Chapter 28
True Believers
Recluse arrived back in Nexus the following evening, and Quill sauntered into Anathema's sometime after sundown. The four of us, including myself and Sapphire, took the small room in the back, started drinking heavily and then began to argue, probably louder than we should have, about Recluse's incomplete geomantic reconstruction of the Well of Udr.
Though we still hadn't found the hearthstone that belonged to the fifth manse, which was the underground temple that housed the huge statue of the Unconquered Sun, Quill was convinced that we could proceed with only four stones. Recluse complained at length about not knowing the whereabouts of his protoscemaic vortex, and argued that we needed more time, even with the beginning of Calibration only a day away. The conversation, which had begun in relatively egalitarian Low Realm, which we all spoke, had devolved quickly into Old Realm, and then into a full-on shouting match between Quill and Recluse.
The construct, Godchaser, eager to defend her Maker's position, had completely disregarded her orders to behave like an inanimate article of clothing and was flying around the room protesting shrilly every time Quill opened his mouth.
"You are a complete ignoramus!" She scolded him. "Ignoramus!" Godchaser repeated. "Stupid like a Dragonblood!"
Sapphire cackled. I grimaced, knowing that someone outside had surely heard her hyena laugh. It carried through walls.
That was when the door opened. Godchaser immediately dropped to the floor, Recluse stopped tinkering and Quill whistled, casually tossing his hearthstone circlet into Elsewhere.
"Four Solars in one little room, and not a single Charm to prevent eavesdropping?" Amira grinned wickedly, her hands on her hips.
"Lying low?" Roach remarked. It was the first I'd seen of him in weeks. I hoped he wasn't still sore about me dismissing him along with Amira when we'd reconvened the Three Circles Society and began work on repairing the Well.
I sighed and buried my head in my hands. Roach sat down beside me.
"You know, I gotta admit that I was upset when you kicked me out of your last little meeting." He remarked, surveying our growing collection of empty wine bottles. "But if this is what you four usually do when you're alone... I feel better about missing out."
"Everyone out there can hear you right now. Viper wants you to tone it down." Amira announced, her eyes fixed firmly on Quill and Veritas. "And the carpet needs to shut up."
Godchaser peeked up over the edge of the table, looking confused. When she realized that Amira had been referring to her, she gasped in horror. "Carpet? Maker! Did you hear what she just called me?"
"You were on the floor," Quill reminded her.
Recluse laughed slightly himself.
"Maker! It's not funny! You're horrible!" The construct scowled.
"Well, I suppose we're very nearly done with business," Quill sighed. "Any last notes?"
"A couple of suspicious-looking men in Winds uniforms. Saw them down by Fishmarket earlier," Roach supplied.
"Sidereals," Recluse snorted.
"You think everything is Sidereals," Roach reminded him.
"Thanks for the information," I said.
"I'm glad I could help," he replied. Despite how badly we'd treated him, he seemed perfectly happy to be sitting with all of us.
Sapphire nodded. "Val's handling everything through the University. On the surface, it all looks official and approved, so no one should be alarmed if any of us are seen going in or out of the manses. So long as we're not glowing," She added with an impish grin.
"I don't like that I haven't still met this Val character." I admitted.
"Val is trustworthy," Recluse informed me. "And with the Scarlet Legion currently in town, you need to be keeping your head down, Faeslayer!"
I paused. Of course, Sapphire knew that I'd gotten into some trouble the previous night, but I hadn't explained how or why. Her mouth widened into an "o" as she realized why I hadn't said anything.
"You didn't!" She gaped. "Oh, Kitten said you went looking for trouble but... all those dead Dragonbloods? That was you?"
"No, I didn't kill anyone! It was that horrible little girl!" I protested.
"So you were there?" Recluse raised an eyebrow in my direction.
"Stupid!" Amira scolded, whapping me hard across the back of the head with her stick. I hadn't seen her produce it and I didn't see her spirit it away.
"I wasn't trying to start anything! I didn't even burn any Essence until that girl started killing everyone!" I protested.
"What girl?" Recluse whispered uneasily.
"I don't know! A little girl dressed in old funeral robes! She has chains coming out of her back. They move like they've got a mind of her own. She feels wrong, like something that doesn't belong in Creation... but she's not fae," I explained. "She has a mark on her. It looks like my Caste Mark, except that's black and it bleeds."
"Shoatie," Quill's expression soured.
"Shoatie?" I echoed. The name he gave sounded childish and absurd, which was all the more reason for me to be paranoid. If I'd learned one thing since coming to Nexus, it was that some of the most terrifying denizens of the Scavenger Lands were known by similarly innocuous monikers like "Recluse".
"The Shoat of the Mire. She's a Deathknight in the service of a Deathlord called the Dowager." He clarified.
I knew vaguely what a Deathlord was, a powerful being from the Underworld like the Mask of Winters who'd torn his way through the city of Thorns. I knew also that keeping such monsters from despoiling Creation was something that fell to Solars to take care of, but beyond that could remember nothing.
"I understand why we've got to watch out for Sidereals," I admitted. "They wanted us overthrown in the first place, and they definitely want to keep us from activating the Well of Udr. But what do Deathlords have to do with any of this?"
"I might know the answer to that," Veritas admitted.
"Oh?" Sapphire prompted.
"In my notes on the Well, I... I specifically didn't tell any of you, but I think Perfect consulted with someone else who was working on a similar project. Secretly. The rest of you were not supposed to know," Recluse explained.
"Recluse, what were you thinking? What if there are dozens of these things? They could be underneath every city in Creation!" I protested.
"No, no... there's just one. And it's incomplete. A prototype. The Dowager can't pass through it... she can only look into it and see what's happening." Recluse explained.
"The Dowager?" Quill demanded. "You traded secrets with a Deathlord!"
"Don't act like you wouldn't have done the same, you devious bastard! And it was before the Usurpation... she wasn't a Deathlord then!" Recluse snapped. "More importantly, you have a nickname for this thing! What is Shoatie, exactly?"
"Quill? Explain," Sapphire turned to face him, her hands on her hips.
He sighed heavily in defeat. "There's a reason the Shoat's Caste Mark reminded you of your own, Loren. The Deathlords used to be Solars. And they made the Deathknights... by taking other Solars and... well, torturing them."
"What?" I gaped at him, though I knew that he wasn't lying.
Roach gave a low whistle. "So how exactly does a Solar become a Deathlord?"
"That's easy. They choose to serve the Neverborn instead of the Unconquered Sun." Quill took a long drink of his wine. "The Neverborn are starved for Solars. They'd like to have all of us under their power. It would make it much easier for them to pitch Creation right into Oblivion if we didn't insist upon getting in their way. The Neverborn will give you just about anything if you're willing to serve them. I hear that the yozi have extended a similar sort of offer. As has the Weeping Maiden."
"You can't be serious! Using the kind of power we have to help the Fae or demons or the Underworld... it would mean betraying everyone in Creation!" I protested. "Who would do something like that?"
"An innocent little girl, afraid to die?" Quill paused. "Can any of you honestly claim that you've never felt like you were cursed, or wished that you were dead?"
Roach grinned and raised his hand. Recluse shot him a black look, but Amira laughed.
"Hah! We should let Roach talk more often! Mortals are awesome!" She tousled my hair. I'd never heard anything positive about Roach from Amira before, and from the way he beamed at her, I guessed that Roach actually appreciated Amira's somewhat demeaning complement.
Still, it was a serious mess that we were in, and I couldn't easily forget what had happened at my cousin's house. All of us sat in silence. The Shoat's soulless eyes still burned in the back of my mind.
"No, you can't go in there!" Viper protested. I leapt to my feet.
Amira jumped as the door opened behind her and Roach reached for his sword. Quill lowered his eyes and crushed his wineglass into pieces. He seemed to recognized the man who'd just shoved Viper aside and sat down in the empty seat across from me. Sapphire looked especially nervous.
The stranger was tall and thin with a long curled mustache and short cropped dark hair with only the faintest frostings of silver. His black clothes were extremely fine and embroidered all over with tiny characters in green and silver, like the text of an entire box full of documents torn apart and dumped on top of each other. A fine, white silk scarf was tossed casually around his neck. His eyes did not match. One was emerald colored and the other was entirely black and blind-looking with several Old Realm symbols tattooed underneath it. A large raven came to perch on his shoulder, watching me with eyes full of intelligence.
He surveyed the four of us with a very broad grin, and I realized immediately that he was not a man at all, but a god.
"Dorian Gray," Quill observed. "I was wondering when you'd make an appearance."
"I've heard that you've been up to no good again, you nuisance," He remarked casually. "And of course, I recognize Heartsblood and little miss Sapphire. Who are your new friends?"
"Call me Veritas," Veritas offered his hand.
"Hm." Dorian observed. He obviously did not intend to shake it.
"Why, if it isn't the legendary Cathak Loren!" Master Dorian smirked. "The last I heard from Mnemon Rai Jin, you were killed by some Anathema. If you're alive as you seem to be, shouldn't you be rejoining your unit? Though I do wonder about the company you keep."
"Something came up," I lied. "A… special mission."
Roach rolled his eyes. "Well, that's one way to put it. Master Dorian, Loren wasn't killed by the Faeslayer. He is the Faeslayer."
"Ahah!" Dorian's mischievous grin widened. "Another Solar in my city? Why, the lot of you are springing up like mushrooms in a pile of shit! And fancy meeting you here, preacher!" Master Dorian turned to Roach. Roach looked as if he desperately wished he could make himself invisible.
"Preacher?" I stared. "Roach?"
"Um… there's something I've been meaning to tell you about?" He admitted nervously.
"Out with it," I said. I didn't know how long it had been since I'd last sat down and held a conversation with my old friend, but it seemed like an awful lot had happened that I wasn't aware of. Amira and Roach actually getting along didn't seem to be the most unlikely change either.
"I started something," he admitted.
"Without telling me?" I pressed.
"I haven't seen you in weeks! You go off to save the world, and you tell me to go back to the bar! Granted, it's a good bar to be left at... but what am I supposed to do, sit on my hands and wait for you to come back? I'm not stupid, Loren, and I know there's something big brewing here. I wanted to help you and I figured the best way to do that would be to get some people together who were actually willing to work with Solars. I started out with the Murqai who helped us get into the city. You remember Salakhin, right? Well, he had some friends, and his friends had some friends... and now there's a lot of us."
"That still doesn't explain why Dorian called you preacher," I informed him.
"Well, my Murqai cousins are all kinda zealous and spending so much time with them... I guess I just fell back into it," Roach paused. "It got out of hand, and I'm in charge now. Of all the local Murqai. And... some other believers."
"Illuminated heresy," Quill grinned very broadly. From the way Roach reacted, I knew that Quill had hit the nail right on the head.
"Roach!" I sighed heavily.
"You have a problem with your friend worshipping the God who Exalted you?" Veritas pressed.
"I…" I couldn't find words. "It's dangerous!"
"In case you haven't noticed, Faeslayer… being anywhere in your proximity is dangerous. Now if you'll excuse me, I have some work upstairs to get back to." He excused himself. Godchaser fluttered after him, sweeping over his shoulders and resuming her "cloak" appearance just as he stepped out into the bar.
"I'm going to go check on Viper, okay?" Amira stood up from the table. Until she said something, I hadn't noticed that our bartender had disappeared… and when I realized that she was gone, I remembered what Amira had said about there being some bad blood between Viper and Dorian.
"Well, I suppose I should mention it's nearly midnight," Dorian remarked casually.
"Crap!" Roach threw out his chair.
Dorian bowed. "Run along, preacher! Your congregation awaits!"
I jumped up to follow Roach. After what I'd just learned I wasn't about to let him go anywhere without supervision. Spurred on by Dorian's warning, he was making pretty impressive pace across the Whispering Bridge headed for the Fishmarket Docks.
"Okay, Roach. Where's this cult of yours?" I asked.
"Look, Loren, I'm not sure it's a good idea for you to come with me," Roach sighed.
"I promise, I won't say a word," I vowed.
"Are you kidding? Salakhin will recognize you right away! And he won't be the only one! Half of Nexus knows you're a Solar, Boss!" Roach shook his head, standing with his back against a peculiar-looking door. I knew immediately that we'd already come to the place and Roach was just stalling for time. "And that's not my fault!" He protested. "You keep saving people!" He reminded me.
"Don't make me pick you up and carry you inside!" I warned him.
Seeing several Bronze Pioneers out on patrol, Roach sighed and quickly unlocked the door. I pushed him aside and went down the stairs.
"All right, although I'm warning you! You might be a little... overwhelmed," Roach finished. He opened the door and the two of us slipped into the building.
Whatever I had been expecting, nothing could have compared me for what I saw. The room was twice the size of the building it was located beneath and absolutely filled with people, at very least a hundred, from all walks of life. Fishermen, local merchants, prostitutes and more than a few soldiers. Roach had certainly been busy. And on the far wall overlooking the entire "temple" was a huge white sheet bearing an image that I hadn't seen in over a thousand years. It was the Unconquered Sun.
I stared. It was all I could do. I'd expected a hovel filled with the usual cult miscreants and malcontents, maybe dressed in ridiculous robes or stripped completely naked. What I hadn't anticipated was that there would be real power in that place. Whatever Roach and his Murqai friends were saying… there was no doubt in my mind that the Unconquered Sun was hearing it.
More importantly, he knew that I had just walked into his temple. I felt a distinct nudge of approval and almost tumbled down the stairs. I didn't often sense the God's presence, but when I did, it was impossible to ignore.
"So, what do you think?" Roach pressed.
"I don't believe it," I whispered in awe.
"Me neither. A lot of heretics in this city, eh?" He smirked.
"No… well, yes! But that's not what I meant! Roach, he's here! The Unconquered Sun is watching us!"
"Heh," Roach smiled slightly, as if he thought that maybe I was humoring him. "That's cool."
All eyes were on Roach. He waved. "Sorry I'm late. And as you can see, I brought a friend. Most of you already know who he is." He discreetly elbowed me in the back and I stumbled forward. The room fell completely silent.
"This is your cult!" I hissed. "What do you want me to say?"
The silence was unnerving. I cleared my throat. "Hello," I couldn't really finish the sentence that I'd begun, but the murmur that raced through the room made it seem an awful lot like I'd said something both brilliant and controversial.
"Oi, you sound like an idiot!" Roach brushed me aside. "Go ahead, turn on your flashy light!"
"What?" I hissed.
"The flashy light on your head?" Roach clarified.
"Roach!" I gaped at him. "In front of all of these people?"
"Oh, c'mon! I know it's not hard!" He rolled his eyes.
"I can't believe I'm doing this for you!" I groaned, took a deep breath and closed my eyes. Oddly enough, expending just the smallest bit of Essence made me feel more comfortable, sort of like opening a window to let in some fresh air.
I waited for all of the cursing and expressions of shock to die down and then looked up. I was surrounded in a faint haze of gold that made me feel like a target. Even when I rose through the ranks of the army, I had never adopted the ostentatious dress that so many officers did. I wasn't interested in being highly visible… and by extension, more likely to be shot. And if I had learned nothing from our raid on Sesus Nagezzer's compound and my brief tussle with the Shoat of the Mire, there was nothing in all of Creation more impossible to ignore than someone blazing with Solar Essence in the middle of the night.
When the light around me didn't fade, the whispering started up again. There was obviously some confusion, some doubt as to whether I really was what I appeared to be, and if so… was it safe to be anywhere near me?
"Yeah, I can hear what you're all whispering. Is he really a demon?" Roach sighed. "All his life, Loren asked the Dragons, "What can I do?" How can I serve you? Do you want me to pray? Do you want me to fight monsters and help people? He did everything he was supposed to do right, but he never got Chosen. He risked his own life to save his brother and that was when the Unconquered Sun decided he needed him. That didn't sit well with Loren at first. You see, he hasn't always been a believer. He really thought that he'd turned into a demon, but he still kept protecting all of us, even when he thought that we might kill him."
"I know how hard it is to accept that Solars even exist. But if you want to be a part of this, if you really believe in what we're trying to do here, then sooner or later you're going to have to recognize that this isn't some little heresy that's going to get you thrown in the stocks. This is big. This is bigger than Nexus, bigger than the whole Realm! All of Creation is going to change," Roach continued. "Everything you've been told is wrong! The Dragonbloods are trying to wipe out "Anathema", not because they're evil, but because they don't want the rest of us to get the idea that we can be as good as they are!" Roach paused, glancing slowly in my direction. "Or better."
He gestured to a group of Murqai in the back of the room and I recognized Salakhin amongst them. They threw their firsts in the air and shouted "Shams Majeed!" loud enough that I worried the Bronze Pioneers on the streets above must have heard something.
"You all know that a Solar rebuilt that fountain in Glassmaker's Alley. And you also know that Solars chased Sesus Nagezzer out of town and rescued those girls that bastard had sold to the Fae! Some of you who live down in Tellnaught have seen dead hagfish floating in the sewers. So the next time you see one of Shadowsbane's exterminators, thank them for their good work!"
One of the Murqai proudly pointed to the armband he wore which had the emblem of the University of Nexus on it and in red the word "Firewander". Everyone applauded him and he grinned very broadly. The applause was deafening. As one of the Murqai took the center stage for a sermon, Roach and I slipped back upstairs and out the door.
"Looks like you've got a gift," I smiled slightly.
"I don't know," Roach shrugged. "Maybe I can't stop armies of faeries dead in their tracks, but I can spread the good word a little. That I can do."
"It's… a little bit much, don't you think? I'm not as good as you make me out to be!" I sighed. "And I don't think all Solars are the salvation of Creation. Look at Quill! He's a lunatic!"
"Quill can be a jerk, but he is also a genius. He knows who's cheating who, who's in who's pocket... and he makes everyone behave! Well, he lets people get away with an awful lot, but when someone crosses a serious line like Nagezzer, he's on them right away. I watched him beat some crooked politicians at mahjong a few weeks ago. He kept raising the stakes until they had to turn themselves into the authorities and confess!" Roach laughed.
"The Dragonbloods want to kill off all the Solars for a reason, Roach!" I protested.
"Yeah, because they're mostly bastards," he scoffed.
"Maybe so," I admitted uneasily. "I think there might be something wrong with us."
"Why are you so paranoid?" Roach laughed. "You and Veritas both!"
"So what do you know about this Dorian?" I decided to change the subject.
"Not much," Roach admitted. "He's the most powerful man in the city besides the Emissary. Some people say he is the Emissary."
"Ah." I observed. "And you don't think so?"
"Uh, I caught him talking to the Emissary on the roof of Anathema's about a week ago. Didn't hear what they were going on about but... it's safe to say they're not the same person. Dorian definitely seems to have a stake in this city but Viper's pretty convinced that he shouldn't get too much more power. In the position he's in now, Dorian's sort of… contained, basically. He can't do as much as he wants to, and that's probably a good thing." Roach admitted.
"Did Viper tell you what she has against Dorian?" I wondered.
"Not specifically, but then again… I didn't really ask her," He shrugged. "But there's no way you should trust that guy. Viper likes everybody, even the people she pretends to hate. If she really doesn't like someone, they're bad news."
"You've been spending a lot of time at Anathema's lately. Almost as much time as you've been spending with this cult of yours," I paused.
"I can't help it, Loren! You've met Viper! How does any man say no to a woman like that? She's hilarious, she cooks like you wouldn't believe, she wants to spend all day in bed, and she tosses the drunks out of her own bar! I'm in love."
I sighed. "Viper's a Lunar, Roach. An old Lunar."
"So? C'mon buddy, gimme some advice! How do you get a woman like that?"
"No, Roach. I'm not going to help you get yourself into more trouble!" I informed him flatly.
"What about you and Amira?" He protested.
"It's different!"
"Really? How is it different?" He demanded.
I didn't really have an argument for him, nothing that would sound convincing. And so despite how bad it made me feel… I settled for the truth. "Because I'm a Solar!"
"That's it? Well, your father was an Exalt and your mother wasn't! You always told me that you thought it was wrong, tossing a person out on the street like a piece of old furniture. Those people you used to hate so much? You'd better watch out, cause you're turning into one of them!" Without another word, Roach stomped off.
I was about to follow him when a hand stopped me. I turned very slowly and saw that Dorian Gray had just slipped out of the hidden temple.
"Let him go. I need to talk to you," Dorian remarked dryly, examining his nails with an expression on his face that I did not like at all. "In private."
"What do you want?" I demanded.
"Now we're getting somewhere!" He bowed cordially in my direction. "Faeslayer, as you already know... I am a god and no petty one either. I have a seat on the Convention on Bureaucratic Corruption in Yu Shan and I also work for the Division of Secrets and the Bureau of Destiny in another capacity which I am not at liberty to reveal to you... yet. Tonight I come on behalf of the one man who can give me an order that I am compelled to obey. Tomorrow is the first night of Calibration, and as you well know, a very secret organization known as the Three Circles Society will be meeting. Until such time as this meeting is called to order, His Mysteriousness, the Emissary of Nexus, politely requests that you and your companions limit your usual Anathema activities. The Scarlet Legion is going to be combing this city looking for you and your cohorts and they had best not find you, no matter what kind of lengths they go to in order to draw you out. In other words, keep your branded heads down."
"I will do what I want," I paused, searching the God's face for some sort of reaction. From what Recluse had told me, I had good reason to believe that the Emissary was a Solar. At first I'd believed that one of my Circlemates was actually the infamous masked man, but the more I'd come to know Quill and Recluse, the more I'd begun to doubt that possibility. "Tell the Emissary that he can come talk to me."
"Oh, he will. Eventually," Without another word, Dorian vanished.
I passed by Anathema's a little while later and noticed Roach standing on the corner talking to Viper. Though I knew I needed to get some sleep, I couldn't bring myself to lie down.
I decided that Veritas was probably down in the undercity with Godchaser, working his hands to the bone... using every Charm that he knew to speed his progress. It had been Quill's last minute decision to move the entire control mechanism of the Well of Udr from its temporary home under Nighthammer back to its original location, which was not where Sapphire had discovered it in the Temple of The Unconquered Sun, but where Recluse's records indicated that it had been built, a massive ruin inside the Firewander District called "White Gold Tower". White Gold Tower was the manse that was connected to Recluse's green hearthstone. It was also the location of the Solar Sanctuary that the Red Queen that had been so eager to discover how to get into. So many things were finally coming together in ways that I did not like at all.
I did, however, agree with Quill on one count. If there was a chance that activating the Well could have catastrophic consequences, it would by much safer for us to do so inside White Gold Tower where the Sanctuary and Wyld surrounding us could prevent any damage from spreading out into Nexus.
The spell that had created the Sanctuary was Adamant Circle Sorcery, and despite being cast more than 1,500 years ago, it had preserved a small section of White Gold Tower from the ravages of the Wyld. Needless to say, Recluse was inordinately proud of his past incarnation's accomplishment and spent many hours praising the brilliance of her sorcery and liberal use of a Charm he called "the Art of Permanence". Because of Perfect's efforts before the fall of the Deliberative, White Gold Tower had been only manse that we hadn't needed to excavate.
I hadn't actually seen the Solar Sanctuary yet myself, but I'd heard Recluse and Godchaser whispering about it so I knew its general location. It was dangerous walking right into Firewander alone, but I was prepared to draw my daiklave on anything that got in my way.
I didn't expect Roach to actually follow me into Firewander, knowing full well that there was some Solar mess fermenting beneath the streets of Nexus that he had no part in.
As per usual, I seriously underestimated him.
Roach caught up with me on the edge of Firewander. I was standing near the district wall, trying to prepare myself to enter the Wyld and deal with whatever welcoming committee the Fae had surely assembled for me. Late as it was, there were only two city guards and a few Bronze Pioneers on patrol. It wasn't too hard to keep people out of Firewander. Anyone with sense avoided the Fae-infested district like the plague.
"Boss!" Roach hissed, racing up to match pace with me.
"Roach? What are you doing here?" I demanded.
"Coming with you." He informed me, as if that wasn't obvious.
"Roach, you can't just walk into the Wyld!" I fell silent.
Roach was staring at me with his hands on his hips. He didn't look convinced by my excuse.
"And you can?" He pressed.
"Well, with um... Chaos-Repelling Pattern?" I admitted. It had taken me forever to learn the Charm from Quill, but I had to admit that it was a very useful one.
"Which will also protect me if I stay right next to you!" Roach informed me with a smirk, striding forward so that we stood shoulder to shoulder.
"How did you know that?" I wondered. There was no sense in telling him that he was wrong, because he already knew that he wasn't.
"Godchaser. That carpet knows everything," Roach informed me. "Loren, you don't know what the fae have got waiting for you in there. You're better off with someone watching your back!" He added.
"I don't want you to get hurt," I informed him.
"And I don't want me to get hurt either! So we're completely in agreement," he replied.
I rolled my eyes. The two of us stood and stared up at the ominous iron gates that barred off the entrance to the Firewander District. Knowing how much what I was about to do would infuriate Roach, I leapt effortlessly to the top of the wall.
Roach made a face. I thought for a moment that he was about to start yelling at me and maybe wake the guards, but then a rope flew over my head, a steel clawed grappling hook catching in the crevasse between two bricks. I stared in disbelief as Roach quickly zipped up to join me on the top of the wall. I didn't have the opportunity to ask him where he'd learned the trick he'd just picked up. He tied a red scarf around his head marked with the telltale insignia of Sapphire's infamous "Team Firewander".
"You have been busy," I observed. Between tending to his cult, spying on Quill and Veritas, practically moving in with Viper, and joining up with Sapphire's sewer slayers... was there anything Roach hadn't gotten involved in?
"If you'd just let me stick with you, I wouldn't have to go looking for other things to do!" He informed me.
"All right, I'm sorry!" I sighed in defeat. "I was wrong not to tell you what was going on," I paused. "Actually, I was wrong about a lot of things."
He smiled slightly. "And you were right about... some other things." He informed me, not looking very pleased with his own confession. He didn't say what had gone wrong, and I didn't press. I guessed it had to do with Emerald Viper.
We entered the Firewander District. I invoked my Charm and as he'd vowed, Roach kept right on my heels inside of the faintly flickering sphere of golden light, his sword drawn.
Around us was a vast sea of black, red and purple. Nothing seemed to have a shape, and even the ground looked like rolling thunderclouds, except within ten feet of where I stood. Rippling pools of Wyld became gray paving stones, not the kind that were commonly used in the Nexus that we knew so well, but the kind that were everywhere more than 1,500 years ago. Obviously, no one had set foot in the part of Firewander that we were exploring in quite awhile.
Though I expected that the two of us would have to fight our way to White Gold Tower, not a single fae monster moved to stop us on our path. I could see the shapes of goblins sometimes in the dark, but it was as if they were only watching, not preparing for battle. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity of drifting through formless nothingness, we came within sight of White Gold Tower.
Surrounded by an aura of blazing gold, the Solar Sanctuary, it was everything I'd imagined that it would be, a spectacular building. Perfect had a way of designing spaces that made anyone who stepped inside of them feel unforgivably small and insignificant, and White Gold Tower, her palatial residence, was even more impressive than her factory cathedral manse.
"We're being followed," Roach informed me.
I stopped staring at the tower immediately and went for my daiklave. It was cumbersome to carry strapped to my back and no swords are really made for drawing up over the shoulder, but I hadn't been sure that all of my Charms would work inside of the Firewander Wyld so I'd come prepared.
"Come out!" I ordered to the Wyld. "We know you're there!"
I expected some goblins, or maybe a very arrogant fae lord... but what did emerge from the swirling miasma of purple and black was something even darker than the malevolent churning Wyld.
The chaos seemed to solidify around the Deathknight in a sphere noticeably similar to the one I used to keep it at bay.
The Shoat of the Mire observed Roach with a malicious little smile on her face and one of her usually invisible chains snaked out of her funerary robes. I was too fast for her, parrying the blade before it would have taken Roach's head clean off... but apparently the Shoat hadn't come alone. A quick-moving shadow dropped down from somewhere above and Roach let out an incoherent curse as a black steel mace crushed the stone under my feet with the force of a battering ram.
"Sister!" The Shoat exclaimed joyfully, and I got my first clear look at the woman who'd already almost killed me. She was even paler than the Shoat, obviously a dead thing with a face that might have been attractive once, except that her eyes lacked any spark of humanity and her lips were drawn back to reveal a mouth full of jagged teeth and uneven stitches.
The Shoat's "Sister" lost no time at all and nearly caught me again with her mace, but not before Roach decided that there was more than one good use for his new grappling hook. He threw the thing with so much force that it imbedded itself with a nasty squishing sound in the Shoat's back.
The Shoat grinned wickedly and took control of the new "chain" she'd been given, almost wrapping Roach up in his own rope, except that he cut it with his sword. As the Shoat pulled back, something in the Wyld seized hold of Roach's flailing rope, and caused it to lose all physical integrity.
She fired two of her chains in my direction and a third at Roach, who hit the ground, almost tumbling into the Wyld. I had more trouble than I could handle with Sister and was busy parrying the Deathknight's flurry of blows.
Roach staggered to his feet. He elbowed me in the ribs, and I looked exactly where he must have wanted me to... in the direction of White Gold Tower. Were we closer than we had been before? It certainly seemed that way.
Though I didn't want to risk leaving Roach behind, I had to admit that he had a good point. I waited until the Shoat tried her chains for the third time. Roach drove his sword through one link of the chain, pinning it to the ground and I took advantage of the opportunity to send Sister flying with the flat of my blade. I would have given the Deathknight the edge of the weapon and killed her if I could have, but we'd somehow been transported miraculously right onto the steps of White Gold Tower and there was not enough space in the doorway for me to get a good swing.
Still parrying the Shoat, I almost didn't notice when her blows stopped connecting with my daiklave. Somehow, Roach and I were both standing inside of the Solar Sanctuary. The Wyld still raged only a few feet away, but we'd made it to White Gold Tower.
The Shoat and her Sister both watched us where we stood and hesitantly paced the perimeter of the the ancient spell. The Shoat gingerly reached out to touch the fluxing energies. The tips of her little white fingers almost passed through the golden Essence, but then she leapt back ten feet and hissed viciously, extending all of her chains at once. She glanced up in the direction of Sister and the two Deathknights slowly began to back away.
"So... Deathknights?" Roach observed, catching his breath.
"Obviously," I nodded, not taking my eyes off the two.
"I thought you said there was just that little girl. How many are there anyway?" Roach demanded.
I grimaced. "With our luck? Probably more of them than us."
Though the Deathknights were still slowly walking away, I didn't fool myself into thinking that they wouldn't return... or look for another way inside White Gold Tower. After trading blows with the Shoat of the Mire once, I was not inclined to test her "Sister" without someone, preferably Recluse, backing me up.
"Yeah, that's right! You'd better run!" Roach hooted, picking up a chunk of marble and flinging it in the general direction of the Deathknights. They looked genuinely confused, but not really impressed.
I smiled despite myself and patted Roach on the back.
"You should probably know that monster killed four of my father's best men!" I informed him.
He beamed. "I'm gonna risk it. Hey, snaggletooth!" He shouted, hurling a second piece of marble. For the second time, he missed, and before he could find himself a third projectile, the Deathknights reached the bottom of the stairs and disappeared into the swirling darkness of the Wyld.
They obviously had tricks for enduring it as well as any Solar or a Lunar could, and that worried me.
What worried me more was that the fae, despite the fact that they'd clearly been expecting us, had not made any sort of moves at all.
Roach and I entered into the main audience hall of White Gold Tower. It was an awe-inspiring space designed with a color palette that explained its name. In the center of the room where Quill had helped Recluse to move it was the control mechanism for the Well of Udr, the table and five chairs around it, set upon a raised dias about twenty feet in diameter and three feet high.
The top of the table was open. A faint blue flicker of light rose from the Well. Of course, I knew that the substance within was not water, but some sort of Elsewhere muck, a flimsy section of the fabric of reality that our previous incarnations had isolated and turned into a gateway beyond Fate.
Though I wouldn't admit such a thing to Roach, I was more than a little nervous to be stepping into it. I obviously wasn't the only one feeling some trepidation. There were more than a dozen people mulling around White Gold Tower, all of them casting furtive glances in the direction of the Well when they suspected that no one else was looking.
Sapphire and Quill were absorbed in a serious game of Gateway, which Sapphire seemed to be losing badly. Viper was lounging on Amira's lap, and Silvermane was standing guard near the door I had entered through. Very close to the Well, a fox Lunar I'd never seen before was arguing with a bespectacled scholar in a gray robe with a high collar. When the scholar lifted his arm to scratch his nose, he revealed sleeves of moonsilver tattoos that completely covered every inch of his skin. I knew immediately that he could only be Sapphire's friend Val, the University professor.
"Trouble, Faeslayer?" Silvermane smiled slightly.
"Deathknights," I informed him. "I doubt they can actually get in here, but they seemed very intent on killing us before we reached the doors."
"Hm. That doesn't bode well," he paused. "I'll send some Resplendent Whirlagigs out to look for them. Veritas has worked out a very clever way to make our surveillance devices immune to the Wyld."
"Where is Recluse anyway?" I wondered. Silvermane coughed in a manner that suggested he didn't think he should be answering my question.
Surprisingly, one person I didn't see was the one who'd moved into White Gold Tower weeks ago. Noticing that I had arrived, Godchaser swooped over in my direction. "Maker!" The construct announced. "Faeslayer is here!"
There was a sudden thump, and that was when I realized where Recluse had been. He rolled off a couch in the corner and was furiously scrambling for his shirt, his belt, and his glasses. What surprised me more than his state of disarray was how attractive the woman he'd been fooling around with was. In fairness, Recluse wasn't bad-looking himself, but the lady who'd been in the process of undressing him was without a doubt, the most beautiful woman I'd ever seen in my life.
Her skin was honey-colored and absolutely flawless, as if she'd spent every day of her life soaking up the sun on some far away beach. Her eyes were almost black with long dramatic lashes, and her hair was a color that made me think of rich port wine, curls cascading all the way down her back.
As much as I loved Amira, I couldn't stop myself from staring. It wasn't helping matters that the only thing the woman was wearing was a shirt not quite long enough to be considered a dress and an orichalcum pendant in the shape of a radiant sun. If she'd stepped out in front of a Wyld Hunt just as she was then and declared herself a Solar, I rather suspected that all of the men and most of the women would have thrown down their weapons immediately.
In a word, she was magnificent.
Roach gave a low whistle and took in all there was to see shamelessly, at least until he noticed Viper. Then he put his hands behind his back and pretended not to be the least bit interested.
"You must be Windswept Rhapsody," I observed.
"Guilty as charged," The woman winked mischievously. The way that she spoke reminded me a bit of Viper or Sapphire. Despite the fact that she looked like a queen, she sounded like someone who traded in certain kinds of dubious "favors" for a living.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Faeslayer. Veritas has told me so much. Oi, Devil!" She shouted.
"The lecherous old hag arguing with Professor Ferret over there is Clever Devil, my sister from another mother," Rhapsody explained, jerking her thumb in the direction of Sapphire's friend and the fox Lunar. The fox Lunar came bounding over to her side. Clever Devil was a much older woman, maybe even fifty, wearing simple, meticulously mended traveler's clothing. Her Tell was obviously the russet fur in her short-cropped hair. There were a lot of scars on her face and hands. She looked every bit as old as Rhapsody didn't, but I sensed somehow that the two of them balanced one another as only a Solar and Lunar pair ever could.
"I thought we moved the Well in order to keep it a secret?" I turned to Recluse, who blushed horrifically.
"You'd be surprised at how few secrets actually are secret," A familiar voice interrupted.
There was a stranger standing not four feet behind me. He was young and supremely nondescript, with the exception of his brilliant yellow eyes. But before I could inquire as to how he got into our Solar Sanctuary, which I was beginning to suspect not actually secure at all, Recluse noticed him.
"You again?" He groaned.
Godchaser wrinkled her nose. "What do you want, Sidereal?" The construct demanded.
"Ouch!" The stranger exclaimed. His appearance changed immediately, his hair becoming shorter and freckles appearing suddenly on his previously bland face. Before I could guess what had happened, I was left standing face-to-face with someone I did know, a young soldier I'd recruited into the Ravenous Winds.
"Sam?" Roach blinked in surprise, remembering the boy's name before I did.
"You know Sam?" Sapphire wondered.
"We do. He served with us in the Winds. Joined up about two years ago." Roach explained.
"That can't be right. Sam's a busboy at the Divine Peach. It's my favorite restaurant and he always does my table! He's been working there for five years!" Sapphire informed us.
"Oh, I'm sure we all know Sam," Veritas snorted with distaste. "If that is his name."
"It is," Sam replied. "Not that you'd believe me."
"Playing every side there is to play, are you?" Quill demanded. He used a tone that I did not like at all. Even knowing what I did about Sidereals, I didn't believe they were as bad as both Veritas and Quill seemed to. I felt as though I should have sensed some sort of malice coming from Sam if he was anything but trustworthy. Odd as it seemed, I was more comfortable in the presence of the first Sidereal I had ever knowingly met than I was around my own Circlemate, Adamant Quill.
"Isn't that what you're doing, Quill?" Sam surveyed the room. Clever Devil shot him a paralyzing glare and the other Lunars did not seem happy to see him at all, except for Viper who gave him a wink that made me suspect she'd drug him off to bed more than once.
"How long have you been following us?" I asked uneasily.
Sam sighed heavily. "You in particular, or your Circle in general?"
"Both," Sapphire replied.
"I've been assigned to the four of you for the past five years. But you've all been followed for longer than that. All of you have been watched every day of your lives." Sam explained. "You must understand, one does not simply approach a Solar Exalt and say 'Hello, I work for the Bureau of Destiny!' Generally speaking, Solars like being in control. And Sidereals like me are agents of Fate, which is the one thing that you cannot control. Understand?"
"I don't like the idea of being spied on," I remarked.
"No one does. Which is why we try to be very quiet about what we do," Sam explained. "The only reason I'm here now is that I have a message to relay."
"As Sidereals go, Sam is decent enough," Recluse admitted grudgingly. "As unbelievable as it may sound, he's actually helped me in the past. Go on, spit it out!" He ordered.
"I'm here on orders from Oversight," The Sidereal replied. "My superiors have instructed me to inform all of you that someone has accessed the Loom of Fate in a manner that is not permitted."
"Himitsu," Rhapsody interrupted.
I knew I'd heard that name before. Quill narrowed his eyes, and Recluse scowled.
Sam looked very surprised to hear that name spoken, but he nodded solemnly. "Heaven does not appreciate when its agents go rogue, and so the Convention on Oversight has determined that Himitsu should not be allowed to return to Creation. It is likely that he has an accomplice here in Nexus who may be helping him... possibly a Deathknight. But so far, nothing can be proven. Whoever is assisting him is clearly powerful and slippery... and committing a number of Severity Five offenses."
"That's bad?" Viper observed.
"Oh, you can be executed for a Severity Three!" Sam replied cheerfully.
Recluse grimaced. Personally, I still didn't know who Himitsu was, but Clever Devil and Windswept Rhapsody looked deathly serious. Obviously, he was someone that they didn't like at all.
"You're going to have to kill that Sidereal," Godchaser replied, sounding very certain. Then again, the construct always sounded certain. I supposed that nothing in her construction gave her the capacity for doubt.
"I would not recommend trading blows with him," Sam shook his head. "Himitsu is a master of several rare styles of martial arts. Prismatic Rearrangement of Creation style in particular."
"Never heard of it," I admitted.
"Sidereal martial arts can be devastating," Veritas paused. "The rarest styles are on par with Adamant Circle sorcery."
"And this... "Prismatic"..." I began, not remembering the exact words Sam had rattled off.
"The rarest of the rare," Sam nodded solemnly.
"Well, we appreciate the warning," I sighed heavily.
"Unfortunately, I can't tell you anything more. You'll have to take it up with Whisper." Sam finished.
"Whisper's our chief nursemaid," Quill smirked, sauntering over in my direction. "You'll love her, Faeslayer. She's just as neurotic and easily embarrassed as you are."
I scowled and refrained from seizing his collar and smashing his face into the Well.
"She's also quite brilliant. And a very good actress, if you actually believe she's neurotic," Recluse added. Quill frowned.
"Suffice to say that there's really no telling what Himitsu is doing or what he's already done, but you need to carry through with your plans and activate the Well tonight." Sam finished, not bothering to add his own opinion of his superior. "I'd go with you, naturally, but I'd need to complete a half dozen applications and waivers in triplicate."
"We don't need your help," Recluse smiled slightly.
"But you do need us," Clever Devil interrupted.
Sapphire nodded. "This Well isn't the secret we thought it was, and right now too many of our enemies know where we've moved it. It's not just this "Himitsu" we need to look out for either. What about those Deathknights and the Red Queen?"
Veritas sighed. "This Solar Sanctuary may be difficult to get through, but it's not as strong as it once was. And if anything in this manse fails while we're inside the Well..."
I thought of what I'd seen the Shoat do, and I shuddered slightly.
"Certain parties have had some time to stew over how to get in here," Windswept Rhapsody remarked. "It would be idiocy to underestimate Himitsu."
"Or the Dowager," Val paused.
"Or the Red Queen," Viper added.
"We'll make sure that nothing comes after you from Creation, and nothing except you escapes the Well," Silvermane said.
"I'm staying too. Devil and I can handle Himitsu if he rears his ugly little head. And we still owe him a ruthless beating!" Rhapsody volunteered. Recluse looked ready to protest, but Clever Devil gave him a condescending look.
"As much as I'd love to see what's over there, with ah, Veritas going, I should probably stay. I could, ah... well, I could probably fix anything that breaks? I am a Celestial Circle Sorcerer," Val volunteered.
"And I'm a drunk!" Viper informed all of us, hiccuping. "The next time ya'll are saving the world, you gotta to warn me before I start taking shots with Burning Feather!"
"You know, Calibration doesn't officially begin until midnight!" I reminded her, doubting that she was as drunk as she pretended to be. But then again, if she really had been drinking with the Goddess of Intoxicants, maybe she wasn't acting after all.
"Are you kidding?" Rhapsody laughed. "Viper's party started three days ago!"
"Boss, it is almost midnight," Roach informed me.
"Well, I suppose that settles it. Time to do this," I paused. "Amira?"
"Oh, I'm going with you!" Amira grinned broadly. Quill seemed annoyed. It was obvious to me that he disliked Lunars as a rule, and Amira in particular.
"It would be unfair to not send along at least one representative of Sun-King Seneshals!" Silvermane added. "Someone needs to make sure that you Solars aren't doing anything unforgivably stupid.
Looping her arms around me, Amira waltzed in the direction of my chair in front of the Well, pushed me down and sat on my lap. The Well burbled slightly, and arcane symbols on the dias began to glow as Quill and Sapphire stepped up and took their seats.
All of the other Lunars kept a smart distance from circle. The Sidereal stood even further away, still watching us all with grin.
Recluse kissed Rhapsody twice, and she tousled his hair. Godchaser swooped around his shoulders and he sat down himself.
"All right then. Let's do this," He decided, putting on his circlet.
I clenched the hilt of my daiklave. If I didn't let it out of my grasp, I could guarantee that it would pass through the Well with us. Of course, Amira's deadly "stupid stick" was never out of her reach, formed into a bracelet around her right wrist that she kneaded nervously, perhaps wondering if it would be better to have the weapon drawn before we passed through the Well. Obviously thinking the same, Recluse had his lightning spear ready and Sapphire kept one hand on her firewands. Quill didn't have an obvious weapon, but then again... I'd never seen the madman in a situation that he couldn't confound his way out of.
Essence began to flow through the floor under our feet. I could feel some of it being drawn from my own body through the channels on the table and on the chair I was sitting in. The Well rippled and flickered.
That was when Roach sat down next to me. Recluse blanched. His Caste Mark had already begun to flicker, and I suspected that mine was doing the same.
"I'm coming too," Roach informed all of us, who were staring at him in shock.
"No, Roach, you can't!" I argued.
"Yes, I can... and you're not getting rid of me!" He replied.
"The Well draws a phenomenal amount of Essence and we've already started activating it! We can't stop now and we don't know how it will react once it's fully operational. It could drain the reserves of everyone here!" Recluse protested.
"So? I don't have Essence!" Roach replied proudly.
"That's why it's bad, you idiot!" Quill groaned. "You do have Essence! All living things have Essence! Your Essence is your soul, but you don't have enough of it to use it! If the Well drew the same amount of Essence from both of us, I'd have a mild headache and you'd be dead!"
"Feh! I have way more soul than you!" Roach informed him.
I didn't have the opportunity to get in another word. Light blossomed up all around us, obscuring the faces of our protectors and finally the whole of White Gold Tower.
The last thing I saw was Sam smiling. He looked just like Quill always did, as if he knew much more than he was telling. I would have demanded answers from him if I guessed that he could hear me over the rushing sound of wind and water and the horrible, earth-shattering rumbling of the Well.
His eyes were fixed on Roach.
