“Your father is right,” a woman’s voice said from the opposite side of the bed, and Grigg looked over at her with a thankful smile.
Lissara, Wyand knew at the sound of her voice, Grigg’s wife. At the thought, another onslaught of memories and sensations pressed into Wyand’s mind that explained what this woman truly meant to Grigg. She was incredibly beautiful, with shimmering green eyes and straight brown hair that hung just below her shoulders. Wyand knew from Grigg’s experience that her hair carried the wonderful scent of vandula blossoms, like a breeze drifting through a field of the flowers near harvest. Wyand focused beyond the thoughts for now, although he did note that many of them in the months before Taerius’ birth were incredibly pleasant.
“The Venerates needed Ferran somewhere else,” Lissara explained sweetly. “He’s doing something very important, I’m sure of it.”
She’s lying, Grigg and Wyand thought in unison, but her words seemed to at least bring a temporary end to the inconsolable crying that had filled their quarters since Last Calling.
“Will I see him again?” Taerius asked hopefully, rubbing the remaining tears from his weary eyes.
“Venerates willing, it will be so,” Lissara said with a loving smile. The boy seemed satisfied with that answer and nodded a head heavy with sleep. Grigg and his wife pulled the blankets up under Taerius’ chin, then took the small, flickering torch with them as they left the room.
“Ferran makes twelve,” Grigg whispered as he and Lissara reached their room. “And that’s not even counting the adults who are missing. That number is nearing twenty as of today.”
Lissara frowned and stared into the torchlight. “The Venerates must have a reason,” she said quietly. “But for so many people to go missing at once….”
“Hamel has been gone three days,” Grigg said sadly. “I don’t think he’s coming back either.”
Lissara’s brow furrowed deeply as she closed her eyes. A moment later she blew out the torch, plunging the room into darkness. Grigg knew it was because she didn’t want him to see her cry, but he could hear her all the same.
Wyand felt Grigg’s presence fade away again, then it suddenly returned with a jolt of emotions that ranged from fear and confusion to outrage. When his vision returned, Grigg stood with close to thirty workers as they all stared angrily at a group of three Venerates near the entrance to one of the mines. It was just after Second Calling, but no one in this crowd was focused on work; they wanted answers.
“What do you mean they’re ‘inferior’?” Ferran’s father, Ranfeir, demanded.
“As we told you before, the children we remove contain flaws that would prove detrimental to Aldhagen’s future,” one of the Venerates explained.
“Where have you taken them?” someone else asked, and the question was echoed by a handful of others. Grigg nodded in agreement, but said nothing.
“They are gone,” one of the other Venerates replied sharply. “Now all of you need to return to your tasks immediately. The offering will not mine itself.”
“Cast the offering!” Ranfeir shouted. “Where is my son?” The workers all shouted then, demanding answers from the group of Venerates. Instead of responding, one of the Venerates lowered the end of his staff until it rested against Ranfeir’s chest. The end began to glow a faint green as the agitated crowd quickly fell silent.
“You wish to be reunited with your child?” the Venerate holding the staff asked quietly as he stared coldly into Ranfeir’s eyes.
“Yes!” Ranfeir shouted, frustrated tears streaking his face. Then, with a look completely devoid of emotion, the Venerate pressed the staff forward slightly and a blinding bolt of green light erupted against Ranfeir’s chest. When Grigg could see again after the flash, he found Ranfeir on the ground fifteen strides away with a wisp of grey smoke emitting from his chest. He wasn’t moving.
Panic swept through the crowd as more and more workers regained their sight. “Are there any other questions?” the Venerate asked, sweeping the glowing staff in a long arc from one person to the next. The other two Venerates had lowered their staves as well, and they, too, scanned for signs of further disobedience. There was a moment of terrified silence, then the people began to hurriedly lift their waiting picks and disperse.
Grigg watched the group of Venerates as he backed away with the rest of the workers. They killed him! he thought over and over. He stared in disbelief at the Venerate that had committed such a horrific sin, then was shocked to see the end of a pick rip through the luminous grey robes that covered the Venerate’s chest. The Venerate toppled forward, a miner’s pick protruding from his back, and the crowd of workers all suddenly stopped where they were to see what had happened.
Standing immediately behind the group of Venerates was Diolna, Ranfeir’s wife. Tears of anger and remorse fell from eyes wide with rage as she reached forward numbly to free her pick from the fallen Venerate. Before a single finger touched the wooden handle, however, two brilliant bursts of green energy sent Diolna flailing through the air until she slid to a stop well past the smelters. No! Wyand shouted. Murderers!
To Grigg’s surprise, four workers rushed past him, their picks already swinging towards the two standing Venerates. Each of the four had lost a child to the Venerates as well, and their hollow eyes echoed with the same pain Grigg had seen in Diolna’s just before she died. A collective shout filled the air from every worker nearby; it was the wordless sound of shared anguish, of desperation, of revolt. The people of Aldhagen had at last reached a point where they could endure no more of the Venerates’ mistreatment. You have to fight too! Wyand screamed. Help them, Grigg! But Grigg maintained a different line of thought as he watched the four workers fall amid blasts from the glowing staves. I need to find Lissara and Taerius, Grigg thought, still continuing to back away. Now.
Dozens of workers rushed in where the first four had fallen, and in seconds the Venerates were completely obscured from view. Flash after flash carried workers high into the air before slamming their bodies against the dirt, but the bursts of light were steadily losing their frequency. Grigg’s shadow darkened the sand in front of him with each deadly blast as he ran back towards the living quarters as fast as his legs would carry him.
Lissara will try to find Taerius once she knows something is wrong, Grigg reasoned as he sprinted past confused workers. If I can get to him, she’ll make her way to both of us. Since Second Calling had just ended, Taerius would be back in the Hall with his learning group for afternoon lessons. Grigg prayed that he could reach his son before the Venerates retaliated for the incident at the mine, but he knew he didn’t have long. It was clear after what happened to Ranfeir and Diolna that the Venerates were prepared to eliminate any worker they chose with startling ease.
As he neared the outer ring of living quarters, Grigg saw a plume of dust swirling up from the base of the Hall. He squinted in the midday sun, and through the haze he spotted the unmistakable glint of the Venerates’ robes in the distance. Not wanting to become wrapped up in the conflict, Grigg turned right and sprinted between the rows of living quarters. He glanced towards the Hall as he passed one of the buildings and found another growing cloud of dust that signaled more Venerates heading his direction. In a panic, Grigg leapt into the nearest doorway and cowered in a shadowy corner.
A low rumble shook the structure as Grigg tried to make himself as small and hidden as possible. There was no way he could know the true size of the Venerate force without revealing himself, and their unified steps made it even more difficult to approximate. To Grigg, it sounded like hundreds, perhaps thousands of Venerates were marching past him to deal with the wayward mine workers. The Venerates’ pounding footsteps thundered inside his head; Grigg shut his eyes, certain one of them would seek him out and punish him too at any moment.
After several tense moments of listening to the Venerates pass, the sound of their relentless march at last faded from Grigg’s ears. He crept out of his hiding place and peered tentatively
out the doorway in both directions. The settling dust along each path was the only remaining sign that the Venerates had been there at all; nothing else moved. Grigg made his way from one building to the next, checking at each corner for additional Venerates. Maybe they all left the Hall, he hoped as he moved closer to the entrance.
“Father!” a hushed voice called suddenly from just behind Grigg’s back. He spun around and spotted Taerius crouching in the doorway of one of the living quarters. With a relieved smile, Grigg rushed to join his son, then he nearly shouted with joy when he saw Lissara standing in the shadows behind the boy.
“Grigg, what’s happening?” Lissara demanded quietly as he embraced them both.
“Conflict,” Grigg replied gravely. “Workers are fighting the Venerates. People have died today.” Lissara shook her head in terrified denial, but Taerius remained surprisingly calm.
“This is a dream,” Taerius said, staring out at the Hall entrance with wonder in his eyes.
“I assure you, son, this is very real,” Grigg said with a worried frown.
“I know,” Taerius nodded. “I mean this is my dream. I saw it.”
Grigg glanced at Lissara who shrugged with confusion. “He’s been right about everything so far,” she whispered. “I don’t know how. He knew to avoid his lessons after Second Calling, he knew exactly where to find me, and he knew we had to wait here until you ran past. He said ‘when the thunder ends, father will find us.’ The Venerates went past, and here you are. He called out to you before he even had time to see that it was you.”
Grigg turned Taerius’ face away from the doorway so he could study the boy. There was an instant where Grigg thought he saw a faint swirl of green light shining in his son’s eyes, but he looked again and it was gone. “Tell me about the dream,” Grigg said softly, but Taerius stood in silence before suddenly darting out the doorway towards the Hall. “Taerius!” Grigg hissed, but the boy didn’t slow. Lissara and Grigg followed hurriedly, desperate to avoid being seen. Taerius came to an abrupt stop at the entrance to the Calling Room and his parents finally caught up with him. “Son, what are you doing?” Grigg asked after taking hold of Taerius’ shoulders.
“Time to go in here now,” Taerius said, then he slipped out of Grigg’s grasp and ran into the Calling Room. Grigg and Lissara followed, both ready to reprimand the boy for running away again, but then they heard the familiar rumble of the Venerates’ footsteps approaching from the upper levels of the Hall. Grigg and his family crouched behind one of the rows of seats in the great circular Calling Room, waiting for the group of Venerates to pass. When it was clear they were gone, Grigg quietly exhaled the breath he had been holding and peeked over one of the seats. The Venerates were already beyond the second row of living quarters and they appeared to be running.
“How did you know?” Grigg asked with a hint of fear in his voice. It wasn’t natural for someone to be able to see events before they happened.
“The dream,” Taerius replied simply.
“Tell us more about it. What else did you dream?” Lissara persuaded gently.
Taerius walked over to his mother and hugged her neck. “You don’t have to go to sleep if you don’t want to,” he said sadly as he twirled a strand of Lissara’s hair between his fingers. Lissara and Grigg exchanged bewildered expressions as they both failed to understand what Taerius meant.
“No one is going to sleep right now,” Lissara reassured Taerius as she tried to comfort him. “What else did you dream?”
“Up!” Taerius exclaimed.
“You want me to pick you up?” Lissara asked, leaning over to reach for him.
“No, up! We need to go up!” Taerius shouted. There was a look of panic in his eyes as he pushed away from his mother and ran back to the Calling Room entrance. Grigg had anticipated that the boy would run again, so this time he was able to catch up to him easily. Taerius kicked and flailed as Grigg scooped him up in a firm grip. “No! NO! Look!” Taerius shouted, pointing in the direction of the living quarters. Grigg maintained a hold on his son, but did as Taerius asked. When he looked beyond the Hall entrance, Grigg instantly understood the boy’s frantic desire to get away.
Five columns of dark smoke extended upwards from unseen fires somewhere beyond the living quarters. The sounds of people shouting and blasts from the Venerates’ staves grew louder every second, until a force of Venerates backed into one of the main pathways leading to the Hall. They stood against hundreds of workers, all of whom carried commonplace tools like picks, axes, and scythes. The same tools that had helped the workers build everything in Aldhagen were now twisted into implements of destruction as they pursued the Venerates. Though the workers easily outnumbered the Venerates thirty to one, each searing flash from a staff brought the balance closer.
Back and forth the battle raged as the simple weapons and overwhelming quantity of workers was matched by the precision and power of the Venerates’ magic. “Up!” Taerius pleaded. “Up!” Grigg denied the boy at first, knowing that the higher levels of the Hall belonged strictly to the Venerates for their mysterious purposes, but then the sound of more Venerates approaching from the lower levels left Grigg with no other option. He looked to Lissara who nodded reluctantly, then they ran together up the spiraling hallway before the fighting could surround them as it spilled into the Hall.
Doorways and light windows rushed past Grigg’s vision in a blur as he ascended higher and higher into the Hall. The fighting sounded distant now at least, he was thankful for that, but Grigg was terrified the Venerates would come looking for workers in the upper levels of the Hall after the main fight ended. If they aren’t already waiting for us somewhere up here, he worried.
The spiraling corridor curved more and more sharply the farther Grigg progressed until it terminated at a final doorway. “This is right,” Taerius said with a smile as they entered the room. The circular space barely stretched ten strides across its diameter, yet the openings that lined the walls made the room feel infinitely larger. Grigg’s breath caught when he glimpsed the lands beyond Aldhagen—lands that the Venerates had always described as containing only death. The landscape appeared incredibly barren, Grigg admitted that, but he saw nothing that indicated death was waiting within each shadow. He spun around and marveled briefly at the horizon that seemed to stretch on forever in all directions.
“Grigg,” Lissara said softly, pointing to something on the wall below one of the openings. Small, strangely curved light windows contained moving images that appeared to somehow capture views from different points around Aldhagen and display them here. Lissara pointed to one of the windows, and in it Grigg clearly saw the entrance to the Hall.
“What magic is this?’ Grigg asked in wonder as he approached the window. He watched as the few remaining Venerates sent out wave after wave of deadly pulses from their staves, but it was easy to see they were hopelessly surrounded. They backed into the Hall entrance when another Venerate fell victim to a well-placed axe blow and the workers suddenly surged forward. After sending out a final flash from each staff, an enormous metal wall suddenly fell across the entryway from some unseen recess in the ceiling. Grigg felt the entire Hall shake when the metal made contact with the ground, and several of the closest workers were knocked off their feet by the force of its descent.
When the dust settled, the enraged crowd quickly lost its fervor as they studied the unexpected blockade. A determined group with picks rushed forward to begin chipping away at the wall of metal, but their swings gained no purchase and dulled quickly. We’re trapped in here, Grigg realized, and from his wife’s expression he knew that she had just arrived at the same conclusion. Then a new thought suddenly took hold of Grigg’s mind.
“We need to hide!” he shouted, searching the room for anything that might conceal them. The Venerates would surely return to the upper levels soon.
“No need,” Taerius said calmly. “They won’t come up here.”
“How do you know that?” Grigg asked, a
ngered by his son’s secretiveness.
“The wall fell and it took the Venerates with it,” Taerius replied. “They went down, deeper than deep, and they will stay there. We’re safe.” Grigg paused in his futile search for a hiding place and listened for the sound of approaching Venerate footsteps. Lissara stood in silence beside him while Taerius wandered happily from one part of the room to another, studying the land beyond the walls as he went. Minutes passed with no sign of the Venerates.
“I don’t think they’re coming,” Lissara whispered.
“It doesn’t make any sense,” Grigg sighed. “Why would the Venerates seal the Hall and go anywhere other than here?”
“I don’t know, Grigg,” Lissara replied. “But I know the Venerates aren’t coming up here. Something is…changing…in the way our son thinks. He knows impossible things, you can’t deny that. Things only a Venerate could know.”
“You think he’s becoming a Venerate?” Grigg asked incredulously.
“I’m saying he’s the only chance our family has of escaping the Venerates and surviving this mess,” Lissara said quietly. Grigg could see the sincerity in his wife’s eyes, but he also noted the terrible fear that lingered behind it. He looked over to Taerius, who was fixated on a blank section of the wall between two of the light windows that showed Aldhagen.
“Son,” Grigg said reluctantly. “What are we supposed to do next?”
“Watch and wait, watch and wait,” Taerius said over his shoulder, his head tilting from side to side as he spoke.
“This isn’t a game!” Grigg said sternly, spinning Taerius away from the empty wall in front of him. When the boy looked up at him, eyes colder than the winter wind shone brightly with swirls of blue and green.
Guided, Wyand realized. He had suspected it based on the boy’s behavior, but this confirmed it. Wyand could feel that Grigg wasn’t familiar with the strange eyes and even stranger words that marked someone as one of the Guided; instead, Grigg was mesmerized and afraid of what he saw when he looked at his son.
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