Voidfarer

by Sean McMullen

  He stood up, lit a candle from the oil lamp, and turned to a grillework screen behind him. Keys jingled; then he slid the screen aside.

  "Before you get any thoughts of leaping up, vaulting my desk, and killing me with your bare hands while my back is turned, bear in mind that a dozen mechanisms are ready to slice you up very severely should you even so much as fart with too much force. Ah, here we are, the central register." As I had approached the chair to sit down, I had noticed some repairs to what seemed to be damage from bladed weapons, so this was no surprise. He returned to his table, sat down, opened the register, and held his candle close.

  "I need less administration than my brother nobles because I have but a single copy of the most vital records of the Inquisition." He reached under his table. There was a soft clunk. "You have probably inferred correctly that I have disarmed the blades focused on your seat, along with the trapdoor to dispose of your body for collection. Should you feel inclined to leap up and attack me, however, do reconsider. See these cuffs on the sleeves of my jacket? The tubes are not just decorative, they also contain spring-loaded needles. Were I to point my arm at you and make a fist, four dozen poisoned needles would fly your way. Any one could kill you ten times over, and in as many heartbeats. Now then, I have seen five different spellings of your name in various documents and registers, so could you tell me your preferred—" There was a loud blast from outside, rather like that of a terra-cotta tile the size of a cottage roof being dropped onto a stone floor. Another such blast quickly followed, then another.

  "Did you hear that?" snapped the inquisitor general, staring at me as if it might be my doing.

  "I hear it, sir, but I don't know what it might be." A deep, grinding rumble replaced the sharp, shattering blasts, intermingled with shrieks and screams; then came a concussion that shook the building no less than a moderately powerful earthquake. The inquisitor general ran to the room's only window, rattled keys, then flung the shutters back. I saw billowing dust and smoke.

  "Come over here!" he cried as more of the sharp blasts echoed among the palace buildings. 'Tell me what is happening." The top had been removed from one of the seven towers of

  the palace, sending hundreds of tons of stone blocks crashing down into the grounds and onto lower buildings. Another tower, the one known as Dragonperch for the three years past, had a brilliant light blazing out from a spot on its side, about thirty feet from the summit.

  "The Lupanian heat weapon, sir," I said as I watched fragments of stone melting and exploding away under the intense heat.

  "But those towers are built of stone!" he shouted, even though I was right beside him. "How can stone burn?"

  "Sir, if you dig a rock from under the snow and drop it into a campfire, it will burst apart from uneven heating. This is the same principle, but magnified a million times."

  "But the Lupanians don't exist, the regent said they were a trick to increase the war budget."

  "If you say so, sir."

  The top quarter of Dragonperch tower began to topple, but slowly, as if it were falling through water. The rubble came down on the barracks of the Palace Guard.

  "The Lupanians that don't exist are attacking the palace, so that Alberin will be left leaderless," I said as we watched the dust billowing upward. "That is their standard tactic, even though it does not happen."

  'This building is right beside Skylance Tower!" shrieked the inquisitor general, pointing upward through the window.

  "There is no danger, sir, for none of this is happening."

  "Run!" shouted the inquisitor general, taking me by the arm and dashing across the room.

  Out in the corridor were guards, clerks, lackeys, and people wearing hoods, all jostling each other and making for a crush of bodies that marked the head of the stairs. Slamming the door behind us, the inquisitor general pushed me away and ran with the others. I dropped to the floor, then crawled back the way we had come. I had remembered that the inquisitor general's iron ring of keys was still in the lock to his window shutters. The door to his office was thus unlocked. Without standing, I checked that were no others behind me in the corridor, and that all those pushing and struggling at the stair head had their faces turned away. Depressing the latch, I slipped back into the office. The building shook with the concussion of another tower falling. Before me was the open grille of the inquisitor general's racks of files and registers, and on his table was the central register of all inquisitors. So much to do, so little time, I thought, quite literally salivating at the sight of what was before me. Here was I, a former member of the Secret Inquisition Constables, a squad dedicated to saving sorcerers from the Inquisition, alone in the innermost sanctum of the Inquisition.

  I dropped into a shadow and raised my cloak to cover the paler skin of my face as I heard the latch of the door clack. Had the inquisitor general glanced about as he entered, he would have seen me for certain, but because he looked straight to the window shutters where his keys still hung from the lock, I was out of sight by the time he had retrieved his keys and turned back. He dashed to his table, picked up his master register, and tossed it through his grillework door, then slammed the grille across and locked it. Must be the first time in his life he's ever panicked, I thought as I watched him. Should have known that his self-discipline would soon drag him back to his senses, though.

  And then my almost-employer was through the office door again and his keys were rattling in the lock. How long before Sky lance Tower is struck down by the Lupanians? I asked myself as I hurried over to the locked grille. With a heavy crowbar, a mallet, and a chisel, I might have got the grille open in ten minutes or so, but everything down to my writing kit had been taken when I had entered the building. My arm could fit between the bars, and the nearest rack was more than an arm's length away ... but not the master register of all inquisitors! When it had been flung through the door, it had bounced off a rack and fallen within reach.

  Kneeling down, I stretched out, grasped the register, and pulled it out. Without really thinking I ripped the cover boards off, opened it at the middle, then wrapped the pages around my stomach and tied the drawstring of my trousers tightly over it. I watched my hands take all the lamps down and splash oil about the place. How to get out? The door was locked, and looked solid—but the inquisitor general had said something about a trapdoor and my seat. I took down the single burning oil lamp, then looked behind his table. There were at least a dozen little levers, each marked by a symbol. I depressed them all, then tossed the cover boards of the master register onto my chair's seat. Half a dozen crossbow bolts flashed down out of the ceiling and thudded into the chair and cover boards; then the floor beneath the chair swung downward. I hurried around the table and looked down. There was a drop of about ten feet to the floor of the room below. I tossed the lamp that I held at the grillework, where it smashed, igniting the oil that I had splashed about. I eased myself through the trapdoor, hung by my hands for a moment, then dropped.

  The room was empty. By the light of the fire above, I made my way to a door. It was not locked, and beyond it was some sort of guards' common room with stools and a table. Scattered on the table were cards and mugs, and beyond this was an open door. Obviously they had left in a hurry, and I too left in a hurry. There was a mighty crush at the stairs on this floor as well, and all the while I was wondering when the Lupanians would turn their heat weapon on Skylance Tower. By now there had been no fourth concussion from another tower falling, and it seemed to me that one was well overdue.

  After what seemed like an eternity of pushing and struggling I emerged into the open, and saw that the tops of only three towers had been sliced away. The dust and smoke had not really settled by now, yet people were pointing to the sky and shouting about glass dragons. I thought I saw a winged shape pass overhead. It might have been a seagull flying low, or else something with wings hundreds of feet across flying a lot higher. The inquisitor general emerged from the building, screamed for someone to attend him, then
caught sight of me and ran over.

  "So, you weren't slow at running away, Scryverin!" he shouted angrily, and I realized that I had beaten him out of the building. "What's happening?"

  "People pointing at the sky and shouting about dragons, sir!" I barked, saluting.

  "There! I knew there were no Lupanians!" he replied, his terror now edged with anger. "The glass dragons destroyed those towers." He ran off, shouting for his horse and cavalry guards. I was left alone amid the dust, smoke, and panic-stricken palace staff and guards. I saw the regent gallop through the gates escorted by quite a large squad of guardsmen. A number of people who did not manage to get out of the way sufficiently fast were trampled. Turning back to the Inquisition building, I noted with satisfaction that smoke was now pouring out of a window on the third floor. Nobody else seemed to notice or care. Suddenly there was an intense blaze of light from somewhere beyond the palace, and it seemed to last a dozen or more heartbeats. There was a stunned silence at first, and then everyone began shouting and screaming. I looked to Skylance Tower, then to the Inquisition building, then to the shattered stumps of the three stricken towers. Only now did I remember that there would be prisoners in the cells of the Inquisition building, and even if Skylance Tower was not toppled onto it, I had set the building afire. I strongly suspected that nobody would bother either rescuing the Inquisition's prisoners or fighting the fire.

  I reentered the building unopposed, and stopped before a directory board lettered in gold paint, interrogation—one at east suggested that the torture cells were on the first floor, east side. Suddenly a blast of sound like a clap of thunder going off in a tavern's privy literally shook me to the core of my body. My first thought was that Skylance Tower and fallen, but then I was still alive and the building was still standing around me, so I went on and tried not to think about danger.

  Everything was open to me; it was as if only the inquisitor general had bothered to lock up after himself. I found a heavy mallet caked with what appeared to be dried blood, and discovered that one really hard, well-placed blow just above a cell's lock would smash the mounting and screws from the timber, opening the door. In the eleventh cell I found Laron.

  "Are you all right, sir?" I called, moving on the next cell.

  "Indeed, sir, I've only been here two hours, and they'd not got around to entertaining themselves at my expense."

  Suddenly I realized which innocent senior advisor had been cast down by the regent at my recommendation. I decided to say nothing on the subject. In all, beside Laron, I released fourteen men and women, all sorcerers. The last two were respectively on the rack and strapped to the water-torture chair. These needed help to walk as we made our way out. The

  palace grounds were comparatively deserted by the time the sorcerers, Laron, and I gathered outside the Inquisition building and tried to decide what to do next.

  A group of guardsmen in black surcoats with the regent's crest now came jogging out of the swirling dust and smoke, then stopped before the burning Inquisition building.

  "There's a fire!" shouted a voice.

  "Yes, I can see it's burning, but we still have to kill those prisoners as well," shouted someone else. "Only the top floor's burning, it's safe enough for now."

  The dangerous thing about an inquisition against sorcerers is that much of the evidence collected has, well, sorceric properties. Take amulets, for example. Some crystals and gems can be used to store etheric energies that are normally built up in our bodies. Some Lupanian had found that out when he destroyed Norellie's cottage. Then again, most books of power are merely books containing powerful spells and arcane knowledge. A few, however, are books with actual etheric power stored within them. This is so that when a sorcerer is being burned at the stake and inquisitors are standing around clapping and tossing his books onto the fire to roast him with his own learning, the power stored within one of those lesser-known books of power will be released in an uncontrolled fashion by the flames. There appears to have been such a book in the inquisitor general's grille collection. A mighty blast suddenly belched flames from every window on the third floor, the roof was blown upward, and the walls of the building peeled outward. As the dust cleared it was apparent that the Inquisition building's height had been reduced to about five feet.

  "Well / don't think it was safe enough," declared the grey-haired sorceress beside me, who then fainted into my arms.

  XXX

  It seemed like a good idea to take the liberated sorcerers to the Metrologan temple. I had decided this after stopping at a deserted armory and dressing my charges to look vaguely like guardsmen. At the temple I declared to the priestess, who was

  guarding the entrance with a pair of garter crossbows, that we had been sent by the regent to protect the temple from Lupanians. At this point Halland came out and recognized me, and we were hurried inside without further explanations.

  The first thing that I demanded was to know the whereabouts of the privy. Admittedly it had been quite some time since I had had the opportunity to relieve myself, but more to the point I wanted to study the master register of the Inquisition in private before saying anything further to anybody. Laron's name was not there. Neither was Halland's, Wal-lengtor's, Andry's, Justiva's, Norellie's, Roval's, Riellen's, or Lavenci's! Pelmore was noted to be their representative for the barony of Gatrovia, which was no surprise. Having established who could be trusted, I emerged, ready to call a meeting, but now Justiva appeared, took me by the arm, and directed me through the corridors to the infirmary. There I found Roval lying on one of the bunks. There was a bandage over one of his eyes, but otherwise he looked uninjured. Laron, Andry, and Halland were with him, along with Justiva and several of the sorcerers that I had just freed.

  "Best to sit down, lad," said Halland as I entered. "Roval's in a lot of pain, and Justiva means to put him to sleep for some hours after he talks." I sat on a bench as Justiva took over sponging Roval's face from Norellie.

  "We're all here now, so best to begin," said Halland. "Roval was up in the temple's observatory tower with a farsight when the Lupanians appeared. The glass dragons were expected, and he was keeping watch. The Lupanians arrived first, however. Constable Roval, are you able to tell your story again?" Roval opened his remaining eye, scanned all those present, then asked about those he did not know. When Justiva vouched for them, he spoke.

  "I was looking out to sea when the first spire was struck," he began. "I turned away to see what magical thing was nearby, but I saw no dragon or etheric casting. There was nothing within the city. Using the farsight, I then began scanning beyond the city walls, and presently I saw two of the tripod towers. They were standing together on Rackridge Hill. Both were holding a sparkling light that gave off smoke of some sort." Rackridge Hill is seven miles distance from the palace, and well beyond the city walls, I thought at once, wondering if we had been wrong about the limits to the heat weapon's range.

  "I saw a tower attack Gatrov Castle from two miles distance," I pointed out.

  "The heat weapon set the roofs afire at that distance, but it seems only to melt or shatter stone at a mile or so."

  "By combining their heat weapons, coordinating their aim very carefully, and focusing on a single spot, the Lupanians seem to be able to strike at a much greater range," explained Roval.

  "Please, discussions later, let him finish," said Justiva.

  "It was now that a glass dragon appeared, flying high over the city," continued Roval, sounding as if his strength was fading. "I would have missed it had not I lowered the farsight for a moment to rub my eyes. As I watched, the towers seemed to angle their heat weapons upward, but when focused in unison like that, they seem more slow, and unable to hit a moving target. Then, so suddenly that I did not notice it except as a blur and a lance of flame, another glass dragon swooped up from behind the hill and struck at one of the tripod towers with its flame breath.

  "For a moment I tried to follow the second dragon; then I turned the glass back on the
tripods. The northernmost of them was intact, but the one beside it trailed smoke from the hood. I lowered my farsight for a moment, to take in the entire scene. I saw the undamaged tripod's heat weapon sparkle and belch smoke repeatedly as it aimed at the dragon, which was circling around for another attack. Then there was a flash as the dragon was hit. It tumbled from the sky, and hit the ground on the crest of Rackridge Hill. The glass dragon that had been circling over Alberin now broke off and dived, heading out to sea, tumbling and weaving as it fled. I suspect that it was well out of range of the Lupanian anyway, for when I turned my farsight back to Rackridge Hill, the tower had turned away and was examining its ruined companion. Suddenly it turned and strode over to where the stricken glass dragon lay. I saw it approach the body, its heat weapon raised and ready; then it extended its two secondary tentacles again, took a step forward, and seized the dragon. The dragon suddenly revived, and they struggled for a moment. All I remember after that is intense brightness, a flash of the most pure and penetrating light imaginable.

  "I remember rolling about in the rainwater gutters of the tower roof, clutching my right eye. Had I not had my left eye closed to use the farsight with my right, I suspect that I would have been blinded completely. After a time a great blast of sound rolled over me, but I cowered down, keeping my gaze down on the guttering, afraid of losing my remaining eye to another blaze of light. My first thought was that the Lupanian had suddenly turned its heat weapon on the academy's observatory tower, but I have since learned that it was not the case. Sometime later I was found, and helped down to the infirmary. That is all."