Creatures of Light, Book 3

by Emily B. Martin

  No—no, I was not going to have this. I started forward.

  “You stay right where you are,” Mona said, and I lurched to a halt. “Every single one of you.” She shook out a letter in her hand with a snap and held it before her eyes. My whole body seemed to squeeze in on itself—the lost letter Colm had tried to send over the mountains.

  “Gemma,” she began, and then looked up at me. “That’s a curious thing, is it not? Not Official greetings to Queen Gemma Tezozomoc of Alcoro, or even Dear Queen Gemma. Just Gemma.” She gave the letter a flick again and cleared her throat. I was intensely aware of Celeno’s short, rapid breathing behind me.

  Not now, not like this.

  “Gemma,” she began again.

  “I have not heard back from you, but I choose foolishly to believe it’s because no message can make it through Cyprien. I am taking a different approach. I’ve run the risk of telling Mae about my thoughts on the petroglyphs in Scribble Cave. As far as she knows, this is the first time you and I are corresponding. It was the only way I could ensure a reliable messenger without my sister knowing.”

  Ellamae, who had fastened her hand on Mona’s sleeve again, dropped it suddenly, her eyebrows raised. I lifted both my palms and pressed them to my cheeks, wet with hot tears.

  Mona’s eyes continued to burn down the parchment. “Mona is actively moving against Alcoro. By now she has secured the alliance of both Winder and Paroa and has bound us all in a military agreement. She means to move against the Alcoran forces in Cyprien. I have considered telling her a dozen times about the cyphers and our correspondence, but I always stop myself. She’ll only think of them as a liability, something that will encourage Alcoro to lay claim to the lake with even more temerity than before.

  I’ll reiterate that Lumen Lake is a sanctuary for you. If you send me a route in your next letter, whether through Cyprien or around the coast, I will endeavor to coordinate our forces to allow your safe passage.

  I’ll say it again—I’m sorry, Gemma. Nothing went as planned, and I take full responsibility for it. I can only continue to pray for your safety.

  And—should you happen to receive my previous letter, please consider disregarding it. I wrote it in haste and anguish, and I didn’t fully weigh my thoughts. Please excuse my ill-chosen words. I hope it is not the reason I’ve not heard back from you.

  Respectfully yours,

  Colm.”

  The room rang with silence. My gaze was riveted to the floor, my cheeks flowing with tears behind my hands.

  “What was that?” Celeno asked behind me. “What the blazing sun was that?”

  Drawing in a deep, shuddering breath, I took my hands away from my face. I turned to him, realizing in that moment that it was over now, this thing I’d tried and failed to save. The creeping and secrets and false starts had all been for nothing—I hadn’t just broken his trust, I’d burned it and sown it over with salt. Slowly, like moving through water, I went back to his bedside. He physically leaned away from me, the cuff on his ankle shifting under the sheet until it was taut. Numbly I gathered up the letters and placed, them, one by one, in order on the coverlet—page after page of neat, tight handwriting, the s’s swooping in little flourishes.

  I stepped back. Haltingly, Celeno leaned forward, and when he did, the others pressed in, too—Mona and Ellamae, Valien, Rou, with Arlen slowly taking a final position, walking with the haze of a sleepwalker. I stood behind them, my fists clenched together under my chin, eyes shut as I mentally read along with them.

  July 1

  Greetings to Queen Gemma Tezozomoc of Alcoro,

  My name is Colm Alastaire, and I am the brother of Queen Mona of Lumen Lake. I will not do you the disservice of trying to talk around the issue at hand. It has been just over a month since the events here in Lumen Lake, and I recognize the tenuous position of our countries, and indeed the rest of the Eastern World. While my sister is convinced that a conglomeration of military might is our best line of defense, I am aware of the implications of the Alcoran Prophecy and recognize that an impediment to its progress will not be tolerated by your folk. In the interest of preserving peace in my country as well as yours, I feel the need to present a finding that I believe will interest you.

  I have been studying the texts left behind by your folk, including the copies of the Prophecy present in Callais. I was surprised to find, therefore, that the cyphers present in Alcoro bear startling similarity to a set not far from Blackshell Palace. In the Palisades escarpment that separates Lumen Lake from the ridgeline of the Silverwood Mountains, there is a small cave used as a satellite camp by the Silvern scouts. Carved into the back wall is a set of petroglyphs that are almost identical to the ones in Callais. I have included them in full to the best of my ability below, along with the two identical pictorial symbols. We do not study archaic Eastern here at the lake, and there are only a few fragments that I can use to translate them, so I regret that I may have made errors in forming the new cyphers. But I at least can tell there is more to this set than what is present in the fragmented version in Callais.

  I have told no one about this connection. While my sister and the chief Woodwalker in the Silverwood are aware of the cyphers, I do not think they recognize the similarities between the set and the ones of the Prophecy. I submit them to you for consideration and welcome a discourse on your preferred line of action.

  I regret that I do not have the authority to extend a reliable invitation for you to come witness them yourself. As you might expect, the queen is not currently amenable to the idea of diplomacy with the nation of Alcoro. But if you find these marks to be significant to you, I will try to suggest the idea of peaceful talks.

  There may be a question as to why I have sent this letter to you, rather than to the Seventh King. To this I point to a letter of correspondence between yourself and the captain’s wife, the single piece of writing by your hand I have found in the many letters between the monarchy and the colonist army. You conclude the letter by asking her, “I have heard the lake is so large that one cannot see the far reaches, and that the surface may at once reflect every color of the rainbow. Until I have the fortune to see our annexation myself, please indulge me by revealing if my poetic vision of this place is correct or wholly exaggerated.”

  Lady Queen, I write this letter to you as the sun sinks over the distant mountains, which indeed are so far away that they provide only a hazy line between earth and sky. The nearest water reflects the deepening blues and violets of creeping twilight, while farther out the surface shines with the pinks and yellows of sunset. The closest island is casting a shadow of green so deep it is almost black upon the water. And this is not even considering all the in-between colors, which we call waterhue—those shades that mix and melt together to create the spectrum that has no name. Your image of the lake is no exaggeration. The folk of this country are no less complex or worthy of admiration. We are a people united by the waters of our home and the guiding strength of our monarchy.

  I reiterate that I send these with the hope they may clarify the machinations of the Alcoran Prophecy and thus help secure peace for my country and safety for my folk.

  Respectfully yours,

  Colm Alastaire

  August 5

  Greetings to Queen Gemma Tezozomoc of Alcoro,

  I thank you for your prompt reply and am glad to hear the cyphers I sent are of such interest to you. I shall answer your questions as well as I can.

  First, yes, what I have included is the entirety of the carving. If there was more at another time, there are no traces left. I apologize for the illegibility of the second line. I will attempt to return to the site to make another copy, but it may be difficult to do without drawing questions from my sister.

  Second, I have made inquiries to knowledgeable sources in the Silverwood and am quite certain it is not a product of their culture or a forgery based on the set in Callais. The Wood-folk stopped using archaic Eastern around the same time my folk did, and I doub
t the idea of them spending the time and effort to copy something they could not translate into a remote cave wall.

  I thank you for your kind words. While I do not speak for my country or my sister, I, personally, accept your apology. I do not pretend the loss to myself was insignificant, and like my sister, I cannot pretend that it was an act of unfortunate misunderstanding. But I possess a keen interest to push forward, and I am of the belief that the only way to do that is to recognize humanity where it exists.

  On perhaps a related note, in the materials left by your folk, there are copies of academic texts, including your thesis. I have seen your maiden surname cited as the illustrator on several other texts, including the king’s. I’m curious—are you aware of the work out of the University of Samna on periodic cicada broods? While in Sunmarten last year, I attended a lecture by a visiting scholar and found the subject fascinating.

  Respectfully yours,

  Colm Alastaire

  September 2

  Dear Queen Gemma,

  Yes, the lecturer in Sunmarten was Kalikwe Waitu, and yes, she was every bit as eccentric as her literary style suggests. I am glad you are familiar with her work—my sister was horrified in equal parts by the subject of the lecture and my willingness to spend my month’s savings to attend.

  Given that some of my transcription was unreadable, I agree that meeting in person would be in everyone’s interest to allow you the opportunity to see them yourself. I will begin to get a feel for my sister’s inclination to the idea. It may be best to suggest a place as neutral as possible, such as Matariki. I will offer to go in her place, but if I know her, she will not be open to the idea and will prefer to meet with you herself. If that’s the case, she will want me to stay behind to act as regent. In all honesty, though, she is not familiar with the petroglyphs on the Palisades—I doubt she has given any thought to them since we returned to the lake. If you were to ask anyone, I would suggest Ellamae Hawkmoth, the Woodwalker I mentioned in my first letter. I will attempt to bring up the topic with her, but it will be difficult as she is preparing for her wedding next month.

  I understand the need to keep silent on the petroglyphs if things in Alcoro are as tenuous as you say. My sister will likely be much more open to discussing trade than the idea of being host to an item of religious Alcoran significance. If trade is a beneficial avenue for you to pursue on your end, I say pursue it. The important thing is facilitating a meeting face-to-face, during which either you and I may talk together, or you can talk to Ellamae. The implications are too broad to convey by letter to all the parties affected.

  Respectfully yours,

  Colm

  October 8

  Dear Queen Gemma,

  I’m afraid this letter may be too late, but I would emphatically recommend not suggesting Lilou as the meeting place. Mona is not pleased with the Alcoran presence in Cyprien and is not likely to view it as neutral ground. Please consider Matariki, even with the dock tax.

  I have made excuses to my sister and plan to stay in Lumen Lake during Ellamae’s wedding—in this way I hope I’ll be the first point of contact for your ambassador, rather than my sister. But you must know that the Silverwood scouts now watch the southern waterways for us, and in all likelihood my sister will call for a show of arms against approaching ships. If this is the case, I’ll have no option but to fall into rank. I will do my best to diffuse the jump to violence.

  Again, I pray this letter isn’t too late, but for ultimate success, I suggest: send one ship, preferably a small one that is not outfitted for war. Fly a white flag from the mast. If you’re met with resistance from the Silverwood slopes, make berth in the river and explain the diplomatic intent of the mission. This will help prevent panic from both the lake and the mountains. And suggest somewhere other than Lilou to conduct the meeting. I’ll do everything in my power to talk my sister into going—or better yet, sending me in her place, though I’ll be hard-pressed to come up with an excuse she’ll believe.

  Here’s hoping, Gemma. If we get this right, it could mean everything, for your country and mine.

  Respectfully yours,

  Colm

  It was agony waiting for them all to finish. I stood in the lightening shadows, watching their faces change. Some of them went back a few times, jumping back to reread earlier passages. Celeno was the last to finish, having read each letter twice. He looked up with the others, regarding me as if trying to recognize a stranger.

  “That’s all it was,” I said in half a whisper. “Those four letters. I got the first a few weeks after our forces arrived back in Alcoro once we lost the lake. After that, I started researching other possible traces of Prophecies. I found records of others in Alcoro, and another one here in Lumen. They were all fragments, but they all matched up with the set Colm sent me from the Palisades.”

  “And?” Celeno said. “What does that one say?”

  “I’m not sure,” I said, still quiet. I handed him the last sheet of paper, written with the meticulous hand of someone who can’t read what they’re copying. Colm had done a decent job—better than my mother’s colleague had done, anyway. But the transcription still wasn’t entirely readable, with a few misshapen cyphers devoid of meaning, and some others too ambiguous to determine their translation. But there could be no doubt that there was more to the set than were present in Callais. Celeno’s gaze traveled down the parchment, taking in the new legible fragments.

  “What do they say?” Ellamae prompted.

  “The parts that are readable say we are creatures of the Light, and we know it imperfectly,” I said. “Not we know it is perfect, like the fragment in Callais. There’s no doubt about that in the transcription.”

  “The second line is worthless,” Celeno said, his gaze fixed on it.

  “Some of the cyphers are wrong,” I agreed, trying not to sound small and defensive. “But he copied at least four or five new words that aren’t in our translation—including some kind of qualifier to the seventh king of the canyons. That alone is the most significant thing about this set. There’s something that precedes your title.”

  “We knew that much from the ones under the Stellarange.”

  “Which makes these all the more valid,” I said. “They support each other.”

  He frowned and jumped down to the third line. “Peace shall come from peace. What’s this next word—wealth?”

  “Wealth shall come from wealth,” I said. “The latter half isn’t formed quite right, but I’m almost certain that’s what it says. Not peace shall come from wealth. Peace from peace, wealth from wealth.”

  “What does that even mean?”

  “I have an idea,” I said, my thoughts flickering back to the university. “We’ve gone all these years, all these generations thinking it meant material wealth, physical wealth—turquoise or steel or pearls. But . . . what if it meant a different kind of wealth? One we already have, one we’ve become accustomed to as part of Alcoran culture?”

  Mona frowned. “Trade?”

  “Game,” suggested Ellamae.

  “No.” I fixed Celeno with an almost entreating look. “Knowledge. Scholarship. Science and literature, astronomy, mathematics . . . we have the minds, Celeno, we have the work. If we could just organize it, structure it . . .”

  He let out a disdainful scoff, a sharp, ugly sound that knocked the breath out of me. He tossed Colm’s letter back on the coverlet with the others. “I thought there might be something like that underlying all this. Our theses will save us, Gemma? Our pamphlets and bickering philosophers?” He waved at the patchwork of parchment littering the bed. “Just when were you going to tell me about all this? You knew, all this time, that these glyphs existed . . . in the cave, back in Alcoro . . .”

  “You knew in Cyprien,” Mona said to me with sudden recognition. “On the ship in Lilou, all through the bayou . . . you knew all that time they were here in Lumen Lake.”

  “I didn’t know for sure what they said,” I said, desperately
trying to make them understand. “I still don’t know. I thought it would be a straightforward thing—to request a diplomatic visit to Lumen Lake. Maybe not simple, or easy, but I didn’t think . . . I didn’t think I would have to keep it quiet this long. I thought it was just until Lilou, and then . . .”

  The Cypri had attacked our ship, Lyle had been murdered, and all my begging for freedom had been utterly useless.

  I dashed at my eyes. Rou was staring at the bed, unseeing, his fists clenched at his sides. Ellamae and Valien exchanged looks of trepidation. Mona drew herself up like a thunderhead building on the horizon.

  “I tried to give you the chance to come to Lumen Lake in Cyprien,” she said. “Why didn’t you take it?”

  “Because I needed Celeno to see them, too,” I said softly. “Nobody would have believed me if only I brought the news back. And . . . in Dismal Green . . .” I turned back to Celeno, who was still staring at the ceiling, his face ablaze with anger. “Don’t you see, if you’d taken Mona and Ellamae and Rou back to Alcoro . . . there never would have been the chance. Our countries would have torn each other apart—by the time we could interpret this Prophecy, it could be too late. That’s all Colm wanted—he just wanted us to see them. He wasn’t trying to betray you, Mona.”

  “Well, he managed it anyway,” she said sharply. “None of this changes the fact that he was passing secure information outside of the country. What if his letter had fallen into your folk’s hands in Matariki, or in Cyprien? That’s treason, pure and simple.”

  “He’s your brother,” I whispered. “He loves you. He’s loyal to you.”

  “If you were so concerned about loyalty,” she said, “you could have told me in Cyprien. You could have told any of us.” She nodded at the bed. “You could have told your husband, the person it affected most.”

  That was the biggest blow, and I felt it like a physical slap. Mona hated Celeno on every level it was possible to hate a person. And yet, in this, she chose to defend him. I’d driven her to take his side.