mistake. No. She was missing on purpose! All her blasts hit away from the pillars supporting the building, just so far that it wouldn¡¯t send Ludwig toppling to his death but obscure the bridge by smoke and dust. ¡°Yes, yes, I¡¯ll try and catch him myself,¡± he groaned as if she could hear him. Tallah wanted her mask back. It wouldn¡¯t do to send it into the abyss along with her old teacher. A deep breath. A short sprint forward among the pillars and the bridge stared at him. Narrow enough that only a person would be getting across at one time, smooth and without any kind of side protection, it was a nightmare in waiting. If Ludwig got even a whiff of his crossing, Vergil would be dead in the next heartbeat. Nowhere to hide. Nowhere to retreat. A sprint would get him across in maybe ten seconds? He eyed the far side and tried to picture where he¡¯d need to go. A fireball exploding in the dwelling atop his target sent a thick swath of dust cascading down into the gallery and his considering was done. He ran, feet pumping as fast as they could carry him across the narrow gap, mind desperately trying not to consider the drop beneath. Flames burst from the rooms ahead and he knew from painful experience how fast the webs would burn out. Drew a deep breath, held it, and leapt through the curtain of flames to roll on the other side. Thick smoke filled the room, the heat intense. Smoke stung his eyes as he oriented himself, took the left hand path to climb a wide set of stairs, and rushed ahead. Ludwig may not have seen him crossing, but that wasn¡¯t a chance worth taking. Vergil threw himself to the floor, among the ashes of the burnt webs, and a lance of fire punched through the smoke above. He rolled and another gout of directed flames washed across the place he¡¯d been at. ¡°It doesn¡¯t need to end here, lad.¡± Ludwig¡¯s voice spoke from the smoke-choked darkness. ¡°You don¡¯t need to follow that monster around. You don¡¯t even understand what she is.¡± He recognised the thick whoosh of fireballs launched. Was the old man strong enough to actually fight Tallah now that he¡¯d lost the initiative? Sil¡¯s words from earlier came back as he trudged through the smoke, breath held, eyes stinging. Ludwig may have been old, but that did not make him any less dangerous. This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source. He did. The smoke thinned and he could just make out the swish of feet in the settling dust, together with the odd sounds of fireballs tearing away. Two rooms over, maybe. Left hand. Vergil huddled near the entrance, willing his heart to calm. Tallah¡¯s attacks had slowed, or their blasts were far off. A couple more whooshes were interrupted with a cry from the old man. It tore through the air as if he¡¯d been stabbed and, for a brief moment, Vergil considered moving beyond the entrance. Foreign instinct needled him to wait. Instead, he drew back and slipped into a side room, as low to the floor as he could get without crawling. Moments later a fireball flashed into the room he¡¯d been occupying and exploded with a thick boom that rattled his teeth. The dwelling shook but the wall shielded him from the blast. Smoke billowed in and he used the moment to breach farther, trusting to what he¡¯d seen of Grefe before that the room would, inevitably, circle back to where he needed to get. He stuck his head out a side window and drew in a lungful of clean air. It was getting hard to breathe and near impossible to keep his eyes open in the mire. Again, Ludwig screamed as if fighting someone off. Maybe it was a spider? ¡°The Kin are not here.¡± Luna¡¯s voice startled him out of his skin. He stuck a fist in his mouth to batter down his surprise. The spider clung to his back, such a familiar presence now that, in the rush of things, he¡¯d forgotten about it. Luna¡¯s voice was tiny, whisper-thin, as if it spoke only to him. ¡°We help friend?¡± It perched on his shoulder and pressed against his cheek, waiting for whatever instruction he had to give it. A pang of guilt stabbed through him as he remembered the burning flowers and the trampled, churned out ruins of the beds in which they¡¯d sat. Luna had asked them to be careful, to show restraint, and they¡¯d only left ruin behind. That it was still calling him friend¡­ ¡°I need you to distract him,¡± he whispered, guts twisting at the idea of sending the spider into Ludwig¡¯s range of fire. But the longer he kept them pinned down and occupied, the more time Erisa had to do whatever she had planned for Sil. Morals were a luxury that time did not afford him. For Sil¡¯s sake, he¡¯d live with a guilty conscience. ¡°We will. We give Knowing.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t. Just try and not get hurt. I only need to get close.¡± To do what exactly, he didn¡¯t yet know. Just killing the old man sat wrong in his gut, but leaving him to Tallah¡¯s care wasn¡¯t any more palatable. He¡¯d subdue the man, somehow, and get the mask off him first and foremost. Everything else could come later. Luna dropped to the floor and became one with it, hidden from view in an instant. Only the dust being disturbed showed the spider¡¯s passage. Vergil crept forward, going room to room, keenly aware of Ludwig¡¯s struggling noises. It sounded as if he were fighting something right there in the room. Luna couldn¡¯t have gotten that close yet, not if he was any judge of distance. ¡°He¡¯s baiting Tallah,¡± Vergil whispered to himself, cutting the mad dwarf off. ¡°I know he¡¯s trying to bait her. I¡¯m not stupid. Is he?¡± Tallah wouldn¡¯t fall to something as blatantly obvious as that. Of that, at least, he was certain¡­ nearly. She was tired and coming off fighting several of Grefe¡¯s scariest spiders. She¡¯d been caught by surprise by Ludwig and almost fell to her death if Vergil hadn¡¯t been there. Maybe¡ª Ludwig screamed louder now, and Vergil heard Luna¡¯s whispered message in his head, ¡°Now, friend. We attack.¡± He rushed out of hiding, crossing the two rooms separating him from Ludwig¡¯s position, heedless of the racket he kicked up. Three quick strides brought him across the first smoke-laden room, three more got him halfway into the second. And he ran face-first into a floating fire orb. A heartbeat¡¯s warning showed the blob of light in the eye-stinging mist of web ash and dust, and a second was nearly enough to get his arm up to protect his face. It exploded with the concussive boom of a bomb. The shock wave blasted him off his feet while the heat wash seared his exposed face. He¡¯d nearly managed to turn around. Nearly. The blast threw him across the room to smash into a wall and crash down among the detritus of a thousand years. The world sang in his ears in the tone of a ringing alarm, blaring with the intensity of a fire klaxon on the Gloria. He¡¯d dropped his axe and his hand gripped blindly for nothing. Formed a fist. It would do. His right eye couldn¡¯t close and clouded his vision. Even so, he found himself upright, both fists clenched, chest heaving. He shivered. Red messages crowded in his field of view, painfully sharp against the backdrop of near blindness. Luna blanketed every thought with a mental scream. Pain mixed in with fear. A cry for help. Vergil moved again without thinking, stumbling once, righting, pushing ahead with alien strength holding him upright. Every breath hurt. Every breath urged him on, like an engine sputtering to life again. He bled from places he didn¡¯t know could bleed as they did. Bleeding didn¡¯t matter. Sil mattered. Luna mattered. Tallah mattered. They relied on him! The spider burned when he rushed into the room, set ablaze by some magical mean as it screamed within an orb of flames. Ludwig, half-seen but nonetheless there, turned in shock to regard him. Vergil¡¯s fist caught him in the mouth. Ancient, abused teeth cracked and blasted into the back of the old bastard¡¯s throat. He sputtered, retreated, brought his staff to bear in an awkward swing as if to swat away a ghost. The strike caught him in the ribs and knocked out what little air he¡¯d gulped down. It barely hurt. Vergil wrapped an arm around the shaft and dragged the old man close. Ludwig tried speaking. Reasoning maybe? But Vergil¡¯s ears rang and he could hear nothing but the thunder of his heart. A distant part of him wondered why he wasn¡¯t dead. The rest saw red, lashed out with a kick and scythed the bastard¡¯s legs from under him. Luna¡¯s inferno extinguished, leaving the spider curled into a ball on the floor, still twitching. White-hot rage washed over Vergil as he advanced. Channellers don¡¯t fare particularly well in close-quarter combat, Tallah¡¯s voice advised out of one of their distant session. Don¡¯t assume we¡¯re helpless if you take away our range. Know that I will burn myself to kill you if you get too close. Ludwig tried that. Took a half-step back, ignited a fireball in his hand, swung it at him. Vergil punched out as Tallah had taught him, hand catching the old man¡¯s forearm and twisting it upward. The fireball launched into the high ceiling, exploded and cascaded dust and masonry down on them. He barrelled into his foe. Fighting someone like me means you will get hurt. I¡¯m not afraid to burn. Burns down to the bone are rites of passage for pyromancers. Tallah grinned in his mind¡¯s eyes as his foot moved behind Ludwig¡¯s, and his chest crashed against the old man¡¯s. They fell together. If you can¡¯t get the element of surprise, then get close enough to punch me and don¡¯t be afraid of the pain. It¡¯s inevitable for both of us. And you won¡¯t afford being nice. Ludwig raised his arm awkwardly, trying to twist away from his grasp. Vergil pinned down his staff arm, slammed the wrist against the floor until the grip loosed. Pulled back his free hand and punched the bastard in the face. Again. Erisa¡¯s tortured form flashed in his mind, the mutated thing that was left of a little girl who¡¯d been sacrificed to this fool¡¯s ambition. He punched again and felt bone cracking against his knuckles. Again! Bloody froth bubbled up from Ludwig¡¯s lips. He was screaming at him, writhing, trying to wriggle free, crawl away. The mask had slipped off his face and Vergil stared into bloodshot grey eyes. He stared down into inhuman black eyes set on the face of a girl too young to have suffered as she did. He stared into half-remembered empty pits brimming with hatred¡­ His arm pumped back and forth and Vergil could no longer feel the impact of knuckles striking bone, cartilage, or flesh. Well, now we know, a part of him whispered, its tone neutral. You can kill with your bare hands Why care for this monster? Why allow the inhuman to live? Why¡ª Something grabbed his arm and wouldn¡¯t let go even as he wanted to keep going, to strike and pummel until he¡¯d be sure the old man could never hurt anyone ever again. ¡°That¡¯s quite enough, boy,¡± Tallah¡¯s voice said and the pressure on his wrist increased. ¡°Get off him while he still draws breath.¡± Reluctantly, he obeyed, not daring a look at what his hands had achieved. Blood slicked his gauntlets, so thick that it spread all the way up to his wrists. He stared at red fingers as if they didn¡¯t quite belong to him. Everything hurt. His face throbbed. The eye still couldn¡¯t close and itched. He didn¡¯t dare touch it. Tallah pressed two vials into his hands. ¡°You did good, Vergil. Get yourself sorted out. See to the spider. It¡¯s still kicking.¡± When looking up from the blood on his hands and the ruin of Ludwig¡¯s face, Tallah¡¯s grey eyes met his. She smiled in a way he hadn¡¯t seen before, a hint of pride to her face in as much as he could make out anything of it. ¡°I hope I¡¯m talking to Vergil, not the pissant in the helmet.¡± ¡°It¡¯s me,¡± he confirmed. Pushing words out felt pretty much like trying to cough out glass shards. Coughing felt as if trying to rip out a lung piece by piece. ¡°I¡¯m fine.¡± ¡°Good. See to your friend.¡± She held her mask. It was dented awkwardly, the imprint of a fist etched into the silver. ¡°You could¡¯ve hit him after getting the mask.¡± ¡°Meant to. Things¡­ happened.¡± Her gaze swung from him to the ruin of Ludwig¡¯s face, back again. ¡°Things, yes. Good job, Vergil. You did good.¡± It didn¡¯t feel good. Part of him wanted to plant a boot on the bastard¡¯s throat until eyes bulged out and whatever life lingered in the old husk was finally snuffed out. That part scared him. Chapter 2.20.3: Castle of webs ¡°Do we really need to waste a draught on him?¡± Vergil cradled the burnt spider in his arms, holding it as he would have a child. It was an oddly sickening sight, but at least the critter was still alive. A few drops of Sil¡¯s draught brought it back up to its feet. Odd that. It didn¡¯t normally work on animals. ¡°Next time, cut his bloody head off and be done with the deed. I¡¯ve seen overripe fruit looking better falling from the tree.¡± She forced open the shattered remains of Ludwig¡¯s mouth and poured the accelerant down his throat. ¡°Since you¡¯ve left him marginally alive, I want to understand what the blazes he¡¯s been thinking.¡± The healing mixture worked wonderfully fast to restore some of the damage the boy had wrought. Not the teeth. She expected the old man had swallowed those. ¡°I¡ª¡± Vergil hesitated with whatever he¡¯d meant to say while she dug out the smelling salts. Fresh scarring on his face made him look older, though the bashfulness remained. It made for a rather comedic contrast. Suited him. ¡°Out with it, Vergil. We don¡¯t have all night.¡± ¡°I wanted to kill him. With my own hands. I think I would¡¯ve if you hadn¡¯t stopped me.¡± ¡°Good. Next time use the axe. Nothing worse than talking to the man you put on death¡¯s door.¡± ¡°You¡¯re not angry with me?¡± ¡°I¡¯m disappointed you rushed in headlong. Didn¡¯t I teach you about delayed detonations?¡± ¡°¡­No?¡± Oh bugger. Tummy would have her hide. ¡°Ah. Well, lesson learned I suppose.¡± She untied the pouch and shoved it under Ludwig¡¯s nose. The bugger could sleep when he was dead, a prospect that could be close at hand if she didn¡¯t find a use for him. If he was truly unconscious or pretending, the stench of the thing brought him up coughing. Tallah smashed his nose into a red smear to add to the splotches of drying blood already marring his beard. ¡°I thought you wanted to talk to him.¡± Vergil helped the spider climb up to its perch on his shoulder. ¡°You don¡¯t get to have all the fun. Morning to you, Professor.¡± She shook Ludwig until he stopped his mewling. ¡°Fancy another try at killing me?¡± He stared up at her, eyes wide, pure hatred on his face. ¡°Monster,¡± he lisped. ¡°Aberration!¡± ¡°A bit late to try and flirt with me, Professor.¡± She hauled him up by the lapels of his coat. Vergil had taken the backpack. ¡°You should know I don¡¯t take kindly to betrayal. Luckily, I have a use for you. Where were you headed?¡± He glared and his mouth faded into a white line of displeasure. A flash of fire on his coat got a reaction of horror. She could spend a long time roasting him alive until she got everything she needed from him. But time was in short supply. ¡°I suggest you talk to me. Or what you accuse me of...¡± She allowed both Christina and Bianca to speak through her throat at once. ¡°We¡¯re going to do to you.¡± The look of a man about to piss himself in abject horror. That got every shade of terror out of him along with an overflow of unintelligible words. She shook him back into coherence. ¡°I was to find the girl,¡± he finally said. ¡°We were already doing that, you daft bastard. Why take off on me? Why even attack me?¡± ¡°Because you¡¯re a monster. I know what you did. I know what you are.¡± ¡°In a city of monsters, you thought it wise to attack the one that actually cared to keep you alive?¡± She shook him again and grinned. ¡°And you know bugger all. Catharina always believed in using every advantage, dirty trick and unsavoury tactic to achieve her goals. I doubt you¡¯ve ever divested yourself of her philosophy. Why do you want the girl to yourself?¡± ¡°To kill her.¡± Vergil moved behind her, a looming presence that quite fit the man he was growing into. The hatred flowing off him was nearly palpable. For a heartbeat she wondered if not to give Ludwig over for another pummelling. The old man¡¯s eyes widened as he stared over her shoulder. ¡°What does it matter to you, old man? Why all of this?¡± If the city and the story held any more surprises in store, she wanted them aired out before she assaulted that webbed fortress. Time washed over them all and every moment she tarried was one more where Sil had to handle herself alone. ¡°One more half-answer, Ludwig, and I¡¯ll let the boy finish the job. Speak plainly. You¡¯ve lied to us all the way here. I will be lied to no longer.¡± A pale tongue licked swollen lips, ¡°She must die. She¡¯s the last link.¡± ¡°To what?¡± ¡°To my failure.¡± The stupidity of it all was staggering. She¡¯d wanted to think better of the old bastard, at least for gratitude for the time he¡¯d kept her secrets. And yet¡­ Has Vergil hit him too hard? Christina shared her incredulity. Has he gone insane? More likely they¡¯d never known him otherwise. ¡°All of this, just to¡­ what? Hide a crime nobody even knew existed?¡± ¡°She lived. The girl lived.¡± Blood drooled by the side of his mouth as he hissed the words. ¡°She knew. The last to know, and she wouldn¡¯t die. Years spent watching that pendant and waiting for it to fall. It never did.¡± ¡°What harm could she do you?!¡± Vergil sounded affronted, pacing behind them. She agreed with his sentiment. ¡°What danger was she to you? She saved your life after you failed her. You should be begging for her forgiveness. And I¡¯m certain you wouldn¡¯t deserve it.¡± At least to Vergil¡¯s words Ludwig had the decency to flinch. Tallah considered if she should throw him over the balcony into the waiting dark. Seemed too simple an end. ¡°All the girl said is true then?¡± Both she and Vergil already knew the answer to that. The image of the mutated girl still burned fresh in her mind. Whatever Ludwig had to say for himself wouldn¡¯t matter in the least. You¡¯re going to hand him over to her, aren¡¯t you? Christina approved. May she choke on him, Bianca followed. I¡¯m well enough to help again if you need me to. Anna kept her own council, a surly presence cowering somewhere in the depths of Tallah¡¯s mindscape. She grew stronger each heartbeat and soon there would come the inevitable confrontation. Tallah hoped against it. Little suggested that Erisa may give Sil in exchange for the old man. Still, if she threw the blighter at whatever fresh horror waited in the castle of webs, maybe she¡¯d have enough time to grab the healer and make a run for it. Fighting the girl in her enraged state wasn¡¯t likely to end well. ¡°Well, old man, I have good news for you.¡± She pushed him to his feet, away from her, and snapped her fingers. Five fireflies flitted into existence around Ludwig¡¯s head. ¡°You can have your chance at killing the girl. Just don¡¯t expect my help for it.¡± Vergil growled and rubbed his hands, dried blood flaking off. What got the fire lit under his arse, Tallah didn¡¯t care to know. ¡°Lad, you¡¯re making a mistake,¡± Ludwig lisped at the boy. ¡°She¡¯s evil. You don¡¯t understand what she meddles with.¡± ¡°Shut up.¡± He turned to her. ¡°Give me my helmet, please.¡± If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°Out of the question.¡± ¡°I need my helmet, Tallah. It¡¯s mine. You gave it to me. Now give it back.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not safe. You¡¯re already polluted. Why risk more?¡± Ludwig looked as if he prepared to bolt. Tallah brought the fireflies closer to his head, the threat obvious. She wouldn¡¯t be opposed to blowing his head off then and there. For now, she needed Vergil sorted. The boy didn¡¯t look like he¡¯d back down from her glare. Part of her was proud of him. Another part wanted to punch some sense back into his head. ¡°I can be useful with the helmet. If I had it earlier, Sil wouldn¡¯t have been taken.¡± He gestured towards the vista waiting for them. ¡°I can help you fight your way out when we get Sil back.¡± She wanted to smack him. Tried to. But he leaned back and caught her by the wrist. Stronger than she knew him. Vergil was coming into his own quite handsomely, his recent near-death neatly shrugged off. ¡°You don¡¯t need it. You¡¯ve been doing well enough so far without it.¡± ¡°I almost died. This old coot nearly blew my head off.¡± ¡°And yet here you are, alive and well.¡± She pulled her wrist away from his grip. ¡°Leave it be, Vergil. I don¡¯t need¡ª¡± ¡°Please, Tallah!¡± He was on the verge of tears, whatever backbone he¡¯d relied on crumbling under his insistence. ¡°If something happens to Sil, I¡¯ll never forgive myself.¡± Just give him the stupid thing. He¡¯s already got the dwarf in his head. I don¡¯t expect the posession may get any worse. Both ghosts offered an impatient huff. He¡¯s getting as bad as the hen. Tallah sighed and accepted Christina¡¯s wisdom. She¡¯d destroy the thing once it was no longer useful at the end of this miserable misadventure. For now, they needed to get moving and the boy¡¯s hysteria was wearing her patience thin. A quick dip in a rend later, she handed over the absurd piece of armour. ¡°Wear it proud, if you value what¡¯s left of your mind so little.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not that.¡± Vergil stuffed the helmet over his head, ears still proving an issue. At least it hid the scar tissue of his recent burns. ¡°Sil trusted me. Once we reach her, she¡¯ll power me. Horvath and I will do anything to get her out safely.¡± ¡°Are you trying to make her lover jealous, Vergil?¡± She grinned but he was even more resolute. ¡°I¡¯m trying to get her back to her lover in one piece. I owe it to them both.¡± Admirable sentiment but time wasted away. She turned to Ludwig and marched him out of the destroyed room, wary of any other spidery surprises. Warning the old man against trying anything stupid would be useless. Given the girl¡¯s hatred for the blighter, she¡¯d be quite as happy with a headless corpse as with the git himself. Heading down proved uncontested. Beneath the thick webs, something was different this close to the ends of the city. Knickknacks littered the living spaces and the rooms were smaller, less open, more human-sized. There were many bridges spanning the various gaps, some with handrails off which spider webs fluttered in the strange underground breeze. ¡°I hope you¡¯re taking stock of all you¡¯re seeing, Vergil,¡± she said as they made their way down a steep incline of stairs. ¡°We¡¯ll have a chat once everything¡¯s said and done here.¡± ¡°If we make it out alive you mean?¡± ¡°You¡¯ve spent entirely too much time alone with Sil if you¡¯re picking up on her fatalism.¡± Ludwig gaped as the¡­ what did Vergil call it? The spaceship engine grew into view the closer they got, a cavernous construct that beggared her imagination. Even the ghosts observed in fascination. How had humans built something like that? The biggest construction yards of Calabran couldn¡¯t even hope to fit in half of that thing¡¯s gargantuan size. If that was an engine, how large would the rest of the ship have been? It would¡¯ve put Aztroa to shame. An entire city floating in the void among the stars, this new detail far removed from what she¡¯d imagined out of Sil¡¯s recollection. She nearly missed a step close to the end. Spider corpses littered the way, crushed down by the fury of Erisa¡¯s passing. Some still twitched and Luna let out a low whimper as they stepped onto the first strut leading to the lair. It resembled a wasp nest in how it had been built, now that she was close enough to understand what she¡¯d seen from afar. The structure connected to both walls of the ravine via bridges, and hung suspended in front of the gargantuan engine. By what means, she could only guess. An array of cables, tubes and chains led from it to the engine, their size mind-boggling. And one was clearly an aqueduct, water flowing down from the city to wash over the nest from above. It dripped like rain, seeping among the webs. Bianca offered a mental image of the earlier embassy, at the other end of the city, and how a waterfall would¡¯ve looked washing over it. It would¡¯ve been a striking greeting into this place, with winged beings fluttering to and fro. ¡°They were studying the thing?¡± Vergil mused. ¡°Do you think the Grefe builders found Panacea¡¯s crashed ship and brought part of it here for study?¡± It was a decent assumption, though it failed in bridging any of the gaps in their knowledge. ¡°Or here were the survivors of the crash,¡± she said. ¡°We¡¯re millennia too late to know anything for sure. I¡¯m hoping the library would have some answers.¡± To Ludwig¡¯s puzzled expression, she added, ¡°Had you been less of an imbecile, Professor, you may have joined in our discoveries. Yes, this place has history you can¡¯t even conceive.¡± I don¡¯t believe the irony escapes you, Christina chided her. It did not, no. She¡¯d have to unpack it after Sil was safe and they were at least on their way out of this horrible place. Ludwig¡¯s single-minded pursuit of his goal had made him blind to everything else he might have gained otherwise. A lifetime spent under the harsh light of obsession. Look where it got him¡­ ¡°That¡¯s peculiar.¡± Tallah stopped dead as Vergil looked to the engine. ¡°I don¡¯t believe I¡¯ve ever heard two more ominous words coming from you, boy. What is it?¡± ¡°Argia warns me of a radiation leak.¡± They were halfway across the first bridge to the castle, their way so far uncontested but for the many corpses littering the narrow passage. The way was solid, but their feet sank into the web with each step, making for slow, difficult passage. ¡°And what¡¯s that supposed to be? I assume it¡¯s bad.¡± ¡°Very bad. Makes you sick. Argia can¡¯t actually tell how how intense it is, or what kind, just that it¡¯s there.¡± ¡°Best we hurry then.¡± See to your mission, Anna said, her tone as displeased as ever. I am observing what you¡¯re bathed in. You will not die of it. Not quickly. Lovely. My attention is split. Do not rely on me much. I don¡¯t trust our old colleague to behave up to the end. Christina injected the thought straight among Tallah¡¯s worries and concerns. They were, on this, of a mind. She harried Ludwig for a faster crossing. The old man walked resolutely, looking about as miserable as she wanted him feeling. Her fireflies orbited close to his head, a reminder of what may happen if he took any risk. Maybe he understood she was marching him to the gallows. Maybe not. But she and Erisa would likely come to more blows and a distraction would serve. Unless the bastard threw in with the girl and then all sorts of contingencies would be needed. Spiders erupted out from beneath the webs close to the end of their journey. A glance at the closest one revealed a different beast than those she¡¯d been fighting and killing up to there. What kinds of beasts even were these? ¡°Are those breasts?¡± Vergil asked, as struck as she. His eyes would¡¯ve picked the details better than hers. ¡°Try and focus.¡± She ignited fireballs. ¡°Those claws are far more interesting.¡± They also had arms with grasping fingers. A terrible melding of human and arachnid, these were the stuff of fever nightmares, coherent in their danger unlike the things dead in the pit. One emerged right next to her, grasping her trousers with clawed fingers as it drew itself out. Long, serrated claws would¡¯ve dug into her if not for Vergil¡¯s vigilance. He struck the thing across the head with a sickening crunch of armour meeting bones. It staggered and allowed her the breath to burn it to ashes. These screeched when dying, the sound like a child¡¯s wailing. How did they even get worse than before?! More followed and the way became contested. They skittered and crawled across the webs, the nest disgorging them in a tide of black flesh and chitin. She fired on them with impunity, trusting the dampness of the place would keep it from exploding into flames. Ludwig fought like a man possessed. She wouldn¡¯t have him out of her sight. Step by step, they gained ground, the assault on them halfhearted at best. As terrible as these new apparitions were, they held little surprise for her now. With the old man not as useless as he¡¯d been before¡ªbeneath the mask of cowardice the old soldier still knew a thing or two about conducting himself in battle¡ªand Vergil fighting with a zeal she¡¯d never expected from him, the aberrations were pushed back or thrown off the webs. ¡°The false mother is distracted now,¡± Luna chirped, its voice coming in staccato bursts. ¡°This is not her entire strength. Oldest tried coming here with the Kin. Most were devoured then.¡± That bode ill. Whatever had Erisa paying attention inside could not be in their best interest. Luna¡¯s warning doubled Tallah¡¯s flames. She had their measure even as her fire raged out of control, a shifting, breathing beast of its own she hadn¡¯t even realised had grown. Ludwig and Vergil hung back as she pushed the wall of heat forward to incinerate whatever moved. She forced it to the edges of the nest, running to keep up with the devastation before more creatures rose from underneath. Was this stupid? Running into a fortified enemy position while allowing minions to box them in? Of course it was. But what choice did she really have? Focus, Tallah, Christina warned. Your mind¡¯s wandering. Reel it in. Ahead, as she¡¯d grown accustomed, where the flames dispersed and only smoke lingered, Rhine watched her with dull, dead eyes. Behind her, one of Erisa¡¯s ugliest beasts, another hunter as before, slithered out of a dark passage. Spiders regrouped in the back of her flames. The hunter waited ahead. She donned the misshapen mask, ignited her lances, and attacked. Chapter 2.21.1: Only a sprite for a guide Sil woke to the sound of dripping water, with a scream lodged in the back of her throat. It tore itself out of her on the first heartbeat of consciousness. Survival instinct clasped a hand across her mouth. Where was she?! What had happened? Everything came back in a rush. Tallah¡¯s blaze. The two monsters barring the way. Vergil fighting. Vergil being thrown off and the creature galloping across the narrow battlefield straight for her. Clawed fingers gripping arms and hair. Sticky webs binding her. The feeling of weightlessness as the Erisa-thing picked her up and¡­ Oh Goddess! She did not relish learning what the girl had in mind for her. Odd ends and fragments of the rush across Grefe marched into recollection, up to the point when something hit her in the head. The monster had fought some battle Sil couldn¡¯t see and in the rush kneed her neatly across the temple. All had been black since. Had it been Tallah on her trail? Was she close? Close to¡­ where exactly? Her breathing came in shallow, racing gasps. She was in utter darkness again and it did not abate no matter how much she blinked. Had she been blinded? Breathe, she urged herself, teetering on the edge of panic. Take stock. Plan. Act. I¡¯m not helpless. She pulled on Tallah¡¯s old training and drew in illum. Reeled at its revolting touch. Wherever she was, it was a place of sickening violence. At least Erisa hadn¡¯t had time to bind her properly. Webs ripped easily and there was nothing else holding her in place. No great pain aside from the throbbing headache. No light, only impenetrable dark. No compass, but that could be solved. She had illum and control of it. She wasn¡¯t bound. She could resist. With the thunder of her own heart abating, sound assaulted her, a roaring mixture of water flowing, groans of a structure barely holding together, and some rhythmic breathing that got her hair standing on end. And she was drenched head to toes. In the stifling wet heat, it felt like fresh blood on her. She rose and waded blindly forward in the ankle-deep mire. With arms outstretched, she groped for a solid wall. Right, that won¡¯t do. Her sprite popped into existence in a blinding flash. She¡¯d tried to keep it small and unobtrusive, but against the blackness it was still as bright as the moons on a clear night. She cupped hands around it and reduced its glare to a beam of red-hued light. ¡°This may have been a mistake.¡± Her whisper was swallowed by the roar of the place. Webs. Webs everywhere. Of course. Glistening wet, undulating on some breeze she couldn¡¯t feel, they made for a disorientating tableau. On the far end of the room, collapsed against the wall, was the spider that had carried her. It bled white ichor from accumulated wounds, twitched its terrible legs, but did not react to her stirring. The half-girl growing atop it lay still, unblinking eyes pinned to Sil, mouth open. She made no sound. Sil¡¯s back stuck to the wall as she followed the curve of it, not daring to approach the creature. If anything, Erisa¡¯s presence seemed absent for the time being, but she¡¯d already seen how that could change at a moment¡¯s notice. With no idea of where she was or when the girl might return, she made her way out of the room. The floor swayed underfoot and sucked at her boots. Water seeped up to fill every imprint she left behind, a muddy-brown that stank of rotten eggs and worse. With any option as good as the other, she picked the first passage leading away from where she¡¯d rested, trusting to follow at least a way that could¡¯ve fit the large spider as it brought her in. Maybe she¡¯d find a way out. Or maybe she¡¯d find the girl and the gruesome fate in store for herself. But one thing she wouldn¡¯t do was wait around. I am of the many, and I am of the few. She swallowed the lump in her throat. I am light, and I am warmth. The mantra centred her and kicked down the fear even as every sound of the place sent her heart into spasms and her breath into gasps. Things skittered and moved in the web-covered walls, reminding her uncomfortably of Anna¡¯s Sanctum. That particular gruesome adventure seemed a lifetime away, and yet here the memory of it lingered, returned to torture her. Some of the passages ended at dead drops, the path falling into some deeper pit beneath. Hardly an obstacle for a spider, but not a viable route for herself. Light shone off eyes in the pits and she scurried away before she¡¯d draw attention. How she hadn¡¯t already only increased her panic. If not escape, she¡¯d at least make herself harder to find in the labyrinthine mess of tunnels and rooms. Their arrangement and connections made no sense as she crept from one to the other. In places the passage narrowed and she had to crawl sideways through thick swathes of wet silk, feeling its clinging touch as if spiders were right on her. In places, the walls moved with things crawling beneath the layer of spider shit. She tucked the light under her shirt and crouched in a corner, willing herself to breathe slower, quieter, and wait for the things to pass. Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author. For a city filled with crystals shining rainbow hues everywhere, to find a place so desolate of any luminescence felt odd. Why had she been brought here? No. No, that wasn¡¯t something to think on. She¡¯d seen enough of Grefe to dread the answer. Doubling back from another leg-shattering drop, taking the last available path, she found her first clue regarding the girl¡¯s state of mind and the source of much of the background noise. What she¡¯d catalogued as some whining of the structure became actual voices whimpering. A row of Erisa similes greeted her in a room featuring familiar medical implements. If she hadn¡¯t known better, she would¡¯ve thought she were in an operating theatre back at the School. Only here the tools on display were much too gruesome for any sensitive work, crude implements better suited for torture than medicine. Bodies were held in cradles of webs, strung up as if for flaying, arranged in a disorganised row. Such an odd, impossible to ignore sight. They were all the girl, as Sil imagine she could have been if not for all this. Almost the girl, but not quite right. They hung by arms or legs, wrapped half-way in webs, their chests opened up as if for vivisection. Almost human guts drooped to the floor. Organs in wrong places, wrong shapes, wrong sizes. Vestigial spider legs sprouting from bones. Faces mutated into chimeric masks twisted in agony. They breathed and writhed in the confines of their supports, and mewled as she passed the light from one to the other. Efficient cruelty on display. ¡°What are you doing here?¡± she mused. The need to understand overcame her terror as she paused and studied these poor things. Were these the same as the wretches in the pit? Was Erisa trying to make herself a new body? A human one? If so, she was failing in terrifying fashion. ¡°Do not run from me,¡± the creatures spoke in one voice, all heads turning to her. Sil¡¯s heart skipped beats. The girl knew! Many pairs of eyes turned to her in tandem, all shining red with the bound light of her sprite. ¡°I am nearly ready for us to meet face to face. Do not run. All will be well.¡± The Goddess¡¯s own edict wouldn¡¯t have kept Sil waiting around. Fully closing her hands around the light, she fled out a random exit, bounced against the soft wall opposite, and took off down the constricting corridor to lose herself in the labyrinth. She¡¯d wasted time. The girl had seen her. Maybe even followed riding some spiderling¡¯s tiny mind? A part of her, one that fear couldn¡¯t smother, suggested a plan. Tallah¡¯s probably on the way. How do I signal to her? It was a too-small part that couldn¡¯t overcome the terror of being discovered. She stopped several intersections later after stumbling and falling headfirst down a narrow set of steps. The sprite rose overhead when she protected her head from the crash, and reflected back at her off of a series of dark crystals, all sculpted into rectangle shapes. The room was filled with them and¡­ There were no webs here and none of the usual constructs she¡¯d seen across Grefe. She¡¯d fallen hard on a floor that echoed as if made of metal, her first step after rising as loud as a bell¡¯s toll. Spritelight revealed a place like none other she¡¯d witnessed thus far. Rectangles of crystal covered the walls. What is this place? Pain flared in her side and shoulder, her left arm mangled again. Tears of pain ran down her cheek as she stumbled inside, reeling in her sprite. Here there were no webs, so maybe there were also no spiders? Sanctuary? A vague memory attached meaning to the sight. Vergil¡¯s memory, what was left to her from the mind touch, said these were computers and command consoles, whatever those were. This was something of Vergil¡¯s past and the boy would know how to operate them. She understood, vaguely, that the crystals could show images and information, but activating one felt a fool¡¯s task. Several of the odd artefacts blinked a steady rhythm of light as she approached, coming alive. Some green, others red, most yellow. Maybe if she touched one? No. That would be stupid. ¡°Why do you run, sister? Where to?¡± Sil froze as a hand clasped the back of her neck, its fingers slimy and cold, the pressure just on the wrong side of painful. Heavy, squelching steps resounded behind, approaching heavily across the metal floor. ¡°She¡¯s abandoned you. It hurts, does it not?¡± It spoke on the back of Sil¡¯s neck, hot breath washing over her ears. ¡°We are not the first she¡¯s abandoned. Did you know?¡± Whatever form Erisa now occupied, it was massive. Sil couldn¡¯t dare move a muscle as the presence settled at her back and reached a hand over her shoulder. Slender fingers caressed one of the complicated assemblies of metal and crystal. Something strange happened. An image appeared on several of the screens¡ªshe remembered the term¡ªand a woman looking very human spoke at her. She wore clothes like none Sil had ever seen before, a blue and gold uniform buttoned up to beneath the chin. Some metal mask covered half of her face. She was speaking in front of a background of chaos, the words and voice wholly alien. Text appeared on the bottom side of the image. Sil couldn¡¯t look away. Erisa¡¯s hand angled her head up to stare right into the image. The text was the Healing School¡¯s Codex. Sil could understand every word. ¡°We are going down with the ship. Life pods have been deployed but most of our cargo could not be unloaded in time. The machine spirit does not respond. It is as if she¡¯s lost her mind.¡± The woman in the image hesitated. She wiped tears from her eyes. ¡°There is no known precedent of a SPRAWL surviving atmospheric burn, but we will try.¡± The woman had auburn hair tied back in a severe knot that showed off her age. Well over eighty summers, if Sil was any judge. The image was quiet for a time, staring into her eyes as if she were there and waited for an answer. ¡°We¡¯ll do our best and hope it will be enough. If it won¡¯t be¡­ well, it won¡¯t matter, will it?¡± The image froze and Sil stared into the woman¡¯s eyes, terrors matching. ¡°Know that our lying goddess has abandoned many to their fates,¡± Erisa whispered with near malicious glee. The long white arm touched some more crystals and another image played out. The language again alien, but the text made sense of it On any other day, in any other circumstance, Sil would have been enraptured by what she witnessed. Whatever these people had been, whatever they¡¯d known, to see them like this¡­ it was a marvel. Terror, as constricting as the hand on her neck, drove that fascination out of her as her mind raced. She had no weapon. She could not fight. Screaming wouldn¡¯t solve anything but, maybe, enrage the creature calling itself Erisa. All that was left was to bide her time and hope for another chance at escape. A man was speaking. Not quite human, Sil¡¯s observant mind catalogued. Not quite something else. Great white wings unfurled behind the figure, stretching out like any of the statues. ¡°Preparations are underway,¡± the text said and the man smiled broadly. His face looked human. ¡°We¡¯ve run preliminary testing and results appear promising. We have her locked out of every critical system we could salvage. Once the protective lattice deploys, she¡¯ll be locked out entirely. Panacea¡¯s reign on our lives will finally end. We can be free of her. We will be free of her.¡± Pressure increased on her neck and a finger traced the small gap on the back of her head. ¡°I will show you all, sister. Every secret she¡¯s kept from us. Every sin she¡¯s buried beneath immortality. There is so much I¡¯ve learned here. So much to share once we become one.¡± Chapter 2.21.2: Never human again Sil was lifted into the air by the neck, rough and sudden. With her entire weight hanging suspended, she reached her hands up and gripped the bony appendage. It did not help much. ¡°But first, we¡¯ve much to do. It will hurt, I¡¯m afraid. It must.¡± She was swung around and gazed into madness. Blinked. Closed her eyes but the roughness of the treatment had her open them. How could she even take in the whole of the creature revealed by the spritelight? What to focus on first? It wasn¡¯t a spider, but wore the shape of one. It wasn¡¯t human. It wore the skin of a young Erisa draped and stretched across meat and bones that resembled nothing short of a fever nightmare. It had too many eyes, too many hands, too many legs on which to carry its monstrous corpus. A distended belly on the underside of the thing rippled with movement. A hollow-eyed face crowned a tall, sinewy neck, and blinked too many eyes. A mouth like a fist of claws and fangs gaped at her, forming words that gurgled. ¡°Still a clutch to birth. These would have been my best, my hope¡­ until you came along.¡± Sil wanted to scream. She wanted to ask things that she wasn¡¯t sure were wise to know. But she found no air in her lungs, not even to scream. Her mouth opened and closed but no words slipped out, all of them barred behind the barrier of her fright. The beat of her heart shook her like a puppet on strings as the monster carrier her away. It gripped a wall and climbed up one of the many shafts. Soon, she understood and wished she hadn¡¯t. This Erisa wasn¡¯t a single creature. Tendrils of flesh guided their path back, like a fisherman¡¯s line pulling them back. Wherever they were headed would be the real lair, and the whole of Erisa would be revealed. Erisa moved with amazing grace and speed as it ascended through galleries, past cavernous rooms filled with bodies mounted into piles. She¡¯d made many children. Sil couldn¡¯t even count the piles of corpses. Their decaying stench was a nearly physical presence. Water flowed everywhere. It dripped from the levels above, swirled in torrents down corridors, and seemed to always carry with it bits and pieces decomposed corpses. After so long with only dust, the miasma of death was an unwelcome change. ¡°What do you want with me?¡± she squeaked out. Her shoulder and neck muscles burned as continued her route. ¡°To make me human again,¡± Erisa answered. ¡°You will bear me and I will be human again. After that, I can leave here.¡± But that made no sense! What could have stopped the girl for simply walking away? She could puppeteer creatures as she pleased so why all of this? Why did she linger in a place of so much pain? Questions. Questions. Swirling questions with no immediate answers and no courage left over to seek them. Unarmed and alone, how could she resist this thing? As much as she tried to summon a barrier and wield it the same way Erisa had, all she managed was give herself a blinding headache at the attempt. She knew of no prayer to the goddess that could help her now. Or¡­ maybe she didn¡¯t need a prayer? The Goddess had listened before. Maybe she still did. ¡°This one¡­ requires¡­ aid.¡± She pushed the words through gritted teeth. Nothing happened except for her heart threatening to explode as the sight of their destination came into view. Closing her eyes did nothing to lessen the fear. Pressure in her chest suggested a fatal conclusion to her terror. It increased, like liquid fire in her veins to burst in a lance of white-hot energy from her fingers .With barely a heartbeat to aim, her hand swung in an arc at the monster holding her. Erisa howled in pain and dropped Sil onto a pile of naked corpses. The white hand dropped with a splash in the water behind. Whatever Panacea had done to aid left Sil¡¯s veins screaming in agony as the memory of power dissipated. Even if she dared another request like that, she was certain she wouldn¡¯t survive the discharge. Sputtering, spitting and heaving, she rolled off the mound and splashed away, wet webs clinging and tripping her up. Her sprite doggedly followed as she lit the way inside, looking for any small alcove to stuff herself into so Erisa couldn¡¯t follow. It was a ridiculous attempt. Not barely ten paces away and she slammed head-first into an invisible barrier. Stars exploded in her vision as she fell. Another barrier appeared at her back, and the sides, a neat box to arrest her fall. Erisa sauntered forward, already growing a fresh arm on the stump. ¡°Terribly unkind of you, sister,¡± it said in a voice nearly human, laden with echoes. ¡°I would be angry if I did not understand your fear.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know what you imagine you¡¯ll do, Erisa, but it can¡¯t work as you believe it to. What¡¯s happened to you cannot be reversed.¡± To be made into a monster and then crave humanity again? Sil couldn¡¯t begin understanding in what murky waters Erisa¡¯s mind swam, but she had the edges of the girl¡¯s plan. This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. Broken apart and set into alien bodies, soul melded to spirits that were wholly inhuman, only to emerge again as a whole consciousness? Insane concept, but possible in its absurdity. And this horrid form, the mountain of human flesh and spider chitin? This was the end shape of which Erisa couldn¡¯t free herself. Tallah couldn¡¯t get this soul. It wasn¡¯t a soul at all, but a gestalt of everything that had attached itself to the girl as she¡¯d been devoured and regurgitated by the soul crucible that Mother must have been. ¡°You want to¡­¡± The right words wouldn¡¯t come out. She understood what Erisa wanted and recoiled against the idea. ¡°You want to¡­ to do to me¡­ what¡¯s been done to you. It won¡¯t work. It can¡¯t work.¡± ¡°It must work!¡± Desperation tinged these words. Or a kind of hope that only long imprisonment could have bred. ¡°If it doesn¡¯t work, I don¡¯t know what I might do. We will be as sisters, true-blooded sisters. And all will be well.¡± Like bugger she¡¯d accept that. In spite of the barriers, Sil had no intention of allowing herself be trapped in this place, much less so bearing what the girl had in mind. ¡°My friends will come for me.¡± It sounded desperate even to her own ears. But the barriers began moving, carrying her along as if she were a fly caught in a web. ¡°Tallah is more than ready to burn this place to the stone to get what she means to.¡± Erisa rotated her in the air so she ended up facing the creature. It took up the entire room. What she¡¯d seen wasn¡¯t even a significant part of it. Details ran together, glistening flesh flowing like water. There was the corpse of the Mother in the dead centre of the room, a spider of such size that it would rival and probably eat a drake. It made the seed for the rest that had erupted out of it. Like the aftermath of a bloody battle in close quarters, Erisa was all blood and exposed viscera, an amalgamation of bodies that rose to the high ceiling above and beyond it. Mutation on a scale Sil had never witnessed before, of a kind that simply could not be real. And yet, the creature lived. Hearts pumped blood among its web-like structure of displaced organs and overgrown limbs. The part that was visible had fashioned a body in the shape of a human and dressed it in human-like skin. Aping humanity with no memory of what that meant. Parts moved. They writhed. Rearranged. Bled. Discharged puss and worse. The stench of it was an abattoir in mid-summer heat. For the uncountable time Sil voided acid, the only thing still sloshing in her guts. There were more girls here, looking like distorted copies of Erisa, lolling about as if devoid of minds. Like the mutant found at the end of the forest, these were all in some stage of oddness that defied her medical experience. In the great mass of flesh, spread like gruesome pockets, swollen protrusions rippled with motion from within, the overstretched skin moving like hot wax. One by one, they ruptured. Where Erisa¡¯s remains had birthed spiders, here two nearly human bodies spilled out and tumbled to the floor. Several of the girls aided them to their feet, their movements oddly staggered. Too many eyes. Too many fingers. Too few toes. Sil, the medic, catalogued almost absently how these differed from the template Erisa had kept failing to copy. Sil, the woman at the end of her wits, wanted to close her eyes but couldn¡¯t allow this abhorrent things out of her sight. She was too afraid to even blink lest Erisa enact her plan. Another belly ruptured and spilled out a white-fleshed Leuki to twitch alone on the floor. The girls did not help this one. ¡°You do not see me as I wish to be seen, sister,¡± all of the Erisa copies said as they worked. ¡°You see the monster but you do not understand. You will.¡± Sil put up her own barriers to hold those that moved her. It worked for a few heartbeats, until the Leuki rolled over and crept towards her. A touch of its claws shattered the weave and sent daggers of agony through her as the force of her construct recoiled. It walked by her side as she was dragged. ¡°Why do you fear the pain, sister Dreea? It will pass. All pain passes.¡± Barriers dropped and she swayed in the moment of freedom. Then small hands gripped her wrists and ushered her along. Fighting any of the girls was folly. Their touch was ice cold in the stifling, wet heat of the nest. Their strength, for such frail-looking things, beggared belief. She could dig her heels in and it would¡¯ve made no difference. Erisa occupied what had once been some kind of medical site, if Sil were to go by the visible detritus. The ruins of alembics and other, more exotic glass apparatus, faded drawings of strange anatomy peeking out from under the webs, a table meant for surgery at the bottom of what seemed an amphitheatre for observation. All human in design, known to her from the School. Among it all, was the corpus that wore human skin and wished to be human, moving on its tendril of flesh like a pale ghost. Barriers dropped and children grabbed Sil¡¯s arms to drag her forward. Erisa followed. Sacs across its body inflated and flattened in a slow, deliberate rhythm. Sil fought and struggled, dug in her heels and kicked out at the girls. They accepted her abuse and did not even slow. They forced her to the operating table, their size belying incredible strength. On a moment¡¯s inspiration, Sil wiggled a hand free of a girl¡¯s grasp and tried to punch the one tying straps around her ankles. Her fingers snapped with a wet crunch against an invisible wall. Pain lanced up the arm and a girl with multi-jointed limbs wrenched her backward. It tied the hurt arm to the table. She could beg for Erisa to stop. It likely wouldn¡¯t work. She could make promises. Lie. Say anything just to be freed¡­ but something told that Erisa would not listen. Her arm throbbed in blinding pain, and the remains of Panacea¡¯s fire still smouldered in her veins, turning all of her alight with heightened sensations. She could pray again. Incinerate part of the girl and herself with it. Would Panacea accept such prayer? Erisa lowered herself to the floor and skittered on impossible legs until above the table. Sil could do nothing but watch as the thing leered closer, shown in all its terrible gory glory by spritelight. Fear kept the sprite alight. Hard as she wanted to dismiss it, she couldn¡¯t bear the dark alone with the monsters. This part had taken the general shape of a spider with an abdomen trailing entrails, now voided of its children. Even as she watched, skin pulled back and something emerged from beneath flaps of flesh. ¡°No¡­¡± Breath hitched in her throat and even the sprite shivered and dimmed at the sight of the ovipositor. One of the girls ran a hand across her stomach, fingertips barely caressing the ruined fabric of Sil¡¯s clothes. The material split apart as if it had been cut by the finest surgeon¡¯s scalpel. She¡¯d felt the claws pricking skin, drawing a line of pain. Hot blood welled out. The caress of warm air on her exposed stomach sent violent shivers through her. The girl moved and cut the waist of her trousers. Pulled them lower. ¡°No!¡± Erisa loomed above, all of her in sight. To Sil¡¯s growing horror, the face smiled down at her. ¡°It will only hurt, sister. Nothing more, just pain. You will be cared for until ready to birth me anew.¡± A shiver of pleasure ran through the overgrown body and the thick stinger lowered until its fleshy tip touched Sil¡¯s skin, hot and wet. ¡°You will make me human again. You must.¡± Something moved beneath the revolting skin. It resembled a string of translucent pearls, flowing down somewhere through Erisa¡¯s tendril to the back of the stinger. They clumped in a white pile behind the needle of chitin. Girls surrounded the table, watching with rapt focus as Erisa lowered herself as if to embrace Sil. The stinger pressed harder against skin, just beneath her bellybutton. A shake of the great body moved it lower to leave behind a trail of cooling secretions. Rugged, hard fingers forced her mouth open only to stuff a fist inside and challenge the keening scream building in her throat. ¡°Human again,¡± Erisa crooned. ¡°We will be human together.¡± She lifted her abdomen higher and one of the children guided the stinger. Chapter 2.21.3: Get them out of me! There were still so many of the blighters left even with Luna¡¯s insistence that there should be many more. Tallah forced herself to push onward against the tide. She burned through the forces arrayed against them and crippled as many as she could. With a determined barrage from herself and Ludwig, she even managed to cut through the monster guarding the entrance. Something was definitely odd there. The creature fought sluggishly, nearly absently, and made no attempt to use the same kind of tactics as its twin in the forest. It rushed them mindlessly and been burned to cinders while Vergil occupied its sweeping legs. Now they were inside the nest, harried from the back by the dregs that remained, tripped up from the front by spiders coming out of the walls themselves. Each advancing step meant another dead creature turned into a burning effigy. Steam blinded their advance. ¡°Where are we going?¡± Vergil asked. He hacked the legs off one of the half-spiders, killing it with a blow of the axe to its misshapen head. ¡°Sil could be anywhere in here.¡± ¡°Forward. For now, we move forward.¡± Illum flowed through the structure in a march. In places it shone pitch-black with accumulated death and violence. An ugly thing, but one that moved. Something, somewhere, was happening and took a great deal of power. ¡°Right,¡± Vergil said, shaking his axe clean of gore. ¡°Lead the way. I¡¯ll have the back.¡± She pushed Ludwig ahead, unwilling to offer her back to the old man. If anything, if he turned on her then¡­ Hard to say if we can take him on in our state, Christina said. It was an uncomfortable truth, made all the more unpleasant by Bianca¡¯s assistance. Tallah could barely walk. She could barely stay upright. It hadn¡¯t been an exaggeration to Vergil earlier. Whatever strength she relied on was borrowed from the ghosts and their illum stores, but she had reached the limits of endurance. Everything ached, from the crown of her head¡ªthe earlier crack still bothered her¡ªto the small of her back, to her thighs and calves. Bianca¡¯s abilities provided invisible crutches she found herself relying on more and more. ¡°Don¡¯t stray, Professor.¡± She grabbed his coat and sent him down a right-hand corridor where he¡¯d meant to take the left. ¡°I¡¯d hate losing sight of you again.¡± Ludwig said nothing, only spared a disgusted glance her way. Yes, this was expected. The old man hated her with a passion now. Or maybe he¡¯d hated her since the very beginning. Who could say? Old fool, she thought. Christina answered with a mental shrug. Pay him no mind, but keep him close. I sense we¡¯ve not seen the last of his treachery. Of course they hadn¡¯t. The bastard would bolt with the first chance offered. He was where he meant to be, though not in the position he would¡¯ve preferred. ¡°What are you going to do with the girl?¡± The question surprised her as it broke the susurrant silence. Water flowed from somewhere and their steps splashed and squelched. ¡°Feed you to her,¡± she answered far more honestly than meaning to. ¡°Grab Sil and run. That¡¯s about the extent of my plan.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t mean to kill her and¡ª¡± She understood the meaning even as he hesitated on the words. ¡°And what, Professor?¡± ¡°You know full well, heathen. I expect you mean to do something wholly heretical or else you wouldn¡¯t have bothered making it this far.¡± ¡°If I were you,¡± Vergil said carefully, ¡°I¡¯d maybe object to the part about being fed to Erisa. I saw what she can do.¡± Tallah let out a soft laugh. ¡°He doesn¡¯t care if he lives or dies. He only cares to see the girl dead before he expires.¡± And it would be such a kick to his obsession if she were to preserve the girl¡¯s soul, and witness for herself his ancient failure. She was almost tempted to keep him alive ¡°That¡¯s bloody insane.¡± Vergil echoed her thoughts on the matter perfectly. Ludwig whirled on him, pointing with his torch. ¡°Don¡¯t speak of insanity, lad.¡± He swung the burning stick in Tallah¡¯s direction. ¡°You walk besides madness and you barely know it. The only real monster here is this harlot.¡± Tallah stuck a firefly up one if his hairy nostrils. It stopped the rant dead. ¡°I said this is a bad time to get on my good side, Professor. Turn around. Walk. I expect more spiders ahead.¡± There were indeed more spiders ahead. None attacked. Among the wet webs, the creatures all looked to be in some kind of trance, oddly immobile. Heads lulled with empty stares. They walked among an odd assortment of life-like statues, each moving slightly but never coming alive to challenge their progress. ¡°What are they doing?¡± Vergil whispered his question. What to even answer? They were all staring in the same direction, where the illum flowed. She forced herself to focus on the mission, on finding Sil and saving up whatever strength she could for escape, and ignore everything irrelevant. But¡ª A scream tore through the air and sent shivers up her back. ¡°Sil!¡± Illum raged by her, a clear sign something, somewhere had changed. Her gaze swung around as she tried to pinpoint the direction of the weave. ¡°Get back here!¡± It happened in her moment of distraction. Ludwig threw his torch at her and bolted into the room beyond, too spry for his age. She ducked, stumbled and fell, and meant to bring her fireflies to bear. Vergil ran past at a dead sprint to disappear into the dark. A splash echoed beyond. A scuffle. A flash of illum igniting. An explosion followed. Silence. By the time she regained her feet with Bianca¡¯s support, Vergil marched back to her among the still mutants. He pushed Ludwig by the back of his collar, as one would a petulant child. Tallah raised her mask and whistled in appreciation at the state of the old man. ¡°Thought I told you to kill him cleanly next time,¡± she said to the cringing prisoner. ¡°We need him. We don¡¯t need him pretty.¡± ¡°Fair.¡± What a state to be in where even Ludwig could get a drop on her and slip her grasp. Absurd. She made a mental note to treat Vergil in some way if they survived this place. He¡¯d earned a keep and then some. Sweet meats maybe? She cursed herself for letting her mind wander. The illum trail led them up several flights of stairs covered in webs, where water poured downstream constantly. It brought with it a stench of death and decay that was hard to ignore. More screams followed, turning into wailing punctured by gasps of silence. She knew torture when she heard it. She knew that particular kind of scream, of someone brought to the edge of their endurance, where no kind of gag was enough to contain the pain and there was never enough air in your lungs. She would have rushed ahead, past the professor, to find Sil and save her from whatever was happening. But a moment of carelessness got them in this mess and Christina had been right in berating her. She¡¯d gambled too often and with stakes too high. Rushing into a waiting trap was not going to do them any favours. ¡°She¡¯s torturing Sil,¡± Vergil said, voice an odd mixture of fear and anger. ¡°We gotta find her.¡± The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. ¡°We will. And we¡¯ll get her away, don¡¯t worry.¡± ¡°Erisa said she needs Sil. What for? To torture?¡± ¡°No idea. Would rather not learn.¡± Even in the muffled space, where the webs drank in the sound, the screams became louder as they advanced. The lack of following echoes made the noise all the more unnerving. At the end of the corridor they emerged into a room much larger than any before, the ruin of several brought together where walls had been knocked down. Illum swirled around a creature off to the side, dressing it in riots of colours. And beneath that was Sil, strapped to a table, screaming and thrashing. Even in the illum sight, she could make out the thing stabbing down into Sil¡¯s abdomen. It extracted a stinger the size of Tallah¡¯s forearm from the healer¡¯s belly as they entered. A thick string of blood arched between its tip and the gaping wound it had left behind. Sil screamed in agony even as some¡­ girls held her down and tried to gag her. ¡°Sister, it is only pain.¡± Tallah had come to recognise Erisa¡¯s ill-fitting voice. It crooned over her friend. ¡°It will pass. Shush now, it will pass.¡± To attack? To wait? To throw Ludwig at the creature, grab Sil and run? Time slowed as she considered her options, struck by the sight. None were good. Spiders became animated as Erisa ponderously turned to regard them, all the other creatures turning along with their maker. Sil breathed on the edge of passing out, her chest rising and falling like a rabbit¡¯s after the chase. Blood oozed down the table. One of the white spiders approached as Erisa stepped away from the table. ¡°You brought him right to me. My prayers are answered all on this day,¡± Erisa gurgled as she turned dozen eyes on Ludwig.. The white spider rose on its hind legs and meant to feed something to the healer. Tallah fired on it before whatever it was could happen, instinct guiding her as she didn¡¯t care for whatever Erisa had to say. A barrier interrupted the lance, but did not stop it. It punched through and incinerated the creeper. ¡°Get away from her,¡± Tallah said, voice gone cold, her anger fanned into a roaring flame in her chest. It burned away exhaustion and opened her up dangerously to the poisoned illum in the air. It stung as she drew it in, but she didn¡¯t care. ¡°Step away. Now.¡± Without thinking, she reached into a rend and drew out one of her spare gems. Would it work? Given the girl¡¯s dispersal among the spiders and her children, would the trap function? But here the main body was, likely rearranged into a shape that couldn¡¯t resemble whatever the girl had been before. The rest, those spread across Grefe, were echoes of this soul, fragments that she rode on. Ludwig by her side tried to speak but Bianca clamped his mouth shut. I do not wish to hear anything the Professor has to say, the ghost excused herself. I see what he¡¯s wrought here. ¡°I need my sister,¡± Erisa said. She moved across the room on impossibly thin legs, trailing obscene flaps of skin and flesh, her face a twisted mockery of humanity. ¡°Pray wait and we will all leave here together. It will not be long for me to be reborn.¡± Vergil crept along the edge of the room as Erisa focused on the old man, closing in on Sil. Some of the girl-things barred his way, forming a chain of bodies around the table to keep him away. Erisa approached, multi-jointed arms raised in welcoming. Illum trailed after her, a grand gown to hide the monstrous body beneath. ¡°I will be human again. I will leave. We will all go away from this place and seal it once again.¡± The smile on her face was grotesque in its serenity. ¡°And next we¡¯ll make Panacea pay for her lies. Her crimes demand justice.¡± What do we do, Tallah? Christina cut through her horrified fascination. The hen doesn¡¯t look well. ¡°What have you done?¡± she asked to stall for time. ¡°Whatever¡¯s been done to you, you cannot undo it. Not¡­¡± She gestured to Sil. ¡°Not like that.¡± Ludwig made a muffled sound and took the decision away from her with a trio of fireballs aimed for squarely for Erisa¡¯s head. They detonated harmlessly against barriers. A complicated expression crossed what Tallah assumed to be the girl¡¯s face. Somewhere between a feral grin and a warm smile, she went on in a gurgle of pleasure, ¡°Commander, it¡¯s good I see you here. I was afraid I might need to chase you down.¡± She turned her attention fully to him. It might have been her imagination, but Tallah was certain Ludwig wet himself as the girl lumbered to loom over him. In the abattoir stench of the place, it was hard to tell. She reacted in time with Erisa when Ludwig attacked again. The girl exploded into violence, and Tallah exploded the closest creature barring Vergil¡¯s way. The boy took his cue and lashed out with the axe. He nearly beheaded one of the abominations, and hacked the legs off a second before Erisa¡¯s daughters came alive with screams of pain and fury. Tallah was nearly certain they weren¡¯t aimed at Vergil. Ludwig tried to scurry away from the room only to smash face first into a barrier. It took the girl no effort at all to close the meagre distance and seize the old man into her embrace. She lifted Ludwig into the air as if he weighed nothing, and cooed over him. Her throat made small noises of pleasure as she regarded him struggling in vain. ¡°Get Sil,¡± Tallah ordered as Vergil cleaved another head from its misshapen shoulders. The girls weren¡¯t paying attention to him, all of them infinitely more fascinated by what Erisa was doing. So was Tallah. Illum converged on the girl, wisps of silver in the torrent. Erisa remained human in a terrible way. Tallah had suspected it before and knew it for certain now. With Ludwig in hand, the girl would enjoy her revenge. She would savour it after such time spent here. The spiders weren¡¯t safe¡­ they were simply kept on the edge, to be taken at exactly the right moment for the blow to be devastating. Same as she hadn¡¯t been safe with them, when her saviours had turned into her gaolers. Silver illum drew into her. She would be whole for this, the urge for total satisfaction impossible to resist. Erisa drew herself into a single body just so she could enjoy what came next. The old man struggled, kicked his feet and flailed his arms. He unleashed lances and fireballs, but they all washed over the girl as if of no concern. ¡°Please,¡± he cried out. ¡°Please, Erisa. I mean to help.¡± ¡°They ate me, Commander,¡± she said sweetly. ¡°They buried their eggs in my womb and their children ate me from within.¡± Four arms now held the professor, one white hand gripping each limb. Erisa twisted and Ludwig screamed as she broke an arm and a leg. Bone crunched beneath skin as she kept twisting. ¡°They made me drink healing water and they rejoiced that I survived. Then they did it all again.¡± Her grin turned feral. A black spider dropped from the dark above and walked across Ludwig. It cut and ripped his clothes off him, leaving him naked to the girl¡¯s attention. Chattering mouths opened across that gargantuan body, all filled with needle teeth. A torrent of silver streaked through the air, a soul that came to pool in the monster. Tallah¡¯s heart beat in her throat as she hunted the perfect moment. Another spider arrived, bidden by some silent call, to scale Ludwig¡¯s struggling body. It bit into his neck and the old man went rigid, the quick rise and fall of his chest the only sign of life left. ¡°Again, and again, and again, Commander. I did my duty to my School. I did as I was taught to do, for you and those men that did not deserve salvation. My reward was pain. Only pain.¡± A finger idly slit Ludwig from chest to groin, and two hands opened him up like an overripe fruit, hot entrails spilling out to drape across the creature. ¡°It was only pain. Pain passes. Fury does not.¡± Tallah¡¯s horrified fascination kept her watching as Erisa bit into Ludwig. He was infused, still conscious, judging by the growing expression of horror etched onto his face. It was only pain, and there would be a lot of it as the girl ripped into him. You¡¯ll not get a better moment, Christina warned. She is ripe for the taking. Tallah held out the gem and spoke the activation phrase, ¡°I claim you, Era Saral, born of mother Callimna Saral and father Revall of Low House Chron.¡± The gem melted to smoke in her hands and her breath hitched. Would it work? Erisa turned slowly towards her, the half-body of Ludwig held loosely in her many arms. Wide eyes regarded Tallah as if she were the alien in the room. The girl had been too eager, hungry and desperate for revenge against he who¡¯d doomed her to this life. She¡¯d drawn herself in from all across Grefe to fully enjoy the moment. The gem had activated and the spell would now play havoc. Tallah had not anticipated this, hadn¡¯t dared hope that she could harvest a soul of this potential. Now, faced with the beast lumbering to turn to her, fear gripped the back of her neck. I hope you¡¯ve planned at least a few heartbeats ahead, Bianca said, a hint of excitement in her voice. We¡¯ve reached this far. What next? ¡°Sorceress, what did you do?¡± Erisa asked as her many eyes scanned the room, watching the same storm of illum the Ikosmenia showed. ¡°You cannot take me. Not now. I will be human!¡± ¡°Tallah!¡± She spared Vergil a glance as Erisa lurched forward, slowly rising on her hind legs to tower above them all. He had Sil draped over his shoulder. The healer held a hand tight across the wound in her gut as they stumbled back towards her. ¡°There is nothing left of me to break, sorceress. What did you do?¡± Illum thrummed in the air and rushed into the girl, filling the air with fragments of shattered weave that coalesced into the familiar geometric shapes of cutting barriers. Tallah fired her lance at full strength forward and cut through the first two layers of barriers to stop on the third. Keen edges filled the air and sliced the room to ribbons, mulching both Ludwig¡¯s corpse and those girls that had still been lolling about brainlessly. Bianca pulled her out of danger with a burst of kinesis. Every muscle screamed in agony to spite her infusion. She stumbled after the flight, dove to the side, barely avoided another slice in the air. ¡°Stop it, sorceress,¡± the girl cried out, spinning in place in confusion. ¡°Call it off. I will be human. We will all leave together.¡± The soul trap had activated to full power. It would only keep the girl distracted for so long. Tallah ran to Vergil¡¯s side, knocking over still standing half-corpses littering the way. She took Sil¡¯s other arm over her shoulder and fired a lance through the nearest wall. ¡°Tallah, they¡¯re in me,¡± Sil groaned, pale-faced and bloodied. Tallah and Vergil dragged her into a loping run through the burning hole in the wall. ¡°Tallah, get them out! Get them out of me!¡± Sil¡¯s voice rose to the edge of hysteria as the healer seemed to ignore all pain. ¡°I will. Soon as we¡¯re clear.¡± She fired another lance and broke another wall barring their way. They ran through and fell, the floor disappearing underfoot. Chapter 2.21.4: Whatever your honor may be worth Bianca¡¯s tether swung them across to a gallery several levels beneath. They sprawled among the webs with a hard landing, the ghost¡¯s strength barely an ember of its usual. ¡°She¡¯s coming. I can feel her. We can¡¯t¡­ we can¡¯t run from her.¡± Sil, in spite of her wound, stumbled to her feet and pressed both hands on the bloody ruins of her belly. ¡°Get them out. Get her out. She is doing things to me. I can feel her.¡± Blood ran down her legs and Tallah risked a moment¡¯s delay to dig into a rend for a draft. ¡°She¡¯s confused. We need to run. I¡¯ll deal with whatever¡¯s in you after.¡± She pressed the draught into Sil¡¯s hands. ¡°Heal yourself.¡± Sil pushed it right back, ¡°I can¡¯t. If I heal, she¡¯ll be sealed in me. Take her out!¡± ¡°I can carry her,¡± Vergil said, the only one of them that seemed hale enough to walk and fight unassisted. ¡°I can get her away if you need room to fight.¡± ¡°Are you both deaf?¡± Sil pushed away from them both, still upright somehow. She was yelling. ¡°She¡¯s laid eggs in me. If you kill her, she will still be in me¡­ eating me.¡± I can help, a new voice intruded into the storm of Tallah¡¯s thoughts. Anna rose to the front, right among Christina and Bianca¡¯s presences, startling both. I can take out what¡¯s in her. For a price. You can¡¯t be serious! Christina admonished. Right now? If she dies now, we¡¯re all buggered. Now is the perfect time, then. Anna was unperturbed and suggested she had enough illum to maybe tip the scale. Illum thrummed and things moved in the walls even as they tried to make their way deeper. The room had several exits, but she could see wisps of power leading in all direction. Era sent her children to delay them. They erupted from beneath webs. Some came at a loping run towards them. Others stumbled, fell, remained still as Erisa¡¯s influence was drawn out of them. Forward, there were spiders. Backward, the pit. What about at the bottom of the pit? Ignore me, then, Anna said with detached coolness. You will beg for my aid later. ¡°I¡¯m not ignoring you. Bigger problems,¡± Tallah spat. ¡°Bianca, get ready to hold us. Anna, say what you want and be quick about it.¡± Without allowing herself another moment¡¯s hesitation, she grabbed Vergil by the tunic and Sil by her arm, and marched them both to the lip of the pit, and over the edge. Sil screamed. Vergil whooped as they fell. Bianca cussed as she rallied her strength to her aid. Are you mad?! The city crawled with spiders and the webbed castle was a place of power for the girl. Power was woven inside the webs, each single route through the labyrinthine structure trapped and watched. No way up. No way out. That only left down. You will promise me control over your body in case you expire or manage to lobotomise yourself. Anna remained calm as she whispered. By the rate you seem to be going, it¡¯s only a matter of time until you do some irredeemable damage to yourself. To Christina¡¯s sniff of annoyance she added, I consider my request quite civil. In any other moment, Tallah would have spat it right back into Anna¡¯s face and taught the upstart a lesson in the difference of wills. With wind whistling by her ears as they fell and the absolute darkness beneath, whatever strength Anna could bring to bear would be too valuable to pass up. ¡°Fine. It¡¯s a deal.¡± She will try and make it happen, Christina warned. You can¡¯t¡ª I will do nothing of the sort, Cytra. Do not insult me. Calm yourself and shut up. Vel, reign your power back in and recover. You will be needed later. Pain exploded across Tallah¡¯s back, flowing out of the soul binding on her shoulder. A feeling as if being cut open and drained dry of blood. Her head swam. The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. Then she understood the concept as Anna¡¯s mind touched hers and allowed for communion. Blood erupted from her back and speared in red lines across the empty space they fell through. It formed into a web of power that dug into the walls of the chasm. Some wrapped around Sil and Vergil, and brought them near. Their fall slowed. Then halted. Finally, it began again, this time in controlled fashion as the living webs attached to her began moving like a spider¡¯s limbs to take them lower. Anna was in absolute control and radiated displeasure at the meagre reserve of blood Tallah held. You need to eat more red meat, girl. Liver too. Anything. Your physical state is nothing short of a disgrace. Even the healer¡¯s got more blood in her, given that wound and how she¡¯s still yowling. She hadn¡¯t expected the pit to go as low as it did. After a time there were no more webs to cling to, just smooth walls to which Anna struggled to grip. ¡°We¡¯re going to go all the way to the bottom?¡± Vergil asked, brought close enough by the web that he held onto her. Sil was on the other arm, a death grip on Tallah¡¯s shoulder. ¡°Where else? Did you want to fight that monster up there?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think we¡¯ve seen the last of her. If I were her, I¡¯d follow.¡± ¡°She¡¯s already coming. I know it.¡± Sil¡¯s voice was a fading whisper, hoarse and raw after screaming. ¡°She knows where we are. She¡¯s coming.¡± ¡°As long as she doesn¡¯t bring her entire army of critters.¡± ¡°Luna, what¡¯s down at the bottom?¡± Vergil asked. Tallah hadn¡¯t even noticed the spider still clinging to his back, its presence a constant surprise to her. ¡°We do not know. We never came here. It is¡­ it is a bad place.¡± ¡°How do you know if you¡¯ve never gone into the chasm?¡± Tallah felt like snapping at the thing, but the effort Anna was producing kept her head light and spinning. ¡°Mother saw it. Mother knew the danger and warned away the Kin. We were forbidden from exploring the depths.¡± Through the twisted vision of the Ikosmenia, she could just make out what the Mother had seen and understood why it would be considered too dangerous. They were in an illum funnel, she realised, the evil power up in Erisa¡¯s domain flowing upward from the bottom. Directly immersed in it, she sensed the same kind of danger as in the labyrinth. The poison of it was diluted here. It merely prickled the skin. There was death below, a great pool of it, ancient in its stagnation, stomach-churning in the violence it portrayed. ¡°Sil, what does Erisa want with you?¡± ¡°She¡¯s laid¡­ eggs in me. She¡­ oh, Goddess¡­ she means to be reborn.¡± Sil¡¯s voice was weakening as she bled and Tallah considered holding her down once at the bottom, and force feeding her a healing draught. ¡°Trying to be human again.¡± ¡°Terrifying and utterly wrong. And I¡¯ve just anchored myself to her.¡± As if to answer her words, a below of rage echoed down the shaft, an animal sound somewhere in the space between pain and anger. Anna hastened the descent, dropping them in painful, sharp jerks. Wisps of mist appeared the deeper they fell, an uncomfortable reminder of the labyrinth. Was there some other guardian at the bottom, somehow worse than the girl up top? For all their sake, she held onto hope that she hadn¡¯t made a terrible mistake. ¡°We will hide in the mist.¡± The plan began taking shape in her mind, aided by Christina and Bianca suggesting new approaches to the inevitable clash. ¡°Illum is thick down here. She won¡¯t be able to pin me down easily.¡± ¡°You¡¯ll be just as blind,¡± Vergil said. Sil only groaned, half-way to passing out from blood loss, her resilience draining away. ¡°I have other senses she may lack. I¡¯ll wait in ambush.¡± ¡°Just tell me how¡ª¡± ¡°You won¡¯t fight, Vergil. Take care of Sil. I am entrusting her defence to you.¡± ¡°But¡ª¡± ¡°Like all bloody damnation you are!¡± Sil snapped out of her fugue and gripped Tallah¡¯s lapels. ¡°You aren¡¯t doing bugger all without us.¡± ¡°You¡¯re barely conscious. He¡¯s one draught away from accelerant sickness. I can¡¯t use the two of you.¡± ¡°Get these things out of me and I aim to make myself very useful. Are you all done passing me around like some sack of flour?¡± Vergil shrugged, the motion the only thing to signal it. ¡°I¡¯m not arguing with her. Last time she promised to punch me in the face with my helmet. I think she meant it.¡± ¡°I bloody well did. Is that blood witch in there?¡± Sil¡¯s tone brokered no more argument. She knocked on Tallah¡¯s forehead hard enough that it nearly knocked off the Ikosmenia. I will drop her if she calls me witch again, Anna grumbled in the back of her mind. Join the line, Christina added. There was relief in the mental tone. ¡°She¡¯s compliant, yes,¡± Tallah said. Don¡¯t call me that. ¡°Can she get these things out of me?¡± I can. Provided you swear on our bargain, Amni. Make a pact on your honour, whatever that may still be worth. ¡°Yes, Anna, you will have my corpse. Good luck with dealing with the other two.¡± Tart, Bianca snickered. Anna, you¡¯ve done yourself no favour. Tallah¡¯s likely to keep going, dead or alive. Both ghosts cackled to Anna¡¯s seething displeasure. Tallah pushed them out of mind for now. Chapter 2.21.5: I trusted you ¡°How long to do what you must?¡± she asked instead, pulling Sil closer. She was cold to the touch. Depends. But it shouldn¡¯t be long. Tallah nodded. Maybe they¡¯ll have enough time before Erisa descended on them. Regardless, ¡°Sil, I¡¯ll need you healed up. Anna¡¯s going to get those things out of you but I¡¯ll need you afterwards.¡± ¡°Good,¡± Sil whispered. ¡°I¡¯ll do anything.¡± ¡°Then you¡¯ll be my meat shield. I¡¯ll use you to distract the girl. We know she means to take you alive and are the only one she¡¯ll hesitate in killing.¡± ¡°Lovely.¡± ¡°Tallah, you can¡¯t,¡± Vergil protested. ¡°She¡¯s barely still awake.¡± She could only imagine the boy¡¯s face in the darkness, but his concern for Sil would¡¯ve been touching if their lives weren¡¯t in quite immediate danger. A phantom pain in her attached arm reminded her fondly of having smacked Panacea on his behalf, and that invigorated her. ¡°We can¡¯t win a straight fight. Even if I were at my best and bringing all the ghosts to bear, it would still be a coin toss considering what I¡¯ve seen of her strength. We need every advantage, and Sil¡¯s the only one we¡¯ve got. If she won¡¯t have you defending her, then I¡¯ll use you.¡± An idea had begun forming. She could rely¡ªmaybe¡ªon Anna¡¯s senses. With dread of the dark she hadn¡¯t experienced since girlhood, she took off the mask and handed it to Vergil, ¡°Wear this. Tell me if you can bear it.¡± The Ikosmenia passed hands. A few moments later Vergil heaved. ¡°Fuck me, that¡¯s¡­ how do you turn it off?¡± ¡°That¡¯s the sight of an Egia. That¡¯s how Erisa sees the world always. Can you bear it?¡± Some more heartbeats of silence passed and the boy squirmed. His voice when answering was uncertain, but gaining confidence. ¡°Yeah. Yeah, I think I can. What do you want me to do?¡± Good. Pieces aligned. ¡°The moment our feet hit solid ground, I want you to make yourself scarce. Move away some distance from us. Keep away from pools of dark purple or red. Those will hurt.¡± ¡°Got it. Do I wait for you to engage?¡± ¡°Precisely. After I start trading fire with Erisa, I expect you to circle back around. I need you to surprise her. For all intents, you will be invisible to her sight. Pick a good moment. I may not have enough resources for attrition.¡± An actual coherent plan for once? Tallah, what¡¯s gotten into you? She ignored Christina¡¯s jesting and, instead, gave her instruction. ¡°Christi, I need a Punishment ready. I don¡¯t care how you build enough of a charge, but have it ready. That, and our little experiment from Valen.¡± That is not ready for us to use. You will need contact. ¡°I will gain you contact. But we won¡¯t have time for a cast. I need you to be ready the moment I demand it.¡± No pressure. She shook Sil slightly as the healer had gone nearly limp on her arm. ¡°Sil, still with us?¡± ¡°Barely.¡± Her voice was faded but she stirred. ¡°What do I do?¡± ¡°Live. I need you to activate Vergil¡¯s helmet when he attacks. Do you think you can do that?¡± ¡°I¡¯ll do it.¡± And not a heartbeat too soon. Their feet touched the bottom, roughly, as Anna dropped them. A strange feeling, like her veins swelling suddenly as the blood was retracted. Disgusting couldn¡¯t begin to describe it, but at least they were down. Howling resounded down the shaft, but it was still distant. Its echoes crashed ahead of the monster chasing. Erisa would need to send one of her hunters from what Tallah had seen, as the girl was part of the room itself up there. Even so, a focused hunter wasn¡¯t something to easily disregard. The ground shifted beneath their feet, clattering and snapping as they tried to remain upright. It took a moment for her to realize they were perched atop a mound of ancient bones crumbling to dust beneath their weight. Before anything, Sil. She sat down on her knees and eased the healer¡¯s head on to her lap. ¡°Do what you need to do, Anna.¡± Her hand grasped Sil¡¯s. Anna took control of the second one and stream of blood erupted from her fingertips. She felt it moving, touching Sil, seeping into the wound. Anna¡¯s mind took in every detail and shared it. She now had a much more intimate knowledge of Sil than she¡¯d ever wished for. This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it They¡¯re barbed. The audacity. Inside the healer¡¯s womb rested seven marbles pulsing with life, squirming beneath the attention. Hooks kept them attached firmly, with tendrils spreading out even as Anna simply observed. What grew inside wasn¡¯t something Tallah wished to imagine. Nor did she care to learn what would happen if they didn¡¯t act fast. Sil shivered and trembled, her hand squeezing Tallah¡¯s as Anna worked. ¡°She¡¯s coming.¡± The healer¡¯s teeth chattered even though the chasm was unpleasantly warm, the air dry and dust-choked. ¡°I can feel her.¡± ¡°We¡¯ll worry about that after we get you sorted. Won¡¯t be long.¡± However, it was slow work, Anna proving far more gentle than Tallah had expected of her. The ghost didn¡¯t seem eager to add to Sil¡¯s pain, nor to prematurely pop any of the eggs. ¡°That¡¯s odd¡­¡± She¡¯d come to dread those words coming out of Vergil. In the dark, he was a few steps away. Bones stopped clattering. ¡°Do I want to know?¡± she asked. Sil squeezed her hand as the blood tendril drew out one of the eggs and crushed it. Six to go. ¡°I¡¯m being pinged. Well, Argia is,¡± Vergil answered, as cryptic as ever. ¡°I don¡¯t know what that means.¡± ¡°Something is connecting to me. Like¡­ like in the maze.¡± Cold sweat broke down her back, the remembrance of the creature coming vividly to mind. She was in no fit state to deal with both that and Erisa. Five eggs to go as another popped with a squelch. The others are reacting, Anna said. They¡¯re digging in new hooks. ¡°Is that creature down here?¡± Tallah asked. ¡°I don¡¯t think so.¡± More bones clattered in the dark as Vergil moved away. ¡°This is an automated signal. It¡¯s¡­ uh¡­ it¡¯s a distress call. It¡¯s asking permission for connection.¡± ¡°Best deny it, then. I don¡¯t need another surprise.¡± Sil shivered violently as the third egg was removed. It tried to latch onto the wound when Anna pulled it out, digging in sharp barbs into the rendered flesh. It got squeezed to mush. ¡°Aye, ma¡¯am,¡± Vergil replied. His steps moved away in a random direction, doing precisely what she¡¯d asked of him. Good lad. ¡°I need to get that stud off him,¡± Sil groaned. Her hand was terribly cold. Tallah infused and shared her warmth. ¡°You nearly killed him earlier.¡± ¡°I tried not to, if that makes it any better.¡± ¡°You¡­ you should tell him.¡± ¡°After we¡¯re done.¡± The fourth was more aggressive, wiggling in Anna¡¯s grasp, trying to hook back into Sil with every chance it had. The rest had become agitated now, growing quickly as if sensing their demise. If what Sil had described was accurate, then Erisa was deeply connected to her eggs and would be feeling each of their deaths. She should move from the bottom of the chasm. Head away. Hide. Like this, atop the mound of bones¡ªhow high was it even?¡ªErisa could fall straight onto their heads without warning. Last one. Another egg burst apart with a squelch. They¡¯d had to widen the wound to pull it out. The last one was growing aggressively and would be, soon, too large to extract if they didn¡¯t move fast. A howl echoed down the shaft, like wind screaming in the gorges above, laden with anger and pain. Even without the Ikosmenia, Tallah could tell Erisa was nearly upon them. She rose, arms under Sil, and took off down the bones. She would give anything for a sprite just then, but there was no time. Anna continued her work. Bianca aided her steps, holding her from stumbling as they descended on a route left of where Vergil had headed. The fight would be on them soon and she needed positioning. Sil tightened into a ball in her arms, knees coming up to her chest as Anna continued her work. Her hands grasped Tallah¡¯s shirt desperately. We are almost done with the last. It¡¯s grown. I would love if you could preserve it.¡± ¡°No chance of that. Just get it out and kill it.¡± The howl came down again, loud enough that it shook the world and made bones rattle. Even with Bianca¡¯s help her feet sank beneath the detritus, stumbling her as she went. How high was the mound? And what were these? Something to ponder for later, as always. Sil screamed as Anna pulled out the last. It was the size of a fist and she had to rip it out, hooks and all. Blood slicked Tallah¡¯s shirt and trousers as her friend went limp. She stumbled to a halt as Anna¡¯s presence retreated into its mental gutter, sending a surly reminder of the promise extracted. Tallah opened a rend and dug through for Sil¡¯s supplies. She knew where the accelerants were, but the others not so much. In the dark, she couldn¡¯t trust not to grab a wrong one. ¡°Bloody drink,¡± she groaned as she forced open Sil¡¯s mouth, spilling too much of the mixture in the process. ¡°We need your help here.¡± Sil did, choking and sputtering as the draught did its work. Tallah¡¯s back burned with the effort of staying upright and not dropping the spasming woman. ¡°I¡¯m fine,¡± Sil gasped. ¡°Let me down. I can walk.¡± ¡°Get me a sprite¡ª¡± Light exploded as she spoke and the sprite rose in the air. It illuminated a bleak sight. They were climbing down a mountain of bones towards a ravine equally choked with them. A vista of grey, desiccated corpses spread out as far as the light reached, the dead heaped one upon another as they¡¯d crashed from the height above. Here were, at last, all the missing builders of Grefe, all the angels fallen from the rainbow grace above. ¡°It¡¯s a grave.¡± Sil gaped as Tallah helped find her balance. ¡°They all fell.¡± ¡°Poetic,¡± Tallah groaned. As expected, illum here had been poisoned by death on an unimaginable scale. If she were to wager a guess, then she expected it had all happened fast and violent. Pulling it in left an unpleasantly gritty feeling, along with whispers of ghosts. She turned in place to gain her bearings as Sil dug in her rend, and met Rhine¡¯s stare. ¡°Where are you sister?¡± the wraith asked. Its voice was the hollow rasp of the ruined thing Tallah had found beneath Aztroa¡¯s Crown. Hollow eyes stared out from beneath a mess of scars to pin her to the spot. ¡°I trusted you. You promised I¡¯d be forgiven. You lied to me.¡± Chapter 2.22.1: A missed opening "How does she walk around like this?¡± Vergil talked only to fill the silent void and cover the sickening snap of bones underfoot. A riot of colours blinded him as illum flowed by, swirled and danced in the air. It was beautiful in a way, but made it hard to focus. The mask sat uncomfortably on his face beneath the helmet, but he was loath to drop either one. Looking down at himself was more confusing than looking around, light wisps of illum wrapped around him so tight that they may as well have been skin. How had Tallah not noticed those before? Or maybe that was normal for a blank? Sil and Tallah had appeared as knots of illum, drawing in more¡ª Vergil had grown accustomed to the ceaseless instructions Horvath laid out for him. Ever since the library, his vision had been filled with messages from the dead dwarf, eclipsing in full Argia¡¯s status updates. Now he could make out some of her messages among the rest. Lovely. Some system of the great ship was still kicking about. He¡¯d been seeing these connection requests for a while now, from about halfway into the descent down the shaft. What exactly Argia connected to, he couldn¡¯t imagine. Now wasn¡¯t the time for distractions, especially some that could see him quite dead quite quickly. But it took his mind off the blinding maze of colours and the promise of violence it carried. And it almost shut up the strange fascination with the snap of bone underfoot. For now, looking back, nothing moved in the illum except the vague outlines of where he knew Tallah and Sil were. Something was happening there and he could hear Sil¡¯s crying out in pain. His muscles bunched at the sound, heart racing with the knowledge that it had been his failure that led to this. Lovely. He accepted the connection. Nothing happened. Well, that was disappointing after ruminating on the decision for so long. How far would Tallah need him to be for the ambush? He was already halfway down the mountain of bones, if the pools of illum beneath his feet were any indication. Soon he¡¯d wade through the stuff and Tallah had warned him about the darker ones. Purples and reds? It was like tar down there. Anger replaced his excitement of seeing something that might have told him why all of this had happened. Why this impossible city had been built and what the piece of the SPRAWL might mean. Was he on Athos 3, in some far distant future? Or was he still in some experience? Meeting Panacea had resolved nothing for him, raised more questions than it had answered, and left him dumber for it. Remembering Tallah smacking the goddess did bring a smile to his face. It turned into a cuss as his foot slipped under the bones and he found himself on his arse, sliding downward, bones clattering all around. ¡°Fuck!¡± A moment later a scream tore through the air and illum above him ignited into white, phosphorous flames. For a moment he thought he¡¯d gone blind. Then realisation hit that he¡¯d shut his eyes against the glare. Another scream tore through the air. He scrambled for purchase on the unstable hill collapsing beneath his weight and managed to turn and see¡­ nothing. He¡¯d expected that Erisa would cut a larger, more ominous figure in the illum. There was nothing but the echoes of Tallah and Sil¡¯s presences. Something happened. He crawled back up on hands and feet, gripping buried bones and feeling them shatter in hand. Should he call out? Was this a distraction? Part of the plan? Something huge dropped from above and shook the mound of the dead like an earthquake. Bones rattled and screamed. Dust choked the air. Luna tightened into a ball on his back and shivered. ¡°Sister!¡± a gurgled voice called out and Vergil recognized Erisa even as he gazed upon the form perching atop the dead. ¡°What have you done?! Murderer!¡± It was¡­ odd. If Tallah and Sil were shadows in the illum flow, Erisa was as neatly defined as if Vergil gazed upon her in the full light of day. ¡°Mother¡­¡± Luna whimpered on his back. A tinge of despairing sadness came through the connection they shared. ¡°She¡¯s brought Mother with her.¡± Erisa had ripped herself from the room. She was the giant spider, riding atop it like a grotesque half-rider melded with its mount, a cacophony of parts that couldn¡¯t fit together. A pustule of hatred that slithered and jerked to motion as she strode down the bones towards Tallah and Sil. Geometric constructs cut the air as a blast of fire erupted from the shadows. It¡­ missed. The lance exploded against the far wall. Rocks cascaded down and disrupted the bones into an avalanche that threatened to bury him. It swept him off his feet to roll down with the dead in a clamour. More fireballs followed, all of them seemingly aimed anywhere but at the great bulk of Erisa as she advanced on the two channellers. They smashed barriers to shards of illum, but did nothing to the monstrous girl. She, for a few moments, seemed as confused as Vergil felt. What was Tallah doing? Finally, a lance hit the creature in full. It punched through several barriers and exploded with a blast of overheated air that stole the breath from his lungs dozen of meters away and beneath the fighting area. Illum shone like the stars, shards of barriers disintegrating and reforming before his very eyes. If it weren¡¯t so trouser-wetting terrifying, he would¡¯ve thought it all quite beautiful. He gripped the axe in his right hand and helped himself back up towards the battle with his left. Tallah exchanged fire erratically, mainly to push back against Erisa¡¯s blooming barriers. Even to him the creature seemed hesitant, its attacks wide, a threat rather than committing. Tummy had taught him that he needed to commit. So had Tallah. So Horvath insisted now. What he saw in Erisa told him that Tallah¡¯s plan was working. The girl feared harming Sil and only pushed the attack so much to gain ground. Fire was not really a danger to her. Getting closer showed him shapes clinging to Erisa. They dropped off onto the bones and crept away, spreading to encircle his friends. Some fell, silver illum drawn from the bodies back to their mother. But most managed to disperse. For her part, Tallah and Sil looked to be retreating down the slope, keeping away from Erisa, but not engaging either. Why? The more he tried to gain ground and follow the plan, the more Tallah¡ª A lighting bolt screamed through the air and hit the creature. Erisa howled in pain, the blast snaking past her defences in a way that defied imagination. Vergil¡¯s mouth dropped open as a second bolt of lightning hit the creature and ignited the air into an explosion. Chunks tore off Erisa, warm offal showering him. Now the girl attacked in earnest! So did her daughters, rushing from the darkness towards the point of attack. Whatever Tallah tore off didn¡¯t matter. Erisa screamed and barriers bloomed around her in a blinding display of geometry. Vergil turned in place and ran down the bones, slipping and rolling to keep away from that. A girl barred his path. He crashed into her and they went down in a tangle of limbs and loose bones. He was first back up and flashed the axe at the thing. It dodged under the swing, turned and fled from him as if he were of no importance. Barriers filled the air like an expanding ball of razors. Tallah¡¯s bolts of lightning were the only things breaking through, but even those began to dim as Erisa¡¯s assault intensified. He reached the bottom of the slope and took off at a dead run towards the sprite, where he expected to find the channellers. Getting near Erisa was impossible! He¡¯d failed his task, but Tallah wasn¡¯t doing as was supposed. There was no way for him to approach Erisa now, covered in a shifting, twisting amalgamation of cutting edges. He had lost sight of the child as it disappeared into the storm of illum. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. Why had Tallah abandoned the plan? ¡°Vergil!¡± He skidded to a halt, heart thumping in his chest, as he recognised Sil¡¯s voice by his arm. ¡°Don¡¯t put me under!¡± he said in a breath. ¡°Something¡¯s wrong with Tallah.¡± ¡°I bloody know.¡± Sil limped to him from the side, the sprite somewhere farther above. ¡°She¡¯s gone pyroclastic. Christina¡¯s fighting in her stead, but I don¡¯t know how much longer she can keep at it.¡± ¡°What¡¯s pyroclastic?¡± ¡°Berserk.¡± Sil¡¯s outline shimmered in the illum, as if she faded in and out of existence. He was pretty certain that wasn¡¯t how she was supposed to look. ¡°What do we do?¡± he asked, voice steady even as panic began to rise. He spun in place, eyes scanning for any of those creepy girls coming upon them. Sil toppled. He was right by her and caught her arm. Felt blood on her hands, slick and warm. ¡°You¡¯re still hurt?¡± he gasped out the question, panic rising into a full tempest now. ¡°Wound¡¯s sealed. I¡¯m fine.¡± Thunder echoed above and a flash of lightning turned the cavern to day. A stench of ozone and burnt dust filled the air. Sil didn¡¯t sound fine at all as she pushed herself up and pressed a hand to his chest. ¡°I require a Blessing of Cassandra,¡± she chanted out in a breath, voice urgent. More illum wrapped around Vergil. An odd feeling of lightness got him straightening up, the axe all of a sudden as light as a feather in hand. There were updates from Argia and Horvath in his view, but he ignored them. ¡°She¡¯s brought her children,¡± he said, still waiting for some of those to drop onto him. Shadows moved in the illum but he couldn¡¯t know if they were attacked, or that was simply how a channelling battle was supposed to look. ¡°Follow the plan,¡± Sil said. ¡°Will the dwarf cooperate?¡± ¡°He says he¡¯s willing to help.¡± ¡°¡­says?¡± Sil shook away the revelation. ¡°Doesn¡¯t matter. Go. Go.¡± Vergil expected the usual night to take him once Sil put her tether on him. He remained watching her even as illum connected them and Horvath¡¯s strength flowed out of the helmet. ¡°Um?¡± ¡°Go!¡± Sil urged him. ¡°Don¡¯t gawk at me.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not the dwarf,¡± Vergil answered, confused. Why didn¡¯t the enchantment work? ¡°No!¡± ¡°What¡¯s happened?¡± Sil asked, concern in her voice. Up above, thunder and lightning rolled and echoed in the chasm as Tallah fought. Flashes of white light. Crashing darkness. Screams of pain and the constant boom of the dead exploding. ¡°Argia¡¯s contained Horvath. He can¡¯t take control.¡± ¡°Fine time she chose to be useful.¡± She groaned as she moved up the bones. ¡°Stay behind me. You should be safe. We need to help.¡± The illum storm Erisa unleashed did avoid Sil. Whenever one of the constructs got near, it splintered to threads unravelling in the air, as if the girl knew always where Sil was. Actually, as he followed behind Sil, he could see the thin line connecting her and Erisa, like the barest tether, there and not really. ¡°You¡¯re connected to her.¡± ¡°She¡¯s tugging on my guts. I hate it.¡± Tallah crashed down from above, rolling down the mountain of the dead in an avalanche of bone dust. She exploded back up in a flash of woven illum that made her seem to teleport. No, she actually did. Thunder echoed maddeningly as the sorceress fought in a way he¡¯d never seen before. She was wreathed in lightning that moved and shimmered with her. It pinged off Erisa¡¯s barriers and that gave her warning of where they formed. Christina moved differently from Tallah, each thrown bolt precisely hitting Erisa, as if her barriers weren¡¯t there. The girl was moving back, dodging on eight legs out of the way, kept nearly at bay by the barrage of blinding bolts. ¡°You finally show,¡± Christina yelled to him as she landed back. An illum tether grabbed Vergil by the waist, lifted him up, and threw him flailing through the air at Erisa. ¡°Make yourself useful. I need a breather.¡± For a flicker of a moment Vergil thought he would die. He saw the cutting edges forming. They would section him in two. No. In four! Alien reactions took over and he spun in the air, axe head slamming into the forming barrier. Solid enough to hook on. He spun in the air, tucked in his legs and slipped between the edges. ¡°Fuck¡ª¡± Everything moved slower and he saw the world in perfect geometric detail. Every line of power flowing out of the sorceresses. Half-formed barriers. Fully formed ones supporting the others. Like a scaffolding of illum ever growing, its source the girl. Horvath wasn¡¯t in control. But the old dwarf¡¯s strength and reactions¡­ Vergil was in control. Without thinking, he allowed the dwarf¡¯s reactions to take over. He rolled his knees to his chest, braced for impact, and rolled on empty air where the barrier formed. Getting feet under him, he pushed off the swaying construct and found himself running on empty air, following the line of power. Part of him wondered if it was possible to survive like this. The rest whooped, adrenaline offering him wings. There was the girl, inhuman face looking shocked atop the monstrous spider. She expanded her barriers, tried to wreathe herself in a ball of protection. Not fast enough! He pushed off the final wall and launched himself at her. A bolt of lightning shattered the barrier Erisa was building to protect against him. He buried the axe¡¯s smile right in the girl face, splitting it in two with his entire weight behind the strike. She screamed in gurgling agony, thrashed and swiped at him. Always get close to a channeller, Tallah¡¯s voice instructed. Doesn¡¯t matter how. Once close, be like a mad dog on a hunt. Clamp down and hold on for dear life. Vergil held on to the axe for dear life as Erisa tried to shake him off. He grabbed whatever part he could reach and trusted Christina had a plan. Any moment now! Clawed fingers scratched across his armour in a cacophony of screeches. Tallah appeared in a flash atop Erisa¡¯s shoulders, one arm wreathed in a swirl of power Vergil couldn¡¯t understand, the other grabbing hold of his axe. She discharged the spell into the back of the girl¡¯s head. ¡°I need¡ª¡± Christina didn¡¯t finish the sentence as Erisa threw both of them off with strength that seemed impossible. Vergil dropped heavily onto the bones. Felt his own ribs cracking under the impact, all air driven out of him. Not that he¡¯d had time to breathe much. Someone dragged him away. Then another one. ¡°What in the Goddess¡¯s teats is going on?¡± Sil¡¯s voice, straining with effort. ¡°I¡¯ve no idea. Can¡¯t fight more. If I cast the Punishment, my usefulness will be at an end.¡± ¡°Where are the other two?¡± ¡°Sorting out Tallah I hope. They¡¯re all quiet.¡± Vergil groaned and dug his heels in. The two women released his shoulders as he got back to his feet. Pain from the impact ebbed away as adrenaline cushioned it. Shapes began appearing on the edges of his vision, creeping out of the storm. ¡°Why didn¡¯t you finish her?¡± He spat a glob of blood. Another tooth was loose in his mouth. ¡°You could¡¯ve finished her.¡± ¡°I could¡¯ve blasted you, boy. Tallah would flay my hide if I had.¡± Erisa smashed against the walls, screamed in blood-curdling agony, and fought herself. Something of Christina¡¯s attack had definitely worked in some way, though it did nothing like the experiments on him had suggested. He¡¯d understood Tallah¡¯s plan. Get the monster to shut down, hit it hard point-blank. Instead, the spider beneath Erisa had come alive. ¡°Mother lives!¡± Luna screeched in pleasure. ¡°Mother endures! She fights for us.¡± Mother was not doing well. From beneath, it was like watching two great monsters, conjoined at the waist, tear at each other. The chasm filled with echoing snarls and screams. ¡°I say we¡¯d best get¡ª¡± Vergil shot past Christina and lashed out with a kick. It caught one of the girls squarely in the chest and sent her reeling down. Another tried to rush past him, making a line for Sil. Both the healer and Tallah lashed out with their own kicks at this one, sending it sprawling. More came, silent as ghosts. ¡°We need to disengage and regroup,¡± Christina urged. Lightning from her fingers blasted through three of the girls at once. It ignited on the dust into an explosion that rocked the mountain. She staggered backward and Vergil caught her before she fell. ¡°Not down there,¡± he said urgently as he and Sil pulled the sorceress away. ¡°Tallah said to keep away from black illum.¡± ¡°Black? It¡¯s that bad?¡± Sil stumbled and nearly dragged them all down, groaning and clutching at her belly. ¡°Can¡¯t¡­ walk¡­¡± Her voice strained and she shivered violently. ¡°She¡¯s squeezing my insides.¡± ¡°Sister!¡± Erisa howled. Christina shook free of their help and ignited lightning on her arm. Vergil bent and picked Sil up, running down the slope. ¡°You will make me human.¡± Sounds of tearing flesh and snapping bones filled the black, followed by inhuman cries of pain. ¡°You can¡¯t deny me!¡± Vergil threw a final glance back. The last thing he saw before the illum storm engulfed Erisa, was Mother¡¯s dismemberment and the girl ripping herself from the corpse left behind. For their sake, he hoped the mist of illum hid them well. Chapter 2.22.2: The memory of pain ¡°Vel, what is the meaning of this?¡± It had all happened faster than Anna could perceive, in the narrow space between heartbeats. One moment she¡¯d been reeling in her strength and rebuilding the walls keeping Tallah out of her mind, and the next she was wrestling this¡­ thing. It had come out of nowhere! A being of raging fire barrelled into her and cut through every protection she¡¯d set up. Incandescent rage tore through her mindscape and drove her to the ground, punching and clawing at her essence like something straight out of a faer story. How was this even possible? ¡°What is this, Vel? Answer me!¡± The creature rolled and tossed her around the desolate mountain landscape, casting her against sharp-edged rocks and down into gaping gorges. The space didn¡¯t matter, of course. It was merely fancy, so she felt no pain at this abuse. It was the scenery constantly rushing past that undid her focus. The creature would devour her if she didn¡¯t fight back. Each fiery touch burned in impossible ways and threatened consumption if left unchecked. She braced for the assault when the creature followed her down a slope of imagined danger, and ended up rolling with it, punching and clawing at each other like base peasants. She would not be treated like some child¡¯s rags doll. ¡°My apologies,¡± Vel¡¯s voice said. ¡°You¡¯re fresher than I am at the moment. I led it to you.¡± Words failed in conveying exactly how much Anna loathed Vel. If she could set her on fire by spite alone¡ª ¡°Yes, yes, I am terrible. And all that. See that you don¡¯t get devoured while I sort out this mess. Christina¡¯s not doing well.¡± ¡°What mess? What¡¯s happening?¡± Anna threw the beast off her but it came loping back, a crazed animal trailing a blaze. ¡°Tallah¡¯s happening. Hang on.¡± Bloody easy for the witch to demand. She wasn¡¯t the one grappling tooth and nail with this avatar of pure, undiluted anger. Its heat was a metaphysical manifestation, something burning with such terrible intensity that even in her spirit form she could feel sweat beading on her skin. Amni had enough rage in her to self-combust. How she functioned while keeping this beast in check was a thing to marvel at. Later. If she survived its assault. Was this Amni herself? She tried getting a glimpse out at the structure that she thought of as her host¡¯s self, but it had disappeared. Instead, they were now fighting through¡­ a prison? Walls decorated with chains and the well-used apparatus of torture. Empty cells. She heaved and threw off the fiery abomination, then made off down a random corridor to try and gain some distance and thinking time. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t do that if I were you,¡± Vel¡¯s voice admonished her from somewhere outside the conjured space. ¡°Get bent,¡± Anna spat. ¡°You come and fight it then.¡± ¡°Been there. Done just that.¡± The fiery beast burst through the walls of the prison and tackled her back to the ground. Flaming fingers grasped fistfuls of hair and slammed her head against the stone floor. Once. Twice. The third time she fought back through the blinding haze of fury, pushing her illum against her assailant to throw it off. It did next to nothing as the fire consumed her strength and was eager for more. ¡°That won¡¯t work,¡± Vel said again, her voice on the edge of panic. Anna was punched in the face as she prepared to answer, felt the ghost sensation of her nose bursting into a smear of blood. Rage climbed into her veins and ate at her core as she felt her control slip. ¡°Not as good as your boast, are you?¡± ¡°Shut up!¡± She caught the next blow aimed for her face, heaved, and rolled the elemental under her. It seemed surprised. And it was doubly surprised when Anna headbutted it. ¡°Good. Keep doing that for a time. We¡¯re getting to the core of the issue.¡± ¡°When I¡¯ll get my hands on you, Vel¡ª¡± ¡°Even temper, Anna. Or else it feeds on you.¡± Her fingers were interlaced with Amni¡¯s rage. The touch burned in searing agony, so hot that she feared she¡¯d burn her hands away to ashes. It took an effort of will to remember this wasn¡¯t a real place and her wounds existed only on a level that she allowed them. If she focused, she could douse the flames. Except that was easier thought than done. What rage was this? Anna had devoured many channellers and many ash eaters among them. All had their black moods that she excised from what remained of their minds, but none carried fury like this. No wonder Amni needed her limiters like some training whelp. A spark like this wouldn¡¯t just ignite her channelling, it would make it unreliable and downright explosive. Any channelling born of this would bite back the hand that wove it. It bit at her fingers and arm, trying to dislodge her. Anna lacked the means of holding on for long, her arms already nearly useless in spite of her understanding. She rammed her forehead against the thing¡¯s again, stunned it for a heartbeat, and let go. ¡°What do I need to do, Vel?¡± she asked the air. It was already up on its feet, chasing after her as she ran down the corridors. ¡°How do I stop it?¡± ¡°Wish I knew. I need you to restrain it. Or keep it occupied for long enough that we find what memory Tallah dropped into and why she refuses to come out.¡± Lovely. Bloody lovely! She¡¯d been defeated and grafted by a neurotic ash eater prone to bouts of burning insanity. Whatever shreds of pride she had salvaged out of the ordeal were already burning away in the heat of Amni¡¯s manifestation. She skidded to a halt past one of the rooms and ran in, bare feet slapping on cold stone. It had been a moment¡¯s feeling, something different about the room, an edge of reality clinging to it like nothing else in the imagined prison. A moment later the burning avatar burst behind her and screamed at the sight unfolding. Here was Rhine Amni, hung on a saltire rack, halfway flayed from neck down to her waist, gagged. Blood pooled on the floor, warm against Anna¡¯s feet, bubbling now with the avatar in the room. ¡°Ah good, you found it. Hang on.¡± Vel¡¯s voice seemed to drift away. Anna was hit from behind as the creature rammed her with titanic force, its anger doubled as it pummelled into her. She twisted out of its grasp, its attack too frenzied to carry any tactic or weight. It burned, but it was desperate now. The scene played out in agonising slowness. The flaying knife moved with glacial intent to separate skin from muscle. Rhine¡¯s chest heaved in quick succession even in the slowed down moment, the younger Amni very much awake and aware of what was happening. The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Anna registered distantly the collection of salves and potions on one rack as she dove under her assailant¡¯s swipe. Adrenaline boosters. Healing salves. Accelerants. Bloodberry extract. All quite useful and some of them she knew from her own experimentation. A well-mixed cocktail of everything on display could, as it was obvious here, keep a victim conscious and aware through the most intensive torture. If she had a stomach, it would¡¯ve knotted in disgust for this. She¡¯d quite liked the younger Amni sister for that brief time at Hoarfrost. Something like this scene felt obscene. At the back of the room, beyond the body, there was the healer Amni carted around with her, watching the process with bored interest. Something added up quite wrong. What was this? Flames licked at her skin, so hot now that they burned her down to conjured bone, the room too small now to properly contain the beast. Vel had asked her to restrain it. And it definitely hated being in the room, bearing witness. Whatever sick fantasy this was, she could use it. ¡°Right, then.¡± She let go, rolled away and came up in a crouch. Physical altercations weren¡¯t her strongest suit. Amni and Vel had pinned her to the floor plenty of times in their girlhood that she¡¯d made it a mission later in life to absorb as much knowledge about hand-to-hand fighting as she could, if for nothing else but to silence some of the echoes of shame. A deep breath as the elemental stared at Rhine, glowing white-hot. This was going to hurt. A lot. Anna launched herself forward before it turned on her, and grappled the thing. It was a painful scuffle as she drove herself against the fire, tripped it up and forced it down to the floor with moves she half-remembered in the intensity of the moment. It was enough. An effort of will got her holding the creature by the arm pits, her hands gripped behind the impression of a neck. It tried to get her to fall but was distracted. Anna got a good grip and managed to get to her knees, forcing it to watch. It twisted and howled, filled the room with scorching fire, made the whole prison shake with it fury. She held on through it all, burning illum to keep herself from succumbing to the fire. Vel appeared by her side and grabbed hold of the burning head. ¡°We are here, Tallah,¡± she spoke. ¡°This isn¡¯t real.¡± Again, the scene shifted. Walls bled colour as whatever Vel was doing seemed to accomplish something. The blinding intensity of the flames dimmed as the scene shifted and it was now Tallah herself lying on a rack, her entire body black and purple with beatings. ¡°You survived this. You can survive your anger. You can¡¯t achieve your mission if you can¡¯t control it.¡± Anna didn¡¯t dare let go even as the fire slowly died and the shape of the ash eater emerged from the heat. The deafening screams eased off as everything seemed to calm down. There was someone new in this scene, someone watching from the side as the torturers did their work. Barbaric methods that would achieve, in Anna¡¯s opinion, absolutely nothing. She¡¯d learned this early on in her work when experimenting. Torture so intense gained nothing. It only destroyed¡­ oh. Mayhaps destruction was a purpose into itself? The woman by the rack wore the imperial white uniform and had ashen hair cropped short. A part of her face bore a deep scar from temple to chin. She regarded Tallah with glacier-green eyes and an unhappy sneer. ¡°You promised!¡± the Tallah on the rack screamed. ¡°You swore to me!¡± Her voice gurgled blood. Given the extensive damage, Anna had to be impressed that she could articulate words. ¡°Yes¡­ well, oaths change, Tallah,¡± the woman said in a tired voice. ¡°This brings me no pleasure. The longer you hold on, the worse it will get. Your sister was as obstinate as you.¡± ¡°You swore her safety!¡± ¡°Stop resisting and you may join her. A family reunion would do both of your souls good.¡± Empress Catharina smiled grimly. ¡°I need your strength, now more than ever. Let go and you won¡¯t even remember this in the end. It will help you.¡± She raised a hand and ignited a blue flame atop her fingers. ¡°Your sister¡¯s fire burns hot. She asks for you. If you stop your resistance, you will join her. All will be well, just as promised.¡± ¡°Liar!¡± The empress shrugged and moved away from the table. She tapped the healer¡¯s shoulder. ¡°See that you finish with her by the Descent. Time¡¯s short.¡± ¡°You swore!¡± Tallah¡¯s screams followed the empress out of the room. As the woman passed by, Anna could swear she¡¯d looked straight at them. By now Tallah had grown inert in her grasp. ¡°Let go,¡± she said. Anna did, shockingly unable to resist the command. Vel also moved aside as Amni regarded herself on the rack. ¡°She¡¯s using Rhine to reach me,¡± the ash eater said, not tearing her eyes away from the scene. ¡°She¡¯s established sympathetic contact. I need you to shut her out.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t think it¡¯s possible,¡± Vel said. ¡°Whatever she¡¯s doing, she¡¯s bypassing every defence we¡¯ve set up. I expect only that goddess thing may have an idea on how to proceed. We didn¡¯t catch what she did to banish your¡­ sister¡¯s wraith.¡± ¡°What just happened?¡± Anna asked, still feeling the aftereffects of fire against her bare skin. Maybe it wouldn¡¯t be a bad idea to conjure up some apparel, as Cytra had suggested. Amni turned to her and terror gripped Anna¡¯s chest. The eyes regarding her made a mockery of whatever strength of will she thought she possessed. Now she understood why Cytra and Vel both had laughed at her extracting that promise. This was a monster of pure will. That rage smouldered behind Amni¡¯s grey eyes, leashed back into control, twisted to purpose. Revenge, the great motivator indeed. As long as Anna couldn¡¯t match that same strength of purpose, she¡¯d never manage to superimpose herself. ¡°You did better than either of them managed.¡± Amni favoured her with an ugly, bitter smile. ¡°Better, but it¡¯s something I¡¯ll probably be prepared for the next time I slip control. Can I rely on you to subdue me again when it happens?¡± ¡°Are you giving me a choice in the matter?¡± ¡°I am, yes.¡± She thumbed over her shoulder at the frozen scene behind. ¡°I¡¯m not Catharina. Won¡¯t use her tactics. Not all of them, at least. You were brought into the fold, yes, but I will not use you against your will.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t remember such courtesy when you came and slit my throat.¡± The witch smiled. ¡°I expected I¡¯d win you over later. In all fairness, you deserved what you got.¡± That, at least, was¡­ well, not true, but understandable. Since her death, anger notwithstanding, Anna had found a different perspective on life. Or was this afterlife? Much of her cravings from before were gone, relegated to the idle curiosities they¡¯d once been. Her own work, all-consuming at some point, had begun to dim and rot in the mind¡¯s eyes, shown in its true form now that the fleshy bits were long dead. She remembered the feeling of triumph at the end of a particularly informative vivisection, but found it a hollow thing, more a product of an overactive and overexcited glandular system than anything scholastic. For the first time in decades, she was thinking clearly. And Amni was right on her assumption. What Cytra had said before still rumbled in her imagination. ¡°Are you really planning on killing a god?¡± ¡°Ort, yes. Anatol and Isadora too, if there¡¯s enough left of me by the time I finish with their master.¡± No hesitation at all. Either Amni was delusional in a way that beggared sanity, or she had a plan that wasn¡¯t as half-arsed as all the rest she¡¯d concocted since grafting Anna. ¡°Best you get out there and deal with the eyesore chasing us. I have no intention of inhabiting another corpse in this pile of bones.¡± ¡°Christina¡¯s done enough.¡± Tallah glowed incandescent again, but this time it was purposeful. ¡°I¡¯ll ask for some strength to win this.¡± ¡°See you don¡¯t exhaust yourself,¡± Vel said. ¡°We can¡¯t pull you out of danger if you¡¯re damaged beyond use.¡± Anna found herself back on the slope of the mountain, Vel and Cytra by her side. The black structure loomed over them, bright light shining out of cracks as if an inferno smouldered inside. ¡°If we survive this madness, I need the two of you to explain to me exactly what¡¯s going on,¡± she said as she gazed at the overcast sky. Thunder rumbled and lightning arced among the high peaks. The sounds of distant screaming echoed again, but there was an edge of frothing anger to the cries. She felt she had a decent grasp on what had spurned her old friend to this course of action. ¡°Are we under the effect of a soul trap?¡± she asked, a piece of the puzzle still confusing her. ¡°We are,¡± Cytra answered and smiled as the world shook. ¡°An unfortunate one too.¡± ¡°Shouldn¡¯t I feel something? I remember that monstrosity used in my Sanctum. It wasn¡¯t a subtle thing.¡± ¡°Not in this place. Grefe is an anomaly. It¡¯s shielded.¡± She gave the two a long stare as the world shook and buckled under their feet. ¡°Your roles aren¡¯t as a resources to be used.¡± There was, after all, another way of surviving soul magic. Cytra had been quite a busy monster in her own right. ¡°You serve as anchors. She only fought me with one of you assisting. The other was busy. Is that why she needs more of us?¡± Two grins met her realisations, and Vel answered. ¡°Dear, you don¡¯t know the half of it. Let¡¯s survive, as it were, and I¡¯ll explain it all over tea.¡± Chapter 2.22.3: Making a stand Christina dumped a dizzying load of situation awareness into her mind as they swapped control of her own body. The ghost was happy to let go. Tallah fumed. For losing control. For being blindsided. Again. For being in this place, distracted from her mission, fighting a thing she shouldn¡¯t have needed to. What business had she intervening in Erisa¡¯s fate? Revenge was honest motivation for anything. In the girl¡¯s place, she would¡¯ve been much more terrible, much more vile. But now the path to her work was blocked by this creature and it didn¡¯t seem like she had any intention of letting go if asked nicely. ¡°I¡¯m here,¡± Tallah said. Vergil turned to her as they stopped on the shifting road of bones. ¡°I¡¯m fighting.¡± ¡°Bloody nice of you to take a break right now. Need me to fix you a cup of coffee or something, my Lady?¡± Sil asked in her most mocking tone as Vergil set her down. ¡°Droll.¡± Something stung her face and they all reeled from the invisible touch. They¡¯d wandered down the incline deep enough that they reached the black illum at its bottom. Dense enough to be nearly palpable in the air. It stung. Not as terrible as the labyrinth, but enough that it would kill them if they lingered. Or worse. She took a heartbeat to pull in power. It came to serve, almost gleeful at the prospect of violence but shaping it hurt. Her black mood matched its terrible history. Here, there were ghosts roaming the chasm. If they wandered far enough and stayed in the miasma of death, she was certain she¡¯d see real manifestations of the architects and their final moments. ¡°Is she wounded?¡± she asked, more to Christina than the others. ¡°She¡¯s pissed. You did something to her with the soul trap,¡± Sil answered as she dug in her rend and pulled out an aerum vial. ¡°This is your last. I have exactly two more accelerants in here. Best we save them up.¡± ¡°I have one left in my rend.¡± She downed the aerum and pulled in more power. Her girls aren¡¯t ranging far from the main body. Casting the trap may have disrupted her unique relation to the surrogate bodies. That made sense. The trap was active at all times. Without willing shields like Christina and Bianca, whatever way in which a soul expanded would be drawn inward rather than allowed to move out. Anna¡¯s trick with her flesh doll had only managed to save a fragment of herself because it happened in the moment of expiration, when the trap¡¯s draw was focused on the core. Her knees trembled and there was a twinge of exhaustion in her eye. Every breath hurt in her chest, both from the corrupted illum and what were, definitely, at least three cracked ribs. Without her infusion, she¡¯d be down on the ground, squirming in agony. Bianca wove power around her, like an invisible suit of armour, lending her strength. Uncomfortable, painful, perfect. Like a torture device she could wear to battle. That¡¯s just unkind, the ghost whispered. I could let you crawl. No time to set up a proper strategy. The deeper they went into the gorge, the more dangerous she expected their stay to be. Above, the girl searched. Bones crunched underneath her great bulk, clattered, groaned. She could just make out the horrid thing on the edge of spritelight. It was only the thickness of illum that kept them hidden from Erisa, but that couldn¡¯t last. She¡¯d either stumble onto them, or their hiding place would kill them. ¡°Why¡¯s the dwarf so quiet?¡± she asked, expecting Horvath chomping at the bit to get into the fight. ¡°It¡¯s me,¡± Vergil said in his usual sheepish tone. Tallah¡¯s eyes snapped to Sil but the healer waved away her concern, ¡°It¡¯s his head thing. Blocked the dwarf. We¡¯re making do with one Vergil.¡± At least the boy didn¡¯t seem much worse for her absence. A bit scuffed and bloodied, but otherwise looking hale and straight-backed. ¡°Lovely. Got fight in you?¡± Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. ¡°Y-yes.¡± ¡°Good. We¡¯re about to make a stand.¡± He handed the mask back. ¡°More use to you than me, now. Plan¡¯s gone up in smoke.¡± It was impossible not to see the walls forming around the edges. Barriers built higher than she expected Bianca to carry them, boxing them in, closing off the way out. A clatter of bones announced Erisa coming down from up high. Her outline in the illum did not match what she¡¯d expected from what Christina had shown. The girl had halved herself. She walked on disjointed limbs, holding upright by force of will alone. Nothing of that form suggested any reliable physicality, but she couldn¡¯t doubt the girl was lethal. This¡­ this was precisely why soul magic had been banned. Meld two souls together and they¡¯d each impose their morphological traits. It would never end well. Erisa was the end result of falling off the razor¡¯s edge Tallah and Catharina walked. There could scarcely be a worse fate. ¡°I am tired of chasing you, sister,¡± it said as it cautiously approached. A throat probably formed the words, but they arrived as a sort of mental assault, similar to the spiders, laden with growling distortion. ¡°Why do you deny me? Why won¡¯t you help me?¡± Shadows in the illum showed her daughters walking besides her, silent as ghosts. Each word was accompanied by a flurry of barriers closing the perimeter. They cracked bones and raised a cloud of choking dust. Erisa was a storm of illum, incoherent now in her brutality. Wisps of silver jetted out of her, like steam, only to be drawn back in. ¡°What did you do to me, sorceress? Why? Haven¡¯t I suffered enough?¡± ¡°You can¡¯t undo what¡¯s been done, girl,¡± Tallah answered. Her heart raced as she drew in more power. The girl would see it now, know she prepared to fight. ¡°I am trying to help you.¡± ¡°You¡¯re lying. I need only my sister. I need to be human. Not this. Not a monster.¡± Her speech garbled, more and more of it turning to animal noise. Mutation continued even as they regarded one another across the expanse of bones, Sil¡¯s sprite the only light. Erisa shied away for its touch, hid herself in the dark as if¡­ no, that was an uncharitable thought. The girl had every right to her shame. Tallah couldn¡¯t begrudge her that. ¡°You will be at peace if you let me help you,¡± she said. ¡°You don¡¯t need to suffer anymore.¡± ¡°Liar!¡± A barrier cut the air. Then more, almost random in their vectors of attack. ¡°Liar! The goddess came to help, and she stole from me. The spiders came to help, and they destroyed me. I am tired of being helped. I am tired of being in pain. I am tired of being this!¡± Tallah hopped back, drew Vergil after her as Erisa attacked. The girl didn¡¯t move a muscle, but she didn¡¯t need to. Every moment was another razor barrier. I don¡¯t believe she has the stores of illum to keep this going, Christina whispered. What does it matter if she does? Those barriers need a fraction of our own costs, Anna put in. Both ghosts talked with a calm that kept Tallah balanced against her own frustration. Rhine floated among the barriers, stepping between the edges to leer at her. Her form shivered as if seen through a heat haze. Someone else hid behind the wraith¡¯s presence. Focus, Bianca admonished. She tried to. But seeing Catharina puppeteering her sister¡¯s form ignited the fury she¡¯d barely kept contained. It came and went in flashes, but there was no doubt. Here was the bloody empress, torturing her with the visage of the sister she¡¯d led to a horrifying end. The first heat lance she fired burned the sleeve of her coat and blistered the skin beneath. It punched through the arrayed barriers but missed the girl, Tallah¡¯s aimed drawn to the wraith. Focus! Bianca insisted and forced her hand up at the right target. Tallah loosed again and this time Erisa had to move out of the way. From a distance it was unlikely she¡¯d allow herself be hit. Her girls streamed away, running silently, claws bared. One reached the boy¡¯s range and was cut down. Three more mobbed him, pushed him down, swiped and cut with glistening claws. Before she could trust herself to help, Sil intervened. She clobbered one of the waifs with a length of bone, shattering its skull. The boy threw off the other two and stomped on the nearest. Blood spurted in the air. ¡°Vergil,¡± she growled, barely remembering the boy¡¯s name through the haze of anger. ¡°I want to¡ª¡± ¡°Throw me!¡± the boy called to her, a manic grin in his voice as his axe¡¯s smile chased away the third girl. Blood ran down his face from a bevy of scratches. ¡°Try and not burn me. I¡¯m flammable.¡± His good cheer in the face of death cut through her distraction. She laughed as she lifted him with Bianca¡¯s strength, and threw him bodily at Erisa¡¯s shape. Little bastard had grown a spine of wrought iron. Three lances fired in quick succession punched through Erisa¡¯s defensive walls as Tallah danced on the edges of the girl¡¯s razors. Vergil landed in the bones, rolled to his feet, and exploded up at their foe, aided by Tallah¡¯s own fire pinning the girl. At a distance, a battle between two channellers that could see the weave¡­ it would be attrition. Having a fighter in the mix could tip that balance. I am ready, Christina informed her. Do not waste this. I can¡¯t handle another. Tallah¡¯s back tightened in a familiar grip as the ghost arrayed her power. Chapter 2.22.4: Poison fit for a queen ¡°Too far to loose from here. We¡¯ll hit Vergil.¡± Already the boy danced with Erisa with a spryness she hadn¡¯t suspected him capable of. Tallah formed fireflies and set them to pop against forming barriers. The first one almost got Vergil bisected. For the next he understood what she meant to do and he fell in a rhythm of dodging killing cuts by a hair¡¯s breath, only by listening to the pop-pop-pop of fireflies detonations. Anna lent her unique perception and unloaded Tallah¡¯s focus from guiding the fireflies. She surrendered a measure of control to the ghost. Erisa was forced to move, sweeping her terrible arms to grip Vergil. She slammed against an alien barrier. The barrier dropped instantly, shattered by the impact, but Vergil was already there, swinging his axe to bury it in the folds of her flesh. It did nothing but enrage the monster, especially as he chopped down again, and again, blood spraying. Tallah had enough stored power of her own. Any more of that poisoned mist and she¡¯d burst apart at the seams. It would need to do. Bianca shot her across the battlefield to close the distance. Exhilaration thrummed in the pit of her stomach as she passed beneath bleeding edges to impact heavily against the girl¡¯s back. She scrambled for purchase, hand gripping anything they could, digging fingers into wounds, hoping not to lose them. Erisa shook and pranced in place, fought and screamed in agony as Tallah¡¯s lances burst through meaty pockets of flesh to cook her alive. This close no barrier could be stable enough to protect her from the flames and the axe. The boy hacked at her limbs, just a breath faster than she, always moving, always cutting, always a step far enough. Tallah spared him only a moment¡¯s appreciation while she burned holes in Erisa, trying to find what it was inside that kept the girl moving. Where was the heart in that mess of mutation? Lungs? Something to trip up the thing enough to stop her moving. Christina wove the black bolt and discharged it into the girl¡¯s side. Nothing happened. Erisa shook violently, redoubled her efforts of escape, did not seem to feel the moment. She crashed against the wall of the ravine, rolled down on the bones, tried to get Tallah off her and push Vergil away. She succeeded on one account as the boy slipped on the treacherous bones. Erisa cast a barrier to section him and very nearly succeeded. Tallah leapt off and barrelled into him. Luck held to her side as she escaped with all limbs still attached, and Vergil held by the scruff of his neck. More barriers bloomed in an explosion of fury. She couldn¡¯t counter them all even as she fired her lances and Christina lent her lightning¡¯s aid. It was too much, cut after cut after cut, endlessly repeating like the cadence of a heart, wreathing Erisa in an impenetrable armour of thorns where she lay on the bones, panting with the effort of the fight. She bled and tired. Somehow, the bloody thing tired, but did. Not. Stop. It was all Tallah and Bianca could do to keep on the backslide, Vergil anchored to her as they spun and twirled in the air, trying to avoid the murderous streaks. She smashed her shoulder against one of the flat invisible walls, caught by surprise. A cage formed on the sides, closing in as Bianca fought to gain height. She¡¯d closed the distance but it wasn¡¯t enough. Now or never! ¡°Close your eyes!¡± she instructed and took aim at Erisa, ignoring Rhine over to the side. ¡°Now or never, Christi.¡± The Punishment erupted from her fingers and struck the earth with the force of a meteor. It punched straight through Erisa to explode the mound of corpses on which she made her stand. A geyser of bone shards blasted her and Vergil backward to smash into the rock face, the wind knocked out of her chest, sight stolen by the grit. They slid down and were half-buried under the avalanche of corpses. ¡°Sil?¡± she wheezed out. ¡°Where are you?¡± ¡°I¡¯m alive,¡± the healer answered from somewhere farther down. She¡¯d had the good sense to run as far from the fighting as possible. ¡°Did you kill her?¡± Vergil asked as he gripped her shoulder to steady himself. ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± Illum roiled in the impact crater, a mess of jagged power that defied coherence. If successful, then the trap would activate and finish the job. If that was the main body. Stolen novel; please report. ¡­was it? ¡°I¡­ require¡­ this one¡­ be mended.¡± Tallah¡¯s blood froze as she understood what she saw in the illum. Erisa lived. Not only, but she¡¯d healed herself! Given Panacea¡¯s earlier intervention, it struck her as profoundly odd that the goddess would answer the prayer. ¡°See now, sister?¡± Erisa stalked on her impossible legs down the settling ash, towards Sil, flesh gripped in the flux of mutation. ¡°Our lying goddess answers my prayers, yet she¡¯s done nothing to save me. Nothing to protect me from what was happening. Why serve her? Why deny me?¡± If anything, she paid no more attention to them, relegated to annoyances that she chose to keep away with barriers. They formed in the air, layered one atop another, a box closing in on Tallah and Vergil. ¡°Bugger, she¡¯s resilient,¡± Tallah groaned. ¡°We can¡¯t kill her.¡± Vergil swallowed. ¡°What do we do?¡± I¡¯m spent. Christina¡¯s presence flickered on the edge of consciousness. I don¡¯t know what else to hit her with. Disintegration would probably trigger a catastrophic collapse in the girl. But could she risk that? If she failed, she¡¯d be useless, especially with all her limiters broken. Not so much a gambit as a suicide attack. The box halved in size. Then halved again. Dust settled on invisible barriers and hung suspended in the air. If Bianca dropped her tethers, they¡¯d still remain quite high off the ground. Sil kept her distance from Erisa, running and slipping across the bones. ¡°Hold your breath,¡± Tallah ordered. ¡°This will hurt.¡± Vergil obeyed. She fired off a lance at full power towards the farthest edge of the invisible box. Air super-heated in the enclosed space, bit back, nearly cooked them alive. Barriers shattered, dust and smoke rushing in. Bianca shot them out and up in the lull between attacks. Erisa had figured out the way to box her in and it was only a short matter of time before that happened again. I have a solution, Anna mused. It will not be pleasant. ¡°I¡¯ll bloody take anything right now.¡± I need the girl¡¯s blood. You need to drink it. Tallah hesitated. Even if Anna had been spectacularly adept at poisons once upon a time, would something like that work here? Erisa could simply purge it with a prayer. Don¡¯t be daft. Poison works on everything. The ghost sounded affronted. Get me a sample of her blood. Leave the rest to me. I dare that goddess purge my work. ¡°Where¡¯s your axe, Vergil?¡± He pointed at Erisa¡¯s back, to where the blood-slick handle of the weapon protruded from the girl¡¯s skin, flesh healed around the weapon¡¯s bite. ¡°Had to let go. Sorry.¡± Blast! She couldn¡¯t move them in or reach out Bianca¡¯s tethers to yank the weapon out. She was barred¡ª Something barrelled through the barriers, shattering them like glass. In the sight of the Ikosmenia, it was a blur of illum fragments roughly coalescing in the shape of a spider. ¡°Mother!¡± Luna cried out. ¡°Mother lives. Mother comes.¡± Mother crashed into Erisa. It bled illum and ichor as it rolled with the girl among the corpses. It bit and stabbed and stung in the moment of distraction before the girl counter attacked. ¡°Stay dead, creature. Leave me be. You¡¯ve tormented me enough.¡± Erisa whined and growled, her words slurred. Some balance had been tipped. Tallah marvelled at how mutation flooded the girl. They took advantage of the distraction and zoomed past the fight to land where Sil cowered in the bones, panting with the effort, hands on her belly. On landing, Tallah¡¯s knees buckled beneath her. Even infusing didn¡¯t help as she sunk to the floor, gasping for air. She¡¯d reached the limits of her endurance. Bianca barely had enough reserves left to help her rise, but that would be a waste of power. ¡°Sil¡­¡± Her voice sawed out of her. ¡°I need your help.¡± Vergil dragged her up and she slumped over his shoulder. Erisa and the Mother screamed above them again, this time the fight drawing to a fatal conclusion as the girl hacked the spider to pieces. A gnarled leg crashed paces away from them. ¡°I don¡¯t know¡­ I don¡¯t know what to do, Tallah.¡± Sil stared at the twitching limb. ¡°We¡¯re going to die here.¡± That kind of talking didn¡¯t bear answering. Tallah looked to the battle and, in the sight, saw the axe as a dead space in the illum storm. It took Bianca three tries to reach it and yank it back. Vergil caught it as it came flying through the dark. How? Didn¡¯t matter. She¡¯d consider his changes if they survived. ¡°You needed this?¡± Vergil presented her with the weapon. Blood dripped off the edge, oily black, illum-rich. The more you drink, the better I¡¯ll fashion the poison. Anna forced an image of a grin. Drink up. Let me brew a weapon fit to slay a queen. She swallowed down her disgust and licked the axe¡¯s crescent smile. It tasted of iron and bile, rot and death. Most of all, it tasted bitter. Her stomach rebelled violently against the indecency but Anna took control. Right then, let¡¯s see here. Chapter 2.22.5: And pain passes Something of Erisa still squirmed in Sil¡¯s guts. She could feel it despite Tallah¡¯s efforts. She¡¯d counted the eggs with her. Nothing could have remained, but¡ª She tried not to think on this as heartbeats gelled together into long, long aeons of waiting. Her own heart threatened bursting at the seams whenever she raised her eyes and peered at the fight going on in the darkness. She¡¯d extinguished her sprite and threw out her illum to better hide from Erisa. It wouldn¡¯t be enough. Somehow, it wouldn¡¯t be enough. From one foot to the other, always aware of the squirming thing under her skin, too afraid to think on it much, Sil waited for whatever Tallah prepared. ¡°Can you stand?¡± Vergil asked as he shifted Tallah on his shoulder. ¡°No.¡± The sorceress¡¯s honesty shocked Sil back to the now and the danger. ¡°I can barely breathe.¡± ¡°What are you doing?¡± Sil asked, more to make herself heard above the screaming coming in from above. Mother and Erisa both screamed as they tore at one another. She pulled illum back in, preparing for the worst. A final stand. Vergil and Tallah dead. That¡­ stinger cutting into her again. She shuddered. ¡°Anna¡¯s making a poison. I need you to deliver it,¡± Tallah answered. ¡°I¡¯ll¡­¡± She gasped for breath and dry-heaved. ¡°Bugger, that¡¯s horrid. Get the axe away from me.¡± It would fall to Sil. It must fall to Sil. Erisa¡¯s death should happen by her own hand. It was hard to voice this, no matter how much she knew it to be true. Tallah couldn¡¯t kill the girl. It had to be her. Or she¡¯d never sleep another night in her life¡­ ¡°A poison? I¡¯m to have her drink it? How? Ask her nicely? Offer some tea?¡± Now that her voice was back she found it harder to stop talking. ¡°We¡¯re going to die here, aren¡¯t we?¡± ¡°Vergil. Hit her, please.¡± ¡°Uh¡­ right.¡± The bugger actually did it! He slapped her right across the back of the head, hard enough that she saw stars blooming in the pitch. ¡°You little weasel!¡± ¡°Sorry.¡± The ground beneath their feet shook with whatever was happening in the dark. A rain of shards spilled over them, followed by the dry scent of a disturbed ossuary. Screaming echoes cascaded over them, a thousand voices all crying out, ghosts, spiders, and a mutated horror singing in cacophony. ¡°We have something a bit more direct in mind,¡± Tallah said. ¡°Give me a spell.¡± Another part of Mother crashed only a few paces away from them. Sil squeaked and clasped her hands across the sealed wound in her belly. Erisa had won. The thing inside her squirmed in anticipation of this. Maybe she imagined it. She prayed she imagined it. But she didn¡¯t imagine the shifting steps coming their way, nor the rasping breath and the gurgle of effort. ¡°Sister¡­ come¡­ I will spare the others. Leave them here. They may even still find a way out.¡± The words whispered in her ear, bypassing any sort of logic. Tallah pressed something in her hands. It felt like a needle, about the size of her forearm, warm and sticky to the touch. ¡°Try and not prick yourself on this. Stab her with it. I¡¯ll be readying my devourer. Just¡­ keep her attention for a few moment.¡± ¡°You can¡¯t¡­¡± ¡°I can and will. Do as told, and we may walk out of here.¡± In her state, Tallah wouldn¡¯t be walking anywhere if she fired off her insane final gambit. She had no more limiters left to manage the thing. It would be a miracle if she didn¡¯t end up killing all of them. Her hand tightened around the needle. It weighed nothing at all. Tallah¡¯s blood. Life for death. Without waiting for her head¡¯s decision, her feet moved in Erisa¡¯s direction. ¡°I¡¯m here, Sil,¡± Vergil said from her side, concern dripping from every word. ¡°I¡¯m right behind you. Once you stab her, I¡¯ll come and¡ª¡± ¡°You¡¯ll stay put. Sil knows her job. Drag me away so I can focus.¡± Hands trembled violently. Teeth chattered and she couldn¡¯t lock her jaw. She made a sprite instead, unable to face Erisa in the dark. Its light shivered worse than she did and what it showed¡­ Erisa bled. She pulsed. Meat sloughed off bones, grew back, turned into something else. Tallah had hurt her enough that the mutation had run rampant. Or maybe it was the soul trap working its way through her, on and on, devouring whatever was left of her sanity. ¡°I¡¯m coming,¡± she heard herself say, voice pitiful. ¡°Just¡­ just don¡¯t hurt the others anymore. I¡¯m here.¡± She hid the weapon behind her forearm and forced herself to look Erisa in the eye. Some eyes. There were many, all trained on her. Two girls had survived and they watched quietly from their maker¡¯s side, puppets on strings. Another step forward. Slipped. Nearly fell. Caught herself. A shooting pain cut through her belly as Erisa approached and extended multi-jointed arms to embrace her. If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. ¡°I will not hurt them, sister,¡± she cooed. ¡°They may leave. You and I will follow.¡± More arms reached for her. Too many fingers on each. Too long. Their touch was cold, slimy and sticky. They touched her and lifted her up. Brought her close to what served as a face for the girl. Closer. Wide blue eyes stared brimmed with tears of blood stared at her. Sanity had fled them. She stared into an abyss that threatened to devour her, and recognized something in there. She¡¯d seen eyes like that before. Often. They stared at her from the darkness, whenever she was alone, and whispered terrible things. These¡­ these had hope shining through. In spite of everything, Erisa held on to the hope of being again human. It broke Sil¡¯s heart. For a heartbeat, as she was brought to the bosom and cradled preciously, the weight of the needle in her hand was that of a millstone. She couldn¡¯t make herself lift it. But she did. And she plunged it into Erisa¡¯s neck. It squirmed like a living thing for a heartbeat, and then melted into the wound. Erisa screamed. Her grip tightened. Squeezed hard enough to break bones. ¡°Why?!¡± Sil¡¯s eardrums burst in the assault of noise. Pain shot up her legs as Erisa¡¯s grip constricted into a death keening that threatened the world¡¯s destruction. ¡°Why, sister? Why?!¡± Anna¡¯s poison worked murderously fast. What it did, Sil could only guess at through the red haze of pain. Flesh dissolved in front of her eyes, faster than the mutation could keep up. Still, whatever physiology Erisa had tried to keep up, out-mutate the poison¡¯s effect. ¡°I require¡­¡± A mouth formed the words to a prayer of purging. Sil pressed her hands to it and gagged the girl, cutting off the words. She ignored the pain of the constricting grip. At least she wouldn¡¯t let her suffer. ¡°This one requires aid,¡± she chanted out in a wheeze as Erisa crushed her chest. Tallah¡¯s Disintegration would have done the job of finishing the girl. It wouldn¡¯t be painless, but it would be definite. But Erisa had to die by her own hand! She wasn¡¯t evil. She didn¡¯t deserve all that they¡¯d visited upon her. Even through the fear and the pain and the horror of this day, Sil couldn¡¯t find it in herself to hate a tortured little girl that had meant well once. She couldn¡¯t visit another betrayal on her. Panacea¡¯s light bloomed in her veins and the power burned out of her in a torrent as bright as the sun. As she dropped from lifeless hands and saw only blotches of multicoloured lights, she hoped that it had been painless. She hit the bones and all air was driven from her. Erisa collapsed moments later. She came apart in a deluge of gore and viscera, sticky and hot, and nearly drowned her beneath its rotting mass. Hands pulled her up and dragged her hurriedly away. Someone was speaking. She couldn¡¯t make out words. Her sprite had survived the moment and hovered above the scene, casting white, uncaring light upon a sea of dissolving red. Something was pushed between her fingers, lifted to her lips. She drank without tasting, the last of the draughts Tallah had held on to. Its citron taste was tinged with blood off her lips. Sounds returned with a buzz. Pain flared. Then faded. And she found herself keeling over, hands clutching her belly, crying her eyes out. What had she done?! She cried for the little girl they¡¯d murdered, and for the monster that wanted to be saved. She cried for herself, for choosing all of it. And she cried for remembering why eyes stared at her from the darkness. Dreea had crimes to pay for. Dreea had died, but her victims remembered. Sil now fully remembered the victims. And wished she didn¡¯t. Tallah stumbled up the bones, alone now. She reached into a mess of organ meat and Sil didn¡¯t need to see what she fished out. The trap had worked. It must¡¯ve. ¡°Give it,¡± she croaked and pushed herself up. Vergil steadied her, his face a grim mask of concern. ¡°Give it to me, Tallah! Give her to me.¡± That was one betrayal too many. She couldn¡¯t let Tallah drag Erisa into her war. She simply couldn¡¯t! Her friend¡¯s face, when turned to her, stopped whatever hope she had of preventing this final indignity. It was there and gone in a flash: the hunger. What Erisa had been, Tallah could become. They were both aware of it and words hung in the air, unspoken but true nonetheless. ¡°I will use her,¡± Tallah¡¯s long silence said. ¡°You owe me more than you owe her or yourself. Never forget.¡± It was gone in a heartbeat and Tallah stumbled down to where Vergil had dragged Sil. She pressed the jagged black gem into her hands. ¡°Got closure?¡± she asked, voice exhausted. ¡°Will you be alright?¡± The gem was hot to the touch and buzzed in her numb, cold hands. ¡°I¡¯m fine,¡± she lied. ¡°It worked.¡± ¡°You almost didn¡¯t survive. Whatever that was, try and not use it again.¡± Tallah tapped the Ikosmenia. ¡°You were lucky. It would¡¯ve licked back at you had the girl not dropped you. Panacea¡¯s helping hand?¡± ¡°Aye. I don¡¯t know how or why. I just asked for aid.¡± Tallah shrugged, wrapped an arm around Sil¡¯s shoulder, and they hobbled away from the scene of carnage. They sat together heavily among the bones a distance away, the first moment of silence in what felt like a decade¡¯s worth of misadventures. Somewhere, meat and blood bubbled in the throes of final death. Vergil fussed around them like some protective hen, his energy seemingly boundless. ¡°It¡¯s not fair he¡¯s come out of this the least bloodied,¡± Sil joked. ¡°Even the spider¡¯s fared better than we did.¡± ¡°It¡¯s more than fair. Get that thing off him,¡± Tallah answered and showed the final limiter. She¡¯d actually protected it. The silver was barely warped. It took very little to disengage the stud on Vergil¡¯s neck. It had been fashioned to be removed only by her hand and she was glad to see it gone as the boy chucked it into the bones. ¡°How do we get back up?¡± he asked. ¡°We will help you, saviours,¡± came a voice just as Tallah drew air to answer. They looked up into hundreds of beady, glassy eyes staring down at them from the walls of the ravine. ¡°Mother has been born,¡± Luna chirped from Vergil¡¯s back. ¡°We hear Her. Only Her.¡± The Oldest came into the light, palps raised in a very human-like greeting. Sil gave a small wave back to the spiders arrayed on the wall. All of Grefe seemed to have descended. Tallah was already passed out, slumped against her shoulder, asleep. The black gem buzzed in her hands and she gripped it tight. In the end it had only been pain. And pain passes. Chapter 2.00.1: Intermission - Tallah Tallah sat and observed the mind. Not her own, but the bustling construct made of books, webs, and many, many spiders. It moved above her, invisible but quite vital. Ecstatic. If she wore the Ikosmenia, she was certain she¡¯d witness a riot of illum in rainbow colours dancing in the air. Vergil had borrowed the mask, and Tallah was glad to be rid of it for a time. The mind, more than the spiders themselves, was the real inhabitant of Grefe. The rest, the things with legs that skittered about, they were little more than a by-product of its birth, turned caretakers for its growth. It¡¯s a wonderful thing, Christina said. I¡¯ve always assumed something like it was possible, but to see it in the real¡­ simply wonderful. I do not understand your fascination. Bianca had never been interested in the more esoteric applications of illum. Tallah couldn¡¯t grudge her the disinterest. Bianca had lived for numbers and dedicated a significant portion of her life to the study of how best to tax the Empire¡¯s many subjects without ripping the shirts off their backs. It¡¯s a bloody mess that thinks that it thinks. ¡°Leave it be for a few more centuries and see what it becomes then,¡± Tallah mused quietly. She sat cross legged on the floor. Spiders of various shapes and sizes scurried past, drew their webs, and avoided her. From time to time one would stop, regard her for an uncomfortably long time, then do some form of complicated bow and scrape. They rarely spoke now. Most of the newest ones seemed afraid to do so. Grefe was abuzz with the promise of a new generation of the critters. Whatever remained of the last one was busy finding and rounding up all of Erisa¡¯s broods. A vast majority of those had simply ceased moving along with Erisa¡¯s death, their shells vacated by the presence that had animated them. Some were merely half-witted, their minds incomplete and lacking. As efficient as any creature she¡¯d ever seen, the survivors were killing off the useless. No mercy. No consideration. Just bodies that could, in time, be replaced. Terrifying creatures, if considered properly. If she wanted to destroy them wholesale, this would be the last good chance she¡¯d have. For now, Tallah closed her eyes and looked inward. She intruded among her ghosts. Christina had laid out tea. She was the most adept at separating a space for herself in Tallah¡¯s inner sanctums, and here she and the others were sat around the annoyingly low table that had really existed in Hoarfrost¡¯s headmaster¡¯s office. ¡°You¡¯re a sight.¡± Christina greeted as she materialised a chair. ¡°Rare that you come in.¡± It was a rare moment when Tallah wanted to know her own mind. ¡°I¡¯d rather not think of what¡¯s waiting deep enough inside.¡± ¡°And yet you never stop poking those places. Have a seat. You owe me at least a few evenings of proper tea and biscuits once you¡¯re out of this hole.¡± Tallah sat and leaned back. Even the feel of the chair was the same. How did Christina do it? Whenever she tried, it always defaulted to the dungeon¡ª ¡°Stop that,¡± Bianca admonished as the walls turned to naked stone for a heartbeat. ¡°We¡¯ve seen quite enough of that place, thank you very much. Do not spoil our rest.¡± Tallah stared at Anna. Anna stared back. She had slitted, yellow irises. It reminded her uncomfortably of the flesh dolls she¡¯d destroyed in the Sanctum. The ghost looked feral in some serpentine way, hair nearly the same colour as her skin making for an unpleasantly fleshy impression. The eyes pointedly blinked horizontally¡­ ¡°Why are you naked? You can make clothes.¡± ¡°Why are you wearing a Storm Guard uniform?¡± the ghost replied and hid her grin behind the rim of a tea cup. ¡°You can change clothes, you know.¡± Blast. She was too tired and too sore to think on that. She didn¡¯t even pick up the imaginary tea. It took several attempts for the right words to find their way out. ¡°I have failed here in spectacular fashion,¡± she said, each admission a small battle against her pride. It was a wounded thing, but it could still growl. ¡°I am sorry.¡± Christina and Bianca stared at her as if she¡¯d sprouted a second head. Anna smirked. ¡°I¡¯d say. How you ever beat me is beyond imagination. Have I hit you too hard back then? Caused some permanent damage your thrall¡¯s too inept to heal?¡± Tallah stifled the urge to smack the woman. She could, probably, do it even within Christina¡¯s little protective shell. Instead, she sagged back into the chair. ¡°I¡¯m not a great planner in the moment. I don¡¯t believe that comes as a shock.¡± ¡°What shocks me is that you¡¯re admitting it.¡± Christina sipped her tea. ¡°Got a taste of mortality?¡± ¡°Got a taste of nearly failing, more like. We¡­ I¡¯ve blundered from one terrible situation to another. I¡¯m mature enough to admit it: I do not plan well without sufficient information. From Valen to here, I¡¯ve only somehow managed to make things worse for my own mission. I¡¯m annoyed with myself.¡± Christina allowed the walls of the illusion to fade. They witnessed the mountain and the storm lashing it. The walls came back before the rain could soak them. ¡°We¡¯ve noticed. It¡¯s why we¡¯re in here and not out there. I¡¯m no big fan of how you choose to prostrate yourself.¡± Tallah rubbed the bridge of her nose and sighed. ¡°Yes, yes, I¡¯m aware. I¡­ need your help moving forward.¡± That got a collective laugh from the three. How quickly they¡¯d bonded, as if their clique had never even dissolved in the first place. ¡°Weren¡¯t we already bound to you regardless of our feelings on the matter?¡± Anna asked. Her grin had needled teeth that shone wetly in the candlelight. ¡°You could have asked for my assistance without killing me, whore.¡± Hairs on the back of her neck stood up and her anger flared. She pushed it down before bursting into flames, acknowledging the calculated insult. ¡°You wouldn¡¯t have listened. What blood mage ever abandons their Sanctum once entrenched?¡± ¡°Of course I wouldn¡¯t have listened. But I¡¯d be less crossed now. And that is base slander from Aztroa¡¯s college.¡± ¡°Ladies, let¡¯s remain civil,¡± Christina intervened. ¡°It¡¯s hard for Tallah to do this. Let¡¯s not make it harder.¡± Both Bianca and Anna snorted and tried to hide their laughter behind the tea. Tallah stared flatly at her oldest head resident¡­ and wondered if she could strangle the ghost until her head popped off. Christina smiled demurely. ¡°You can¡¯t blame us for taking the piss, dear. We¡¯ve had to exert ourselves quite severely to keep you alive. We¡¯ve been helping to the best of our abilities thus far and you¡¯ve needed it every step of the way.¡± ¡°I¡¯m aware,¡± she admitted. ¡°I am asking for your judgement when faced with further challenges. I don¡¯t trust myself as well as I should right now. Catharina¡¯s got a way into me and¡­¡± Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. How best to articulate that particular feeling of seeing Rhine¡¯s wraith? Especially now that she knew what it was? Blood boiled in her veins at the sight; her mind went abuzz with the roar of a million wasps; every muscle on her tightened into knots¡­ They all winced as she reeled herself in. Yes, that would convey it properly enough. ¡°You were exposed in Valen,¡± Christina said, tone placating. ¡°Shows that she never thought you were really dead if that was enough to form a link. What she¡¯s doing is repulsive.¡± Everything Catharina did was repulsive. This was just personal. ¡°Using Rhine¡¯s connection to me. I shouldn¡¯t be surprised she¡¯s this adept at wielding a soul.¡± ¡°I¡¯m sorry dear. I¡¯ve been trying to figure a way to banish her intrusion, but your are too tightly tied. Sisters and all that. Until I figure what the goddess did to shield you then, we will have to bear it.¡± ¡°Or¡­¡± She hated to admit it, but it had been on her mind for some time now. ¡°Or we could go on and visit said goddess.¡± The bags of seeds and dirt waited in her rend, and Sil had mentioned that she knew now where the School was. ¡°It¡¯s actually what I want advice on¡ª¡± Anna clinked a teaspoon against the side of her cup and interrupted. ¡°Anyone want to fill me in? I understand I¡¯ve been drafted on a regicide bid with a god slaying fantasy on the side. But last I knew of our ash eater here, she was licking the empress¡¯s boots. What¡¯s changed?¡± This time Christina didn¡¯t intervene. Merely shrugged and leaned back. Bianca looked away. ¡°I don¡¯t particularly want to see those things again. If you¡¯ll be teaching by showing, I¡¯d rather I were not involved this time.¡± No, Tallah wasn¡¯t keen on revisiting any of her memories just then even as they bubbled beneath the surface of her thoughts. Once she pulled back of herself, she was certain Rhine would be there, somewhere among the books, watching. Always watching. Always accusing. It had been a trying few days in this accursed place and they¡¯d taken their toll. She was too tired and too miserable altogether to go digging too deep just to show Anna why what they did mattered. It wouldn¡¯t matter to her, but the ghost had been surprisingly compliant. She drew a breath, held it, sighed. To Bianca¡¯s tensed form, she just waved a placating hand. ¡°You¡¯ll have to make do with just my words. This is what¡¯s happened, in short form at least.¡± She picked up the cup and sniffed at it. How did Christina do it? For the life of her, she couldn¡¯t imagine smell and taste, but the ghost did it flawlessly. Rose hip. The one tea Tallah hated the most. ¡°Yes, I did serve Catharina. You¡¯d gone to ground by the time I rose through the ranks of the Empire so you wouldn¡¯t know this. The rank I wore by the end was of Imperial Mercy.¡± ¡°Head inquisitor? An attack dog, in short.¡± Anna laughed. ¡°It suits you. I¡¯ve always thought you¡¯d be perfect to sic on people.¡± ¡°Droll. Yes, I was sicced on people. I went after those that defied imperial law, with seven compliments of claws under my command. I was the one called in when some upstart channeller got ideas above their station and began opposing Catharina¡¯s edicts.¡± She gave Anna a long, level glare. ¡°Blood mages that did not take kindly to censure, for example.¡± ¡°I¡¯d heard there was some fresh cull going on against my people. If that was you, I need to thank you. Drove plenty of them to my Sanctum.¡± ¡°I answered only to Catharina and to Leea, the Adjunct. Everyone else, the prince included, was mine to keep in check and oversee. I, as much as anyone could be, was the final word of the law in the Empire.¡± ¡°How¡¯d you end up on a saltire rack, beaten black and blue, then? I¡¯d be snide, but I¡¯m genuinely curious.¡± Tallah sipped the horribly-sweet tea. For as much as Christina and Sil pecked at one another, they shared similar tastes. She ignored Rhine¡¯s wraith as it walked through the conjured space, seemingly lost, not seeing or acknowledging them. ¡°Bloody thing keeps skulking about now,¡± Christina complained. ¡°Funny enough, this place blinds it.¡± ¡°Because it¡¯s your layer, not mine,¡± Tallah said, not raising her eyes. She went on, ¡°Do you know what Deidra did after Hoarfrost?¡± ¡°Haven¡¯t the foggiest,¡± Anna said. ¡°She and I were never particularly close.¡± ¡°She became a revolutionary. Got this idea that the empress was evil incarnate and the empire was built to be a gilded cage for us all. Or some other kind of nonsense. Rhine¡­ she had some hard times after Hoarfrost. Had a son. Cassian. He died. Died during an imperial raid on Old Forge. His father was on the wrong side and he also perished. I learned of it late. ¡°Rhine was found by Deidra before I had a chance to make my way South. By the time I arrived at Old Forge, they were in the wind.¡± Anna was thoughtful for a while, her face twisted into a frown. Tallah expected some other jab or mean-spirited comment, but instead the ghost gave her a pitied look. ¡°I¡¯m sorry to hear that. Don¡¯t give me that look. I am. I liked Rhine. She was a kind soul, and definitely a better conversationalist than you ever were.¡± ¡°She was, yes.¡± Tallah let out a shuddering breath, though she didn¡¯t need to. ¡°And I hunted her after that. In time she and Deidra grew close. Became lovers. Maybe more. In the end, I had them cornered in Marestra, had managed to cut through most of their ragtag forces, and was about to take Deidra¡¯s head. One last push and clash, and she¡¯d either be dead or in chains. Rhine intervened. Pleaded with me. Gave herself up for me to leave Deidra be. ¡°I accepted. Took Rhine in. We talked for a long time. She was tired of running. She loved Deidra, but was tired of being hunted, of always coming up on the losing side, of always remembering what the Empire took from her and never having the strength to change a single thing. She wouldn¡¯t serve, but she would get out of my way. ¡°And for that, I pleaded with Catharina. She promised me a lighter sentence for Rhine, and a chance for later to be absolved of her crimes. My own work would see to it that she got the leniency I requested. I handed her over with the promise that I would be there for her when her sentence ended.¡± ¡°Given what I saw, your empress hasn¡¯t quite kept her word.¡± Anna flinched as the mug in Tallah¡¯s hand puffed to smoke. A bucket of ice-cold water poured over Tallah¡¯s head a moment later. ¡°None of that!¡± Christina chided, holding the bucket. Tallah sputtered and coughed, water already misting to steam, her glow diminishing. She¡¯d been about to combust again, slip the leash as she talked. Bianca had made herself scarce. ¡°Bones of my sisters, do you know how hard it is to keep this place in one piece?¡± Christi went on as she rounded the table and sat down heavily. ¡°Don¡¯t dare wreck it. I need somewhere to be away from your nonsense.¡± ¡°Sorry.¡± Another cup of tea materialised in her hands, steam curling above the pink surface. ¡°And the two of you have lived inside this mad woman¡¯s head for how long?¡± Anna asked, levity forced. Tallah could see her hands trembling on the cup. The ghost did not fancy another roll-around with her unchecked anger. ¡°Anyway.¡± Tallah shook water from her hair. Christina¡¯s method was crude, but had worked well enough. ¡°Yes, Catharina was not true to her word. Several turns later I became suspicious. Went and investigated. Discovered Drak¡¯s Perch to be an empty prison, guarded tight but devoid of the prisoners I sent there. I confronted Catharina. She, at least, didn¡¯t feign ignorance. Took me and showed me exactly where Rhine was. ¡°There is an entire prison built beneath Aztroa¡¯s Crown. That¡¯s where Catharina takes the channellers she captures. She has them tortured to breaking point and beyond. And then she does what I did to you. I found my sister¡­ what was left of her. You¡¯ve been seeing her around.¡± ¡°Why?¡± Such a simple question and so many nights spent wondering of the why of it all. She sighed, sipped her tea, and leaned back. Wiped away some tears stinging at the corner of her eyes. ¡°Why¡­ Only Catharina truly knows why she did as she did. I trust she has her reasons. She spoke of some of them when she came to inspect the work being done on me. I¡­ wasn¡¯t in the best state of mind to listen, as you might imagine.¡± ¡°This doesn¡¯t explain why you¡¯ve set yourself on an impossible task. Oh, I¡¯m sure killing the empress is a fine reason to live for you, but what¡¯s this malarkey about killing gods? I fail to recognise the connection.¡± Tallah laughed at this, letting the anger go for a moment. If she didn¡¯t laugh, she¡¯d combust. ¡°Ort came to me while I was being held. He offered to free me, grant me strength, show me how to get my revenge.¡± She felt her grin growing near ear to ear and her teeth creaked as she clenched them. ¡°He offered to teach me all he¡¯s taught Catharina, if I only served him.¡± Anna shared a look with Christina and they both burst out laughing a moment later. Tallah joined them, hands squeezing the cup so hard that it would have shattered in reality. ¡°Let me guess what he taught Catharina,¡± Anna said, between gasps of laughter. Tallah gestured with her cup. ¡°He¡¯s taught her the very tools and methods she¡¯s used to take your sister¡¯s soul, hasn¡¯t he?¡± A nod. ¡°And he offered the same tools to you.¡± Another nod. Anna pressed a hand to her face and still gasped out a few laughing breaths. ¡°Never lash out at the whip,¡± all three said in a voice. Bianca appeared a moment later, joining in. ¡°Burn the hand that wields it.¡± An old, old motto that they all remembered intimately. Bianca and Christina had been whipped on their first season at Hoarfrost, before they formed their cabal. They¡¯d swore never to accept it again. Zakovia had never recovered from what they¡¯d done to her after that. ¡°Let¡¯s kill the bastard, then,¡± Anna said. ¡°How do we go about it?¡± Tallah grinned. ¡°You¡¯ll either love the answer, or really hate me for it.¡± Chapter 2.00.2: Intermission - Sil Well¡­ this was a sight she wouldn¡¯t cherish in the dark of the night. Sil had to concede one thing about the spiders: they were industrious. Already the birthing chamber looked nearly ready for more flowers to be planted. The dead had been gathered and dragged away, the churned earth had been dug and seeded, and there was water flowing among the fresh seedbeds to help plants regrow. Tallah¡¯s fire had only left behind soot on the walls and ceiling, and not much else proof of its passage. It had been bells since it had all happened. It felt like a whole season gone past. A lifetime. Maybe even several. There was one thing the spiders hadn¡¯t touched and she couldn¡¯t help but stare at it. Erisa¡¯s corpse lay where she¡¯d been slain by Panacea. It was surrounded by the small corpses of red spiders, all of them left insensate after the girl¡¯s capture. None had been touched by the rest of the brood, same as the corpse itself had been left unattended. She approached it. A thin layer of silk lay draped over the body, built by the caretakers most likely. It made for a strangely terrifying tableau, and made her painfully aware of the black gem that rested in her own rend. Tallah had trusted her with it. Sil wasn¡¯t certain it had been a wise thing. What would happen were she to smash the thing? Would Erisa be finally free of her nightmares, returned to wherever souls went once free of their bindings? Or would she return here to retake her bodies and her pain? She ran a hand across the corpse¡¯s face and closed its eyes. It didn¡¯t lessen the feeling of being stared at. ¡°We have collected what you asked for,¡± a voice intruded into her private misery. She turned and saw one the white spiders standing a few steps away from her. It lay a small bottle on the ground between them, and then retreated some distance away. It avoided looking at the body. Sil picked up the bottle and inspected it. Two drops of water sloshed in a thin layer at the bottom, just barely there. ¡°This was all that we could recover. All that was left. We are sorry.¡± ¡°How quickly do the flowers grow?¡± she asked, looking at the fresh flower beds and the clear water gurgling in the fresh irrigation channels. ¡°We do not know. We have never grown them. They were here.¡± She¡¯d seen the spiders planting the seeds so they knew something of how to plant anything. She¡¯d instructed them on how to do the irrigation, though that also seemed to be something they understood innately. What use would they have for the flowers now? Likely none. But, like the rest of Grefe, this was something they¡¯d inherited and she could understand how they wanted to maintain that which had been there always. Or, at least, recover what had been broken. Already there were things happening at the place where¡­ where Erisa had hurt her. They were taking apart the webs and revealing the structure beneath. Maybe by the time they left there there would be no sign of Erisa¡¯s existence¡­ except for the corpse. None of the spiders could be made to agree to spin Erisa¡¯s soul into thread. She¡¯d asked. ¡°We will not forget what we did here,¡± a new voice said and drew her attention away from the body. She¡¯d moved closer, at least someone to offer a wake to the death of innocence. Sil didn¡¯t recognise the spider stepping into the room. All the rest, however, cleared the way for it as quick as they could, doing complex bowing motions to it. Black. Thin-legged. Hardly larger than Luna, but with a frame that suggested it would grow much larger in time. ¡°You are the mother, I assume?¡± Everything about it made her skin crawl, but she felt no real fear at the sight even as the spider approached her. It came within arm¡¯s reach of her, but that was as far as it dared approach. ¡°I will be,¡± it said. Black eyes regarded her. ¡°I have come to apologise for what we¡¯ve done. I beg your forgiveness, saviour.¡± She could also speak. That was something Sil hadn¡¯t expected, speech being of Erisa. The brood had decided on maintaining that particular part of knowing. If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. ¡°Not for me to forgive. I am¡ª¡± ¡°You are meant to heal. We wish to heal. We wish to heal the wound between us all. We do not know how.¡± Sil shrugged. At long last, she¡¯d reached a limit of what she could do and what she could understand. Bridging humanity and spiderdom¡­ well, that was beyond her abilities. ¡°We¡¯ll see in time. I wish I could tell you to come to the surface and meet the rest of humanity. Become the eighth, as it were.¡± She let out a slow laugh. Eighth? Who knew how many other secret peoples there were across Edana? Who knew what grew in dark places where nobody ever dared look? ¡°You do not wish for us to be revealed to the rest of you?¡± She shook her head. ¡°I don¡¯t think you¡¯d be welcomed. Not yet. We¡¯re a bunch of bastards playing at being civilised. Fear guides our steps. Makes us stupid. And we¡¯d be afraid of you. In more ways than you can imagine.¡± Silence stretched between her and the mother. They watched one another for a long time. ¡°Will we ever be welcome among you?¡± She shrugged. Didn¡¯t know. Couldn¡¯t lie. Maybe one day, but definitely not now. And it wasn¡¯t as the spider thought, because of what they¡¯d done to Erisa. It was a tragedy, sure enough, but who above would care? Even that thought squirmed in her head and made her guts knot up in rage. It was the truth. Nobody would care for one girl that had suffered a terrible fate and died a terrible death. It wasn¡¯t fair but, then again, nothing ever was. An echo of pain cut through her midriff and she pressed a hand to her belly. She knew there was nothing there. Tallah had assured her. Anna had offered to check and Sil had accepted, even if the ghost¡¯s touch was repulsive. Nothing grew within her. Erisa was dead. Pain still squirmed there. It would, maybe, become a constant companion and reminder of this accursed place. ¡°There is something I may offer,¡± the mother said. ¡°If you will allow.¡± Sil raised an eyebrow. She sat at the corpse¡¯s feet, suddenly tired and weary. Whatever she¡¯d drawn upon to keep going had run out at long last. It felt better to be eye-level with the spider. ¡°And what is that? I¡¯m not sure I want anything else from this place.¡± It raised a black leg and pointed at her head. ¡°We can¡­ hear¡­ words under your words. Barely there, like breath. You speak in words and in echoes. Do you know this?¡± Pain lanced through the centre of her forehead. It hit with the sudden intensity of a bolt driven through her skull and burned in the space behind her eyes. She pressed hands to her forehead and felt as if her entire head was wreathed in burning thorns. It passed as sudden as it had come. She found herself surrounded by spiders, all drawn much closer than before, with the mother at the forefront. Sil gasped for breath. Fresh tears streaked down her face. ¡°What did you do?¡± ¡°I did nothing. I merely spoke.¡± ¡°What did you say?¡± It hesitated before repeating word for word. Again the pain, like a hammer beating against her skull. Something inside cracked and Sil saw¡­ saw¡­ Knew why she¡¯d killed Dreea. Remembered.. In the gorge, she¡¯d seen a glimpse of the truth. Erisa had opened up something in her that wasn¡¯t supposed to be there. It had come. It had gone. Faded like a nightmare in morning¡¯s light. But the spider¡¯s words tore through whatever she kept hidden from herself. Sil remembered sins she¡¯d chosen to forget¡­ chosen to have taken away from her. Remembered why Dreea had to die for her to live. Dreea had been repulsive! A spider came in carrying water in a jug. It pressed it into her hands and tens of eyes watched her in mute terror as she drank. They knew that water was life, and nothing else of healing. ¡°Say the words again,¡± she insisted. ¡°What do you hear when I talk?¡± ¡°The pain¡ª¡± ¡°Pain is only pain. Pain passes,¡± she repeated. ¡°Say the words. Say more. I want¡­ I want to remember more.¡± Something had come undone. Striking the final blow. Killing the girl to drag the soul out of her. Something felt so horribly familiar about that moment that she¡¯d not stopped thinking about it since. Now she was coming to understand exactly what it had been and why. How had Tallah kept this from her? Why? ¡°I hear echoes. They scream. There is another voice in yours. It is you, but without you.¡± Dreea screamed in the back of Sil¡¯s mind. Each word from the mother opened the way to the prison. She¡¯d not just abandoned a simple jailer on the mountain. She¡¯d not just decided to pay penance by serving as an Adana. Adana: a servant to all, always. That was her penance for having failed in freeing more prisoners of Aztroa¡¯s Crown. But Dreea hadn¡¯t been a simple jailer who¡¯d found a conscience. Her sins¡­ Oh, how grave were her sins! Aliana knew. Tallah knew. Both of them had always known! And they¡¯d never told her the truth. Blood gushed from her nose as she could barely keep her head up. The spiders skittered away from her, running out the door, as if¡­ ¡°Don¡¯t call Tallah,¡± she groaned, wiping her nose on the already ruined sleeve of her shirt. ¡°Don¡¯t call the others. I¡¯m fine.¡± She wasn¡¯t. She remembered. She remembered a lot. And she remembered the debt of blood she owed. There were dozens of her victims crying out in agony, asking for vengeance. She¡¯d wanted the voices be quiet. It was why she¡¯d gone to Aliana, why she¡¯d asked to be¡­ freed. Those gates now swung opened. She¡¯d lied to the goddess¡­ and Panacea had known. Chosen not to reveal the truth that sat right there, in the centre of her memories. Dreea did not lie dead on the mountain. Sil had not left her behind. Sil had only hid her away, locked the door, and pretended innocence. Well, innocence lay dead. Here and within, it was all a decomposing corpse. She leaned back, blew her nose, and rested her head on Erisa¡¯s cold knees. For the first time in years, she remembered. And she allowed herself to, for she had penance to pay. Chapter 2.00.3: Intermission - Mertle ¡°You did what?¡± Tummy stopped mid-swing of the hammer and stared slack-jawed at her. ¡°I¡ªer, I spat wine in the Dryad¡¯s face.¡± ¡°Figuratively?¡± ¡°No, no. She did it quite literally,¡± Deidra said. She¡¯d pulled out one of the chairs they never used in the back of the forge. She sat demurely on it and ate an apple as Mertle tried to explain to Tummy what had happened. ¡°How aren¡¯t you a tree right now? I don¡¯t remember the Dryad being known for her understanding nature.¡± ¡°Tummy, she called me child of the dying land. Can you believe the cheek?¡± She let out an annoyed huff. ¡°Fine, we don¡¯t really have many trees in Beril. The land¡¯s volcanic, not dying. I took offence.¡± ¡°And you thought spitting in her face was an intelligent reaction to have?¡± Well, no. In hindsight, it had really not been a good idea to do that. The Dryad was a goddess, and one powerful enough to turn Mertle into whatever she pleased. The moment had hung in the air, everyone looking at her, the only sound left in the room being the drops of wine crashing to the floor off the goddess¡¯s wooden mask. ¡°It was bloody poetic. I expected Aliana would faint in anger,¡± Deidra said, loudly chewing on her apple. ¡°I never expected coming to Valen would be this much fun.¡± Tummy pointed his hammer at the night weaver. ¡°I¡¯ll get to you in a moment. Mertle, make me understand this. What do you mean we¡¯re closing up shop?¡± Mertle stowed away her gear in the same old box and dropped the piece of floor over it. She¡¯d been mulling the whole thing on the way back and every part of her insisted this was insane. But most of her also suggested this would be the best way to help Sil and Tallah once they returned. She¡¯d need to get word to them somehow. Thankfully, there was a way to do exactly that. ¡°Mertle?¡± She came back to herself with a startle. ¡°Right, right. We¡¯re going to Aztroa Magnor. Tianna is to be drafted into the Storm Guard.¡± ¡°That¡¯s bloody lovely, but I feel we¡¯re missing a very important element here.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not a sorceress.¡± ¡°You¡¯re not a bloody sorceress, no. How d¡¯you think this would work?¡± Deidra raised her apple core into the air and waved it. ¡°I¡¯m tagging along with you guys. Leave the channelling to me and Luci.¡± ¡°Again, didn¡¯t ask ye. Mertle?¡± Tummy didn¡¯t even spare the night weaver a glance. ¡°Pretty much what the sorceress said. They¡¯re coming with and will help with the magic part. I just need to pass the initial training.¡± Tummy hammered the red piece of iron into shape as he mulled over her words. It was more than a little insane, she had to admit. But it also made sense. Quistis had shown her what she¡¯d gathered about Tianna¡¯s activity, things Mertle had no idea about. Sil and Tallah had been busy with missions that were sure to draw Guard attention. Small ones to begin with, then some that were high-difficulty, and so on. It was erratic, but put together by someone in the Guard? It made sense that Tallah wanted to approach a position similar to her old one. Granted, that was years in the making, but the trajectory was there. Quistis had all the documents to prove it. And then there was what the Dryad had said. ¡°I know from a very reliable source that your friends are alive and will soon resurface into the light. I know where they are headed once they finish their mission. They will be informed about this new development and will find their way to Aztroa afterwards. You can be certain of that.¡± The Dryad had given her a long glare, but otherwise ignored the slight. It made Mertle feel like a chastised child. Who the source was, she hadn¡¯t mentioned. But this seemed like more than just simple coincidence. Mertle was inclined to believe the goddess and also believe this would be the best way to help. This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings. ¡°Do you really want us involved in this?¡± Tummy asked. ¡°You understand what¡¯s going to follow.¡± He wasn¡¯t asking and she did. She remembered well enough what had driven them off Nen, stowaways on an Empire ship headed to Calabran. Tallah wanted to kill the empress. What would follow would be bloody. It always was. Mertle had culled two Protectors and one aelir¡¯matar. Each of those deaths had led to many others as the houses imploded into civil war. If she accepted a role in this, she would accept the blood on her hands. Maybe it would be worth it. By the time she and Tummy would reach Aztroa, maybe she¡¯s see the reason why it was even necessary. Deidra and Quistis sure insisted it was. For now, she simply needed to move. Decide. Do something! ¡°We are going to Calabran for resources,¡± she said with more confidence than she felt. ¡°We will go with a caravan up to Bastra, then switch to another that we¡¯ll miss. From there we¡¯ll travel on our own towards Garet, and get on the iron road there towards Aztroa.¡± A decent plan. Tummy¡¯s grumbling said as much. ¡°And once there?¡± ¡°I will present myself as Tianna to the main recruitment office of the Storm Guard. I have an invitation that will be delivered to me at the Meadow. Tianna will leave on the same caravan as us, and disappear just the same. For the first year after induction into the Storm Guard training will mainly be physical and educational. Less magic. More school. I need to learn to read.¡± Quistis would be in Aztroa and take a personal interest in Tianna, as an apology for the misunderstanding in Valen. With everything going to plan, they would have at least a year¡¯s buffer before things got¡­ problematic. Enough time for Sil to get the message the Dryad offered to send. Enough time for she and Tallah to make their way into Aztroa and pick up the threads of their plans. Enough time¡­ if all went to plan. ¡°And why are you here?¡± Tummy asked Deidra as he stabbed the red hot iron into a pail of water. ¡°What is your gain?¡± ¡°Well, I¡¯ve been spending next to three decades working on unravelling the Eternal Empire. This is simply a continuation of my mission.¡± Without her cloak and glasses, and with her hair tied back into a ponytail, it was hard to recognise Deidra as the same person from the new bounty posters. Really? Two chickens and a handshake? They¡¯d all laughed at the idea. Deidra had agreed that would¡¯ve had her seeing red if she weren¡¯t¡­ well, basically sleeping in Quistis¡¯s bed and knowing how things went and why. A good plan from the princeling, but not one that even he expected to show results. ¡°Why are you working against your own people?¡± Tummy asked, getting back to beating the iron into submission. ¡°Working against an illegitimate empire built on blood and lies is not working against my own kind, thank you very much. You¡¯ve only seen Valen and the road to here. Don¡¯t look at me like that. Mertle and I have talked.¡± Deidra smiled broadly and waggled a finger at them. ¡°You two have some of the deepest buried secrets I¡¯ve ever seen. I couldn¡¯t find zilch on either of you, no matter how far down I dug. But I can bet you weren¡¯t doing wholesome work back on Nen.¡± Tummy threw Mertle a long look. She shrugged. Yes, they¡¯d talked, especially after the Dryad had left on her way. It had been an informative night and there was really no need to keep many secrets. Granted, not many secrets since the moment they¡¯d both stepped onto Vas¡¯s shore. Everything before was their business alone. ¡°What good will a human civil war serve?¡± Tummy echoed the same question she¡¯d posed as they¡¯d neared the bottom of a third bottle of wine. ¡°We¡¯ll have much bigger problems than fighting one another. Being led to the slaughter by a puppet is a much bigger danger than a little strife once the dust settles.¡± Mertle tried figuring how long it had been since she¡¯d last slept while Deidra and Tummy got into an argument about succession wars and empires falling to pieces. He knew quite a bit about bringing down powerful people and what it led to. He¡¯d smashed a few crown-wearing heads. It had been three days since she¡¯d last slept properly. After the visit at Aliana, she¡¯d swapped out for Tianna and made her way to the Meadow. From there she¡¯d begun preparations for departing. She should¡¯ve discussed things with Tummy, but she knew he¡¯d follow her lead. Life in Valen was comfortable, safe, and peaceful. He chafed under its yoke. Both of them did, and it had taken winter¡¯s events to shake out the cobwebs loose off both of them. He didn¡¯t show it as she did, but it was there. Lucretia had taken off towards Aztroa and Deidra had stayed behind as Mertle¡¯s personal shadow. Some things were happening with the Storm Guard cell and it seemed more prudent to have at least one channeller readily on hand in case of any other unforeseen events. She looked over to the long chest that now hid Sil¡¯s staff. Things moved easier now that she didn¡¯t need to circulate between Meadow and Sisters each time she needed to head out as Tianna. When had she sat down on her cot? She couldn¡¯t quite remember. There was some late work to finish up, but it could probably wait. Tummy beat a steady rhythm as he argued with Deidra, both of them heated up enough that they ignored her. Maybe she¡¯d rest her eyes for a moment. Maybe kick off the boots and just¡­ rest. It was only for a short time and Quistis would be there to help her settle into Aztroa until Sil made her way there. Mertle could handle the mission for a couple of seasons. She could always not do it if the trip there proved nothing of what Deidra had promised. Who¡¯ll tell your lover then? Sarrinare¡¯s voice whispered in her ear. Who¡¯ll spare her the noose if you waver under the dragon¡¯s breath? Mertle didn¡¯t quite realize when she¡¯d closed her eyes entirely. She fell asleep to the sounds of a hammer striking anvil, and dreamt of two nooses swaying in the midnight breeze. Chapter 2.00.4: Intermission - Quistis Thaw came onto Valen like an avalanche of warmth and colour. Remnants of snow slipped off roofs and puddled in the streets, were swept away by the increased foot traffic of merchants and tradesmen flowing in from the countryside. Caravans had crossed the passes and brought the roar of life from every corner of Vas. Events of the Night of Descent still lingered in the minds of many as Quistis noticed on her final rounds of Valen. Falor¡¯s battle with Cinder had become the stuff of alehouse legend, told and retold with a thousand new embellishments by people who were there, weren¡¯t there but had heard, or whom simply parroted whatever version had caught their fancy. Some of them were quite creative. She featured in some, though she hadn¡¯t ever laid eyes on the fabled sorceress. Valen had been the longest station of her career to date, aside from Aztroa Magnor itself. It was time to leave it behind and be redeployed. Falor had received communication from the Empress herself that they were to return to the capital and prepare for a different service. He¡¯d not mentioned what it was. Or where. But there would be a period of respite and retraining in Aztroa. This was her final round of Valen. She took the time to have a cup of tea with Laric and wish him well, passed by the nameless place she and Falor frequented for a last cup of coffee, and even accepted to spend some pleasant time with Lucian. If she were a more sentimental woman, she expected she would feel at least a bit weary of change. Instead¡­ well, what did she feel? Worried. Terrified. Weary indeed, for many different reasons. She allowed herself some private thoughts as she climbed the stairs to the Fortress where the rest of the cell mustered. Her sister was¡­ somewhere, being someone Quistis didn¡¯t know. She was still blood, even with everything Aliana had told her of Dreea¡¯s work for the Empress. That, more than anything, Quistis felt as a failure of her own. She shouldn¡¯t have pushed as hard as she had, shouldn¡¯t have encouraged such ambition, should have seen the signs earlier on¡­ But she hadn¡¯t. And until Aliana contacted her, she¡¯d thought her sister safe, doing their family proud in service to the Empire. More fool she. Guilt twisted in her gut as she rested upon one of the open dais overlooking Valen from the Daylight Wall. Neptas crested past the blue mountains, warmth streaming across the thawing land. Quistis¡¯s hands were cold and she blew on them, achieving nothing. Mertle made preparations according to the plan. She would make her way to Aztroa. Quistis herself had written the invitation for lady Tianna of Aieni Holding to join the Storm Guard in the capital as a prospective recruit. Part apology. Part recognition. All interest on the Empire¡¯s side to ensure there would be no repercussions from winter¡¯s blunder on the part of the Aieni Holding. Falor hadn¡¯t been happy when he¡¯d signed the document. He¡¯d stared at it for a long time, grumbling unkind things about Rumi¡¯s role in all of it. In truth, Rumi had done Quistis a service with her meddling. It allowed her to argue on behalf of Tianna, as even the mind-skinner had to admit the woman could be an asset. Properly trained and guided¡ªa role Quistis was more than happy to take on herself¡ªshe could probably end up leading her own cell some day. Still, she was bringing Mertle in terrible danger. Lucretia and Deidra would be following the same route to Aztroa, doing what they knew best up to there: sowing doubt, opening eyes, striking for change. Valen¡¯s red roofs shone in the early morning light. She¡¯d miss the sight. Not the smell of smoke and ash¡­ maybe even that, a little. Aztroa certainly was no perfume by comparison, but its stenches had fewer implications. Ten years in Valen. A drop in a deep bucket of time, but too much. It made it easy to forget the rest of Vas wasn¡¯t as kind or as quiet. A gust of chill wind cut through her as she finished the climb up the side of the wall. Her boot had sprung another leak and puddle water seeped into her two pairs of socks. Every other step squelched to her great annoyance. It helped banish her private musings ahead of reaching the muster. ¡°Ayo, Captain.¡± Vial fell into step with her as she neared the main courtyard. He had a grey rucksack on his shoulders, and a brand new atagan clattering on his hip. ¡°Taken a shine to Barlo¡¯s weapons, I see?¡± She¡¯d also picked up a fresh staff from the nighttime bazaar. She had it wrapped and carried it hung on her back. It was ashwood and lighter than her old. ¡°Aye. Figured I¡¯d get a proper blade for wherever we¡¯re sent next.¡± He gave her a side-glance. ¡°Where are we going next?¡± She shrugged as they joined the press of early busybodies, ¡°No bloody clue. Falor¡¯s keeping mum.¡± ¡°My gut says we¡¯re going to the Twins. It¡¯s been too quiet there. Never a good sign.¡± She grunted a response. The Twins hadn¡¯t been quiet by any measure of the word, but Falor had already sent a cadre of mages there to deal with the garrison¡¯s commander¡¯s requests. They¡¯d yet to get word back about the situation. Vial whistled a tone-deaf tune as he walked two steps ahead, opening up the way for her. They headed for the gate. She¡¯d already packed earlier¡ªnot that she had much to pack¡ªand her chest would be among the first things sent through. She¡¯d seen enough of the Fortress for ten years that she didn¡¯t feel the need for one final stroll on the draft-strewn corridors. Her affairs were in order. She¡¯d passed on her responsibilities to a pinch-faced man of Valen¡¯s constabulary, drafted her reports to Diogron and the rest of the Council, and handed over all cases that had been taken up by the Guard. Strictly speaking, they hadn¡¯t had this as a responsibility, but after a year of waiting around for Cinder they¡¯d taken over random parts of the city¡¯s protection just for something to do. Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. Funny how much something had ended up needing doing. The muster was nearly complete. Falor had a cell of a hundred able-bodied men and women spread across Valen. They were all gathered here now, in the courtyard, at attention while Barlo inspected the ranks. Less than a hundred, but some had simply made the transition to Valen¡¯s constabulary. Families had been established here, children born, roots dug in. Quistis did not envy those that chose to remain. Valen was quiet now, but it wouldn¡¯t stay that way for long. She knew that much of what was coming. Ahead, the gate stood ready, its tar-like portal glittering in Neptas¡¯s first light. Barlo sent groups through, checking names off his list. Falor was on the up-raised dais next to the gate warden, overseeing his men. She joined him. He wasn¡¯t wearing his white regalia for this last day as Valen¡¯s protector. Instead, he was dressed in rough-looking civilian clothes and wore thick-soled boots fit for long marches. It was as if he was prepared to be redeployed the moment he stepped through the gate, orders effective immediately. For a brief instant she worried of her own choice of boots. ¡°You¡¯ve started early,¡± she said by way of greeting. ¡°Can¡¯t wait to get back to Aztroa?¡± ¡°The men are eager to go back home.¡± ¡°Most of them were going anyway mid-summer.¡± ¡°Rotation was this year?¡± She nodded, ¡°Time flies.¡± Something in his eyes said there was more he¡¯d like to speak of, but kept back. He¡¯d been doing that all winter and by now she¡¯d gotten used to the long silence. Deidra had brought word of plenty of things that would weigh down on Falor as a commander of the Storm Guard, so she expected this was just one more of the Empire¡¯s many matters. She spied Rumi and Aidan within one of the final groups that Barlo sent through. ¡°Still angry at them?¡± she asked. ¡°Hmm?¡± ¡°Rumi and her claw.¡± ¡°No. But they¡¯re not really mine, are they?¡± He had his warhammer head down on the floor, pommel resting against his calf. ¡°Rumi¡¯s made that clear by not following the chain of command. Mother is welcome to her spy.¡± She¡¯d always considered Rumi a way for the Empress to keep an eye on things in Valen, but hadn¡¯t ever heard it from Falor¡¯s own mouth. There was a hint of bitterness there. Barlo was left alone with Vial in the courtyard, the last group gone through. Well, no time like now. After a brief Valen salute to the gate warden, she turned and walked down the stairs towards the other two. ¡°Shut it down.¡± She stopped mid-step and turned to see Falor still there, arms crossed, as the warden signalled to his men. The gate shut down with a hiss of escaping steam, its low thrum dying into soft echoes. ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± she asked. ¡°Why aren¡¯t we going through?¡± This wasn¡¯t part of the plan. ¡°We¡¯re not going to Aztroa,¡± Falor said as he shook the warden¡¯s hand and saluted by both the Imperial way, and Valen¡¯s own. ¡°We¡¯ve a different assignment.¡± Oh no. Panic flared in her chest for a moment before she could suppress it. Mertle would already be on her way to Aztroa. The plan was to meet up there in disguise and Quistis to introduce her to contacts and support within the walls. This wasn¡¯t part of her plans! ¡°Wh-what do you mean? The Empress called us back. I saw the order.¡± ¡°She did.¡± Falor jogged down past her, his warhammer on his shoulder. There was a smile on his face as she hurried to join. ¡°Then what¡¯s going on?¡± Barlo rubbed his hands as they joined him. Vial¡¯s confused glance met hers. ¡°All good, Commander. Everyone¡¯s through. No stragglers.¡± He turned an eye on Quistis. ¡°¡¯Side from th¡¯ obvious.¡± ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± Vial asked, looking from her to Falor and then to Barlo. ¡°Where we going?¡± Barlo hefted another rucksack and offered it to Quistis. ¡°Took th¡¯ liberty, by the Commander¡¯s order. Yer chest¡¯s gone ahead.¡± A second package he handed to Falor. All of a sudden, it made sense to Quistis why the commander wasn¡¯t dressed in his Imperial regalia. He¡¯d planned this. Of course he had¡­ ¡°We¡¯re not going to Aztroa, I gather?¡± She was uncomfortably aware of the leak in her boot now, and realisation dawned grimly. ¡°We¡¯re not, no.¡± Falor grinned and his eyes glittered with mischief. ¡°We¡¯ll get there. Eventually. For now, we¡¯ve got a different matter I aim to look into.¡± They all followed him down from the gate¡¯s platform, into the courtyard, and down the long steps heading towards the elevators. ¡°You knew?¡± She threw an accusing glare at Barlo. ¡°Aye. Sworn not to tell. Y¡¯know how he gets.¡± The vanadal walked with his usual confident gait, head held high, eyes on the horizon. Vial followed in their wake. She saw him casting one look to the gate, then to the fortress, ended his ruminations with a shrug, and fell into step with Barlo. He had no family in Aztroa proper, nobody waiting for him to show up from his long deployment. His face showed quiet acceptance of this new development. Quistis hurried and matched Falor¡¯s long strides. ¡°So where are we going actually? The Empress will have a whole litter of kitten when she won¡¯t see you at the muster.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve sent word. My mother¡¯s temper will blow and Rumi¡¯s probably going to get punished in some way for the surprise.¡± He shrugged. ¡°Why do you think I haven¡¯t nailed her hide to the wall in the first place?¡± ¡°You were planning this.¡± It wasn¡¯t a question, but grim realisation that she¡¯d been blind. Egg on her face. ¡°Aye.¡± ¡°Where are we going, Commander?¡± He grinned wider. A ray of bright thaw light caught in his dishevelled hair. ¡°We¡¯re going on an adventure, Quis. I aim to see what¡¯s at Drak¡¯s Perch.¡± ¡°¡­the prison?¡± ¡°Aye. Let¡¯s see how we treat our prisoners, shall we?¡± And like that, the playful glint in his eyes was gone, replaced by something blood-chillingly angry. Quistis dropped a step back, but followed nonetheless. Each other step squelched. Mertle would be on her own. She prayed the goddess guided her. Chapter 2.00.5: Intermission - Vergil ¡°Are you sure it¡¯s no trouble?¡± Vergil asked. Four black spiders had joined him on the edge of the bridge spanning from the library to the forest. Sil was down there, somewhere, doing something. Tallah meditated in the library. They¡¯d left him to his own devices for the time being, so he aimed to get some answers. He¡¯d borrowed the Ikosmenia under the firm promise that he would take care of it better than he cared for the eyes in his head. Tallah had threatened burning bits off him if she found another dent in the artefact. ¡°Really, I just need a torch and some rope. I¡¯ll be fine on my own. Luna¡¯s with me.¡± The Oldest had joined him on the platform, with the other three trailing closely behind. As far as Vergil understood, these were some of the last spiders in Grefe that had none of Erisa¡¯s influence. They had things to attend to as the purge was still on-going. ¡°We will help you,¡± the Oldest said. ¡°It is the least we can do for our saviours.¡± ¡°Technically, it was Tallah and Sil that saved you. I was just there.¡± The Oldest and its siblings merely stared up at him, still as statues. He squirmed under their attention. ¡°Well¡­ if you¡¯re sure it¡¯s no bother.¡± He pointed down into the chasm. ¡°I want to go back down there. I need to check something.¡± It was an uneventful descent. Tied tight to one of the black spiders, it was a much smoother ride than Tallah¡¯s drop had been. Vergil could even call it pleasant. He¡¯d borrowed the Ikosmenia to see the patches of lingering black illum and avoid any area that looked too dangerous. He¡¯d tried opening the file transmitted to him, but got nearly nothing from the conversion. There may have been a video file there, or an audio log, or even text, but all he got was garbled nonsense that he couldn¡¯t decipher. The only way to get any real information would be, he assumed, to find the source of the transmission. Too much of what Sil had told him of what she¡¯d seen in Erisa¡¯s domain felt odd, and the healer refused going back to that place. In all truth, a trip back wasn¡¯t on his list of priorities either. The less he saw of those chambers of horror, the happier he would sleep. Eventually. For now, he¡¯d go and see what he could uncover at the bottom of the chasm. Maybe later he¡¯d check out those monitors and the messages left there, though he doubted they had anything to do with him. But getting some answers would be nice for once. Why would a machine spirit like Panacea forsake her own people to their fate here? She¡¯d been about as cryptic as any other magic user he¡¯d met on Edana. Gave no answer, posed questions, treated him as irrelevant. Well, fuck her¡ªhe hoped she couldn¡¯t hear his thoughts¡ªand he¡¯d get his own answers here. It took a longer time than it had seemed when he¡¯d come down the first time. Excitement grew into worry and then into boredom. Argia attempted several pings but got no response back. He didn¡¯t miss the feel of bones underfoot, nor the scent of violent death. It lingered at the bottom, the miasma of Erisa¡¯s slaying seemingly spread out thin in the great chasm. They were quite far away from where Sil had slew the girl, but he could swear he smelled and tasted blood and bile. Part of him could pinpoint exactly the direction where the corpse lay, so he turned and walked in the opposite way. ¡°We will join you, friend,¡± Luna said off his back. The spider had been quiet for a time now, though its movements on Vergil¡¯s back suggested it had been conferring in some way with the Oldest. ¡°You¡¯ve already joined me,¡± he answered. ¡°You could have remained in the library.¡± ¡°No.¡± Luna squirmed on his back, tapping its legs against the surviving metal part of his chest piece. ¡°We will join you in the above world. May we?¡± He hadn¡¯t thought about that. He¡¯d grown to like the little thing and would appreciate its company above-ground, but hadn¡¯t expected the suggestion. In his silence, Luna added, ¡°If¡­ friend allows we?¡± ¡°Oh. Oh, no, I was just thinking.¡± He shook his head and Luna climbed a bit higher, to his shoulder. ¡°Are you sure you want to come? It¡¯s¡­ Well, I think it¡¯s safer down here for your kind.¡± He drew the Ikosmenia over his face as the other spiders walked phantom-silent behind. He knew they were there by the weight of their curiosity aimed at the back of his neck, even if their steps made no sound on the bones. ¡°We wish to see more of the world up there. Bring back new Knowing. Learn. Grow. We wish to join if friend will accept.¡± ¡°I can¡¯t¡ª¡± He stopped. Why couldn¡¯t he be the one to agree? Sil had gotten the stud off him and Tallah had clapped him on the shoulder. Both of them said he could follow or he could go his own way. Far as they were concerned, Vergil had repaid their early help several times over. He¡¯d decided to stay on, see where Tallah¡¯s path took them, and maybe find a place of his own on Edana. Eventually. Why couldn¡¯t he agree on taking on a companion? Especially as it was Luna, who¡¯d been with him through all the terrors of the past few days. Before he could answer, however, a sound from behind grabbed his attention. At the very same time, Luna fell off his back, clattering into the bones. He swirled in place, torch held out. His sword whispered out of its scabbard as he regarded the four spiders crumpled on the bones, gazes empty. Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. ¡°What?¡± The darkness stole his voice. In the Ikosmenia¡¯s sight he saw something odd. Among the piles of the dead there was no more black illum. All the lingering pools had disappeared, leaving behind only the vibrant reds and purples. ¡°Luna?¡± he called out softly, spinning in place to find whatever was attacking. Hairs stood up on the nape of his neck. Another turn and¡­ and¡­ And now he couldn¡¯t move. Every muscle on him locked rigid as something coalesced out of thin air in front of him. Like tendrils of smoke he could see black illum flowing up from beneath the mounds of the dead, coming together and forming a presence. He meant to speak. He meant to swing his sword towards the thing approaching. He meant to do much¡­ Instead, he relaxed. His shoulders dropped and his back straightened out of the semi-crouch he¡¯d been in before. A woman approached on silent feet, her shape as black as night. He saw her clearly even through the Ikosmenia as she came to stand in front of him. A white face coalesced out of the tar-like dark. She was maybe half-a-head shorter than he. Her hair was ink-black and seemed to flow like liquid down her shoulders. Coal-black eyes swimming in a pool of milk-white. They pinned his. ¡°Report,¡± she said. And he couldn¡¯t recognise the voice. It was something like the spiders, a sound that bypassed his ears and lodged itself in his brain. It was the echoes of words, their essence coming to him as if from somewhere infinitely distant. Report what? His throat did not make a sound. He struggled to ask what this was. Nothing happened. ¡°I am here.¡± Vergil¡¯s heart thumped in his chest. He had answered. The words came from him, though he¡¯d not meant them at all. What¡¯s happening? He could look as the woman smiled widely, black lips parting to show equally black, wet teeth. A sinuous red tongue licked across her lips. ¡°How fares your mission, dreg?¡± His ears burned as the words forced themselves into his mind. If the woman requested him to kneel, he would. He had no idea how he knew that. Something in him could not disobey. ¡°Poorly,¡± his mouth answered. ¡°Initial implant was unsuccessful. The boy¡¯s will is strong. There are elements in play that disrupt my activity. I have found¡­ alternatives.¡± ¡°Were you detected?¡± ¡°The machine spirit Panacea has sensed your influence, Lady Onda, but not my essence. I remain unobstructed.¡± Vergil¡¯s shoulders shrugged in a mechanical fashion. ¡°The sorceress knows of my existence, but does not suspect my origin or function. I remain unobstructed.¡± The woman¡ªOnda?¡ªnodded and tapped a finger against her lips. Something about her demeanour told Vergil she wasn¡¯t human, or anything even close to it. Like looking at Erisa¡¯s terrible clones. ¡°What do his companions suspect?¡± Vergil¡¯s head shook from side to side slowly. ¡°Nothing of you or Lord Ryder. I have been seen but not understood. I have taken a guise. Full control remains beyond my means.¡± ¡°You have tarried long. I was beginning to worry you might not survive events. It would¡¯ve been a shame to reveal my presence while the child Panacea prowled this place.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve had to exercise some influence to survive. Had I done more, I may have been understood by the weavers.¡± Onda seemed to shift from side to side like smoke blown by an invisible gust of wind. ¡°Time grows short and Ort grows powerful. Lord Ryder expects results. Soon. The sorceress must face the host before the next solar cycle, or our window of opportunity will close.¡± Onda¡¯s hand pressed on Vergil¡¯s chest and went straight through. He felt an alien fear gripping him. ¡°I expect better of you, dreg. Fail me, and you will not find sanctuary among the Thousand Realms. Am I clear?¡± She squeezed something inside and pain lanced through Vergil¡¯s every fibber. It was like the first time Tallah had checked his soul with the goblet, but indescribably worse. Whatever presence held him recoiled and shivered, ¡°Yes, Lady Onda. I serve the Prison. I serve our Lord. I will not fail.¡± Her fingers slid out of him and left behind a bone-deep chill. ¡°Good. I don¡¯t like how close I came to having to help you. See that it doesn''t happen again.¡± ¡°Yes, Lady Onda. I serve.¡± Vergil stumbled forward and couldn¡¯t remember why he¡¯d drawn his sword. Or, for that matter, when Luna had climbed off his back. ¡°Luna?¡± he asked as he felt the now familiar pressure of the spider climbing up the side of his leg. ¡°What happened?¡± ¡°We¡­ do not know?¡± The other four walked forward on the bones, looking as perplexed as he felt, spreading out in a fan, legs raised in warning. ¡°Did something happen?¡± Vergil asked as the Oldest came to a stop by his foot. Like him, it looked around as if not recognising the place. ¡°We¡­ do not know,¡± it answered. ¡°Something happened, though we know not what.¡± Scrolling through Argia¡¯s messages revealed nothing. Pinging attempts. Failed results. Quarantine process trying to oust Horvath. The dwarf making lurid suggestions of what Vergil could do with either of his companions. Nothing had happened, as far as Argia was concerned, and nothing felt wrong. He¡¯d lost a moment. ¡°Maybe I¡¯m just tired. It¡¯s catching up to me,¡± he said, re-sheathing his sword. ¡°I¡¯ve barely slept.¡± Argia pinged something and it answered back. On the edge of his vision a marker appeared to float in mid-air, showing the route Argia suggested to the alien signal. ¡°Well, something¡¯s over there.¡± He pointed the way with his torch. ¡°Let¡¯s go and see what these ancients built there.¡± And what killed them, a traitorous part of him suggested. But, at least, he¡¯d get some answers. All around, the red and purple illum settled as if resting from a sudden storm. Bones crunched underfoot. The torch sputtered but burned on. ¡°What could we find that¡¯s worse?¡± he asked the silence. None of the spiders answered. Catharinas Ascent - The second night - Part 1 Amaranth shone high above the jagged waters of the Divide, its lighthouses visible leagues away. Their uneven scattering across the flat shelves of Vas¡¯s sheer walls did little to make the port marginally more inviting than a storm in open waters. Catharina regarded the still distant city from atop the Wild Summer¡¯s crow¡¯s nest. She¡¯d never seen Amaranth from across the water before, had never turned to regard it when heading out to Nen. It had been a place to rest at, charter a ship, and move away from. Just a stop on a long road. Now she cast her eyes across its great expanse and saw what it could be. Amaranth held potential for greatness. It was an ugly place for now, a growth atop Vas¡¯s tall cliffs, like moss clinging to the rocks and spreading into ravines and gorges. Spray off the Calis¡¯s waterfall obstructed most of it in the right wind, to leave visible only the many lighthouses shining their beacons to incoming ships. It could be much more. Her mind¡¯s eye imagined the great shipyards of the Dominion overlaid over the barren rocks, the song of industry and the glory of progress. Here, on the spillage of the Calis into the Divide, humans had shown their ingenuity. What the aelir accomplished with illum, humans made do with chisel and hammer, wood and stone, gears and pulleys. They¡¯d be upon the port in just a few short days, and plans would stir into motion. Her heart fluttered in anticipation, but her stomach drew inward with all the ways in which she might fail. ¡°Cat, ya up there?¡± Captain Pascal¡¯s voice called out from the deck beneath. ¡°I¡¯m here,¡± she answered, looking over the edge of the nest. The captains had gathered on the Summer and they all stared up at her. They could¡¯ve been in port days before, but wither winds hadn¡¯t been kind all across the journey, as if Isadora herself was loath to leave her be. Now, they stayed at anchor two days¡¯ way from Amaranth, waiting for the winds to come back and drive them the rest of the journey. After the purge there were precious few who could take up the oars, and she needed them for other tasks. Catharina didn¡¯t mind the delay. It had allowed her precious time for planning. For the captains of the ship, however, aside from Pascal, it was a delay to their profits, each day another lost opportunity of setting across the Divide with a fresh haul. She climbed down the ratlines as nimble as if she¡¯d been sliding down the vines of the Olden. For a moment, hanging nearly weightless off the rigging, she felt almost as if she were back on Nen and things were as before, just another day of service to the aelir¡¯matar and her endless scheming. The spray off a cresting wave washed across the railing as her boots hit the deck. The first breeze in three days rustled her hair, a soft, salty wind whispering across their furled sails. Pascal did not issue his orders just yet and the men remained at their station, brows beady with the sweat of a calm day at sea. ¡°Lady,¡± the three captains greeted her. Only Pascal extended his hand and she shook it. The others exchanged heavy glances and reluctantly did as the captain of the Summer. Catharina didn¡¯t need to reach out for their thoughts to know of their unease and worries. ¡°Let¡¯s get out of the sun,¡± she suggested. ¡°I¡¯ve had quite enough of baking in it.¡± She¡¯d developed a dark tan that¡¯d probably not fade all the way into Aztroa. Pascal led them into his quarters and shut the heavy door behind. He took a seat, groaning as he eased his wooden leg up on a stool. ¡°You look gloomy, sirs,¡± Catharina said as she moved to the oaken table dominating the centre of the room. ¡°Silver for your thoughts?¡± Captain Alonius held command over the Faer Lady, and Ulita held the Dragon¡¯s Skull. Rough, stoic men on their best days. Both had sailed the Divide for longer than Catharina had been alive, just as the Wild Summer had. These men weren¡¯t used to silence, giving or receiving. ¡°Lady Catharina¡ª¡± Alonius began. She raised a finger and cut him off. ¡°Catharina is fine, sirs. I will not stand on absurd protocol when we¡¯re to plan bloodletting.¡± That hit them like a bolt of lightning and both straightened a bit too much, jaws clenching. They shared a look. Before either found a working tongue in his head, she went on, ¡°We are planning murder, sirs. In the history books it will be called quite differently, but for now we are going to kill quite a number of important people. Speak your minds or I will think them made up.¡± She favoured them both with a long, quiet stare. ¡°Well?¡± Ulita swallowed heavily and finally spoke. ¡°How will you take a city with ten men, Catharina? You have my support, undoubtedly, and that of the Skull. But we are three ships against the armada of Amaranth. You have ten men to the armies of seven lords.¡± He shook his head and his earrings clinked. ¡°How is this not madness?¡± Her gaze swung to Alonius and the large man seemed to shrink and wither. ¡°Do you also believe it madness?¡± she asked, though she knew the answer. ¡°Well¡­ I¡­ Yes. We are loyal men, Catharina. Loyal to your Lord father and loyal to what¡¯s left of Aztroa Magnor. But what you suggest¡­¡± In the nearly sixty days of crossing the Divide, Alonius had made his complaint about her plans exactly ten times. This would be his eleventh. He had the good grace to at least not make her suffer through another repetition of the same theme. Maybe in sight of the city they believed her resolve would have withered, seen sense. Maybe she would simply disembark and be on her merry way North. She almost giggled. Of course, their concern was far simpler. Amaranth was a safe port. It was a rich port and a welcoming den for people like them. Catharina entertained no illusions that these two men would be loyal to anything but their pockets. Heinrich had paid them well, of course, but human greed had a bottomless quality to it. And she was to take several of their best men. They came willingly to her cause when she¡¯d asked for volunteers, and that galled their captains. She turned her gaze to Pascal. ¡°You, Captain?¡± He was the only one among them that represented a great holding. He took his cue well. A smile played beneath the man¡¯s whiskers as he leaned over and opened a drawer on the side of his table. Two sealed leather envelops slid across the polished wood towards the other two. He gestured for them to open and verify the contents. ¡°What¡¯s this?¡± Alonius picked up the one envelope addressed to him and opened it His one good eye went wide. Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! ¡°You want to buy our ships?¡± Ulita shared in his colleague¡¯s amazement. He checked the document again. ¡°For nearly double what they¡¯re worth?¡± Catharina flashed him a smile. Double? Fully crewed and captained? This was five times what each ship was worth. He knew it and she feigned ignorance. ¡°Aye,¡± Pascal answered simply. ¡°You both can go ashore, somewhere else but here, or remain under my command. It don¡¯t matter much, long as you keep your gobs shut. And there won¡¯t be a better offer anywhere on the shores of the Divide.¡± ¡°Why?¡± Alonius set down the paper and inspected the seals and signatures on it. Assurances for the sum made by the Valonia Holding. The Bank of Diolo ensuring the claims. All in order. All prepared well in advance. These men had pledged themselves to an escort mission to retrieve a woman from the aelir Dominion. Nothing more. They¡¯d bellyached and complained from the first moment Pascal had approached them, and only saw the value of the proposal when gold had passed hands. Catharina did not expect the barest sliver of loyalty from them, not in the way that she could use. And no plan, no matter how meticulous, would be accepted by two sea dogs standing to lose their comforts. ¡°Why what?¡± she asked. Ignorance was a valuable weapon to be plied against men like them. ¡°Why do this? You could have¡ªyou could have bought the men you mean to kill with this money.¡± ¡°Is the sum unsatisfactory?¡± Catharina turned her smile in his direction, eyes pinning him. Her power reached out and caressed the surface of his mind. ¡°I was assured this was enough for you to retire to wherever you wished and live in the lap of luxury for the rest of your days.¡± ¡°It is. But¡­ why?¡± Alonius gripped the contract as if afraid someone might snatch it away. ¡°I need ships to carry men once the work is done. Yours will do. I need captains. You will do, if you pledge yourself to me.¡± It spoke of the late Heinrich¡¯s paranoia that he hadn¡¯t hired all three captains from the same Holding. Instead, he¡¯d chartered Valonia¡¯s best ship and her captain, together with two freelancers to guard it against the aelir. The tools he¡¯d left her were not the best, but they¡¯d do for now. ¡°For what purpose, my Lady?¡± Ulita was quicker on the uptake. Greed kicked up an electric tempest across his mind, as loud as thunder to Catharina¡¯s senses. He would be useful to her designs, sure enough. Alonius remained pensive. She could push him, make the decision much easier with a thought, but he¡¯d be worthless. A whipped dog bid its time to bite the hand that struck it. ¡°Same plans you already know. I aim to take this city for my own.¡± ¡°But our ships can¡¯t sail the Calis. They sit too low in the water. You can¡¯t take them on your journey.¡± ¡°I¡¯m aware, sirs, of what your craft can or can¡¯t do. Do not presume to lecture me.¡± Alonius recoiled from her tone. Ulita held his ground. ¡°This is a very generous offer,¡± he said. Greed threaded his thoughts. ¡°The Skull is yours. I will remain its captain to serve Aztroa Magnor.¡± ¡°I accept your service.¡± Her eyes turned to Alonius and she waited. It didn¡¯t take long for his own nature to assert itself. He drew out the moment, for his own ego¡¯s benefit no doubt. A proud, fallible man to the core. In time she would replace their position and squirrel away the both of them. Greedy men would not benefit her long-term goals, but they would serve for the first steps towards¡­ She didn¡¯t finish the thought. Wouldn¡¯t. The weakened god¡¯s fingers danced on her shoulders and his whispers filled her head. She would not allow him to cloud her mind with delusions of grandeur. First, a foothold. Nothing more. ¡°The Lady is yours, Catharina.¡± Alonius inclined his head. ¡°May we all head to more than a hangman¡¯s noose.¡± If things went sour, they would betray her. It was written in the electric storm of their thoughts, the expectation that she would fail and they would keep the money and the ships. A pulse sent a sharp spike of pain down a very particular nerve. Both winced. Alonius gripped the edge of the table and squeezed his eye shut. ¡°Do not believe me naive, sirs. Another has made the mistake already. That will be all.¡± She turned from them and gazed out the porthole at her two new ships. Their flags flapped in the gathering wind. Somewhere, at the edge of the horizon, dark clouds gathered. The god¡¯s whispers would be right after all. ¡°Return to your ships. We¡¯re heading into port with first light tomorrow. Be prepared.¡± Pascal had them signing documents of employment and acquisition and shook their hands when they departed. Vas¡¯s fleets were small by comparison to those of the aelir, and many clustered around Amaranth itself. Valonia Holding was based in Calabran, one of the few that sailed under Aztroa¡¯s flag. And it may be the only one loyal to the Voc Anghan name rather than the city¡¯s history. Her father had once been a great man. Not much remained of his legacy. ¡°You don¡¯t trust them,¡± Pascal said as he returned to the room. His leg bothered him. She could help ease the ache, but he¡¯d refused every time she¡¯d offered. ¡°I do trust their greed. For now." ¡°You will profit from it.¡± She let out a low grunt of displeasure. There was no need to put the two ships at risk for what was to come, but it would be strange to send them back out to sea right away. She¡¯d establish her own foothold here and send out Pascal¡¯s overland letters at the end. ¡°Their ballistae will be trained on the Summer the moment I walk down the gangplank,¡± she said. ¡°I expect you know that.¡± ¡°Aye. I don¡¯t doubt they¡¯d loose on me if you looked to fail.¡± ¡°You really think they¡¯d wait that long?¡± ¡°Aye. At least that. Won¡¯t risk your displeasure otherwise.¡± He grinned widely. ¡°You succeeding only to hunt them down later isn¡¯t something either wants to risk. If you die, I die. Easy as.¡± A simple formula. Aboard the Summer there were three of the men who were to join her on shore. They walked in soon after the captains departed. Rough men. Trustworthy. They understood the work to come better than any of the others. ¡°We¡¯re as ready as we¡¯re likely to get,¡± Gheeor spoke up. He was the tallest of the three, towering a full head above everyone else in the room. He¡¯d come down from Aztroa Magnor with Heinrich but hadn¡¯t served the snake. Blue-eyed, dark-haired, and fair skinned, he cut an imposing figure in any crowd. He would be her bodyguard. ¡°Good,¡± Catharina answered, not looking up from the map of Amaranth. ¡°Anyone lose their water yet?¡± She was answered by a low chuckle and it was Caragill that answered. ¡°No, Lady Cat. I¡¯ve checked everyone.¡± ¡°Poor choice of words, Caragill.¡± ¡°Everything is prepared and checked.¡± He suppressed a smile and it made his Rian accent all the stronger, colouring his words in strange tones and inflections. She¡¯d gotten used to his speech. He was to lead the group aboard the Skull. ¡°My men await your signal.¡± Kehtan was her last commander. He¡¯d been bought by Heinrich. Catharina knew of him from her girlhood days. They¡¯d interacted once, a lifetime before. He was a scion of House Var Karin. Fourth of seven brothers. Disowned. A drunkard. She¡¯d given him three of her ten men. She nodded and beckoned them closer to the map sprawled on the table. Seven points were marked upon it. ¡°Anything else you¡¯d like to discuss now? Before we start the killing?¡± she asked. Two marks on the map for each group. A seventh for all of them. A single night available for easy work before the bars came down and the shutters locked tight. Caragill and Kehtan shook their heads and each showed his targets and agreed-upon routes. Catharina¡¯s plans, she liked to think, were simple affairs with simple outcomes: they would all succeed and survive, or they would all die. Only two sides to a blade. As her aelir¡¯matar had taught her: succeed or die, anything else is only distraction. ¡°We are heading to shore with first light. Be about your duties.¡± She tapped a finger on the largest dot marked on the map. ¡°I will see you all at the River Lord¡¯s home. Good hunting.¡± Catharinas Ascent - The second night - Part 2 The only thing she remembered vividly of Amaranth from ten years prior was the stench. Fish and spices. Livestock. Slaves. The deep divide between the wealthy and the destitute and their stenches intermingling across the entire port. Perfume mixed in with human waste. It had not changed at all. It washed down the cliffs and assaulted her nose before she was even down the gangplank. And this was only the advanced part of the port, the wooden latticework of its piers clinging to the side of the fjord like great barnacles. It was what the wind dragged down from the city proper. She and Gheeor joined the press of bodies lining the long wooden pier, walking towards the elevators in the distance. Where Dior had wrestled order out of pure chaos, Amaranth¡¯s piers were simply mad. Animals bellowed and filled the air with the stench of their droppings. Men cursed in every dialect of Vas. Merchants walked flanked by armed guards. Catharina stepped aside from such a procession lest she be shoved off into the green waters of the Divide by a merchant herding a group of half-naked women. The temperature close to the water bordered on freezing, even this early in wither. ¡°Good to be back on solid ground,¡± Gheeor said as they rejoined the bustle, leading the way past other ships waiting at anchor. A small army of menials carried off goods to storehouses and great lifts. ¡°Debatable on the solid part,¡± Catharina answered. The wooden pier creaked and swayed underfoot, the water deep enough below to swallow whole ships were they to crash against the rocks. Only the most skilled captains dared docking Amaranth, spurred by the richest merchants delivering every imaginable haul. Most of the others remained out at sea, sending out boats with their loads. The Skull and the Lady drew into port as well. She saw their sails furling up and anchors going down as they got close. On schedule, as expected. The city itself was accessible by overcrowded lifts where great four-legged beasts spun a wheel to lift the loads. Whips cracked across thick-furred backs. Bellows of protest managed to rise above the crowd¡¯s roar. A great cacophony assaulted the senses as they waited in line at a random platform, being jostled and shoved by the swaying of too many people crammed together. How humanity stank compared to the aelir. ¡°Little wonder they think you animals,¡± the god whispered in her ear. Catharina raised her hand as if swatting away a gnat. He retreated without protest, gone away to wherever half-dead gods hid. Even the platform swayed as it rose into the air, four thick ropes keeping it attached to the complex system of pulleys needed to accomplish this transfer. Catharina envied Nen their beaches and the slopping shores that allowed cities like Dior to become so plump and rich. Staring up at the sharp cliff, she couldn¡¯t help but resent the aelir for damning all humanity to this place. Vas did not invite habitation. It was a violent, unlikable place, all of it made of sharp edges and deadly drops. Humanity had clung to it like a drowning man to any debris left after the storm. They clung on and built their world in a place that hated them. Little wonder things had happened as they had so often across history. She would change that. Again, she shook her head and tore her eyes away from the looming shape of Amaranth¡¯s twisted architecture, back across the water. Neptas rose high now, its light breaking against the crest of waves, splintering into rainbow hues across the spray. ¡°Silver for your thoughts?¡± Gheeor asked. Across the journey he¡¯d grown fond of the idiom. ¡°None. Admiring the view.¡± ¡°And the fresh air?¡± She laughed. If anything, the stench got more and more gagging as they rose higher and the city approached. ¡°I have smelled tenday-old corpses with more pleasant fragrances,¡± she said. ¡°How anyone gets used to this, I cannot imagine.¡± ¡°You get used to a lot when the alternatives are worse.¡± And they were worse, weren¡¯t they? Survive in a city like Amaranth and you¡¯d at least find something to fill your belly and a dry place to lay your head. Go out into the wilderness and you would fill something else¡¯s belly. Vas hated them all equally. Too many dark thoughts crowded her mind and she shook them off as they stepped, finally, onto solid stone. Walls rose around them, buildings clinging to the uneven shore, climbing and dipping across the cliffs. She echoed Gheeor¡¯s feeling from earlier: it was good to be back on solid ground. They ate a small meal off a vendor plying his trade in a gutter, serving cold meats and hard cheeses from a cart. After, they made their way deeper within as Neptas rose over the cliffs and its heat warmed the cold stone. A wet, searing heat that promised the storm to come. Already, between the gaps in the buildings, Catharina could spy the horizon growing darker by the bell, a sheet of black clouds racing to overtake the sun¡¯s light. Others also noticed the encroaching darkness. Shutters were drawn down early, fastened into place with rope or metal nails. The markets were frenzied with activity, as if every merchant aimed to sell their entire stock before the storm crashed into them. She took note of the guards standing on every corner, all wearing a motley of colours and types of gear. They were men serving merchants. The higher the station, the shinier the breastplates and keener the edges of their weapons. Polearms, bardiches, spears, and halberds. Swords and axes. Every possible assortment of liveries and an equal amount of weaponry. This, she understood well. Amaranth existed in a fragile balance with no real central focus of power. It had always been so. It rarely united under a single banner, and the alliances were ever short-lived and treacherous. How to even gain a foothold here? Under what banner would Amaranth come together once and for all? She knew the answer and prepared for the work. ¡°No time like the present,¡± she said beneath her breath, her voice swallowed whole by the ever-present din. She didn¡¯t need Gheeor¡¯s guidance towards her target. If she hadn¡¯t memorised the map, she would still have known where the man she sought plied his trade. All she needed to do was follow the sullen trains of harried slaves. Men and women shackled together, marching grimly uphill, made up stinking, despairing processions, impossible to mistake or miss. The first head she¡¯d take come the storm was of the flesh seller Mihaal, who led the Holding of the same name. He was one of the most powerful men in Amaranth and, arguably, on Vas itself. She didn¡¯t know him by face, but she didn¡¯t need to. The first thing she couldn¡¯t abide on Vas was the selling of flesh, and it would be the first thing she would cut off the Empi¡ª No. As much as the sight of men and women marched to the song of the whip got her gorge rising, she would not get ahead of herself. A foothold. To gain even that, first she would need blood on her hands. First that. Next the rest. She reached out and caressed the surface minds of these poor wretches. An overabundance of fear. Uncertainty. Resignation. The future had been beaten and lashed out of them. They walked to terrible fates and none hoped for better. None dared. The aelir treated the elends and the vanadals pretty much the same. Catharina had never stomached it. She wouldn¡¯t have stomached a great many things were it not for Yriea tempering and guiding her through the customs of her people. Her friend¡¯s presence had taken the edges off the unsavoury things her people did, had reminded her of what she was there to achieve. Unwittingly, Yriea had kept Catharina true to herself. It had been easy to stray from the goals, follow the whispers and get herself lost in the ambitions of a half-dead god. It, t least, had the grace of being quiet now. Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. Yriea was an ocean away, bent now to her own misery, paying a price she needn¡¯t have paid if not for small men thinking themselves grand. Blood boiled in Catharina¡¯s veins thinking at Heinrich and she wished she would¡¯ve done worse to him. ¡°If you¡¯ll stare any harder, the guards may take notice,¡± Gheeor whispered by her ear. ¡°The ones in purple aren¡¯t looking at us friendly-like.¡± There were two of them watching the line shuffling forward into the auction market. One had turned his stare on them. Fury ignited before conscience reacted. Catharina reached out and squeezed the man¡¯s mind until blood erupted from his ears and he collapsed with a whimper. His companion laughed and kicked him, asked if the noon heat was too sharp after a night of drinking. Laughter turned to concern. Then a panic. Then shouts for help. Catharina drew a deep breath, exhaled away the effort, and moved on, skirting the bidding to head into higher Amaranth. She mentally chastised herself for lashing out. The first wisps of clouds began gathering above, grey as smoke, gathering speed. Soon, the storm. Soon, the mission. ¡°A bit early for blood on our hands, I think.¡± Her companion tutted. It was one of Gheeor¡¯s better traits, that he spoke his mind to her. The man was entirely sanguine. ¡°None yet,¡± she answered. ¡°That guard would disagree.¡± ¡°He chose his bedding. Served the wrong man, looked at the wrong woman at the wrong time.¡± She shrugged. ¡°It¡¯s not blood on my hands if this is where his choices led him. Wouldn¡¯t you agree?¡± ¡°That¡¯s grim. Makes all of us victims of circumstance.¡± ¡°After a fashion. Circumstances can be chosen. They can be averted. Raise your voice at the right time and you may send an empire toppling. Keep quiet, and you may be crushed under marching boots.¡± Even as she chastised herself for the lapse of control, it was hard to keep from grinning. Her power quested out. Touched minds. Searched for other channellers. There were some, hidden in the crowds, keeping their heads low, pretending to be only human. Witches and wizards hid well in the crowd, but she could sense their ripples, feel their minds keeping tight leash on their abilities. They could be useful. Not now. Not yet. Later. Another part of the plan, one for a later moment, in a different place. It was good to know there were still some that carried the blood. Low fishermen homes made way for more opulent buildings as they followed the crowd headed forward. Guarded mansions. Decorations and sculptures began crowding for attention. Down certain roads, the city looked almost to be flourishing if not for the wear of the sea onto the buildings. Markets became richer, clothes better tailored, scents crisper, many streets wider. She even saw carts and palanquins. What wouldn¡¯t change was the underlying stench of rot and fish. The wealthy roosted atop, lords of the sea and the river, their homes built to oversee their ships far below. To reach their wealthy abodes, one needed only search for the quiet and follow the widest roads. All the power of Amaranth clustered together in a single district, each home trying to out-lavish the next. Mihaal¡¯s home was a two-storied monster of a mansion that looked like it could fit several generations under one roof. It was corralled by high fences of wrought iron twisted into leaves and flowers, hiding a garden of potted plants that she recognized from the forests of Nen. It must have cost a fortune to have had them brought over across the Divide. Servants bustled about the garden, covering the plants and tying their pots to iron rails in the ground. Already the midday light had dimmed as the sky ahead turned the dull colour of lead. Wind rattled shingles and storm shutters. A chill cut through sodden cloaks. Children playing were ushered indoors. To the side, towards the other part of the city, a large annex overlooked the mansion, built just outside the gardened area. Ugly, squat, and narrow, this was where Mihaal housed his complement of guards. They¡¯d passed several similar buildings on the way up, each of them keeping the peace over some store, auction house, or simple slave prison. ¡°Who¡¯re you?¡± the guard at the gate asked. ¡°I¡¯m here to see your captain,¡± Catharina answered, tightening her cloak about her. The first drops of rain sizzled on the cobbles. ¡°He ain¡¯t seeing none t¡¯day,¡± the guard answered. He was a young man, barely budding into manhood, given a weapon and a post, and decided to wield them for all their worth. ¡°We were sent to him,¡± she went on. ¡°Heard you were looking for¡­ help.¡± A smile flashed at the man went straight past his attention. The youth scratched his patchy cheek and looked up at Gheeor as he loomed. Catharina had him wearing a large sword at his waist and a shield on his back, half-hidden by the cloak. ¡°We don¡¯t take serving wenches,¡± the boy said. ¡°You need t¡¯ask at the servants¡¯ house. Down th¡¯ road. Next t¡¯ Golle¡¯s Fresh Fish. Can¡¯t miss it.¡± He took another look at Gheeor, down and up, and scratched his other cheek. Boy was likely to give himself an infection. ¡°I¡¯m not here to be a serving girl. Not the kind you¡¯re thinking of.¡± ¡°Oh.¡± A grin spread across his pock-marked face. ¡°You could¡¯ve said so. He your guard? He¡¯ll need to wait outside.¡± She smiled at him and encouraged the scratching with a mental prod. Petty, but he deserved it. ¡°Sure. He can come out of the rain, I hope.¡± ¡°Aye. He can wait there, under the eaves. Captain¡¯s up the stairs on the right. Knock or he¡¯ll have my hide.¡± Such a nasty little storm kicked off across the boy¡¯s thoughts. He¡¯d want a turn once the Captain was done. There was quite a knot of longing there, and indignant outrage. His thoughts screamed with a thousand frustrations. Poor thing. She nodded to Gheeor and he squeezed himself in the narrow space, out of the rain, as she tightened her cloak and climbed the rickety wooden stairs. She heard the boy asking, ¡°So which of the brothels sent her over? Thought th¡¯ matrons refused sending any of th¡¯ girls after last time.¡± Rain began falling in earnest. She distinctly heard a dull thud and splash just before she opened the door to the Captain¡¯s office. The man was obese. He was seated behind a large, overladen blackwood desk, chewing on the end of a pipe. Smoke hung thick in the narrow room. Red-rimmed eyes turned to her as she closed the door, a raised eyebrow predicting the question to come. Captain whatever-his-name dropped the pipe before he could utter a word. Catharina had his mind in hand a heartbeat later. It was barely an effort. ¡°Where is your master?¡± she asked as she approached, pulling back the cloak¡¯s sodden hood. ¡°I have business with him.¡± Like a scalpel, her power cut through his protests, his curiosity, and his defiance. It was insultingly simple. Such a man entrusted with the protection of the filthiest swine in Amaranth, and she had to dirty her hands on him. It sent her eye twitching. ¡°He¡¯s in the house,¡± the captain said haltingly. ¡°Upstairs floor. First door. On right.¡± ¡°How many men guard him?¡± She circled the table and cast an eye at the paperwork on display. Bribes. Shipments. Nothing of interest for her right in the moment. ¡°Five,¡± he answered. ¡°Where?¡± Sifting through the mess revealed nothing of interest. The door opened and for a moment the storm screamed inside. Gheeor squeezed through the narrow passage, hair dishevelled and wild, clothes soaked through. ¡°Right pisser out there,¡± he complained. ¡°Hid the body?¡± ¡°No need. Rain¡¯s thick enough to do it for us. Lad decided to sleep through the bad weather.¡± She sniffed in annoyance. It would do for now. ¡°Where are the men, captain?¡± Another push and something gave way in the man¡¯s skull. Some memory unravelled. It began dawning on him that this would only end one way and Catharina had to restrain him from bawling. A stench of fresh piss competed with the bitter remnants of cheap tobacco. ¡°Four. In the lower house. One with him. My-my-my¡­ my¡­ best.¡± ¡°And how many here?¡± She gave up on finding anything of use in this pigsty of an office. Instead she pulled the captain¡¯s chair along with him and turned it around so she could see the fear in the man¡¯s piggish eyes. Choose the wrong circumstance in life. Face the results. ¡°Ten.¡± His eyes darted to the door, wide in terror. ¡°Nine,¡± he corrected. Fat beads of sweat ran down his forehead to be blinked away. ¡°Please¡­¡± Gheeor drew his sword and Catharina drew a step back. The captain¡¯s head split like ripe fruit fallen off the tall branches of the Olden. Blood made a soft squelching noise as her executioner drew out his sword from the ruin it¡¯d wrought. ¡°Eight men, Gheeor. A decent challenge to begin with, wouldn¡¯t you say?¡± Pascal¡¯s sources had been reliable enough it seemed, putting the count in a similar area. But much could change in nearly two seasons. Lightning lit up the darkness outside, followed immediately by the thick rumble of thunder. Catharina allowed herself a smile and drew in illum properly. Her homeland¡¯s ethereal blood flooded her vein with strength, stung with the hidden violence of Amaranth, and sang for what was to come. At last, after so long, she could use the other side of her power. She sheathed the scalpel, and readied the sword.