Tears of the Sun

by Jennifer McCormack

  “I’ve seen the way your Arbiters look at me. I suspect some among them still suspect me of the catastrophe in Sonastra. I wanted you to know the truth, that I am no murderer. I have no grudge against Mainlanders.”

  “I bet many Astraeyu Nouvins feel the same,” Jan said, her cheerful smile returning.

  Talon wondered at Jan’s words, but Jan said no more.

  “Jan!” The feminine voice rang out from across the clearing, causing Talon to jump. The Arcane Advisor, the woman they called Beatrix, came running toward them. She was catlike, even in her graceful movements, gliding across the rocky ground with seemingly no effort. When she saw Jan standing with Talon, she slowed her pace and adopted a more professional manner.

  “Forgive the intrusion, Arbiter Sterling, but we’ve located a tunnel leading deeper within the rock.” Beatrix’s green eyes sparkled like jade in the sunlight. “It looks to be partially formed by human hands. We believe we’ve found the entrance to the Coruscalli’s hideaway.” Her whiskers were laid back like a contented feline’s as she beamed proudly.

  As if uncertain, Jan gazed at Talon.

  “We should begin our search immediately,” Talon said. “There is a chance the Coruscalli know we’re here already.”

  Jan nodded. To Beatrix, she said, “Have our people secure the area. A team of our best warriors will accompany us inside the volcano. The rest shall guard the entrance and stand watch against any Coruscalli until we return.”

  Jan’s idea was sound enough, Talon thought. However, the Coruscalli were full of surprises. To engage the cult in its lair could prove foolish in the end, but Talon was as eager as Jan to put a stop to the Coruscalli’s plans, perhaps even more so, for she knew just how atrocious the cult really was.

  THE INSIDE OF the volcanic cavern was unlike anything Talon had seen before. As she first noted, there was ample evidence of the tunnels and chambers being shaped by human hands. The stone was too smooth, too flawless, to have been formed naturally by the lava that flowed from the volcano. Smooth as glass, the walls of the tunnels bore no evidence of being chiseled away by pickaxes, either. As Talon wondered what could have polished the stone in such a way, the group came upon a wider area.

  When the Arbiters entered the volcanic lair of the Coruscalli, Talon had little knowledge of what they would find inside, but one thing she had not expected was the architecture. The stone was carved into majestic archways that towered to the vaulted ceiling of the chamber, soaring beams that seemed to support the mountain above them. The design was familiar to Talon. The Ancients favored such grandeur and elaborate detail for a time.

  It made more sense now. Only the Ancients would have possessed the means to carve the stone so flawlessly. It would also explain why the Coruscalli decided to take residence in the dormant volcano. For years the cult had been trying to get to the ruins and relics left behind by the Ancients. For just as long, Astraeyu’s Will had been keeping the remnants of history closely guarded, protecting their ancestors’ legacy against the foreign cult’s attempts to obtain it.

  “This place is unusual,” Jan said, her neck craned as she gazed up at the highly detailed carvings on the ceiling. “It looks more like a cathedral than a cave. Did the Coruscalli do all of this?”

  “It’s unlikely,” Talon said. “This place is old, far older than the Coruscalli.”

  “It almost looks abandoned.” Jan held her torch aloft in front of a wall of the cave. Beneath the light from the flickering flame, the runes carved into the stone lit up.

  Without thinking, Talon leapt forward, pulling Jan to the side and shielding her with her own body. “Careful,” she said. “There could be traps elegantly hidden in the background to keep trespassers away. Or perhaps it is a clue, a test only a select few would be able to pass.”

  “Uh, y-yes,” Jan stammered. “Thank you. I’ll be more cautious in the future.” Talon looked down at Jan, who she still held firmly. Embarrassed, she removed her hand from Jan’s shoulder and abruptly stepped away. What was she thinking? There was no reason for her to be so protective of Jan. For all she knew, the Arbiters could prove to be enemies before this was over. Yet there was something about Jan that made Talon want to protect her. Maybe it was the innocence that sparkled in her dark eyes. Innocence. That was a quality Talon saw very little of in her line of work.

  Talon took the torch from Jan and slowly approached the still glowing runes. With caution, she held the flame to the wall, setting alight the symbols etched into the stone.

  The runes began moving with a life of their own, rearranging their order until they formed a line of text that Talon recognized from her training. A fist of ice closed around her heart as she translated the meaning behind the Ancient writing. Contrary to what the Coruscalli might be using the place for, it was not constructed as a place of worship. The text alluded to an immense power that was housed within. Talon swallowed hard against her fear. Was it already too late? Did the Coruscalli have the Firebringer in its possession?

  “We should keep moving.” Talon’s voice sounded shaky to her own ears, but concern for her image paled in comparison to the fear of what might await them deeper in the underground lair.

  “Do the runes offer any suggestions on where to look next?” Jan was beside Talon, the innocence in her words grating on Talon’s nerves.

  If you want her to understand the true danger, her internal voice chided her, you must first tell her. Talon dismissed the logic in the words and shook her head to clear her thoughts. Jan still waited for a response, her brown eyes searching Talon’s face for any emotion that might give her away.

  “What we search for should be deeper within the caves,” Talon said, thinking quickly on how to answer Jan’s question without betraying her inner fears.

  “The Coruscalli?”

  “Their lair,” Talon clarified. “This is only the entrance, a grand foyer to the actual structure.”

  “Only the entrance?” Jan’s eyebrow shot up. “Can’t wait to see the rest of it.”

  “That makes two of us.” Talon’s words were too soft for anyone to hear. They were meant to ease her own mind. Deep down, she wanted to believe that she was close to achieving her goal, that she wanted to be here, but a gnawing doubt lingered, making her efforts feel heavier with each passing second. Every instinct screamed at Talon to run, to convince the Arbiters to go with her, but she did not obey. Even if the Firebringer was already in the Coruscalli’s hands, she had to make one last attempt to prevent the cult from using its power.

  THE DEEPER THEY ventured beneath the volcano, the more convinced Talon was that the Ancients constructed the underground lair, although for what purpose she was not sure. The text at the entrance claimed a device of great power was held here, but Talon was beginning to wonder why the Ancients would have placed such a device so far from the ruins of their cities.

  Perhaps it was too dangerous to keep close to civilization.

  The thought awakened within Talon a sense of foreboding.

  “Someone has been here recently.” Jan’s voice interrupted Talon’s dark thoughts as she indicated the lit candles placed throughout the inner chambers. “From the look of it, I’d say they’re still here. Step carefully, everyone. We could be expected.”

  “What is all this?” Beatrix was next to a low table. In her hand she held a book. Her catlike eyes glittered against the darkness as she read its spine. “A volume on arcane relics of the Lost Era. More of its kind are scattered about the room.” She placed the book back on the stack where she’d found it.

  “That’s not all,” Rhys added. “There are detailed maps of the Four Kingdoms of Lythril, including maps containing the layout of important buildings in major cities. Like Sonastra.”

  “You think the Coruscalli are planning more attacks?” Jan was suddenly very serious, her expression grimmer than Talon had ever seen before.

  “It certainly looks that way.”

  Jan strolled briskly
to the center of the chamber. “Destroy it,” she intoned in a commanding voice. “Destroy it all. Leave not a shred of the Coruscalli’s plans to create more chaos in our world.”

  Talon tilted her head to one side as she regarded Jan. Her first impression of Jan was that of a woman filled with doubt, but she was beginning to see Jan in a different light.

  Immediately at their leader’s order, the Arbiters set to work at gathering all the materials from within the small chambers and preparing a pyre of books, scrolls, and maps. Talon regretted not being able to spare the volumes on the Ancients, but in truth, if the Coruscalli managed to obtain the books, they probably weren’t as rare as the tomes kept by Astraeyu’s Will.

  Just as the Arbiters were ready to set ablaze the Coruscalli’s collection of years of hard work and scheming, Talon sensed something lurking in the shadows. Astraeyu’s Fire gave her the ability to see beyond sight, to know that they were not alone even though their visitors were as of yet unseen.

  Before Talon could give voice to a warning, cultists began materializing from the shadows. They flowed from the darkness, almost like they were the shadows themselves. A cloaking spell? Talon knew there were such things, enchanted items that could grant invisibility to their wielders. Such items were but one of the wonders left behind by the Ancients. How the Coruscalli got their hands on one was beyond Talon, but that would explain why she hadn’t detected the cultists’ presence sooner.

  The Arbiters met the Coruscalli’s challenge without fear, drawing sword, bow, and staff in the seconds it took them to realize they were under attack. Cultists continued to pour from the darkness, swiftly outnumbering the Arbiters. Talon looked to where Jan was watching the scene with dismay. The expression in the Mainlander’s eyes hardened as the reality of the situation set in, and for the first time since Talon had known her, Jan drew her sword. Instead of engaging the enemy, however, Jan raised the blade high, an action that caught the attention of all gathered.

  “Fall back,” Jan ordered. “Retreat to the tunnels.”

  It was a sound idea, Talon thought. The tunnels were too narrow for the Coruscalli to overwhelm the Arbiters with its greater numbers. Forced to fight the Arbiters on a more even playing field, the cultists would not stand a chance. Fighting didn’t appear to be Jan’s priority. As she ushered her Arbiters into the darker tunnels, Talon understood that she was quite serious about retreating.

  Talon had to admire Jan, although begrudgingly, of course. Engaging the Coruscalli here when they were so grossly outnumbered would only lead to an unnecessary loss of lives for the Arbiters. Talon swung her sword once more and sliced a cultist in the bend of his knee, and then ducked into the tunnel next to Jan and followed on the heels of the Arbiters as they made their escape.

  The Coruscalli were not intent on allowing the Arbiters to get away so easily, not after locating their secret lair. The cult couldn’t afford to let the Arbiters leave and return later with greater forces. All the cultists managed to achieve over the years would be lost, or else they would be forced to move their base to another location. There were no other places as secretive and isolated as the Labyrinthine Archipelago. Talon knew this, and she suspected the Coruscalli were of aware of that fact, too.

  It came as no surprise when the Arbiters’ escape route was blocked by a second group of cultists, this one not as large as the one at their backs, but no less intimidating in the cramped passageways. Sorcerers were among the Coruscalli’s numbers. Within such close quarters, their mastery of the arcane could wreak havoc on both sides, but Talon suspected the Coruscalli were willing to take the risk in order to eliminate the Arbiters.

  “This way,” she called to Jan, indicating a side passage branching off from the main path.

  Jan followed Talon’s line of sight, her eyes filled with doubt and fear. “That doesn’t lead to the exit.”

  “The exit is blocked. We don’t have much of a choice. Either we take a chance on an alternate route and hope it leads to freedom, or we try to fight our way through the Coruscalli.” Talon waited as Jan weighed their options. She glanced from the dark tunnel to the amassing cultists both in front of and behind them. If they stayed, they would be trapped. Jan returned her attention to Talon.

  “I hope this passage of yours leads to a back exit,” Jan said. “Or at least a larger area in which we can engage our enemy.”

  “So do I.” Talon’s words were solemn and contained little enthusiasm for the endeavor before them. The Ancients were notorious for designing architecture with mazelike corridors and secret passages, all of which were usually filled with traps. She held no false hopes of reaching an escape route. In truth, they were far more likely to encounter more cultists deeper within the caverns than they were to find a way out.

  The Arbiters ducked into the side passage before the Coruscalli could converge on them, retreating into the darker tunnels. The only light was the faint glow of a luminescent fungus growing along the cave walls. Talon recognized the mushroom. The fungus reacted to magic, and was developed by the Ancients for use as a light source. By working a simple spell, Talon could make the fungus glow bright enough to illuminate a large room, if she had the time. The best she could do was to use the fungi’s natural luminescence to light the way through the dark.

  A light other than the mushroom appeared at the end of the tunnel. As they neared it, it became obvious that it was natural light, light from outside.

  “I think we’ve found an exit,” Talon shouted. Jan was too out of breath to reply, but a look of relief settled over her features as the light drew ever closer.

  The final stretch of the corridor was uphill. It was also in shoddier shape than the rest of the tunnels. The Arbiters scrambled over large rocks as they clawed their way toward the opening. Talon leapt over a formation of rock jutting upward from the cave floor, clearing the mouth of the tunnel, and found herself in a wide open space. The sunlight was blinding after so long in the dark. Talon shielded her eyes with her hand as she tried to determine exactly where they were in relation to the volcano.

  A wall of rock towered above her, encircling the area where they were now. The center was a round crater in the mountain that was cobbled and turned into a courtyard, open to the sky beyond the spires of rock. Not an exit, then. Even as the realization dawned on her that they had come to a dead end, she heard Jan’s voice somewhere behind her.

  “There is no way out.” Jan’s words were despondent, a sentence of doom upon all those gathered. “Prepare yourselves, Arbiters. We must fight.”

  Talon’s heart felt heavy as she listened to the Arbiters draw their weapons, the stone walls of the crater ringing with the shrill scream of swords sliding free of their sheaths as each man and woman prepared to make one final stand. Her breath caught in her chest and her eyes stung with unshed tears. Mainlanders though they were, these Arbiters were willing to make the ultimate sacrifice to defend Lythril. Talon freed her twin blades from their sheaths at her side and moved into a battle stance. It would be an honor for her to fight with these brave men and women, to give her life knowing that at least some of the Coruscalli’s numbers would be cast into the fires of the underworld.

  Talon’s swords glistened beneath the afternoon sun, the blades so black they seemed to soak up the light. It felt great to have her own swords in her hands once again. For returning the blades to her, she would be forever grateful to Jan Sterling. Her thoughts caused her gaze to drift across the courtyard to where Jan fought the Coruscalli with the Arbiters. That was when Talon noticed something she overlooked before.

  At the center of the courtyard there stood an altar. Mounted on a pedestal above it was a device Talon had never seen before. The device resembled a crossbow, only it was larger than a cannon. She wondered what function such a device could have played in Ancient culture. It cannot be. Doubt echoed in her mind, but even as the words played over and over again, she felt sure that they had found the immense power mentioned in the Ancient te
xt.

  Even as she thought it, the device began to glow. The light steadily intensified until it was difficult for Talon to look at the device without squinting. It must be some sort of weapon. Talon’s eyes widened as the device began to rotate on the pedestal it was mounted on, slowly turning until it was facing the direction of the fighting.

  Talon decided that someone must be controlling the weapon and she began to search the courtyard for any suspicious activity. More Coruscalli flowed in through adjacent passages, but the cultists she could see were currently busy battling the Arbiters. A grinding of gears caused Talon to return her attention to the altar. The Ancient weapon positioned itself so that it was aimed directly to where most of the Arbiters were fending off the Coruscalli. No, not just the Arbiters. Talon froze in her tracks as she realized the weapon was aimed at Jan Sterling. The Coruscalli intended to eliminate the Grand Arbiter. So Talon was right. The Coruscalli were after the Arbiters from the beginning.

  The future of the Arbitrary Order of Lyth was in danger. For the next instant everything seemed to move in slow motion. As Jan heard the sound of Talon’s voice as she called out, she turned around. Her eyes settled on the massive glowing structure at the center of the courtyard. Talon saw as Jan took a retreating step back, but it was too late. A spear of white-hot flame erupted from the muzzle, searing across the courtyard in a blaze of light. It was blinding. Talon shielded her eyes to watch what happened next.

  The spear of light struck Jan, piercing her heart and exiting her body through her back. Jan was sent flying from the force of impact, her slender form crashing against the wall of stone encircling the courtyard. Talon stared at the limp body of the Mainlander woman where she lay on the ground. There was no way anyone could have survived such a blast. Whatever the weapon was, the Ancients built it to be lethal and precise.

  The weapon no longer glowed. In fact, it appeared to be beyond use. Wisps of smoke coiled upward from the charred metal. Talon doubted the Coruscalli would get the weapon to function again. Ancient technology was rarely intact and functional. That this weapon survived the ages was unusual in itself. Couple that with the fact that the weapon managed to fire one last shot before falling apart and it was a feat Astraeyu’s Will would have loved to witness.