The Ante guarding the door to the Hive of Sorrow and Riches stood on four hairy bare legs ending in split hooves, half again as tall as the door itself. A monstrous visage of green eyes and dripping fangs barely visible through the tangled brown hair all over its body looked down at Mayer. He paid it no mind and its eyes moved on past him.
He moved into the Hive. The walls were all the healthy pulsing pink he remembered. He went into the core and bypassed the tendril-elevators moving up and down through it. Over in the corner of the central well was a small imperfection in the wall. He dug his finger into it, forcing it into the flesh until it spasmed, once, twice, and then proceeded to suck at his finger.
Instead of resisting he moved into the feeling, slowly letting his entire body be subsumed by the wall. He took a deep breath but kept his eyes open as his face was pulled inside. Traveling through the walls of this Hive was never pleasant, but it was a way to get around without anyone seeing him. His vision filled with pink. The damp of his surroundings ensured that they did not burn from being held open. Unable to move, he was a simple object being passed through the muscled walls of the Hive.
He emerged in the basement, in the room where he did his work. It had been a long time since the Holders had been called in such a way. Long before Krezida and Riana were Holders. Hence his trepidation. He was wondering if he would have to wait long when he heard voices from the room next door.
He opened the door and silently slipped from it into the hall. Riana was already down there hurrying Razel away to the tendril-elevators in the center of the hall. At least he knew for sure the others were working down here as well, and Riana at least was bringing her Apprentice.
“Mayer,” she greeted him as she turned to find him watching her.
“Riana.”
They were silent.
“So you have been doing work for the Court of Sorrow and Riches as well,” Riana questioned, taking a step closer.
“We all do what we must to ensure the survival of our Athenaeums.” He watched her proximity. He would be foolish to assume that her jumpsuit didn’t hide any number of pockets with mechanical weapons and defenses.
Riana snorted but stayed where she was until they heard the thud of someone falling from the tendril-elevator and cursing themselves. Krezida was brushing her clothing off as she caught sight of them immediately and stiffened. Mayer caught the way her eyes moved to one of the closed doors before returning to them.
“Why did you call us, old man?”
“There are things happening. Things I would share with you.” He quickly told them of June’s theories and the plans for tomorrow. Both frowned.
“And what does any of that have to do with our current problems?” Trust Riana to stay practical and focused.
“Fool, do you not see the problems this can cause?” Krezida hissed.
Riana took a step toward the other woman and snapped back, “I am no fool, but until we deal with the creeping dark that just might be coming to devour us all, it seems that this June problem is not as pressing.”
Mayer could not argue with her logic, but he also could not help but wonder how much of it was swayed by the fact that if Lil’s own status were harmed, it would hurt his and Kandake’s position.
“She begins to gather allies,” Krezida complained.
“Or tools,” Mayer interrupted.
Krezida flexed her fingers as if she longed to sink the most-likely-poisoned talons into his flesh. “In either case, we do not need Kandake rising higher than it is already. It is bad enough that Kandake still holds treasures that belong with Enheduanna.”
“And Hypatia.” Riana stood straighter, ready to dive into the age-old argument again.
Mayer gestured for silence. “Enough. I’ll not sit here and listen to the same complaints over and over. It was five thousand years ago, the war that your predecessors started and lost. A price was paid. Also, I am yet to be convinced that Lil is anything to worry about.”
“Then why did you call us here?” Krezida asked with a dark smile. “Already she wins favor from Chayyliel and June. Other Antes are impressed with her as well. They are intrigued by her relationship with the Nif and want to see more.”
“And you fear her.”
Mayer was surprised by Riana’s statement, not because it was false but that she had such insight. Riana had never been intuitive about things made of flesh and blood. Then he remembered her Holder-Apprentice and the obvious intelligence in the woman’s eyes.
“I fear for her,” he answered.
Riana looked stymied before she smiled. “You lie. You worry. As you so recently reminded us, you are older than either of us. In fact, older than our ages combined. You’ve trained many Holder-Apprentices but none have followed you as Holder. They all challenge you and die. But Liliana could best you, could she not? She could be Holder if she wanted, perhaps even right now.”
Mayer frowned at her. He had not thought that Liliana was that powerful yet. Had Riana seen something that he had not?
“There is more to holding an Athenaeum than power. If it were only that, would not Razel be ready to be Holder?”
Riana narrowed her eyes.
“She walks a line, Mayer. You see this. It’s a dangerous game and one misstep could cost all of us our lives. Making ‘friends’ with Antes and spending time with them.” Krezida shuddered. “She disrupts the balance we’ve fought for.”
Mayer wasn’t convinced, but then he thought of the air in the dining hall suddenly going from water-heavy to dry and choking in a matter of seconds. She had not even been exhausted afterwards.
“What did you have in mind?”
“She must be removed from the equation. Only then can we all focus on what is important.”
Mayer stiffened.
“Calm yourself, Holder, we know your power and would not dare kill her, but perhaps we can cause a scandal so that she will be sent from the Ruling Courts.”
Mayer wanted Liliana safe. He still cared for the girl but that was no protection from betrayal. Getting her safe and isolated at the Athenaeum was a plan that held infinite appeal.
“How do you think to accomplish this?”
“Simple.” Riana smiled. “Her relationship with the white snake Ante. We simply imply the relationship has turned sexual. The Ruling Courts will never tolerate such a thing in their very midst and Chayyliel will have to put a stop to it. He will have to send her away.”
Mayer did not smile but he nodded.
“Yes.”
In the end, the plan was simple. He would whisper suspicion to Chayyliel himself the next morning. A small seed of doubt. He would let slip the closeness he had noticed between June and Lil. He would imply that he thought their attempt at negotiation becoming a dalliance. Chayyliel would fill the rest in itself. Another Ante having a stronger hold on someone staying in its Hive was one thing, but the hold being so scandalous in nature?
Chayyliel could not allow it.
He felt guilt afterwards but it was an emotion he had much experience with and he knew it would pass.
LIL
On their next trip into the Ossuary Lil kept her hand in the pocket of her tunic, wrapped tightly around the small bag, afraid that if she did not grasp it, it would disappear somewhere in the odd distortion of travel. Mayer had met with Chayyliel by himself, an attempt to assert his control over her. In any case, the plan had received the go ahead.
Once they appeared in the Ossuary, they all simply dispersed with no speech. They were used to a certain routine.
Lil wandered the aisles, alert, waiting for any little thing that could be a sign. She avoided the others, which was not hard given how large the space was turning out to be. Every time the group thought they might be reaching the edge of the room, they would turn a corner or pass a shelf and discover a whole new extension of shelves. The place seemed endless and Lil wondered if it spread out below the whole of Zebub.
Halfway through their allotted time for the day, Lil
had only searched three drawers. She was hampered by the fact that she refused to let go of the bag in her pocket. She was frustrated and angry when she turned a corner and the bag suddenly warmed in her fist. The drawers she stood in front of looked no different from the hundreds others that lined the walls and aisles.
She opened the top one and the contents clattered together as she peered down into a space full of skulls.
At first they all looked like ’dants until she looked more closely. Some of the craniums only had one central hole in the center, others were lined with parallel rows of small bumps on top. Some were missing teeth and instead the mouths housed what looked like calcified bristles. There was nothing that looked like any kind of root she’d ever seen. Plus the bag reacted no differently when the drawer was open. She assumed there would be some additional sign and slammed it shut.
The second drawer was nearly overflowing with gems. Only as she picked one up did she notice the small figures trapped in the center of the stones. Some were insects trapped in yellow, green, blue, and rose. It was the others that worried her, the ones where the trapped figures resembled minuscule ’dants, arms raised as if they banged on their prison. She studied a diamond with a small woman inside. The figure’s eyes met her own and the insanity in them was clear and sharp.
Lil dropped it and shivered as she shut the drawer.
When she opened the bottom drawer, the bag in her hand pulsed. The drawer held bags similar to the one curled in her palm. She looked through it, contents clacking and chiming against each other as her hand moved among them. Then her thumb grazed a bag that sent a shock through her, flowing up her arm and across her shoulders. The bag of Fruit sent a shock back in the opposite direction before, she yanked her thumb away. Unclenching the hand in her pocket, she quickly grabbed the bag in the drawer. It was dark, a black fabric threaded through with a raw-looking pink like the damaged flesh under burned skin.
She opened the bag carefully, but no matter how she tilted it Lil could not see the contents, as if they refused to allow the light to touch them. She finally upended the bag and tiny chunks of bone filled her palm. Some were small and thin, thicker on one end—whole finger bones. The other bones were too broken to identify. They vibrated, chasing each other around her cupped palm in odd movements of attraction and repulsion.
Quickly replacing them in the bag, she lowered it back into the drawer. She heard a sound behind her and whirled about to see . . . no one.
HAYDN
The potion he had mixed was not a simple one. Brewing it in such a short time had necessitated certain substitutions, but it was at least the right color and texture. He only hoped it worked properly. He came upon the girl without warning, behind her back as she crouched near a drawer. With his palm in the air, he blew the dust over her face even as she turned. Her body froze and her eyelids drooped but did not completely close. He cursed and worked quickly. She hadn’t fallen asleep as she should have. Either the potion was weak or she was more powerful than they had assumed.
He was sad that this was her end. He had seen a different one for her. One he participated in more directly. In any case, he owed her for a night spent in choking darkness, yelling with no one to save him. Yes, it had ended with the coming of the dawn and waking up in a small waste room in Hive Chayyliel, but he’d never been treated in such a way. It would not go unpunished. Even if he could not do the punishing himself.
He pulled the bag from her pocket, the one she’d been handling all morning. Next he reached around her for the bag that she’d just placed back in the drawer. He poured the contents of the first bag on the floor, making a pile. Then he poured the contents of the second bag into the first and placed it in her pocket. Putting the seeds in the second bag, he replaced it in the drawer.
He hesitated, reaching out, but her cheek twitched before he could touch and he quickly backed away. He was an aisle over when he heard her move and softly call out.
“Hello, anyone there?”
“Yes, dear?” Krezida.
“Oh, nothing, I thought someone was behind me. I must have been mistaken.”
“Ah, it’s these old aisles. There are shadows everywhere and these old metal drawers shift and creak as they settle. It’s almost like there’s conscious thought behind it.” Krezida laughed.
“Yes, that must be it.” Lil did not sound convinced.
“What have you found, dear? Anything interesting?”
“Not especially.” She shut the drawer. “Only more bones.” She sounded tired of it. They all were. There were hundreds of bones in these drawers. Haydn and Krezida knew that none of them were exactly new, but some had been placed in the Ossuary recently, and were still covered with the dirt of their original resting place.
“Well, let us move on then.”
Only after he heard their footsteps growing softer did Haydn finally relax and start to breathe normally again. It was done and so was she. Even if she didn’t know it yet.
LIL
Lil left the Ossuary at the end of the day exhausted but triumphant. She’d found the Root. It had just turned out to be more bones, but even if they were disappointed, she still had June’s answer. She and Mayer separated from the other Holders and their Apprentices and headed for Hive Chayyliel. She tried to speak of it with Mayer as they walked.
“We are almost there, Holder.”
“Yes, almost.”
She turned to study him, but he was frowning at the ground as they walked.
“What is it, Holder?”
He turned to look at her. She could feel the drying sweat patches on her shirt, and her disheveled hair, but he looked at her as if he saw none of that.
“Nothing, Lil. You’ve just grown so much.”
She didn’t know why that would make him so contemplative, but the positive interaction had her hoping their breach was closing, slowly, on its own. They said nothing more as they separated to go to their rooms but nothing could dampen her mood of accomplishment. She arrived at her room, ready to tell Arel and Jagi the good news, when she opened the sitting room to a crowd of ’dants and Antes.
They were all staring at the her.
All the Holders and the Holder-Apprentices plus a complement of two Ante guards filled her living area. Her first thought was to wonder how everyone had beaten her here, but that was chased from her mind when she saw the two guards holding Davi and Min off the ground. Both of them looked terrified, tears slipping down their faces but neither making a sound.
“What do you think you are doing? Put my sibs down. Now.”
Neither of them moved and she turned to Arel and Jagi, who looked terrified. She took a step forward when Chayyliel strode in, face pulled tight in anger, with the points of many feet hitting the ground so hard she expected them to break through. Its golden eyes centered on her and she froze, terror filling her mind with gibberish.
“What have I been but respectful and kind?” Chayyliel’s voice was low, the extra mouths echoing the sentiment in lower, threatening tones.
Lil said nothing.
“Why have you chosen to repay me in such a way?” This tone demanded an answer.
“My . . . Queen Chayyliel . . . I don’t know what you are talking about.”
If anything the feel of anger in the room grew more severe. Two of Chayyliel’s back legs curled and rose up behind, scorpion-like, ready to strike.
“Empty your pockets.”
Her heart began to race faster but she did as ordered. There was only the bag that June had given her.
“And what is this?”
Chayyliel stared at the bag sitting lonely on the table.
“A gift from June.”
“Really?”
Chayyliel nodded to the Turms by its side and they nodded in reply before standing stock still. A few moments later June was escorted in by two more Turms, their head held high and unafraid. It calmed her somewhat that they were so in control.
“It’s true. I gave her a bag of fruit see
ds. For luck.”
It was hardly believable but June was in enough favor to get away with it.
“Only for luck?”
June tilted his head and Chayyliel’s head swayed toward Lil again.
“Yes.”
“Not as a mark of favor?”
“I—what?” Of all the things Lil had not expected that.
“You dare to mingle in my own Hive, even after I warned you of the consequences for me!”
“I, we haven’t!” Lil was stumbling and yelling, losing her cool. June was nodding by her side, mouth opening.
“Silence. Fruit seeds, indeed.” Chayyliel said it like it knew it was a lie and the nerves came rushing back. One claw delicately picked up the bag, and she was surprised that it did not rip as Chayyliel unlaced it and brought it close to peer inside. Chayyliel grunted in frustration and a shiver made its way up Lil’s back.
The bag was upended onto the table and the bones that fell out were all too familiar. Lil met June’s startled gaze. June searched her face, then their own face blazed with anger. They knew now, as she did, that she’d been set up, but there was nothing to do about it. June had taken all the blame they could. There were no options left.
“I thought that I would find some token, something to prove the . . . relations between you two. Instead I find something worse. I do not understand how you brought these out of the Ossuary, but it hardly matters. Do you know what this could do to my standing?” Chayyliel’s voice was low and echoed by the shoulder mouths. “What would happen to all the retainers under my protection?” Chayyliel looked at Arel and Jagi at this and another shiver went down her back, the only movement she could accomplish right now.
“Queen, I swear . . .” she tried through a dry throat.
“Did I not say silence!”
Lil clamped her mouth closed and knew there was no answer that could save her. Chayyliel did not want the truth. There was too much danger of making this public. Chayyliel wanted the issue gone. Lil was a scapegoat. The sacrifice so that this would pass. The only question was how many of those in the room knew it, and how many had been involved in setting her up.
The Root Page 34