by Will Wight
When Shera finally dumped Jorin off and found her Gardeners, they had all gathered together, huddling by a window and muttering about the heavenly battle warping the sky.
Something tight in Shera’s chest relaxed. None had been lost. In fact, one more had joined them.
Kerian’s shears had grown broader and shone deep blue. The blades undulated like waves, and as Shera walked into the room, the High Gardener was levitating a stream of water into a loop around her arm.
When Shera entered, the High Gardener let the water return to a nearby bottle. She bowed lightly. “Guild Head. I apologize for being late. And I regret to inform you that Dashen’s Soulbinding was unsuccessful.”
It took Shera a moment to remember who Dashen was. She ended up realizing that he must have been the final Gardener awaiting his Awakening alongside Kerian.
“Oh yes. Is he…” She was going to ask if he was alive before she spotted the man slumped in the corner, eyeing the Vessels of the others. A pair of shears were tucked into his belt.
“He’s quite safe. The Awakening simply failed.” Kerian snuck a glance outside. “Regent Loreli told us that the world is not ending, but we have been unable to learn anything further. Do you happen to know what’s happening?”
Shera brightened. “Loreli? She’s here?”
Something behind Shera caught the attention of all the Gardeners, who stood at attention and bowed. Shera turned.
“I am,” Regent Loreli said as she entered the room.
She was dressed in her silver-and-white Luminian armor with her hair hanging in dozens of braids, as usual, but her expression was tight. She watched out the window. “We need you in the throne room, Shera. The battle isn’t over.”
If Urg’naut was to be believed, Kelarac was on his way.
Shera hoped that the Regents had a plan for dealing with him, because if he was on the same level as the Creeping Shadow, he might level the Capital on the way up.
But Shera didn’t follow Loreli immediately. She was distracted by the woman at Loreli’s side.
General Teach wore her own armor of red-and-black and had Tyrfang slung over her back. If not for those things, Shera might not have recognized her.
Her hair was glacial blue and hung down to her shoulders. Her skin was mottled shades of purple, and she looked thinner than she ever had, prowling into the room like a jungle cat.
When she caught sight of Shera, flecks of her eyes burned silver-white, and the room was filled with an actual growl.
Shera raised a hand. “Teach. You’re looking…better.”
“I’m glad to see you, General,” Meia said softly.
Teach’s eyes flicked to Meia and then returned to Shera. “Stop dawdling.”
General Teach turned on her heel and walked out.
Loreli looked curious, but didn’t ask any questions as they left. The end of the world put personal issues to the side.
“I guess this is a strategic meeting,” Shera said. Teach had actually waited for them outside the room, taking the lead as Shera and Loreli walked side-by-side.
“We need a plan,” the Regent responded. “If Kelarac is really on his way, we can’t meet him here.” She exhaled softly. “I don’t know how we can do this without my father or Estyr.”
Another of Shera’s hopes crumbled away. “You couldn’t heal Estyr?”
Loreli stopped in her tracks.
Shera stopped along with her and Teach turned, looking annoyed.
“…heal her?” Loreli asked. Her eyes were huge.
“Haven’t you seen her?”
The expression on the Regent’s face was answer enough.
“This way,” Shera said. She directed them down a side hallway without checking to see if Teach was following.
Loreli walked so quickly that Shera had trouble keeping up. “I haven’t spoken to Jorin, but I couldn’t feel Estyr anywhere in the city when I returned. I just assumed she was gone.”
“Not exactly.”
They had moved Estyr back to the Imperial Palace after the Guild had left Rainworth. The facilities here were far more secure than the ones they had left behind, but even so, no one in the Palace had been able to restore the Regent of the North to her right mind.
Jorin had been adamant that there was only one person left to try.
When they arrived, the Imperial Guards had left their position and were staring out a nearby window. One had slumped against the wall with her spear propped up nearby.
When they saw General Teach, they lit up. Her transformation didn’t startle them—either news of her condition had spread while she was unconscious or the Imperial Guard weren’t bothered at all by physical changes. Probably both.
They mobbed her, and Shera was reminded of dogs greeting a long-absent owner. Especially because one of them had a canine tail that was wagging furiously.
Teach halfheartedly tried to push them off while Loreli and Shera pushed into the unguarded room.
The next door was locked and chained shut, and only Jorin had the key.
It fell apart to one slash of Loreli’s sword.
She tore the doors open to see Estyr strapped to a bed. The Champion strained against thick restraints that looked like they were designed to hold bears. Three stone chests rattled in the corners of the room. They must have contained her Vessels.
Loreli’s expression softened when she saw Estyr. She walked up to the side and placed her hand on the restrained woman’s forehead. “Ssssh, Estyr, ssshhh. Come on back now.”
A soft, soothing white-gold light seeped out from the White Sun hanging from Loreli’s chest. It made Shera feel peaceful, safe, at home.
She backed up a step.
Estyr stopped bucking in the bed and slumped down, panting and sweating. Her eyes were still shut.
Her skin, ragged with scar tissue from burns, began to smooth out and clear up. Around the room, the stone boxes rattled harder and harder. Estyr frowned.
Loreli whipped around, her eyes flashing white. “You be silent.”
The boxes instantly stopped shaking.
Outside, the sky flashed again. The air crackled and popped.
“We need you, Estyr. We need you. Kell’arack comes for us.”
Estyr’s eyes snapped open.
Loreli’s white-gold light faded slowly, seeping into Estyr like rain into thirsty ground. Estyr looked to one restrained arm, then the other.
With no more effort than Shera would use to lift a spoon, she tore the restraints apart.
“Thanks for pulling me out,” she said to Loreli. Then she took a deep breath as though savoring the scent of the room. “…things went bad, did they?”
“Urg’naut escaped,” Loreli said softly.
Estyr padded over to the wall, resting her hand on it. After a moment, she said, “You all did well.”
When she lowered her hand from the wall, she walked past Shera, patting her on the shoulder as she did so. “Good job, Shera.”
“I failed,” Shera responded.
“Yeah, but your head was in the right place. Well done.” Estyr raised her foot and kicked the stone box open. It shattered and a hydra skull drifted out to float around her head.
She broke the other two boxes with a flick of her hand. The other two skulls joined the first.
“Now tell me, what did Urg’naut say to you?” she asked.
Jorin would surely tell everyone else, but Shera was prepared to share. “That the Great Elders are vulnerable in human form. They can be killed.”
Estyr chewed on her tongue for a moment, staring off into space as skulls drifted around her head. “That would explain some things.”
Loreli’s eyebrows raised. “You believe him?”
“No.” The doors crashed open. “I’ll believe when I see it for myself.”
She drifted out of the room. A black coat floated down the hall to join her, and she slid it on even as she flew.
General Teach and the other Guards scrambled to attention at th
e sight of her. “Regent,” Teach said with a bow.
Estyr glanced down at her. “Glad you’re finally on the right side. Take the lead.”
She would surely know the way through the Palace, but the General rushed out into the front, bulling her way to the throne room.
Though the divine battle continued to crash outside, Shera felt much more secure with Estyr Six at her side.
Jorin waited for them in the Emperor’s throne room, as were most of the Guild Heads.
He stood at the base of the throne wearing his usual ensemble of a jacket with far too many pockets, shadeglasses over his eyes, and wide-brimmed hat over his head. He didn’t look injured, but he was two shades paler than usual and he braced himself on a pillar.
Nathanael Bareius looked entirely unbothered by all of creation unraveling around him. His hair and glasses were equally slick and gleaming, and he sat at a collapsible stool and table filling out paperwork. Shera was certain that nothing he was doing was urgent; he just wanted to create the impression that he was too good to pay attention to the most dire crisis in living memory.
Standing opposite them were the Imperialists.
Bliss of the Blackwatch had her hands tucked into the pockets of her Blackwatch coat, pale hair falling straight down her back, and she glared at Bareius. She looked like she was holding herself—or maybe her Spear of Tharlos—back from murdering the Head Alchemist at any second.
Cheska Bennett of the Navigators rubbed at an eyepatch that Shera had never seen before. She must have lost or injured an eye in the fighting. Otherwise, she looked like she was dressed for gutter-fighting, with stained and rumpled clothes and an old bandana tying back her red hair.
Shera approved of the outfit as a disguise. It wouldn’t look out of place in the poorer sections of the Capital.
Beside her was Calder Marten.
Shera stared at him.
Estyr and Loreli both glanced at Shera, no doubt picking up on changes in her Intent.
He wasn’t wearing the Emperor’s armor, but something he might have worn aboard The Testament: a brown jacket and white shirt appropriate for a ship’s deck. He looked drained and haunted, but otherwise unharmed.
Syphren muttered in discontent.
Bastion writhed, eager to dispatch a servant of the Elders and an enemy of the Consultants.
Shera’s mind was blank.
Impossible. It’s impossible.
He was dead. Shera might have made many mistakes, but she would not mistake a corpse for a living man. Especially not with Syphren. She had torn his life away.
A chill passed through her.
Kelarac must have restored him to life.
Teach led the way into the room, saluting Jorin as she came close enough. “What is the plan, sir?”
Jorin turned in the direction of Shera and the other two Regents. “We’re still waiting on the last cards in our hand. Fortunately, we don’t have to wait long.”
Everyone turned to follow his gaze, including Calder.
Shera saw him swallow hard.
She had her hands on her shears. If the Regents hadn’t been present, she would have drawn blades and instantly returned this Elderspawn to the grave. In fact, she didn’t understand why Jorin hadn’t killed him already.
But now she didn’t have long to wait. Estyr raised a hand as though gripping something.
Calder lifted into the air, clawing at his throat and gasping. His feet left the tiles as he choked.
The heavenly battle outside the room crackled.
“What’s Kelarac’s bilge-boy doing here?” Estyr asked calmly. She was casual. In no rush.
The longer the conversation took, the faster Calder would die.
“I’m not so certain myself,” Jorin said, with no more urgency than Estyr. “Loreli?”
“Let him down!” Cheska Bennett cried. She hurried forward as though she had some way to stop Estyr Six, but she ended up freezing in her tracks.
Bliss scowled and withdrew a spear of yellowed bone from her pocket. It was far too long to have fit into her coat. “You should put him down so we can hear the charges against him. Otherwise I will be forced into combat against you.”
Estyr smiled. Calder’s legs kicked empty air and his face turned blue.
Then Loreli rested a hand on the other Regent’s arm. “He is tied to Kelarac,” she said, and Shera felt a vicious satisfaction. She hadn’t failed to kill him after all. A Great Elder had resurrected him.
“…but he isn’t controlled,” Loreli continued. “I investigated him closely.”
Another blow from the divine battle shook the room.
Estyr’s face was cold. “Kelarac has fooled us before. Better to be safe.”
“I am certain. I have thoroughly Read him, his ship, his crew, and his possessions. I will vouch that he is not a puppet, only a fool.”
“Impossible,” Shera said. She didn’t want to correct a Regent on the subject of the Great Elders, but she had personally stabbed the man in the back. “I killed him myself. He was dead.”
Loreli shook her head. “There is no time to explain, but I assure you he was not brought back to life by a Great Elder. He is himself. Now, Estyr, will you please release him?”
After a long, tense moment in which Calder spasmed and Shera secretly hoped he would die, Estyr finally lowered her hand.
He dropped to the floor, gasping like a drowning man. Cheska fell as well, the force holding her back vanishing. Bliss slipped the spear of bone back into her coat.
“Fine,” Estyr said, “but why is he here?”
Loreli glanced up at the ceiling. “Kelarac is on his way—”
“And possibly the others,” Jorin interrupted. “Five, if you count Ach’magut.”
Estyr shook her head. “We don’t. The Emperor dealt with him only a handful of years ago. He can’t pull himself together, even now.”
Loreli continued, “We know Kelarac is coming. Nakothi, Kthanikahr, Tharlos, and Othaghor are unknowns. With their prison weakened, any or all of them may have manifested earlier than they should have been able to. However, we have two advantages. First, as they have not fully recovered, they will be weaker than they were in our day.”
Bliss pushed down a lump in her coat. “Unless they enter human vessels.”
“Which brings me to our second advantage: we know their objective.” Loreli rested a hand on her sword as she turned to slowly regard everyone in the room. “They can’t possess just anyone, as we saw in the last war, and they must leave our world from this location. I thought that may have changed when the sky broke, but if that were the case, Kelarac would no longer be coming for us.
“They have to come here, and they will head straight for the human with the strongest connection to them. When we know who that is, we will have a significant opportunity.”
Calder Marten pounded on his chest and swallowed. When he spoke, his voice scraped out. “When they’re in human form, we can strike them down. For good.”
Shera frowned. How had he learned that?
He was telling them as though they didn’t know already, so he couldn’t have overheard Urg’naut. And he hadn’t been in the courtyard anyway.
He must have learned it from Kelarac. Why had Loreli cleared him?
Estyr lifted an eyebrow, clearly as skeptical as Shera felt. “And how do you know that?”
Under the scrutiny of everyone in the room, Calder’s jaw dropped. He looked genuinely astonished. “I told you. I sent messages. I sent messages to all of you!”
Bliss raised her hand like a girl in the schoolhouse. “He told us quite a while ago.”
Shera felt Jorin’s power stirring, and he pushed up his shadeglasses to hide his gleaming eyes. “Easy to blame silence on a missing messenger. I suppose you learned as much from Kelarac, did you?”
Calder’s eyes darted from face to face before he stabbed a finger at the ceiling. “From him! The man in the sky! I spoke to him!”
Absolutely not.
/>
Shera didn’t believe him for an instant. Loreli and Jorin hadn’t even believed in the Outsider before they were faced with him. And yet Calder had spoken to him? Absurd.
But the three Regents glanced at one another and Jorin’s power calmed.
Did they believe him?
“You really didn’t hear?” Calder asked.
He sounded…lost. Weary. Almost heartbroken.
Maybe it was just acting, but Shera was starting to consider that he might be telling the truth.
False lightning and thunder shook the air, and Estyr stepped forward. “Only one way to find out. We corner Kelarac. And we keep a tight grip on his host body.”
One and all, everyone in the room looked to Calder.
That worked for Shera. As far as they knew, he was the living human with the strongest connection to Kelarac.
The solution was clear, and she said it aloud: “We should get rid of him now. Take him away from Kelarac.”
Even if they could kill Kelarac after he slipped into human flesh, it was better to minimize risk. Killing him for a few decades or centuries wasn’t as good as killing him permanently, but it was better than letting him destroy the Capital.
The look in Calder’s eye hardened, and he clenched a fist.
She prayed he would make a move for her. She wouldn’t make the same mistake twice. This time, she’d leave him in so many pieces that even the Dead Mother couldn’t stitch him back together.
Cheska Bennett was in no better mood. “Look at you, so eager to sacrifice someone else.”
“If a Great Elder wants me, kill me,” Shera responded easily.
One life to stop a Great Elder? That was the easiest sacrifice she could imagine.
Cheska bristled. “Easy for—”
“Shut up,” Estyr interrupted. “Kelarac’s coming here. He is…” She closed her eyes briefly, then opened them again. “…very close. Perhaps a day away. We can use that against him, but none of the others are close enough for me to detect.”
“Kthanikahr and Othaghor will be harder to host than a Champion dance party,” Jorin said, adjusting his hat. “No human wants to give up their body to those grave-bugs. Nakothi, I’m sure, has choices from here to Axciss.”