Flame's Shadow

by Anna Eluvae

  "What comes next?" asked Dravus.

  "After ruin?" asked Faye. "I have no earthly idea. Mere survival, I suppose, if we can figure out what that entails." She pursed her lips with her eyes still closed. "You should go."

  "I came here to help," said Dravus. "To see what could be done."

  "There's no help needed," said Faye. She finally opened her eyes. They were limned with tears.

  "The Bone Warden sent me," Dravus confessed. This brought no reaction. "She has an interest in the artifacts. If we could get the artifacts into the right hands, people who wield power softly instead of monsters like the Iron King, maybe we can mitigate the effects of them being unleashed. If we want to change how the world works, it might still be possible, even if the Allunio have failed."

  Faye shook her head. "You'll forgive me if I don't trust a woman like that to wield power justly." She sighed, long and low. "I'm surprised you're still talking as though changing the world might be possible, after what we saw in there. Perhaps it's because you didn't know those people like I did, didn't hear the same high-minded speeches, or see the enthusiasm they once had. We were going to be the successors to the old ways. We talked about the line that would be drawn in the history books, how they would separate the old era from the new. Perhaps it's better that you were never part of it." She shook her head. "You should go."

  "There's a cottage to the north," said Dravus. "Follow the Miller's Way, it'll be hidden in a copse. If you want to talk to the Bone Warden's people, you might find an alliance there."

  "I didn't say we were ruined lightly," said Faye. "We cannot recover. In truth, we were doomed from the start, unable to recover from the moment we began. Go."

  Dravus went.

  He had expected the Bone Warden's people to leap out of hiding and grill him on what he had discussed the moment he was clear of the manor, but the city was silent and still, just as it had been. He tried to put an argument into order, one that would convince them that something needed to be done about Lexari, but it was looking like his former mentor was only a few days from securing the Iron Kingdom. The Bone Warden seemed unlikely to contest the result; just as the Iron Kingdom's ministries were, she would sit back and wait for a winner to be declared, playing defensively until then. Dravus heard a sound from behind him and turned, ready to explain, but instead of Tellula or Finola, or even their silent partner, Dravus found himself facing a woman armored in glass from head to toe.

  "You're quite inconsiderate," said Nemm. "I saved your life and you came walking right back toward danger."

  Dravus stared at her. She seemed taller than he remembered, though perhaps it was the armor. The shards of glass were sharper, each edge reflecting sunlight. She was no less beautiful for the time that had passed, even if she had been slaughtering dozens of people in the meantime, as the stories suggested. Her voice was casual, overly so, as though this were just a matter of happenstance. That had always been a sign of anger.

  "You're still working with him," said Dravus.

  "Yes," replied Nemm. "And who is it that you're working with?"

  "You were always the cloak and dagger to his shining breastplate and gleaming sword," said Dravus. "But if he's not the paragon of heroism, why stay with him? What binds you so closely? In the beginning I thought it was about convenience, that maybe you were just increasing your fame, but … is that all there is to you? You stay with him so that you can share the cost of bards? So that you can remain one of the most powerful women in the world?"

  Nemm calmly pulled a glass dagger from her armor. "Tell me who you're working with."

  "Gallieae took me to the Bone Warden. I sailed back here on one of her ships, with a few of her people," said Dravus. "And if you're here, then there's no point in pretending I didn't meet with the Allunio. I don't know that either of them would want me telling you, but I'm tired of lying to people. Nemm, the Allunio aren't bad people. Or at least, I don't think they started out that way. They just wanted a world were rulers couldn't live in a narcotic stupor, where kings couldn't buy young girls to marry —"

  "This is where I say they tried to assassinate me and you say that we're not so different given all the people I've killed," said Nemm with clenched teeth. "We've cast our lots. This is pointless. How many of the Allunio were in that house?"

  "You saved my life because you knew that Lexari was in the wrong," said Dravus.

  "I'm losing my patience," said Nemm. "How many? What domains?"

  "There's no audience here," said Dravus. "It's just you and me."

  "Better men than you have tried to redeem me," said Nemm. Her voice had a hard edge to it. "Better men have thought they saw a broken bird that needed mending, or a whore they could somehow purify, or tried to convince me of the one true path to salvation."

  "That's not what I'm trying to do," said Dravus. He felt for the patience he'd been forced to cultivate while he was paralyzed. "You're not pleased with this life. You're not pleased with Lexari. I'm not even saying that you need to change, just that we can talk to each other as friends. There's no need for posturing, not with me. I already know who you are."

  "You betrayed us," said Nemm. The dagger hadn't left her hand. "The enemy came to you and you said nothing."

  "I know," said Dravus. "I'm sorry."

  Nemm hesitated. Dravus imagined that she was going to say that an apology wasn't enough. "I'm sorry too."

  "Then we can find somewhere to sit and talk?" asked Dravus.

  "No," said Nemm. "I've got a war to win. After that, I need to talk with Lexari. Maybe afterward, I'll try to find you." She turned away and ran, fast enough that calling after her would have been pointless.

  * * *

  Faye sat at the entrance of the manor, holding one of the artifacts in her hand and only half listening to the ongoing discussion in the other room. They were fighting again, but with words instead of fists. Gauthier had won the battle for the artifact and now he was stronger than any of them. He was going to make a play for a position of leadership over the five of them. It was possible that was what he was doing now. Faye couldn't bring herself to care. The inner circle would contract sometime in the next few days, following some question of loyalty or personal dispute that escalated quickly towards violence. Five would become four. It was predictable, readily visible in her mind's eye. They were finished. She had told Dravus that all that remained was survival. She wasn't sure that she had the will for that. Lothaire would have told her to keep going, to keep her goals in mind and move forward with deliberation, but her goals had been shattered before her eyes. Most likely they had been shattered weeks before and she was only now realizing it.

  There was a knock on the door. Faye turned to her first domain, the domain of sound, and listened closely. She expected it to be Dravus, but the rhythm of the heart was different, not to mention positioned lower. She hadn't been paying enough attention, hadn't thought to listen for footsteps. There was no sound of armor, but that meant nothing when the person wasn't moving. It was as Boniface had said; they had no allies, not anymore. Faye placed her hand on the doorknob, ready to speak with whoever it was. She wasn't in any condition to fight, not with such a deep pit of apathy and despair.

  She had only opened the door partway when a gauntleted fist came crashing forward. If it had been properly aimed, she would have died then and there. Instead she was showered with splinters and pushed down to the ground. The bits of wood stung at her skin. It took a dazed moment for her to realize that they were burning.

  It was Nemm. She paused only momentarily, long enough for Faye to see that the glass armor was glowing bright orange with waves of heat rolling off of it. Nemm didn't have her famed daggers in her hand, just molten glass in the form of long claws.

  Faye screamed, pouring all the power of her domain behind it. Nemm staggered, but only for a brief second before moving forward. Faye's bodily domains were useless against molten glass from head to toe; there was no way to grapple, no way to force her fingers thr
ough to flesh. All she had was sound, but Nemm didn't seem to care about that. Her ears were fully covered, permitting no sound to enter, so the only option would be for Faye to amplify her screams so that Nemm's heart would burst, even beneath the layers of armor.

  Faye never got the chance. A long claw of molten glass sank itself into her stomach. There was a plume of acrid smoke as her organs were boiled. The reinforcing steel in her armor was doing nothing for her; the glass had slipped between the ribs of steel and now it was burning ribs of bone. Nemm's face couldn't be seen behind the hot glass helm she wore.

  There was a noise as a bolt of lightning stuck Nemm squarely in the chest. She shrugged it off as though she were immune, then revealed shortly afterward that she was, as her own lightning began to course and swirl around her molten glass armor. She withdrew her claw from Faye's midsection and darted towards the others. Faye couldn't move to look. She could only hear the screams of agony, screams that she would have echoed if her diaphragm and lungs weren't punctured clean through.

  It was Kendrick Eversong that saved her from passing out. His story was still going strong in Torland, even after two months had passed. Access to the domain of blood meant there was no need for her to die from blood loss, no need to endure the dizziness of her blood pressure failing her. She tried to stand up, to move, even through the pain. It took quick, sloppy repairs with the domain of flesh for her to be able to move at all. Nemm was fighting the others in the next room over. That they were still fighting meant that Nemm was winning. At four against one, they should have been able to kill her, but she had domains of her own, standing stacked on top of standing, just as they did. Any one of the Allunio that had fallen in the last eight weeks might have added their strength to hers.

  The molten claw had dug deep into Faye. It had touched her spine. She couldn't move her legs. She had the domain of flesh though, a poor mimic of Wenaru's, but capable of miracles all the same. She didn't need a spine, so long as she had that domain. She could stand with only that, no need for nerves at all. Her legs kicked helplessly the first time she tried, but then with a push against the wall she was able to lurch to her feet. When she did, hot liquid spilled from inside her and onto the ground, coating the front of her dress. She nearly threw up, but there was no time for that, even with the smell of her own boiled intestines in the air. She spared half a thought toward trying to help the fight, but a single glance showed that Cherise's head was laying in the hallway, beautiful hair coiled around the burnt stump of her neck. Even if Faye offered her meager assistance, they would not win.

  Faye staggered to the door, stopping only long enough to pick up the artifact before heading out into Parance.

  * * *

  They did Dravus the courtesy of pretending that they hadn't followed him. He was sure that they had heard his entire conversation with Nemm. Tellula asked him for his report nonetheless. Perhaps they thought he was stupid enough to try to lie to them. He repeated his conversations back to them, as faithfully as he could.

  "It's good there's to be a victor," said Finola.

  "Perhaps," replied Tellula. "It depends on who ends up ruling here."

  "You can't trust Lexari," said Dravus. "How many domains do you think he's claimed for himself? How much has his standing grown by now?"

  "We're not in the habit of murdering people for crimes they might have committed," said Tellula. "You're also not in a position to make demands."

  "It's not a demand," said Dravus. "I'm only giving advice."

  "Somewhat less advice would be appreciated," said Finola.

  "They're positioning Quill for king," said Etain. "I don't like that. I don't think our dear great-grandmother would either. He's an idiot, palatable to the masses but not much more."

  "We were never heavy hitters," said Finola. "The four of us combined probably wouldn't have stood a chance against Lexari even before whatever the Harbinger artifacts have done to him."

  "He has my domain," said Dravus. "Likely others."

  "A civil war is the opportune time to make our own man king," said Finola. "But I doubt that we have the power to accomplish it. We might be able to talk Lexari around, if he'd listen to reason."

  "Quill will have lost his power," said Tellula. "That's why he disappeared. My guess would be he's a stopgap. Someone to keep attention elsewhere. He might treat with us. The new king will be much better off if he's got the Bone Warden's backing." She looked to the silent man they'd brought with him, the one Dravus had heard perhaps three words from in the entire time they'd been traveling. "All the Iron King had were bastards. Easy enough to claim someone convenient was a bastard, isn't it?"

  There was a knock on the door, the sound of scraped knuckles. The Bone Warden's people moved into position, ready for a fight, but when the door slid open they stared in shock.

  "I am dying," said Faye. Her hair was wild and matted. One hand clung to her stomach, where viscera had leaked out. The other held a Harbinger artifact, its existence pressing on the mind and announcing itself to anyone whose eyes landed upon it. Her voice sounded strange; she wasn't using her mouth to speak. "I come with an offer for the Bone Warden." She stumbled forward, into an empty chair that one of the women had been sitting in. "A trade," she said. "I give this artifact in return for Dravus's freedom from whatever scheme he's wrapped up in. Dravus, I give you my powers in exchange for bringing order to this world."

  "She's the walking dead," said Tellula. Her mouth was agape. "She's keeping herself together with her domains alone, the moment she stops to sleep …"

  "Do you accept?" asked Faye.

  "Yes," said Dravus.

  The Bone Warden's people exchanged glances.

  "I would ask you to leave," said Faye, making the noise appear from thin air. She wasn't breathing; it was possible that she'd permanently lost that ability. Her piercing eyes were on Tellula. "So that you would have no chance to steal from Dravus before I make him more powerful than you. Know that even now I could slaughter you all. Try to steal from me directly and the noise I make will be more than enough to kill you."

  "Not without killing him too," said Tellula.

  "So be it," replied Faye. The sounds came into the air from around her. "I am in pain. I am dying. I could prolong it by a day, two at most."

  The Bone Warden's people shared a look again.

  "Deal," said Tellula. "We will take our leave until the transfer is complete. Dravus, you are released from your bond to us, but this development will need to be discussed."

  They filed out of the small cottage without another word. Faye watched Dravus the entire time, holding the Harbinger artifact close to her. When they had closed the door behind her, Faye leaned forward, watching Dravus closely.

  "I don't know that I can bring order to the world," said Dravus. "Better people than me have tried."

  "I need to believe I have a legacy," said Faye. "That my life was not a complete waste. Take this power. Go into hiding, become a despot, die in horrible agony when you next cross paths with Lexari, do anything you please. Just lie to me. Tell me in my last moments that I am doing a good thing."

  "Okay," said Dravus. "I'll bring order to the world. Or at least I'll try."

  Faye laid the artifact on the table and slid her hand inside it. By the time it was done beeping five times, Faye was dead. Dravus took her hand from the artifact and replaced it with his own. The surge of power was instant, a feeling of not just health and vitality, not just speed and strength, but a fullness of the senses as well. He could feel his blood thumping in his veins. He could feel every fiber of his muscles. His hearing changed completely, so that every sound was clear and distinct, from the smallest creak of the cottage to the sounds of his own body. He was more powerful than he'd been as Lightscour. He wished that he had asked Faye more questions, gotten some details about the people whose legends now provided him with strength.

  The door to the cottage swung open slowly. Tellula and Finola looked in at Dravus.

  "The
artifact is yours," said Dravus. "Take it to the Bone Warden."

  "And you?" asked Tellula. "Where should we tell her you're off to?"

  "Castle Launtine," said Dravus. He looked at Faye. "To try to make the world a better place."

  Chapter 22

  The first bath had been tinted with dried blood and dirt. It was an ugly color, the hue of battle, watered down. Nemm had scrubbed with pumice until she was clean and pink. She would have gone until her skin was raw, but mere pumice was no longer enough to abrade it. She sometimes thought back on wounds of old, ones she was too powerful to suffer from anymore. Falling from the Ministry of Legends would no longer be cause for alarm.

  The second bath was one of soaps and oils, boiling water that could no longer burn her flesh, and a real attempt at relaxation. The oils were from the vast stock of the Iron King, brought in from distant lands and hoarded in great quantities. It brought Nemm back to earlier, better times, when it had seemed like the Zenith would sail the world forever, stopping at every port of importance to forge new legends and spread the old ones. The smell of jasmine was one she would always associate with Erbos. She was romanticizing those times, but after a harsh battle she always felt some need to see the world in a better light.