City of Burning Shadows (Apocrypha: The Dying World)

by Barbara J. Webb

  I thought of the mural, of Iris’s creator Drinion on one side and the Silent One on the other. “The Silent One is against change.”

  “He’s the opposite of change. He’s stasis. The Silent One keeps secrets because information that isn’t free can’t change things.

  “Syed is a shadow in the dark. A whisper in the silence. He’s the horror my people learn as children. His voice can hypnotize. His touch can kill. He can be anywhere, in anyone, looking out through their eyes and speaking with their voice and no one can tell the difference.”

  “I can,” I said.

  Iris rippled back into a subdued version of her usual shape. “If he learns you can see his secrets, he’ll kill you.”

  I was pretty sure that ship had sailed. “He’s after the rain project.”

  “Of course he is. If Spark and the Jansynian’s succeed, it changes everything.”

  I pushed a hand back through my hair. “Hasn’t he realized his god is gone? He’s fighting a lost cause.”

  “He is the Silent One’s voice, the Silent One’s face, its only creation. He’s not going to just move on.”

  Which left us limited options. “Can he be killed?”

  Iris shrugged and came back to sit at Amelia’s desk. “When the gods were still here, I’m not sure anyone ever had the guts to try.”

  Desperate times. “You—other shifters—you fear him because he’s the antithesis of what you are. But doesn’t that go both ways? Couldn’t you be just as much a threat to him? More specifically, couldn’t magic be a threat?”

  Iris sat thoughtful. When she spoke, her words came slow, considered. “Whatever you did to see Eddis, it’s broken his hold on you somehow. Maybe if you could figure out how and why…”

  Any weapon we could find would be welcome, but if I was going to go hunting ancient monsters, I wanted something more certain. “Surely someone knows something about him. Your people tell stories—could there be facts buried in the heart of them? Records some other race has? If he’s been around forever, this can’t be the first time he’s made a mistake.”

  “This may be the first time he hasn’t had the Silent One assisting his secrecy.”

  It was all overwhelming to think about, but what else could we do? We couldn’t ignore him. We couldn’t leave him to find and kill Spark or the rest of the research team. Or Seana.

  At least I knew a place to start. “I need to go back to Desavris. We know he was there, as Eddis. I’m pretty sure he was there for a while. If there’s any place I can get a feel for what he’s doing and maybe figure out a way to fight him, it’s there.”

  “Will they let you?”

  Iris’s question was a good one. Syed wasn’t the only creature in the world who valued secrets. But Seana was invested in success, and I had to hope she trusted me enough to let me do this. “All I can do is ask.”

  “I’ll let Amelia know.” Iris laid a hand on my shoulder. “Be careful.”

  “You too.”

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  Safety in Numbers

  The hardest thing was not giving in to the horror. So easy to think about what Syed could do to any of us. While I was at Desavris, he could sneak into Amelia’s house. While I was at Amelia’s house, he could sneak back into Desavris. I felt relatively safe on my own, riding along city streets under the blazing mid-afternoon sun, but I couldn’t shake the nagging fear that he was around, just beyond the corner of my vision. Lurking. Waiting. Watching.

  I didn’t know how he’d gotten into Desavris the first time. Did he need to be there physically to send his shadow to kill and possess? I’d seen the shadow still in his eyes, which meant we were safe for now. I hoped. I had to believe that. Madness to think otherwise.

  As I pulled back into the Crescent’s receiving yard, I realized I had no idea how to contact Seana, besides going back to her apartment and waiting for her. I went to the security booth—wondered if they were getting tired of me and my random requests. “I need to speak with Director Seana. How might I go about that?”

  A different man in the booth from this morning. At least, I thought so. I still hadn’t developed much eye for the barely perceptible differences between one Jansynian face and another. “I will pass along your request,” he said without inflection.

  Which led to my next, probably strange question. “What am I allowed—what permissions do I have?”

  No smile, no frown. Nothing. “Your current access level allows travel through security one and security three corridors. Residential and commercial areas of Desavris are permitted. You have key-clearance to Director Seana’s living suite, as well as access to her credit line.”

  That sent a thrill of warmth through me. An open invitation to her apartment—she couldn’t have sent a clearer signal that she was serious about rekindling our relationship. “How will I know which corridors are safe?”

  “Your security chip will vibrate, alerting you if you try to go anywhere you are not permitted. The armed guards moving to intercept you will also be informative.”

  It almost sounded like he was making a joke. Even if his face and voice were still as bland as before. Jansynians had the market cornered on dry wit.

  Still, I’d do my best to avoid taking chances. “Thanks.”

  On my ride up the lift, I stared out into the Web. Were Copper and Micah still planning their assault? I’d have to check back in with them soon. So many balls to juggle. But I still held out hope I could persuade Seana to call off the hunters once Spark figured out how to get the satellite working again, eliminating the need for Copper’s ill-considered attack. The timing was the tricky part, but there was definitely a clear path out of this mess where no one had to get hurt. At least, there was if I could keep Syed from getting in the way.

  Seana’s assistant waited for me at the top of the lift. I recognized his smile. “Mr. Drake, the director will see you now.”

  No one could complain about Jansynian efficiency. I followed him through the familiar hallways to Seana’s office. “What level corridor is this?” I asked him as we walked.

  “Security seven. I would not suggest trying to navigate this visit on your own.”

  Good safety tip.

  Seana was at her desk, watching video images on her computer. I sat down across from her as her assistant left us alone. “What is it you need, Ash?”

  Feeling more than a little paranoid as I did so, I called up a spark of magic and focused it through everything I knew about Seana—everything she was, everything she meant to me. Her eyes remained clear, empty of any shadow. Relief mingled with guilt as I answered her question. “Information. Hard-to-find information. About the Silent One.”

  “Information is accessible, certainly.”

  She was all business today. That was fine. I was here to work. “I was ambushed in my apartment this morning. Syed again. I don’t think he’s going to leave me alone. I think he’s hunting me.”

  That got a response. Seana looked up from her computer for the first time since I’d stepped through the door. “Are you all right?”

  “A little shaken. No worse. But—”

  “I want you to have a bodyguard.”

  “No,” I said—too quickly. I could see the hurt on her face.

  “That man is dangerous. You’re a librarian, not a soldier. I can’t have you getting hurt when I could have done something to prevent it.”

  I thought about the gun in my bag, of the thugs who jumped us outside Kaifail’s temple, of the car chase that had ended in an explosion. No, I wasn’t a soldier, but my resume had definitely expanded past librarian. “I’ll be careful. I promise. But I’ve seen this guy in action. A bodyguard might be more of a danger than a help, if Syed can take over his mind like he did Iris.”

  Seana drummed her fingers on the desk—a surprisingly fidgety gesture. This had her worked up. I was touched.

  I tried a different approach. “It’s my job. I have to protect the secrets of Amelia’s clients.”

&nb
sp; She flattened her palm against the desk and closed her eyes for the briefest moment. Then her perfect, bland Jansynian expression returned. “I understand. I cannot with any conscience ask you to endanger your employer’s secrets.”

  Which didn’t put me in the best position for my next request. “You’re right that Syed’s dangerous. And I have an idea of where I could start looking to track him down.”

  She said nothing, waiting for me to continue.

  “The lab where Eddis worked—where he was taken. If I could get in there—”

  She shook her head with sharp finality. “I’m sorry, Ash. I, too, must protect my employer’s secrets.”

  How could I argue after I’d just made that same plea? “I understand. I just wish I had an idea where else to start. He’s out there, somewhere, and if he got in here once, he could do it again.”

  “Since you discovered Eddis’s…situation, I have taken additional security precautions.”

  I held back my question of what those were. If she could tell me, she would. But we walked a delicate line. Our goals were the same here, but I wasn’t an employee of Desavris. During the years of our relationship before, I’d learned all the hard boundaries of what that meant. I could respect them now. Especially when I had my own secrets to protect.

  Her fingers started tapping again. “You are correct, however, that he presents a threat. If we could find a way to neutralize him…” She paused, considering. “You do seem uniquely suited to that task. However you came by this ability you have, you may be the best weapon, the only weapon…”

  She fell silent. I waited. Finally, she said, “I don’t know all the resources you have at your disposal.” She spoke slowly, carefully. “And I will not ask. But I can tell you what I know about this creature and hopefully you can find a use for the knowledge.

  “He is ancient, but his body is human, and vulnerable. Although less so than yours. He does not require sleep or food or even to breathe. But you must destroy his body first if you are to kill him.”

  How did she know this? I marveled at the information resources Seana had at her disposal. In Kaifail’s church, we had informational archives that coordinated thousands of years of research and study, but it couldn’t hold a candle to what the Jansynians knew. The idea that they had teased these secrets about the Silent One’s Favored—it was truly remarkable.

  “Once his body is dead, he has only his spirit—the shadow creature you saw. That is what you must destroy.”

  “How?”

  Her lips formed a thin smile. “That is the question, isn’t it?”

  “Magic,” I said, because that was the answer. Magic had helped me break through the web of secrets Syed had woven around Eddis. Magic helped me fight against his attempts to control his mind. And as Iris had explained, magic was his opposition at his very core.

  Seana nodded. “Magic is a tool I don’t understand, but from what I’ve seen, if there’s a power that can unmake Syed, magic is the top contender.”

  And for magic, I did have resources. “Thanks. That gives me someplace to start.”

  We stood together. She came around the desk and reached up to touch my cheek. “Will I see you tonight?”

  “If I can, yes.”

  She nodded. She understood. Work came first. “Don’t get killed.”

  #

  If magic was to be my best weapon against Syed, then I wanted all of it I could get my hands on. Iris and I were a start, but Iris’s power was inwardly focused and limited to what she could intuit. She wasn’t going to be learning new tricks. I needed someone else like me—someone human and gifted. How lucky for me I knew exactly where to find that person.

  I’d wanted to check in on Micah and Copper anyway. This gave me the perfect excuse.

  In the old days, there’d been a lot of rivalry between Kaifail’s bright priests and his dark priests. Friendly, mostly, but my fellow priests of the Dark Kaifail would have laughed at me for going to a bright priest for help with magic. We were the scholars, the mystics, the experts. They were poets and actors and dilettantes.

  The divide was artificial. We all worshipped the same god—although sometimes outsiders had trouble understanding that. Kaifail was simply complicated, and it took a two-sided priesthood to address all his aspects. But human nature is what it is, and division breeds competition, which breeds separation and resentment and…well, you get the idea.

  It all seems dumb in retrospect. But how could we have realized the sheltered, privileged lives we led under the shadows of our creator? The gods had always been there. We had no reason to believe it possible they ever wouldn’t be. Not until the day we called and they didn’t answer.

  #

  Micah was happy to see me. Copper was not. “You’re still working for the Jansynians!” She yelled the accusation over the sound of her power-saw cutting through metal. “People see you going in and out of the Crescent.”

  “I work for Price & Breckenridge,” I yelled back, “who you hired to keep your sister safe. If I’m working with the Jansynians it’s to that end.”

  Copper didn’t just roll her eyes; she rolled her whole head. “If you’re too stupid to realize Jansynians are using you for their own ends, I don’t know what to say.”

  Micah was helping Copper with some unfathomable construction project. Right now it resembled a bird’s nest of welded pipes and metal spikes. I didn’t even want to know. “So far I’ve gotten more help from the Jansynians than you’ve been able to offer.”

  “Both of you need to take a deep breath,” Micah said, his voice strained from supporting the heavy pipes as Copper worked. Even stripped down to nothing but a loose pair of pants, he was covered in sweat. “Ash, it’s nice to see you and all, but I assume you came here for a reason other than to argue about our neighbors upstairs.”

  It was true. “I need your help with something. Something to do with keeping Spark safe,” I added quickly at Copper’s dark look.

  “Anything, of course.” Micah’s smile was genuine. It warmed me, relaxed me. Something I’d forgotten in the months I’d been hiding from the world—from myself: how nice it was to have friends.

  Too bad I had to drag him into this business. “It turns out, the biggest threat to Spark isn’t the Jansynians.”

  “What are you talking about?” Copper snapped.

  By now, I was getting good at laying out what I knew about Syed and the threat he represented. Especially as people like Iris and Seana were able to fill in bits of information that were beginning to all fit together in my mind. Copper glared the whole time I talked, her frown so tight I was amazed her face muscles didn’t cramp.

  Micah listened like—well, like a priest. This was something new and interesting, and even the danger couldn’t dampen the excitement on his face. Of course, he hadn’t faced Syed yet. It was hard to communicate the visceral terror of seeing the strange, shadowy monster moving inside a person who looked otherwise normal.

  “This is incredible,” he said. “All of it.”

  “And your Jansynian woman told you how to kill this…this thing.” Copper sounded, of all things, angry.

  “She told me what she knows.” I shrugged. “Obviously no one has any hard data, since he’s still alive and walking around, but based on my own experiences, I think her theory is sound.”

  Copper finally waved Micah back. He took a deep breath, blew it out slowly as he wiped his arm across his forehead. “This is all…I can’t even imagine what we’re in the middle of. And you know I’ll do anything I can.”

  “But?” I asked. I could hear it in his voice.

  He touched the tattoo on his shoulder—the one both like to and yet different from my own. “Bright God, remember? I never learned any of the fancy, theoretical magic you can do. Everything I know is lights and sound effects—stage dressing.”

  “I think it doesn’t matter.” I hoped. Gods, I hoped. But we were running without a textbook. “It’s not so much what you do as the power behind it.
”

  Copper slammed her gloved fist down on the metal mass. “This is stupid. You’re just going to get yourselves killed. And then where will my sister be?”

  “He’ll find her.” This, I knew for sure. “If we don’t stop him, he’ll find a way to get to her. I’ve been lucky this far. But he’s—he’s like something out of a nightmare. I won’t stand by and let this monster hunt my friends.”

  Copper rolled her eyes again. “I can’t believe Seana would—” She threw up her hands. “Fine. Fine! But I’m coming with you.”

  “No.” Bad enough I was dragging Iris and Micah into this. I didn’t need another person’s safety to manage. “You don’t have magic. You have no protection against him at all.”

  “Oh, so you’re the expert now?”

  I understood her frustration. I would probably have felt the same in her position. “Sorry, Copper, but no civilians tonight.”

  That, it seemed, was one insult too many. Her eyes went cold as she glared at me. “Fine. But whatever happens tonight, it’s on you. It’s what you wanted.”

  I hardly needed her to tell me that. “Come on, Micah. Let’s go talk strategy.”

  “No!” Copper banged her fist again. “Take him later if you have to, but he’s going to stay here and help me finish this. No one else in this damn community has steady hands.”

  Micah shrugged and gave me a what can you do look. He didn’t want to rock the boat any further.

  It was fine. I could deal with that. It wasn’t like Micah was going to be able to offer much help planning a street-ambush. “Meet me at Price & Breckenridge when you can get away. But make sure it’s before sunset.”

  He looked at Copper. She waved dismissive approval. Good enough.

  I got out.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  Something to be Remembered For

  Amelia’s house had emptied by the time I got back. The herd of vehicles that had been parked here while Amelia was having her meeting was gone. I pulled my cycle into the driveway and sat for a few minutes, soaking up the quiet. So much had happened so quickly, and now I was gearing up for a confrontation with a nightmare out of legend. Nothing about this was good. Nothing about this was going to be easy.