She was still on the edge, and had every reason to be.
But she was also holding onto that edge with a vengeance.
I felt fatigue from her the next moment, as her adrenaline battled the toil her body was still under. She would crash soon and she knew it.
But judging by the spin she put into every jump between rooftops, she wasn’t bothered by that.
We are almost there, she whispered through the mindlink. Just a few more rooftops. But let me know if you need to rest.
I caught the playful challenge in her last sentence, and projected my smirk over the mindlink.
I felt her smile back, and she started moving even faster, making even longer jumps.
She is going to be so much fun, Teeth whispered excitedly.
I kept grinning, and didn’t argue with him.
After Anahita took us on another turn, the buildings began to look abandoned instead of simply shut up tight. By now I couldn’t even see a hint of Malus or Horde activity, and I realized they must have abandoned this area as well.
After evicting and enslaving every citizen in this neighborhood.
That is correct, Anahita sent to me, and I could feel her own anger over this. They no longer monitor this area because they have taken every citizen that once lived here. But for now, we will use one of their homes for rest while we plot both their liberation and vengeance.
I’ve told her more about what we’ve been doing to the Horde Pits, Breena explained. It’s one of the reasons she’s so excited right now.
Fair enough, I thought as we landed in front of a large, two-story house that looked to have been thoroughly ransacked, with the door hanging open on one hinge.
Anahita stepped through the opening so gracefully that the loose door didn’t even sway with her passage. I followed her as quietly as I could, and she turned to me with one finger on her lips. Then she pointed to the broken stairway leading to the next floor.
Every step had been smashed in, but the almond-skinned woman picked her way through them easily, almost skipping with happiness.
I had watched where she stepped, so I was able to very, very carefully follow her up the stairs. When we reached the top, we stepped into a room with several large holes in the floor and an old, shoddy painting hanging on one wall that had been defaced instead of looted.
Anahita moved the painting away, revealing a small latch. When she flipped it, a door-sized part of the wall opened up.
I stepped into something best described as a cross between a noblewoman’s bedroom and a treasure vault.
Two luxurious, queen-sized beds took up one corner of the cramped room, along with a wardrobe that looked to be packed with fancy garments of all sorts, including European-esque ballroom gowns and lighter, more colorful dresses I had seen in an Indian wedding back on Earth.
There were a lot more, but I wasn’t nearly read up enough on women’s clothing to label them accurately.
But they all looked nice and expensive, okay?
Next to that dresser was an armoire containing even more expensive garments, and on the other side of the two beds was a dresser with a large, perfectly preserved mirror and several jewelry boxes atop it.
All of that took up one half of the room, beds included. The other half of the room was littered with sculptures, decorative pots, carefully stacked paintings, and other items I would have expected to see at a museum. Every wall had more paintings, to the point where I wondered if Anahita’s ideal bedroom doubled as a theater’s backstage area.
“Finally, we can talk out loud. Apologies for the room,” Anahita said in a smug whisper as she began to unwrap her scarf. “But please watch your step. Everything you see here is extremely important.”
“I’ll make a very conscious effort not to damage anything,” I promised as I stepped over what looked like an ancient journal that Via would probably be delighted to get her hands on.
“Don’t just avoid damaging anything,” Anahita commanded quietly, still not looking at me. “I don’t want anything disturbed. It took a lot of work to organize all of this. I wasn’t apologizing for the mess,” she clarified as she swept her hand over the room. “It is not a mess. It just looks like a mess. Because everything has been placed in a way that I could cram as many artifacts as possible into this one room, but still know where everything is.”
“That’s going to be a bit more difficult,” I admitted dryly as I considered the thin trail of clear floor that led to the beds.
“I know,” the dusk-skinned woman said as she finally turned to look at me, favoring me with twinkling eyes and a wide, dazzling smile. “I just wanted to take a moment and show off what I accomplished.”
I grinned back at her.
Told you she was going to be fun, Teeth whispered in my mind. We still need to tell her that her voice sounds hot.
“You already had a pretty good start on impressing me,” I said as I very gingerly took a single step forward. “But I’m interested in what the story is behind this room, and I suspect you're interested in telling me. So please tell me what you’ve done here, if you don’t mind.”
The beautiful woman’s smile widened.
“You are right, Breena,” Anahita said as she reached behind her head to undo her ponytail. “He can be very smart, sometimes.”
She tossed her head, letting her hair wave freely behind her before falling across her shoulders.
“That feels much better. Now I will explain. Most of what you see placed around this room belonged in this city’s many distinguished museums, including those linked to the Testifier college. If I had my way, they would still be in those museums, but right now those false Earthborn dogs are ransacking my world’s population, economy, and national treasures. And as valuable as these items are, my citizens are more important, so I spent the bulk of my efforts protecting them. Hence the agreements made and upheld until very recently.
“So since I could not force the Malus scum to abstain from plundering our museums, I decided to loot as much as I could myself, and hide away every treasure that I could. Every important piece of our history and art. There was much I could not save. Our magical weapons and trinkets, our most expensive pieces of jewelry. I focused instead on our oldest, most fragile, most celebrated antiques. So that is what you see here.” The beautiful woman sighed. “Had we more time, I would be happy to introduce you to a number of these antiques. But I am tired, and lives are at stake. So we will plan for a bit, and then rest. If that is okay.”
Just a hint of uncertainty flashed through the mindlink.
I thought I understood.
“Perfectly fine,” I said, “and I want to make it clear that I can sleep wherever you’re comfortable putting me. Really.”
“That is polite of you,” the dark-haired woman said with another playful, dazzling smile, “but I would be most comfortable discussing all the killing we will be doing tomorrow first.” She continued after seeing me grin. “As you are very aware by now, our enemies have begun wreaking greater and greater depravities on the people of this world. I have made them pay wherever possible, but my oldest stalker, as well as my most recent threat, have made that more and more difficult. It had become clear to all parties involved that I had run out of ways to hide, and had a day left at best before I was eliminated in some fashion. But they do not know that my situation has now changed,” she hissed fiercely, eyes shining in the dim light. “And not only that, it has changed in such a way that they will have trouble believing that I am anything but doomed. They will not be able to react immediately. Even if their deranged master comes to them declaring he was thwarted. I should know. I am not able to believe it myself,” the tan-skinned woman confessed. She gestured to herself.
“This own body, this single part of me, cannot accept that my fate is anything other than certain doom. Doom haunts all of my body’s memories, in the deep, locked-away sections of my brain. All but four.”
Her cheeks widened again, and her smile returned in full
force. She looked to Breena.
“Now that I have reconnected with my fellow Satellite, I am just a touch more whole. But in that single touch, I now hear three of my other voices cry out freedom, while one other—my oldest voice—cries out faith. Now all four of those voices could very well be wrong, and I could still be horribly doomed. In fact, they should be wrong, given the strength of what I oppose. But I lose nothing if they are, and gain everything if they are not. So today, in this moment at least, hope is wiser than reason.”
Her voice had grown animated while she spoke, but now she took a deep breath, and calmed down, shoulders lifting and rising in a way that reminded me of Stell herself.
“But I digress,” she continued, her voice quiet again. “We were talking about how our local enemies also believe I am doomed, and that I am nowhere near this city, and that they are expecting to be able to do what they wish. They will be breaking the agreement as well. They have already begun planning to break the agreement. And in a way so disgusting that I would have drowned them in my most intense concentration of pain-inducing poisons, had I not already been forced to use them on the child abusers of Tajam.”
“The fact that you’ve managed to stay informed of their plans is really impressive, given how you’ve been hunted so much.”
“I am the Lalla Anahita,” the small woman said with just a hint of pride. “I watched over this world for hundreds of years. I have seen it through multiple Trials and Tumults. There are many things I cannot do, that my other bodies can, but I have spent many long centuries working to master what talents I do have. So yes, I know most of what goes on in my cities. I know most of what my enemies say and plan, when they think themselves completely safe. And I know most of the best times to strike them.”
Her dark eyes glittered again.
“Sejmera is one of the greatest jewels of the Golden Sands. In addition to being a hub for many vital trade routes between worlds, it has the renown of being perhaps the greatest patron of the arts in all of the Golden Sands. Specifically, women’s arts,” she added, with even greater pride than she had expressed in her own abilities. “You are currently in one of the few cities in all the realms where the Testifiers are not the only authority on artistic training, and where people explore their magics beyond the three most-known schools.”
“Really?” I asked, surprised and impressed. “That’s amazing. I hadn’t heard anything about other forms of art being used for magic.”
Breena sighed. Anahita gave her a confused glance, then continued speaking.
“Shaping, Song, and Script are perhaps the easiest to work practical magic into, and have all doubled as methods to preserve history—as evidenced by all the sculptures you see here.” The almond-colored woman gestured to the other half of the cramped bedroom. “But painting, acting, and dancing all have their wonders, and for centuries, the women of this city have pioneered their growth. And it was dancing that was the most famous of the three, and there are ancient records of Sejmeran women traveling across the Pathways to perform for notable rulers of other worlds. Pathway travel has not been as active in the last few centuries, and certainly not since the Horde and false Earthborn have invaded, but among many artistic communities, including the Testifiers, Sejmeran woman dance troupes are still well-known on many worlds. The Malus Earthborn seek to possess that,” she added, and in the same tone she had used during the assassination in Tajam.
“I see,” I answered darkly. “And given what atrocities I have already seen them attempt, I think I can understand your outrage. I also share it wholeheartedly.”
“I do not know exactly what you have seen, but I know what they have planned. They will not immediately force the women to perform degrading acts, because they still have some caution regarding the mysterious power of Dance magic. Instead, they will compel the dancers to resume performances, but control which dances are allowed. Over time, they will provide fewer and fewer opportunities and incentives to perform the classical dances, until, without the dancers realizing it—or finding a way to stop it—those women will be forced to only offer the most sensual dances, which will then be warped into something demeaning, instead of expressive. From then on, they will likely be abused further.”
Teeth growled inside of me, and I shared his anger.
When my family had begun fostering Val and the other girls, we learned a lot about human trafficking. How sometimes it wasn’t someone being kidnapped and then forced to do horrible things against their will under the threat of violence.
Sometimes, the victim wound up under a series of circumstances beyond their control, or beyond their knowledge of how to escape, and then had their dignity gradually weakened by a master manipulator.
“It will be an honor to help you kill these men,” I said in a low voice. “What are you planning to do, and how can I help?”
“The Malus Earthborn have already approached a number of women about starting up their old troupe,” Anahita answered me. “They are to perform a slightly provocative, but arguably still tasteful, dance for the local Malus operatives, in exchange for the city as a whole to receive more food, relaxed restrictions, and guarantees of protection from being fed to the nearby Horde Pit. They have agreed, since many now believe that I am either captured or will soon be captured, and therefore the locals will have no other means to protect themselves. Virtually all of the Malus operatives will be present there, or at least the senior ones. We will strike then, kill every last one of them, and then vanish into the night.”
I nodded as I thought over her idea.
“Alright. I’m not going to pretend I know anything close to your level about assassinations, but how hard will this be to pull off? I know you were able to somehow poison the Malus operatives in Tajam, but I think you mentioned that you no longer have that poison.”
“I used up almost all of it,” Anahita confirmed quietly. “Poison that can affect a vital guard is rare, expensive, and difficult to collect or create. It has taken my entire lifetime to acquire the amount that I used today, but I regret nothing. But you are correct in that this next mission will be more difficult for me. The few drops I have retained will not be enough to poison more than one or two more operatives. And even then, the poison will only weaken, not kill.”
“But you do still have those drops, correct?” I asked.
The look that the short woman gave me implied that I had asked a very stupid question.
“That is exactly what I just said. More than once. So yes.”
“Sorry.” I grinned sheepishly. “I just wanted to make sure I had my facts right, before I started suggesting anything.”
The short woman arched an eyebrow at me.
“What do you have in mind?” she asked me.
“Well, if either you or Breena can answer this,” I began, turning to my bonded fairy. “I know my Blood magic helps me resist poison. And I know Merada has access to Blood and Wood magic now.”
“Wait, she does?” Anahita asked, blinking in surprise. “When did that happen? I thought she didn’t have any innate Ideals!”
“Yeeaaaahhh…” Breena answered cautiously, fluttering her wings slowly.
“And she was able to create her own poison from scratch, or at least with only a little help from her new arm torc. One that could make a nigh-immortal creature wither apart.”
“Yeaaahhhh…” Breena answered again, giving me a concerned and confused look.
“Wait, she could?” Anahita interrupted again. “What armband? When did Merada become an expert on poison? Why does she now know two Primal-ranked Ideals?”
“Well, Wood’s arguably just a connecting Ideal,” Breena replied absently, “but Wes? Where are you going with this? It’s kind of been a long day.”
“I’m thinking that if magical poison takes Blood and/or Wood magic to create, and we technically have both, between you and me—”
“You do?” Anahita sputtered. “Why didn’t you say so earlier? Breena, how did you even learn Wood m
agic?”
“I thought I already told you.” The little fairy shrugged. “But I got it the same way Merada did. Wes gave it to us both. I’m not sure how it happened exactly, because it nearly knocked me out afterwards.” She grumbled, but quickly brightened. “Not that I’m complaining, mind you, because it’s absolutely amazing to have!”
“I—” Anahita began, but closed her mouth for a moment. “I am now very concerned,” she finally said.
I was about to explain that Breena didn’t mean what Anahita thought she meant.
But then I remembered that Breena was technically another one of Anahita’s bodies, and that they had known each other for centuries at least. Anahita shouldn’t really have any problems figuring out the meaning behind her fellow body’s words.
When I realized that, I became concerned.
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