Shadow of the Raven (The Reckoning Book 1)

by Ward, Matthew

  Almost, but not quite. Though Karov had clearly made great strides in evacuating the wall-ward streets, not everyone had chosen to leave. A few refused to leave their homes and possessions, preferring to take their chances with the dead than with destitution. Most, however, were vagabonds who saw the crisis as an opportunity to plunder neighbours' belongings.

  No fewer than three groups of looters sought to rob us as we made our way to the Tower of Stars. I'd be hard-pressed to say whether it was Jamar or Constans – who had finally recovered a little good humour – who enjoyed those encounters the most. Suffice to say, no one who attacked us went on to cause trouble for others.

  Constans' return to good cheer lay in the fact that he and Arianwyn were on speaking terms again. At least, I assumed so, for they spent much of the journey in each other's company, the guardians padding quietly behind them.

  So far as I could tell, Jamar and Zorya said nothing the entire time. Jamar had been too busy watching for potential dangers. The sentinel had fallen silent ever since I'd explained why I wanted to return to the tower. I tried to tell myself there was nothing significant about this, but at no point did I really believe it and this only served to weigh my spirits down. Only after our third encounter with looters did my mood improve, and then only because Arianwyn put her arm in mine and chose to walk the rest of the way in my company, rather than Constans'.

  Now we stood in the ruins of what had once been the entrance hall – or at least, most of us did. Jaspyr and Fredrik had refused to set foot in the tower, no matter what urging Arianwyn attempted. She'd assured me they'd wait outside, and that was that. It was peculiar, but what wasn't? Putting that mystery to the back of my mind, I returned to the problem at hand.

  "Zorya, I think it's well past time that we talked to the other sentinels."

  [[They will not listen.]]

  "Perhaps, but we have to try."

  Zorya thought for a moment, and nodded. [[We have to try. If you will follow me, Master Edric?]]

  Arianwyn and I followed the sentinel into the sub-levels. Jamar and Constans opted not to accompany us. Jamar, I knew, wanted to retrieve his Hadari uniform and armour if they had survived the fire – if he were to die, he'd much prefer to do so in the raiment of his own people. I understood the sentiment, but didn't share it. Death was death. If I were to pass from this world, my clothing didn't rank highly amongst my concerns.

  Three steps from the foot of the final staircase, Zorya stumbled. It was such a human act that I moved instinctively to before I remembered just how heavy her stone form was. Zorya was barely slowed by my intervention. Sheer momentum pulled her free of my grasp and she collapsed in an undignified heap.

  Zorya refused any offer of assistance, but mutely rose to her feet. Was it my imagination, or had the spiderwork of blue lines spread further across her face? I glanced at Arianwyn and saw my concern magnified a dozen times over. To me, Zorya was an ally, she was a constant of Arianwyn's life, and by far her closest friend.

  [[My apologies, Master Edric. It would appear my exertions left me more weakened than I had suspected.]]

  "Just your exertions?" I asked carefully. "You're injured. Will your wounds heal?"

  [[Yes, or perhaps no. Either way, it is not important.]]

  "We think it's very important," Arianwyn put in, a catch in her voice.

  [[I know, Mistress Arianwyn, and I thank you both for your concern, but there are more important matters. My duty is clear.]]

  With that, Zorya turned and headed down the corridor.

  "Edric..." Arianwyn began.

  "I know. But if she won't talk to us, there's not much we can do– if indeed there's anything to do. Much as I hate to admit it, she's right: there are more important things for us to attend to." I sighed. "Try talking to her later. She might be more inclined to discuss it if I'm not around."

  Arianwyn nodded mutely and we set off in pursuit.

  I remembered the route clearly from when Jamar had brought me here. I'd been so angry then, not just at Arianwyn and her peculiar family for withholding information, but also at Jamar for provoking the situation. Those reactions seemed distant enough to belong to another person entirely.

  A few minutes later we arrived in the sentinels' forbidding mausoleum. The chamber had survived intact. Hundreds of eyes still stared sightlessly towards the door through which we'd entered. Not so much as a single sentinel was out of place.

  "How do we talk to them?" I asked Zorya quietly.

  [[There is no need to whisper, Master Edric. Your voice will not disturb them.]]

  I hadn't realised I'd been whispering, but then there was something about that chamber that encouraged reverence.

  Arianwyn smiled at my momentary discomfort, then rephrased my question for me. "How can we speak so that they'll hear us?"

  [[They can hear you now, Mistress Arianwyn. It would be a mistake to confuse stillness for slumber.]]

  As if on cue, the sentinel in the centre of the first rank twisted its head to face us. [[Indeed sister. We hear much. More than others might wish, perhaps.]] Her voice was suffused with the slight hollowness that characterised Zorya's speech. She had the classical likeness of a young noblewoman, even down to the coldly regal expression. [[You have been injured, sister.]]

  [[I have, Svara,]] Zorya replied. [[It was necessary.]]

  [[It was not.]] Svara's voice held an obvious reproof. [[You chose to become involved. This is the consequence.]]

  [[What would you have had me do? Many would have died without my assistance.]]

  [[Many have died with it,]] said Svara. [[What difference do a few lives matter? We cannot be driven by such things. Mortals have always come and gone, and always will.]]

  That statement, so flatly and callously delivered, spurred me to intercede. I opened my mouth to speak, only to close it again as Arianwyn trod none-too-gently on my foot. I caught the warning look in her eyes, and reluctantly subsided.

  [[We permitted you and the others to ally yourselves with the mortals from the tower above,]] said Svara. [[This was at variance with our duty, but still we permitted it. Now, you are damaged. Three of our kind have been destroyed. Nothing good has come from setting your purpose aside in order to aid mortals, but I sense you wish us to follow your example nonetheless?]]

  [[I request nothing. Time is precious. I did not wish to waste so much as a moment trying to convince you. But I was bidden to make the attempt, and so I am here.]] With a whisper of skirts, Zorya sank to one knee and bowed her head. [[I request nothing of you, nor of the others; I beg. This may not be the war that the Radiant intended us to fight, but it is no less important.]]

  Little of this made sense to me and, if the look on Arianwyn's face was anything to go by, she was just as much in the dark as I. I'd never really understood Zorya's place in the order of things, but only now was I realising the breath of my ignorance. Only one thing was clear: Zorya's words made no impact on Svara's calculating heart.

  [[You spoke truly,]] Svara said. [[This is not our war, and we will not fight it.]]

  "You don't understand," said Arianwyn, the familiar aristocratic chill in her voice. "Death is dragging the living realm into Otherworld. If we don't stop him, the word 'life' will no longer have any meaning. The world as we know it will no longer exist."

  [[What you describe is merely part of the cycle; the struggle between the Raven and the Thorn. They have been at war since time began, and their battles will never end.]]

  "I'm not sure that's true," I said carefully. "This doesn't feel like a battle, it feels like a rout. Malgyne's forces are running rampant, and there's no sign of Jack doing anything to stop it."

  [[Such is the perspective I would expect from a mortal,]] Svara said sadly.

  "Are you not mortal?" Arianwyn asked.

  [[Not as you would understand it. The Radiant gave us the strength we would need to endure. Our hour will come, but it is not this hour.]]

  Zorya stared at Svara. [[You are as blind as they.
More so perhaps, because your vision is clouded through choice. The Radiant would wish us do all we can, not hide ourselves away in preparation for a battle that might never come.]]

  [[You voiced this argument before, and we indulged you. We should not have done so. You have become lost in a world not your own.]] Svara raised a hand and pointed to Arianwyn. [[It has pleased you to play at mother, but this mortal is not your child. Her people are not your people. Her world is not yours to save. It is not ours to save. Not yet.]]

  Svara extended both arms, palms outward, towards Zorya. [[Come back to us. We forgive your wayward acts. Devani and Jarilla have already returned. They have seen the folly of their actions. We will make you whole.]]

  [[You are lost.]] I'd thought Zorya's peculiar voice incapable of emotion, but those three words contained a despair that made my heart ache. [[Were it not so, you would never ask this of me.]]

  [[I ask only because I do not wish my sister to pass beyond this world with her purpose incomplete, her duty unfulfilled. You are damaged; you cannot endure. Do not leave us.]]

  Zorya turned her back on Svara and the massed ranks of sentinels. [[My purpose and yours are no longer the same.]] Without another word, she stalked out of the chamber.

  Svara turned her baleful attention upon Arianwyn and I. [[Leave us, mortals.]]

  Arianwyn rounded on her, making no attempt to conceal her disgust. "Why you heartless, callow..."

  "Don't worry, we're leaving," I said, before Arianwyn's invective reached full flow. There was little point in reinforcing failure, and none at all in antagonising a creature I had no idea how to defeat should she become riled. "But I've one question, if I may?"

  [[Ask, and be gone.]]

  "The other sentinels. Do you speak for them?" I still held out a sliver of hope that some might consider breaking ranks with Svara.

  [[No, I speak only for myself. However, the others have heard all that we have discussed. Had they disagreed, I am sure they would have made their opinions known.]] She paused, then continued in what she supposed a kindly fashion. [[We bear you no ill will, even though you have corrupted Zorya. But do not come here unbidden again.]]

  Arianwyn called her a name so vulgar that I was shocked to discover she knew it, then stormed up the steps after Zorya. With one last look at the army that could have saved us all, I followed.

  Zorya waited on the other side of the great metal door. No sooner had we passed through to join her she slammed it shut with such force that it buckled under the impact, and two blocks of masonry fell from the ceiling overhead.

  [[I am sorry, Mistress Arianwyn. It appears I miscalculated the weight of the door.]]

  Arianwyn took the sentinel's arm and smiled. "I'm not sure we've any reason to go back in there for a while anyway."

  [[No. It contains nothing of value any longer.]]

  "What is the war Svara spoke of?"

  [[I barely remember. I doubt any of us recall it clearly. It used to seem so important, but now I cannot even remember the Radiant's face. Or her voice. I have a memory of great beauty, nothing more.]] Zorya shook her head slowly. [[It is of no account. The refusal is grounded in fear, not duty. The last time Svara and the others marched to war, they found themselves upon the losing side. They still bear the shame of those times. They seek comfort in a half-remembered purpose, and fear expending their strength in another cause.]]

  "What if she's right?" I asked.

  "Edric..." growled Arianwyn.

  [[I do not believe she is, but it no longer matters. My decision is made.]]

  "You honour us," I said. "I only hope we're worth it."

  [[You have made a good start. Now you must build upon it.]]

  Jamar thudded down the steps. He was again resplendent in Hadari armour and robes, and looking all the more formidable for it. He picked up on our sombre mood almost immediately. "Can I assume things did not go well?"

  The only answer he got was a small shake of the head from Arianwyn as she and Zorya continued up the stairs.

  Jamar turned to me in puzzlement. "My prince, I seem to have caused offence."

  "It's not you." I recounted a truncated version of what he'd missed.

  Jamar was quiet for a long moment after I'd finished speaking. For a while I thought he was about to pick up where our last conversation had left off but, if that was the case, he quickly decided against it. "I feared my news would be hard enough to believe," he said instead.

  "Your news?"

  "You'd better come up to the library. There's something you'll want to see."

  I don't know what I expected to find in the ruins of that once sumptuous chamber, but it most certainly wasn't a dead strawjack. It sprawled, lifeless, across the charred remains of what had once been an armchair, limbs trailing across the floor and its broken body stained with discoloured sap. This, I was fairly sure, was the same creature I'd encountered on the streets of Tressia, equal parts Jack's messenger and enforcer.

  "Look familiar?" Constans sat propped in the breached wall, legs swinging idly and his eyes fixed on the creature.

  "Yes," I said. "Is it dead?"

  Constans shrugged. "'Dead' is an increasingly unspecific term hereabouts. Let's say it hasn't evidenced any signs of life. How did things go downstairs?"

  "Badly. The sentinels refused to help, and either Zorya exiled herself in protest or they disowned her – I'm not sure which."

  He gave a low whistle. "We're becoming an unhappy little band of outcasts, aren't we? You banished from your people by royal decree, me from mine by the passage of time, and now Zorya's been cast adrift for daring to care. It sounds like the start of a bad joke, or the punch line to a rather better one."

  I didn't say anything. Constans wasn't quite correct, but it was close enough to the mark to make me uncomfortable.

  "Of course," Constans went on, tapping the bandage around his arm, "my problems look like they'll be coming to an end, sooner or later." He smiled wanly. "It's odd, I've wanted to be released from this curse for years. Typical it should fall when the living world can't afford to lose me." He caught the expression on my face and laughed. "Don't worry, I'm not planning on some grand and fatal gesture. At the very least, I'd like to make things up to Arianwyn, and I think that will take some time."

  "She's not forgiven you?"

  "She has, after a fashion, but it doesn't change how I feel. For years I was, well, evasive, in order to spare my own embarrassment. No, that particular redemption will be a little harder to earn, at least from my point of view. In the meantime, I'll just have to learn to live with limitations again, that's all."

  "The rest of us seem to manage."

  "Oh, I know. But even with the prospect of death aside, I'd forgotten just how tiring things could be..." He broke off. "Oh, hello. It seems our friend wasn't quite as lifeless as we thought."

  He wasn't wrong. The strawjack started thrashing, its branches and tendrils flailing wildly. Stepping back, I put a hand on my sword. Somehow, the creature didn't feel threatening, but I knew better than to take chances. Constans watched with interest.

  The strawjack's tendrils shifted and twisted back together. A moment later, a hooded and masked facsimile of Jack stood amongst the sap-stained ruins. This was no foot-high mannequin, but a creature that stood as tall as I. Yet still I felt no fear. The strawjack's transformation had done nothing to disguise the damage it had suffered – though his eyes glowed with green fire, Jack looked just as battered and ravaged as had his servant.

  {{Greetings, mortal.}}

  "We can skip the pleasantries," I said. "Why are you here?"

  {{I need your help.}}

  "You certainly need someone's help. You barely look like you can stand."

  Arianwyn, Jamar and Zorya filed into the room. Arianwyn started at the sight of Jack, and settled into wary watchfulness.

  {{It was unavoidable. The Raven's pawns attacked my servant as it made its way here.}}

  "No more or less than you deserve, under the circu
mstances."

  {{Foolish, conceited mortal. None of this would have happened if you had surrendered the portalstone.}}

  I laughed bitterly. "That's rich. None of this would have started if you hadn't tried to wrest control of Otherworld from Malgyne. Now he's decided to take the fight to you, and we're caught in between."

  Jack bristled. {{I was unprepared for so vigorous a response. It was never my intention to place the living realm in such peril. I sought only to end his tyranny.}}

  Over by the breached wall, Constans raised a hand. "I don't like expressing my ignorance in such lofty company, but would someone please tell me what's going on?"

  "It's quite simple," Arianwyn replied, glaring at Jack. "Everyone we know is to die because Jerack wanted to remove death from the world, but didn't think things through."

  "Is that even possible?"

  {{Everything is possible,}} Jack hissed. I realised that Constans' removal from the ranks of eternals meant that he was now fully visible to Jack. {{How long have you lived? Much beyond the 'possible' span, as such things are understood.}}

  "He makes a fair point," Jamar said. "Not that it helps us."

  "Leaving that aside, why did you even want the portalstone?" I asked Jack. "I mean, just denying it to Malgyne would have only slowed him down, and when we tried to use it to close the bridge, things got worse."

  Jack laughed, a dry rattling sound more sinister than humorous. {{And if a child fails to lock a door because the workings of the mechanism are beyond his intellect, does that mean that the lock is defective, or that the child is stupid?}}

  Arianwyn's face twisted with guilt. "You're saying this is my fault?"

  {{That would imply that you had any chance of wielding the portalstone's power. Had you a hundred years to study, I doubt you could have grasped its workings. The Raven has manipulated you all beautifully. I almost admire his deceits.}}

  "I think we'd all much rather you told us how to defeat him," Constans said airily. "Assuming, of course, that we can."

  {{Mortals cannot defeat Death – that is a cornerstone of existence.}} Jack paused, then went on slyly. {{But his plans can be stopped. You cannot use the portalstone, but I can.}}