by Ryk E. Spoor
Instantly Miri thought of the only tactic she could take that might save her, at least for now. “I know, but by Father there is only so much of her self-satisfied innocence I can take. Especially since I’ve been playing the one being close to all of them and she’s taken a particular liking to me.”
Was there a flicker of surprise on Kalshae’s face? She couldn’t tell for sure. “Well, I can very much understand that. You’ve done a wonderful job, though. They’re absolutely convinced that we’re all their friends.” Kalshae laughed, and Miri joined her, trying to make sure the laugh sounded natural. And will that just make it more forced? I have to stop overthinking this! It will get us all killed!
And even that thought was dangerous, because the us in that thought was not her and Kalshae and Wieran and the rest, but her and Phoenix and Poplock and Tobimar and Hiriista. And Hiriista. Yes, he’s truly their friend, I think. He wasn’t a demon to begin with. If we test his loyalties I don’t think Kalshae will like the result.
“So how was your long hike?” she asked, to focus on a topic that should be interesting and much less likely to get onto dangerous ground for now.
“Perfect,” Kalshae said, her voice dropping throatily into an inhuman register—a sound that used to make Miri look forward to more private interactions, but right now sent a faint chill down her spine. I’m worse than I thought.
Unaware—hopefully—of Miri’s conflicted state of mind, Kalshae went on. “He practically sprinted up the last sets of stairs, completely oblivious to our presence, and went right up to the Sun!” In private, of course, they were all quite aware of just what they were tampering with; no need for handwaving about “the Great Light.”
“I saw the reaction from on the ground.”
“Oh, practically everyone in Valatar saw it, at least to hear people tell it—even though a lot of them would have been indoors, or sleeping, or looking the other way. I’m going to announce that this was the reaction to one of our visitors. It will keep the people so very happy for the next day or so.” She smiled, and her teeth were fangs; she was several inches taller, and her nails extended, crimson claws. “And that’s all they’ll ever need or want.”
Miri’s head snapped up. “That soon?” Expression! Keep it eager! Not horrified!
“Yes, that soon! No more waiting, Ermiri! We’ll be ourselves again soon enough, once we have unsealed the Sun and taken its corrupted power into ourselves!” Kalshae laughed again, and she was a foot taller, skin with an unearthly sheen, and her eyes glowed red. “In a way, we were lucky the other three fell,” she mused.
“How so?” asked Miri.
“Well,” Kalshae said, and ran a finger slowly down Miri’s face, and hooking the talon in the V at the front of her blouse, “if they were here we’d have to share all that power with them, wouldn’t we?”
Miri gave her best smile, forcing her own body to shift, to change shade and texture in the way that was so familiar—but it was hard, very hard—and gave the joyful laugh she knew Kalshae expected.
And as Kalshae drew Miri to her, Miri knew she was about to have her acting ability tested beyond anything she had ever imagined.
Chapter 41
“Tonight’s party is going to be the big one,” Poplock said, looking out their window.
“Well, they said it was going to be a big one,” Tobimar said. “What’s so surprising?”
“Take a look.”
Tobimar stepped to the window and looked down. A number of people were just approaching the gates in front of the Tower—people in very distinctive armor. Looking back, Tobimar could see more people in those armor designs in the distance. “Colors and Hues. Shades too.”
“That must be why they were waiting before throwing this one. The dignitaries were all gathering; Lady Shae must’ve wanted as many to attend as possible. Leaving one or two for each city, there’s still going to be like eighty of them here. All the Lights, for certain, plus a lot of the others.”
Kyri and Hiriista joined them. “I guess they’ll need a bigger dining room, then,” Kyri remarked.
“They will need the Grand Dining Hall,” Hiriista agreed. “I saw that in use exactly once, ten years ago...it was, in fact, on the occasion of Zogen’s retirement. I do not think it has been used since, now that I think of it. Lady Shae and the others tend to throw smaller parties, when they have time for such things at all.”
Poplock wrinkled his face. I don’t like this at all. “Phoenix, have you sensed any more of those flashes of bad things?”
She frowned. “A few times. I’ve sensed that huge, resentful one thrice more; the cold-amused one twice. All of these times were either in the Tower’s lower floor or out on the peninsula, toward the lake.”
“So it wasn’t a one-time thing. Something’s definitely here—at least two somethings we don’t want anything to do with.”
“Then the question is who, and where,” Hiriista says. “Have we met our adversaries already, and if so, who are they?”
“Wieran’s still my top pick,” Poplock answered firmly. “He’s the brains of this place. Shae’s not stupid, and Miri’s sharp as a tack, but that guy could make both of them and all of us put together look like idiots. I’m laying my bet on him being the cold, amused one.”
Hiriista hissed a laugh. “I think you may underestimate yourself and perhaps myself as well...but your point is well taken. For myself, I would beg to disagree in your bet, though I would agree that he is definitely one of our adversaries.”
Kyri raised an eyebrow. “Why do you disagree with Poplock’s judgment here? Cold certainly seems the most likely characteristic of Wieran; my gut feeling about him is that his smiles are almost all sham.”
“There I would agree,” Hiriista said, absently feeling about in a pouch and producing his scent-pipe. “That is not the part that jars with me.”
“Hrrm,” Poplock grunted. “You mean that you aren’t seeing amused as part of his mindset.”
“Exactly. I know you noted the anomalies of his body language and conversation; would you disagree?”
Poplock thought back over the few conversations they had had with the magical researcher. “No...no, I guess not. I don’t get much sense of humor from him. It’d be quick and sharp and end fast, I think. More resentment than anything else.”
“Then maybe he’s the other one? Restrained by his position, and maybe something else, and resenting it.”
Hiriista inhaled the scent, blew out, and nodded slowly. “Possible. But then the question is who is the other?”
“The...obvious choice,” Phoenix said slowly, “is Lady Shae. I hate to say it, but she’s at the center of everything. She’s more focused and controlled than Miri; her big cheerful warrior-queen act could be just that, an act.”
“What about Miri?” Poplock asked.
“That’s ridiculous!” Kyri looked surprisingly outraged by the suggestion.
“Not so ridiculous,” Tobimar said, looking at her curiously. “She’s Shae’s right-hand person, she goes everywhere, everyone trusts her; she could get away with literal murder without a chance of being caught.”
Poplock noticed that Kyri’s face was suddenly a shade darker. “Well...if any of you mention this to anyone else I will kick you over the mountains. But Miri kissed me yesterday.”
The interplay of incredulity, shock, and other emotions across Tobimar’s stunned face was so funny that Poplock began laughing uncontrollably.
“She...er...what? I mean...” Tobimar paused. “You know, that makes so much sense of her behavior now.”
Hiriista was also chuckling. “Indeed, I had thought there were some unusual elements in her body language in her interactions with you; I had not interpreted them correctly.”
“So what did you do?”
Kyri smiled wryly. “First I calmed her down when she realized what she was doing and panicked. Told her it was a compliment and I wasn’t mad at all, but that you and I were already a pair.”
“We
ll, I’m glad that was resolved,” Tobimar said after a pause.
“Not disappointed I didn’t ask about alternative possibilities?”
As Tobimar’s face flushed visibly Poplock started laughing again.
“No!” Tobimar said finally, then saw her grin. “You asked that just to—”
“Of course I did,” she said, and yanked the smaller Prince to her for a quick kiss. “I know we’re both one-person people. And I also know there’s no way you didn’t think about the other possibility for at least a moment or two.”
He coughed. “Um. Well, yes, I couldn’t very well help it.” Tobimar grinned up at her. “After all, she is very, very cute.”
“Yes, she is. Not to mention smart, strong, and very talented.” Kyri looked pensive. “It wouldn’t be hard to fall in love with her.”
“Still, how exactly does that tell us that she’s not our person,” Poplock said, returning to the original conversation. “Strikes me that this would be a great distraction tactic for her.”
“Instinct,” Phoenix replied promptly. “Her reactions afterward sent so many signals and they were exactly what someone with real affection that they hadn’t noticed before would say and do. I didn’t get a single false note out of her. Plus...I never sensed any of these dark things until we got here. What’s the chance that I’d only sense her dark side now rather than anytime during the months it took to get here? She spent a lot of time around me and I never got even the slightest sense of something wrong.”
“Adequate evidence for now,” conceded Hiriista. “We have often noted that you are extraordinarily good at sensing something ‘wrong’ in those contexts.”
“Yeah,” said Poplock, glancing back out the window. “So let’s remember what we had our first group discussion on, eh?”
Hiriista froze, then let out a long, slow hiss of understanding. “Of course. If we are right, most or all of the Unity Guard are under some form of compulsion—”
“—by the bad guy, yeah. And here we’re going to have most of ’em in the same room with us, the lonely bunch in one corner.” Poplock shook his head. “If Shae and Miri aren’t in on it, that’s also the perfect time for them to eliminate the two as a problem, one way or another.”
“What can we do about it?” Kyri asked after a moment. “We still haven’t got the evidence we need to accuse anyone—at least, none of you have mentioned any?”
Tobimar and Hiriista shook their heads. Poplock hesitated, then moved side to side in his own equivalent of a headshake. “I haven’t been able to move around as freely as other places, since they all know I’m not just a dumb toad. All I’ve been able to find on my own has been that there’s at least one or two major underground installations we haven’t seen yet. That’s not exactly evidence. Sure, there’s probably something down there that would tell us about our enemies, but by itself? Nothing.”
“Then what can we do?” Kyri repeated. “I suppose we could decide to just run for it; if this was supposed to be a trap, that’d force them to follow us and reveal themselves.”
“And if it isn’t a trap?”
“At worst we’ve insulted our hosts,” Poplock said after a minute. “But with all the goodwill we seem to have built up, I think we could get past that. We’d have to admit why we did it, and that might well force a confrontation—”
“—but with us then in a far, far better tactical and strategic position than simply walking into a room which may have four-score enemies waiting to capture or kill us, yes,” agreed Hiriista.
“Then forget the party duds,” Poplock said, bouncing towards his little niche with all his possessions laid out in it. “Get dressed for action.”
“We’re leaving now?” Kyri asked—though she was already in her room, the connecting door left open so they could hear her.
“I only see two choices—we leave as soon as we can, or we wait until they’re all assembled in the room and then take a long hop.”
“But in that case,” Tobimar said, stripping off his dress shirt and stuffing it in his neverfull pack, “they’ll all be assembled and ready to operate as a coordinated force, if they’re our enemies. Unless you’re planning on locking the doors?”
“It’d be a temptation if that’s the route we’re taking. What do you guys think?”
“Hsssss...both have their attractions, but I favor leaving as soon as possible.”
“That’s my preference too,” Kyri said; they heard the flowing, chiming sound of the Phoenix Raiment enfolding her. “I hate running out on Miri and the others, but if we’re going, let’s go fast.”
“I actually like the idea of getting them all in the one banquet hall and locking the doors behind them. Maybe sealing the doors somehow,” Tobimar said. “But...no, then one or more of us has to be right there to pull that off. Too close for comfort. Let’s get out of here immediately.” The Spiritsmith’s armor slid into place on Tobimar’s body, even as Hiriista shrugged into his own armored traveling cloak.
“The next question is...how? We want to draw as little attention as possible.”
“Well,” Poplock said, leaning out as far on the windowledge as he dared, “if you guys weren’t all really, really good I wouldn’t suggest it...but if we go out this window and can scramble up to that ornamental curve to the righthand side, we could just maybe get in jumping distance of that floating bridgeway, which would let us clear a good half of the city by running along it. We’d have to either go through the building at the other end or drop down somehow, but...”
Hiriista stuck his head out and looked. “Something of a gamble, yes...but it has the virtue of keeping us mostly out of sight from the ground except from a small number of angles. And not many are using that bridge this time of day.”
“Shame we can’t all jump like you can,” Tobimar said, squinting at the bridgeway. “It’d be easy then.”
Kyri joined them and studied the suggested approach. “Yes, but I think we can do it. I like it, that will keep us out of the crowds in the streets for most of our escape.”
“Where to after we escape, then?” Hiriista asked reasonably, settling his pack onto his shoulders.
“Play it as it goes,” Tobimar said immediately. “We don’t know how they’re going to respond, and that response will probably decide us.”
“All right, then, let’s go.”
Poplock scrambled onto Tobimar’s shoulder and gripped tight. The Skysand Prince was the first out, edging his way carefully along the sill, then looking up to the ornamental fringing above. “Good thing this tower’s made to look so pretty; there’s a lot of handholds.”
“Hurry up!” Kyri whispered behind them. “If someone looks even a little bit up—”
“I know!” Tobimar took a breath and then leaped upwards. His lean, dark fingers caught solidly on the scalloped ridge, and he was able to shuffle his hands sideways until he reached the rising curve and could pull himself up. He crouched down as low as possible, waiting for the others.
Kyri followed almost immediately, and—after a short pause—Hiriista. “What took you so long?” Poplock muttered to the mazakh.
“Making sure the window latched on the inside,” Hiriista said with a spineridge-rippling equivalent of a chuckle. “If they don’t realize we’ve already left, that should give them some confusion.”
“All right, everyone ready?” Tobimar’s eyes closed, and Poplock recognized his friend getting into one of his Tor “centers.” “This is going to be the hard part. That’s a pretty long jump, and if we miss it’s a thirty-five foot drop. Not fun for anyone.”
“Definitely not fun,” agreed Hiriista. “But I feel an even greater sense of urgency right now. Let us be off.”
Tobimar rose a bit from his crouch and rocked on his feet; at Poplock’s inquiring glance, he said “Testing how well my boots are gripping on this surface.”
Then he backed up as far down the curved ridge as possible, looked carefully at the suspended portion of the bridge—which look
ed a lot farther away now than Poplock had thought when they started—and then burst into motion.
It was a matter of a mere nine steps and a leap, but for Poplock the whole operation seemed to take about twenty times as long as it should have. Tobimar launched himself into space, and they crawled through the air, first rising, then beginning to descend, long before they had reached the bridgeway, dropping farther—we’re not going to make it!!
But then Tobimar’s hands lashed out and caught the silvery stone of the bridgeway; his body curled under and then flipped up and around, and with a single vertigo-inducing spin Poplock found himself sitting comfortably on Tobimar’s shoulder on the wide, smooth stone of the floating bridge. Though it was apparently completely unsupported, the stone of the bridgeway felt as solid and stable as the paving-stones below had. Amazing magical technique, there.
Kyri’s immense strength and much longer frame let her clear the distance more easily; she landed on the edge of the bridgeway feet-first, rolling forward and coming up easily.
Hiriista’s jump was much more that of a lizard—a spring-loaded leap forward, arms outstretched, landing on the platform crouched like a cat and slowly straightening to his full height. He nodded to them. “Let us complete our departure, shall we?”
The three full-sized adventurers sprinted along the floating bridgeway. We’re making great time here, Poplock thought. No need to follow the turns and such of the roads, we’re going right over their heads and their buildings. “What about the building this one ends at?”
“Take a closer look,” Tobimar answered cheerfully. “See? There’s a spiral stair around the outside to let people get from ground level to the bridgeway without having to go through the building.”
They had already crested the high point of the bridgeway and were on their way down. Still there was no one else on the bridgeway with them, and Poplock’s occasional glances down through brief separations between sections of the bridgeway didn’t seem to indicate anyone had noticed them yet.