Acolyte's Underworld

by Levi Jacobs

  Dearest Ellumia,

  Thank you for your post, and congratulations. I cannot be happy enough for you to join me in motherhood, though I warn you it will not be easy. Thank you too for your thoughtful words. I agree, let us let the past be the past. I have talked with your father, and he’s agreed to drop the charges against you. I would also like to be there when you exchange vows with Mr. Kulga. We cannot officially condone the marriage or let you carry the House name, of course, but I would at least like to be present, and to meet him. May your love last longer than mine.

  I await word of your ceremony plans. I would very much like to meet again on more civil terms.

  Love always,

  Your mother Elyssa

  Ella looked up to find Martus and Marea staring at her, and only then realized tears were running down her cheeks.

  “Well?” Marea asked. “What does it say?”

  “It says she’s sorry,” Ella said. “And that she forgives me.”

  The reporter behind Martus switched to a fresh sheet of parchment, still scribbling madly. “You,” Ella said, pointing a finger at her. The woman froze. “You will record nothing of this last bit. The Runaway Knife has spoken.”

  For added effect she believed a dagger stuck into the woman’s writing desk, pinning the parchment to it.

  The woman screamed, and Ella tipped a wink at Marea. Then with a thunder clap they disappeared.

  Epilogue

  You may think this article itself is impossible, as it does not come to you via standard broadsheet. I argue instead we must redefine our notions of what is possible and impossible, or risk delusion in the face of concrete evidence. Because like it or not, this article, Uhallen’s shattered tower in Ylensmarsh, and the destroyed wall of the Councileum are all more than possible. They are actual. I leave you to draw your own conclusions.

  —Ellumia Merewil

  A sudden gust of wind blew along the white sand beach of The Racks, but for once it was not the wind of an enemy appearing or Marea chasing them down. It was just the wind.

  Marea turned her face to it, inhaling the scent of brine. “This was my favorite place to come when I was a kid. We lived just a few streets away.”

  Ella lay beside her, their backs propped against a knotted piece of driftwood. “My parents took me to the Bones sometimes when I was a kid,” she said. “But mostly what I remember is looking out here from my cell and dreaming of walking the beach, especially in the dry season. I used to beg them for it.”

  “And they refused you?” Marea sipped her iced mint and jasmine seltzer. “And these are the people you want at your wedding.”

  Ella shrugged. “They’re family. And keeping all that old anger isn’t going to do anything for me now.”

  Marea shifted. “Sounds an awful lot like what Uhallen said. Or Teynsley, or whoever he was.”

  “Just because he was evil doesn’t mean he was wrong.” Ella took a drink and grimaced. She was drinking something murky and brown that the vendor said would be good for morning sickness. It smelled awful. “I still can’t believe we killed him. And that you and I are goddesses. Isn’t that strange? I mean, there are only nine archrevenants in the world, and we’re two of them. Laying right here on this beach.”

  It was strange. Marea felt again for Teynsley’s power, for a crazy rush of uai like when she touched the spear.

  “Still nothing?” Ella asked.

  Marea shook her head. She’d been trying all morning.

  “Well, Nauro said sometimes revenants take a while to seat. I’m sure it will come in.”

  Marea shifted on the sand, hating the worry that kept interrupting her good mood. “The thing is, I don’t think thralls work like that. Every one I’ve gotten before was instantly part of my uai stream. Why would Teynsley’s be any different?”

  “Because he was a god, maybe? You’re sure you got his soul, right?”

  “Yeah. I mean, it was an intense moment, but yeah. I have it right here.” She waved at one of the silvery threads trailing from her forehead.

  Ella wedged her glass into the sand. “You know what it means if that isn’t his revenant.”

  Marea took a deep breath and let it out, finally accepting the dread that had been growing in her stomach all morning. “That he escaped, like Nauro did. And that he might have found someone and still be out there, hunting for us.”

  Wordlessly Ella pulled the spear-pin from her hair and made it a rope stretching between their hands.

  Marea gripped her end, taking comfort in the rush of uai even as the peace and tranquility of the afternoon shattered into fear and worry.

  “How would we even know?” Marea asked. “Do I stick the revenant on you, or someone else, and see what happens?”

  “I wouldn’t,” Ella said. “Nauro stuck a powerful revenant on Tai near the end of the battle with Semeca, and it was all he could do to escape it. But I know someone we could ask.”

  Marea frowned. “Who? Nauro’s gone.”

  “There—is another archrevenant I know.”

  “Another archrevenant,” Marea said flatly. “When did this happen?”

  “Just a few hours after you left Aran, actually,” Ella said. “Falena came to warn us against striking a six-part harmony again.”

  “What does that have to do with anything?”

  “I—don’t actually know, but whatever it is, a fully fledged god is afraid of it. And it has to do with the moon.”

  Marea fingered the coil of spear-rope in her lap. “And you think this moon-phobic goddess is going to know if Teynsley survived?”

  “I know she will,” Ella said. “She was watching the whole time.”

  Ella proceeded to explain about Falena. Marea stared at her. “So you were working for this lady the whole time?”

  “I wouldn’t say working for her,” Ella said. “More like allied. I didn’t tell you before because she wanted it kept secret, and I didn’t see any reason you should know.”

  Mistrust roiled up in Marea, and she fought the urge to try mindsight to search for any other secrets Ella might be keeping. No. That was how you lost friends. That was control instead of trust.

  Marea relaxed her hands on the rope. “And you were telling me to be careful around archrevenants?”

  “I know. I’m sorry,” Ella said, sounding sincere. “I don’t know how far we can really trust her, but she did give me the mindfilter that kept Uhallen from finding out my true intentions when I met him, and explained about the gods’ pact and what using the spear in the city would do. All of which turned out to be true.”

  “Okay,” Marea said, taking a deep breath. “If you think we’re safe, that’s good enough for me. So how do we call this Falena?”

  “The harmony,” Ella said. “Though she was very clear we only needed to strike five of the six parts to get her attention.”

  “Is she here in Worldsmouth too?”

  “I don’t think she’s on this continent,” Ella said, then struck the low buzz of a brawler.

  Marea found a wafter’s rattle a third above it, and struck timeslip at a fifth.

  “You always were better at this than me,” Ella called over the harmonic roar, struggling to match mindsight to the chord reverberating through them. A couple walking along the surf’s edge turned to stare at them.

  When Ella got it Marea struck her native fatewalking, on a whim tuning it to a minor note. “Shouldn’t have fought your parents on learning the lute then,” Marea said, feeling once again the deep sense of peace and power that came from the resonant music, as much felt in her bones as heard in the air.

  “That should do it,” Ella said, dropping her resonances. “Last time it—”

  An outlandishly dressed woman appeared in a howl of wind, standing on the sands before them. Marea stared—her dark hair was unbraided but elegantly arranged with pins and ties, and she was covered in a dress of impossibly thin shimmering material from her neck to the points of the vermillion shoes sticking under the hem.
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  The archrevenant was a darkhair? It was stupid, but somehow Marea had never imagined that.

  Falena looked around, ruby lips pursing. “You two look comfortable.”

  “Were you watching the battle?” Ella asked without preamble. “Did we kill him?”

  “You killed him,” the woman said. “But that is not his revenant attached to your friend.”

  Marea’s hopes rose and crashed in the space of those few words.

  “So you’re saying he might be alive?” Ella asked. “But even if he is, you saw us fighting. You have the proof you need to invoke the pact.”

  Falena tugged at a loose fold of her skirt. “I saw a lot of fighting, and some of it very clever. But no. Teynsley is too careful for that. He attacked you when you were not holding the spear, and attacked the spear itself, but I did not see him attack someone holding the spear.”

  “But he admitted he wanted it!” Marea interjected. The man was obviously after the spear and willing to kill for it. Did this woman not actually want him punished?

  “We all admit things we don’t mean, dear. Actions. Actions are the only thing you can count on in this world.”

  Marea shivered despite the heat. She’d forgotten they were talking to an archrevenant for a minute, but that sounded exactly like Teynsley.

  “So you think he’s found another body somewhere?” Ella asked, one hand on her belly.

  “I don’t doubt he has. But don’t worry, even he’ll take a while to get full control of his host. And he’s not going to attack you directly. That’s not his style.”

  “Assassins then?” Marea asked.

  “Oh I imagine. And armies. I don’t doubt he’ll take command of whatever armies he can and send them after you. But you know his weakness now—he’s unlikely to risk personal combat.”

  “Then that’s what we need to do,” Ella said grimly.

  “Do not touch him,” Falena said, eyes flashing, “so long as you hold the spear’s power. You walked a fine line in that battle, and the terms of the pact are clear. Aggression is not allowed, but self-defense is very much endorsed. You do not want to give Teynsley permission to directly attack. Spear or not, that fight would be over quickly. And I’d rather you didn’t die. I sort of like you upstarts. Better than Teynsley, at least.”

  Marea swallowed. “So—what? We go and try to get better evidence?”

  Falena turned her hands palm up in something like a shrug. “That’s for you to decide. If you gather any direct proof I will see what I can do. But watch that you do not incriminate yourselves in the process. Now if you’ll excuse me? I have a lover to kill.”

  Thunder clapped on the sunny beach and they were alone again.

  “Scat,” Ella said, staring at the place Falena had been. She set her drink down.

  “Stains,” Marea agreed. “How are we going to fight a god we can’t touch?”

  There was a long pause, in which Marea began to feel it was all hopeless. They couldn’t attack him, and sooner or later he would catch one of them without the spear, and cut them down. Or find some other solution to the problem they didn’t even know about, because they hadn’t been alive for a thousand years.

  “We fight him with help,” Ella said finally, “and with the truth. He can’t send armies after us if the people of Worldsmouth understand what’s really happening. Or shamans, if we expose him to the ninespear cells.”

  “And how are you going to do that, if all the broadsheets are too afraid to print you?”

  “Print?” Ella asked, a twinkle in her eyes. “Who needs print anymore?”

  She gripped the spear-rope and uai roared out like a tidal wave.

  Marea stared at her. “What did you just do?”

  Ella smiled. “Just a little redecoration. Worldsmouth can be so drab. Like that.” She nodded at the wooden side of a passing icemonger’s cart. Printed in perfect black letters on the wood was the title

  WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENED TO THE COUNCILEUM,

  and other mysteries of the past few days explained.

  by Ellumia Merewil—the Runaway Knife

  Beneath it was a broadsheet’s worth of careful script, impossibly perfect letters extending to the ragged bottom of the monger’s cart. The man clearly had no idea what had happened yet, calling his wares to the other idlers scattered along the beach.

  Marea laughed out loud. “That’s amazing! Do you think they’ll believe it?”

  “They have to. If nothing else, they’re going to have a hard time explaining how these broadsheets keep magically appearing on their walls. I’ve got plenty more to say.”

  Marea shook her head. “You’re one tough biawelo, you know that?”

  “Just trying to set a good example for my daughter,” Ella said, one hand on her belly.

  “Daughter?” Marea started. “Do you know?”

  “I guess I have a feeling.” She smiled, as peacefully as if Councilates and archrevenants and shamanic assassins didn’t exist. “Speaking of which, there’s an Achuriman somewhere who needs to know he’s a father. Come with me?”

  “Always,” Marea said. And with a bang and a clap they were gone.

  And so the saga ends… for now. If I was a nice author, I wouldn’t have attached the epilogue, and you could have closed the book happy.

  I’m not.

  The original plan for the series was five books, and clearly Tai and Ella need another book or two to fight Teynsley with swords and words. But now that Falena’s in the picture—and we haven’t even touched what’s she’s so afraid of on the moon—we’re going to need more books. Starting with a detour to Falena’s continent (Gyolla, home of the Thousand Spire Academy, where she rules as God Empress) before we get to book five, and the epic struggles that make up the second half of this saga. Hoping to have that book out later this year.

  If you’re itching for something more now, never fear—there are novellas in this world, this first of which is free and only available to my mailing list—see the next page. They also get new novellas first, and free (hell, they help me decide which ones to write), not to mention deleted scenes and previews of upcoming books and the first word when a new book is out. You can get all that here.

  If you just want to know when the next book is coming out, follow me on Amazon or Bookbub for new release updates. And if you liked this book/series, leave me some stars on Amazon. Indie authors live and die by their reviews these days, and I’d love to hear what you thought.

  >>>>>>FREE NOVELLA<<<<<<

  RESONANT SAGA 0.5: URCHIN’S GAMBIT

  When Aelya woke up this morning, she thought she was going to pick up the score of yura her gang needed to escape the streets. Instead she finds her dealer dead, herself arrested, and her freedom dependent on finding the real killer—all while convincing the lighthair holding her chains he can trust her enough to do it.

  Urchin’s Gambit – A Resonant Saga Novella

  Available exclusively to the Beggars and Brawlers Mailing List

  Acknowledgements

  This was not an easy book for me. Partially because I wanted it to have exclusively female points of view while I (surprise!) am not a woman. Also because my daughter Juliette was born around the halfway mark of the book, and while my wife continues to be amazing in making time for me to write, still the sleep hours got squeezed and the brain wasn’t always working right. But first and biggest thanks need to go to Bri, for making my writing possible at all.

  Further thanks need to go to my beta readers, who helped me catch the places where my sleep-addled brain had made obtuse magic (Lukasz), and pointed out where my women were acting too manly. Sonya did an amazing job and detailed job I still owe her for. HRFW nitpicked my opening pages to glory, and Leggs LaRoux gave me a much-needed nudge on Marea.

  I have to thank my cyberspace friends in the World Domination thread as well, for moral, technical, and promotional support in the trying times that birthed this book. And crabs as well. And cake. Crab cakes, even.

&nbs
p; To my fruit-loving patrons in western North Dakota and eastern Montana, a heartfelt thanks. This and all my books are fueled by cherries and peaches. To Wilfred Berkhof, for Santa Claus and the Fireys.

  And finally to you, cherished reader. That you’ve dedicated the finite and precious moments of your life to reading four of these books now means the world to me. As long as you’re reading, I’ll keep writing.

  From a wintry Colorado morning,

  Levi