The Last Lies of Ardor Benn

by Tyler Whitesides

  Quarrah nodded. Raek shivered. Ard went on.

  “Once I become a Glassmind, I’ll reach into the past, imposing feelings and whispers on Hedge Marsool to convince him to hire us to steal a dragon.”

  “There’s not a more straightforward way to get one?” Raek asked.

  “Sure, there is. But not with the limited time we have left,” said Ard. “All of this was to plan ahead, knowing that we wouldn’t have time to go to Pekal and hunt down a dragon when we finally realized we needed one. Hedge’s job was to make sure we had everything we needed, already in place.”

  “Like what else?” asked Quarrah.

  “Think about what Hedge required of us before he surrendered the paperwork for Captain Dodset and the Stern Wake,” said Ard. “He specifically told us to seek out Baroness Lavfa.”

  “Because of her underground property,” said Quarrah.

  “Or because Glassmind-Ard told him to,” said Raek. “Why?”

  “Because Hedge Marsool isn’t the only person I’m going to manipulate in the past,” said Ard. “Remember how Baroness Lavfa mentioned the Urgings?”

  “You think that was you?” Quarrah asked.

  He nodded. “I’ll reach back to the baroness and put the whispers in her head. Tell her exactly what to demand when someone comes asking about her subterranean property beneath Helizon.”

  “A black backpack with ten panweights of Void Grit, ten panweights of Barrier Grit, four bricks from the Royal Concert Hall, and a piece of Agrodite Moon Glass,” Raek reviewed.

  “Everything Gloristar would need to resurface,” said Ard.

  “Why the bricks?” Quarrah asked.

  Raek chuckled. “Those are just to make sure it sinks.”

  “Exactly. And when I’m done hiring Lavfa, I’ll pay a mental visit to our old friend Moroy Peng. He said he had good intel on exactly where to find us.”

  “Because you told him,” said Quarrah.

  “Well, I haven’t yet,” said Ard, “but I will soon. Moroy’s dying words were ‘Cut the pack.’ At the time, I didn’t understand what that was all about. But I’m going to chalk it up as another oddly specific Urging. He’ll sink the black backpack so it’ll be sure to reach Gloristar in the depths. After that, we’ll get Motherwatch and I’ll stop sending the Urgings to Hedge so he won’t know that we’re keeping her in Beripent.”

  “But you will tell him to move the dragon shell from the millinery to the Puckering Lizard?” Quarrah shook her head. “Why?”

  “Because that’s where he told you about the Urgings,” said Ard. “It’s what led us here. I’ll convince Hedge to make vials of sugar water and pretend to have Future Grit. That’s what kept us guessing about him. Once you confront him about it, I’ll let him know it’s okay to tell you the truth about the Urgings.”

  “I don’t know, Ard,” muttered Raek. “It sounds to me like you’re just saying you’re going to do a bunch of stuff that already happened… because it already happened.”

  “I get the feeling that’s how time travel works,” replied Ard. “With Visitant Grit, I’ll be able to make all these visits in a matter of minutes, maybe seconds. After that, things should run smoothly to the present moment.”

  “I wouldn’t say smoothly,” said Quarrah. “Gloristar and Lomaya died. Why didn’t you do something about that?”

  “And we got arrested,” said Raek. “Why don’t you tip us off that the rat ball is a bad idea?”

  Ard held up his hands. “I don’t think I can take requests,” he said. “I don’t understand how this works, but I know that what’s happened has happened. It’s too risky to change anything else.”

  “If this is the truth, I’m going to need a sign,” said Raek. “Something to prove that you really will turn into a time-traveling Glassmind.”

  “Fine. You want a sign?” Ard said. “I’ll add it to the list.” He pretended like he was writing on a piece of paper. “Give Raek a sign so he’ll believe me.”

  The cell fell into absolute silence.

  “Come on, future me,” Ard muttered after a pregnant moment.

  Quarrah sighed. “Do you think it’s been an hour?”

  “Beats me,” Ard said. “It’s not like we have a clock in here—”

  From under Raek’s cot, Ard heard the soft chiming of a mantel clock. He looked at Quarrah, then at Raek, making sure they were hearing it, too. Ard dropped to one knee, squinting to see it half buried in rank sawdust. As the chime concluded, he saw a flash of sparks. Ard fell back as a detonation cloud erupted from the clock, encompassing Raek, who sat directly above it.

  The big man instantly stopped shivering, his breathing calm. There was a blissful look on his scarred face as he passed his hand through the hazy air around him.

  “That’s some fine-quality Heg,” said Raek. “I’m officially convinced.”

  Some things I took for the Ashings. Some things for the fame and recognition. But the things I took for myself are what really mattered.

  CHAPTER

  27

  Ardor Benn led the way through Tofar’s Salts, moving clumsily across the boardwalk in the darkness. A regular glow of Light Grit was an unnecessary expense in a soakhouse where all the patrons could see in the dark.

  The carriage driver had agreed to wait on the street, but Ard knew he had to hurry if he hoped to catch a ship to Pekal before sunrise. He pushed open the door to the Be’Igoth, snatching a pot of Light Grit from the rack and smashing it against the wall. The room came into focus as the clay shards tumbled into a waste pail by his feet.

  Someone sprang from the couch, causing Ard to reel backward, crashing into Quarrah.

  “Sparks, San!” Ard cried. “What were you doing in the dark?”

  The young man bounced anxiously on his toes, eyes bleary as he rubbed them with the palms of his hands. “I heard you were arrested. I waited here in case it wasn’t true. Must have fallen asleep.”

  Raek quietly shut the door behind them.

  “So was it true?” San asked.

  “You don’t have to rub it in, kid,” said Raek.

  “How’d you get out?”

  “Probably better if you don’t know,” Ard replied.

  The escape had gone perfectly, the hallway empty of Regulators just as Queen Abeth had promised. Being the middle of the night, it had taken a little longer than Ard had wanted to flag down a public carriage, but the privacy of a coach was worth it.

  Ard moved to one of the cabinets where they kept some limited provisions. “Nine-day trek to Pekal’s summit… I’m gonna need more than crackers and cheese.”

  “Wait,” said San. “You’re going up there? Like Lomaya? Are you going to stop Garifus?”

  “I don’t think that’s possible right now,” Ard replied. “But I’m going to level the playing field, at least.”

  Quarrah cleared her throat. “We should come with you.”

  Ard was surprised to hear her say it, knowing how much she disliked that island. “I wouldn’t ask that of you. Only one of us needs to become a Glassmind for this to work.”

  “That’s not what I’m talking about,” said Quarrah. “I just think you’re going to need help on the hike. Let’s face it, you’ll never make it to the top on your own.”

  “How hard can it be?” Ard asked. “If I’m going up, I’m going in the right direction.”

  “Yep. He’s definitely going to die up there,” Raek muttered.

  “So maybe I don’t know the way,” Ard said. “But I know someone who does.”

  “I thought you burned that bridge,” said Raek.

  “With Nemery?” Quarrah asked. “Did I miss something?”

  Ard had been forthright with Raek about the undesirable conditions under which he’d taken Motherwatch, but he had purposefully withheld that information from Quarrah. That story was just the kind of thing she had been talking about in the jail cell—Ard’s insistence on doing what he thought was right at the cost of his interpersonal relationships.
/>   Quarrah was angry at him for keeping Motherwatch. Nemery, for separating her from the hatchling. Raek was still mad about Tall Son’s Millinery, and Queen Abeth about breaking the pardon. Prime Isle Trable was upset that he’d learned Islehood secrets, and Lyndel wanted him dead for crimes against the Trothian people. And the minute Elbrig and Cinza realized he’d turned on them, they’d want him dead, too.

  Sparks, his life was really falling apart. But he couldn’t stop now. Not when he was so close.

  He was going to bring back the gods.

  “Nemery and I aren’t really on speaking terms anymore,” Ard admitted to Quarrah. “But I can win her over. It’ll be fine.”

  “What happens if you do make it to the summit?” San asked.

  “I get Moonsick and then detonate some of that fancy Metamorphosis Grit around myself,” Ard explained. “I turn into a beautiful butterfly.”

  “You can’t become a Glassmind!” San shrieked. “Garifus will control you.”

  “Garifus said that his transformed followers still retain their individuality,” corrected Ard. “Their thoughts are linked and their bodies become perfected. We can—”

  “It should be me.” Raek was looking down at the Be’Igoth floor, a distant expression on his face. “I should become the Glassmind, not you.”

  “I appreciate the offer,” said Ard, “but I’ve got this.”

  “This isn’t like anything we’ve done before,” Raek said. “We’re not talking about putting on one of Cinza and Elbrig’s costumes.” He looked up. “This is a permanent change.”

  “I understand the risks,” said Ard. “But it has to be me.”

  “Why?” Raek asked.

  “To give the Urgings to Hedge Marsool and the others,” said Ard. Why did his friend suddenly seem so intense about this?

  “I know what happened, too,” Raek said. “I could plant the Urgings just as easily as you.”

  “Raek…” Ard held up a hand. “It’s okay. I can—”

  “I want to do this,” his partner suddenly barked.

  “Of course you do,” Ard returned. “A chance to be a superior being… To manipulate Grit at your fingertips.”

  “You’re not hearing me, Ard,” said Raek. “This is something I need to do.”

  “Why?” Ard rebutted. He wasn’t going to let anyone take this brilliant plan from him. Not even Raekon Dorrel. This was about the millinery. Because he didn’t tell him where the shell was being stored. “I get it, Raek. You’re tired of being the partner. The Short Fuse. Hanging out in the corners while I get all the attention.”

  Was that jealousy in Raek’s eyes? Oh, this made sense now. Raek had always been the muscle. If Ard went through with the transformation, he would loom over his partner. He’d take away the one thing that—

  Raek let out a roar like an angry bear, rending his sleeveless shirt down the front. He took a lurching, challenging step toward Ard, the metal pipe protruding conspicuously from his muscled chest.

  “Look at this!” Raek yelled. Ard dropped his eyes to the floor. “Look! Does this seem perfect to you? Does this look like a body that feels no pain?” He let go of his torn shirt, seeming suddenly embarrassed. Striding across the room, he leaned against the back of the green chair, his head downcast.

  “Humans are blazing fragile,” Raek muttered. “But some more than others.”

  Another kind of embarrassment hit Ard. Embarrassment for his own selfishness. For not having seen it sooner. For not having understood. To be honest, Ard rarely thought about the pipe in Raek’s chest anymore. The Chimney, as Ard liked to call it, seemed almost like a natural part of his friend now. Raek never complained about it, and Ard must have mistaken that silence for acceptance. What kind of friend did that make Ard, pretending like the pain had gone away?

  “I’m sorry, Raek.” He took a quiet step closer to him. “I didn’t realize.”

  Raek sighed. “Sometimes I think I could be living another life altogether… and you wouldn’t realize.”

  Ard clenched his jaw. Was his friend trying to twist the knife of guilt? So much of their life intersected. Ard knew those parts as well as himself, it seemed. But they weren’t always together. And while Ard was usually quick to give a full accounting of his day, Raek had never felt the need to share as much. Over the years, Ard had asked fewer and fewer questions. Had they been drifting apart right under his nose?

  “I’m ready to be free of this.” Raek tapped his chest. “And for the first time… I see a way.”

  Ard walked over to him, trying to decide how to handle this situation sensitively. “If we can pull this off…” he said softly. “If we can actually succeed in separating a Glassmind from Centrum’s collective mind… I promise you’ll be the very next one to transform.”

  Raek squinted his eyes. “You’re not going to let me do this?”

  Ard rubbed a hand across his face in exasperation. Couldn’t Raek see how delicate this whole situation was?

  “We’re talking about becoming a Glassmind, Raek. This isn’t like taking a trip to the healer’s shop.”

  “I understand that,” Raek retorted. “And by the sound of it, the trip is about your ego.”

  Ard huffed. “I’ll say it again. I am the best person suited for this, having been present every time Hedge Marsool pretended to know the future.”

  “Experiences you told me about in great detail,” said Raek. “And you weren’t there when Quarrah met him under the millinery.”

  “This isn’t up for negotiation!” Ard cried. “I am going to Pekal on my own.”

  “I guess we’ll have to see who gets there first.” Raek stepped around the chair, his hand shooting out, catching Ard in the chest and throwing him backward. Ard landed in the chair, gasping for breath.

  “I won’t screw this up,” Raek promised. “But I have a feeling—maybe even an Urging—that you might.”

  Raek’s eyes dropped to the chair arm. Sparks, not this chair! Ard tried to leap up, but his partner was faster. Raek pulled the wooden arm, and Ard felt the seat drop out from under him. He reached out desperately, managing to grab a fistful of Raek’s torn shirt, but it wasn’t enough to hold his weight. The fabric ripped and Ard fell, landing in a heap on the floor of the empty bath.

  “Raekon!” he yelled.

  “I’ll be back in a couple of weeks.” Raek threw something down and Ard saw it shatter on the floor beside him—a little vial of liquid Grit, sparks sizzling as a detonation engulfed him.

  He fell limply to the floor and everything went black.

  Quarrah stared at Raek, completely speechless over the conflict she had just witnessed. He pulled the trapdoor back into position, the arm of the green chair clicking into place.

  “Does anyone else have a problem with me becoming a Glassmind?” He dusted his hands together, turning to face her and San. The poor man… he was desperate to shake the pains that had plagued him. And looking at his weathered face, Quarrah knew it was the right choice.

  “You’ve earned this, Raek.” She nodded at him. “I’ll stay here and make sure Ard doesn’t follow you.”

  “That might not be as easy as it sounds,” Raek said. “He’s going to be livid when that Stasis cloud burns out.”

  “How much more of that stuff do we have?” she asked.

  “There’s a box of vials right here.” San moved over to the Grit Mixing table. “Most of them are Prolonged, so that should give you…” He pulled off the box’s lid and silently counted. “Well, it should keep him out cold until morning, at least.”

  “Then that’s what I’ll do,” Quarrah replied. “And since there’s no way to open that trapdoor from the inside, I could potentially keep him down there for days.”

  “That’s right,” said Raek. “You’ll want to plug the drain so he can’t weasel his way to the baths outside.”

  “Of course,” she said. “But I have to ask… Whose idea was it to put a trapdoor under that chair?”

  Raek scratched his he
ad as if trying to remember. “Mine, I think. Why?”

  She nodded. “Now I’m sure we’re doing the right thing.” If Ard were truly destined to become a Glassmind, wouldn’t he have Urged the past to change the remodel of the Be’Igoth in order to avoid this little mutiny?

  “While I’m gone,” said Raek, “San’s your man if you need more Grit.”

  The young man stood with his hands clasped in front of him, a notably nervous posture. “Actually, I’d like to go with you.”

  Raek smiled. “That’s nice of you to offer, kid. But there’s no sense in putting more lives in danger.”

  “Flames, Raek,” Quarrah cried. “Don’t be like Ard. If he wants to go, let him.”

  He looked at her, his contempt over the comment quickly giving way to acknowledgment of his error.

  “Why?” he asked San.

  “When Lomaya and I were being held at the Barracks,” San started, “we told Garifus that detonating the Transformation Grit was more complicated than it really was—that one of us would have to be there in order to make it work correctly. It was a simple lie designed to stall him. Perhaps convince him to bring the Bloodeyes to us. We didn’t think he would actually take one of us with him on the trek.”

  San swallowed hard, and Quarrah could see the pain of remembering his friend.

  “The night they set out from Winter Barracks,” he continued softly, “I was supposed to be the one to go with Garifus. But I got sick. I tried to tell Garifus that I could still hike, that I’d be feeling better by the time we reached Pekal.” He shook his head. “Garifus took Lomaya instead.”

  “Going with me to the summit won’t bring her back,” said Raek.

  “I know. That’s not what this is about,” San said. “After Lomaya had left with Garifus, I was working in our laboratory at the barracks when I found a little vial of Thornleaf oil…”

  “You think she poisoned you?” Quarrah asked. She was familiar with Thornleaf’s undesirable properties. She had used it plenty of times to make sure that certain rooms of a manor would be unoccupied—and others occupied—in order to simplify a burglary.