Now, as the plan was explained to the generals, the crowd was ushered into smaller groups and each were told the role they would play. Tyen read dismay in the minds of many, who had hoped for the satisfaction and fame of seeing the Raen defeated. Other were relieved, happy to have contributed without needing to risk their lives in the battle itself.
Tyen was the first general to return to Baluka’s side.
“Tyen,” the rebel leader said without taking his eyes from the crowd. “How close are they to being ready to leave?”
Stretching out his senses, Tyen flitted from mind to mind, catching thoughts of anticipation, fear, relief and disappointment.
“Just about,” he replied. “Frell has a couple of groups to sort out. Hapre is tackling the one group that didn’t get the right instructions.”
“Good. I confess, I expected you to find reasons not to be alone with me, but here you are.” Baluka glanced at Tyen. “I haven’t forgotten your promise.”
A chill ran down Tyen’s spine. “Neither have I.”
“But now that you are here I see it wouldn’t be fair to ask you to open your mind here, with so many watching.”
Tyen looked down at the waiting fighters and shrugged. “I did promise. It is up to you to decide if you will risk it.”
He watched as Baluka deliberated. He badly wanted to know what Tyen’s great secret was, but he understood that knowledge could be dangerous in the wrong hands, and he was all too conscious of his own inability to hide his thoughts. He sighed.
“I only need to know one thing: if the Raen reads your mind during the battle, will we lose?”
“No.”
Baluka nodded, but within he was seething with dissatisfaction. Tyen knew he would have to offer something more. Something Baluka could sympathise with. As he considered what to say he realised he could also ensure Baluka would not be tempted to sacrifice all in a last-ditch attack in the coming battle. He drew in a deep breath.
“But if he gets hold of Vella he will know everything I know.”
“Ah.” The rebel leader’s gaze darkened. “She is well hidden, this woman?”
“Yes and no.” Tyen resisted the urge to look down at his shirt. “I carry her. She is the book.”
“‘She is the book’?” Baluka echoed, not comprehending.
“The Raen’s predecessor made her into one. She can absorb all the knowledge of those who touch her.”
Baluka’s eyes widened. “All the knowledge? So you could use her to discover anybody’s secrets?”
All but the Raen’s, but I can’t explain how I know that. “But she must be held. And she can only respond when someone holds her.”
As the implications of that occurred to Baluka, he nodded. “I see. A powerful tool with a powerful flaw.” He was silent, frowning, for a little while. “But you don’t think of her that way, do you? You think of her as a woman.”
“She is a person. Not a whole person, but enough to have an identity and… real conversations.”
“A person who knows everything about you, and understands you as nobody else can.” Baluka shook his head. “No ordinary woman, perhaps no friend either, could ever measure up against that. Be careful, Tyen, or she’ll become the only companion you can ever tolerate.”
Surprised, Tyen stared at the rebel leader. Baluka’s warning seemed to vibrate to the core of him. He opened his mouth to deny that Vella, who had no body and admitted to having no proper emotions, could ever prevent him forming connections with whole, living women. Hadn’t he had Yira as a lover and then friend?
But I didn’t love Yira–not in a romantic way. She wouldn’t have returned it, anyway. And he’d never noticed Sezee’s interest in him, or even seen the potential for it, which he had regretted later. He hadn’t been looking for that sort of companionship, despite having longed for it previously.
He hadn’t needed to.
A shadow rushed towards them, stopped and sharpened into Hapre. She glanced back at Frell, who followed close behind.
“I did a circuit,” she told them. “Everyone’s ready.”
Baluka nodded. “A few quick words, then we will go. I’ll use Volk’s trick to amplify my voice, but the downside is you three will need to move away or shield your ears.”
“You should have the stage entirely to yourself, anyway,” Hapre decided, seizing the chance to escape.
Tyen and Frell followed as she descended to the sandy ground. Baluka waited until they had turned to face him, then lifted his gaze to the crowd.
CHAPTER 20
“For a thousand cycles and more we have been ruled by one man.” Baluka’s voice boomed out over the noise of the crowd. “Why?” he asked. “Not because he is the wisest. Not because he is the kindest. Not even because he is the smartest. No. Only because he is the most powerful.”
Looking at the closest rebels, Tyen saw grimaces and scowls. He read their anger and agreement. Baluka didn’t believe the Raen was stupid, Tyen knew. Suggesting so made the crowd happy, though. It made it bolder, thinking the rebels were, as a whole, more intelligent.
“His rule is not maintained by strength alone,” Baluka continued. “It is maintained by corruption. By agreements with the greedy and deals with the cruel. With the allies’ help, the Raen maintains control of all the worlds. Of you.”
Touching lightly on many minds, Tyen sensed the mood of the crowd darken. When he singled rebels out, he saw an ally or more blamed for the injustices they had suffered or seen. Not for the first time, he wondered if he would have eventually joined the rebels anyway, if he had not encountered the Raen and made a deal.
Baluka’s tone grew more forceful, though the volume of it remained the same. “He may be the most powerful sorcerer of the worlds, but he is not the most powerful force. That, my friends, is you.” He stretched out an arm and turned full circle. “Every person willing to stand up for what is right. Every fighter battling for freedom. Every sorcerer seeking the right to simply exist. Each of you defying his laws. Each of you demanding justice. Each of you saying ‘enough!’.” Baluka shouted the last word. “He’s had a thousand cycles! That is more than enough! It is time the worlds were free of the Raen’s laws and ruled themselves!”
The cheer that followed set the air buzzing. Tyen shuddered, half elated and half appalled by the collective wave of fury and defiance. Baluka waited, nodding, until the crowd had quietened again.
“Together,” he continued. “Together we are equal to the Raen–no, we are greater than the Raen. We have what the Raen does not. We have the strength that comes of a common purpose. We have the certainty that we fight for the good of all the worlds. I planned to tell you that even if we fail today we will gather again and fight until the change owed to us is made. But now that we are here I no longer believe I need to.” He stretched both arms out and spread them wide. “With so many of us… How. Can. We. Not. Win?”
His last words were drowned out as the crowd erupted in a roar that vibrated through Tyen’s chest. He heard cheering, whistling, trilling, and even hooting and barking. The gestures the rebels made were as varied, from dignified nods to wildly jumping on the spot. Frell was punching at the air above his head, his mouth open in a half-audible yell. Hapre was grinning approvingly up at Baluka, her hands coming together in a clap only she could hear.
And what am I doing? Nothing. He realised his shoulders were hunched, so he forced himself to stand straighter. He pressed his lips into what he hoped was a grim smile. Let them think I’m the cool-headed one.
Baluka raised his arms, calling for silence. “We will delay no longer. Whether you now join us for the fight or return to your homes, I thank you and hope every one of you will soon be celebrating our victory. Be careful, be safe.” Baluka paused, turning full circle again as he considered all the people watching and listening. “Everyone, be quiet. Form your groups. Be ready for my signal.”
It was done so quickly that Tyen sensed surprise from more than a few doubters in the crowd. All
were too aware that the Raen and his allies might find the army at any moment. The sooner they were prepared, the better. Within a short time the great circle of sorcerers had fragmented into smaller ones. Baluka lifted a hand and a burst of light flashed upwards.
“Release your magic NOW!”
At the base of the rock, Tyen’s view was limited, so he concentrated on the magic nearby. Plumes of it rose and expanded rapidly, blending and rushing outwards, then stilled and reversed, pulled back to the crowd. Little escaped. The first part of Baluka’s solution had worked.
The rebel leader was turning and turning, eyes roving across a crowd mostly beyond Tyen’s sight. He nodded.
“It is done,” he said. “Now, those who have volunteered to transport others, take your group to a world not depleted of magic. Fighters come to me.”
As if readying to begin a dance, people clustered together in circles, linking hands, but rather than sway and turn, they began to vanish. A few breaths later all that remained was a scattering of men and women. These now hurried towards the rock. Tyen felt a hand on his arm and turned to see Frell standing beside him. Hapre was not far away, reaching out to Frell’s offered wrist. Baluka skimmed down to join them.
“I want to go through first, just to the sixth world,” he told them, “to ensure the way is safe.”
“Alone? That’s madness,” Hapre objected. “How will we know if you don’t make it?”
“Tyen will come with me,” Baluka interrupted. “If we don’t return, get the rest to safety.”
Frell scowled as he let go of Tyen’s arm. “They won’t like it. They’re determined to fight.”
Baluka shrugged. “You’ll have to convince them. Now, you two take them to the meeting place we agreed on. Tyen and I will go on ahead. If all goes well, we’ll be there, waiting for you, by the time you arrive, or join you soon after. Is all that clear?” The two generals nodded. “Then let’s get on with it.” He turned to Tyen and held out a hand. “Take us there as fast as you can.” He sucked in a deep breath of air.
Following suit, Tyen grasped the rebel leader’s hand and pushed them out of the world.
Contrary to expectations, the Raen’s world was not at the centre of the known worlds. It was, Tyen had been amused to discover, not far from the Worweau Market. The rebels’ first hideout had been under the Raen’s nose, and they’d never realised. He had probably known it was there all along.
It made sense that whoever was pretending to be Volk had sent rebels to the Market. The allies had not needed to travel far from the Raen’s world to deal with them. The true rebel meeting place was further away, more than thirty worlds from the Raen’s by the shortest, safest route.
Tyen quickened his pace until worlds were flashing by. He made no attempt to hide his trail. If they were to scout the way into the Raen’s world and be at the next meeting place before the generals and fighters, they had no time to spare.
They encountered no allies, or any other travellers. The not-so-secret path to the Raen’s world began in a world of ruined cities and fields long abandoned and turned to dust. He’d glimpsed a dry landscape in Javox’s and Resca’s mind, so he was surprised when they arrived in a lush jungle.
He brought them into the world atop the trunk of an enormous fallen tree. They both began gasping for air, at first sitting then lying on the smooth surface as they recovered. After a while, Baluka turned his head to look at Tyen.
“I don’t suppose that book of yours knows how to avoid suffocating between worlds?”
Tyen nodded. “Agelessness has something to do with it.”
Baluka blinked, then lifted his head. “It contains the secret to agelessness?”
Tyen hesitated, but then realised the mistake he’d made. He felt a cold, sinking feeling in his gut. It wouldn’t matter what Baluka knew soon. Most likely he’d be dead in a few hours.
Tyen sighed. “Yes, she does.”
He sat up. “Have you…?”
“No.”
“Why in all the worlds not?”
Tyen sighed and pushed up into a sitting position. “There is a cost–and it can take many cycles to learn. Even if I was ready to pay the price, I haven’t exactly had the opportunity to try it lately.”
The rebel leader grimaced. “No, I suppose you haven’t. And I can see why you cannot tell others of this book. Imagine if all those who joined our cause acquired this knowledge from you. They’d be too busy chasing agelessness to bother fighting the Raen.”
Tyen shook his head. “Most would not be able to achieve it. You have to be particularly strong.”
Baluka nodded. “So I was taught. That wouldn’t stop everyone attempting it, though.” He stood, then extended a hand. “Well, every moment we wait the risks multiply. Let’s see if the information we were given is correct. We’ll need plenty of magic so load up. It is likely these worlds between us and him are dead ones.”
Tyen took Baluka’s hand. The rebel hauled him to his feet. Tyen drew in a little more magic. “That’s enough, I hope. I don’t want to take so much the reduction is obvious to anyone who visits this world regularly.”
Baluka shook his head. “Every time I think I’ve grasped how strong you are, Tyen, you say something like that. It’s enough to make a rebel leader feel inadequate.”
“And yet, it’s not what counts.”
Baluka smiled. “I will begin the journey.”
They both sucked in a deep breath. The vegetation faded as Baluka propelled them away. Tyen recalled Resca’s instructions. “Water, fire, earth, air, light and darkness.” But first they needed to find the place in this world from which the path began.
They sped across the land, over countless broken walls and abandoned roads. Four times they stopped to breathe, each time finding the air drier and vegetation thinner. At last they reached a landscape as dry and dusty as Resca had pictured. A vertical line cut the horizon. Baluka shot towards it. Sure enough, it was the tower from Resca’s memory. They rose to the top, then Baluka brought them into the world.
They both sucked in deep breaths, first to fulfil the need for air, second to prepare for the journey to come. It was a tense moment, as they both knew the Raen’s allies passed this place on the way to and from his world. They could easily encounter one on the path, too. Tyen could see that Baluka was scared. His own heart pounded with fear and anticipation, but not with the sickening rush Baluka was experiencing. I have the hope, though shaky, that my pact with the Raen will protect me. Yet though the rebel knew he might easily die soon, his determination did not weaken. He nodded to Tyen.
“Let’s go.”
The world of ruins faded. They moved quickly–the well-used path almost seemed to pull them along, as if it had a current. As Tyen expected, a view of water stretching from horizon to horizon began to emerge. The sky was a roiling mass of cloud, brightened by almost constant lightning. The water below heaved and sank in massive waves; one surged up to surround them in darkness, then dropped way. He readied himself to still the air around them, to resist both gravity and water.
He never had the chance. Cold air touched his face briefly before the sensation abruptly ended. Baluka wasn’t going to pause to breathe until he had to.
Blackness veined with liquid, glowing red, stretched below them next. Searing heat scorched them for a heartbeat, then they were safely into the white again.
A pale, brittle sky and flat, colourless ground greeted them. This time Baluka did stop. The air was so cold it burned Tyen’s lungs, so he quickly warmed what surrounded them. Benign but lifeless. Resca’s idea of benign did not bode well for the rest of the journey.
As he shifted his weight, Tyen’s shoes slipped over the surface beneath them and he caught his balance. Looking down, he realised he was standing on ice. It was like glass, impossibly thick and almost free of flaws. Tiny lines of bubbles, frozen in place, led down into depths his eyes could not perceive.
It was disconcerting, and he was relieved when Baluka nodded to in
dicate he was ready to move on.
“… the air of the fourth is poisonous,” Resca had warned. Tyen had imagined a dead place but the world they arrived in was a bubbling marsh carpeted with low-lying plants. He and Baluka had agreed that they should assume the air would be poisonous not just when breathed, but when it touched their skin. They both stilled the air completely from their skin outwards as they arrived, and Baluka transported them away straight after.
Now for the world of light. They’d discussed their strategy for surviving it many times. It was possible the brightness of it would not only hide the moment of their arrival but would also blind them. They could arrive with their eyes closed and assume that the path would not deposit them somewhere that put their bodies inside objects, but they needed to check if a larger group would also be able to arrive safely.
Baluka had decided he would keep his eyes open and Tyen have his closed. This made it far easier for Tyen to sense the moment of their arrival.
“You can open your eyes,” Baluka said. His voice did not echo. It was oddly muted. The air was warm, but not uncomfortably so. “It is a very strange place.”
Tyen did so, and was amazed to find that he could truly see nothing more than light. Even the ground beneath his feet was concealed. He bent to touch it and his fingers disturbed a thick layer of white dust so fine he could not feel it.
“I’ve pushed the air around us outwards and found no resistance. No holes to fall into, either,” Baluka murmured. “We have enough room I think.” His grip tightened on Tyen’s arm. “Last one: the dark world.”
“Treacherous ground,” Tyen reminded him.
He knew when they’d entered the place between because the brightness no longer hurt. The light continued to dim, giving the impression a lamp was slowly being shuttered. Even when all light was gone, somehow the blackness intensified further.
Then cool air touched his skin. Firm ground supported his feet and continued to do so, though he remained braced and ready to still whatever lay beneath them. He could hear his breathing, and Baluka’s close by, quick and shallow. He could even hear his heart racing.
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