by Kalyn Crowe
Leyla frowned. "How terrible. To hear her ask you to do something and not know what or how." She pushed her hair behind her ears. "Or, what if it isn't a request? What if this isn't just a message?"
"What do you mean?"
"Could it be more like a bit of string on your finger. Maybe Philomena thought it would cause you to remember something?"
I let the charm hang free around Kepi's neck. "I had the same thought about the out of place boots and telescope just now."
Leyla touched the charm on Kepi's fluffy feathered chest. "If my parents helped make this, and it's her voice, Philomena must have given something up. Maybe this is like a locket."
My mouth drifted open. "Of course, a locket for part of my mother. That would explain why Sybil said it held her Attunement, or, well, part of it."
"If the disks are bigger and hold whole souls, do you think my parents could have put part of her soul in it?"
"I can't tell from what I saw on the phylactery scroll, but there was more to read. I need to see it again." I struggled to stand.
She slid her arm under mine. "Maybe in the morning. You're going to work on this to death otherwise."
I nodded once and waddled to the doorway.
Warbled questions echoed behind me.
I turned around. "I will visit again."
Leyla helped gently relock their cages.
Tilly was the last to go back to her nest. She chirped short and rough.
I leaned on her cage door. "I'm sorry. I'll figure this out, I promise."
She curled up on her nest and laid her head down. She looked away with a few slow blinks.
Back at the house, Conrad sat outside on a bench. Full breaths of smoke left his mouth in spirals. "Everyone's gone to bed. I couldn't."
"I'm sorry I ran out."
"Don't be. I brought you into this, took out your ward. I couldn't have measured the impact on you, but I admit, I didn't try. For that, I'm sorry."
A noise escaped my mouth, but he raised his hand.
"Save your strength. We'll need it. I will go to the High Hall with Gunnar tomorrow morning early and try to control any damage Duri did. I should have gone already, but." He leaned on his knees. "What if they came again?"
I sat beside him. "We have a plan. There are souls in the disks; I think the key is figuring out how to retrieve them."
A stream of smoke trailed out his mouth.
I considered more details but said, "If I can locate the Grand Counterbalance, I will find someone who can tell us who is behind all this."
We looked at one another.
I said, "My sister is there."
He nodded and drew on his pipe. "So, a Chimera, is it?"
I played with the soft cuff of Eda's coat.
"I should be more shocked."
"I never wanted to be a heretic's child, everyone treats you like a monster, but they were right."
He chuckled. "Other people will think of all sorts of things. You might be the princess of the isles, but if people see you as a peasant in the street, that is all they know." He said, "You and Eda talk about souls, bloodlines, Attunement. It's all rubbish. It's what you do with the life you have. How you get where you're going."
"I mean, right, but that other stuff is important, too."
He shifted toward me. "As tools. You need to know how to use what you have, not the other way around." He stood and extended his hand. "Be more than what someone else gives you."
I gulped and took his help up.
Something knocked into us both.
Leyla squeezed one arm around each of us.
Kepi popped up on top of Conrad's head and cooed.
He patted our backs. "We'll find it together."
I leaned back and looked at him.
"First, we get to the hideout tomorrow. Once we're away from spies and ambushes, we'll figure this out. When you find it, I'll see you through to the end of this mess," Conrad said.
I gulped again and said, "Thank you."
"There now, go to bed so I can pretend to sleep on the couch."
✽✽✽
A frantic knock shook the room.
Kepi already stared at the door as I shot up in bed.
Leyla burst out of the twin bed and opened the door.
Kat stood behind it. "Hurry."
I wore a set of her old pajamas and almost tripped in them as I moved to join them. "Are you all right?" Early morning sun streaked the blinds.
"I am." She looked down the hallway and motioned toward herself. "Come on, then."
Kepi peeked around the door frame.
I stuck my head out.
Rhys panted, pale and wide-eyed he leaned on the wall. "They got him."
"Who has who?" I said.
He shook his head. "Something happened with Gunnar. He left before I got up. I went with Conrad. He sent me away when he saw the commotion." He thrust a crumpled paper forward. "With this, never seen a man write so fast."
I took the sweat-soaked parchment.
Leyla's shoulders rose and fell with her breaths. She reached back into the room. Her scroll flew out. "Where is Eda?"
"She'll be here in a moment," said Kat.
I reached out for Rhys. "Here, sit down. I have some water on the stand here."
He plopped on the bed, and I poured him a glass from our decanter.
"Thanks." He held it. The tips of his fingers turned white.
I opened the note and reread it a few times before I said, "Bora has Gunnar."
Kat sank onto the bed by Rhys. The color bled from her lips and face. "I hoped he could avoid a Spiritist if he said the same thing as Duri."
Rhys trembled something awful.
I sat on his other side and took his hand. "It also says to keep everyone away. That and Conrad will argue to free Gunnar." I sucked in a breath. "I can hardly read his writing."
Kepi crawled up and scanned the letter.
Leyla's scroll lit up. "What if they take Conrad, too?"
Eda stepped into the doorway. "He will destroy himself if he sees no other way, as would Gunnar."
"No," Rhys and I said together.
She folded her hands, let go, and fidgeted with her largest monocle. "We must reclaim them."
I couldn't let one of the people who gave me purpose and the other who saved my life die.
"How?" Kat covered her face with both hands and leaned onto her knees. "Apex above, they'll torture them."
I couldn't bear seeing Kat cry. "I'll go." It had to be Gunnar who let Kepi see me. I never thanked him. I never even thought of it. "Only a handful of people might know my face at the High Hall."
"I can go, too." Leyla stood up. "I always enter through the back for work, into the Reliquary."
"This is true," said Eda, but the lines on her face showed her worry. "The girls would not be immediately recognizable by most." She sighed. "Especially to guards and the like."
Rhys' grip tightened on my hand. "You'd do this?" He scanned my face and then turned to Eda. "But whoever is out there spying on us knows their faces, we can't risk them."
"No." She folded her hands and walked into the room. "Yet I trust our enemy feels we indeed would not risk them. Additionally, I am not sure even they saw Bora coming."
"Do you think this is that damned Duri's fault?" he said.
"He is a coward. I understand Gunnar put the fear of Zirore in the boy." Eda frowned. "It is more likely something unfortunate happened during Gunnar's account of events."
Kat sniffed. "She's right. Also, as an Arm leader, only the High Lord can arrest Conrad if there isn't an immediate cause, like for suspicion and not violence. And no one has seen Travere in a week." She slowed her breathes if only a little.
"It is not uncommon for Travere to disappear for lengths at a time in study. Conrad technically has time, but Gunnar does not. That means the rest of us have also run out." Eda cradled her necklace in her hands. "Leyla knows the layout of the under levels."
"Under levels?
" Rhys looked at everyone. "You're going to break him out? You need special keys even from the underside." He stopped. "Mere, they are like the ones I showed you in the Hall, can you pick them?"
I shot him a nod.
He squeezed my hand again.
Kat stood. "Rhys, get your extra gear for Leyla. Eda, do you have any other clothes for Mere, shoes, or pants to match the coat?"
"I believe so."
"I don't think my things will fit a girl," said Rhys
Kat lowered down to eye level with him. "Boy, I'd bet on Leyla in an arm-wrestling match. Now go."
Leyla dressed as a templar and I in full vicar gear. Eda's clothes fit well enough.
Leyla looked a bit small in Rhys's arming coat.
He adjusted the buckles on it. "See, I'm way more buff than the girls." He forced his dry lips into a grin.
I said, "We'll get him back."
"I know." He glanced toward Kat and whispered, "Gunnar knows where Conrad's hideout is. The plan was to go this afternoon after he told the cover story. He won't tell where it is. Gunnar wouldn't want you to risk."
I cut him off and said, "He can take us there afterward then."
He tightened his mouth and nodded.
Leyla's scroll floated beside her. "First, let's check for Conrad."
"Right. Kepi, in my hood. I'm keeping my bag here." I pulled it on and tucked away my hair.
"Good idea. My scroll?"
"There's an inner pocket in the coat," Rhys said.
"I'm sick if anyone asks." She rolled up the scroll and slipped it through her collar.
"Wait." Rhys unbuckled his sword belt and handed it, weapon and all, to Leyla. "Wear this too, for luck, or for using."
She strapped it around her waist and squeezed his shoulder.
We walked outside. Kat wrapped herself in her arms and tried to hide how the stress ate her alive.
Eda gave me a tiny head tilt.
We walked away from the others.
She whispered, "I worry the arrests have only started." Eda took a thin slip of paper from her pocket. "Read it once you are clear of the Hall. Meet us there no matter what you have to do." She held my hands in hers. "After you leave, I will take the others there under disguise, even Tilly and Odion."
"Thank you. Also, I need to see the scroll you found again."
"Of course."
Rhys walked up behind her with the Chimera coop keys. "I'll get Tilly." He swallowed hard. "We'll see you there, Mere. No matter what."
22 - Duress
The High Hall loomed ahead. It blotted out the still-rising sun.
A templar patrol passed us on Mainway. Leyla tilted her head down in reflex but then coughed into her fist and looked back up. With a firm nod, she strode past them.
I followed.
A dull buzz of chaos leaked from the massive ajar doors of the High Hall. Foot traffic in the area slowed as all heads turned toward the sound as they passed.
We slipped through people and made our way inside only to find the once spacious lobby held a thick sea of people. Hunter jackets shadowed only a quarter of the crowd. The rest wore bright templar armor. White coated invokers slipped through the room in an attempt to control the situation. They asked for quiet, but the uproar grew as two familiar figures argued in the middle of it all. A third stood by with caved shoulders and a face bereft of the usual ego.
I felt sorry for Duri.
Bora said stern and stable, "Gunnar Armistead's report was contradictory to the truth. I've explained this well beyond necessity."
"You happened to have a Spiritist handy in a standard debriefing?" Conrad folded his arms.
"Be glad it was only a debriefing." She glanced at Duri. "Three people died to a little-understood threat."
"A threat the Order hasn't taken seriously," he said.
"One brought to our attention by Gunnar. Conveniently."
Conrad motioned toward Duri, "what of his account?"
Bora didn't even flinch. "He is under too much stress for a proper reading."
"Nepotism," shouted someone within the cover of the crowd.
Across the room, a tall templar pointed at Conrad. "He can't even find our High Templar. He was right there but is too busy with his little niece."
"You mean we all were too busy dying. Where were the other templar when our HQ crumbled?" shouted back a hunter.
Another templar crossed her arms. "It's about time you black coats see some death for yourselves."
This comment stirred the crowd into an indiscernible hotheaded mess.
Conrad and Bora boomed in unison, "Enough."
A hush washed over the room.
Bora stepped closer to Conrad. "I have questions enough for Armistead. When I finally have the truth, I trust I will be speaking to a lot more of your lackeys. Including your so-called niece."
He drew back in believable dismay. "So-called?"
"She survived the attack when three trained templars could not. Am I expected to believe she is some paltry farm girl from the south?"
"Your grandson lived." Conrad's voice held a reverence as he bowed his head to Duri. "Nancy told me he defended her with his life. Gunnar Armistead came in near the very end before all attackers fell. Isn't that right?"
Duri gnawed his lip. The shine on his forehead said everything.
If Bora argued against Conrad, she would undermine her precious Duri in front of all these people. If she supported what he said, then she'd diminish her point about me at the very least. One slip in a room this hot, and anyone could get burnt.
She played the third option and stood stalwart and silent, arms crossed tight.
Conrad said, "Surely, you can let Gunnar go under the Duress clause as you're doing for Duri. Two days before further Spiritist examination. He did help your grandson."
"No." Bora's eyes held a fire. "Gunnar is calm and clear. He confirmed you had nothing to do with the attack. It was not a lie, but something is amiss. I am certain we could resolve the issue by speaking to your niece and your band of investigators today. I understand Eda Voclain is no stranger to the process."
Leyla's lips lost their color.
I took her hand.
Conrad pointed straight at the eastern wall. "Enough. Go and release him."
"You can not order me around." She looked down her nose. "I am acting as High Templar as of this morning. Apex rest Ansgar's soul."
He glanced our way and then locked his eyes back on Bora. "Don't write anyone off as dead."
"No wishful thinking will change the fact you and I are peers, for now." She clenched her jaw a moment. "Of course, you may address this with High Lord Travere upon his return."
"When Ansgar returns, he will address this rash behavior himself." Conrad remained steady.
"Rash?"
He grunted. "Listen, I can't go to jail for this, but you can."
She intensified her aghast glare. Bora remained so sure of her actions.
I almost felt jealous.
Conrad sighed. "Free Gunnar."
Bora didn't reply.
I leaned into Leyla. "What he's saying." No one seemed to listen in. "It might be toward us. We can't get him out of here, but he's distracted all these people, and remember, he's safe for now."
She nodded and walked toward the door.
I looked over my shoulder as we left.
Conrad lowered his head in my direction.
A pit opened up in my stomach.
We stepped outside of High Hall and swept down the stairs. A walkway of tiled stones flowed under a small archway eastward. It passed through the first two floors of High Hall's lower obelisk and into a courtyard.
I said to remember Conrad was safe, but the further we left him behind, the worse I felt, and the walk took forever.
Two guards conversed with one another on the other side of the archway. They each acknowledged Leyla with only a dip of their heads.
Every look our way spiked my fear. I hoped my cold sweat didn't bot
her Kepi. She laid curled under my hair in the hood motionless.
We entered the courtyard made of more tile and intricate iron fences on low stone walls. The tiles formed a graceful monochromatic spiral. The massive walls of the High Hall shot up around us, and to our left, a stone wall stood three stories high.
Vicar gathered in a loose group around a set of doors.
"Is that one of the entries to the Reliquary?" I said under my breath.
Leyla nodded.
The courtyard thinned into a narrow walkway between the Hall and the wall behind it. A freshness filled the air like after a spring rain.
Something else permeated this area, too.
I touched the curious wall on our left. "What's behind this?"
Leyla looked back and formed a sphere with her hands and then pointed at her mouth.
She meant the Maw and the Capstone seal. This area felt like a dry day when sparks came off sweater sleeves, but with a particular magnetism.
We entered a dead end with fresh air.
Wrought crossbar gates about waist high blocked arched tunnels to our left and right.
Leyla pointed left.
Through it came a gleam of summer colored light.
She checked the walkway we came through and then squatted beside me. After one last look, her scroll came out. "Vents like these are the only way in from the Hall side of the stone walls around the Maw. They lead to a massive drop off."
I gulped. "I saw from the office, it looked like a deep lake with a sun of its own, but it wasn't clear." I looked down the sky-colored tunnel and back. "We don't have time to linger. How do we get to Gunnar?"
"The other grate, but we might never get another chance. Here." She wiggled one of the bars. "These hold the grates in place. You'd only know about it if you happen to study the plans for the High Hall." She grinned as the bar shifted and then slid down into a channel. "Just in case, you know?"
The gate swung open, and we crawled through.
Her scroll floated beside me. "All the walls are twice as thick as you are tall, and about a quarter of that is lead and steel. There's only one way in at the bottom for the troops to funnel into the Maw."
My fingers grew stiff on the cold stone.
"Ballasts in the top are ready to pour gallons of oil down the walls. There are barrels of the powder used to neutralize Abyss acid that should then release on top."