Thirty-Four || Shatter

Maya stared.

Standing in the doorway was a man that she had seen only briefly about the castle; she knew him to be one of Doll Master's associates and confidantes, and nothing more. She had always thought him uncouth – when she had heard him, he spoke with lowborn vulgarity and colloquial slang that usually stayed well out of the palace walls – but there was nothing in the little information she had about him that would explain why he was accompanied by a distressed child.

"Trap Master," Maya said slowly, "what is the meaning of this?"

"Your orders, princess," he said, and Maya frowned slightly. The manner in which he said the word made it clear that he was not using it as a title. "Lemme see the boss."

Maya did not move. "Orders?" she said. "What orders did I possibly give that require you to kidnap a child!"

Trap Master shoved the boy roughly in front of him, giving Maya a better look while still keeping his hand firmly around the boy's wrist. "You gave us the go-ahead to get the doll. Here he is."

Maya gaped.

"This is... this is a doll?"

"You understand my preference for homunculus," Doll Master said quietly. "It negates a substantial amount of confusion."

Maya jumped and wheeled. Doll Master approached her slowly, raising his hands to try and assuage her shock. She quickly gathered herself again, cleared her throat, and spoke. "You startled me, Doll Master," she said. "I thought you were trying to sleep."

"But poorly," he said. "The heat brings bad dreams." He stepped around Maya and knelt down in front of the Prima Doll. "This is Elroy's construct? I didn't expect it to be so..." He searched for the word. "Small." He looked up. "You can let him go, Trap Master. For some reason, I doubt we're in much danger." He paused. "Although I may be mistaken. What happened to your cheek?"

Trap Master snarled. "The old guy looking after this thing managed to take a crack at me." His expression shifted, turned almost gleeful. "Won't get a chance to do that again."

"What, precisely, have you been doing?" Maya demanded.

"What was necessary," Doll Master said simply. "You're dismissed, Narcius. Excellent work."

"I'll pass that on," Trap Master said. He turned on his heel and shut the door.

Maya stepped forward warily. "I– I admit this is not what I was expecting," she said.

"I certainly didn't expect it to resemble a child," Doll Master murmured. "But then, as I understand it, Elroy was having some difficulty with scale at the time." Doll Master reached forward, but Prima shifted back, away from his hand. He frowned slightly. "I'm not going to hurt you."

"I don't believe that," Prima said quietly.

Maya stiffened, surprised, but before she could say anything Doll Master held up his hand. "Your Highness, if you would kindly refrain from any further expressions of astonishment?"

Maya gathered herself and nodded. "O-of course. Of course..." She cleared her throat. "If I may, what are you planning on doing with– with it?"

Doll Master did not respond immediately. He reached out, much faster this time, and caught Prima by the upper arm, pulling him closer. His gaze narrowed, and he studied Prima for a moment, taking the boy's chin in his hand and tilting his head back.

"Clockwork," Doll Master said finally. "Not the technique I would have expected. Mechanics are no substitute for properly woven magic. Still." He released his hold on Prima and stood up. "I'm somewhat impressed."

Prima shook himself off and looked up to Doll Master. "Did you send him?" he asked.

"What's that?"

"That– that man," Prima said. "The one who brought me here. Did you send him into town?"

"I gave him orders to retrieve you, yes."

To which Prima let out a shout and hurled himself at Doll Master.

It was an ill-advised attack, of course; Doll Master side-stepped his charge and easily reached down, catching Prima by the collar of his shirt and hoisting him into the air. Prima struggled, lashed out, tried to beat at Doll Master's hand, but it was all for naught. Doll Master cocked an eyebrow.

"What are you doing?"

"You– bullies!" Prima shouted. He swung his fist in the direction of Doll Master's face, but fell well short of connecting. The point, at least, was made. "He hurt Klaus! He hurt him bad! You didn't– you didn't need to do that!"

Maya frowned. "What's he talking about?"

"I passed your orders to retrieve the doll down to Trap Master," Doll Master said. "I, in turn, ordered him to do what he felt was necessary to bring it here."

"By attacking the citizenry?" Maya said acidly.

"I didn't approve of his tactics," Doll Master said, "but it's difficult to argue with the results. Oh, stop that, you're wasting your energy."

Prima recognized the truth of that. Slowly, his fists fell to his sides, but his expression remained drawn and furious, his frame shivering.

"I don't approve of that at all," Maya said. "Our edict was to leave the town be unless they were the aggressors, Doll Master. The only threat here is from my sister and her friend, and I would hardly hold the town responsible for what that... that ruffian decides to do."

"Unfortunate circumstances," Doll Master said, "but necessary. You will find, Princess, that the rigors of leadership require you to make difficult choices. He did what was necessary–"

"He didn't need to," Prima sniffed. "There was– there was no reason for that–"

"–to keep a very powerful and potentially dangerous artifact from falling into the hands of those who cannot understand or handle its power. Or, worse, the hands of your sibling, who also cannot understand or handle its power but has a rather aggravating tendency to reach well beyond her grasp."

Maya bit her lip. "S-still..."

"Decisions made for the greater good, Your Highness, are rarely pretty."

Maya said nothing for several seconds, instead fixing her attention on the far corner of the room. She swallowed, steeled herself, and looked up again. "I– I must ask again, Doll Master," she said. "What are your intentions with this boy? We have rather little space for... for holding prisoners."

"And that would be a waste," Doll Master said. "The doll was constructed for a singular purpose, and I intend to use him for such."

Maya blinked. "Unsealing the Relic? To what end!"

"I should think it obvious, Your Highness." He turned and started toward the building's central room, still carrying the Prima Doll before him. Maya followed behind. "While the Relic remains there and this doll remains functional, there is always a threat of somebody managing to break the seal themselves and capture the Relic. The only certainty – the only way to keep it from falling into the wrong hands–"

"What if you destroyed the doll?" Maya asked.

Prima flinched. Doll Master grimaced. "Barbaric," he muttered. "And in any case, if Elroy could conceive of its construction then it is in turn conceivable he left notes that could be followed to replicate it. Even discounting the possibility, another mad mage could find their own way of constructing a living key some day– we would simply be moving the threat further down the line. No." He shook his head. "The only certainty is to release the Relic ourselves, that no others may claim it."

Maya faltered slightly. "But– but wouldn't that simply make it easier for others to steal it away? Without the seal–"

"I believe I have told you the power this Relic contains," Doll Master said. "Any attempts to steal the Relic from its owners would be met with swift and brutal judgment. None would stand close."

"I don't like this," Maya said.

"Then you're learning another lesson here. You will not always like the decisions you must make, but you must make the right one, regardless of your personal biases."

"Too bad you can't do it," Prima said.

Doll Master stopped just as they entered Maya's decorate living quarters. He paused for a moment, then, slowly, looked down at Prima. His grip on Prima's collar tightened, but he allowed a few more seconds to pass before he spoke, the words nearly dragging themselves out between his teeth. "Is there a problem here?"

Prima folded his arms and looked away, petulant. "Sure is," he said. "Because first of all, if you think I'd ever want to help you after– after what he did, you're wrong, and you're not gonna get into the ruins without my help."

"I think you'll find I can be quite persuasive," Doll Master said. "Is there a second of all?"

"I can't even open the seal."

For a long moment, Doll Master said nothing. Maya shifted uncomfortably behind him, trying to look around him. Finally, Doll Master started walking again, across the room and toward another door.

"Princess," he said slowly, "I am forced to ask that you stop following me."

"I don't believe you have the authority to give me orders," she said.

"That was not an order," he responded. "That was a polite request. Which, having been denied, will now escalate into an order. And yes, Your Highness, you are obligated to follow it. This operation is under my jurisdiction and you are here as a guest under my good graces."

She stiffened, moved to object, then stopped herself. Though she was loath to admit it, he was right. She nodded curtly. "Yes, sir," she said thinly, and quickly marched out of the room.

Doll Master turned his attention back to the Prima Doll.

"What do you mean, you can't open the seal?" he hissed.

"I'm not complete," Prima said. "You can throw me at those ruins or threaten me all you want but I don't have the power to break the seal."

"I see."

He finished crossing the room and pushed the far door. It opened inward, revealing another room that had been touched by the power of the Book of Cosmos. Doll Master had selected the room for his own use during their stay there, and Maya had been kind enough to conjure a few creature comforts for him, populating the room with a bed, a chair, and a small desk. It was into the chair that Doll Master deposited Prima – perhaps a bit more roughly than was strictly necessary – after which point he closed the door behind them.

"I'm sure this struck you as a brilliant plan at the time," Doll Master said, "but you must realize that I'm quite aware that they assembled everything necessary to put you together."

Prima readjusted himself, sitting upright in the chair, and frowned at Doll Master. "How d'you know that for certain?"

"Because Princess Mint is utterly incapable of keeping her braggart mouth shut," Doll Master said flatly. "It is painfully easy to follow her progress when she insists on literally telling anybody who will listen of her greatness."

Prima did not respond immediately. When he did, he did so with a nod. "Yeah, okay, I can believe that."

Doll Master leaned against the door. "That having been said, you do realize the ramifications of your decision? You've endangered them all over again. I will send my men back into town in search of whatever you left behind. Narcius is already in a foul mood. He will not be nearly so charitable as he was before."

Prima's expression hardened. "I know," he said, "but you're not gonna have a chance to do anything like that, not again. Rue and Mint were there, and if you don't think they're coming for you right now–"

And suddenly Doll Master laughed. It was an abrupt but genuinely amused sound, and Prima cut himself off. He tightened his grip on the arm of the chair, watching Doll Master warily. "Wh-what's so funny?" he asked.

"That's– I can't believe I didn't realize it. That's perfect," Doll Master said. He turned and opened the door.

Prima shoved himself out of the chair. "What're you doing?" he asked.

"I'm locking you in here," Doll Master said, "and going out to make sure everything is in order."

"What are you going to do?"

Doll Master was halfway through the door. He stopped, looked over his shoulder, met Prima's gaze. "You don't need to concern yourself with that, do you?"

Then he stepped outside and shut the door.

. .

"The trail ends here," Mint said.

Here, as it happened, was the edge of Old Carona. Not the edge they usually approached, from the opposite side of the lake, but the eastern edge of the town, marked by a line of crumbling buildings that stood over the downward slope of the hill. Age had worn them down, but the buildings around them still stood relatively tall and proud, the fire damage that consumed the rest of the town not so severe on this edge. Some of the buildings still seemed almost inhabitable– not particularly hospitable, but a desperate transient would find themselves quite sheltered from the elements and the monsters.

Mint looked around for a moment, then expressed her feelings by kicking a rock.

"Well, fat lot of good that did!" she snarled. "We knew they were out here already."

"Not necessarily here, though," Rue said. He walked down the street, casting a quick glance around and trying to ignore the powerful gnawing of deja vu. "These buildings are still usable. They probably set up base in one of them."

"Or," Mint said, "Trap Master got himself up to the edge of town and just walked it from there."

"Why bother, though?" Rue shook his head. "Especially if he's dragging Prima with him."

Mint almost answered, stopped herself, considered. "All right," she said. "We'll have a look around." Then, after another moment, she added, "And be on alert for any weird magic in the area. I'll bet you anything that if Maya's using one of these buildings, she's freshened it up using the Book."

He nodded. "Makes sense."

So they both started into the city ruins.

They tried, at first, to break into a few of the nearby buildings and search quickly for signs of life, but it became apparent in short order that doing so would be a waste of time, and time was not something they could afford. They decided quickly that Mint's idea was probably the best one they had; it wasn't thorough, but given they were chasing a congregation of mages there was a very good chance that magic would naturally follow.

So their search quickly changed from a dedicated hunt to a fast walk down the main streets, both of them reaching out for any unusual energies or patterns, visually searching for signs of habitation or movement. Despite their speed, the going was still slow, and after a little while, when Rue more or less had an idea of how the city was supposed to feel, he spoke up.

"Mint," he started, "could I ask you a question?"

"Sounds like you just did."

"What happened between you and your sister?" he asked.

She frowned. "A lot of stuff," she said, "all across our lives. You wanna be more specific?"

"Do I really need to be?"

Mint paused. "No," she said. "I guess not." She sighed. "She threw me out of the kingdom. Personally. Or, well, not personally, but close enough. When they declared her the rightful heir instead of me, she–"

"I'm sorry," Rue said quickly. "What?"

Mint gave him a confused glance, but her expression melted quickly. "Oh, right. You would've left home by then, huh? Two years ago." He nodded. "Well. Somebody got it in their head that I wasn't fit to rule and cast me from the royal heritage. Dear perfect little sister, of course, was named the new heir. Gave her the Book of Cosmos and everything."

"Unfit to rule?"

She assumed an over-the-top pomposity and affected a thick accent. "Utterly selfish," she said. "Pays no mind to the law. Behaves as she sees fit! Stubborn as a mule! Utterly unbecoming of a princess, and so uncouth!" She laughed, abandoning the impression. "They liked that word a lot. Uncouth." She frowned again. "But that seems kind of extreme, you know? I mean, how bad can I possibly be to just be cast aside like that?"

Rue decided not to answer.

"Anyway, when the news comes in to us after the council meeting and they had Maya the Book of Cosmos, she starts lording the thing over me and I tell her she's being a bitch–"

"Just told her?"

"I may have tried to tell her with the Dual Halos," Mint said.

"Ah."

"Point is, she used the Book to chase me out of the kingdom. I told her I'd come back once I had a Relic powerful enough to put that Book to shame." Mint paused. "She threw a pumpkin at my head."

"That was my other question."

"What was?"

"The... the business with the pumpkins. What was that all about?"

Mint shrugged. "I don't like pumpkins."

"Yeah, I– you said that. But in the bar, with all the jack-o-lanterns..."

"It's an inside joke. She's trying to be funny," Mint said. "She's not very good at it."

Her pace suddenly changed; for a moment, she almost seemed to stumble, her eyes wide, before she caught herself and shook it off. Rue stopped for a second, waiting for her to gather herself. She shot him a glance.

"It is... a lot of pumpkins, though, isn't it? And that thing she made in the bar... that's not like her. Too..." She searched for the word. "Creative."

"Maybe she just learned since you've seen her?"

Mint snorted. "Not likely. She had all kinds of opportunity last night to use the Book and all she did was make some explosions." She blinked. "Matter of fact, Doll Master seemed pretty irate when she showed up, too, didn't he?"

"He did."

"And then she appears today and she's totally behind whatever his plan is? I don't–"

Rue suddenly ducked behind her, snatched her by the collar, and dragged her off the street and into a nearby alley. She gave out a cry of surprise, but before she could demand any answers Rue pressed a finger to his lips, then indicated the length of the street. Mint straightened up, pressed herself against the wall, and leaned around the building.

She immediately recognized Trap Master, and a moment later recognized the second man with him as Doll Master's personal assistant, Psycho Master. There was a third figure with them, a woman, and for a moment Mint thought it was Maya. The figure had her build and her haircut, but it only took a second for Mint to see that the woman was brunette, and too tall. The similarity, however, was uncanny; Mint couldn't help but shudder.

They were talking. Their conversation was loud enough that she could hear their voices but quiet enough that she couldn't make sense of their words. They were walking at a leisurely pace across the street, over to the next block of buildings. A few minutes later, they disappeared between two buildings on the opposite side of the street. Rue and Mint waited a few more seconds before they both stepped out of their hiding spot.

"Who was that?" Mint asked.

Rue shook his head. "You didn't recognize her? She's not from East Heaven?"

"Not that I know of."

He hummed deep in his throat, his eyes narrowed, briefly lost in thought. After a moment, he shook it off and started down the street at a jog, motioning for Mint to follow. She fell in a few paces behind him.

He cast a quick look at the alley that Trap Master and his associate had disappeared through, but didn't slow down; instead, he moved from a jog into a full run, and Mint accelerated to match his pace, slightly confused. She had assumed he would follow them to wherever they were going and that would lead the two of them to where the East Heaven delegation was hiding. Clearly, he had his mind on something else.

And not a moment later, he came to a stop.

"Here," he said.

She skidded past him, came to a halt, and turned to face what he was looking at. Instantly, she knew he was right.

It was different from the surrounding buildings, quite a bit taller and surrounded by an open, blasted courtyard. Back in its prime, the building had likely been opulent and lively, but time and desolation had rendered it just as barren as its brothers.

Or should have.

The building itself was, at a glance, simply another ruin, blending in amongst its fellow ruins. At a second glance, however, there were signs: the building, unlike any of the others, was free from cracked and shattered glass, and the doors sat perfectly straight on their hinges. The work was subtle – whoever had reconstructed it had done a very good job mimicking the old materials – but a moment's examination made it clear.

What was not so subtle was that there was a light visibly burning through one of the windows. It wasn't visible head-on from the front, but Mint stepped a few paces around and, sure enough, the warm gleam of a lantern was just visible around the corner.

"You agree, right?" Rue asked.

"I agree," Mint said. She paused, feeling the energy around the building, and gritted her teeth. "They're not being real subtle about it, either. Somebody's set up wards at the doors and windows. They've probably sealed themselves in?"

"Trap Master?" Rue asked, but almost immediately shook his head. "No, never mind, doesn't feel like his work."

"Or the Book," Mint added. "So there goes my idea of you just hacking our way in."

Rue started across the courtyard, toward the front door. By the time Mint bothered to follow him, he was at the door, running his hand around the edges. He brushed over the space between the door and the frame, trying to get a finger hold, but couldn't actually reach into the opening.

"It's sealed," he confirmed. "Same as it was at the tavern."

Mint walked up alongside him, pressed her hand against the door, closed her eyes. She reached out and followed the twining of magic, the patterning, the weaving. After a moment, she drew her hand away and looked up again.

"I'll bet every entrance is like this," she said.

"You can't undo the magic?"

"Not easily," she said. "Whoever wove this did a good job of it; it'd take ages to disentangle." She thought for a moment. "Bet it was Doll Master. At the least this isn't Maya's handiwork."

Rue considered.

"Not every entrance," he said. "Come with me."

He set off again, hugging the wall of the building. He turned the corner and made his way a short distance along the side of the building before he came to a stop and pointed. "We can get in through this," he said.

Mint looked to where he was pointing for a few seconds, then back to him, then back to the edge of the building. "Artema," she said slowly, "that's a ventilation duct."

"Yes," he said. He knelt down and gripped the grate, yanking back against it. It protested, but could do little more; the metal was too rusted and old to put much of a fight. It bent backward under the strain, and he gave it another hard tug. This time, the grate gave way. Rue kept his balance, albeit barely, and tossed the grate aside.

"That's a two-by-one opening," Mint continued.

"Yes."

She waited for him to say anything that would make sense, but when he continued to fail to do so, she added; "You can't fit in a two-by-one opening."

"Do you know how well the windows are sealed?" he asked.

She had to back up her brain slightly to realize that he was utterly ignoring her statement. "What?"

"How are they sealed? The magic. Could they be opened from the inside?"

Mint moved to the nearest window and examined it again. "Yes," she said after a moment. "It's sealed to keep people out, not hold them in." She cocked an eyebrow. "Is this a relevant thought or are you just making polite conversation?"

"It's relevant," he said. "Mint, do you recall our conversation this morning?"

"We had a few of them."

"The one where it would take something exceptionally weird to even register with you anymore?"

"Yes." She watched him narrowly. "What are you–"

"Fair warning," he said. Then he disappeared in a whorl of blue.

Mint jumped back, surprised, but quickly pulled herself back together ands stared at the light and energy subsided. Where Rue had been sitting there was now – of all things – a pollywog.

She opened her mouth to speak, found that words seemed somehow insufficient, and quickly gave up.

The pollywog drifted a few inches off the ground, tilted itself to regard her for a moment, and then promptly slipped through the narrow opening, disappearing into the building. Mint knelt down, trying to look through the ventilation opening and into the dark interior of the building. From somewhere out of her visual range, there was another explosion of blue light; then, from above, a rattling noise. She looked up just in time for Rue to shove the windows open.

He leaned out as far as he could, holding his arm out to her. She reached up and took his hand, and he helped haul her through the open window. When she was inside, she picked herself up, dusted herself off, and very, very slowly turned herself to face him again. She inhaled.

"I can turn into monsters," he said simply.

"Okay, yeah," Mint said, exhaling heavily. "That's weird enough."

He pushed the windows completely open and turned, looking quickly around the room. His focus fell on some chunks of debris from the wall, and he retrieved a few larger pieces of concrete and brought them back to the window, forcibly wedging them into the frame to keep them from closing shut again.

"Hopefully that won't get slammed shut behind us," he said. He brushed past Mint, slowly this time, moving cautiously into the building.

Mint slipped alongside him. "Is there anything else I should be aware of?" she hissed. "Or am I going to need to wait until more of your weird powers are relevant?"

"I can also see and absorb souls."

He said it so cavalierly that it took her a few seconds to actually process it.

"Wait, you what?"

He was already moving into another room. She caught up to him with a few quick steps.

"Hold up," she said. "That is not a thing you just say and then not expect follow-up questions!"

"I do expect follow-up questions," Rue said, "which is why I'm still walking." He shot her a quick glance over his shoulder. "Lower your voice. We saw the three of them leaving, but Doll Master and Maya might still be in the building."

She snapped her teeth together, and was silent as they passed through the next empty room and stepped out into a hallway. The hall stretched up and down the length of the building, a long and fairly wide throughway that gave easy access to their whole side of the floor. In one direction, it faded into shadows and dust; in the other, warm light spilled from an opening a little ways down. Rue continued toward the light. Mint did not follow immediately; she regarded him from a little distance, frowning to herself.

Then, slowly, she understood; and, slowly, she followed.

Rue hadn't quite walked into the next room yet; he was pressed against the wall, trying to peer around the corner, but apparently he decided it was safe to emerge from the egress. He completely rounded the corner, stopping midway through the opening, and then motioned for Mint to follow. She did so, and the instant she saw the room before she sighed and shook her head.

"Of course."

It was the largest room in the building, no doubt, the central parlor, and judging by the state of the walls it was supposed to be just as decrepit as the rest of the building. Maya, however, had clearly thought that wasn't suitable for somebody of her stature; she had put together furniture, a bed, an array of gently burning lanterns, a nice plush rug. A rug. She had felt the need to add a rug.

"You see?" she asked, raising her voice a little. "This is what my sister does when she has the limitless potential of a Relic in her hands. She decorates."

"At least we know we're in the right place," he said.

Mint snorted. "Ugh. So tacky."

A faint thumping sound interrupted any further commentary Mint may have had about Maya's taste. Both of them jolted and wheeled, expecting to see Maya or Doll Master come around one of the other doorways, but the room remained still.

The thumping started again. Mint snapped to attention and scanned the room. In short order, she saw where it was coming from; a doorway at the opposite end of the room, probably meant to lead into a private parlor. She sprinted up to the door, stopped just before she ran into it, and knocked.

Whatever was on the other side knocked back.

"Hey," she called. "Somebody in there?"

There was a moment of hesitation, then a small voice, muffled through the door, responded. "Mint? That's you, right?"

Relief flooded through her, and she grinned at the door. "Yeah, s'me."

"Rue's there, too?"

"He decided to tag along."

Rue looked over in her direction. "Is that Prima?"

Mint nodded, and turned her attention back to the door. She pressed her hand against it and concentrated on the lock. No magic, this time; just mechanics. She focused.

It was a tricky bit of magic, requiring precision and concentration, gently increasing the pressure of the air pockets inside the lock until the internal pins clicked into place. The trick required an extremely fine hand at magic and absolute control over the wind threads inside the lock. Finesse was not something Mint usually bothered with, but magical lock-picking struck her as an incredibly useful skill to develop. Clearly, it was paying off in spades.

She heard the lock click back into place, felt a subtle shift as the bolt slid into the door, and she reached up, turned the knob, and pulled back. The door slid open, and there on the other side was Prima. He looked a little shaken, he was breathing shallowly, but not a moment after the door swung outward he leapt from the room and nearly threw himself around Mint.

"Woah, hey, woah, enough affection," she said, gently prizing him off of her. "We'll have a chance to do that later."

"I'm sorry," he said quickly.

Mint heaved an exaggerated sigh. "I guess I can forgive you. Just this once."

"Is Klaus okay?"

Rue stepped toward them. "He's going to be fine," Rue said. "We got him healed up and he's recovering back at the house." He knelt down so he was eye level with Prima. "But he's real worried about getting you back home. We'll talk more once we're out of here and safe. Okay?"

Prima stared at Rue for a moment, his eyes a little wide, then nodded. "Y-yeah," he said. "Yeah, a-and we should hurry. Doll Master said–"

"You!"

As one, they turned to face the new speaker.

Maya was standing at the door, her stance rigid, her eyes wide, her lips pressed thin. Emerging just behind her was Doll Master, starkly serene in comparison to the princess.

"Well," he said. "I'd like to say this is a pleasant surprise, but it really isn't."

"Pleasant?" Mint asked. "Or a surprise?"

"Just the latter, actually."

Maya shot him a glance. "If you would kindly share with the rest of us what's so pleasant about this?"

"Pardon me, Your Highness," he said. He pushed her gently out of the way and stepped around her, into the room. He acknowledged Mint and Prima with only a flick of his gaze, but his focus turned quickly to Rue.

"Leana mé," Doll Master said quietly.

Rue's gaze narrowed. "No," he said thinly. "And we're not playing that game. Speak English."

Doll Master winced. "I was hoping for a slightly more private conversation."

"You're not getting one."

Doll Master regarded him for a moment. "You... you really don't know who I am, do you?" He was genuinely inquisitive, his tone perplexed. If he had intended it to be a threat, he had done so poorly.

But Rue was already on edge, and he was sliding the Arc Edge off his back. "Mint tells me you're one of the advisors to the king," he said. "Archmage of East Heaven. An exceptionally powerful sorcerer." He paused. His grip on the Arc Edge tightened; his knuckles whitened. "And you're the man who killed Claire."

Doll Master opened his mouth to speak, stopped himself, reconsidered. He seemed almost to wilt slightly. "I– I see," he said quietly.

"Hey, look, I'm sure you've got a point to this," Mint said, "but we'd really like to leave."

Doll Master blinked, coming back from a brief reverie. He looked to Mint, tilted his head, and then waved dismissively. "That's fine," he said. "You can go."

For a few seconds, nobody spoke.

"I can..." Mint shook her head. "Sorry?"

"You can go," Doll Master repeated. "Take the Prima Doll with you. Return to town, carry on with your business. I won't stop you. Nor," he added heavily, "will my men."

Mint stood up fully, stared at him, looked down at Prima, back to Doll Master. "You... seriously?"

"I've no further quarrel with you, Princess," he said.

"But I do," Maya said. She stepped forward, just edging in front of Doll Master, and shot him a glance. "What are you doing? I thought you intended to–"

"I know precisely what I'm doing, Your Highness," he said. "Now please kindly busy yourself with something else. I have matters that must be attended to and your presence is not welcome for them."

"Or ours, I guess," Mint said. "Lot of trouble you went through kidnapping Prima just to let him go."

"It's incomplete," Doll Master said, a strange and dangerous edge coming to his voice. "What good is an imperfect doll?"

"Worth more than you are," Mint snapped. "C'mon, Prima. Artema."

Mint took Prima and started to usher him out of the room, watching Doll Master and Maya out the corner of her eye. Rue nodded and started to back up, but Doll Master raised his hand.

"I think there's a bit of miscommunication here," he said softly. "I said you could take the Prima Doll, Princess. I did not say Rue could leave."

Mint halted. Rue took a half-step back and stopped. The blade of the Arc Edge lifted just slightly.

"What's that?" Rue breathed.

"I am letting your... friends leave," Doll Master said. "But I request you remain here. We have something to discuss. That is, after all, what you were trying to do last night, yes?"

Rue hesitated.

"Don't do it," Mint said. "He's done nothing to let us trust him."

"This is very true," Doll Master said, "and I don't blame you for your reticence. However–"

"This is unacceptable," Maya snapped.

"This is completely acceptable," Doll Master said. "This is necessary."

"No, it's not," Maya said. She raised her hand. "They are all right here. At this point it is a simple matter of detaining them."

Doll Master was quiet for a moment. He closed his eyes, pinched the bridge of his nose, and breathed deeply. "Princess Maya," he said slowly, "I think it is high time that I announced my resignation."

She blinked. "You did what?"

"My apologies, Maya."

He slammed his fist into the back of her head. Maya hit the floor.

Mint practically threw Prima out of the room and brought her halo to her hand. She was raising it to fire off a blast of magic, but Rue threw his free hand out and shot her a glance.

"Take Prima and get out!" he snapped.

"Oh like hell I'm just gonna-"

The air around her suddenly felt heavy, humid, almost filled with water. She choked, sputtered, tried to gather her breath, but the air was too thick; she could barely breath.

"It's a smart suggestion, Princess," Doll Master said acidly. "I've been more than charitable and my patience is wearing very thin."

Rue shot a glance back to Mint, then to Doll Master, and without any further uncertainty threw himself at Doll Master, swinging the Arc Edge down. Doll Master stepped back and lashed out with his hand, condensing the air in front of him into a shield. The blade of the Arc Edge slammed into the barrier, screaming in protest. Rue pulled back and launched again, striking the barrier. This time, the Arc Edge was alight with power.

This time, the barrier broke, and at the same time the spell around Mint did the same. She inhaled, nearly gagging on the air.

"Is that phantomite?" Doll Master asked. "That's clever! Whose bright idea was that?"

"M-mine, jackass!" Mint snarled. She brought the ring up in front of her and concentrated her power through it. The ring exploded with an aura of white energy, and she leveled it toward Doll Master. "Duck!" she shouted, and Rue threw himself to the ground as she fired off a sickle of white light.

Doll Master didn't blink. He flicked his hand, summoning a burst of dark energy directed to Mint's attack. The two blasts crashed into each other, then through; Mint's bright scythe disappeared into the air, but Doll Master's dark orb carried on, unphased. Mint threw herself to the side as it tore through the air where he head had been a moment before. The dark orb crashed into the wall, sending out a burst of concrete fragments and dust.

Rue lunged back to his feet, dragging the Arc Edge in an upward arc before him, but he didn't get far. Doll Master reached out to intercept his attack, catching the blade in his hand. More than his hand; a thick, viscous mass of liquid magic had formed over his entire arm, granting him a solid barrier to deflect the blow.

Rue tried to pull back again, but the magic mass had already changed, the end extending outward into three long, bladed fingers. Using the makeshift hand, Doll Master gripped the Arc Edge and snapped his arm away, hurling the weapon to the side. Rue managed to keep his hold on it, but nearly lost his footing, almost tripping over one of the chairs.

"I cannot over-emphasize how little I want to do this," Doll Master said. "Leave us, Princess, or I will force you to leave!"

Mint pulled herself up off the floor and stepped toward the entrance. "Not likely," she said.

Rue properly righted himself and focused back on Doll Master. "No," he said. "Not likely. Mint, out!"

"Hell no! You don't get to fight him on your own!"

Rue looked over his shoulder. "Get out of the doorway! I'm going to follow you!"

Mint hesitated, then felt something at the hem of her shirt. She looked down and abruptly remembered that Prima was there, hanging on to her, staring into the room.

She bit her lip.

"C'mon," she said. She turned and started shoving him down the hallway. "We're out of here."

"No!"

Mint stopped herself and turned. From the floor, she saw Maya pulling herself upright again. Maya's gaze was unfocused, but her jaw was set and she was trying hard to find... something. Mint readied the Halo. Maya raised her hand.

"No, you shall not– I shall not allow you near that Relic!" she cried. "None of you! Book of Cosmos!"

The Book, previously lying on the bedside table, twitched.

"Come to me!"

Doll Master wheeled to face her, raising his arm.

"Don't dare, Maya!"

His threat came too late; the Book lifted, twisted in the air, and shot out toward her.

"Rue!" Mint shouted. "Catch it!"

Rue spun. He was too far away to actually catch it, but–

–but he could intercept it.

He saw where the Book was moving and swung the Arc Edge for it, dragging a scythe of cobalt through the air behind him. The blade hit the Book. Went through the Book.

Rue screamed. The Arc Edge dropped his fingers, and involuntarily he clutched at his forehead. Blood streamed through his fingers.

The two halves of the Book fell to the ground.

Then there was another scream, powerful and inhuman and ancient, resonant with pain and fury. The building – walls and ceiling and floor, furniture, entrances, exits, space and time and all points between and apart – twisted. Roared. Imploded.

Then everything was white, and there was nothing at all.

. .

Rue opened his eyes.

Almost immediately he closed them again. The light wasn't intense, but it set off a power migraine and he felt in enough pain as it was. Everything hurt, but nothing so much as his forehead; he felt as though somebody had stabbed a spear through his temples.

He had to get up.

Slowly, he managed to flip onto his stomach, and from there got his arms underneath him. He pushed upright, but slowly; when he tried to move too fast, his body protested and he was forced to stop until the pain receded again. Eventually, laboriously, he managed to pull himself into an upright kneeling position, and sat back like that. He didn't yet dare to try to stand.

He opened his eyes in increments, trying to allow himself to adjust to the light until gradually his eyes were fully open. His head still protested to the light, but he ignored it as best he could.

What had just happened?

He peered around the room, and for a moment it seemed as though nothing had happened. He was sitting in the middle of the same room that they had charged into– there was the bed, the table, the chairs. He was sitting on the plush rug. He looked around. Nobody else was there.

He reached for a nearby chair and used it to haul himself fully to his feet, fighting through the shrill ache in his muscles and joints. When he was up again, he pressed his hand against his forehead, trying to push down the throbbing pain. Wetness and warmth met him; when he pulled his hand away, it was covered in a fresh coat of crimson. He looked to his other hand, still gripping the chair, and saw fine rivers of congealing blood there, too.

He looked around again.

"Hey," he called. "Is anybody else here?"

Not even his own voice returned to him.

But now he was starting to notice a few things. The doors around him were shut– although he could only remember the room even having one proper door, the other entrances simply standing open. The Arc Edge lay by his feet; carefully, he knelt down, intending to pick it up, but something else caught his eye. He leaned over and plucked it from the ground, stared.

It was a book, or part of one. The edges of the cover were frayed and seemed as though they had been burnt. He flipped it open and saw that the pages were damaged even worse. The ink of the words was running freely down the page, dripping off the corners and splashing against the floor. Already a substantial puddle of ink had formed on the carpet, rapidly coagulating.

Which was not a thing ink did.

He ran his hand across one of the pages. The ink was blood-warm under his thumb.

All at once he realized what he was holding, and with a cry of surprise he dropped it to the floor. It landed right back in the growing puddle.

Adrenaline rushed through him; his heart raced. Trying hard to keep from panicking, he reached down, caught the Arc Edge, and strapped it to his back. Then, forcing himself to move deliberately, Rue made his way to one of the doors, drew in a deep breath, and shoved it open.

He took a single step out into the hallway and stopped.

The hallway ended. There was perhaps a foot of space jutting out of the room, after which point the hall itself simply crumbled away, disappearing into a black abyss. Experimentally, he knelt down at the edge of the platform and reached down, his hand passing through the emptiness.

No; not quite emptiness. As his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he realized that there were pinpoints of light below him, like little stars glittering in the distance.

Like stars.

He looked up. His heart clenched.

All around him there were points of light, swaths of it, patterns and chaos all mingling in a celestial veil. He could make out familiar constellations, and constellations that felt like they should be familiar. Overhead, a particularly clustered bank of stars lay in a swath across the sky.

And even as he watched, other stars were being formed, and more than just stars; clouds of color blossomed at the edge of his vision, shooting stars arced across the infinite sky, and even below him, down the abyss, he realized that there was something more. The massive edge of a planet's horizon came into view, dimly illumined by the forming stars and nebulae.

He turned and looked up. His door stood in the midst of infinity; above and around there was naught but endless space.

He walked back through the door and closed it behind him. He shut his eyes. He forced himself to breathe.

He looked back up.

Before him, the room was fragmenting and breaking, chunks of its ceiling and floor suddenly floating free in the celestial abyss. He watched, silent, as the rest of the floor continued to crumble away in bits and pieces.

He stared. He tried to understand. He couldn't.

He closed his eyes, leaned against the door, and allowed himself to slide to the floor. He sat there for a moment, unmoving, before giving up and pressing his head into his hands, squeezing his eyes shut, whispering to himself.

"I destroyed the Book."

He felt cold.

"I destroyed the Book," he repeated. His eyes stung. He shook. "I destroyed the Book. I destroyed the Book. I– I destroyed a Relic. I–"

He clenched his fist, felt his nails dig into his palm. Tears ran down his face. His heartbeat hurt against his chest.

He looked up again and blinked until his vision cleared.

"I have to get out of here."

He forced himself to his feet. His legs were shaky and weak, but he managed to balance himself and look ahead. The disintegrating room lay out before him, and beyond that the spread of the cosmos. Directly ahead of him lay the destroyed fragments of the room itself, floating in the air as easily as though they were on water. Floating within stepping distance of each other.

A path.

To where? He didn't know. He didn't care.

He checked that the Arc Edge was strapped tight to his back, braced himself, and headed out into the void.