“It is,” Vaana said.
“Then maybe, in all this we can find evidence of his true purpose as well as where he went,” Wes said.
“Fine.” Vaana stomped past the pool to join Lorelei among the tables. “What are we looking for?”
“Letters, notes, anything, really,” Lorelei said.
Vaana sifted through the stacks of papers on the table, scanning one at a time then slamming it down into a stack and moving to the next. After a few moments, the pile had grown.
The others had spread over the cave, searching through the boxes and other tables. With a sigh, Lorelei skimmed the books on the table. Most didn’t have titles, and they proved to be journals. Some contained notes about various magical workings, mainly summoning and binding. Her gaze paused over the sketch of a being with the head and torso of a female and the lower body of a spider. That had to be Arachne.
Little is known of the origin of the Spider Queen. Legends say that she was created by Lilith, the Succubus Queen, in order to steal the hearts of faerie. Arachne is unable to shift her lower spider half but is able to spin a web of lies and deceit that only the strongest minds or most powerful magic can break through unless Arachne herself chooses so. She uses this web to draw faerie to them so she can steal their hearts. Those whose hearts she has taken become her puppets. Unfortunately, these souls are lost once their hearts are taken.
Lorelei flipped several pages to the depiction of a four-armed female with some sort of jewel in her forehead.
That is Abraxes, Murgleis whispered. My creator. I have not seen her since before Kurnach.
Creator? Like she forged you as a sword?
She is The Forger in Infinite Fire.
“Damn,” Vaana muttered, jerking Lorelei out of her conversation with Murgleis.
“Find something?”
“Just a letter from one of the priests in Kirkwall asking the Lord of his progress with his summoning endeavor.” Vaana held out the letter.
Lorelei took it and scanned it.
Lord Zaos,
I am writing you for an update as you have not reported in for several weeks. How goes your effort in claiming the Aether of the sea god? Remember, much glory awaits you in the Empress’s name, perhaps even a governance over the lands recently claimed by the Empire here in the West. Contact us immediately with your progress.
Sincerely,
Father Vallio, Tradition of Water
“Hmm, this appears a bit damning,” Lorelei said. “Though it doesn’t say they were aware of his efforts of Apotheosis.”
She handed the letter back. Vaana stared down at it and bit her lip. For an instant, she didn’t seem like the confident lady she had been since they’d met. Lorelei put her hand on Vaana’s shoulders.
“Hey, you still have us,” Lorelei said.
Vaana shot her a glare and pulled away. She hopped off the dais and stomped across the cavern into the darkness.
“Good going, Lorelei,” Lorelei muttered to herself.
She glanced back at the table and froze. Vaana had made a considerable dent in the papers. Where the papers had been strewn haphazardly was a small medallion made of onyx on a chain. It had a tall-legged bird with its head ducked beneath its wings which were spread in the shape of an umbrella.
The Black Herons.
Lorelei gasped and grabbed the stack Vaana had made. She tore through the papers for any missive about them. They had to communicate somehow. If Lord Zaos was one of them, there had to be more proof. After sifting back through the stack she set the papers down, fighting the urge to scream.
Nothing.
Among all the other damning evidence of the horrible things he did, Zaos kept nothing on the Black Herons. Still no proof. The insignia on the swords wielded by one of the Herons hadn’t been enough. This medallion wouldn’t be, either. She needed more. She needed names.
At least she had something now. If she could capture Zaos, she would have a member of the Black Herons.
“Find anything on the binding?” Amara asked, coming up behind her.
“No.” Lorelei waved to the stack of books. “It’s a lot to look through, though.”
Amara pressed her lips together. “The longer we spend here, the more time Zaos has to get a bigger lead.”
“You’re chasing after him?” Lorelei turned and stepped closer to her. “Can I come with you.”
Amara smiled and rested a hand on her shoulder. “You have your own quest.”
Lorelei held up the medallion. “This is my quest. He is one of the people I’m looking for.”
“What about your allies?” Amara pointed to Vandermere and Wes still searching through the crates. Vaana leaned against the wall with her arms crossed. “Would you abandon them?”
Lorelei’s grip tightened on the medallion as heaviness filled her chest. “But finding the Black Herons, proving they exist, is what I set out to do. I can’t just abandon this.”
“Who is to say your allies’ troubles aren’t connected?” Amara nodded to the table. “Haven’t you found connections already?”
Lorelei glanced at the others and bit her lip. Amara had a point. They’d only stopped in Ebonshire in trade for passage from Wes’s leader. If they hadn’t, she wouldn’t have found out about Zaos Nematona. He was connected to the Elemental Order and they were on the run from them due to Vaana’s predicament.
Lorelei sighed. “All right. But, would you contact me if you find anything out?”
Amara touched Lorelei’s cheek with a gentle smile. “Of course. I’m not leaving yet, however. We still need to free Lyr.”
Lorelei turned to the waterfall and the figure within it. “Well, I could try what I did with you, though that had a major backlash. Like it flung me against the wall.”
“I think I can aid with the backlash,” Amara said. “I can dampen it”
“Why can’t you do it yourself?” Vaana crept closer to them and the circle.
“Its crafting is made to bind creatures like me. It’s also made to repel magic from us. However, he couldn’t block faerie magic as he needs to access it.”
“That means Vaana can’t help either, because of the whole god thing,” Lorelei said. “If she was so inclined.”
“Which I’m not,” Vaana said.
Amara nodded. “Her essence is bonding with the gods inside her. It would be detrimental.”
“What about either of you?” Lorelei turned to Vandermere and Wes. “Any chance one of you has been hiding magic?”
Wes Looked up from the crate he was digging through and shrugged. “Sorry. I leave magic to others. Unless you need me to turn into a fish and swim around in there.”
Lorelei sucked in a breath. Phooka could turn into all kinds of animals, but she always thought more on the cats, dogs, or birds. She never really thought about sea creatures.
“I wouldn’t advise that.” Vandermere straightened up. “As for me, I have enough with my visions. I don’t wish to delve in the arcane arts.”
Lorelei sighed and stared up at the swirling water. “That leaves me, then. I’m going to need something to house the Aether in. I don’t think the heartstone I have will hold much more. It’s still filled from when I freed Amara. I don’t want to risk overfilling it.”
She still remembered her professors drilling into her head the dangers of overfilling vessels with Aether. They tended to explode spectacularly.
Wes raised a finger and opened his mouth. He shut it, bounced to a bag near the crate he’d been searching, and pulled out a crystal. It was white blue and translucent with branching shards so it looked like a frozen flame.
“I was going to claim this heartstone.” Wes sauntered to Lorelei and held it out. “But I guess, if you need it.”
“Thank you,” Lorelei said.
She took the heartstone and ran her fingers over the smooth planes. The tip stretched the length of her forearm. It didn’t hum with Aether, but it was large enough to hold a vast amount.
“I think this will work,”
she said.
Amara touched the ground and chanted in an inaudible whisper. The ground shook and rumbled. The stone of the cave seemed to become liquid and rose up to create a wall waist high.
Lorelei gestured to her comrades, and they hurried over to join her and Amara.
“Sing your song,” Amara said. “I’ll raise the wall when the backlash hits.”
Lorelei nodded and drew in a deep breath. Her voice started off soft and hesitant but gained power with each verse. She focused on the closest spike and willed the Aether it held to transfer into the heartstone. It flowed slowly, like sludge in a dam. Her voice rose and she gave a tug. With an inaudible pop, the energy entered the crystal. The metal of the spike corroded to a dark reddish brown. The other staves lit up with a high-pitched wail.
“Now!” Lorelei called to Amara.
The wall rose up around them, forming a semi-circle. The wail broke with the shattering of metal and the rushing of water. It crashed against the wall, causing it to shake, and flowed past them. After a few seconds, the sound of water calmed and only the splash of the waterfall remained. Amara whispered a soft chant and the wall crumbled.
Where the circle of spikes had created a standing surface of water, it had now lessoned to the waterfall flowing through the center of it. Stars twinkled in the night sky that could be seen from a large portion of the hole in the ceiling.
In front of the pool that the waterfall flowed into, a male stood with glowing sapphire eyes and wet, copper hair streaming down his shoulders and waist. Power radiated from him.
Lorelei sucked in a deep breath as her heart pounded. They were in the presence of a god. She didn’t know whether to bow or not. She settled for giving him a respectful nod as his gaze swept over her. He stiffened as he looked at Amara.
“Amara,” he said in a melodious soft voice. “I did not expect you to be the one who freed me.”
“Technically, I only helped.” Amara pointed to Lorelei. “She did most of the work.”
He turned his attention back to Lorelei. “To whom do I owe my thanks?”
Lorelei cleared her throat. “Lorelei ap Moura, at your service…sir…”
He chuckled, a warm sound that tickled like sea foam against her skin. “You may call me Lyr.”
“I wasn’t the only one.” Lorelei waved her hand at her companions. “Everyone fought Lord Zaos…He’s the one who captured you.”
“Oh, I remember him well.” Lyr’s voice grew cold and harsh.
“Pardon me, Lyr.” Wes stepped forward. “How long have you been captured?”
“For me, but a short moment. To the faerie, years.” He sighed. “Which means my faithful have been without me. I must return to them. However, should you need assistance, you may call upon my people, the Maren.”
Lorelei gasped. The Maren pirates had been a thorn in her father’s side for as long as she could remember. They roamed the seas, raiding and looting any merchant ships that had the ill fortune to come across them. Many of the sailors told tales of the Maren’s ships just appearing out of nowhere. One even swore she saw the pirate ship emerge from beneath the water itself.
Still, having pirate aid could be useful.
“Thank you, Lyr,” Lorelei said.
He bowed and dove into the pool of the waterfall, disappearing beneath the surface. Lorelei stepped forward, but nothing remained in the dark depths.
“He’s gone. And I should be on my way as well.” Amara rested a hand on Lorelei’s shoulder. “Be well.”
“And you,” Lorelei said. “Let me know if you find anything about the Black Herons.”
Amara nodded, stepped back, and spun away from them. She took a running leap towards the opening of the waterfall. In midair her body shifted. Feathers sprouted from her skin, and her arms became wings. In seconds, she’d taken the form of a small owl. With a hoot, she flew up through the hole.
Lorelei turned to Wes and held out the heartstone. “Here. You can keep it.”
He raised a brow. “Really?”
“Your job was just to sail us along the river. You didn’t have to come with us,” Lorelei said.
“I wasn’t going to do nothing while this town was suffering,” he said.
“Still, it could help you,” Lorelei said.
Wes took the crystal from her with a small smile. “Thanks. You’re not too bad, for a sidhe.”
Lorelei grinned at him. “You should be more thankful to me.”
He shrugged. “Eh, I’ll buy you a drink.”
Vaana spoke for the first time since Lyr had been freed. “Now that those gods are gone, we should see what damage has been done to the town.”
“I suppose we’re going to have to go back the way we came,” Lorelei said with a sigh.
“Not necessarily,” Vandermere said.
He walked around the waterfall to the back wall and ran his hand along the surface. He pressed against it with both his hands and a section slid into the wall and to the side with the scraping of stone.
Lorelei gasped and strode to Vandermere. The other side held a tunnel at an incline.
Wes came up behind them and gave a soft whistle. “Zaos really loves secret passages.”
“It makes sense if you’re doing heretical things,” Vaana said as she joined them.
“Let’s go,” Lorelei said.
They traveled through the tunnel until they reached a small opening. After a bit of climbing up, they found themselves surrounded by ebonwood trees. Night had fallen, making it difficult to see. Without much to say, they started their trek back to Ebonshire.
When they reached the town, they came to a halt. Lorelei’s heart twisted into knots.
Half the citizens of Ebonshire lay strewn about the streets, dead. All victims of Lord Zaos and his pet Sluagh.
24
They stayed in Ebonshire for two more days to help the remaining town members with their fallen, as well as to replenish the ship with supplies.
They also carved out some time to loot Lord Zaos’ manor. Lorelei took several of the books she’d seen in both his study and hidden lab. It had useful information about Sluagh as well as gods. The way her journey had been going, she would need as much knowledge as she could get.
After the two days, their welcome in the town had waned. Most of the remaining people grew restless and blamed them for what had happened. Even though they hadn’t been in the town when Arachne had turned half the town into her puppets, Lorelei and her companions had been the catalyst for the loss. They set sail before dawn with Wes at the wheel.
Lorelei leaned against the rail and stared down at the churning waters. Dawn had brightened the sky into a purple-blue hue and that color seemed to reflect in the river. They reached a confluence where the river met with a smaller stream. Wes leaned into the wheel as the ship hit a small rough patch of water.
Vandermere emerged from below deck and strolled towards her. She gave him a weak smile. It was the best she could muster. A heaviness had weighed on her chest since she had seen the death toll of Ebonshire.
“We are not to blame for the events that transpired in Ebonshire,” Vandermere said. “You shouldn’t hold yourself responsible.”
“I know.” She turned her back on the river and leaned against the railing. “But, wouldn’t they have been better off if we hadn’t meddled?”
“They would have continued to live the lie,” Vandermere said. “Those people were already dead, thanks to the Sluagh.” He shuddered and crossed his arms over his chest.
“As a sidhe, it is our duty to look after the other faerie,” Lorelei said. “How did any of us help with that? Will that town even survive?”
“Wes has sent a message back to the Serpents. They will be sending reinforcements to assist Ebonshire,” Vandermere said.
Wes has sent a message back to the Serpents, letting them know his people weren’t replying because they had been dead, and under Sluagh control. Zaos’s machinations had left the town in chaos. The corner of Lorelei’
s lip lifted in a half-hearted smile. The Serpents would have someone there to pick up the pieces soon.
Lorelei shook her head as she stared down at the deck. “Is this how the sidhe treat their people? This is our legacy?”
“Some use their power over the other faeries as an abuse,” Vandermere said. “Others are different. They try to make circumstances better.”
Lorelei raised her head to watch the passing clouds. “I always wanted to be good enough for my parents to accept me. To climb out of Freya’s shadow, but maybe I should be striving for something else.”
“What would that be?” Vandermere asked.
She wrapped her arms around herself. “I don’t know. The laws of the Quorum—hell, the Elemental Order—should have prevented Zaos from summoning that Sluagh.”
“Just because the laws exist, doesn’t mean that they will be followed.”
Lorelei nodded. “And he even seemed to have the Order’s blessing on his actions.”
“Perhaps uncovering the truth of the Order is something you should be striving for,” Vandermere said.
Lorelei’s lips quirked in a smile. “Well, we were already searching for the truth about the gods, so why not?”
Vandermere patted her on the shoulder. “It’s a beginning.”
She stepped away from the rail and stretched her arms above her head. “I think I’m going to see what can be had for some breakfast.”
“That sounds like a good plan,” he said. “I think I’ll join you.”
As the sun dipped below the horizon, Lorelei took the wheel from Wes. He nodded his thanks as he turned to head below.
“Wes, I’m sorry for what happened in Ebonshire,” Lorelei said in a rush. “You weren’t supposed to be caught up in it.”
He stopped and shrugged. “I’m fine. At least I survived. I can’t say the same for half that town. It seems to happen a lot when sidhe are involved.”
“Zaos is a bad example of my people,” Lorelei said. “He abused his power. And he will pay.”
Wes spread his arms wide. “He seems to have gotten away with it. Things like what he did are why the Serpents exist. The ones in power are corrupt and no one looks out for us little guys.”
Song of Shadow Page 19