by Vela Roth
The prince nodded. “My keep is the staging point for all the Charge’s efforts. We are a considerable force of Hesperines errant who travel widely to offer Solace and Mercy wherever we can. My personal task, however, is to safeguard the last remaining community of Hesperites.”
“Then there really are human worshipers of Hespera left in Tenebra?”
“Yes, they have built a settlement in the wild east, where they hope to escape notice. A dangerous endeavor. Although they have their own blood magic, Hesperine aid is vital to their survival.”
Now Cassia understood why the prince was determined to stop the Departure. Why he was relying on her and Lio. “You must warn the Hesperites. Chrysanthos is a new danger to them. I am sorry, for I am to blame for this. My activities at Solorum have raised the Dexion’s suspicions, and he now believes there to be a blood sorceress active in Tenebra. I would hate for his mistaken conclusions about me to bring harm upon the real Hesperites.”
Kumeta stepped closer. “We are well aware of Chrysanthos’s witch hunt. The Order of Anthros’s aggression is inevitable, Cassia. Nothing you have said or done has increased the danger. You have mitigated the danger to us all.”
“It eases my heart to know, Master Kumeta.”
Basir joined them carrying two coffee cups and handed one to his Grace.
“Master Basir, how are you?” Cassia asked the unsmiling mind mage.
Lio extended a hand. “Please tell me no one has deprived you of your leave.”
Basir returned Lio’s wrist clasp. “Thank you for your concern, both of you. I am taking a working leave.”
As Basir spoke, Cassia caught a glimpse of sharp steel caps where his canines had yet to grow back. She shivered.
Kumeta touched his cheek. “What will it take to convince you to let me dote on you? I don’t know what to do with you.”
The warmth in his eyes cast his whole face in a different light. “You may dote on me all you like. I can take a working leave and be thoroughly doted upon at the same time.”
A grin appeared at the corners of her mouth.
Lio cleared his throat. “Did Rudhira, ah, return your—”
“Yes,” Basir snapped. “I took care of them discreetly.”
“He sent them up in a fearsome flash of light,” Kumeta revealed, “so as not to be further embarrassed.”
“As much as I appreciate our prince robbing that villain of his trophy, it’s not as if I can put them back in my head.”
Everyone did Basir the kindness of refraining from laughter. Cassia saw the whole circle smile behind his back, but they were smiles of affection.
“Lio,” said Basir.
Lio looked a little startled, as if the Master Envoy had said something unusual. “Yes, Basir.”
“Thank you for ensuring I lost nothing more. Your decisive intervention in Martyr’s Pass made it possible for me to escape from the heart hunters. You have the envoys’ gratitude. The way you stopped the hunters from committing further violence did our people proud. We only regret the enemy mind mage interfered before you could turn over your prisoners to our prince.”
Cassia tucked Lio’s arm closer to her in silent encouragement.
Lio clasped Basir’s wrist once more. “Your words mean more to me than I can say.”
“I have a report for the circle,” the prince said, “concerning the events in the pass. Lio is best qualified to describe his battle with the mage of dreams, but my findings can assist.”
Lio spoke with conviction. “When I came too close to the mage of dreams in the heart hunters’ thoughts, the enemy thelemancer destroyed his own forces to avoid discovery.”
The prince nodded. “I have now had the opportunity to conduct a more thorough examination of the only surviving heart hunter. As a theramancer, I can say without doubt the wounds on the man’s mind were the work of a mage of dreams.”
Lio let out a breath. Cassia took Lio’s hand.
“However,” the prince continued, “there are also signs of Hesperine thelemancy, which held the man’s mind during the moments the mage of dreams committed his onslaught. Lio’s presence in the man’s mind tempered the damage the mage of dreams tried to inflict. Lio is the only reason the man lives.”
Queen Soteira spoke. “No one can doubt your findings.”
“Thanks to your power and wisdom, Bamaayo,” her son replied. “You taught me well to recognize the scars of necromancy in ways that only the ancient mind healing tradition of the Empire can reveal them to us.”
Lio looked at from his Ritual father to his Queen. “Thank you.”
“Well done, Lio,” Annassa Soteira said.
Lio put a hand over his heart and bowed deeply. His father clapped him on the shoulder, and relief was written large on his mother’s face. Lio held fast to Cassia’s hand.
Argyros spoke up from the opposite side of the terrace. “I want to know who the mage of dreams is who has done this.”
Lio did not quite meet his uncle’s gaze. “Yes, we must assess the threat he poses. Rudhira, were you able to learn anything more about him from the heart hunter’s mind?”
“No more than the imprint of his power. He managed to obliterate most evidence of himself. But there is still hope the heart hunter’s mind may respond to healing—and provide us with more information—since you managed to save his life.”
“Unfortunately,” said Basir, “I have no further insight to offer. The mage of dreams never directly engaged with me. Lio and Cassia, perhaps you can tell us more of him.”
With the reassurance of Lio’s hand in hers, Cassia spoke up. Knowledge was her preferred weapon, and she would bring all of it she had against the man who had planned to destroy her. “I overheard the heart hunters discussing him. The mage of dreams is colluding with the king, acting as some kind of intermediary between him and the heart hunters. Lucis was to pay the hunters in gold and breeding rights to my liegehound. The mage’s compensation was me. Apparently he prefers women to coin as a bribe.”
“He can’t take either where I shall send him on your behalf.” Hippolyta looked ready to make good on her promise that very hour. “Two mages of Hypnos on our hands!”
“If I meet the mage of dreams in a mind duel again,” Lio promised, “I will report a single casualty to you without remorse.”
“With such powerful protection, I shall not fear him,” Cassia resolved.
“You have paid dearly to stand against your father,” the prince said to her. “In so doing, you have won us the time we need to prepare for the coming war. Thanks to your tireless efforts, many lives have been spared that would already have been lost to us, had you not taken it upon yourself to lend your aid to our people.”
“Lio got a message to me,” Cassia replied, “about the Queens calling everyone home, but I knew from the murmurs among the mages there were still many Hesperines errant in Tenebra. I have feared for them without knowing how to help them more directly.”
“You have helped them as directly as I,” said the prince. “The Hesperines errant you encountered as a child are almost certainly among them.”
Lio nodded. “I tried to discover who they are and learned that none of the returnees to Orthros were at the Siege of Sovereigns. We believe your rescuers are still in the field.”
“And so is our daughter Pherenike,” said Argyros.
Cassia looked to Lio’s uncle. Argyros’s expression and body language were even more mysterious than other Hesperines’. He was well-nigh impossible to read. But at that moment, there was grief in his eyes she could not mistake. If that look meant what she had done had not been enough for Nike, she would not be able to bear it.
“Kadi told me about Nike,” Cassia said. “Is there any news?”
The prince met Argyros’s gaze. “The Charge spares no effort in our search for her.”
Mak had come to Cassia’s side again. “I might get a chance to meet Nike for the first time, thanks to you.”
“These eighty-nine years,” said Hippolyt
a, “Nike has roamed Tenebra alone. She did not answer the Queens’ call when they summoned everyone home.”
“She will endure the crisis of the moment,” Apollon said. “She is a Master Steward and a veteran of the Blood Errant.”
“But as her Trial brother,” said the prince, “I will seek her tirelessly until we reassure ourselves as to her safety. Cassia, if you had not stalled the hostilities this long, our work would be all but impossible.”
Hippolyta came over and touched a hand to Cassia’s shoulder. “There are many families here in Orthros that are bound to you in gratitude. We want you to know Blood Argyros is among them.”
Cassia could see the power in Hippolyta’s slight frame, the authority in her hand, and the worry in her heart. “I’m so sorry about Nike. If there is anything more I can do to help her, I will.”
Argyros took his Grace’s arm and drew her close. “You are doing it tonight, Cassia.”
The prince nodded. “The Charge can now coordinate our efforts with you personally.”
“The Stand,” Hippolyta went on, “will go over all our security measures with you and adjust them according to what you know of the mages’ hidden powers.”
“Once we have addressed immediate dangers,” Lio said, “it will be time to consult with you on the various motivations—and weaknesses—of the Tenebran lords that will make them vulnerable to our persuasion. We have methods in mind to sway them in favor of peace with Orthros over alliance with Cordium, but only with your insight can we apply those methods effectively.”
Kumeta looked to Elder Firstblood Hypatia. “Also, our scholars will need as much information as possible on how the Aithourian Circle hides their magic.”
Hypatia had yet to unroll a single one of the scrolls stacked on the table before her. Her ink bottles were capped, her quills untouched. Her statue had warned she was not to be trifled with, but what living color revealed was that she was as olive-skinned as Cassia herself, with thick black hair curled in a timeless fashion. Had she been a sophisticated Cordian in her mortal life?
Her Grace lounged behind her with a hand on her shoulder. Elder Grace Khaldaios was a Hesperine of Imperial origin with bronze skin and an elaborate, well-groomed beard. During Cassia’s brief introduction to him at the welcoming ceremony, he had struck her as an articulate scholar who exuded far more warmth than his Grace.
Hypatia frowned at Kumeta. “I am still loathe to lay burdens such as these on one as young as Cassia. After fighting so valiantly these many months, I think she has earned the right to end her struggle and let us proceed from here. I shall go on record as the only one here tonight who offers her the opportunity to excuse herself from this gathering.”
Argyros glanced at Hypatia. “No one is keeping annals of this circle, my friend.”
“Yet we have all made statements tonight of our gratitude to Cassia. She knows how much we appreciate all she has accomplished. What more can we possibly ask of her? No one here can deny she has done her part.”
Hypatia certainly took a different tone from the other Hesperines. And a Hesperine’s tone, especially an elder firstblood’s, was infinitely more nuanced than any Tenebran lord’s bluster or even a Cordian master’s double-edged courtliness. For the first time that night, Cassia had the feeling she must tread with caution.
When Cassia felt Lio’s hand tighten on hers, she took that for a confirmation that Hypatia might present a challenge.
Before Cassia could respond to the Elder Firstblood’s offer, Basir cut in. “There is still much more she can do.”
“Will you milk a child for information, Basir?” Hypatia asked.
“She was never a child,” Kumeta answered. “Life in Tenebra robbed her of that. Whether we like it or not, she carries a kingdom on her shoulders.”
“And she has done so with extraordinary courage and strength.” Hypatia gave Cassia a beautiful, majestic smile. Like all Hesperines, when she smiled, she gave away her fangs. “Now it is time for you to lay down your heavy burdens. You can leave matters in our hands.”
That wasn’t a challenge. That was an insult.
Cassia had carried grief so heavy all she wished to do was lay it down. She had woken to mornings when it took all her strength just to make it out of her bed. She had traveled the length of Tenebra with mages who would love to make it easy for her to give up and go home. When she had stared up the length of a heart hunter’s crossbow, it would have been easy to accept respite from Hypnos rather than endure the suffering of living on in Anthros’s world.
And every time, Cassia had chosen not to lay down her heavy burdens.
Cassia gave Hypatia the Smile. “I thank you for your generous offer of respite, Elder Firstblood. But I cannot accept. Since the night I helped the Hesperine embassy escape Orthros, I have had nothing to work with but my own two hands. You must forgive me if I deem them necessary to continue pushing forward all I have set in motion.”
Hypatia’s eyes glittered. “Come now, my dear. No one will begrudge you rest.”
Lio touched his hand to Cassia’s back more firmly, a subtle sign of support. The other Hesperines watched, but this time, none of them took it upon themselves to answer for Cassia.
“I cannot afford rest, Elder Firstblood,” Cassia said.
“Oh, but you can. You are in Orthros now. This is the land of rest.”
“When the King of Tenebra promises peace with Orthros, I will rest. When the Cordian mages go back to their temples disappointed, I will rest. When every Hesperine errant is safe, I will rest. Do you think any of this will happen tonight, Elder Firstblood Hypatia? Because if not, I am in for another sleepless night.”
The Hesperine scholar gave a courtier’s laugh, seductive and haughty. “Naturally, such ambitious plans take time, child.”
“Would you like to know how much time, Elder Firstblood?” Cassia asked innocently as a maiden. “I have been learning the Hesperine clock, which you devised for your people, and can tell you according to your own system. Sixteen hours a night, which is twenty-four hours a day by Tenebran reckoning. That is how much time I have devoted to keeping the king and the Orders at bay.”
“No one doubts your tireless efforts on our behalf.”
Boldness and courage, it seemed, were enough to put Hypatia on her guard, but not to impress her. But then, she was not a fighter. Cassia thought of the scrolls Hypatia the statue bore on her back. With this Hesperine, surely knowledge was the most effective means of negotiation.
“Of those sixteen hours a night,” Cassia offered, “I think you will be most interested in only a few minutes. A few minutes was all it took for Skleros to cast a working that left an entire hex of necromancers from the Order of Hypnos dead at his feet and brought the Dexion of the Aithourian Circle to his knees.”
Hypatia hesitated.
It was all the opportunity Cassia needed. She kept talking and spun out the information she had to bargain, working up to what Hypatia must really want to hear. “Apprentice Tychon is powerful enough to traverse from Solorum to the border of Orthros and back without landing in a faint. But his fellow mages were satisfied that his power is obscured because he is acting as Chrysanthos’s channel.”
At that, Hypatia resumed her silken retorts. “A necromancer performing a harrowing ritual on a war mage? An apprentice serving as a channel? Dear child, I think what you beheld has caused you some confusion. The sort of magic you are making a noble effort to describe is strictly theoretical. It is not possible in actual practice.”
“You mean essential displacement, whereby a mage’s power is removed from him and seated in a vessel, from which he can draw via a channel?”
Hypatia’s gaze sharpened. “Yes, that is what I was referring to. The concept has been known for time out of mind, if only among the most intrepid circles that investigate the darkest arcane mysteries. However, no one has ever achieved such a feat in reality. Certainly not an upstart Gift Collector who hasn’t even lived a century. You cannot have seen
this actually happen.”
“I was standing in the room. I listened to Skleros explain in precise detail exactly how the spell works, then watched him perform it. I witnessed the effect it had on Chrysanthos, Tychon and the victim they chose from the king’s prison to use as a vessel. Shall I tell you more?”
“I think I ought to discuss the event with you in detail,” the scholar conceded. She drew herself up in her seat. “So as to assist you in understanding what you really saw.”
“I am ready,” Cassia dared her.
“Then we shall begin.” Queen Soteira was smiling. “Cassia, before the elder firstbloods, the Stand, our son and his Charge, we welcome you to Orthros. Under the Goddess’s Eyes, we make it known that you have our gratitude and that of all our people.”
Queen Alea gestured to the terrace around them. “The doors of Orthros are open to you. You are as one of our own. If you are ever in danger, you can rely on our protection. When you are in need, you can rely on our aid. All your desires shall be fulfilled with generosity, as the Goddess has generously provided for us.”
“Sit among us,” said Queen Soteira, “and let the Solstice Summit commence.”
Veil Hours
They had been at the circle for several hours by Cassia’s count when the peals that marked the time changed to low, mellow tones.
Queen Alea set down her empty coffee cup. “Veil hours already.”
“We have done enough for one night,” Queen Soteira declared.
From their terrace, Cassia could see lights winking out all over the city. The glow Selas cast into the sky faded, and stars that had not been visible before revealed themselves.
“Are deaths necessary for every successful displacement?” Hypatia was saying to Argyros. “Could it be their willingness to engage in human sacrifice that allowed the Order of Hypnos to realize the theory?”
Lio’s uncle shook his head. “The other six necromancers would never have agreed to assist Skleros if they had expected to be human sacrifices.”
“Perhaps they were not aware of that requirement of the ritual. The art is clearly unique to Gift Collectors and remains mysterious even to their fellow necromancers.”
