Evan Burl and the Falling

by Justin Blaney

  "Ballard," I said as I looked up at him. "Tie Mazol and Yesler's hands, but not their legs. They're going to need to run in the jungle. Then take them out the main gate and lock them outside."

  "You think you're brave," Mazol said. "But there are worse things than dying."

  "What about Henri?" Ballard said as he went to work tying up Mazol and Yesler.

  "She'll have to stay. If Mazol's right, she'll die if you take her outside the castle. Find somewhere to lock her up at night. If she behaves, she can serve you and the other fallings."

  Mazol glared at me. "I know what you're thinking. You're going to go to Cevo. Ask him to keep paying as long as you keep up the deliveries. It won't work. Terillium said to keep you away from Cevo. You can't handle him. He'll make you suffer. You're only hope is to come with me."

  Ballard lifted Mazol and Yesler up, one with each hand, and carried them like squirming barn cats hanging over a bathtub full of water.

  "There's still time to do the right thing," I said. "It won't change your punishment, but it might make you feel better about what you've done."

  Yesler spit. "I'll take my chances in the jungle."

  I ignored him and looked Mazol straight in the eyes. "How do you cure the affliktion?"

  For a moment, I thought Mazol was considering my offer. Maybe he could change, do something selfless after so many years of doing wrong. He wasn't always bad, he had just made the wrong choice when things got hard.

  He smiled wryly, "You don't give it to them in the first place."

  My shoulders sank. "Get them out of here." My last hope for him fell through, he had chosen his path.

  "You'll see gimp," Mazol said. "You put that skull on and you'll understand."

  I lifted the skull rubric up so it dangled in front of my face as Ballard drug Yesler and Mazol to the entrance doors. Mazol was right about that; the skull would tell me everything. I dipped my head to place the chain over my head when Henri screamed.

  "Evan! Don't."

  I ignored her. Of course she didn't want me to see the truth.

  Slipping the skull on my neck, I felt the familiar sharp pain when it touched my skin, then I drifted into a dream.

  CHAPTER FORTY-THREE

  Cevo

  Friday

  10:16 pm

  33 minutes until the Falling

  The vialus was almost done.

  Sitting down at a desk, I pulled out a sheet of paper and began writing.

  To the Vice Regent,

  I, your chancellor, Cevostramos Magmilliano, must go abroad for an extended period of time. You are to continue working the mines, collecting the azul diamonds in the iron chests that were provided. Decommission the equipment used for processing the diamonds and deliver it, along with the attached letter, to the following address. They will know what to do.

  You, and only you, will be responsible for placing the full chests in the machine kept in my dungeons as I instructed you yesterday. Other than this purpose, you must not allow anyone to enter my manse.

  Whatever valuables uncovered in the mines should be sold and deposited into my treasury. You may keep 10% for your own profits as a reward for keeping my terms. Pass these instructions on to your successor, if for some reason, I'm delayed in my return.

  If you deviate from my will for any reason, I will make sure you and your decedents suffer more than you can imagine possible.

  Cevo

  I had to separate the mine from the processing while I was away—it was too dangerous to have both done in the same location without my supervision. Besides, it was the mine that required such extensive human effort. The machines could be run with as little as a dozen hands if set up properly.

  I sealed the letter, then pulled a second sheet of paper and wrote my instructions for where the equipment was to be delivered. I placed both letters in the shoot that rose up into the ceiling, and sent them off to be delivered with a whoosh of sucking wind. I was quite happy with myself, it was a brilliant plan that would ensure the city's productivity and my future wealth with almost no effort from me.

  Turning my attention to the vialus, I unscrewed eight rotary clamps around the edge of the press without touching any of them. After the last was released, the lip popped up and steam poured out around the permitter. With a flick of my wrist, the cast iron lid flipped open, groaning on its racked hinges.

  The vialus floated into the air, as if lifted by an invisible string attached to my finger.

  "What happens now?" Hagnus said, her eyes wide.

  I caused the vialus to float above my palm, it was black and dead.

  "We wake it."

  I arced a bolt of electricity through the tips of my fingers. With a flash, a cloud of smoke began swirling inside the vialus and the metal began to pulse with darkness.

  She moved to touch it, but I snapped it out of her reach. Hagnus's face transformed. At first she looked innocent, like a curious child. But then anger filled her face. Her eyes grew bloodshot, hair fell over her face, bruises appeared up and down her arms. Pulling a knife from behind her, she lurched at me. I took two steps back out of shock.

  Blinking, I tried to make the nightmare change back to reality, but I had lost control of my vision. She raised the knife above her head and stabbed down, but I dodged her—clumsily—moving like molasses compared to the agility I was used to.

  She came at me again and I threw her against a table along the far wall. Glass jars rattled, something fell with a crash to the floor. My first reaction was to snap her neck, but I stopped myself. I finally realized what was happening to me. I was having a relapse. Sapience was playing with my mind and I didn't know which version of Hagnus was real. I cursed myself. Why did this always happen; just as I was starting to grow fond of her she turns on me. I was more angry with myself, I hadn't lost control of my reality in decades.

  She got to her feet and circled me. I had to kill her now, I had to keep moving. Only 30 minutes till Evan's falling, then it would be too late. I forced the knife in her hand to turn towards her own chest. I recognized the material, it was made from the same stuff as the rubric in my hand; a weapon designed to kill sapients. She must have gotten it from Terillium, but how did she know him? She had one of his knifes. She had the parchment with Evan Burl's location, written in Terillium's handwriting. Who was this woman?

  She watched with horror as the knife in her hand moved slowly towards her own heart.

  "Stop!" she yelled. But that was the problem. I wanted to stop. I shouldn't want that. I had to kill her. I made a vow. She attacked me... or was any of this real? I was having a relapse, I couldn't be sure of what I was seeing. Hagnus may not even be in the room with me. I cursed myself again.

  The knife pushed into her skin and she screamed.

  "Please! I..."

  Her eyes changed, she was no longer the coldblooded murderer who attacked me. She was like a child; scared, hurt, angry. Then I saw something that made my blood freeze. Her eyes, I recognized them. But the scene was wrong. I flashed in my mind to a memory. I was on the porch of a beach villa. The waves crashed on the sand, the water was bright silver from the full moon hanging low over the horizon. A woman was laying, eyes open, in a pool of her own blood at my feet. She had attacked me. She looked like Hagnus. I'd grown fond of her. I married her. I taught her to use sapience. Then she turned on me. And I watched her die.

  I snapped back into the room with Hagnus. Blood was dripping from the knife, it's tip piercing through her skin now; half an inch from her heart.

  "Don't kill me..."

  "I have to."

  "But I'm your--"

  "Don't say it," I said, but I already knew.

  "—daughter."

  My mind was clear, everything I saw was real. Hagnus came to kill me. She was the one hunting me. "It can't be." I stepped backwards, knocking over a stool behind me. I fumbled the vialus in my hand. I must finish her, I made a vow, but I couldn't. I don't know why, but I couldn't finish her.

&n
bsp; Releasing her, I crushed the vialus and drew it's vapors into my skin.

  "No!" she screamed.

  Drawing the knife from her chest and raising it above her head, she lunged at me. I felt something inside, a chest tightening. I didn't recognize it. It wasn't anger. It wasn't love. It certainly wasn't guilt. Then I remembered the feeling. I was sorry for her. She would miss her chance to kill me. I knew the desperate feeling she would be left with; like a great hole was ripped inside her stomach. I knew what it was like to hunt for years, to have my prey within my grasp, only to have it escape at the last moment.

  Just as the knife flashed down, my body turned to vapor. A great wind rushed through the room, sweeping from south to north, carrying me away through the walls. I was going to Daemanhur.

  CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR

  Evan

  Friday

  10:22 pm

  27 minutes until the Falling

  I saw myself through Pearl's eyes.

  Pain stabbed my chest and I winced. I could feel the skull stabbing my skin as if I was inside Pearl's body. As the pain faded, the vision faded into a scene.

  I was laying on Pearl's bed. My chest itched. I scratched and scratched but the itch only got worse. I pulled the collar of my shirt down and saw a deep red rash covering my chest. There were welts and cuts crisscrossed on my skin. I looked up just as Henri walked in with a lamp in her hand.

  "What's the matter?" she said.

  "I'm scared. My skin is itchy." I was shaking.

  Henri pulled my shirt down and I watched lines of worry form around her eyes.

  "When did this happen?"

  "I don't know. I noticed it a few hours ago."

  "Where did you get that necklace?"

  "Evan gave it to me."

  "You should take it off. It could be making the rash worse."

  "I can't. Evan said I should wear it. It will keep me safe."

  Henri looked even more worried, then said, "I'm not sure Evan knows what's best right now."

  "I'm worried about him."

  "So am I."

  I heard voices and Henri glanced nervously at the door.

  "Shhh," I think Mazol is coming. She stood up.

  "I'll be right back." Then she disappeared into the hall.

  I heard her voice on the other side of the door.

  "What do you want?" she said.

  "Have you thought about my proposal?" It was Mazol's voice.

  "I already told you. I won't do it."

  "I'll kill Evan if you don't help me."

  "If you wanted to kill him, you would have already. You need him."

  Henri and Mazol's voices faded off and the vision changed again. I was crouched behind a clanker in the Caldroen. I watched myself and Henri walk in, but we looked different. Scarier. More dangerous. I pushed my back to the wall behind me, feeling my heart beat louder. I watched myself begin to check the finishing clanker as Henri took a seat in the window. My face was growing longer, stretched and gaunt. My eyes were red with blood. I saw myself take a wrench in my hand and walk towards Henri. I was afraid for her. It looked like I was going to strike her. I didn't want Henri to be hurt. Dashing from my hiding place, I grabbed the boy that looked like me and pushed him to the ground. As he fell, the boy turned into a monster. Henri screamed. The monster clawed at the ground, striking me again and again. It was trying to escape. I knew if I let it get away, Henri was dead. I sunk my teeth into the monster's shoulder and tasted blood.

  The vision faded again.

  I was looking at Henri in a mirror, she was wearing the skull pendent. I felt a stab of pain as the memories began to suck through my skin. I realized I had changed bodies. Now I was inside Henri. She must have taken the skull from me after we dug up Pearl's grave, while I was locked unconscious in the cage.

  I recognized the mirror Henri was standing in front of; it hung on a wall just outside the Caldroen. A tear ran down her cheek. I looked down and saw my own hands buttoning a blouse; the pendent fell hidden behind the faded floral cotton cloth. A tear fell onto my hands; I wiped my face.

  I turned and stepped through the Caldroen's armored doorway. I could see myself laying on my side in a cage on the first level. My face was grey and covered in filth. I looked terrible. Spotting Mazol, I approached him, feeling my chest thumping more with every step.

  "You said you would let him go," I said as he turned to me.

  "I would like to—production is down without him—but you won't cooperate."

  "He's not well. I think he's dying."

  "You should have thought of that before you turned down my offer."

  "I won't betray him."

  "You'll do what I tell you or we don't have a deal."

  "Don't you see what's happening to him? He's losing his mind. He's imagining things that aren't real."

  "I know. I want to help him. But I can't as long as you're being selfish."

  The vision faded again. I looked around. Claire had just fallen. Evan was standing in front of Mazol.

  "We were saving this for later," Mazol said.

  I watched myself hesitate. Why wasn't I attacking Mazol? Then I remembered. I had thought Henri was going to stick that syringe in Mazol's neck, I was trying to distract Mazol to give Henri time.

  I looked down at my hands. They were Henri's, but there was no syringe in them. I turned and watched Yesler step pass me. He had the syringe raised above his head. I watched myself smile. I remembered what I was thinking. I was thinking Henri was going to save me. But Yesler was holding the syringe. I watched his hand fall and the syringe plunge into my neck; it's black liquid emptied into my blood.

  I fell to the ground; disbelief and sadness covering my face.

  The vision faded and then it was over.

  I was back in the entrance room. Evan again. I pulled the necklace from around my neck.

  Holding out my hand for something to brace myself on, I stared at the ground, dizzy and numb.

  Realization flooded in.

  I had imagined everything.

  Henri hadn't betrayed me.

  Pearl attacked me because she was afraid. She saw the monster inside me.

  I thought about how I'd given each one of the dead fallings a rubric before they died. My body felt heavy. I wanted to fall to the ground, but I resisted the urge.

  All this time I'd been searching for what caused the affliktion. I thought it was the spider. But it was the rubrics.

  Henri wasn't the murderer.

  I was.

  CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE

  Evan

  Friday

  10:23 pm

  26 minutes until the Falling

  The first thing I saw when I opened my eyes was a huge tear roll slowly down Henri's cheek. She hugged her knees to her chest, her hands and feet still bound by invisible cords. Limping to her, I released her bonds, but I couldn't look her in the eyes.

  "I didn't want you to see," she said. I stooped down next to her, rubbing her wrists, trying to help the blood return to her fingers.

  "How long have you known?"

  "I only just figured it out. I would have done anything to hide the truth from you."

  I knew I should apologize, but there was a part of me that still didn't trust her. I didn't know what to believe. I wanted to crawl into a corner and hate myself for what I'd done to the fallings. I wished I could punish myself somehow, but there was nothing I could do to make it all right.

  I thought about Henri's rash. How was it that she had the affliktion before I made her wear the skull rubric? Wearing the rubrics killed Little Sae and the others. Why wasn't it killing Henri?

  I looked up and found Mazol was watching me. All the memories must have come to me in an instant; Ballard hadn't even left the room yet. I thought I almost detected a bit of pity on his face, but it could have just been my imagination.

  The ground began to shake.

  Something crashed outside in the courtyard; a window broke and wind rushed into the entrance h
all.

  Mazol's eyes were wide, but he seemed to expect this, or at least fear it might happen. "Last chance, gimp. We need to get out of here now—"

  But he was interrupted as both twenty foot entrance doors flew open, crashing into the walls on either side. All the lanterns went out at once.

  There was silence for a long moment.

  "Evan Burl," a voice said out of the darkness. It was deep and confident and shook my insides. The kind of voice one didn't dare ignore. I opened my mouth to answer, but the words got caught in my throat.

  A tiny ball of red fire appeared in the threshold of the doors, but the one who spoke stayed in the shadows so I couldn't see his face. The light grew brighter and I saw something dash through a door on my right. Someone had crept out to see who said my name when the darkness set it.

  Soon I noticed that the lanterns were burning again. Somehow, they didn't look like they were powered with fire. Their light was more green than yellow and it ebbed in a repeating sort of pattern that wasn't natural.

  I spoke into the darkness.

  "Are you a falling?" I said. The most obvious question escaped me—his name. But I didn't want to know it, for some reason I couldn't explain.

  "I'll ask the questions," said the voice.

  "How do you know my name?"

  "I've been searching for you as long as you've been alive."

  The man stepped into the light. His face lined with age, his eyes flicked back and forth as if he was soaking up all there was to know about me and everything else in a mere moment. He didn't seem impressed. Catching his reflection in a mirror, he dusted himself off, straightened his collar and pulled his gloves on tighter. Catching me staring at him, he seemed to remember that he wasn't alone.

  Turning to me, he looked twice at my filthy clothes as if he imagined I would be more impressive.

  "Where is the spider?" he said.

  His voice sounded far away, but maybe I was just numb from what I'd seen in Pearl's memories. I had to leave the castle before anyone else got hurt. Look what I did to Little Sae and Anabelle and the others.