by Kalyn Crowe
"But." I sat on my hands.
"Go on."
"Well, I mean, imbuements age. Can't someone compare the ages to the first set of disks and add the twenty-some years? If it's close, wouldn't that prove Sybil is right?"
"Usually, but the disk imbuements don't age as a normal one would. And if this doesn't complicate the matter enough, Sybil can claim these disks hold the same Attunements. However, even a Spiritist can't verify it. Sybil believes she is right, and so, is not lying."
"But we use Spiritists to find guilty people. Are you saying one has questioned Sybil about this?"
"I am." He sighed. "In this case, we aren't using the Spiritist's conclusion to resolve any laws. So nothing happens. Not yet."
"Not yet?" I narrowed my eyes.
"Sybil is playing on the edge of a very dangerous accusation of weakness on our part. If these are the same disks, someone has stolen them from the Order of Zirore's seat of power."
I said, "The High Hall in Pinnacle."
He nodded with a frown. "Such a rumor can undermine authority. Our Theocratic Council never appreciates that." He waited for me to add something.
I didn't.
"The charm is also a strange age, a few years younger than your mother when she died."
Another similarity to the disks. "But why trouble someone like you to bring the charm back or return it at all?"
He said, "Sybil entrusted me with your mother's charm in hopes of solving two puzzles with one piece."
I tilted my head.
"First, how someone created the disks, how they empower invocations, or what they are at least. I aim to end the attacks with this information. The second is much more specific. It pertains to Sybil's duty." He paused and lowered his attention to his hands.
I waited.
He didn't look up yet. "The council and the High Lord asked Sybil to find where your mother hid the Grand Counterbalance."
I rocked back in the chair. "For the Maw and the Capstone Seal in Pinnacle?"
"Yes. Sybil knew the Theocratic Council and High Lord Travere would eventually send someone. There's no one more qualified than her. It was a stroke of luck that she came here to stop the rumored attack and found the charm. She hoped it would open the office where she believes your mother left a clue to find the Grand Counterbalance." He finally met my eyes again. "Philomena must have had a reason to Weave a seal over her office."
"But, would she have left anything to help find the Counterbalance?" I folded my cold hands. "Didn't the High Lord bid my mother keep its location completely secret?"
"He did. If anything happened to the Capstone Seal, Abyss would flow into the capital from the Maw. Also, we can't be sure what Abyssists with disks are capable of doing. We must secure the Grand Counterbalance. That is, if Sybil does find it, Abyss, if it even exists."
I didn't know what to say. It would make more sense if it didn't exist, but it did, somewhere.
He tapped the table and looked around the office. "You remind me of your mother."
"You knew her?"
"I did. Brilliant, but guarded. Philomena wrote and documented her theories and never published them. Her skill and knowledge could have escalated her rank, but she didn't care for that either. At the same time, she died as disquietly as anyone I've ever known."
I'd never heard anything so favorable about her.
He frowned. "But Philomena changed in those last months." He furrowed his brow at the dark corner. "I want to know why, but my primary concern right now is to reinstate peace. And to prevent another war." He returned his attention to me. "I believe you can help me do this."
I sat without a sound for a few moments.
Kepi glanced over with no surprise.
I said, "But, your Order didn't even think me fit for college."
"It isn't my Order." He tilted his hand toward the charm. "I'd like to bring you back to the capital. I want to see if you can enter your mother's office with it."
My mouth hung open. "I can't; I can't go back to Pinnacle. That's part of the deal of letting me out of the orphanage at all."
He knew this. He had to have known it.
Conrad adjusted in his seat. "Would you return if you could?"
I shook my head involuntarily, still shocked. "You mean if the law changed?"
He laughed, but his jovial expression faded fast. "I can't change the laws, and even my position doesn't allow me to make exceptions to them, even for peace. However, I am willing to undermine authority, especially when it protects itself and not the people."
It took me a few moments, but then it dawned on me. "You believe Sybil about the disks. Except you think they're getting out on purpose. There's a traitor inside the Order?"
He said, "In private discussions, we've considered that it might be someone your mother knew. Why else was this the first Abyss attack outside of Pinnacle?"
"The office." My voice came out a whisper. "They want in, too."
He folded his hands and sat up straight. "It isn't two puzzles anymore, is it? We can assume they wanted you and don't know about the charm. They may share my theory that she understood the disks and left this information behind. I think she did this to help us. Philomena could have burned her office, but she preserved it. She saved it," he said and leaned closer, "saved you."
Something stirred in my memory — an elusive shadow around a dark corner. When I tried to think of whatever it was, it disappeared again.
He said, "There is hope in these facts."
I looked at the colored lights on the floor. An ache started within my skull. "Why die during your arrest if you had nothing to hide and wanted to help?"
He lowered his shoulders and leaned back. "Indeed, we don't know what happened during Philomena's arrest. You and Kepi were the only ones who," he paused, "survived, as it were."
Kepi laid her head on the desk.
I said, "She might have saved me, but now I'm warded and useless."
He took a long breath and slowly let it out. "I understand the wards are only less barbaric than our previous methods for those of us on the outside."
I rolled my hand within the other.
"There have been more casualties than the old methods. You Attuned try to cast while warded and end up killing yourselves."
Although I kept my eyes down, I knew he studied me.
"Most deaths are from other means after years of depression," he said with a cautious tone.
He didn't have to remind me. "The wards leave us a chance to at least experience our Attunement. The previous heretic's children weren't as lucky."
He scowled and raised one of his thick, gray brows. "You mean while supervised for testing aptitude. Such as that is. Your scores for Weaving are incredible. It has always been such a rare Attunement, rarer still now, almost extinct, and we still threw you away. Do not make rejection comfortable."
Failure was familiar, almost safe at this point. I shut my eyes hard and swallowed.
Kepi stood beak to nose with me when I opened them.
Conrad waited a few more moments and then said, "I think Philomena could only hope you would be brave enough to follow her."
Kepi cooed in a soft, but sure whisper and sat.
I said, "You mentioned hope before. Do you think my mother might be innocent?"
He stood. "There is only one way to find out." He picked up his hat and pointed it toward the door. "If you wish to risk it."
3 - No Return
Conrad approached the lobby's front desk. He pulled a thick roll of scrolls from within his jacket.
The same new receptionist stood and took it. "My Lord?"
Other vicars milled about behind him. They filed forms and stamped mail without an upward glance.
"Meredith's discharge and relocation papers. She's headed down South. Due to her witnessing the attack, it's safer for everyone if we move her to the higher security campus there."
I held my shock in check and studied the floor.
"Certainl
y. I will file these away then, my Lord High Hunter."
I chanced a glance and saw Conrad frowned.
The receptionist added, "Isn't today when your niece is coming in?"
His statement drew the other vicars' full interest even though they tried not to show it.
"That's right." Conrad pulled on his lapels. "Good to have another hunter in the family in these trying times."
The man bowed his head. "May Zirore guide her."
"Thank you, lad."
Conrad waved for me to follow.
"My Lord, we have templar escorts for her if you like."
"Bah, this one's not dangerous, and I need to wait for my niece at the station this evening."
"Excellent, my Lord High Hunter."
He sighed and said, "Come along, Meredith. See you keep the creature in check as well."
This whole thing was a charade.
We walked outside, and I whispered, "Did you plant that man?"
Without a look, he shushed me through the side of his mouth.
So yes.
"I'd like to pick up something nice for my niece. You're about her age, and your train isn't due for another hour and a half." He donned his hat. "You will assist me."
A templar guard stared but otherwise didn't move a muscle.
I took up my part and said, "It would be an honor, my Lord High Hunter."
Dozens of different shops lined the main street. Some buildings boasted three stories. The upper levels gave room for shop owners and those they employed to live or space for workshops. Others stood shorter with stalls and wares outside on the walks. All squished against the next in their stuccoed imperfection.
People bowed their heads and gave Conrad a wide berth. Even then, any conversations stopped until we passed.
We turned a corner and walked another block down a tiny, nearly empty street.
There stood a building with thick wooden beams set in a waist-high mortar and stone wall. Thin rectangles of frosted glass broke up the otherwise solid brick facade.
A simple wooden sign, carved with the street number, hung above the iron girded door.
I'd never visited this, well, shop before.
Conrad pushed the door open, and a bell chimed.
Inside, front and center, a grand wooden and glass case stood. It displayed a selection of maps, compasses, and daggers. On the wall behind, wooden posts in neat lines held saddle and messenger bags — a low set of shelves below those housed galoshes and spats.
A skinny man with a curled mustache came in from a back room. "Good morning. Forgive my inattentiveness. I was finishing my breakfast of fish dumplings. Are you shopping for a cloak for the girl, then?"
"One with an interior pocket," said Conrad.
The man nodded. "We have just the type. Around back, to the left."
"Thank you." Conrad walked as he spoke.
The man bowed.
Groups of different colored cloaks gave way to a forest of travel blankets. Each hung from a rung in the ceiling.
Conrad cleared his throat and said, "You see, observation is the specialty of the Hunter Arm of the Order."
The Rays decorated a set of blankets, and behind those, dangled a green one with no embellishment.
"This means many things." He pulled hard on the green blanket.
A silent hatch with a built-in ladder lowered.
He whispered, "Such as knowing where one can go unobserved themselves." He ascended the ladder.
I followed with Kepi.
A foggy little round window set high up in the A-frame wall, cast a fuzzy beam of light. It highlighted dust particles in the air. Yet, the attic smelled more like metal than mold.
Conrad closed the hatch. "Let me light some candles." He felt around and pulled a matchbox from a set of drawers on the far wall.
The sudden spark of the match made me squint.
An old pool of wax surrounded the thick candle he lit. Its light reflected off the satin gray walls.
I felt them and jerked away from the instant chill. "Is this?" I chanced another touch. "This is lead, isn't it?"
"It is." He lit a few more candles around the room. "And it's a half hand thick. Even the window glass has lead in it." He seemed quite pleased.
"A safe room."
With a nod, he said, "You saw the outside. They made this place during the metallurgy turn. Steel beams hold it together under the brick. Perfect for lead walls."
"I'm surprised you didn't use a cellar."
He raised an eyebrow. "Not here. The land is too low and soft."
We stood in a tree house of sorts — one set in a thick canopy of metal, a secret clubhouse.
Kepi hopped from my shoulder and jumped onto the inset windowsill.
Conrad looked away from her and walked back to the chest of drawers. He knelt and unlocked one near the floor.
From it, he took a slim, black case. The candlelight reflected off its glossy finish.
He then exchanged the drawer key for a small, silver one in his jacket.
With it palmed, he tucked the case under the same arm. "I know the matrons at the orphanage kept you inside. Also, the Order shuffled you directly from there to this town. All in all, I'm not worried about people recognizing you." He squinted. "But."
"What is it?"
"Your eyes are unique, green with those blue flecks. Keep them down in case we run into someone who might remember them. Of course, Kepi is a dead give away."
I never paid my eyes much mind. I knew I didn't look like my mother. Maybe I favored my father then.
No one knew.
Conrad said, "Let's have you pick out one of those." He pointed at a small wrack of long black jackets.
Silvered thread and tiny glass beads formed the Rays of Zirore across the upper back. They glittered even in the low light. "But aren't these hunter jackets?"
"Yes." He set the black case down and placed the key on top. "New ones have a wing stitched into the left tail."
I anxiously shifted the jackets apart. The quilted sweep of feathers almost disappeared in black thread down the back. "It's beautiful."
"I'm surprised you can see it." He brought over a candle. "Try one on."
I took off my coat and pulled a smaller jacket off the wrack. It slipped around me with its silk lining and impeccable shape.
"It looks to fit well enough." He pinched at the shoulder.
"Is your niece about my size then?"
"She is exactly your size." He took a step back with the candle.
I looked at Kepi.
She cocked her head, her tail already wrapped around her talons and paws. She tapped the tip of it like someone who waited, bored.
I said, "I'm your niece?"
"The first layer of our deception. Will the jacket do?"
"It's perfect." I ran my fingers along its smooth side seams. "But, if we need to hide Kepi, there's no room except around my legs. She would be with me?"
"Of course." Conrad lifted a black leather bag from another wrack and looked at Kepi. "If you would be willing?"
She laid her ears flat but jumped down and crawled under the flap.
He gave it to me.
I put it over my head with the strap across my chest.
"Good. Be less cautious with your movements; you look as if you've never owned good clothes."
"I haven't."
He glanced down at his gold buttons and frowned. "Yes, but do try not to show it."
I looked at the perfect cuff. "So, your niece is a hunter?"
Kepi returned to the window.
"An apprentice, you see, you'll play the part of my cousin's daughter, Nancy Nardovino, a fresh recruit."
'Nardovino' carried prestige. A lot of it. Not only that, but I never used any last name before. "Even if I can act the part, is that going to be believable?"
"As I'm of Islander descent and you Midlander?"
I nodded.
"We are very different looking, but people don't ask after such
things. And, if anyone does dig, they'll find the rumor you're adopted."
"Already?"
"As soon as we found that the charm made no effect on the office seal by itself, we planted it. Sybil knew your mother best out of anyone. She said at that moment, after a few more colorful words, that Philomena linked it to you." He didn't blink, but he unfocused. Almost as if he poured over something one last time: his plan, his reservations. Then he said, "Keep your mind and eyes open as you follow my lead. As will I, when the time comes for you to guide me."
The idea the High or any hunter would listen to a heretic child outside of a confession was laughable. Yet, the look on his face was the most serious I'd seen. I said, "I will."
He returned to the black case. "Right then." He unlocked it with the little key and opened the lid.
A long, thin scroll wrapped in a dark blue ribbon waited inside.
Blue. "An Abyss scroll? That's imbuement vellum, isn't it?" I said.
He nodded. "Yes, and the case is made of lead and enameled to appear as a fine inking case." He patted the lid and said," A personal item of mine. It had just enough room to bring the charm back through security as well."
"Which is why these cases are illegal, aren't they? Since they hide the Anima inscribed on the scroll, or I guess anything, from outside detection?"
He said, "Not if you are an Order member or certified vicar."
"But then, they look metal as they are, not disguised in black enamel. Also, you know, registered, not personal items."
He laughed. "We all need disguises from time to time. Even scrolls and their cases."
I felt like when I would sneak extra sugar cubes and feed Kepi out of the window as a child. "What is it for, the scroll, I mean?"
"A spell to remove your school ward."
"What?" No wonder it held Abyss Anima, it could dissolve the Resistance ward imbued in my brain. The leaden walls, we weren't here for a jacket.
We exchanged looks — mine still of astonishment and his of amusement.
He plucked the scroll gingerly from the case. "These are for when a sanctioned Abyssist is unavailable to remove wards for testing."
"It's approved you use it then?"
"Of course not."
"So, you stole it?"
"I borrowed it from the Reliquary. It seems a bit too easy to do such things." He turned the scroll in his fingertips.
