Paragons of Ether

by Ryan Muree

“What do we do until then?” Clove asked.

  “Lay low, survive,” he said. “Survive a few more days, and I’ll get Stadhold to help. I know I can.”

  “If you’re going to leave, I’d say going now would be smarter than waiting,” Cayn said.

  Grier nodded solemnly, his abyssal eyes searching hers. “I—”

  Emeryss reached up and hugged Grier again—a piece of her that had been missing. “I wish we could have more time together.”

  He wrapped his arms around her, holding tightly. “We will. After this is over, we’ll have the rest of our lives. I promise.”

  She smiled and kissed him again and again. “Kylah keeps watching me,” she mumbled against his lips.

  He lowered her to the ground. “She was one of my matches. When I got Jgenult to agree for me to investigate Avrist and go find these kids, my mother put her on the mission with me. You don’t have to worry—”

  “I’m not worried,” she said, kissing him again.

  “I am. Stay safe.” He kissed her nose.

  “I can’t promise that. I have to help, too.”

  He exhaled against her forehead. “I know. Just be careful. Look out for yourself sometimes, too.”

  She brought her lips to his again, slowly this time, savoring his mouth against hers. His hands slipped down to her waist, pulling her chest and stomach against his.

  “Grier.” Sonora was waving him over to her.

  “I mean it,” he told her before slipping away. “Stay safe.”

  She bit back tears. She’d try.

  “Emeryss?” Kylah said from behind her.

  She spun.

  “Sorry, I didn’t want to intrude, but it didn’t seem right not to introduce myself before we left.”

  She smiled. “Kylah, right?”

  Kylah nodded. “You know that I was supposed to be one of Grier’s—”

  “Yeah, he told me.”

  Kylah sniffled and looked away. “I admire him for standing up for what he wants.”

  Emeryss watched him discussing details of their departure with Cayn and Sonora. “Stadhold is not an easy place to live up to—”

  “I mean, you—his standing up for wanting you. I didn’t get it at first. I thought maybe it was just his first love and maybe a little rebellious nature in him, but after what we learned about the Keepers, and after seeing you in that competition, I get it now.”

  Emeryss shifted her weight from one foot to the other and held her breath.

  “You’re an amazing Caster,” Kylah said. “And I know we don’t know each other, but I really hope we all make it through this nightmare. You two deserve a happy ending out of all this.”

  Emeryss smiled. “Thank you. And I’m sure had things been different, you would have been a really great match for him.”

  “I don’t know about that.”

  “I do. You’re here, and what you’re about to do is just as admirable. I can see why the commanders selected you for him.”

  “Kylah, you ready?” Grier called over.

  Kylah looked back at her. “Good luck, Emeryss. Be careful.”

  “You, too. Look out for him when I’m not there.”

  Grier jogged back to Emeryss and whisked her into his arms. “I love you.”

  She kissed him. “I love you, too.”

  He set her down and let her go. “Think about me?”

  “I’ll try not to.”

  Grier and Kylah disappeared through the door.

  Chapter 29

  Great Library — Stadhold

  Grier looked out the window of the transport airship for the hundredth time and finally caught the rose-colored spires of the Great Library poking above the clouds.

  He and Kylah had to secure a private airship to reach Stadhold safely. He’d just hoped there was enough time to get back and help Revel.

  “Dova said she’d meet us at the landing zone,” Kylah said. “Lawrence, too.”

  Good. He needed all the witnesses he could get.

  “They were able to get the kids settled?” he asked.

  She adjusted her bracer. “She said it hasn’t been easy, but yes. The Ingini slaves that were rescued are doing well, too. Some have taken to helping the Scribes with mundane tasks around the grounds. Seems they’re just happy to be fed and given comfortable shelter.”

  He shook his head. To think Stadhold had been so ignorant. To think that all this time, they could have been more involved, more informed. They could have been helping the Ingini with charitable assistance instead of agreeing to a bitter treaty with Revel.

  “They’ll be in the middle of court again,” Grier said, more to himself than to her.

  “Again?” She half-laughed. “Do you commonly interrupt court?”

  “These days… yes.”

  The airship shook with slight turbulence as the pilot brought it down on the landing zone, and when they got off, Dova and Lawrence were waiting for them.

  “Ready?” he asked Dova.

  She nodded. “I’ll just be outing the entire secrecy of my society, but sure.”

  “It’s the right—”

  “—thing to do. I know. That’s why I’m doing it.” Dova walked on ahead. “Next sigil you get, you need to put that on you somewhere, so you can stop reminding us.”

  Lawrence gave a short nod to Grier, and together they descended the stairs of the landing zone and into the main campus.

  He anxiously thumbed the sigil on his finger. Dova wouldn’t be the only one airing her secrets today.

  Firm. Confident. That’s what he needed to channel. Emeryss had done it. Adalai had done it. He’d even done it before, and he could do it again. He had Jgenult’s support, and she’d support this, too.

  They passed through the two large stormstone doors into the main corridor. Its white columns and arches were so bright and clean, it was irritating to his eyes. Ingini and Revel were fighting their worst nightmares while his people were holed up in their comfortable buildings. They couldn’t throw their hands up and claim it wasn’t their problem any longer. He wouldn’t let them.

  Two Keepers stood on either side of the courtroom doors and stopped Dova.

  Without hesitating, Grier ignored them, cut ahead of her, and pushed the doors open.

  It was all the same players. Scribes and Keepers sat around the middle aisle. Librarian Jgenult and Commander Simon sat at the head table on an elevated dais with their assistants and officers beside them.

  Jgenult had been interrupted mid-sentence.

  “Oh, for crying out loud,” Simon boomed as they made the long walk to the center of the hall. “Do you have a problem respecting court? We have a meeting in session and you—”

  “Maybe you hold too many meetings and don’t actually do enough about it,” Grier said.

  His mother was beside Simon, slowly shaking her head.

  “About what?” Simon roared. “You don’t even know what we’re discussing.”

  “Whatever it is, it’s no longer good enough to discuss things,” Grier countered and turned to the whispering audiences. “You all have heard the reports coming out of Revel, I’m sure. I was there. We all were. We know what really happened, and yet again, the RCA is lying to their people. General Orr is a tyrant grasping for control.”

  Librarian Jgenult cleared her throat. “Actually, Grier, since you’ve been sending the children here, we’ve been discussing that precisely.”

  Grier turned to her and sighed in relief. “Good—”

  “We’ve been addressing how best to navigate the treaty…”

  His chest ached as if he’d been hit with a hammer in training. The force turned to frustration, to rigid muscles in his arms, to the desire to roar at the top of his lungs. “The treaty?” he shouted, a dam breaking loose within him.

  Simon rose. “Watch it—”

  “There is no treaty! They destroyed the treaty the minute they started taking grimoires and sharing them with the Ingini! There was no treaty when they started
kidnapping children and abusing them for scribing! There was no treaty when they kept Ingini as slaves, when they turned on their people and started executing them in the street! There is no treaty!”

  Silence held for several moments.

  He expected some sort of retaliation, but no one came forward. “I came here today to tell you I’m fighting. I’m done talking. I’m done waiting to see if they’ll do the right thing. They’re clearly not capable. The REV are in there fighting for their lives, and I’m fighting for Stadhold and for what Revel is supposed to be. I’m going to do something to help end this, and I’m looking for others to join me.”

  Silence.

  Their eyes went to one another and then back to Grier several times.

  Jgenult cleared her throat and rose from her seat, hands folded neatly in front of her. “Grier, you’ve clearly done a great service to our country, but rallying other Keepers to leave their post to fight against an ally—”

  “What ally?” Grier pressed. “Who exactly is our ally? And what good is an ally if they’re doing everything we stand against?”

  “It’s not that simple. I agree, it’s wrong, but we’re a neutral—”

  “We’re lazy!” he shouted. “No, we’re worse than lazy—we’re complicit. We’re standing by and watching these bullies destroy cities with lies and deceit. They’re shitting all over us, and they can, because they know you won’t lift a finger to do it!”

  “Grier, that is enough!” His mother jumped to her feet and jabbed a finger at him from across the room. “You have destroyed our traditions, made a mockery of this courtroom, insulted the Librarian. You are a disgrace.” Her voice was strained, the muscles at her neck were taut, her lips were a thin line. She was on the verge of coming undone if she hadn’t already.

  Grier scoffed. “Traditions? You really think any of this is about traditions? We just rescued over two hundred children being starved, neglected, and abused by our ally to force them to Scribe—”

  The crowd’s whispers rose in volume.

  “We just saved a group of Ingini that had been captured and used as slaves in the advisors’ homes. And you know what might be even worse about it? They’re not even apologetic about what they’ve done. They know it’s wrong because they’re hiding it from their own people, moving them through underground tunnels.

  Our allies slaughtered an entire town in Ingini just because they didn’t get a piece of technology from them. They’ve manufactured this entire war to scare people, to gain wealth, to gain power, and you’re all helping them do it by sitting here on your hands, pretending that sticking to traditions makes it all okay.”

  His mother wrung her hands. Her facade had broken. “Tradition is—”

  “Quite honestly, mother, you and your traditions can fuck off.”

  Gasps echoed around the room. Even Simon and Jgenult looked taken aback.

  His mother snapped her mouth shut and blinked repeatedly.

  “Little much?” Kylah mumbled under her breath.

  Maybe. But he didn’t care.

  “Truth is the only way through,” he said, taking a deep breath. “I’m sure you all heard about the RCA Ethereal Series. I lied about Emeryss being dead. She’s been very much alive and in hiding because she’s no longer a Scribe.”

  Several Scribes leaned toward each other.

  “As you might have seen, she’s a Caster now. She trained herself, and she does it without grimoires.”

  The room went dead silent again.

  “She was afraid that the RCA would kidnap her, imprison her, harm her family, if they knew what she could do. She was terrified she’d be imprisoned just like she was here—”

  “Grier.” Jgenult had one hand on the table and another to her chest. “We don’t imprison Scribes—”

  “We do. We have.” Grier held his hand out to Dova. “Dova is a locator Caster, and she has something to share with you.”

  Dova stepped forward, greeted everyone awkwardly, and then unveiled the truth of their past to a silent room.

  The Scribes looked stunned, but the Keepers more so. Drawn in eyebrows, wrinkles in their foreheads, set jaws.

  “You think we should negotiate a new treaty,” Grier said. “I’m asking you to stand up and fight. But what is the point of fighting for our country if it’s built on lies? What is the point of protecting Stadhold if Stadhold isn’t the country we know it can be?” He held up his finger with the Burst sigil. “This is an eighth sigil I’ve had carved into my skin. I didn’t even need the Sigilist to do it.”

  The Keepers bent forward in their seats, talking loudly and scrutinizing his finger.

  When Commander Simon or Jgenult had nothing to say, he added, “It’s not a weapon.”

  He pressed the scar.

  Speed of thought. I am at the table in front of Jgenult. Burst!

  Time slowed to a crawl around him. He walked casually to the table and allowed the world to catch up to him.

  Everyone gasped and jumped. Jgenult leaped out of her seat, and Simon had clamored back, extending his shield out automatically.

  Grier fought smiling and turned toward the Keepers. “If you want to actually do something about this war, about what our country stands for, instead of being used by Revel and its kings, I’ll be at the Sigilist’s hut, waiting for those ready to learn the truth about what they can do. I’ll be waiting for defenders of Stadhold.”

  He swallowed and made the long walk down the center aisle and out.

  Grier sipped bitter tea as the moon in the window of Yggrav’s hut shone a bright white.

  All night he’d waited. No one had come. Not even Kylah.

  Yggrav snickered and tapped the edge of her mug. “I would have paid a decent number of tokens to see old Simon freak out over you using that sigil. Did you know that he cried during his whole ceremony?”

  Grier scoffed. “Really?”

  “The whole damn thing. It was annoying.”

  Grier chuckled. “Thanks for letting me stay here tonight. I don’t think I’ll be welcomed anywhere else.”

  She grunted as she slid off her chair and fumbled around her kitchen. “You should be thanking me for agreeing to put sigils on Keepers at the last moment.”

  It didn’t matter though. It seemed he hadn’t moved anyone to fight for Stadhold.

  “It’s okay. I didn’t do a good enough job convincing them. I probably looked crazy,” he said.

  “Look crazy?” She laughed. “No, no, you are crazy. Then again, this world is not normal, these times are too terrible, and it might take a certain level of crazy to make it right.”

  If only he could make it right. Without an army, the REV would be vulnerable, they’d probably lose any battle they attempted. Ingini would probably take advantage of it. Stadhold wouldn’t be able to defend itself alone against Ingini.

  He’d go back and fight, do all he could even if it was just him, but it wouldn’t be enough.

  “Do you still want me to add sigils to you?” she asked him.

  He nodded. “I have some ideas thanks to the tournament in Aurelis. Guess it was good for one thing—”

  A knock rapped on the door.

  Yggrav stopped and turned, smiling a big toothy grin.

  Grier rose and pulled it open.

  Kylah. His chest lightened. Even his shoulders relaxed a little. At least, she’d come.

  “Sorry, we’re late,” Kylah said. “We got held up.”

  “We?” He poked his head out of the door and found fourteen other Keepers, including his brother Garrison, standing beside her.

  “Hey, Little G.” Garrison looked around at the small number that had come with him. “It’s not much, but we came to join your cause and get some more flashy sigils.”

  “You’re all here to get more sigils?” he asked, both surprised and disappointed at the number of Keepers who’d shown up. He’d hoped more would have come.

  Garrison shrugged. “These guys were going to do it anyway. I only came a
long because you finally told mom to fuck off.” He grinned.

  “Yggrav?” Grier called back over his shoulder. “Are you still willing to do this?”

  She pulled up her sleeves, cracked her knuckles, and lifted her white eyes in his direction. “Let’s see what happens.”

  Chapter 30

  Aurelis aqueducts — Revel

  It had been one whole day, and Adalai’s stupid headache had only eased.

  “It’s the most I can do for you,” Nag had said. “It’s a headache. Maybe next time don’t go fighting the general of the world’s best army.”

  The REV’s healer had come up to the shelters to help out with the wounded, but the old woman never gave Adalai an inch to complain.

  Sonora had returned home to keep herself and the baby safe. Jahree, Urla, and Vaughn were recovering in another shelter across the city. She wanted to meet up with them as soon as she could, but it wasn’t safe yet.

  People had been dragged out of their homes, had their closets and extra rooms searched. Any REV found were pulled by the hair onto the street, and their murder was made a public spectacle.

  “It saddens me,” Orr said through the Messenger, “to announce our great King Fhaddwick was killed in the attack on our most sacred tradition—the RCA Ethereal Series…”

  “Hol-shit!” she shouted.

  The other REV shushed her quiet.

  “The REV orchestrated this plot,” Orr continued, “after an escalation of attacks on our advisors, on our resources, and on our families. Our investigations have proven they couldn’t have acted alone. This device I’m holding belongs to the Ingini. It seems REV have become traitors, selling us out to the Ingini to take your country from you. They are the enemy. They must be stopped, and as interim king, I assure you I will do everything in my power to end them.”

  Clove and Mack cursed under their breath.

  “The fear-mongering is intense,” Cayn said.

  A couple of lights flickered, and REV members moved to relight the ether-lamps. What was left of their division had moved underground into a cave and tunnel system Grier’s Caster friend, Dova, had told them about. It seemed the safest place to be at the moment, all things considered. They still had to keep people on watch to make sure Orr didn’t nose around, but it was better than nothing.