Tears of the Sun

by Jennifer McCormack

  The chamber was large, far more spacious than most they had encountered in the tower so far. It was filled with objects that glowed, beeped, and hummed—the arcane instruments once used by the Ancients. Jan could not even begin to guess the purpose of the instruments, but being in the same room with such wondrous marvels of the Lost Era was a reward in itself.

  Jan’s admiration of the Ancient technology was brought to a halt by the sound of a familiar voice. It sent chills down Jan’s spine to hear that voice amplified by the spacious chamber.

  “Well, if it isn’t Grand Arbiter Sterling,” Morgsten said. “I didn’t fancy meeting you in a place like this.”

  Jan searched the room frantically for Morgsten. She found him when a light flared to life in the rafters. Morgsten was there, standing on a high scaffold that encircled the round chamber. Jan was shocked to find Morgsten in the tower. In order for him to reach Astraeyu Nouvi so fast, he must have departed Kalvatin shortly after Jan and her group left. That he was here now in the subterranean chambers of the Ancient tower meant that he was desperate to reach the Firebringer before the Arbiters could find and apprehend the Coruscalli.

  “I jest,” Morgsten continued. “It is no surprise at all to find you here. After all, you departed Kalvatin in a hurry. I did not fool myself for an instant in believing that you feared being shamed before the High Council enough to turn tail and flee so easily.”

  “What are you doing here, Morgsten?” Jan demanded. She already knew the answer, but she had to hear it from Morgsten’s own lips. Maybe here, far from the eyes and ears of the High Council of Lyth, she would at last have the truth.

  “This is what I’ve sought for so long.” Morgsten beamed like a madman as he spread his arms as if to encompass the wide room. “Within this Ancient ruin lies the key to this world’s salvation.”

  Jan’s blood went cold at Morgsten’s words. Was the Firebringer there, somewhere in the tower? Yes, it was. Somehow Jan had known they would find the Firebringer from the beginning. She had only hoped that she and Talon would locate it before the Coruscalli, but the way Morgsten spoke, it appeared as though he believed he had the Firebringer in his possession already.

  Jan conducted a quick visual scan of the room. None of the instruments she saw looked like a weapon of the Firebringer’s magnitude, but Jan could not fathom what such a device would look like. She had imagined the Firebringer to be a grander version of the device that branded her with the glowing scar, but that was only the way her imagination perceived it.

  “Yes, Grand Arbiter,” Morgsten said, flashing his teeth in a mock grin. “I know what you are thinking, and it is here. The Firebringer is in this Ancient temple. It has been waiting in the darkness for someone to find it and harness its glorious power. You are too late, Arbiter Sterling. The Firebringer is in the Coruscalli’s hands now. We have won.”

  Jan needed to reach Morgsten before he could activate the Firebringer. She scanned the room for a way to ascend to the higher level. There had to be a staircase or ladder that would take her to the scaffold, but even if there was, she could not reach it without Morgsten seeing her every move. From his lofty perch he had a clear view of the entire chamber.

  “Enough rambling, you fool,” a hollow, metallic voice admonished Morgsten from the shadows. “If you insist on revealing the entirety of our plans to the Grand Arbiter, you might as well tell her where the Firebringer is and how to access it.”

  The deep voice filled the entire chamber, resounding around the open area like a peal of thunder. Jan could not tell where it was coming from. Then she saw it: a shadowy figure, standing on the scaffold slightly behind Morgsten. Morgsten must have been startled by the figure’s appearance, too, for he whirled around to face it, a look of fear plastered on his face.

  “Lord Overseer,” he said, “I did not think to find you here. I thought it was decided that I would be handling the operations here in Astraeyu Nouvi.”

  “No such decision was made. You left Kalvatin without informing anyone of your intentions.” The Overseer stepped forward. A shaft of light gleamed off something metal. At a closer look, Jan saw that the Overseer wore an ornate silver mask with a ventilated opening over the mouth, fashioned to disguise both face and voice. Other than the mask, Jan noticed the figure was clad in a black robe, the hood pulled up to conceal all but the masked face.

  Jan wondered who this mysterious figure could be. She noted the way in which Morgsten deferred to the masked person, and also how he trembled at the sight of the Overseer. Could the person in the mask be the true leader of the Coruscalli? All this time Jan believed Morgsten to be in charge of the cult.

  “I-I thought it best if I came to oversee excavations in Astraeyu Nouvi myself,” Morgsten stammered. “With all the recent setbacks, I wanted to make sure that nothing interfered with our progress here.”

  “Yet the Arbiters managed to learn of our operations,” the Overseer said. “I wonder how that could have happened.”

  “I had nothing to do with it!” Morgsten’s voice became so shrill it was almost a squeak. “It was the Astraeyu’s Talon that led the Arbiters to the Labyrinthine Archipelago, and to this ruin, I’m sure of it. Please, my lord, with your permission I will put an end to the Arbiters’ meddling, once and for all.”

  Jan saw genuine fear in Morgsten’s eyes. Whoever the Overseer was, he was clearly a dangerous person. The Overseer regarded Morgsten with its stoic metal face for a long moment before speaking.

  “It is too late for that,” it rumbled. “You have already failed. Because of you, the Arbiters know about the Firebringer.” It reached up a hand, also concealed by black gloves, and placed it over the mask. “I cannot allow you to go any further.”

  After fidgeting with the mechanisms that held the mask in place, the Overseer removed its hands from its face, and the mask along with them. Jan gasped aloud, but even as shocked as she was, she could not have been any more astonished by who was beneath the disguise than Morgsten. He stumbled backward and fell against the guardrail that led around the scaffold.

  “It’s you!” he said.

  From beneath the folds of the hooded cloak, Niercel glared out at Morgsten, ice gleaming in her eyes.

  JAN NEVER WOULD have expected Niercel to be behind the silver mask, but there was no mistaking it was her. Jan would recognize those icy blue eyes anywhere. Morgsten continued to stammer.

  “It was you, wasn’t it?” he asked once he regained some of his composure. “You were my contact from within the Arbiters. You were the one supplying me with inside information.” Morgsten laughed. “All the while your knights hounded me relentlessly. I lived in constant fear of being caught and dragged before the High Council of Lyth by you. What irony, to learn that you were one of us all along.”

  Niercel gave a sly smirk. It was an expression Jan had seen numerous times before, when she and Niercel attended the Academy together. It was not merely a friendly smile. It was Niercel’s way of saying she had won.

  “I have never been one of the Coruscalli,” Niercel said. “I only used the Coruscalli as a means to get what I wanted.”

  “I don’t understand,” Morgsten said.

  Niercel reached beneath the folds of her cloak and produced an arcane device that was similar to a crossbow. Jan’s mind was immediately taken back to the Ancient instrument that burned into her chest the glowing scar during their adventures in the Labyrinthine Archipelago.

  “Do you understand now?” Niercel asked, pointing the arcane weapon directly at Morgsten. “I have won. You have lost. Your mission to obtain the Firebringer was a failure.”

  Then Niercel squeezed the trigger on the arcane weapon. A bolt of light erupted from the tip, covering the short distance between Niercel and Morgsten in an instant. The bolt of light pierced Morgsten right between the eyes. An expression of shock was still on his face as he fell backward, tumbling over the railing and falling from the scaffold to the floor below.

  Jan
gasped as Morgsten’s body hit the ground with a resounding thud. It was a hollow sound, one that would haunt her for a long time. She knew that Morgsten was the enemy, but she had not intended to deal with him in such a way. Jan would have preferred nonviolence, but perhaps Morgsten was too mad to listen to reason.

  Niercel stood stock still as a wisp of smoke rose from the tip of the arcane weapon. Her eyes were cold, as cold as the metallic voice produced by the mask was. Jan still did not understand what Niercel was doing in Astraeyu Nouvi, at an Ancient ruin that very few people knew about. Her presence had played in the Arbiters’ favor, but something was still troubling Jan.

  “Niercel,” she said, and at the sound of Jan’s voice, Niercel turned her icy gaze on her. “That was quite the charade you put on, disguising yourself as the leader of the Coruscalli to gain the advantage over Morgsten.”

  Niercel studied Jan for a long moment, saying nothing. Jan swallowed hard, the silence unnerving her. Niercel pushed the hood of the cloak from her head and ran her fingers through her hair.

  “Is it possible that you still don’t understand?” Niercel asked. Then, as if to answer her own question she said, “Yes, of course it is. Ah, dear naïve Jan. That was one of the qualities I always loved about you. Always so trusting, you never wanted to believe what you saw with your own eyes.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “This is no charade.” Niercel let out a deep breath, as if trying to explain it to Jan was exasperating. “I have not only been working with the Coruscalli for years, but I’ve been leading the cult in secrecy.”

  “Just now, you told Morgsten that you weren’t one of them,” Jan protested. She did not want to believe that her old friend was a traitor, but why else would Niercel claim allegiance with the Coruscalli if it was not true?

  “I don’t consider myself like them,” Niercel replied. “Like I told Morgsten, I’ve been using the Coruscalli to further my own agenda.”

  “Which is?” Jan dreaded to hear Niercel’s answer and mentally prepared herself. Her old friend was not only a traitor, but she was the greatest enemy the Arbiters had ever faced.

  Niercel stared directly into Jan’s eyes, unflinching as she said the words Jan so dreaded to hear.

  “To cleanse this world of its impurities and remake it,” Niercel said. “With the Firebringer, I can recreate this world in the image of Lyth’s dream, the way she hoped it would be when she first brought her people here.”

  “But the Firebringer isn’t a product of the Lythrillian people,” Jan argued. “It was created by the Ancients, the ancestors of the Astraeyu Nouvins. Its true purpose is a mystery, but we know for certain that it was never intended to assist in the spread of the Lythrillian faith.”

  “The Firebringer’s purpose is left in the hands of whoever controls it,” Niercel countered.

  “Why do you want to do this, Niercel? Why turn your back on the Arbitrary Order of Lyth and all for which it stands? We swore an oath to protect this world. I was there with you on graduation day. I remember how proud you were to call yourself an Arbiter.”

  “I was young then. We both were. I knew little of the world outside the Academy.” Niercel appeared sad for an instant, and then the sorrow passed. “Protect this world? What’s the point? You know as well as I that it is too far gone to be helped.”

  “That’s not true,” Jan insisted. “All hope is not yet lost. There is still a chance to save the world, make it a better place without destroying it first.”

  The sorrow returned to Niercel’s features. “You have not seen the things I have,” she said. “Remember how I told you of the atrocities I have seen while serving in the Kalvat chapter of the Arbiters? Abuses of arcane powers that you would not believe, and it doesn’t end with Kalvatin. For cults like the Coruscalli to have existed so long in secrecy, the Abitrary Order of Lyth has been failing at its duties for hundreds of years. As long as such individuals exist in this world, there is nothing we can do to save it.”

  “You’re not even willing to try,” Jan said. “Resorting to an Ancient prophecy based primarily on myth and superstition isn’t the answer to the problem. You’re running away from the oaths we took at the Academy, from our responsibilities as Arbiters.”

  “You’re one to speak of betrayal,” Niercel said acidly. “If anyone here is a traitor, it is you.”

  “Me?”

  “Placing your faith in that Astraeyu Nouvin instead of trusting a fellow Arbiter,” Niercel said. “You knew about the Firebringer and the Coruscalli, as well as Morgsten’s involvement with the cult, yet you said nothing to me or any of the other Arbiters in Orsela. Do you know how much that hurt, old friend? It was as if you were saying that you didn’t trust me with such an important matter.”

  “I was unsure who I could trust,” Jan said, “and considering that you were an informant for Morgsten, maybe I had sound reason in keeping the information a secret.”

  “Your words are scathing,” Niercel said. “They cut me to the quick. I thought you of all people would be willing to hear me out and listen to the voice of reason.”

  “By voice of reason do you mean the Coruscalli’s mad plan to use the Firebringer?” Jan asked. “What makes you think I would want to play a part in something like that?”

  “Don’t you ever tire of it, performing so-called sacred duties that no one today even understands? You know there is no future in the Arbiters. The Order is a fossil, as is the High Council of Lyth. Both are best left in the past where they belong.”

  “I never imagined that you would feel that way.” It was hard for her to face the reality that her friend was not the same girl she knew at the Academy. “I admired you once, a long time ago.”

  “I see,” Niercel said. “Maybe I was wrong to go easy on you. I should have killed you when I had the chance, but I thought that I could convince you to see the truth. I see now that I was a sentimental fool for sparing you.”

  “What do you mean?” Jan realized that Niercel must have left Kalvatin shortly after the Arbiters in order to be there now, which meant that she must have been right behind them, perhaps even following them. Following them... “It was you,” she said. “You were the assassin in Tarnon’s Watch, and in the dungeon of the Vermillion Temple.” It made sense. Niercel was definitely skilled enough to infiltrate the dungeons of a heavily guarded Arbiter stronghold, and as a high-ranking officer she knew the layout of the Vermillion Temple better than anyone. “You tried to kill Talon and me,” Jan said. “I don’t believe it.”

  “Morgsten wanted you out of the way permanently,” Niercel replied. “I wanted to spare your life, if possible, so I planted the idea in Morgsten’s head that you could be a valuable ally, since you were the only one who could convince the Black Talon to assist us. It was primarily to direct his attention away from having you murdered. I knew the Black Talon would never cooperate with the Coruscalli.” Niercel shook her head. “What a waste. She is the only one that truly understands how to access the knowledge of the Ancients, but if she refuses to be an asset, I can’t have her interfering with my plans.”

  Two of the Coruscalli warriors suddenly appeared on the scaffold behind Niercel. Jan gasped as her eyes locked onto a third figure. Between the cultists was Talon, beaten and bloodied almost beyond recognition. The cultists were supporting her as well as restraining her, but Jan did not think Talon would be able to put up much of a fight. Barely clinging to consciousness, Talon had sustained severe injuries, most of which appeared to have been caused by the Ancient weapon Niercel was holding. The sight infuriated Jan. That was when Jan realized that Niercel was beyond reason. She was the enemy, and she needed to be stopped.

  “When did you lose your soul, Niercel?” Jan asked. “Talon is innocent. She only wants to protect the peace and integrity of this world.”

  “Taking sides with this foreigner again, Jan?” Niercel shook her head. “I didn’t want to believe Morgsten’s accusations, but I am beginning
to think they are true.”

  Jan froze. Did Morgsten mention Jan’s alleged romantic affair with Talon to Niercel while she was the secret leader of the Coruscalli? The funny thing was it was no longer mere supposition. It was true. She and Talon were lovers. Did Niercel know? The look of disdain with which she regarded Jan made Jan uncomfortable, as if all her secrets were laid bare for everyone to see.

  “Enough talk,” Niercel said. “We’re finished here.” To the Coruscalli holding Talon, she said, “Dispose of the Outlander. We have much to do.”

  The two cultists tossed Talon over the side of the scaffold. Injured as she was, she did not protest. Talon’s body hit the floor with a sound that echoed around the chamber. Jan temporarily forgot about Niercel and the Coruscalli and rushed to Talon’s side.

  Talon had lost a lot of blood. The light from the arcane weapon had burned through flesh and armor, leaving a gaping hole in the cuirass and a deep, scarlet wound beneath. Jan tore a piece of fabric from her coat and tried to fashion a makeshift bandage, but Talon’s wound was too severe. The area was too large, but Jan was able to press the fabric against it and staunch the bleeding, if only a little. Tears welled in her eyes. Talon was unconscious. The fall was too much for her already battered body.

  “Grand Arbiter,” Rhys called as he and Beatrix ran into the room. “What happened here?”

  “Niercel is a traitor,” Jan said, wiping the tears with her sleeve. “She’s been leading the Coruscalli all along. She killed Morgsten with some sort of Ancient weapon. I think she shot Talon with the same weapon.”

  “Let me have a look.” Beatrix’s voice was calm, soothing. Jan moved back a little so she could inspect Talon’s injuries. “This wound is definitely magical in nature. It’s similar to mage-fire, but I’ve never seen mage-fire inflict such extensive damage. Whatever hit Talon looks like it was designed to immobilize its target.”