City of Light (The Traveler's Gate Trilogy)

by Wight, Will

  1 Day Since Spring’s Birth

  Leah tapped her pen against the edge of her map, leaving a spot of ink. She had assigned a pair of artists to draw this map according to Grandmaster Naraka’s descriptions, and it was now their best information on the new layout of Enosh.

  To say she had little faith in the map would be an understatement. She felt that they might have better luck navigating Enosh by flipping a coin at every intersection and hoping for the best.

  Enosh had originally been divided into four quarters with the Grandmasters’ palace at the center. Each of the quarters was then subdivided into smaller blocks, for a city that was remarkably simple to navigate.

  According to Grandmaster Naraka, Elysia was built in nine districts. Not evenly distributed, equal districts, like nine wedges of a pie. That would have been too simple. Some districts were long, others wide, some large, others small. And Alin had ordered reconstruction to try and replicate this layout in Enosh.

  That, in itself, wouldn’t be so bad, but his very presence as an Incarnation had begun to reshape the world around him. They were forced to rely on a secondhand map of an ancient city, which was itself being rebuilt in the image of a second city that none of them understood…all while the city re-formed itself around the construction crews. Not to mention that they were sketching all this based on the eyewitness testimony of a hundred-year-old woman that Leah was still half-convinced was blind.

  The map of the city looked like a pile of sticks dropped randomly inside a lumpy circle. There were a number of notes on the map, none of which made her feel better.

  One annotation, at the end of a main thoroughfare, said: Watch out for bats.

  Another note, outside what had once been the city armory: Whole building may be an illusion.

  Another: At noon, bridge dissolves into sugar.

  He can see you from here. Travel through tunnels instead. Are there tunnels?

  This could be the School for the Disobedient, or possibly a fish warehouse.

  Street ends in turtle?

  It was all a confusing, nightmarish mess, and that didn’t even count the numerous parts of the map shaded in gray, accompanied by the words “Unknown Area.” Those took up far too much of the city for her tastes.

  Assuming any of this was accurate at all, there were a few constants even in a half-finished city like this. For one thing, the Naraka waystation couldn’t have moved in relation to Naraka, or it wouldn’t function. That put it inside the city walls on the north side.

  “You understand that we’ll have to go in through Naraka,” Leah said with a sigh.

  “Who says?” Indirial responded. He stood across the table from her, both of them underneath a canopy high overhead to keep off the sun. While she was bent over her map, Indirial had his long, cracked sword resting on the other half of the table. He carefully ran a rag down first one side of the blade, then the other, his sleeves rolled up to reveal tanned forearms marked to the wrist with black chains.

  “It’s the only route that makes sense.” Leah tapped the waystation with the end of her pen. “We come in through here, and we know exactly where we’re going to end up. We’ve also heard that Alin spends most of his time in the southeast quarter of the city, personally overseeing the construction there. So this puts us about as far from him as we’re going to get. We’ll have plenty of time to show up, take a look around, and retreat.”

  Indirial wiped the blade one more time, then turned his attention to the thread wrapping its hilt. “I could list all the things wrong with this plan, but I’m not sure you have the time.”

  Leah sighed. “We’re taking the word of an avowed enemy…”

  “Whose map happens to suggest that her own Territory is the best way into the city,” Indirial pointed out.

  “…and we’re planning on heading into a hostile city controlled by the Incarnation of a Territory about which we know almost nothing,” Leah finished. “We don’t know anything about his motivations or goals, we have no reasonable expectation of his capabilities, and our map looks like it was scribbled by a blind child with the shakes. How am I doing so far?”

  Indirial began reaching into his pockets, behind his back, into his boots, under his belt, even inside his cloak—which looked comfortable in this biting wind. Each time he reached in, he pulled out a knife or another small weapon, more exotic, that Leah didn’t recognize. One was a hatchet small enough to hold in one hand. Was he supposed to throw that?

  The Overlord began oiling and wiping down each weapon, still talking. “There’s one thing that bothers me more than any of that, though.”

  Leah raised an eyebrow.

  “You keep saying ‘we.’ Do you think you’re going?”

  She ticked off points on her fingers as she spoke. “Well, let’s see. I’m a Lirial Traveler, and as such best-suited for surveying and mapping the area. I have a personal connection with the Incarnation, as I spent most of two years observing him as a trusted friend. I lived for several weeks inside the city, and thereby familiarized myself with its original layout. Finally, I am your Queen, and I will accompany you if I wish.”

  Leah was quite proud of that speech. For all of five seconds, until Indirial raised his head from his weapons and met her eyes. He didn’t speak sternly or angrily—he was still Indirial—but he wasn’t smiling.

  “Your father always encouraged his children to operate independently. As Ragnarus Travelers, they were well equipped to deal with danger, and independent action fosters self-reliance and creative thinking. So he said. What happened to your brothers and sisters, Leah?”

  She saw where he was going, and tried to head him off, but he simply kept talking.

  “Your brothers are dead. One of your sisters was exiled for treason, and the other isolated to treat her incurable insanity. You are the last child of Ragnarus we have left, and risking yourself on a fact-finding mission is not only absurd and unnecessary, it is irresponsible.”

  Coming from someone else, those words might have put Leah’s back up even more, forcing her to go into Enosh or else lose face. But coming from Indirial…

  She felt a blush creeping up into her cheeks, but she refused to allow it. “The fact remains that I am the best individual for this assignment, if you set my rank and responsibilities aside.”

  Indirial smiled a little. “I’m not sure I’m willing to do that. But I figured you’d say something like that, so I sent four Travelers through to Enosh last night.”

  “You did what?”

  “Two Naraka, two Avernus. They scouted the trail between the closest Naraka waystation and the one in Enosh, removing a couple of the traps that Grandmaster Naraka ‘forgot’ to tell us about. They didn’t notice them all. One of our Travelers will walk with a limp for the rest of her life.”

  Leah showed nothing on the outside, but inside, she winced. That could easily have been her.

  Indirial had returned to maintaining his weapons, but he kept speaking. “They reached the city and managed to dispatch the scout that was waiting for them by the waystation. He almost escaped and raised the alarms.”

  That was no surprise—Leah had expected Alin to set guardians on the waystation. It was one of the few permanent, predictable ways in and out of the city.

  “One of the Corvinus ravens managed to modify his memory, and they mapped the quarter around the waystation without incident. I have their report here.”

  He reached out with a single finger and tapped a pile of papers on the table next to his knives. “I stacked it on top of the other reports I received from the six other teams I sent out at the same time—”

  “Indirial!” Sending out a single team was one thing, but seven? Without telling her? That was too much.

  “—to check if there were any other routes through any other viable Territories. There were none. We lost no men, but the guardians in Helgard, Asphodel, and Endross were formidable. It seems that, indeed, Naraka is our best option. Perhaps he has fewer Naraka Travelers to def
end it after the Grandmaster’s defection, or maybe he wants us to show up at the predictable waystation. I can’t be sure.”

  “Overlord Indirial,” Leah said, letting her anger seep into her voice. “That was much too large an action for you to authorize without my approval. You have risked dozens of our finest Travelers on a fact-finding mission that we could have done ourselves! Not to mention that you may have alerted the Incarnation to our intentions.”

  Indirial poured some oil onto his rag and kept working, seemingly unfazed. “As opposed to risking one of our last Lirial Travelers, our last Ragnarus Traveler, and our ruler?”

  Well, when he put it like that…

  “Your father hired me to guard the ruling monarch,” Indirial went on, still talking in his usual calm voice. “The best defense is preemptive action. I have now determined that, in fact, it is safe for you to accompany the team to Enosh, as long as you swear not to leave the Naraka Gate. I will make sure to send enough Naraka Travelers that they will be able to hold it open for the duration of your stay, which will be no more than half an hour.”

  Leah didn’t enjoy following orders. She never had, even as a child, even from her father. Come to think of it, she had never seen her father fighting with Indirial. Why was that?

  After a moment, she realized: she had never seen them disagree because her father hadn’t ever argued with Indirial. He simply accepted the protection. And her father was much more capable of defending himself than she was. It irritated her to admit that, though the feeling wasn’t logical.

  “Thank you for your care, Indirial,” she said carefully. “I would be glad to accept your precautions.”

  Indirial smiled broadly, as though she had made a joke, but he bowed in her direction without saying a word.

  Leah glanced at the sun, wishing for a clock. It was a little before noon, but she would have liked a more accurate estimate. “How long will the trip take?”

  “Three hours,” Indirial said. “I can have a team ready to leave in twenty minutes.”

  Leah stared at the map, considering. It was the perfect time to leave. The Grandmaster claimed that Alin practically locked down the city at night, and no one without official authorization was allowed out of their home. She had initially believed that those restrictions would make it easier to move around after dark, until Grandmaster Naraka told her exactly what patrolled the streets from sundown to sunup. If they tried to sneak into the city at night, they were far more likely to run into a patrol of gold-armored troops or a floating tentacled creature.

  It would be much easier, the Grandmaster believed, to slip in during the middle of the day and blend in with the crowd.

  If they left now, they would have plenty of time to arrive, take a look around, and even return before sunset.

  But were there any pitfalls? Was there anything she was missing? What could she do now to make the plan more likely to succeed?

  As always when she thought like this, she fished around in her pocket until she found a small, square, wooden box with rounded edges. It was the right size to hold a ring or a pendant.

  But she could feel the contents of this jewelry box radiating frustration through the thin layer of wood, pressing against her fingers, wanting release.

  It hardly felt like an eye at all. Maybe some sort of horrible, still-beating heart.

  Indirial didn’t look up from his weapons when he spoke. “You should use it.”

  Leah sighed quietly. Did he ever miss anything? She pulled the jewelry box out of her pocket and, with only a moment’s hesitation, opened it.

  A smooth, round stone of pure red gleamed on a velvet cushion inside the box. The stone was dark now, and until she turned it to catch the light it looked almost black. “We’ve talked about this, Indirial.”

  “You need as much power as you can get,” he said simply, scraping a stone down the edge of one knife. He tested the edge with his thumb. “I risked my life more than once for a power I thought I needed.”

  “A moment ago, you were more concerned for my safety than I was.”

  He shrugged. “Your father survived. I doubt it’s any more dangerous for you than for him.”

  Carefully, Leah placed the box on the table. “I don’t know anything about this, Indirial. There’s no shelf for it in the Vault, so I’m not sure where it came from. I don’t know what its price is, or even what it does.”

  The Overlord spoke over the steady rasp, rasp, rasp of a whetstone against one of his knives. “Whatever it does, your father thought it was necessary to fight the Valinhall Incarnation. I understand he went through a great deal of trouble to get it. He even lost his eye in the battle.” He made a thoughtful sound in his throat. “Now that I think about it, that worked out pretty well for him.”

  Leah thought Indirial had his priorities exactly backwards. Going into Enosh wouldn’t be nearly as dangerous to her as using the crimson eye. She had an even chance of winning or escaping any given fight. But placing something in her body that had an unknown effect and a mysterious price? She would rather fight an Elysian Incarnation alone.

  Then again, her father had used the eye for as long as she’d been alive. It hadn’t hurt him much.

  Had it?

  Leah rolled the stone in her fingers, ignoring its pulsing warmth. She would have to get used to handling it if she meant to have it surgically inserted into her skull. She couldn’t help but imagining it, then: a long-handled metal spoon descending toward her left eye socket, ready to scoop out her eyeball…

  She shuddered. It wasn’t realistic—they would certainly give her something for the pain, and any Asphodel Traveler could hold her unconscious until the operation had ended—but she couldn’t shake her instant revulsion. No matter how it happened, she would still have to give up an eye. And she had to wonder: was that the final price? Only an eye was a small cost, compared to what else Ragnarus might demand of her.

  She shivered again, and almost jumped when a raven croaked behind her. She managed to move smoothly, placing the Ragnarus eye back into its case and turning to face Feiora Torannus.

  The Overlord wore black trousers and a black shirt again, as usual, with Eugan the raven perched on her left shoulder. She stood with her arms crossed and jaw clenched, as though she anticipated having to physically knock someone down.

  “Enosh?” she demanded. “What idiocy is this?”

  There were seven other Overlords that hardly ever bothered Leah. Where were they? Seven stones, why is it always Feiora?

  Briefly it occurred to Leah that she might pretend to know nothing. Enosh? What are you talking about? But that would be a fool’s move; obviously the Overlord knew enough to be certain, or she wouldn’t have barged into the conversation in the first place.

  “Who told you?” she asked instead.

  Feiora jerked her head at Eugan, who let out a loud caw. “The Overlord of Cana over there had to borrow some of my personnel. A few of them were Avernus Travelers. They didn’t tell me where they were going, but the Corvinus tribe likes to keep tabs on one another.”

  The raven croaked again, and somehow managed to radiate self-satisfaction.

  Indirial didn’t look up from the weapons on the table. He had put down his whetstone and was now giving each blade a few strokes of an oiled rag. “I apologize for using your Travelers without permission. What else can I do for you?”

  Feiora’s jaw tightened so much that Leah imagined she could hear teeth grinding and muscles straining with tension. “When do you leave, Indirial?”

  Indirial swept his blade across a stone with a steady whisk, whisk, whisk. Maybe he hadn’t finished sharpening after all.

  Or maybe he was doing it to be annoying.

  Leah spoke into the silence. “I thought you were headed back to Eltarim, Overlord.” There was no need for Indirial to antagonize the woman like that, just because Leah always wanted to.

  “I delegated,” Feiora said. “You should try it some time. Your Majesty, I formally request that
I be assigned to the Enosh team.”

  Leah mulled it over for a second, mostly for show. “Why?”

  “It’s a scouting mission, isn’t it? I’m the best Avernus you have. I don’t have any contracts with the Sarin tribe, which would be even better for gathering intelligence.”

  Lysander had been the premier Sarin-tribe Avernus Traveler in the nation. Did she have to bring up her little brother every time they spoke? The man was imprisoned for an attempted coup; she wasn’t going to release him for nothing more than a few extra eyes. She had frozen or killed most of his sparrows anyway, so he wouldn’t be much good.

  “I’ll keep that in mind,” Leah said at last. Meanwhile, she tried to figure out exactly what Feiora stood to gain—or thought she might gain—from going on this mission. On the surface, it was a loss for her: she had begged a favor from Leah. If Leah granted it, that would put the Overlord slightly in her debt.

  On the other hand, Feiora needed a high card to trump her brother’s treachery. If she wanted to persuade Leah to release him anytime soon, she would have to provide the throne with some great service. Like, perhaps, taking down an Incarnation.

  That would work for Leah. It was in Feiora’s best interests to further the Queen’s goals right now, so she could be trusted. Marginally. If they encountered any enemy troops, the plan called for them to retreat in any case.

  And she was the best Avernus they had.

  Leah nodded once and turned back to her map, as though the decision had been an easy one. “You may come with us,” she said. “We leave within the hour, as soon as Indirial gathers the proper personnel.”

  Indirial grinned and drew his long, cracked sword off the table. He swept Leah a bow and raised his blade, starting to cut open a Valinhall Gate.

  Overlord Feiora’s thick eyebrows raised. “Us? Surely, Your Majesty, you don’t think you’re coming too.”

  ***

  The white marble had grown on its own, in batches next to what had ended up as Enosh’s Green District. It came in perfect, square blocks, stacked one on top of the other, leading Alin to believe that they must have once been crates. Like so much else in the city, the blocks had been transformed by his radiant presence into their new form.