“You two can see to her?” Dayn carefully wrapped the shopkeeper's hand around a half dozen of his gems. A meager apology, but the best he could do for bringing such misery upon her. “And get the Prevailers to deal with these men?”
They nodded. “Aye, offworlder. Are...are you really from Shard?”
But Dayn was already rushing out the door, hurrying to find Vake's haven and the Ringmen.
A strange scene outside of the Rain Shoppe stopped him. The beggar had disappeared, but a crowd of Montollene had gathered on the tower's ribbon. Their attention was not on Dayn at all, but a transport that had rammed the tower’s pathway. The crumbling ribbon was impassable, save for a narrow strip of stone near the tower wall.
“Transports are not allowed within the city!” An indignant wayfinder, sweat staining his yellow tabard, thumped vigorously on the transport's hull door as onlookers sullenly edged around the bottleneck. “Prevailers will be here soon. Let these good people by, I say!”
The wayfinder looked positively exuberant on finding a task so unlike his mundane days. The crowd spurred on their unlikely hero as he circled around the craft to peer into the hangdeck’s crystal.
The rear hatch began to open. Dayn started to push through the crowd, away from the transport, fighting his own rising dread. Peace, it was supposed to be safe here. Everyone said Montollos is safe! The Preceptor's mental trainings felt like a distant dream as his insides curdled with fear. He felt a voidwalker’s presence inside, and he could not bear their touch again. The clear men never sleep.
More Montollene congregated upon the pathman's cries. The voidwalker's presence crept through them unnoticed, like blink fungus spreading over a rotting carcass.
A woman with brown hair looked at the ribbon's edge, her eyes unfocused. “We used to dangle my little brother, for fun,” she whispered. Dayn spared her an agonized look as he pushed further from the transport. A terrible pallor took hold of the woman's face as the voidwalker's thrall brushed her mind. “He would cry and cry. Why did we do that?”
As if in a dream, she stepped closer to the ribbon's edge. Next to her, a strapping man in his middle years carefully placed a bundle before him, Dayn heard the clink of tools. He calmly rose, then slammed a hammer onto his forearm so hard bone cracked. The screams began. Men groaned and women cried aloud.
A keening moan forced Dayn to turn around. A swirl of brown hair wreathed the Montollene woman’s terrified face. Her eyes fixed on Dayn’s as she stepped off the ribbon.
Peace take you, you didn't even lift a hand to help her! He wrenched himself away, shoving roughly to escape, but even more Montollene were gathering to see the trouble and pushing him back. He bowled one final confused onlooker to the ground and bounded powerfully into the air, holding his pack tight.
“Run!” he shouted. That, he could do at least. “Run!”
People gasped and pointed as he soared over their heads, crashing to the ribbon some twenty spans away. He lurched into a run, looking for a skybridge. Bounding above the people helped get him away faster, but he might as well tie bells around his neck for anyone giving chase. He buffeted ribbonwalkers with no apologies, leaving a trail of angered shouts in his wake.
Dayn heard no signs of pursuit, but did not slow his sprint. He fought to quell his panic with Lurec’s lessons, but fear and the need to escape ruled him utterly. He ran for what felt like miles, circling around the floating towers and dashing down ribbons as fast as he dared.
He finally stopped in the shadow of a haventower, clutching his knees as Montollos folk eyed him curiously. No pathman stood near for him to ask about Vake’s haven. If he could not find the Ringmen, he would go to the Tower Axios. The Regents may discover his presence, but at least his friends would be there.
Distant warning shouts pulled his gaze upward immediately. He saw no voidwalker, nor that thrice-cursed beggar. Surely neither could have matched his pace.
“Look out!” There was no movement to be seen, only more confused Montollene around him, looking for the source of the warning shout. He searched the ribbon’s lace intently.
“There!” A man pointed and Dayn looked up. An upward ribbon shifted to reveal a glint of light through the midst of a distant cloud of white dust. Ragged chunks of a skybridge tumbled downward, breaking apart upon ribbons as it fell.
“Peace keep us,” Dayn whispered.
The transport roared into view, heading straight at him. The craft's speed and bulk were never built to navigate the complex intertwining of the ribbons. One moment, it was a faraway speck on the horizon. The next instant, a rushing squeal of wind filled the air. The tower wall to Dayn’s right exploded. The force of it knocked him down. Shattered stone and screaming Montollene hurtled in every direction.
Pandemonium raged. Some people remained, attempting to free others buried under the tower's rubble. The transport was far from destroyed, though its crystal viewport was hopelessly smashed. White smoke issued from a mighty rent on the starboard side of the hull. The craft creaked back from the wound in the tower, spilling more debris onto the ribbon below as it slowly came about.
Dayn backed away on his hands and knees. Shaking his head to rid himself of the humming in his ears, he regained his feet amid dazed Montollene and broken bodies, turning again to flee. A black cloaked figure appeared at the far end of the tower ribbon and he froze.
Moridos called to him. “There is no place I will not find you, boy.”
Dayn looked around wildly. There were no entrances to the inside of the tower on this stretch of ribbon. He could bound over the transport, but had no idea if the ribbon was intact on the other side. Leaping for the nearest skybridge meant risking a fall that would kill him.
Moridos lurched into a run, loping closer as though he sensed Dayn’s desperation. Frantically, Dayn prepared himself to leap from the broken ribbon.
Suddenly the voidwalker pitched to the ground, losing his menacing air for a moment as he went sprawling. He...tripped? Dayn wanted to laugh hysterically. An iron grip closed on his shoulder. He howled in fear, flailing wildly.
“Calm yourself, Shardian!” For a wonder, the Defender had appeared beside him on the ledge, fully armored. Merciful peace be praised! Dayn felt ready to faint in relief.
“Peace, Nassir! The voidwalker, he's―”
“I know. Your Sending warned us.”
“Where’s Lurec?”
“Helping as best he can.” Nassir thrust a harness and wingline into his hands. The wingline came with a barbed talon and coursing clutch, same as the Defender used. “Strap this on, quickly!” Dayn fumbled at the clamp while Nassir smeared him with sheath. Moridos rose to his feet. Nassir yanked the harness to make sure it was tight.
“Follow me!” The Defender charged for the ribbon edge and dove out of sight. Dayn forced his terror down and leaped after him. His stomach lurched as he dropped into a freefall.
Dayn kept up with the Defender easily, coursing between ribbons and swooping through the towers. They alighted on another ribbon, running past some startled Montollene who cried out as they leapt off the edge, descending deeper into the heart of Montollos.
Nassir hooked onto a skybridge hovering above them, using it to rappel down the side of a building. Dayn readied his wingline to follow, aiming his talon. An instant later the transport appeared, pulverizing the skybridge in a spray of rock and debris that blasted into the nearby tower. With his talon lost in the crash, the Defender dropped like a stone.
“Peace protect us!” Helpless Montollene plummeted to the tower depths below as Dayn stared in horror. He gathered himself and leaped after them. Nassir would be down there somewhere.
“Shardian, wait!” Nassir swung past Dayn on another line without so much as a dent in his armor. He dropped to a floating plaza, shoulders sparking against the stone as he rolled to a stop. Dayn snagged the railing with his talon, using his own momentum to arc beneath the plaza and rise up on the other side. Nassir reached out to steady Dayn as he lande
d in a sprawl.
Dayn handed the Defender an extra talon from his pack. Nassir took it wordlessly as he watched the transport slowly pull free of the skybridge’s wreckage, fifty spans above them.
“There’s no way they can catch us with that,” Dayn said. The distant screams of Montollene came from every direction above them, as people fled what they undoubtedly believed to be a navigator gone mad. Dayn and Nassir now stood among the lower stretch of the towers, the sky barely visible between the ribbons above them.
“Transports were never designed for a world's surface,” Nassir agreed, unconsciously retracting his wingline into his talon-clutch. He tensed suddenly, looking around with a new urgency in his eyes.
“What? What is it?” Dayn asked. A loud screeching noise sounded above them.
“Impossible,” Nassir breathed, open shock painting his face. “Run! Into the tower!” He bounded from the plaza, sailing over twenty spans with nothing but the hazy heart of Montollos beneath him. He landed easily on the ribbon leading into a distant tower.
Dayn refused to look down as he leaped. The depth reminded him too much of the Dreadfall. Nassir steadied him as he landed, then sprinted off. A large wall of glass and metal stood before them, twenty spans high and dim with disuse. The Defender made directly for a door at the center, looking for a place to hide. The screeching sound faded as Dayn followed the Defender inside.
“Quiet, Shardian.” Nassir peered into the tower's depths, haste honing his movements to razor precision. Dust lay heavy in the air, causing Dayn to cough. Weak light filtered through the crystal, but failed to penetrate beyond where they stood. Nassir beckoned Dayn deeper into the blackness.
The crystal wall shattered behind them. Nassir did not even bother turning around as he raced into the tower. The screeching returned even louder, like a pack of wolves set on fire. “For your life, Shardian!”
He scampered after the Defender’s loping strides as the Ringman crashed through an open door at the end of a huge chamber. They slowed after just a few steps, for the guts of the tower were terribly dark. Nassir strode forward cautiously. Dim lighting outlined a small, windowless room at the end of a cramped hallway.
“These Thar’Kuri have a fleshweep under their control.”
Dayn shivered, remembering the strange tracks from Ara. The Defender felt along the floor. With a sharp click, the metal grating beneath their feet swung up to reveal a hidden crawl space. “I’ve never seen them take such a risk.” Nassir frowned in the near darkness.
“They want the Seed that badly?” Dayn whispered.
“It appears so, Shardian. Or else Moridos has gone mad in his quest for vengeance.”
“But I don't even have it now!”
“Only because peace still shines upon us. This is the deepest part of the tower. Voidwalkers could search for weeks and not find you here.” Nassir beckoned him into the crawlspace. Dayn obeyed hesitantly, wondering how long they would hide there. The grate came back down with a metallic sound.
“Wait, you can't leave me! I―”
“Hold your wits,” Nassir hissed. “I will return soon. The weep cannot pursue us through here. I mean to end this, now. This voidwalker will hunt us no longer.” Dayn nodded nervously as the Defender crept away, moving deeper into the tower's core.
Stillness stormed in on Nassir’s quiet retreat. Dayn could hear his heart pounding in his ears. He took deep, measured breaths, attempting to calm himself. It did not work. He strained for any hint of the fleshweep's strange call.
He’ll return soon, he thought. The Prevailers will come looking for the transport, too. Dayn clung to that thread of hope. They’ll capture the voidwalker, and the weep. Then we can leave this place.
He counted two hundred breaths and calmed somewhat, feeling his heart still as he took in the tower's stale air. He immediately noticed a familiar, putrid smell.
His prior calm evaporated instantly. No sound or movement came from above the grate. Sand and ash, the voidwalker could be locked in here with me! I should have at least seen where this space goes instead of just sitting here like a wart on a toad!
Without warning, the room above him disintegrated in a roar that knocked Dayn flat on his back. Fragments of the ruined wall crashed down on the grate above him. The metal groaned, but held firm. Powder fell everywhere. Dayn fought his throat not to cough out loud in the dust.
Above him, a dull amber glow gradually replaced the darkness. Hollow thumps shook the room and Dayn felt more than saw a sense of mass fill the narrow space. He could smell the voidwalker somewhere above, and something else, so vile it made his eyes water. The fleshweep. It’s right above me! The amber light lurched into his vision and Dayn beheld a nightmare given birth.
In the belly of the creature, an old man with matted tufts of hair floated in a strange glowing liquid, appearing to sleep. Mottled and sickly skin covered him. His eyelids fluttered as though he strove to wake from terrible dreams. The barest of rags floated around his body, and his long hair billowed in the amber wash. Bubbles spilled from the old man's mouth as the mass moved around him.
The man stirred. One of his hands squeaked against the translucent underbelly of his monstrous prison. His fingernails were long and curled, nearly longer than his fingers. Peace protect me, how long has he been in there? Dayn could not tear his gaze away as the weep moved slowly through the room, toward the corridor where Nassir had vanished. Dayn could just make out the cruel outlines of four angular limbs, like blackened bones. They reminded him of the barbed claws of a begging mantis, but there were strange folds of flesh draped around them. He could not see if the voidwalker rode upon it, nor could he make out the fleshweep's head.
The man inside shifted again. His legs ended in two ragged stumps, well above the knees. Completely overwhelmed by the horror of the sight, Dayn opened his mouth to scream.
The churning motion of the weep's legs stopped. Dayn’s cry stopped short of his teeth as the Defender clamped a hand around his mouth, appearing from the shadows at the last instant. Dayn trembled, tears leaking from his eyes.
The misty residue of a voidwalker's skin floated down past the fleshweep's limbs. Ghostly tendrils of reeking vapor slid over the chunks of broken wall and through the grate. He would have gagged on the voidwalker's stench but for Nassir's hand covering his mouth. If the voidwalker saw that the floor was not solid …
The weep spun around, vanishing back through the damaged wall. The sleeping man sloshed inside its amber belly as the creature turned, but he did not wake.
Nassir tapped his free hand questioningly on Dayn’s chest. At Dayn's nod, the Defender released his mouth.
“That man,” Dayn's voice shook. “What in peace's reach is it doing to him?”
“Feeding. Hear me keenly, Shardian.” The Defender's whisper was urgent. “Better to go limp against a weep, understand? You see what happens if you struggle. His legs.”
Dayn’s mouth went dry. “He’s been in there for years. His hair...”
“Yes. The rider is a bondleader. But the advantage is still ours. Every minute they hunt us, more Prevailers surround this tower. Stay here.”
“Where are you going?”
“To kill him.”
“But you said if we wait long enough, we’ll be free!”
“No, Shardian. You will be free, and safe. My duty allows no such comforts. I will come for you. You will know by the deathscream.”
With that the Defender disappeared. Dayn wanted to shake the Ringman, but he could not argue with Nassir’s reasoning. A Defender who hid from a fight would not be much of a Defender at all.
Dayn sought calmness, checking the talons left in his pack. He counted out the moments, this time allowing a thousand breaths to pass. We’re going to be alright.
Measured footfalls rang out on the metal grating above the hiding place. A Prevailer? Dayn looked upward expectantly.
Moridos snarled down at him. The voidwalker tore the grating away in a single, powerful moti
on. Chunks of stone from the broken wall flew aside as easily as a child’s play blocks.
Dayn crawled away on hands and knees in the direction the Defender went. “Nassir!”
“He’s dying, whelp. All of you are dying!”
Dayn groped ahead in the darkness. There had been no deathscream. The crawlway abruptly widened, allowing him to stand. A distant light beckoned to him, promising escape, but he did not run to it. No one else could stop the voidwalker, he alone remained.
Dayn lifted his chin and turned, clutching reflexively for the Seed in his pocket, forgetting for just a moment that it was not there. Moridos dropped heavily in front of him from some unseen shaft. He did not even have time to lift his hands before the voidwalker took his throat, lifting Dayn off his feet in triumph.
“I don’t care what Raaluwos says about you,” Moridos whispered. A zealous light shone in his eyes. “My brother’s slayer belongs to me!”
Moridos squeezed. Dayn panicked, beating weakly at the monster’s pale face. His efforts did little more than stir the vapor pouring from the voidwalker’s skin. Dayn’s hands brushed frantically against the armor, still showing cracks from the Seed’s strange power.
Dayn focused all of his energy on clawing into that gap. His fingernails splintered, but found purchase. The armor began to peel away. Moridos grimaced, and put both hands on Dayn’s neck. His vision dimming, Dayn grabbed tightly, pulling with his last remaining strength.
The voidwalker screamed, his harsh voice echoing down the corridor. He dropped Dayn, who still held a piece of armor wide as a plate. Vapor poured from the green, bloody wound. Moridos clutched his chest, staggering back.
Dayn hopped up with new purpose and grabbed his pack. Hope sprang to life as he backed slowly away from Moridos, toward the distant light. If he wants me that bad, he’ll chase me outside. The Prevailers can finish him, they have to be out there!
The world lurched on his next step. He tumbled down a metal chute, with no handholds to stop his slide.
The Seedbearing Prince: Part I Page 42