by Ryk E. Spoor
Dravan Igo and Anora stepped between Miri and the charging Phoenix. “Get her to the cell. We shall stop her.”
Miri felt herself dragged back even faster than before, Tanvol and the three others trying to complete their mission while Dravan and Anora dealt with the intruder. Miri fought to slow herself, but it was useless; the Unity Guard were well-trained in how to keep a recalcitrant prisoner moving, and her own Light armor was being suppressed; she had managed to keep Kalshae from simply causing it to remove itself, but unless Miri could somehow get away from the Unity Guards under Kalshae’s control, she wouldn’t be able to make use of the armor or much of her own power.
She still clung to hope, but there was fear now, corrosive fear as to what might happen to Phoenix. I...I really do think I love her. But against two Lights—
Even as she thought that, there was an amber-orange explosion of light and Anora was gone.
What...?
And suddenly she understood and laughed triumphantly, for the Phoenix was there, and Dravan grunted as the impact drove him back a full two steps before he could regain his footing.
Summoned! Kalshae had to summon Anora to her, which means something’s pushing her hard! And Phoenix is here, so she escaped! And...
The Light of Myrionar surrounded her, keeping the darkness behind from quite touching her. Miri took a breath and reached deep within herself...
Strength surged up from within; she saw her skin transform from near-white to the blue-black of darkest sapphire, and the Unity Guards suddenly leapt back, realizing something had gone very wrong. She whirled and kicked out, making them back off another few feet, judging, analyzing.
But that, really, was their major weakness. Too much time analyzing, not enough acting. “Kolvaka urdruon, heshok!”
The Stone Prison erupted from the polished rock of the corridor, pillars spearing upward and downward from mere inches in front of Miri all the way back to the limit of her sight. Herminta and the violet-armored Hue Pini were impaled by stone columns, shattering the Guard Armor and crushing their central cores; black-bearded Tanvol and Danrall evaded that doom, but were hemmed in by the stone in all directions; so tight was the spacing between the columns that they could barely move, let alone escape to fight.
Phoenix was hammering at Dravan, and Miri was astounded to see that the huge, massive Light—one of the most formidable warriors in all Kaizatenzei—was utterly unable to do more than defend himself. He was being driven farther and farther back, closer to Miri and the bulwark of stone she had raised.
She has to know the truth, so she knows how to fight. “Phoenix! The Unity Guard—they’re actually Eternal Servants!”
A moment of disbelieving shock, just as abruptly transformed to revelation and understanding, burst across Phoenix’s face. Then her assault on Dravan redoubled, and suddenly the warrior’s big blade spun away into the air, rebounding from the corridor wall. Phoenix’s great sword Flamewing continued its arc, spun, and impaled Dravan Igo directly through the center of his chest, just above the breastline.
There was a faint splintering sound and a flash of light from the wound, and Dravan collapsed like a puppet with the strings cut...which was, Miri had to admit, essentially accurate.
Phoenix looked up to see the Unity Guards struggling within the stone cage and laughed. “Well, I came to save you, but you seem to have been doing fine on your own.”
Miri tried to restrain herself but failed; she embraced the other woman as tightly as she could (eliciting a faint “oof!” sound) and then realized that she was still in her half-demonic form. “I...no, if you hadn’t gotten close enough I couldn’t have done anything. Not without...but we’re wasting time.”
“You’re right. Tobimar’s fighting Kalshae right now.”
“Light’s Mercy. How’s he even surviving?”
Despite her obvious worry over Tobimar, Phoenix grinned again. “Oh, you missed the best part. Where Tobimar, instead of Wieran and Kalshae, opened the Sun and called Terian himself down.”
Miri staggered to a halt, trying to process what the Phoenix had just said. “Terian? Tobimar opened the Sun? I...Phoenix, that makes no sense!”
“Oh, it makes perfect sense, which we can talk about later!”
She shook herself, and sprinted after the tall girl with the gold-touched blue hair streaming behind her. “The stone columns won’t hold Light Tanvol forever, I should warn you.”
“Doesn’t matter. If we’re all together I’ll bet on the five of us against any number of Unity Guards—Shades, Hues, Colors, or Lights.”
That depends on so very much, Miri thought, but she did not speak. There was, she realized, no point in it. Either they would win through, or they wouldn’t, but there wasn’t much point in ruining Phoenix’s confidence now.
Sound of scratching footsteps ahead, with a pearl-glowing ball providing illumination, and Phoenix grinned. “Hiriista! You made it!”
The magewright was battered, with blood trickling slowly from a dozen minor wounds, but seemed otherwise unharmed. “And I see you have succeeded in your mission.”
“I have. Though she helped free herself, too.”
“I would expect no less from Light Miri.” Hiriista had turned and matched their run instantly. “Now let us hope we are not too late to assist our friends above.”
But as they emerged into the Valatar Throneroom, Miri saw to her mounting joy that Tobimar was already running through the ruined (ruined? Great Light!) doors, Poplock clinging to his shoulder.
Then her heart suddenly went cold and she stopped, even as Kyri ran forward and embraced Tobimar in relief; she found herself staring at the floor, not daring to move. After a few moments, she heard Tobimar say uncertainly, “Um...Miri?”
She found it almost impossible to look up. “Kalshae...?”
He also looked down. “I’m sorry. I tried to talk her out of it. I...almost succeeded, I think. But maybe I’m deluding myself. Anyway...I’m sorry.”
A huge aching wound was ripping open in her chest. For a moment Miri couldn’t understand what was happening. What attack is this? A spell? I sense nothing, I...
And then as a huge cry broke from her and her sight blurred to uselessness she understood. No! I...don’t cry...not over her! Miri fought, tried to contain the tears trickling down her face as she dropped to her knees. “I...c-c-can’t...stop!”
She heard a racking indrawn sob, recognized that it was her own, that the agony in her chest was tragedy and loss of someone who had been an ally and...at the end...more, but who couldn’t be saved. “I...I should have found a way...Shae and I were always together, but, but, she, I mean, you saw, she wanted to save me, but I...I...”
The tears kept interrupting and she had no idea what she was saying, or what she wanted to say or what she should say, only that it hurt and there was nothing she could do, nothing left to do, because somehow she did not doubt Tobimar Silverun; Kalshae was gone, Kalshae the strong, the confident, the loyal and dedicated, her right hand and best supporter, Kalshae was gone.
A hand touched her shoulder gently. Two hands, one on each side. “I’m sorry, I truly am,” Tobimar said gently. “I guessed that you two were...close. If I could have found another way—”
“We,” Poplock said from the floor in front of her. “Because it was really both of us. I was the one who swapped the summoning crystals. So...if we could have found another way...”
“No!” She forced herself to stand, furiously scrubbed the tears away. “No, you didn’t have a choice. If she stayed, if she was there for the ritual...” Now she saw the faint blue-white aura that surrounded the Skysand Prince, and felt the power, even more pure and clean than that of Myrionar, radiating from him, and the wonder helped dry her tears, at least for the moment. “...and if you gained that power, then no, there was no choice.”
“And we’re not done yet,” Poplock said. “There’s a big loose end running around.”
She felt a familiar cold anger returning, a
nd grasped it gratefully, used it as an anchor and touchstone to drive away the grief for a little while. “Master Wieran.”
“I’m guessing he’s got another lab down there, one he didn’t show us, right?”
“Very right, Poplock. That is where he built most of the Guardsmen as well as the Eternal Servants, and where T’Terakhorwin is located, the Great Array which is the source of most of his power. If he escaped your battle—”
“—he did,” Tobimar said positively. “He disappeared during my fight with Kalshae.”
Miri nodded. “Then he’ll have gone to the Great Array. He’ll have sealed the doors and be preparing to destroy any that come to get him. Of course, he’ll also be hoping that Kalshae finished you off.”
“Well,” Kyri said, grim-faced, “let’s finish this.”
“Don’t let your guard down, guys,” said Poplock. “He’s going to have a lot to greet us with, or I’m just a dumb toad.”
Hiriista looked narrowly at Poplock. “What did you see?”
“That...device that Wieran had set up. It took in the power of the Sun of Infinity and filtered it, split it into light and dark. I guess if Tobimar hadn’t been there, it would’ve just disposed of the light stuff.”
“Yes,” Miri said, puzzled. “That was the whole purpose of the setup; our work in opening and stealing the power of the Stars had been, well, terribly inefficient. This was supposed to be much better, much more.”
“And,” Poplock said, “you know, I was watching that process, and what I saw was a huge pouring stream of power coming from the Sun...and two dinky little streams of power going out to Tobimar and Kalshae.”
She froze. The treacherous, backstabbing little—
And then she had to laugh. “Oh...oh, I am not used to these...these...flip-flopping emotional changes! But...we were all planning on when we could dispose of Wieran, deciding exactly when he would no longer be necessary...and it seems he had already decided on how to deal with us when we were no longer necessary!”
“Told you he was smarter than everyone here. He had them fund their own project, and designed his mechanism to steal most of the power for his own purposes rather than theirs.” Poplock nodded and then bounced back to Tobimar’s shoulder. “Still, guess we have no choice but to go after him.”
“None,” Hiriista said firmly. “Every moment we delay gives him more opportunities to prepare.”
Miri rose to her full (not very impressive) height. “Then follow me.”
Once more they entered the passage behind the Valatar Throne; once more Miri strode down the central passage and then began the descent down the three hundred forty-three steps. About halfway down, her steps slowed. I...have to tell them now. Before the battle begins.
“What is it, Miri?”
“Phoenix...”
“Kyri,” she said. At Miri’s inquiring look, she smiled. “That’s my real name. Kyri.”
Oh, Light. I hope she will stay so kind when she understands everything I’ve done...how much of a true monster I’ve been, and how many I’ve created. “Then...thank you, Kyri. But I have to tell you something.”
She took a deep breath. “Behind the doors...within the Great Array...are all the people we have taken from the cities over the past centuries. All of them.”
Chapter 48
“All of them?” Tobimar repeated incredulously. Poplock felt the same disbelief, but Miri’s expression was too deadly serious to really doubt.
“Well...a few have actually died. And a lot of them, the older ones, are probably close to death. But virtually all, yes.”
Hiriista gave a rasping hiss of anger. “All imprisoned in tubes, yes? As the vision of Zogan Josan implied!”
“Yes,” she whispered. “All held by Wieran in the Great Array, part of his grand experiment.”
“Balance,” muttered Kyri, and Poplock knew she’d seen it.
“Great,” Poplock said. “He’s got, what, hundreds of hostages, then. Plus whatever power and weapons he’s set up.”
Kyri looked at Miri and then touched her shoulder. “Miri.”
The young woman—the former demon, Poplock reminded himself—looked up forlornly.
“I know you’re thinking about how you helped all this to happen. And that you’ve lost someone precious to you. But right now, we need you to fight by our side. Don’t worry about the past. All right?”
It was amazing how the little speech brought the light back into Miri’s eyes. Poplock watched the delicate-looking girl straighten up and nod.
“All right, then. We know we will need everything now, so everyone get ready.”
Poplock pulled out a bottle and drank the contents down. Eeeeugh! I’ve gotta figure out how to make stuff that tastes as good as it works. But that’ll kick me up enough to run with these guys for a little, anyway. He saw Hiriista drink his own pick-me-up and invoke swirling somethings that then entered the mazakh’s body. The golden fire of Myrionar glowed brightly from Kyri, and the blue-white power that still shimmered around Tobimar intensified, echoing the fire burning in the Skysand Prince’s eyes.
“You all right, Tobimar?”
“I...don’t know. I’ve never felt like this, ever. Like I see everything, hear everything, can do anything. I’m burning up inside, but the fire’s rebuilding me, too.” The familiar voice was still touched with the sound of another.
“Just don’t forget who you are.”
“Never,” he said, but his voice shook. Then it firmed, and Tobimar set his jaw. “Never,” he repeated, with more certainty.
“All right. Everyone ready?” Kyri stood before the sealed doors. “Very well.”
She drew Flamewing and held it up, and white-gold fire shone from the mighty blade. “Now the way shall be opened!”
But even as the blade came down, the doors swung silently open; Kyri stumbled slightly before she could recover from the complete lack of resistance. “What...?”
“Do not damage my doors, Phoenix of Myrionar,” came the precise, level tones of Master Wieran. “There is no need for such violence. Enter, then, since you have all gathered to see my ultimate triumph!”
Oh, great. He knows we beat Kalshae, and he’s still so confident that he’s just letting us walk in.
WHOA!
“Hold it! Hold it!”
Kyri froze, foot almost ready to cross the threshold.
Poplock bounced down, studying the floor. Then he looked up, but the words he was going to speak died away.
Before the party lay the Great Array. Rank upon rank of gleaming tubes of crystal and metal, worked about and around with intricate symbols, descending in concentric seven-sided levels. Seven. Another of the commonly revered numbers. He hadn’t counted, but he was sure that if he did, he’d find there were forty-nine levels to the Great Array; Miri had mentioned there were three hundred forty-three steps on the staircase they’d just descended. Seven times seven, and seven times seven times seven. So he gets seven and three, two of the big numbers.
In the ceiling, hundreds of feet above, the black stone contrasted with the complex brilliance of the inlaid and worked runes visible against the darkness. Directly below the peak of that great dome was a central space, and within that space stood Master Wieran.
He was surrounded by mechanisms of incomprehensible complexity; gold, steel, brass, thyrium, krellin, silver, copper, tubes and gears and crystalline retorts, wire in intricate coils, spiraling glass and vibrating springs, with seven consoles laid out around him, covered in levers and buttons and verniers, slots and sockets and racks of other unknown devices. He was hundreds of yards away, but with Poplock’s now-enhanced senses there was no mistaking the brilliant white hair or the absolute confidence of his pose, the arrogant look in his eyes. No, not arrogant; fanatic. Master Wieran had the look of a prophet on the verge of apocalypse.
His doorstep sure echoed that. “Thanks for the invitation, but I don’t know if I want to step across those symbols. Clever, the way you hid them in the
cracks of the natural stone here. People coming through would be focused on you anyway, and even if they looked down, it’d look just like ordinary stone unless they knew what to look for.”
Wieran’s head tilted the slightest bit. “Perceptive, Poplock Duckweed. Good, you do not disappoint me. Then enter...if you can.” He turned and bent over a complex device. Distantly, Poplock heard movement above them.
“Oh, drought. The Unity Guard is on its way.”
“Precisely,” Wieran said absently. “You can enter my laboratory—and, if you succeed, close my doors to bar them passage—or you can close the doors and face them directly, and then still have my own defenses to deal with afterwards. I benefit either way.”
Poplock glanced around. Hiriista caught his eye, then bent over the symbols. “A complex ward. Three elements?”
The little Toad squinted. “No, four...five! See that? Looks like just a flaw in the stonework.”
The noise of boots was beginning to grow louder. Kyri and Tobimar took up positions behind the two, while Miri stood over them, watching in case anything came from in front.
“Hssss! Clever. Brilliant. But that means that only all five can neutralize it. Or spirit magic.”
Poplock suddenly stiffened. “Or one other thing.” He turned. “Hey, Tobimar, switch places!”
Miri moved next to Kyri as the Skysand Prince stepped back. “What?”
“I think if you can concentrate your gods-power there, it’ll shatter the ward without detonating it.”
“You’d better be right,” Tobimar said, casting a glance up the stairs where a flicker of light was becoming visible.
He drew back his twin-swords, as Poplock and Hiriista moved quickly out of the way, and paused a split second; the blue-white purity of Terian’s power shimmered along his weapons. Then they came down, a double cut of deific energy.
The floor shuddered, but there was no great detonation, just a shattering of stone. “It worked! Inside, inside everyone!”
Figures were already visible, charging down the stairs as fast as they could now that they saw their quarry ahead of them. But Miri gestured and stone spikes grew from the walls and floor, barricading the steps for a few precious seconds. By the time the might of the Unity Guard began to break through the stone wall, Tobimar and Kyri had shoved the door to Wieran’s laboratory shut and dropped the bar. “That should hold them for a little while,” Kyri said.