The Core

by Peter V. Brett

  Unbound by the wards on the Consort’s skin, the drone could take hold of the bottle to power a simple warding.

  Enough, perhaps, to buy the Consort’s freedom.

  —

  Arlen checked the wards three times as he locked Alagai Ka back in the steel car. Its protections were strong, but Arlen knew what the minds could do. If the wagon was located, its cargo discerned, it would not take this other demon prince long to penetrate its defenses.

  Tension radiated from Jardir. “I do not trust the servant of Nie.”

  “Ent a reason you should,” Arlen said.

  “We’ve had it imprisoned for months,” Jardir said. “How did it know about my sons?”

  “Don’t think it did,” Arlen said. “It made a guess from Shanjat’s memories when your guard was down, and got your aura to confirm it.”

  “Or maybe we ent been careful enough what we say in front of Shanjat,” Renna said.

  “Gonna have to start bein’ extra careful,” Arlen said. “Can’t haul that prison car down with us. Meantime, Ren, need you and Shanvah to guard the wagon while Ahmann and I go hunt this mind.”

  “Ay, ’cause that worked out well the last time,” Renna said. “Took all three of us to bring down a mind saw us comin’.”

  “If it’s a bushwhack, we ent got much chance against a demon standing on a magic vent that big,” Arlen said. “If it ent, need you here.”

  “Why?” Renna said.

  “We get hit, you need to make sure nothin’s left of Alagai Ka for this other mind demon to chew on.”

  “Demonshit,” Renna growled. “Shanvah can do that. You just don’t want me coming.”

  “Any reason I should?” Arlen asked. “Creator, Ren. You’re showing already.”

  “Ent,” Renna said. “Put on a little weight is all. Eatin’ for two.”

  “I can see right into your belly, Ren,” Arlen said. “Baby shouldn’t be growin’ this fast. Same thing happened to Leesha. Gave birth months early.”

  He knew it was a mistake the moment he said it. No good ever came from mentioning Leesha Paper in an argument.

  “Ay, kickin’ dama’s heads in and killin’ demons the whole rippin’ time, to hear the Hollowers tell it,” Renna said. “Sayin’ I ent as tough as Leesha Paper?”

  “Trouble found her, and she handed it right back,” Arlen said. “Didn’t go down into the Core lookin’ to pick a fight.”

  “That’s the demon talkin’,” Renna said. “Tryin’ to split us up. Weaken us.”

  “Doesn’t mean it’s wrong,” Arlen said. “That’s what they do. Smack you with the truth where it hurts the most.”

  “And that is where you must resist the most, Par’chin,” Jardir cut in. “Your jiwah is too powerful to leave behind. You know it to be true. There is no one else who can go in her stead, and we have need of the help. We all must make sacrifices.”

  Arlen glared at him. “Easy for you to say, Ahmann. World’s littered with your kids—your wives. These are the only ones I got.”

  “Do you think it is my wish to take my niece, barely old enough for marriage, into the abyss?” Jardir demanded. “That my only grandson is on his mother’s back, walking into a nest of spears for the sake of a khaffit?”

  “Ent the same and you know it,” Arlen snapped. “Would you take Olive Paper down into the abyss with us?”

  Jardir didn’t hesitate. “If it shifted odds of destroying Alagai’ting Ka even slightly in our favor, then yes, Par’chin. I would take all my wives and all my children into the abyss to see it done. This is what it means to be Evejan. The First War comes before all else. Inevera cast the dice in your jiwah’s blood. She must come into the abyss with us, or our chances to prevail will be only a fraction of the slim hope we hold now.”

  There was conviction in his aura that terrified Arlen—and filled him with envy. How simple life would be, if he could trust to fate.

  “It’s my choice,” Renna said.

  “Ay, but I don’t have to like it. We should be on my da’s farm, makin’ things grow and waitin’ nine months like every other corespawned fool in creation.”

  “Wanted that all my life,” Renna said. “You were the fool who ran off and started this mess. Up to us to finish it. Your da’s farm ent safe. Nowhere is, till we see this done.”

  “Fine.” Arlen bit the word. “But I don’t recall the corespawned dice saying anything about staying with the wagon this once while we open the gate.”

  Renna crossed her arms. “Can’t stop me. You go off and I’ll follow, ’less you want to lock me up with the demon.”

  Arlen clenched his fists. Ragen and Elissa told him many times growing up that marriage was hard and full of compromise, but he never truly understood till it happened to him.

  —

  Arlen focused power into the wards of confusion and unsight on his skin as they climbed the slope of the mountain. He could feel the coreling prince sweeping the area with its mind, but it did not seem to be seeking them in particular.

  Renna did the same. When he looked at her directly, she appeared insubstantial, like a reflection on a glass window. Trying to focus on details about her person dizzied him. In peripheral vision, she melted away almost entirely.

  She said it was the same when she looked at him. Their wards were keyed to affect demons, but the coreling flesh he and Renna consumed had become part of them, and they felt a portion of the effect. They kept close so as not to lose sight of each other.

  Jardir, with his crownsight, had no problems tracking them. He soared the night sky above as they approached the vent cave.

  It still unsettled Arlen, the way Jardir could hear the demon whispering on the night wind. The more time Arlen spent near the Crown and Spear of Kaji, the more he respected the first Damajah, who crafted them thousands of years ago. Arlen could claim with no ego to be the greatest Warder of his age, but he was a child banging on a pot compared with the orchestra of magic in those items. Jardir couldn’t dissipate, but with his evolving mastery of the items, he was discovering powers even Arlen could not replicate.

  They came to the edge of the mind demon’s wardnet, carved by wood demon talons into the trees all around the base of the mountain. The rise was too big to hide entirely, especially with power spilling from the vent. Arlen could see into the net with his normal vision, but in wardsight it was like staring into thick glowing fog.

  Arlen sensed the forbidding was keyed not to demons but humans. Anyone attempting to pass would be thrown back in a flare of light and pain, alerting the mind to their presence.

  Jardir, too, stopped short. Arlen could see him hovering at the edge of the wardnet as he studied it from above.

  Renna pointed upward. “Wanna see what he’s seein’.”

  Arlen reached out and took her hand. “Careful not to mist more than a little.”

  “Told me a thousand times,” Renna said. “Go too far an’ our wards fail. Demon will sense us and it’ll come down to a battle of will.”

  “Neither of us wants that fight, we can avoid it,” Arlen said. “Especially when the demon’s got a wardnet to protect his mind from us.”

  “I’ll be careful.”

  They dissipated partially, retaining enough mass to keep their wards active, shedding enough to be lighter than air. Like a couple at a festival dance, they kicked off together, floating up to meet Jardir.

  It was a clear night, and even with only the stars to go by, Arlen’s sharp eyes could pick out the narrow road leading up to the vent. The cave was smaller than he expected, but the power radiating from it was too much for even the demon prince to hide. Around the cave were ancient stone pillars, their wards broken and marred.

  “The Mouth of the Abyss,” Jardir whispered reverently. “More sacred ground, marred by the alagai.”

  “You’re the general,” Arlen said. “How do you want to play this?”

  Jardir considered. “When the coreling princes came to Everam’s Bounty on Waning, they cut grea
twards into the fields, much like the demon has done here. I was able to penetrate them using the powers of the crown.”

  “Can you breach the net without the demon sensing you?” Arlen asked.

  Jardir frowned. “I am not sure. The last prince was weaker, his warding unfinished, and his attention inward. This foe is prepared. I can sense his will, reaching out from his succor.”

  “I could distract it,” Arlen said. “Big unfocused blast of magic will light up the whole net. Time it right, demon shouldn’t sense you pushing through.”

  “We’ll distract it,” Renna said. “Gonna strike back at you, second you touch that web. Told me yourself we can’t dissipate without baring our necks.”

  “All the more reason for you to stand clear,” Arlen said.

  Renna shook her head. “I’ll scatter another blast from the far side of the mountain, three breaths after yours. Give you a chance to run. We take turns, until Jardir kills it.”

  “Ent gonna be able to keep that up for long,” Arlen said.

  “You will not need to be long,” Jardir promised. “I will be swift as Everam’s spear.”

  Arlen slowly drew a breath. “Better be.”

  “If you cannot put your faith in Everam, Par’chin,” Jardir said, “put it in your ajin’pal. Go now.”

  Arlen gave Renna’s hand a squeeze. Though she was as insubstantial as a soap bubble to the rest of the world, she still felt solid to him. Their eyes met, and then Renna turned and flew off. Jardir drew his Cloak of Unsight close, blurring before Arlen’s eyes. Arlen dropped away, flying a good distance in the opposite direction Renna had.

  Then he hovered just above the trees before the net and Drew. Magic was thick in the area, rolling like a waterfall down from the vent. Power came to him in such strength he was sure the mind must sense it. He threw the power at the wardnet, lighting it up like a constellation.

  He moved as he did, putting on a burst of speed. It was just in time, as a return blast of magic shot out from the cave mouth, centered where he had hovered a moment ago. The power splintered the tops of the trees, setting a vast swath of woods alight.

  No sooner did the light die away than the wardnet lit up from another direction as Renna did her work.

  A second blast shot out, this one in Renna’s general direction, though doubtless she was long gone. Arlen cast again, and still the wardnet held, but this time there was no return fire. A shrieking came from the cave and he froze, forgetting even to breathe. Had Jardir struck?

  But the shrieks did not die away. They grew louder and louder, high-pitched and overwhelming. Arlen’s fists tightened as they burst from the cover of the demon’s camouflage—hundreds of small wind demons, agile and fast. Their leathern wings slapped powerfully against the air.

  More and more of them swept out, thousands now, flying with terrifying uniformity as they divided into two thick clouds, circling the edge of the wardnet in opposite directions. There were mimics among them, glowing brighter in wardsight than their fellows.

  “Corespawn it.” Arlen spat into the wind. If they remained in the area, a cloud that large would sweep them up in moments. The instant one of the demons bumped against them, the mind would have their position.

  “Swift as Everam’s spear, my bido,” he muttered, putting on a burst of speed.

  He needed to find Renna.

  —

  Renna was so close to the blast she felt it singe her feet, but she pulled up short a moment later, going back the way she came in case there was a follow-up strike.

  The lump of power at the center of the camouflage was shining brightly now. The demon was Drawing heavily on the vent. No creature could hold that much for long, but in the short term it made the demon incredibly dangerous.

  Then the wind demons swept from the cave.

  From a distance they looked like the bats that roosted in her father’s barn, but as they drew closer she could see they were the size of dogs, with powerful corded muscle under sharp scales, and snouts filled with sharp teeth.

  She took off, but the demons were moving in both directions along the surface of the demon’s warding, a rapidly expanding net that would soon catch her and Arlen—if he hadn’t been swept up already. The magic from the cave mouth began to pulse angrily.

  She traced quick wind wards as she flew, scattering them like tacks in her wake. Demons bounced off them as the flight began to catch up, causing chaos in their tight formation, but there were too many to be slowed.

  Up ahead she saw the flight overtake Arlen. He turned and fed power to his wind wards, the tattoos flaring silver, too bright to see. Demons bounced off the forbiddance, colliding in midair. When the light died away, Arlen had dropped from the swarm and was flying fast her way.

  The cloud of demons overtook Renna, as well. She powered her wind wards as Arlen had, demons rebounding away, but one of them was undeterred, colliding with her in midair and wrapping around her like a snake.

  With the added weight, the two began to fall. Renna fed power to her mimic wards, pushing the creature away from her flesh, but it kept coiled around her, pulling her down.

  “Ren!” Arlen screamed, but he would not reach her in time as the ground rushed to meet them. She gathered power into her muscles and bones, into the flesh of her belly, hoping to survive the impact.

  But then a final throb of power burst from the cave. It rolled out like a ring in a pond, carrying a wail that could not be heard with the ears.

  It was a sensation she’d felt before, the shock wave from a mind demon’s psychic death rattle. It passed through the vast colony of bat demons, dropping them from the sky, and at last the mimic loosened its hold. She broke away as it careened shrieking into the trees.

  There were a series of explosions as Jardir Drew upon the vent to energize massive impact wards, pulverizing clusters of trees that formed the keywards of the demon’s wardnet. A moment later the forbidding dropped, and she sped for the cave, Arlen joining her as they pulled up short at the mouth. His face was grim and she readied herself to argue further, but he said nothing, his attention fully on the entrance.

  The pillars to either side of the cave, battered by coreling talons and the weight of ages, were unmistakably Krasian. Worn down over the millennia, Renna could still make out the demon’s head carved into the living rock above the cave, its mouth the gateway into the abyss.

  Arlen pulled up next to her. “Mouth of the Abyss ent just a name.”

  “Woulda been disappointed if it was just a cave.” Renna alighted by the entrance, Drawing hard on the abundant magic, ready for anything as they stepped inside.

  Jardir was waiting as they entered, standing with spear at the ready over the corpse of a mind demon. He lowered the weapon as they approached. “There were a pair of mimics, but they died with their master.”

  Arlen nodded. “Same for the bat demons outside.”

  “Couple mimics mighta survived,” Renna said. “Out of range of the full effect.”

  Jardir nodded. “Let us retrieve Shanvah and the prisoner swiftly, before any survivors have time to recover.”

  “We should take the wagon all the way up to the mouth,” Arlen said. “All a mimic needs to do is lay a claw on that mind, and we’re done.”

  “Good thing there ent any demons down where we’re going,” Renna muttered.

  Arlen sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “You got a better idea, Ren, now’s the time to share.”

  Renna eyed the mind demon. “Just mutterin’. We’re all jumpy. Both a’ you go escort the wagon. I’ll hold the vent.”

  She expected Arlen to be suspicious, but he seemed relieved not to have to argue. He was right, in any event. It was pointless to cast shade on his plan without having a better one to offer.

  The two men flew off, and she turned to the demon’s body. Did it really work both ways? Alagai Ka had been right. She could not risk their mission by killing their only guide on a hunch. But here was a fresh mind, its body still warm… />
  Before she could think twice, Renna had her knife in hand. The warded edge cut deep into the tough, knobbed flesh of the demon’s cranium, and she peeled the skin back to expose the bone beneath. She wiped the excess ichor away with her hands, sucking her fingers clean.

  She hardly noticed the putrid stench of demon ichor anymore, nor the foul taste, but she was learning to identify subtle differences of magic. She could tell stone demon ichor from rock, pick out the tingle of lightning demon from the flavor of wind. Most memorable was the mimic demon ichor she’d licked from her blade and skin, rolling the magic in her mouth like chaw.

  But none of it prepared Renna for the rush of power that came from mind demon ichor. It shocked like a jump into freezing water. She shivered, feeling more alive, more alert, than ever in her life. It was all the other flavors of magic combined, and so much more.

  She fractured the thick skull bone with a sharp blow from the impact ward on the pommel of her knife, then slid the blade into the gap, prising it open to expose the brain beneath.

  It jiggled like gelatin, slick and glistening with ichor. In wardsight, Renna had never seen anything glow as brightly as the demon’s mind. She cut a large chunk and seized it in her bare hand, shoving it eagerly into her mouth.

  The power in the ichor was nothing, the crackle of a carpet compared with the bolt of lightning in her mouth. There was a rush of pleasure, the world around her opening to her senses like never before. Every moment stretched out, infinite, as the world lit up with information. She marveled at motes of dust frozen in midair, saw the whorls and eddies of the magic coming through the vent like a frozen waterfall.

  But the information poured into her faster than she could comprehend. What began as a refreshing drink threatened to drown her.

  Power sizzled in her veins, burned across her nerves. Not the dry, horseradish feeling of Drawing too much magic. This was being cast living into a funeral pyre. She screamed, and it felt like breathing fire.

  A barrage of input followed, impossible to make out. Senses she didn’t even have names for, delivering information with the roar of a river at spring melt. Images that made no sense.