The Last Goddess

by C.E. Stalbaum

  ***

   

  “It’s still hard to believe,” Van commented as he looked down upon the rough map of the city’s royal plaza. “If they really can control the Faceless, then I don’t understand how anyone can stop them.”

  “That’s the point,” Tryss murmured. The four of them stood around the warehouse office putting together the bits and pieces of information Rook’s people had been able to gather in the past two days. It had taken longer than she’d expected, and the news certainly wasn’t as good as she’d hoped. They were almost positive they knew where Rook was being held, but as it turned out, there was a colossal gulf between knowing that and doing something about it. Veltar was using a warehouse in the Farglow District, and the poor, run-down area was filled to the brim with his sympathizers. Getting anywhere close to the building would be difficult enough; actually rescuing Rook when they got there seemed virtually impossible.

  Not that it was going to keep her from trying.

   “If we can’t stop Veltar, then it’s all over,” she continued. “With full control over the Faceless, the entire military will quickly fall into line. Bremen is still a hero in many circles, and soldiers across the Republic will flock to his banner. They’ll gladly follow him to war against anyone he wishes. Add to that the power of Defilement, and it doesn’t matter how fast Kimperan ships distribute their new flintlocks. No one in Esharia will stand a chance.”

  “I still don’t understand why we can’t just alert the Empress,” Tiel said, shaking his head as he stopped pacing and leaned against the doorway. “Tell her what Veltar is planning and have her call off the celebration. At the very least, she could cancel her plans to parade around a garrison of Faceless at the center of the plaza.”

  Rynne shook her head. “The princess is right. We have no way to get her a message and convince her it’s genuine. If she calls off the celebration or even backs down in the slightest, it would be a huge political victory for the opposition. It would probably even cost her support when she tried again in the future—remember, she’s already failed once. She will assume anything we send her is just a political stunt by the Balorites trying to score a victory without firing a shot.”

   “Politics,” the monk grumbled. “I can’t believe she wouldn’t trust a message from her own daughter.”

  “We went over that, too,” Tryss reminded him. “I really don’t know how she’d react to seeing me. Our last meeting was…not pleasant. Besides, even in the best case scenario it would probably keep me from helping you find Rook, and that’s not an option.”

  “So instead we get to try and break into a fortified compound by ourselves, rescue Nate, and then avert an international war,” Van said. “No offense, princess, but there are days I really wish we had just left you in that coffin.”

  “It’s not all bad,” Tryss soothed, trying to muster a confidence she didn’t really feel. “If we can get Rook, that should be a big help for the rest of it.”

  “Assuming they haven’t already done something to him. I don’t know how you go about extracting the soul of a goddess, but I’m sure it isn’t pleasant.”

  Tiel cocked his head. “Even Master Bale wasn’t sure how to do it, and he had years to prepare. It might take them a long time.”

  “Well, that’s something, then,” Van said tiredly, rubbing at his face.

  “We still haven’t figured out a plan of attack,” Rynne added. “You’re convinced your brother’s in town, right?”

  Tryss nodded. “He has to be. There’s no way he would sit this out.”

  “And you think he’ll be the centerpiece to their plans?”

  “Veltar needs Darenthi blood on the throne; that hasn’t changed.”

  Rynne let out a deep breath. “So we need to be two places at once. You want to stop Kastrius, and we need to rescue Rook.” 

   “We could split up,” Tiel suggested. “Try and find the prince somewhere before things get out of hand while the others free Rook.

  Van sighed. “There are going to be thousands of people in that plaza tomorrow and hundreds of soldiers. Kastrius and Veltar could be anywhere. If we stumbled across them it would be blind luck.”

  “We’re going to need that either way,” Tryss said gravely. “The other option is for us to just react to whatever happens—to get in position ahead of time and try to make the best of it.”

  “At which point it might be too late.” Van shook his head. “No, we have to concentrate on what we know, and that’s getting Nate back. If by some miracle we can pull that off, then we can worry about everything else.”

  “And what if the others manage to turn the Faceless while we’re doing that?” Tiel asked. “What if it’s already over by that point?”

  “We’re not omniscient, kid. We have to pick and choose our battles carefully here. Don’t get me wrong—I have no interest in seeing these crazies come to power, but there’s only so much we can do. Right now we need to focus on our own, and that means getting Nate back. It’s the best we can manage.”

  Tryss repressed a sigh and ran a hand through her hair. She had been planning for this moment for the better part of a week now. Each day during the trip here she’d been plotting a way to rescue Rook and then stop the Balorites from whatever it was they were planning. It was an odd juxtaposition to her previous life, she thought idly, where she had wanted nothing more than to escape and abdicate her responsibilities to her country.

  But everything was different now, and for perhaps the first time in her life, she was actually going to act like a princess—not by flitting around parties as a vapid socialite, but by saving her people from a second Sundering. She just needed to figure out where to start.

  Van’s point, as dour as it might have been, was sound. Their numbers were limited, and if they all focused their efforts on rescuing Rook, they could turn an impossible cause into merely an improbable one. Ideally they would leave tonight and attempt to free him, but the Balorite forces were far too numerous. They would have to wait until the senator’s people cleared out in preparation for the celebration in the morning, which meant that everything was suddenly on a much tighter schedule. If they were too slow, the Balorites might pull a coup before they could do anything about it, and then suddenly Rook’s rescue would seem an incredibly hollow victory.

  The only other option was to divide their forces, and that had plenty of its own problems. Without her magic to support them, the others could easily be overwhelmed. That wasn’t arrogance talking, either; the simple fact was that none of the rest of them could wield the Fane as she did. Tryss knew she was more than a match for any of Veltar’s people—at least until the Flensing took hold.

  So in the end, it all came down to a simple choice, just as it had before. Her mother had wished her to be with a man she hated to preserve the future of the Republic. Now she might have to abandon a man she loved to do the same thing.

  “I can draw him out,” Tryss whispered into the silence.

  They all turned to face her, and Van cocked his head. “What?”

  “My brother,” she explained. “Veltar never told him about me. He still thinks I’m dead, but I could use that. I could wait in the plaza and get his attention. He’ll understand immediately that if I am still alive, I’m the rightful heir to the throne. I might not have been much of a princess, but I am the eldest child—and more importantly, I guarantee the people will think more highly of me than him.”

  Van glanced to the others, then back to her. “And then what?”

  “Then I confront him. I can try to reason with him at first—maybe he doesn’t realize everything that’s going on. He’s not a good man, but…” She pursed her lips. “I’d like to think he isn’t wholly evil, at least.”

  “Based on his reputation alone, I doubt that’s going to work.”

  She shrugged. “If it doesn’t, then I stop him forcefully. Either way, without Kastrius, Veltar has no endgame.”

  “First off, you’re put
ting a lot of faith in that theory,” Rynne said. “From what you’ve told us about the senator, he seems like about the most diabolical kreel alive. Even without Kastrius, I wouldn’t be surprised if he tried to pull a coup or even burn the whole city to the ground if he had to. And second, Kastrius is your brother. I can tell from your face right now you don’t want to hurt him, not really.”

  “I wasn’t planning on killing him,” Tryss corrected. “I just need to incapacitate him.”

  Van sighed. “That presumes you can actually find him in the first place, lure him away from the giant crowds, and then beat him down.”

  She flicked her eyes between each of them. “I can handle him.”

  “Even if he’s learned how to Defile?” Rynne asked.

  “Kastrius has never been much of a mage,” Tryss told them. “He was too impatient, too reckless... Defiling lets a mage draw more power than normal, but it doesn’t teach them how to weave in the first place. He’s still no match for me.”

  “All the more reason we need you with us,” Van said. “I’ve no doubt in my mind they’ll have Nate locked up tight, and we’ll need all the help we can get. Without you, we don’t have a chance in the void.”

  “And with me, you take a chance of losing the Republic and Goddess knows what else,” Tryss countered. “What if these new spells let them unleash a new Sundering? Legend says the last one wiped out an entire empire, imprisoned the gods, and killed tens of thousands of people.” 

  He shook his head. “Look, I stand by what I said. We can’t be everywhere at once, princess. We have to pick and choose our battles. It might not be pretty, but it’s all we can do.”Tryss closed her eyes and clenched her hands into fists. She couldn’t quite figure out why she was arguing against herself—she wanted to rescue Rook, after all. She just knew the consequences if the Balorites succeeded. Maybe she just understood that better than the rest of them; she was the only one who had actually felt the power of Defilement, and she was the only one who knew personally what both her brother and Veltar were capable of.

  But regardless, Van was probably right. She couldn’t go into this hoping to do everything herself. After all, despite the tattoos and the coffin, she was just a mage, not a Messiah; she could work magic but not miracles.

  Unfortunately, the more she thought about it, the more she realized how likely it was they were going to need the latter.

  Tryss stood and walked over to the room’s only window. The glass was dirty, but she could still see the hundreds of people out there in the streets going about their daily business. She wondered how many of them were nervous about the celebration tomorrow. She knew that none of them were prepared for what might happen.

  “We go and get Rook,” she said softly, glancing back over her shoulder. “All of us, the moment they let their guard down.”

  Van nodded. He had an odd glint in his eye, almost as if he had expected her to keep arguing. “Let me grab the maps. Our people gave us a few options for an approach.”

  Tryss took a deep breath. “Then let’s get started.”