Flame's Shadow

by Anna Eluvae

  The man with no name (nee Cadoc) was kept in a cell. The plan was to have their lives mirror each other as closely as possible, the better to get some concrete information on what differences between them might be attributable to fame. He was given good meals and made to walk around his room, in the way that it was assumed his brother would be walking on the well-kept roads that laced the Iron Kingdom. Despite this, the man with no name proved unruly. Somewhat as expected, he had the powers of a minor illustrati, which grew as the carefully crafted stories spread. After a near escape, one of the Bone Warden's acolytes was brought in at great expense; she twisted the bones of his arms and legs so that he would be unable to escape. The king's scholars showed some consternation at this, as it would undoubtedly make their experiment worse.

  Six years passed, and the twin boys grew into men. The one who had been called Siors never gained any standing at all; it went to his brother instead. After the six years had passed, the Iron King noticed the expense of the man with no name's cell in passing and ordered the experiment ended.

  * * *

  "My role was minor," said Wenaru. "I performed the vivisections on the two of them, one after the other, looking for some difference between the two which would explain why one had powers and the other did not. I had a hypothesis that we would find something in the brain; an illustrati with his arm removed does not lose standing."

  "Nor his hand," said Lexari. His right hand had glowing fingers, which he could now use with some deftness.

  "I apologize," said Wenaru. "I didn't mean anything by it."

  "I know," said Lexari with a smile. "I was only bringing it back around to more practical areas."

  "Yes," said Wenaru. "Well as I was saying, the brain is the seat of the mind, and I was expecting that I would find something there. The flesh is known to me, and the bone is known to others, but the bodily domains cannot touch the brain except to ruin it. Yet in making my examination, I found no difference between the twins." He sighed. "It was an important thing to learn, but it's difficult not to be discouraged by negative results. This was some years ago, at any rate, and came near the end of my term of service; the latest from the Iron Kingdom builds on that experimental result."

  "To what end?" asked Nemm. She'd gone to lean against the railing of the ship while Wenaru spoke. The ship was rocking gently on the waves, and they were all finding their sea legs again.

  "There exists an idea of Cadoc," said Wenaru. "Just as there exists an idea of every person. Those ideas live inside our minds, like small animals. I have an idea of Lightscour, as does Nemm, and Lightscour himself." He looked to Dravus. "We can be reasonably certain that these internal ideas are important in some way, and that there is a connection between ideas and practical reality. The idea of Cadoc attached to Cadoc, and Siors gained no standing because he was only building on the idea of Cadoc, not the idea of Siors. It's more complicated though, because names aren't the only thing that matters, and ideas themselves are nebulous. You and I assuredly have a different understanding of who Cadoc is. The animal that lives inside your head, the one we both might recognize as Cadoc, has a different character for you than it does for me. I should think, given what we know, that it might make sense to say that my idea of Cadoc is in some sense larger than yours. Yet we can presume that both would feed into Cadoc just the same, even given the differences, if Cadoc were alive."

  "Which Cadoc?" asked Dravus. "There were two people who went by that name, in the end."

  Wenaru nodded, not even seeming to mind who the question was coming from this time. "True. Yet all of the standing went to the first Cadoc, the one who originated the idea of Cadoc. There is some mechanism by which all the variant ideas of Cadoc become centered around one actual person, even if they are far removed from him. There is a link between the two."

  "A link which Wenaru believes can be shifted," said Lexari. "The enemy has a Harbinger artifact which can accomplish as much."

  "We don't know that," said Wenaru. "There are other mechanisms which can explain what we have seen. It could be that the artifact amplifies the idea in the same way that spreading a story does, though that leaves open the question of domains. It's also possible that the Phoenixes had their standing raised the old-fashioned way and the artifact's role was simply to change their domains — that being a less understood sphere of questions. These would make sense. Yet it appears to me that the most likely hypothesis is that the link between idea and person is altered in some way, and the domain comes with it."

  "Which is why we're going to the Iron Kingdom," said Lexari. He stood tall and proud in the sunlight, with his dark skin smooth and unblemished. It was easy to imagine that he had been born for moments like these. "If it is the links that have been altered, it should be possible for us to find the originators — the first Cadoc. If it is the domains that have been altered, then the standing still must have come from somewhere."

  "We're certain that 'somewhere' is the Iron Kingdom?" asked Dravus. "I don't see the benefit to the Iron Kingdom in giving Torland a parliament."

  "The parliament?" asked Wenaru. "Were you there at the trial? They're no better than the queen was, the only difference will be in their foreign relations."

  That logic didn't sound right to Dravus. The Iron Kingdom couldn't possibly be implicated by some imagined event that lay in the future. It was no secret that Wenaru had a complicated history with his home country though, which would account for some of the distrust. In the interests of making peace, Dravus nodded along.

  "We were going to the Iron Kingdom anyway," said Nemm. "If we hadn't been called to assist the queen, we would have gone there first after our stay in the Sovento States. Even if there's nothing to be found, no legends of fire illustrati who have suddenly gone missing, we'll have stories to spread and new stories to make. The people need to be reminded that we exist." She had turned one of her bracers into a dagger, and was balancing it on one finger.

  "And we'll see the Iron King?" asked Dravus.

  Wenaru and Lexari shared a look: worry from Wenaru, concern from Lexari. "No," said Lexari. "Not unless he calls us to him. Parance is the capital city, a day's ride inland, but the king makes his home another day past that, in a large castle he finds more suited to his tastes. The last few times we have been in the Iron Kingdom, we have not asked for an audience, and he has not requested one. Wenaru's status within the kingdom is questionable."

  Dravus had no idea what that meant. From what he had heard, Wenaru had avoided execution at the end of the Peddler's War only through exile. The doctor had been something of a scapegoat for the war crimes perpetrated by the Iron King. Lexari had long-ago secured a pardon from the Flower Queen, allowing Wenaru to walk the streets of Torland. Dravus wondered whether some other agreement had been reached, or some understanding that negated the exile. Lexari's words did little to put Dravus at ease.

  * * *

  The ship's small room seemed cramped compared to the palatial bedroom that Dravus had spent several weeks in. The bed was naturally much smaller, and the window let in little light, not that he needed it. When he'd come back aboard the ship, Dravus had found a stack of books waiting for him, courtesy of Nemm. He'd been derelict in his studies, and now that the moments of crisis seemed to have passed, it was time for more learning. He was midway through a book on historic uses of the metal domains when Nemm stopped by.

  "You're going to have to learn languages," she said. "Go further east than the algalif's court and you'll start running into problems. We're not going to stay circling the Calypso forever, and you'll have a far easier time if you start now instead of waiting until we're sailing down the Black Straits."

  "Always more to learn," said Dravus with a sigh. He closed the book and looked at Nemm. He decided he liked her better without the weapons and armor so readily apparent. "Say, do you think the Harbingers have an artifact for helping people learn languages?"

  "Almost certainly," said Nemm. "You can find all sorts of stories about wha
t it was they could do, each story more outlandish than the last. Ask Lexari, and he'll tell you that it's virtually certain that they not only had a way of putting thoughts in a person's head, but a way of extracting them as well. However, even if that's true, it's not going to help you. Learning languages is difficult work with no easy shortcuts."

  "Did you stop by to give me lessons then?" asked Dravus. He found that doubtful.

  Nemm stepped forward and sat at the edge of Dravus's bed. She brushed a strand of hair from her face and tucked it behind one ear. "I'm worried about Lexari."

  "Oh?" asked Dravus. "Just the usual worries, or something more?"

  "The quest for the Numifex — for the Harbinger artifacts — was always something of a sideshow," said Nemm. "We would make our circuit around the world, visiting distant lands and speaking with other illustrati, spreading stories and setting up bards to sing our songs and tell our tales. Now I think this quest is overshadowing the structure of our travels."

  "Shouldn't it?" asked Dravus. He folded his legs in towards him and set his book on the floor. "If there really is a device that can change how powers are granted, isn't that more important than just," Dravus waved his hand, "using fame in order to get more fame?"

  "I'm worried we won't find anything," said Nemm. "If that happens, I'm not sure how he'll take it. He sees the stories too clearly for my liking, and when a story doesn't go the way that he planned it to go … well, you saw how he was before we left Torland. This time it was sullen anger, but in the past it's been depression. He's in high spirits now, but what will happen after weeks of fruitless searching?"

  "What is it you want out of me?" asked Dravus.

  Nemm frowned. "I don't only come to you because I want things," she said. "Sometimes I only need someone to talk to, and I think it should be easy to see why you're the only candidate worth considering, especially when the topic of conversation is going to be our cherished leader."

  "I can talk, if you'd like," said Dravus. "I just didn't think that you would have come to me without first thinking of some way that I could help."

  "Be his apprentice," said Nemm. "You've been pretending until now, but we both know that you speak with me more than you speak with him. You don't go to him for counsel, and he hasn't taught you much in the way of practical skills or combat expertise. If this Harbinger business falls through, he'll need his protege in his moments of doubt. It's what you would expect from a story. When all hope is lost, the young trainee rests a hand on his master's shoulder and talks about courage and fortitude. That's precisely the sort of thing that will keep him on an even keel."

  * * *

  Dravus held his shadow blade out in front of him.

  "You've made sure it's dull?" asked Lexari.

  "Yes," said Dravus. He touched the edge of the sword to confirm that it had no bite to it.

  "Sparring is dangerous," said Lexari. He formed a spear of light in his hand. "And it's at its most dangerous when one party is inexperienced. I don't need to lose the rest of my fingers," he said with a laugh. He twirled the spear around in his hand and nearly lost his grip on it. He was using his maimed hand, and quickly switched to his left hand instead without any comment. A good deal of the joy left his face before he continued.

  "You know your stances, which is good," said Lexari. "You have a killing instinct, which is regrettable but entirely necessary. What we shall learn today is treachery."

  Dravus gave an involuntary look towards Nemm, who only shook her head and nodded towards Lexari.

  "Treachery?" asked Dravus.

  "Fighting dirty," Lexari clarified. "You must know how to fight treacherously so that you can know how to think like your opponents will. Once you have that knowledge, you will be able to combat them. So, let us say that you come across someone with the domain of light. What do you expect of how he will fight?"

  "He would fight like you," said Dravus.

  "And if he were treacherous?" asked Lexari. "If he had no honor, and cared only about killing you, not about the story he would leave behind?"

  "He would blind me," said Dravus. In fact, in that first battle, Lexari had nearly blinded everyone watching him; the afterimage had stayed for quite some time.

  "Yes," said Lexari. "Good. And what would you do, in that circumstance?"

  "It wouldn't matter for me," said Dravus. "I don't need the light to see. I would switch over to watching the shadows instead."

  Lexari smiled. "You see, I had known you were clever. And this is precisely what most illustrati would do in that circumstance. Not all are so blessed with your domain, but Zerstor would use his second sight to track the rust, and the Blood Bard would spray you with blood in order to give him something he could see. Not all domains are gifted with a useful domain sense, and not everyone you fight will have enough standing for them to use it effectively. The animal domains will stay blinded. The domain of flame can't simply engulf their target in flame, because if they could, the fight would have already been over."

  "I use glass dust, if I have to," said Nemm. "Though blindness is always chancy."

  "Just so," said Lexari. "So today, I think you will practice fighting blind. Close your eyes and watch the shadows."

  Dravus did as he was instructed, but immediately noticed a problem; Lexari's spear was made entirely of solid light, and though it cast shadows, there were no shadows upon it. Lexari himself was visible as a series of shadows cast by the ridges of his armor. His head was apparent from the shadow that his nose cast on his face, and the shadows that his eyebrows cast on his skin. It wasn't a good rendering of the man, but it was enough to know where he was. The spear was utterly invisible to Dravus's eyes.

  "I can't see the spear," said Dravus. He opened his eyes to see Lexari's smiling face.

  "Our domains are counter to each other," said Lexari. "If we were to blind each other, you with shadows in my eyes and I with light in yours, we would both be unable to parry or feint. There would be no weapon for us to follow. Given a treacherous mindset and a killing intent, what would you do?"

  Dravus gave the matter some thought. "I could swing my sword wildly and hope to hit something vital," he said. "Except … if you knew that my domain was shadow, you would be more fully clad in armor of light, which would make you more difficult to see. If you were covered from head to toe, I don't know that I could see you at all."

  Lexari grinned. The light that formed his breastplate began to spread itself out into interlocking plates of armor that covered his arms and legs. The helm was the last thing he made. Dravus closed his eyes, and found that all he could see was a reverse silhouette where Lexari was standing. Lexari was casting shadows across the deck of the ship now, but there were no shadows visible on him. The light wasn't nearly so strong as the sun, and tracking Lexari by the movement of the shadows he was making would be nearly impossible.

  "So it's impossible for us to fight?" asked Dravus. He opened his eyes. "If I can blind you, and you can blind me, then I don't suppose that we could ever hit each other." Not only would Dravus be able to cloak himself in solid shadows, he would be able to strengthen his shadow and then swivel it around to project against his opponent. Hopefully that would be enough to completely obscure him.

  "Just so," said Lexari. "And let us pretend for a moment that you are still intent on killing me. How would you accomplish that, if you were treacherous?"

  Dravus kept his eyes on the man dressed in light while he thought. Being unable to see the opponent was a major difficulty, and his first thoughts went towards trying to rectify that somehow, but nothing immediately came to mind. His second avenue of thought was that given sufficient killing power, it wouldn't matter whether the opponent could be seen or not, but nothing came to mind there either. He closed his eyes and looked at the gap in the shadows where Lexari stood.

  "I wouldn't try to fight you head-on," said Dravus. "I would kill you in your sleep instead."

  Lexari's visor dropped, to reveal a smiling face. "It would
seem that treachery comes naturally to you, Lightscour. That was a lesson that I almost learned too late; I was attacked in my sleep when I was young, and nearly died from it. Before that point, I had not considered that enemies would attack while I was at my most vulnerable. Now then, suppose that you are tasked with defending a traveling caravan …"

  As the lessons continued, Dravus tried his best to play the fool when it was required of him; he was certain that he knew far more about how to be tricky than Lexari Sunhawk did. The primary insights seemed to be about the domains and how to combat them, which Dravus was ignorant of. As the day went on, they practiced sparring, though Lexari was forced to fight with his left hand instead of his right. When lunch came, they all ate together, and Wenaru's previous cold looks had seemed to evaporate into the sea air.