“Christoph is His Majesty’s doppelganger,” Ebisa said, with a shrug. “While I hate to pull aside the curtain of deception so soon, you surely didn’t expect that the real Ignas Corvinus would attend a meeting that was as potentially dangerous as this one?”
“I...” I looked back at Rin, who had her hands to her mouth.
“Fortunately, you have recourse, Dragozin. Give it here.” Ebisa held out a hand. “I can read it.”
“No.” Kanzo ran forward, trying to intercept us. “No, if there is some fell magic in that stone, it could infect you-”
“Then let it infect me. It is my decision to make, not yours.” Ebisa snatched the stone off my palm, removing her mask with her other hand. When she bared her alien face, Rin gasped. Ebisa sneered knowingly.
“Nonono! I’m sorry!” Rin squeaked. “I just... the composition of your features... they took me by surprise-”
“Believe me, kitten, I am less surprised by your reaction than you are by my face.” Ebisa reached up and plucked out one of her gemstone eyes - the inner right. She palmed the bigger ruby and inserted the new one. It was too small to fill the socket, but it flared to life as she spoke. “Bahn, Odam, Vorhis.”
The stone’s light flared, and Ebisa’s hands dropped to her sides. She went very still, like a doll… and like a doll, she had no eyelids and didn’t blink.
“Tell us where Andrik is going to meet Ignas,” I urged her, moving in closer. “Because I’ll go with you to wring that asshole’s neck.”
“Well, I would, but there’s a problem.” Ebisa grimaced, and reached up to remove Andrik’s ruby. “He hasn’t recorded anything. This stone is blank.”
Chapter 41
I stared at Ebisa in disbelief. "What do you mean, it's blank?"
"Empty. As in, there's no recording." She frowned. "Clever little weasel."
I wasn't sure if I was going to scream or explode. Some childish part of me railed that this wasn’t fair, that the bad guys weren’t allowed to be this smart, this manipulative. That they had to play by the rules. I’d heard from someone here before only a couple of days before - Rin, sobbing that Kanzo had gone and acted on his own, beyond the norms she expected would contain him. I’d been working on that basis, too.
“Ebisa, can you and Fake Ignas here make recordings onto those stones?” My voice came out hard and cold.
“Certainly,” Ebisa said.
“Then record a message. A challenge, from Ignas to Andrik. And I’ll take it back.” I flexed my shoulders and cracked my knuckles. “Ignas doesn’t even have to attend personally. We set Andrik up. And then we kill him.”
A sly smile spread over Ebisa’s lips. “I like the way you think, Dragozin. I know the perfect spot, too - the Imperial Crypt under the Church of the Maker, in the center of town. Ignas always said that if he were to choose one place to face his brother-”
“No!” Kanzo stomped his foot, fists balled by his sides.
There was a pregnant pause.
“No? What do you mean, ‘no’?” I turned to face Kanzo. “We’re doing this. If he’d left Karalti out of it, I’d be perfectly fine with staying out of politics and letting him go his happy little way. But that fucker is holding my dragon hostage. My dragon. I’ve got thirty minutes to do something about it.”
“Ebisa, I made you to be a scientist!” Kanzo was aghast. “A crafter! Not some… some human prince’s assassin!”
“As you so graciously noted before, I am very bitter and very twisted.” Ebisa’s rough voice oozed sarcasm. “But by the look on Rin’s pretty face, she’s about ready to join me as an honorary juchi.”
“I didn’t mean it that way, Ebisa! You are my daughter! My miracle!” Kanzo replied hotly.
Ebisa’s features froze. “And you are nothing. Leave us.”
“No! I will not let you go through with this nonsense after everything I did for you!” Kanzo stormed toward us. “Give me that stone!”
Ebisa teleported as Kanzo lunged at her, zipping to one side in a flicker of shadow. He blundered into one of the pillars supporting the vaulted ceiling.
“You are no longer necessary, Kanzo.” Ebisa drew a second dagger from behind her back. This one was a very finely-made weapon, with a thin blue glow humming around the edge of the blade. “Leave, before I remove you.”
Kanzo looked between us, nostrils flaring – but wherever he turned, he saw only hostile stares. Even Rin was glaring at him, though she looked to be on the verge of tears.
“Rin, please,” he begged. “You cannot let them do this. You cannot be a part of this!”
Rin clasped one of her own wrists, kneading it anxiously. “You know… you never asked me.”
“What?” Kanzo did a double-take. “Ask you what?”
Her piercing blue gaze flicked down. “How I felt about this. How I suffered. What I felt when I found your lab… or how I feel now that I’ve met Ebisa and seen her pain. You never asked me what I wanted, or thought about whether this would hurt me… and I don’t understand why you made Ebisa if you knew what other Mercurions would do to her. You knew, or you wouldn’t have hidden her away. Now she has to live with what you did, and you...”
“You are Starborn and perfectly formed, Rin, but you are not of my creation,” he replied. “Rin, you must understand, I lost everything when I left Zaunt, I-”
“What about her? Did you ever ask Ebisa how she felt?” Rin motioned to Ebisa. “Did you ever ask her what she wanted?”
Ebisa snorted. “Not once.”
Kanzo glanced at her. “It wasn’t the right time. When she was older-”
“Get out.” Rin pointed at the door, still staring at her feet. “I never want to see you again.”
The elder Mercurion hunched back. And then, without a word, he turned and fled.
“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” I said. “That guy has killed a lot of people.”
“The blood he spilled stains my hands.” Ebisa’s husky voice was oddly subdued. “He was merely the tool I used for the executions. Now, come – we must record that stone, and then you must return to the Volod. And I will give you something else, too.”
Ebisa sheathed the enchanted dagger she had been holding, and offered it to me.
“This?” I took it hesitantly, and had a look at its stats:
Ravenstar Dagger
Magical Weapon
Slot: One-handed
Item Quality: Excellent
Damage: 36-45
Durability: 100%
Weight: 1 lb
Special: +30% chance to cause Bleeding; +2% chance to instantly kill any human/demi-human opponent.
An engraved dagger belonging to the House of Corvinus, believed to have been forged by Taltos, the demigod son of Khors.
“This is Ignas’ heirloom dagger,” she said. “His gift to me when he made me his lieutenant. Present it at court with the stone, and Andrik will have no choice but to answer his brother’s summons. Make sure you have witnesses.
“Will Ignas show?” I glanced at Christoph, who shrugged sheepishly.
“I think he will, yes,” Ebisa said, rolling the empty stone in her palm. “Assuming Andrik accepts. If he does, Ignas is an honorable man, and what happened at Kobayaz and in the plaza today broke his heart. He knows this has been a long time coming.”
I arrived at Vulkan Keep with five minutes left on the clock. It touched 4:59 as I raced Cutthroat in through the gates, sped past the guards, and rode her up the staircase that fed into the dragon-sized doors of the grand hall.
“Halt! You canno-!” The guards leapt in front of us, crossing their halberds over the threshold. Cutthroat blasted through them like a cannonball.
“OH YEAHHHH!” I shouted on the way past.
Andrik was holding court for the day: he lounged in his throne at the back of the room, listening to a Minister reading off a long parchment scroll. There was an entire crowd of people assembled inside the vaulted throne room, and every one of them turned to stare and gape as the Giant Veloc
iraptor Express came roaring into the building. Andrik stood up from the throne in shock. The Kingsguard encircled him warily. We pulled up just behind the minister, who yipped a girly scream as he stumbled out of the way of the steaming, snorting hookwing.
“Your Majesty. Please pardon the intrusion, but I have a message from your brother.” I kept Cutthroat on a tight rein so that she didn’t dart her head and snap.
A gasp went up around the throne room. Andrik’s eyes narrowed. Then, quite abruptly, he laughed.
“So the Tuun can speak to spirits now?” he said, raising his voice to be heard over the murmur of his assembly. “Tell us: does the Maker’s furnace keep him warm in the afterlife?”
A murmur of uncomfortable laughter went up behind me.
“Actually, he just challenged you to a duel. Catch.” I threw him the stone.
Ur Garen moved in front of him and snatched the ruby out of the air. The knight examined it, frowned me, and then offered it to Andrik.
I could watch the sea of shocked faces in my peripheral vision while I stared down the Volod. “Your brother, Ignas Corvinus, accuses you of conspiring to strip him of his rightful title and family name to attain the throne of Vlachia. He demands satisfaction at the time and place of his choosing. The location and time are on the ruby.”
“You don’t really believe this man, do you?” Andrik snapped. “Garen! Strike him down! I will not put up with this nonsense!”
Garen slowly drew his sword, but stopped when I pulled out my trump card: the dagger. “Ignas also told me to tell you that the Maker’s furnace isn’t as hot as you thought it was.”
“The Ravenstar.” Ur Garen took the dagger from my hand and pushed the visor of his helmet up, revealing weathered, troubled features. “This was thought to have been lost. So it’s true… Ignas lives.”
Andrik came forward and snatched the knife away. He drew the glowing blade and regarded it impassively.
“There is only one legitimate Corvinus in Vlachia,” he said quietly. “Me. Even if Ignas lives, he was disowned and exiled, and if he is here, in my city, in my country, then he is an outlaw who has committed vice and banditry and who has murdered scores of innocent people.”
Garen grimaced. “Your Majesty… if he has issued a formal challenge to your honor-”
“Contain yourself, Ur Garen. I will indeed face him in the field, and prove myself against this perverted bastard. As I told you, Hector – it does not become a monarch to hide in his castle while a battle rages on.”
There was a light in Andrik’s pale eyes that I didn’t like at all. He was planning something. “Where’s Karalti?”
“Downstairs, in the dungeon, being prepared for transport,” Andrik replied. “I suppose you fulfilled the terms of our agreement, and I am a man of my word. Garen, go escort our dragonrider back to his mount.”
“Me, Your Majesty?” The big knight frowned. “But I am oath-bound to remain-”
“Did I stutter? Go with Hector to the dungeons and unlock the bindings on his dragon, now.” Andrik said, waving us off. He held onto the dagger, clutching it as he swept past us. “Lords and Ladies of the court, my Hand will take over your concerns. I must attend to this crisis immediately. Please excuse me.”
Garen was clearly torn about what to do, and his confusion only made me warier. Bodyguards weren’t ordered to abandon their primaries like this.
“Tomaz, you are in charge until I return.” Garen nodded sharply to his second-in-command, then motioned me with his head. “Come, Tuun. And bring that dinosaur with you before she soils the Great Hall.”
Cutthroat was slowly stalking one of Andrik’s dogs. She hissed when I caught her reins, giving the animal one last hungry, glowering look before padding off after us.
“So, be straight with me. Is Karalti in the dungeon, or are you about to try and jump me?” I asked to Garen as we cleared the door.
“Jump you? No. She truly is in the dungeons. My honor would not permit you to come to harm, now that you have satisfied His Majesty’s orders.”
We went down to the caves that housed the stables first, where I hitched Cutthroat, and then into the dungeon area where we’d been unloaded from the prison wagons. Rage simmered deep inside my chest, rising for my throat as we ventured underground. This place was too much like the bowels of the Eyrie for my comfort.
“Andrik’s been weird lately,” I remarked.
“I must admit, Tuun... you are correct.” Garen nodded. “His Majesty has been acting strangely.”
“How so?”
The Captain of the Kingsguard narrowed his eyes. “Well... his general conduct, I suppose. The unfortunate incident with the Mercurion, your draak, and Ur Kirov. He has also been sleepless, consumed by a strange fixation on the Dakhari woman, and he spends a lot of time in his laboratory as of late. He is typically an enthusiastic hunter, but-”
Suri. Where the hell is she? “His... laboratory?”
“Oh, yes. His Majesty is a keen student of the magical arts. I have never seen the inside of it.”
“Seems legit,” I replied. “Where’s Suri? The Dakhari?”
“Last time I saw her, she was restrained in a cell down here, awaiting the Volod’s judgement.” Garen sounded - and looked - increasingly uncomfortable. “She is safe, though not comfortable. It seems... out of character for His Majesty to imprison a woman this way, especially one who has been so instrumental in the investigation into the Slayer...”
I fought the urge to hit him over the back of the head and run off to find her - and rescue her. But I couldn’t. We had to play the long game. “The problem is, it’s not out of character. Andrik’s been acting strangely, probably because he believes Ignas is alive.”
“Believes? No, he knows. You bought the Ravenstar back to Vulkan Keep. There is only one person you could have received it from.”
“You knew Ignas, right?”
The Captain’s mustache drooped with his expression. “Of course. I served their father and watched over both princes. Their mother died giving birth to Andrik. Their father - the Nine guard his soul - never bonded with his younger son, while Ignas was much loved by the court.”
I heard Karalti before I saw her: the heavy breathing, the rustle of leathery wings against scales. My heart began to pound, and - hanging back behind Garen - I took my spear in hand. “So what will you do when Andrik meets Ignas?”
“I will adhere to the letters of my vows. I do not serve the Volod - I serve the office of the Volod,” The older man said stiffly, unlocking a heavy door. “If you hope to seed discord between myself and the throne, you will fail.”
“If you consider ‘the truth’ to be ‘seeding disapproval’, sure. Between me and you, I’m pretty sure disrupting bullshit is part of my job description as the Herald of Matir.”
Garen grimaced with disapproval as he swung the door open.
Karalti was curled in a ball on a hard stone floor and a smattering of straw, contained by a magic circle that blazed with sick violet light. Her eyes were closed, and she was shivering and twitching in her sleep. The corners of her mouth were turned down. Her eyes rolled underneath their lids. She didn’t rouse as we entered. That was not normal for her - she was a light sleeper, instantly alert at the slightest sound. The air that came from the doorway was bone-chillingly cold, and the Mark of Matir burned on my hand when the icy breeze touched it.
“Karalti? Karalti!” I turned on Garen. “What is this? What have you done to her?!”
“I don’t know what this is. Please, stay back.” The Kingsguard clanked his way into the cell, his hand on his sword. “This circle reeks of foul magic. This wasn’t what was used to pacify her earlier today...”
The Mark snapped with a flash of pain, like the burn of a hot wire touching skin - and at the same time, I saw a pair of shadows peel from the walls. “No! Stop!”
Before Garen had even completely turned around, the shadows cross-cut the room, and the Level 25 knight lurched on his feet as his body c
rawled with thick frost. He half-turned, half-fell toward me. When his knees hit the ground, his entire body shattered.
Karalti whimpered. It was the last thing I heard before the shadows darted at me. I’d barely gotten the Alpha Rod in front of me when they locked their eyes on me.
[Void Wraith uses Abyssal Gaze.]
I looked at them before I could stop myself. My skin crackled, and there was an awful, painless sucking sensation through my body. This wasn’t Darkness element. It wasn’t anything. Before I had even really realized what I’d seen, I fell to my knees.
[You take 1030 Freezing damage!]
[You take 1031 Freezing damage!]
[You have been killed by Void Wraith!]
[You are dead.]
Chapter 42
I woke up to darkness, and the smell of old dust and dried flowers. It was cold, the air stale and dry. And I was buck-ass naked.
Fear spiked through my chest as I struggled up to my hands, feeling around in the pitch blackness of where the hell I was. My hands felt strange - like they weren't really attached to me. Like they weren’t really my hands. Intellectually, I knew that was ridiculous. They were attached to the arms that were attached to… well… me. But as I fumbled around on the floor, I couldn’t make the instinctual connection between those hands and the rest of my body. It was like trying to move things around with a pair of rubber chickens.
What the fuck is wrong with me? I sat back, rubbing my eyes with my wrists. My vision was frizzing at the corners, spitting with random colors. I can’t sit here. I need to get my shit together… I have to go rescue… umm…
Fuck. I had to help… Tidbit. No, that wasn’t her real name. It was K… K… K-something. I froze with it on the tip of my tongue, but where there should have been an instant draw from my memory, there was nothing. I could picture her in my mind: a gawky little hatchling with an adorable puppy grin. Tidbit… my goddamn dragon. She was… what? Level 3 now?
A small breeze kicked up, rattling dirt and small stones across the floor, and I suddenly remembered one thing - the Void Wraiths. Panic squeezed my heart in a tight fist as I groped around for anything that might help me, and was surprised to lay a hand down on something long and metallic. My HUD highlighted it in the darkness. It was the Spear of Nine Spheres.
Archemi Online Chronicles Boxset Page 72
