Dart: -hunched over the edge of a table, clutching his head in his hands- Arghh… would someone find a way to shut that thing up? She's had that song on for three hours straight!
Zion: -slumps down opposite- Forget it. I spent the last five minutes trying to force my way in through the door. She's got it spiked shut.
Dart: The stupid… how can she stand it? After this long, anything would be better listening than this!
-Abruptly, the music stops as finally, graciously, the song changes. And then…-
'Ma-ia-hiii
ma-ia-huu
ma-ia-ha
ma-ia-ha-ha…'
Zion: -Stiffens in his seat- …that voice… and those words! Those terrible, terrible words!
Dart: -slams face into table- I take it back! I take it back! –sobs- Anything else! ANYTHING!
Got Numa? XD
Argh. Delays. I'm not even going to talk about it this time. You've all heard me go on long enough before to know that most of my delays, if they can't be chalked up to writer's block, land squarely in the lap of 'technical difficulties'. I seem to get hit with a lot of them, nowadays. But beh. I've already ranted about this on my author's page, so I won't bore the lot of you with it again. In short:
APPOLOGIES. AGAIN. I'M INCOMPETENT, DAGNABBIT.
Note: Due to new policy regarding answering reviews during each chapter, I obviously no longer can do so. Anger. So, yes. Much inconveniencing here. To that end, those of you who do not have an account but still have any questions you would like to have answered regarding the chapter/story/whatever will have to email them to me so that I can actually have a way to reply. Arf. So throw things. To say something in favor, I will thank them for making the hit counter and whatnot a part of the normal unpaid accounts. I missed that after I gave up my paid account a few years back. It adds a whole new element to the panicking over late updates when I can see exactly how many people I'm disappointing. Ehehehehhh…. Argh, kick me. Anyway. Back to our irregularly scheduled programming.
Apologizing in advance for any typos, inconsistencies, junk. I didn't get to proof it well yet, so just stay with me. I'll proof it properly in a day or so.
It was getting colder.
He lay on his back, staring up at the black clouds clogging the sky overhead while the sleet stung his cheeks, collecting in his hair and freezing his eyelashes. His breath misted and mingled with the steam rising from the gash across his shoulder, swirling slowly until it was lost in the darkness. There was no sound save for the falling sleet; the world had gone silent, leaving him here to lie immobile, unable to move for the fire burning in his shoulder. And it was a fire; the pain burned so badly he might have cried out, if he had been able. But the cold was slowly numbing his senses, and his world had closed in until all he knew were the shiftless clouds and the sickly scent of his blood spreading over the cobbles.
He thought he was dying. It seemed to fit; that monster of a man had intended to put his blade through the Child, but he had barely altered his aim when Slone had got between them. They were both gone now, dragged away into the temple at the end of the row. If he strained his eyes almost back into his head he could just see it, looming into the upper reaches of his vision. But it was skewed, and it seemed to twist and waver as he watched. Unable to keep his eyes on it, he shifted his gaze back to the clouds. Even they seemed to twist, but it was difficult to tell with clouds. He blinked, trying to bring his vision back into focus. Why couldn't he see straight?
The sleet was starting to fall slower now. Snow? Maybe. It was cold enough. He blinked again, wishing his eyes would focus.
A face swam into his vision. Someone was standing over him, blurred at the edges as he struggled to lock on to them. For a long moment they did nothing; only stood over him, watching. Then, slowly, they crouched down, holding one hand gingerly over his forehead without touching his clammy skin. For how long they stayed there like that, he wasn't certain, but when the fog that had settled over his consciousness cleared, he was alone once more, lying on his back beside the wall.
Carefully, he sat up. At some point the fire in his shoulder had died; when he reached up to touch the wound with shaking fingers he only found scar tissue, smooth and warm. His shirt was torn and stained, and the ground around him was dark with blood, but the wound had disappeared. But his memory…
Quickly he sifted through it, trying desperately to recall what was missing. It was patchy, full of gaps where he could recall nothing at all, and yet…whatever had filled those gaps was gone, blessedly removed.
His clothes had started to freeze. Getting up, he supported himself with one hand against the wall, not quite trusting his feet. Without a backward glance at the temple he slowly made his way out of the plaza.
Overhead, the snow continued to fall. At first the flakes disappeared as they touched the wet, black stones. Then slowly they built up as the slick wet turned to ice, coating the plaza with a glassy sheen that reflected back the muted glow of the lamps hanging beside either side of the doorframe. And then that too was gone, hidden by the patchy white blanket that determinedly hid all traces of the battle that had been fought there only a short time ago.
Winter comes quickly to Mille Seasu.
Zion's POV:
"Oh for the love of…" Kaelin tossed away the pin she'd been using to try to pick the lock on her cell. It glinted in the dim glow of the lamplight, and then disappeared into a crack between the flagstones. "These aren't even proper locks," She said in disgust. "The keyhole's a fake!"
"They've been bewitched," Amaya told her. Slumped against the wall at the back of their cell, she'd watched Kaelin's frustrating lack of progress in silence. "The jailors in the Tiberoian prisons sometimes have a wingly in to do something like this. Unless you can break the spell, the only people able to open the lock will be the ones it has been set to recognize. Lock picks won't work. "
"You could have told me before." Kaelin grabbed the lock and tugged on it a few times, making sure.
Amaya shrugged. "I didn't think recognize it until now. Sorry."
"Well this is just brilliant." Kaelin sunk back down onto the floor, looking through the grille into the cell neighboring the one she shared with the former dread knight. "What are we going to do? We can't just let them leave him here like this."
I grunted in agreement. The guards had split us up, two to a cell. Mariko and I shared one, while Solana and Cai had been put into the one next to us. Facing them were Amaya and Kaelin. Directly across from us, and currently the center of attention, was Ry.
He wasn't easy to look at. Covered by the tattered remains of his oilskin jacket, he lay shuddering on his side on the floor, the stones made wet by the rain water and melted sleet dripping from his hair and clothing. Blood matted his hair, and through the rents in his bloodstained clothing could be seen the remains of the fearful wounds Ayrel's spell had dealt him, scabrous and half-healed in the watery light. Exactly how they had begun to heal so quickly, I tried not to think. Soa knew I'd seen enough tonight without having to try to catalogue all the little details. Ry hadn't moved from where the guards had dumped him on the floor, but he still trembled and shook, groaning softly and snarling beneath his breath whenever the tremors reached their peak. For the moment, at least, he was lying quietly on his side, breathing hoarsely with his cheek pressed against the stones. Whether he was aware of what was happening around him, or even if he was completely conscious, was impossible to say.
Not knowing what else to do, I looked down at the stones between my feet. "So what now?" I asked no one in particular.
Cai grunted. "What do you mean, 'what now'? Does it look like we can do anything to you? If you see any way out of this, please, share it with the rest of us."
I tried to shoot him a sideways glare, but couldn't quite manage it. "You know what I mean. Even if we could get out, she's still got Remmy and Tabby and the twins cooped up somewhere in the temple." Just saying thatstung. The Moon Child sure had done her homework there. "Plus, with… Ry…he needs help. Bad."
Across the way, Kaelin sunk down to the floor, her back against the door. "You don't have to say that again. Maybe if we make enough of a racket, someone will come down and help."
Cai sat up. "Kaelin, what in Soa's name makes you think anyone up there will give a damn about how sick he is? They're calling him the Black Monster, you heard them! That Moon Child would like nothing better than to have his head decorating her wall."
"Really. News to me." She gave him a withering look. "Of course she wants him dead! But she wants him dead by her own hand, not dead because some idiot left him in a cell to rot of sickness. Do you really think she'd be satisfied with just that? After all she went through to make sure he'd come? They've got something else planned." She looked down through the bars next to her at Ry, lying prone on the floor. "Whatever it is, they'll want him alive until then. But just leaving him here like this… someone's trying to make him suffer first."
"Something else? An execution?" Solana murmured, more to her self than anyone else. "Why wait? From what we've seen, I didn't think Ayrel would be willing to let things go on any longer than they have to."
Amaya shook her head. "Her father, Mathis. If he gave her reason to wait, she might. He's an arrogant fop with a taste for the elaborate and plays at being a courtier, but he dabbles in politics quite often. Ayrel may not give much thought as to the image she presents to the people and rulers of Endiness, but he does. The cult has a lot of influence over the royal seats, but they still have a lot of opposition in some of the more logical quarters. If they were to execute him publicly, it might give those quarters confidence in the cult by a show of power."
"A show of power?" Solana looked over at Ry. "But he's just one man!"
"They wouldn't be executing him as a man," I cut in quietly. "They'd be executing him as the Black Monster, wouldn't they?"
There was a stiff silence, disturbed only by Ry's broken breathing. Cai glanced over at me uneasily, then looked pointedly in the opposite direction. I stared at the floor. The argument was there, hanging in the air. It just seemed that suddenly no one had the energy to start it anymore.
I wanted to defend Ry. I really did. But even as I tried to find the words, deep down, I knew that Cai was right. There was no denying what had happened, even if we weren't really sure exactly what it was that we had seen. And even if Ayrel had been lying…
The air split; there was a sound like the crack of a bullwhip as the falling rain surrounding the two sprayed outward, driven aside by some incredible force. Standing almost nose-to-nose with Ry, Ayrel was flung back across the cobblestones as the full force of…of whatever it was caught her full across the chest. She bumped and skidded, rolling over and scrabbling to her feet in stunned amazement even as Ry stooped, reaching down to retrieve his sword…
It wasn't a fight. It was a hunt. Whatever magics had given Ayrel her edge before were lost now. The air flickered with strange lights and shapes as spells half-formed and disappeared, swallowed up by something even larger and more terrible as Ry stalked her, lunging across the stones. His sword glinted in the darkness, engulfed in a haze like a blue-white nimbus almost too faint for the eye to see. He wasn't even using it like a proper weapon any more; it had become a steel claw, spraying water and shattered stone alike as it smashed into the cobbles and scythed the empty air, missing Ayrel by inches as she scrambled and slid, trying to escape…
I rubbed my eyes, staring moodily at a crack in the stones. Lies or not, there was no avoiding the fact that there was something horribly wrong with Ry. I'd be the first one to admit that I'm no genius in the area, but by this time even I could recognize magic when I saw it, just the same as I knew that without a direct aid, there was no way a human could use it under their own power. But Ry, with his usual flair, had gone out of his way to demonstrate that that not only was he the exception to the rule, but that they had probably never even applied to him in the first place. Even Ayrel hadn't been able to give us an answer that could explain that. In the very least, he should have had a dragoon spirit.
I was still mulling this over when Solana spoke up, her voice small and quiet in the shadowy gloom of her cell. "Kaelin?"
"Huh?" Kaelin glanced back at her. "What is it?"
"There was something you said back there's been bothering me. When we were talking to Ayrel, you said that Ry used to have a spirit, but it rejected him. Why? He always told us…"
"…that none of the spirits on the belt were his, I know." Kaelin bit her thumbnail, watching Ry through the bars, without really seeming to see anything. "I don't think he ever actually said that he'd never used any of them. When I first started tagging along with him and Zion… I noticed early on that he's really careful about how he phrases things when he talks about the spirits. He makes it sound like he's never used one, but I don't think he ever really admitted it. Shane does the same thing all the time, so I've got an ear for when people are trying tricks like that. He doesn't actually want to lie to us, so he just doesn't… elaborate. One of them used to be his. But it isn't anymore."
"What?" I blinked, then stared as my mind slowly caught up with the implications of what she'd said. "Wait a minute, he told you this? As in you actually got him to admit it?"
She shrugged. "It wasn't all that hard, really. He already knew I was suspicious about how much he knew about using the spirits, and after I cornered him about something he'd explained to Solana, he gave in and told me. He wasn't happy about it, but I think he knew that I'd just keep on pestering him until he gave something away."
Cai muttered something under his breath. "And you never thought to share any of this with the rest of us?" he said aloud.
Kaelin stopped biting her nail and looked back over her shoulder at him. "Once I got it out of him, it didn't seem so important anymore. It wasn't hurting anyone, and it wasn't some horrible, dark spirit like I'd thought it might be. Besides, the only reason I've every kept after him about anything is because I can't quite figure him out. The spirit was one puzzle finished, so I set it aside and sort of forgot about it."
"So you didn't tell us because you were just playing a game," Cai said flatly. "Fantastic, Kaelin. You know, until now, I'd had you down as a sensible girl, but I think you've just proven me wrong."
"Cai!" Solana glared at him, but he didn't seem to notice.
"Well?"
Kaelin shrugged. "Maybe it was just a game. It's all a bit irrelevant now, anyway. But like I said, it wasn't hurting anyone, and I sort of got the impression that he didn't really want me to say anything. He trusted me enough to tell me, so I guess I felt that it was the least I could do to oblige him."
"Really," Cai said, his voice dripping sarcasm. "How decent of you."
I gritted my teeth. "Cai? Do us all a favor and just stuff it, would you? We've got enough to deal with without wasting time beating each other up over personal decisions."
Cai bristled. "Really? Well why don't you-"
"Cai!" Solana said exasperatedly, grabbing his arm. "Zion's right! Just let it be, please!" She shook her head. "Kaelin, did he ever tell you any thing else? I don't mean to pry, but it's important."
"I'm not a child, Solana. You don't need to remind me." Kaelin shook her head, her eyes dark in the shadows of the bars. "Someone's going to hate me for this," she muttered.
No one said anything. Even Cai had the sense to hold his tongue for once. Next to me, Mariko pulled herself closer to the bars.
At length, Kaelin let out her breath. "All right. Back in Tiberoa, when we went to rescue Mariko from the palace? Remember how Ry said that he would find some way to distract the Moon Child so that she wouldn't be around to stop us?"
"I'm not liable to forget." I rubbed my arms, feeling the chill. Was there a draft in here?
"How could he?"
I frowned, but next to me Mariko had blanched. She started to open her mouth, then snapped it shut, waving her hands in helpless frustration. As the rest of us stared, she pointed at Ry, then to the ceiling above us, then smacked her fists together. When no one showed any sign of understanding, she repeated the gestures again and again.
I could only blink. Something about Ry? A roof? What was she on about? Bewildered, I looked at Amaya. "You have any idea what she's trying to say?"
For once, the ex-Dread Knight looked as baffled as I was. "Mariko?"
"Ry went after Ayrel, didn't he?"
Solana had held tight to Cai's arm as she spoke, but now she let go and came to the nearest corner of the cell, her expression somewhere between wariness and horrible understanding. "That's why it took him so long to return, and why he jumped at Amaya when he saw her, wasn't it? He wasn't really angry at her, he was still mad because Ayrel had gotten away."
"What?" Cai said sharply, as Kaelin nodded, eyes averted. "You knew this?"
Kaelin winced, then glanced through the bars into the cell next to her and seemed to steel herself for the worst. "I ran into Ry just after he was coming in from the stables the night we brought Amaya and Mariko back from the palace." She stopped, making a face. "Okay, so maybe 'ran' isn't quite the right word. 'Deliberately snuck up on', more like it. Anyway, he was sitting in the kitchen in the dark, trying to patch up a cut on his leg. I'm not sure when it was that I had started to suspect he was involved in something like this, but I'd looked through some reports and periodicals in Solana's study, and re-affirmed what I knew about the reports of the two men attacking the Moon Child. Anyway, I confronted him about it and he just sort of… deflated."
"And he admitted it to your face?"
She glanced at Ry again. "Yes."
Cai went silent, but in the poor light I could see him clenching his jaw, his body rigid with anger. When he would finally get his tongue around the words he was looking for, they wouldn't come out as words. It would be an explosion. A small part of me wanted to join him, but for the moment all I could manage was to stare at Kaelin in slack-jawed amazement. Where did the woman get the nerve to do this stuff?
Amaya stared at her, then shook her head slowly. "Kaelin, you…"
"Let me get this straight." Cai interrupted, having finally gotten control over his tongue. He was eyeing Kaelin unpleasantly through the bars, and his low voice rose in a rumbling crescendo as he spoke. "You knew that he was trying to kill Ayrel, but you still didn't bother sharing it with anyone else? Is this supposed to be another game? You could have gotten us killed, if Ayrel hadn't gone and nabbed us first!"
Solana wasn't even trying to shush Cai anymore. We all sat staring, looking back and forth between Cai and Kaelin, caught somewhere between anger and dumbstruck amazement.
Kaelin looked over her arm at him, glaring. "Killed?" She said scathingly. "I'm sorry Cai, but spare me the freaking melodrama. Ry's after Ayrel, not us. I don't know if you've noticed, but he's been trying to keep us out of trouble, not land us in it."
"Oh, how could I forget? And I suppose being locked up down here is all part of some grand plan to keep us safe." He rapped a knuckle against the bars. "Well, we aren't going anywhere, that's for certain."
"Don't be an idiot." She snapped. "In case you've forgotten, he wasn't the one who landed us in here."
"No, you were." Cai glared at her.
"Damn straight." She met his eyes levelly, without flinching. "So don't you even try to shift it off on him."
Cai grabbed the bars. "Kaelin, clean out your ears and listen! He's the Black Monster! I don't know what Ayrel was on about, calling him Dart Feld, but if he was ever human, you can be sure he isn't now. I don't know what's wrong with him, but after seeing what he did earlier, whatever they plan on doing with him, he probably deserves it!"
"Deserves?" Kaelin struggled to her feet, eyes flashing. "That's a great line for you to take! So I suppose he just gets a pat on the head and a wave goodbye for anything he's somehow managed to do for us along the way, huh?"
"It's his fault! If he'd never given us the spirits, we never would have to deal with any of this in the first place! He's the one who started it all!"
"And he's somehow responsible for Solana's spirit? Look, Cai, in case you didn't hear, he saved Zion's life! And if he hadn't distracted Ayrel in Tiberoa, we either have come out of that palace on leashes or in pieces!"
Cai gritted his teeth. "He was the one who sent us in there in the first place!"
"To get Mariko out of there!"
"You still believe that?" Cai snorted. "He just wanted another shot at Ayrel! She's the Moon Child, Kaelin, in case you haven't noticed. She's a brat, I'll give, and we've all got our reasons as far as the temples go, but she's supposed to give us a Utopia!"
"And just how-"
"We're messing with a goddess here! I don't know about you, but I don't want to-"
"Cai! Would you shut up!"
Kaelin's voice boomed off of the walls of the dungeon, the echo rebounding back again and again. Momentarily taken aback, Cai fell silent. White-knuckled, Kaelin squeezed her fists tightly around the bars, breathing heavily. When she spoke, her teeth were clenched and her words came rapidly, tight with anger.
"Ayrel's supposed to create a Utopia, right? Just stop and think about it for a moment! I know she's supposed to be a goddess, but how's she supposed to do something like that? There's nothing wrong with this world except the people living in it! We all want a perfect world, but even if we managed to get it, it'd be a mess again in the space of ten minutes, because when you shove a bunch of people together, you're guaranteed that someone's going to try to take advantage of someone or screw them over. It's human nature. Heck, it's not even just us! Any species that can string together a couple of words and bonk someone else over the head'll do the same thing. Winglies tried dominate the world. We tried to dominate everything else. Maybe the Gigantos would have tried to do something else, but it's kinda hard to say, seeing as we went and killed the lot of them!" She slumped back, suddenly drained. "Who knows. Maybe she could fix up the world. But in order to do it, she'd have to get rid of the lot of us, whether we deserve it or not." She shook her head. "This world doesn't belong to her, and neither do we. But she… or at least the spirit inside her… would be more than willing to destroy us without bothering to make a distinction between those who deserve it and those who don't." Biting her lip, Kaelin shot one last angry look at Cai and turned away, crouching next to the grille and muttering to herself under her breath.
Cai looked as though he was about to respond, but the words seemed to lose themselves before they made it to his tongue, leaving him looking awkward and unsure of what to do next.
I looked down at Mariko, at a loss for words. Catching my glance, she shrugged helplessly and waved a hand at Ry. I nodded and bit my lip. She had a point (or at least, I thought she had a point: it was difficult to say, sometimes). Kaelin might be right, but the only person we could be sure knew the truth was Ry himself, and it didn't look like he'd be waking up any time soon. And even if he did… well, I was reasonably hopeful that he'd tell the truth, but as for Cai…
At last, he managed to find the words he was looking for. "I suppose he told you this too, right?"
Not looking back, Kaelin bobbed her head once. Ry was shuddering again, and the sound of his fevered groans and snarls floated ghostly and detached around the dungeon.
"Figures." He glared at her again, but the rancor had gone out of his voice. He let go of the bars and backed off, retreating to the far corner of his cell.
Shaking her head, Amaya crouched next to Kaelin, wincing visibly as Ry's tremors redoubled, his whole body heaving with the motion. "He's getting worse," she murmured, reaching a hand through the bars to touch his forehead. Ry jerked; his feet scraping across the stone, and she pulled her hand back sharply. "He's burning up. If he doesn't get help soon…" she sat back on her heels, her pale eyes gleaming in the weak light. "He's not going to make it until morning."
Cai grunted again, his eyes fixed determinedly on the floor between his feet. Solana gave him a despairing look, then turned back towards us. "Is there anything we can do?"
Amaya shook her head, her long braid swaying back and forth. "How? Even if one of us was in there with him, we have nothing. Even a proper healer would have difficulties." She looked up, past me to Mariko. "It's not a natural sickness, is it?" She asked.
Mariko shook her head, then made a few vague gestures.
"So he needs a wingly to help him," Kaelin said, staring into the cell. "Looks like we're back to square one again." Going to the corner of her cell nearest the door, she grabbed the bars and braced herself. "HEY!"
Cai snorted like a bull. Kaelin pointedly ignored him.
I shook my head. Cai was right. Yelling wasn't going to work. At least, not yelling like that.
"Kaelin!"
"What?" She glared at me challengingly. "I swear, if you tell me to-"
"Just stop it, Kaelin. You're never going to get their attention that way." I got to my feet, rubbing my hand over my throat. "Besides, you're going to ruin your voice." I took a deep breath, ignoring her protests, and threw back my head.
"ARRGHH! HELP! GET HIM OFF ME! RABID! HE'S RABID!"
"Zion!" Solana yelped, clapping her hands over her ears as the others did likewise. My voice boomed off of the walls, magnified by the close space. Between hysterical screams, I caught Kaelin looking at me incredulously. Suppressing a grin in spite of myself, I winked at her and gasped another breath before starting again.
"ARRRGHHHH!"
There was a crash as a door was flung open. A moment later a guard, his eyes puffy with sleep, appeared warily at the bottom of the stairwell with his spear held high in one hand, ready. When he realized nothing was wrong, he let it fall with a growl. "Cut with the racket!"
I froze, mouth still open. "Hnn?" I started to take another breath.
He advanced angrily, raking his spear across the grill. "I said shut it! Keep screaming, and you'll get the priests down here!" He stepped in closer, groggily menacing.
My hand flashed out through the bars, grabbing him by the shoulder and pulling him up against the door. He was a reasonably tall guy, but forced against the bars, he barely came up past my shoulders. I loomed, and I wanted him to be very, very aware of the fact. Ducking slightly, I looked him in the eyes, grinning humorlessly. "Really? Wonderful. Why don't you do us a favor and go fetch one of them for us? Or better yet, one of those winglies? We'd like to have a chat with them."
"Wha-hey!" The guard twisted in my grip, suddenly aware that I had trapped his spear with my free hand. Smile still fixed in place, I jammed it through the bars and heaved. There was the groan of strained wood.
"On the other hand, I could always just keep on screaming. It's been a really rotten day, and shouting myself hoarse sounds like a great way to pass the rest of the night." The smile had become more of a grimace. "Though I imagine the priests wouldn't be too happy with you for letting me carry on like that."
"Ahh…" The guard's bloodshot eyes were starting to look a bit wild. "Look-"
I jerked a bit harder on the spear, and this time the 'crack' of the wood beginning to split was clearly audible. "Go find one of the winglies, got it? But not Ayrel." I let go of his shoulder, but kept a tight hold of the spear. "Definitely not Ayrel."
He stumbled back a step or two, rattled. Knowing it was a bit overdone, but not really wanting to give him time to think, I pulled the haft of the spear from his hand, wrenching it toward me with a crackle of splintering wood. Still keeping my eyes locked on him, I growled, "The winglies, mister. Go get them. Now."
As the guard's hurried footfalls faded up the stairs, I let go of the broken spear haft and massaged my arm. "Jeez, someone remind me not to try that again. Those things are not easy to pull apart like that."
"You're telling me," Kaelin said faintly. "Do you think it worked?"
"We'll have to see." Solana craned her neck, trying to peer up the stairs. "Though I hope he doesn't decide to bring Ayrel back instead. I hope you didn't shake him too badly, Zion. Otherwise he might do it just to get back at you."
As it turned out, the guard didn't come back. When the sound of footsteps finally came back, it was Mathis who stepped into view, polished and cold.
He lifted the lamp he carried slightly, letting its bright glow wash over the chilly floor. I'd seen him earlier with Asalla in the upper levels of the temple, but down here, surrounded by the drab walls of the prison, I had my first really good look at him. Unlike the guard, he was short. There was no denying that. But he held himself in such a way that even if he was staring up at your face he could still give the impression that he was somehow looking down on you. He wore his silver hair short and brushed back in what I supposed must have been some current style. Judging by the crushed velvet coat and silken scarf pinned around his neck, he was very conscious of that sort of thing. He'd probably, I thought sourly to myself, checked his reflection in the mirror before coming down to see us.
He raised one eyebrow at the splintered spear lying on the stones. "Been playing, have we? What do you want?"
"Help," Solana said flatly. She pointed at Ry, who was still stretched out prone and shaking on the wet floor of his cell. "Look at him. He won't make it until dawn unless one of you does something."
Mathis gave her a long look, then went to the front of Ry's cell. He gazed into it for a moment. His face was studiously smooth, but the false concern in his voice was so thick it mocked. "Mmm. He doesn't look too well, does he?"
"What did you do to him?" Kaelin, crouched next to the bars once more, gave him a dirty look.
"Do?" A muscle in his cheek twitched, and this time there was no mistaking the laughter in his deep red eyes. "Very little, actually. That staff I struck him with was enchanted. Long ago, the ancient winglies used its like to seal the Divine Dragon into its lair. Out of control like he was earlier, it was the only way to stop him. The magic stopped the dragon from killing my daughter. Knocking him in the head-" he indicated Ry- "was just to make sure the idiot wouldn't get back up. It's amazing what Ragnarok will put him through, just to keep him on his feet and fighting. But if you mean what's with the sickness…" he shrugged. "It has nothing to do with me. I assume that it's the backlash of whatever Ragnarok put through him earlier. You humans aren't made to handle that sort of raw power, though I doubt the dragon gave it a second thought." He buffed his fingernails on the lapel of his jacket. "Though I have to say, he's holding up better than I might have thought. He must be less human than I've given him credit for."
Ragnarok. That stirred something in my recent memory. Hadn't Asalla mentioned the name earlier? I shook my head, and then asked "Who?"
Mathis pulled his eyes away from Ry long enough to look at me. "Ragnarok is the name of the Divine Dragon. That…display earlier was his doing."
"His doing?" Cai stood behind Solana, one hand on her shoulder. "What do you mean?"
Mathis laughed, a quick snicker that sounded strange coming out of his mouth. "Don't tell me you haven't noticed? One minute he's fine, the next minute, he's ready to bite off your head? It's the dragon that does that to him. They share that body the same way that you'd share a wagon. Either one can drive, but Ragnarok is distinctly less pleasant."
Cai's voice was flat. "You don't say."
There was a rasping cough. On the floor, Ry's body suddenly heaved, his breath coming in short, rattling gasps. Something dark dribbled from the corner of his mouth and spattered on the floor, disappearing on the wet stone.
Kaelin bit her lip, glaring at Mathis. "Help him. Please."
"Why?" He leaned against the bars, ignoring the sounds coming from inside. "We're only going to kill him, my dear. It would be a waste."
"If you do not help him now, you'll never get the chance to kill him." Amaya reached out and steadied Kaelin, who had flushed with anger at being called 'my dear'. "Your daughter wouldn't be too pleased with you for letting him die of sickness down here."
"It's thanks to me," Mathis said, "that she hasn't come down here and taken care of him already. You should be thankful."
"Thankful." I looked the wingly up and down, recognizing the way he held himself, the way his eyes were laughing. You'd see guys like him in the bars, sometimes. They were the ones who stayed clear until the fighting was done, then came out and kicked you in the ribs when they knew you were too beat to kick back. I gritted my teeth. "Yeah, right. You're making him suffer on purpose, you- mmmph!"
Mariko slapped her hands over my mouth, muffling the last word. Mathis watched in amusement. "Careful, young man. The lady, at least, knows her place."
"You're giving him a public execution, aren't you." Said Solana, as Mariko carefully removed her hands from my mouth. "That's why you won't let her kill him."
"It's not really a matter of 'let'. I had to speak rather fast in order to get her to wait. She can be a terribly stubborn child, and she was very, very angry. But, yes, I have convinced her to wait, on the condition that she be the one to do the job in the end. It was the only way she would agree, unfortunately." He sighed. "I tried to tell her that the proper thing to do would be to sit in the stands and watch while a professional headsman handles the job, but she has something of a barbarous streak in her nature. She's the Moon Child, and yet I sometimes think that she'd rather lose an arm than have someone else do her work for her. It's terribly upsetting."
'That makes her better than you', I thought grimly to myself, but after a sharp look from Mariko I kept my mouth tightly shut.
Ry's breathing staggered, and then the ragged cough began again. Amaya, who had been helping Kaelin try to keep him still through the bars, looked up at Mathis bluntly. "It won't be much of an execution, then. He doesn't have long left."
Mathis looked at her, impassive. Then, as though it took a gargantuan effort, he shrugged. "If I must. I'm afraid there's not much I can do for him, though. I've never been anything spectacular with healing work." He took a step back from the bars, murmuring to himself and tracing his fingers quickly through the air in front of his chest. As he finished there was a faint whisper, and the air around Ry seemed to blur with a green haze. And then it was gone and he lay still, his breathing still haggard but steady.
Amaya touched his forehead. "His fever's down."
Mathis wiped his forehead and looked at the back of his hand in distaste. "I hope that will stop your complaining, though I still see little point in it. Goodnight, all of you, for what its worth. Do try to get some sleep. You aren't invited to the execution, mind, but there'll be… other matters we'll need to deal with later on." He set his lamp down by the door and dimmed it. "Adieu."
As the door slammed shut at the top of the stairs, Kaelin ground her teeth. "He was playing with us! He was freaking playing!That was sick!"
"Playing's right," I grumbled. "He probably can't do much else. Did you notice? Just using a spell like that made him break out in a sweat. Even with his magic, he probably wouldn't be a match for any of us, let alone Ry. Talk about kicking someone when they're down."
Leaving Mariko, I slumped against the back wall of the cell. The day's exhaustion was catching up with me. While the others continued to talk I stared at my feet, their voices a distant murmur as I tried to collect my thoughts.
So if we were to believe what the winglies were telling us, Ry was really Dart Feld, who was in actuality the Black Monster… except he wasn't always, because the Black Monster was way too old. And he had been a dragoon, or rather still was, but he was linked with a spirit that history had never heard of, or, if it had, no one had ever bothered writing it down for some reason, which was stupid… and the dragon in the spirit had a name, and he was as much Ry as this Dart guy was… no, that wasn't right, he was…
My head slumped forward and I closed my eyes, still fighting with a hoard of explanations and no single, coherent answer.
I must've slept, but I could never remember dreaming. Completely drained, I woke up feeling stiff and sore, with a head packed full of sand. And with Mariko's shoe digging insistently into my ribs.
"Ehh… 'nuff! I'm 'wake!" I waved her away and pushed myself up, yawning hugely. "Wha…" I blinked, aware of everyone's eyes on me. Then I came fully awake, remembering what was happening. "Where's Ry?"
"Gone." Kaelin sat with her hands twisted into her bangs, face ashen. "They took him away half an hour ago."
"What?" I sat bolt upright. "Why didn't anyone wake me?"
"We tried," said Cai. "You were out like a light."
"Oh, that's just…" My voice trailed off at the sound of a muffled shout from the top of the stairwell, followed by a crash and the rattle of steel and silence. And then…
"Jeez, you couldn't have been any louder, could you?"
"Hey, you try hitting someone in full armor and see what happens! I'll pay you any money if he doesn't ring like a bell. Besides, you got that muffling spell set up in time, right? No one outsida here heard us. We're safe."
"Urgh, you're such an idiot…"
The voices echoed down the stairwell. We exchanged glances as someone started down the stairs. The voices weren't familiar, but anyone who would go around knocking out temple guards couldn't be all that bad.
"Takes one." The first speaker swung around the wall of the stairwell, shaking the lamp slightly as he landed. "Hello, folks!"
I blinked. 'A wingly?'
"Six of 'em. They're all here." He looked back over his shoulder. "Except him, obviously."
"Of course. Still, that's a relief." His partner, another wingly, appeared at the bottom of the stairs. "I was afraid she would have split them up. It would have been the smart thing to do."
"Hey, I'm not complaining." The male scratched the back of his neck and turned back to us again. He was definitely a wingly, with crimson eyes and neck-length silver hair, but unlike Mathis and Asalla, who were so pale they almost seemed colorless, his skin was tanned and beaten from exposure. He wore a heavy green cloak, but I could see the weight of his shoulders beneath the fabric, and he moved lightly when he walked, balanced on his toes like a cat. Not the sort of guy who'd kick you when you're down. He'd be the guy who put you there.
"That's a first." The second wingly, a woman, pushed past him. She wasn't as tall or as tanned, but she'd obviously spent some time outdoors. Her hair had been caught and pinned back in a knot at the top of her neck, and she fiddled with it as she looked around, dropping her hands to straighten the heavy brown shawl she wore. "Well, we don't have much time, I'm afraid. Asalla shouldn't be able to feel us from here, but if we're not quick, Dart's going to be in for it." She looked at us directly, her eyes flicking from one face to another. "We can get you out," she said bluntly, "and if you give us five minutes, you'll have your spirits to boot. But we need you to help us out."
Wordlessly, Kaelin got to her feet, followed immediately by Mariko. The rest of us followed suit. Only Cai remained sitting, his eyes suspicious from the back of his cell. "Who are you?"
"Who are we?" The woman reached out and touched the lock to his cell lightly with her fingertips. There was a crackling sound like a static shock, and then it popped open. "We," she repeated, removing the lock and opening the door, "would be the cavalry."
Asalla's POV:
The misty, snow-clogged streets of Deningrad were awash with people, all streaming in one direction. Mathis had made the announcement only a few hours ago, but somehow the word had gotten around, from mouth to ear of the shopkeepers to the womenfolk, from gossiping wives to husbands, to be overheard by the children…
I drew back from the window, letting the curtain fall. Ayrel had, after much persuasion on Mathis' part, agreed to his idea of a public execution, but I couldn't help but feel uneasy about it. Let what had to be done be done, with no ceremony, out of sight and quickly. Extra time just allowed for complications. And we had been running too long to have to start again if things somehow went amuck.
Even so… I leaned back against the wall. The excitement of the people crowding along outside was almost tangible, even more so for one such as myself with gifts of empathy. Their curiosity and energy bored into my brain, and it was only with an effort I managed to keep it separate from my own anxiety. He shouldn't have let it slip to the public. If there was to be an audience, let it be the courtiers and the priests, the ones with the power and to whom it would really matter. But Mathis had insisted that the people had ought to see, to bolster their support for Ayrel. He might have believed this, but I knew better. The people were curious, nothing more. It was something to do on a dreary, misty morning after a messy snowfall. To them, the Black Monster was a creature out of stories, a terrifying beast. Not some beaten up, half-dead man with blank eyes and bad hair. We could slap all the names on him we wanted, but in the end, he'd just be another common criminal to them.
I rubbed my eyes, feeling the sleep between my fingers. It had been a restless night. Even knowing that he was down, it had been difficult to get any rest with Dart in the same building as us. The feeling of him and his accursed dragon saturated the air like a poison, and I had spent most of the night wandering the halls, unable to keep still.
Ayrel had done little better. I had healed her wounds, and it hadn't taken her long to recover her strength, but even so she had kept to herself for the remainder of the night, pointedly ignoring Mathis whenever he came near. She saw some sense in his arguments somewhere, but it was clear she wasn't happy about them. Now she was out in the plaza before the Royal Palace, waiting. There was little else to do now, except worry.
Someone knocked on the door. As I turned around Mathis slipped in, whistling happily to himself. He had done without sleep entirely, though to look at him it was difficult to tell. His eyes glittered as he shook out his coat, and I could feel the anticipation emanating from him like a wave. "Well? How are you feeling, love?"
I inclined my head slightly. "No better. I will be glad when this is over, Mathis."
He laughed. "You're still worrying? Settle down! They're bringing him out to the plaza now. We've lashed whatever was left of the staff to his back, so there's no chance of Ragnarok recovering in time, and Dart is such a mess he can't even stand, let alone cause trouble." He wrapped one arm around my shoulders and nuzzled my cheek. "The problem with you, my dear, is that you need to learn to relax."
"I'll relax when it's over. How long do we have?"
Mathis let his arm fall. "Actually, I was just coming to fetch you. It'll be starting shortly. You had better get down there now, if you don't want to miss it."
It was surprisingly mild outdoors. A warm wind was sweeping across the plains, melting last night's snow and filling the air with chilly, damp vapor. The sky overhead was overcast, but even through the veil of mist and wood smoke it didn't look as though they had anything left to spill onto us. I pulled my cloak tighter around me as I shut the door behind me and stepped out onto one of the palace's many balconies, this one overlooking the plaza a short distance below.
A stout wooden platform had been erected at the far end of the square; as I watched, a wagon forced its way through the press of the crowd and drew level beside it. Mathis appeared quite suddenly and took charge, ordering the guards back and forth in a sharp voice that carried even over the din of the crowd. Carefully, Dart was lifted from the wagon bed and passed to the men on the platform. The buzz of the crowd grew even louder as he was dragged forward and made to kneel at the front of the stage, though he had to be supported on either side by a guard. His head lolled back and forth limply on his neck, and he swayed on his knees, even in the hands of the guards. Whatever Mathis claimed to have done for him during the night, it was clear that it had been very little. The only mercy for him would be that he probably would never even know when Ayrel's blade fell.
"Mother?"
I didn't turn around. "Shouldn't you be down there with your father?"
Ayrel came to stand next to me, resting her elbows on the marble banister. She had changed her clothes, and her hair was pinned back once more, but despite Mathis' urgings, both clip and clothing were simple and unadorned as always. Gravely, I nodded. She, at least, knew that this shouldn't be the show her father was making it out to be.
She fiddled with the hilt of the dragon buster, twisting it on her belt. "I'll go down in a minute. I still don't like this, Mother. I wanted him to know I'd won, to beat him on my own."
"I know, dear." Mathis had begun to read the charges now, shouting to be heard over the racket. I shook my head. "Sometimes, though, you just have to take things as they come. At least now, we can finish it for good."
"I suppose," she sighed, but I could tell from the look on her face that she felt no better. "I wish I had been more alert last night. Otherwise, father never would have been able to talk me into this."
'I wish so too,' I thought silently, but said nothing.
As Mathis reached the end of his speech, Ayrel shook her head and stepped back from the railing. "Well, I guess that's it. If I let this go much longer, he'll look like a fool up there by himself." She started to gather herself for the warp down to the platform, then stopped as a commotion broke out at the edge of the crowd near the stage. "What…"
Against the weight of Dart and Ragnarok's combined presence it was an almost undetectable shift, but the sudden touch of a third aura hit me like a blow. Crying out, I whirled around in time to see Garren appear in mid-air behind Ayrel, his body already twisting as he snapped his leg around toward Ayrel's head.
The kick made contact. Ayrel lurched sideways, eyes rolling back into her head as she slumped. I caught her before she could fall completely and dragged her back a few steps as Garren landed in a crouch on the railing, one hand planted with the other held out behind him for balance. Gathering my daughter close, I kept my eyes on him as I drew in my energy, preparing to fight.
He must've sensed this, because he suddenly lowered his arm and relaxed his weight, letting his muscles slacken. "It's okay, Asalla. We're not here for a fight. Just let us get what we want, and we'll be out of here in no time at all."
I didn't relax. "You're here for Dart?"
"Yup." Garren nodded, rubbing his hand on the balustrade. "Like I said, just let us be, and we'll be gone in a moment. No harm done, right?"
"No harm." I tightened my grip on Ayrel, slouched around my feet. "Don't lie to me, Garren. He'll be back. You'll be back. Either he dies, or she dies. Until then, it won't end."
Garren stared at me, and then shook his head slowly. "I knew you'd say that. None of us like what he has to do, least of all him. But it has to be done."
"Does it really?"
Garren sighed, lifting his hand away from the stone. As he did so, I saw the black, smoking rune that had appeared in the rail beneath it. "I'm sorry, Asalla. I really am. Just do me a favor and get yourself out of here. It won't be a good idea to hang around in a moment." He licked his thumb and snapped his fingers, a spark of flame appearing on the on the end of his thumb. Then, before I could react, he swiped the flame across the mark. "Catch you later." Flashing me an apologetic grin he leapt backwards into empty space, flickering once and then disappearing as he warped away.
The rune ignited. With a deafening roar the balcony exploded, flame and chips of stone bursting into the air. Almost too late, I threw up a shield to surround the two of us, feeling the inferno beat furiously against the invisible walls of the shell. Garren had managed this? I gathered Ayrel into my arms, her head lolling against my breasts. No. Garren couldn't manage something like this, not if he had worked at it for twenty years. Someone else must have prepared it for him, so that all he had to do was set and trigger it. But that meant…
I clutched Ayrel's unconscious body to me, aware for the first time of the fourth presence that was spreading through my mind. Wordlessly, I turned to look through the wall of flame, though I could see nothing through the fire.
Nova.
Now she was fighting as well?
Amaya's POV:
I shoved my way clear of the panicking crowd, grabbing a hold of the scaffolding and swinging myself up and over the edge of the platform as sparks and pulverized marble showered down, filling the air with white dust. Doing my best to ignore the flames gouting from the balcony almost overhead, I rolled to my feet, pulling a short, heavy stick from the back of my belt.
The winglies had gotten us out of the prison, but there hadn't been much time for talk. The most I had been able to glean from Garren's rushed explanation was that both he and Nova were old friends of 'Dart', and that they'd really, really rather not see his head tacked up on Ayrel's wall. Anything beyond that, I got the impression, would have to wait until they'd gotten us all out of the city, another thing they promised to do for us. Cai had caused his usual problems, but not for long; somehow, Nova had managed to locate the dragoon spirits somewhere in the temple, and had retrieved them for us while he and Garren spoke. Their return quite firmly ended the argument. Whatever Cai might have said in the past against being a dragoon, he snatched back his stone as quickly as any of us. After all that had happened, we'd been left with a particular sense of vulnerability, and the spirits helped to reverse that, at least a little.
Down in the crowd, most of the guardsmen were still gawking at the explosion. Almost no one seemed to be paying any attention to what was happening on the stage. Which was just as well, because the guardsmen who were on the stage were starting to look a bit panicky as the Zion and Cai appeared over the far edge, their expressions decidedly businesslike. Mathis, unfortunately, was nowhere to be seen; I wasn't positive, but I was fairly certain that he'd fled the moment he'd spotted Garren on the balcony. Gritting my teeth, I lunged forward and sprinted for the nearest guard, swinging the cudgel wide.
It connected with a crack. As he tumbled backwards from the platform, the second guard whirled around, sword whistling from its sheath. I ducked; as I did so, there was another thud, and the guard lurched past me into the crowd with a strangled yell.
Abruptly, the noise level dropped. I straightened slowly, bumping into Zion who stood over me rubbing his elbow and muttering. Nova hovered in the center of the platform, her expression focused as she finished the spell she'd been weaving, scattering the trails she'd been tracing with her fingers with a peculiar little flick. The silence became absolute; the platform was suddenly lit with an azure light as a shimmering wall leapt up around us, effectively sealing us off from anyone who might try to reach us.
"Neat trick," Zion said faintly.
Nova let her hands fall with a gasp. "Hurry, Garren. I can't hold this up for very long!"
At some point during the scramble, the others had made it onto the platform. Now Garren hurried over to where Ry lay slumped on the boards, pulling him up into a semi-sitting position. "Jeez…" He tugged at the broken remains of the staff that had been lashed to Ry's wrists behind his back. "Lookit this. They weren't taking any chances here, where they?" Working the knots, he pulled the staff free and set it aside, pressing his palm down on it hard. There was a brief flare of green light; when he lifted his hand, it had disappeared. "That oughta do it."
"Garren!"
"Give me a minute! He's in real bad shape here!"
"So heal him!"
"I'm trying!" He snapped back. "It's not exactly a piece of cake, you know!"
"Oh for the love of…" Nova shoved Garren aside and grabbed Ry's head in her hands, her face screwing up with effort. There was a brief stuttering light as the spell flared between her hands; Ry shivered and arched his back, jerking his head out of her hands. Then he fell forward onto his hands and knees, gasping for breath. Garren grabbed him by the shoulder and pulled him to his feet.
"Careful, man. You don't look half a mess, do you? Whoa! Jeez…"
Ry jerked away from Garren, staggering slightly. Nova's healing had sealed his wounds completely, but the angry red scars were still fresh and visible through the tears in his ruined clothing. Still, when he lifted his head to look around, his eyes were sharp and clear.
His gaze wandered over the crowd, the guardsmen forcing themselves against Nova's barrier. Then he shuddered, like a man coming out of a dream. "Nova," he rasped. "Get them out of here."
Nova froze, staring at him. Then carefully, she said, "Ark?"
"Who else would it be?" Ry glanced over at her, then jerked his head toward us. "That lot. Drop the barrier and get them out of here. If you can get them as far as the ruins of the Forest of the Winglies, there's enough residual magic there that we should be able to mask ourselves. You've seen it on the maps before, right?"
"But what about…"
He looked back over his shoulder at Garren. "What do you think? We must be able to buy a little bit of time, here."
Garren looked a bit surprised, but grinned and knocked his fists together anyway. "A distraction, you mean? If you think you can handle it."
She glanced over at Garren, then back to him. "Are you sure? Ark, you were just…"
"Don't worry about it. Just using the spirit won't hurt him, as long as I don't overdo it. He's still out of it at the moment, but he should be coming around again before too long. We'll catch up with you in a bit." Ry started to turn away, then looked over at us, hesitating.
"Keep them safe, Nova. We've got a lot of explaining to do, I think."
"You got that right," grumbled Cai under his breath. Ry grinned.
Nova swallowed and nodded her head. "I…" then she shook her head. "Garren!" She said sharply. "Help me out! I don't have the strength to warp everyone that far on my own." The other wingly came over and grabbed her hand, focusing. Nova took a deep breath. "Don't waste any time once I get out of here! The barrier will disappear the moment we're gone, so be ready for it!"
Garren opened one eye long enough to wink at her. "Don't worry, Nova. You're gonna give yourself wrinkles. Now hurry up and go!" He pulled his and out of her grip and staggered back.
"Be careful!"
"GO!" Roared Ry, turning to face the wall. Garren took a step away, spreading both hands wide, fingers wreathed with fire. As Nova began her spell, the two of them stood back to back, watching as the barrier surrounding the platform buckled and disappeared, Garren's face set, Ry's almost anticipant. A hum was building in my ears; abruptly the world seemed to flicker. Just before it disappeared entirely, Ry slumped forward, a brilliant, pulsating light bursting forth from his body, swallowing him up…
The world blinked.
Garren's POV:
"Sure is enough of them, isn't there?" I muttered out of the corner of my mouth, taking a step farther back.
Somewhere up above me, Ragnarok laughed hoarsly. 'The bugger,' I thought to myself. 'You're enjoying this, aren't you?'
"Having second thoughts? We told Nova we'd buy some time." He lifted the muzzle of the divine cannon, aiming high over the heads of the stunned guardsmen and dread knights warily encircling the groaning platform. Straight, I couldn't help but notice, at one of the gleaming spires of the palace overhead. The cannon whined, gathering energy.
He sighted along the barrel, grinning. "Come on, Garren. Time to pay up."
Solana: … where's Shade?
Garren: Huh? Oh. Last I saw, she was on her way west.
Solana: She's going on a trip? I thought she hated flying.
Garren: Well, er… it's not exactly voluntary. Ark wasn't too pleased with the ending of the last chapter, so when he woke up, well…
Solana: o.o;
Garren: On the upside, he's gotta have made it into Guinness. I don't think anyone's ever kicked an authoress clear across three provincial boundaries in one shot before.
Solana: … you don't say….
Heh, fun times. Well, apparently Ark was a bit more coherent throughout the events of the chapter than everyone was lead to think. Dun dun dun. Any significance? Who knows? I was darn convenient, though. XD