Realm of Ruins

by Hannah West

  “The one carved on the mother-of-pearl tablet. At least, I know what language it is.”

  I halted and turned. “It was poking out of my bag…you did that, didn’t you? I was helping you and you looked at my things?”

  “That’s your response? You don’t want to know what it is?”

  Breathing deep through my nose, I marched back to him. “Of course I want to know.”

  He turned his profile to me and took his time with a deep swig of golden ale. “It’s the tongue of the sea folk.”

  “As in…people who live by the sea?” Kadri ventured skeptically.

  “People who live within the sea.”

  Kadri and I exchanged mystified expressions. An echo of Devorian’s haunting hums and whistles flitted through my mind. He had said he could speak all languages known to humans, yet this one had thwarted his gift.

  “They went extinct centuries ago.” I said. “How would you know it’s their language?”

  He lifted his elicrin stone by the strap. It thudded against his hard chest when he released it. “Visions of the past.”

  As he indulged in another deep gulp, I connected this revelation to the fit that had overcome him while I treated his wounds. “Do you know anything else about the writing on the tablet?” I asked. “Your information could save lives.”

  “If you arrange an audience with the Realm Alliance, I might recall a few details.”

  “You’re looking for a reward for information that could help innocent people?” Kadri asked. “How heroic.”

  He threw one long leg over the bench and turned to give us his full attention. “When she found me, I had nothing but an elicrin stone and the clothes on my back. A man needs more than one meal and an able body to survive. I’m sure the Realm Alliance can spare a few aurions if the information is so valuable.”

  The hollow eyes of waterlogged corpses seemed to pierce me yet again, and I bit back the saucy retort that I should have left this boy where I found him. We needed whatever help he could give.

  “All right,” Kadri said before I could reply. “We’ll make sure you get an audience with the leaders and will communicate your expectations.” She took a step closer and jammed a finger in his face. “But do not make fools of us.”

  “No, of course not,” he said, and then turning to me, “Your reputation can’t afford that, can it?”

  I narrowed my eyes at him. If I hadn’t seen the boy’s wounds myself and stumbled upon him by chance, I would have thought he’d orchestrated our encounter. “Who are you?”

  He swung his other leg over the bench and stood head and shoulders above me—startling, since I’d only seen him hunched over or lying prostrate. “Mercer Fye,” he said with the slightest bow of his head.

  “I’m Valory Braiosa…I assume you somehow already knew that.”

  “You did announce your name to the whole tavern yesterday.” He looked at Kadri.

  “Kadri Lillis,” she said with cool arrogance. “Come with us.”

  Her black hair whirled like a cape as she started back in the direction of the coach. Brandar and Kadri’s guard waited for us to pass before bringing up the rear.

  The new addition made for a cramped journey back to the palace. I sat between Brandar and Calanthe on the open-top coach, while Kadri and the newcomer—Mercer, if that was truly his name—were separated by Kadri’s guard, who rested a ready hand on the hilt of his sword by way of warning.

  The domed roofs of the city, the crowds, and the occasional glimpse of the sea offered ample stimulation. However, I couldn’t refrain from watching the boy in an attempt to read him. For the most part, he cast his eyes off to the side and wore a serious expression, but I could feel his gaze when I diverted mine. Our fleeting looks linked just once during the ride—which seemed inexplicably lengthier than our initial journey—and it sparked a visceral throb beneath my ribs. I attributed that to irritation.

  “Let him be my responsibility, in case he turns out a fraud,” Kadri said in my ear when we disembarked. “Take him to my lounge. One of the maids will find him something to wear.” She tendered a mistrustful look at the boy before proceeding through the entry with purpose in her steps.

  “Come with me,” I said to Mercer.

  “To see the Realm Alliance?”

  “I’m meant to help you look presentable first.”

  Once we entered the palace, I slipped the leash from Calanthe’s neck and proceeded at a furious pace. But I was wearing a pair of Kadri’s sandals, which jammed painfully between my toes, and Mercer’s legs were far longer than mine.

  “You have quite the devotee,” he said, drawing even with me as we turned on a landing lined with windows overlooking the sea.

  In the corner of my eye, I saw Brandar mounting the steps below us. “He’s a Neutralizer. I have a very dangerous power that must be kept in check.”

  Mercer didn’t react. Such a comment should have piqued his curiosity. Unless…

  I whirled on him at the top of the stairs. “But you already knew that, didn’t you? In fact, you seem to know a great deal. When I wondered whether healing was your gift, you countered with a question as to whether it was mine. But as I don’t wear an elicrin stone, how did you know I possessed any gift whatsoever? And you said I had announced my name at the tavern, but I gave them my mother’s better-known name of Ermetarius. Unless word of my misfortunes had met your ears already, you ought to have had no idea who I was.”

  “I told you, I have visions of the past, usually of eventful moments,” he said, taking the last two steps. “The past could mean centuries ago or a fortnight ago.”

  “So, you’re saying…you’ve seen me in one of your visions?” I asked. For some reason, it felt bold to look directly into his eyes.

  “You have had an eventful fortnight…”

  I charged onward toward Kadri’s room. “Yes, I have. And now that I know you are aware of my struggles, there’s simply no excuse for your toying with me and exploiting me as you have. If I hadn’t found you only because I stopped to take a piss, I’d think that was your aim all along.”

  We reached the entrance to Kadri’s lounge. I shoved open the doors and fought the inclination to slam them in his face.

  “My aim was not to toy with you,” he said calmly as we entered the domed room of colorful cushions and drapery. “People who are not born into privilege are trained for self-preservation. I’ve been selling information from my visions since before I even became an elicromancer, when they were weak and vague. It’s how I’ve survived.”

  Resentment tempted me to interpret his presumptions about my privilege as an insult, but he wasn’t wrong.

  “Encountering new people usually triggers visions,” he went on. “I know a little something about most people I meet. You are not unique in that respect.” He had been soaking in Kadri’s lush decor, but now he looked at me. “You did find me by chance. And thank fate you did.”

  Was that so hard? I wanted to ask. But instead, I took a deep breath and glanced up to find a maid plumping the cushions.

  “Do you need anything, Mistress Braiosa?” she asked.

  “Kadri said you could help find this young man something suitable to wear for an appearance before the Realm Alliance.”

  “Gladly.” The maid smiled at Mercer and left the room.

  I approached a gilded tray holding a variety of beverages and looked out across the balcony. In the bay, the memorial ship was returning to shore with black flags flying from its mast.

  “Wine?” I asked, stuffing down the tendrils of dark feelings that lurked in my spirit.

  “No, thank you.”

  I poured myself a glass, looking askance at him. “How long have you been an elicromancer? I’ve never seen you at the academy.”

  “Not long,” he said. “I wasn’t taught at the academy.”

  “‘Not long’ could mean anything to an elicromancer.”

  “I would have…I’m—I’m eighteen,” he stammered.


  “If you didn’t go to the academy, you must have been trained by a certified instructor.” I sat on a beet-red cushion and folded my legs. “Who was it?”

  His expression turned opaque. “You wouldn’t know him.”

  “I’ve met most of the instructors at some time or other. They tend to orbit around the academy—”

  “He’s not…part of all that.” Mercer’s nostrils flared. His smoldering eyes seemed to beg me not ask any more questions.

  “Fine, don’t tell me any more. I have enough on my plate without the obligation to report you to the Conclave.”

  Even as I said it, I knew I would never do such a thing. The Conclave used to feel like a neutral entity in my life, a hurdle to clear on the path to becoming an elicromancer. Now the institution felt like a suspended axe poised to land on my exposed neck. One wrong move and the axe would drop.

  “You should at least register with the Conclave, if you haven’t yet. They could confiscate your elicrin stone if they don’t deem your training ‘proper.’”

  “I’ve been very well trained,” he said.

  That seemed to be the end of our discussion.

  Kadri’s maid returned and set clothes for him behind a semisheer partition. Mercer stepped behind it and wriggled out of his shirt, revealing sculpted arms and a strapping back. Though I’d already been acquainted with his bare midriff, my face warmed and I stalked to the balcony. But the image lingered long enough for me to note the difference between muscles like Ander’s—formed by favorable lineage and combat lessons—and those like Mercer’s, which, by appearances, had been built by hard labor of some sort.

  He soon joined me on the balcony, sporting a light green tunic with golden trim, and new leather boots. “Shall we?”

  “Yesterday at the inn, you said I could do more than destroy. What did you mean?”

  He slid a finger into his stiff embroidered collar. “You saved me and cleaned my wounds with gentle hands. If you want me to praise your altruism for the Realm Alliance to hear, I’m happy to oblige.”

  “I’m not baiting you,” I said through my teeth. “Just…is that all you meant?”

  A canny look traversed his features. “Only you can answer the question you’re really asking. Stop being a coward. Summon your magic instead of waiting for it to spew out of you like vomit.”

  I scowled at his vulgarity. “I’m forbidden to—”

  “See? That face, there. You shouldn’t be making that face when you invite it out to play. My visions showed me sadness and anger when your power emerged.”

  “You’re suggesting if I merely smi—”

  “I’m saying your magic must emerge on your terms,” he said. “Now, are we going to see the Realm Alliance?”

  ERCER and I did not speak as we descended to the communal chamber, pursued by the long-suffering Brandar.

  Kadri and Fabian waited outside the entrance. “Your uncle Prosper is here,” Kadri whispered when we approached. “He convinced them to hold a special vote on extending the age of surrender for elicromancers. He argued they should allow eighty years’ possession of elicrin stones instead of fifty. He said yesterday’s disaster reinforces how much mortals need elicromancers. They’re voting on it now.”

  I glanced inside the chamber and found Uncle Prosper standing in favor of the vote he’d initiated. He looked as joyless as the day he had watched Ivria leave him forever. I could feel the tightness of his grief squeezing my own chest.

  Diverting my attention to counting heads, I noted that Prosper lacked one vote to succeed. A mystifying relief swelled within me, stalked by guilt. Why wouldn’t I want each member of my clan—save Melkior—to enjoy the luxury of long life? Neither Prosper nor Ander had wronged me, even if they believed I had wronged them. Prosper had sagely recused himself from my hearings.

  “What’s wrong with my brother?” Kadri whispered.

  Rayed appeared ill at ease, wetting his lips, his deep brown eyes opaque. He stood, turning the vote, with a concise nod to no one in particular.

  “That’s a bit of a twist,” Kadri said. “He voted against the last extension and it failed.”

  “That was before,” Fabian said, scooping back his straight black hair.

  Kadri cast a sideways glance up at her betrothed, whose sun-bronzed features were flat with ambivalence. To a young man who had barely begun to take advantage of his half-century aging pause, a few additional decades didn’t mean much yet. But I knew older elicromancers would celebrate the news.

  I wondered how Grandmum would have voted if she hadn’t been off chasing fairies.

  “The majority rules,” Queen Jessa concluded. “The age of surrender will be eighty years from the day an elicrin stone is received…pardon me, was received. And as before, that is without regard for periods of confiscation based on conduct.”

  “I think we can go in now without interrupting,” Kadri said, leading the way. Uncle Prosper averted his iron-gray gaze and brushed past me to leave. I would never again be his beloved niece, his daughter’s dearest friend. I was no better than her murderer in his eyes.

  “Valory.” Queen Jessa pulled me aside. “It will please you to know that Prosper asked for lenience on your behalf. He agreed we should focus more on adapting to a world without the Water than on punishing you for the lack of it.”

  “He did?” I asked, warmed by the vestiges of familial allegiance.

  “But he also suggested you distance yourself. The Realm Alliance needs every Neutralizer at our disposal right now, Brandar included. So we’re sending you to live at Darmeska with your mortal relatives and forbidding you to practice magic. As the academy is dissolving, Professor Strather requires new employment. We have agreed that she will be your guardian, alerting us each time your power manifests. It’s a more lenient sentence than some preferred….” She sent a glance toward the side of the room where Glend Neswick and Mathis Lorenthi sat. “And I suggest you accept it without resistance.”

  “Permanently?” I asked, exhausted by being treated like a double-edged blade with a hilt of thorns.

  “For the foreseeable future.” She touched my shoulder. “This is the best thing for you, dear. We understand you are of marriageable age and that it will be difficult to find a match away from court; we will allow you to return to Arna for holidays and special occasions, and of course, if a betrothal is arranged, we can revisit this.”

  Of all potential complications, marriage was furthest from my mind. Clearly, Queen Jessa had already discussed this arrangement with my mother, whose foremost priorities proved predictable and evergreen.

  “Brandar and Professor Strather will escort you to Darmeska in three days’ time, once the latter has made proper arrangements—”

  “If I can prove that my power can do anything besides rend and destroy,” I interrupted, “may I continue practicing under Professor Strather’s supervision? If my magic becomes dangerous, she can intervene—”

  “I suppose if…” Queen Jessa’s lips flooded white as she locked them together, glancing warily at her colleagues. “If you were able to prepare a demonstration for us before you depart, I might have a chance of convincing the others. But you must not cause harm and Brandar must agree to supervise. Tell no one but him that I gave you permission to practice.”

  “Thank you,” I whispered.

  Queen Jessa swept back to her place. Kadri waved me to the third row where she and Fabian were seated.

  “What was that about?” Kadri asked.

  “I’m being banished in three days’ time,” I whispered. “To Darmeska.”

  Kadri scowled. “I hoped you could stay here, but I suppose you’re grateful the punishment isn’t worse.”

  Queen Jessa summoned Mercer to the floor. I had stood in the belly of the mosaic sea serpent; Mercer straddled its neck as though poised to conquer it. He crossed his hands behind his back in a stance of casual readiness, looking important.

  “My son’s bride tells us you have valuable information, Si
r Fye,” Queen Jessa began.

  “Yes, Your Majesty. I met Valory Braiosa on her travels yesterday and saw the runes on the tablet she carried. I don’t speak the language, but I recognized it as the tongue of the sea folk.”

  Skeptical murmurs echoed off the walls of the chamber. On the other side of Kadri, Prince Fabian’s bland expression gave way to curiosity. He stroked his chin and leaned forward.

  “How do you know this?” the queen asked.

  “My elicrin magic shows me visions of the past.”

  Jessa looked intrigued. “From where do you hail, Sir Fye?”

  “A village in the mountains of northern Calgoran,” he answered, reticent. “Near the Emlefir Pass.”

  “What else can you tell us?”

  He cleared his throat. “The magic of the sea folk was based on bargains. The sea witches could not perform any magic, big or small, without a trade. It’s possible that the tablet details some sort of contract.”

  “A contract now broken?” Professor Strather asked.

  “It would seem so.”

  “Do you know anything about the Summoners, Sir Fye?” Queen Jessa asked.

  “The Summoners, Your Majesty?”

  “A spiritual order, very secretive. We know only that they worship their ‘Lord of Elicromancers.’”

  Something in the newcomer’s countenance changed, darkened. “I’ve seen visions of a tyrant who once ruled in my region, who built his court in the heart of a mountain. Those loyal to him gave him that very epithet: ‘Lord of Elicromancers.’ There was all but no limit to his power. The people in my village still tell stories about him.”

  Professor Strather tapped her fingernails on her knee. “I’ve stumbled across legends of this tyrant who ruled from within a mountain before,” she said. “A fellow pupil from my time at the academy collected oral tales from the rural north. They speak of widespread terror at his hand, and yet there is no evidence he was ever more than a myth. Mountain-dwellers tell all kinds of tales—”

  “A myth he is not, that I can tell you,” Mercer stated. “But unfortunately, not much more. My visions are piecemeal and outside my control.”