*
Together they followed the Grand Canal southward. By sticking to the shadows cast by the plethora of warehouses and other industrial structures they travelled without further incident. Only once had they been forced to divert their route when a small group of Seekers appeared with lanterns on the pathways that ran alongside the waterways. Eventually, Kasdar led them away from the canal and pushed deeper into the city, to Rea’s surprise they were heading directly towards the vast, imposing headquarters of the Venerable Chamber.
“Don’t worry. We’ve learnt that by operating as close to the viper’s nest as we can, has, in fact, made us more difficult to track. Reach out and feel for yourself, I assure you that you’ll go unnoticed,” Kasdar explained as though reading her mind.
Rea did as he suggested, and to her surprise he was right. She could sense the Gifted residing inside the building, but because of their number, it was impossible to pick out individuals. Hiding within the building’s radius was genius. It was the last place the enemy would look, not to mention it was impossible for them to be detected easily. The moon was now low in the sky and judging by the stars she surmised that dawn was only an hour or so away. Kasdar ducked down another street, and they emerged onto a cobbled road lined with shops and taverns. Not a soul stirred, and no lights shone from their windows. Making sure to stick to the shadows cast by the building they dashed across the road and down a flight of stone steps. Kasdar stopped outside a metallic door built into a wall. Reaching into his jacket, he pulled out a heavy looking iron key and with a click unlocked the door. He pushed it open and waved Rea inside.
“Welcome to the Happy Chancer Inn,’ he said taking a lantern from a wooden stand next to the door and lighting it. They were in a small porch area filled with boxes and pieces of furniture. Kasdar stepped deeper inside and opened another door that led into a darkened bar area.
“This place is owned by yours truly. Had it in the family for generations but never really took much interest in it until recently. It has made the perfect base of operations for our little group. No doubt you want a nice warm room and a bed for the night.”
“Yes please,” Rea replied gratefully.
Kasdar smiled and led her through the bar area and up a flight of stairs. A long hallway was at the top with a dozen rooms lining it. They stopped outside a room at the end of the hall.
“There are clean clothes in the wardrobe, and there’s hot running water if you’d like to clean up. I’ll come to get you in the morning, and we can catch up then,” he explained with a kind smile. “It really is good to see you little Rea,” he added.
The two embraced before wishing each other a good night. Rea entered the room, dropped her case at the end of the comfy looking bed and fell onto it before falling into a deep sleep.
*
Rea awoke late the next morning. Sunlight streamed through the room’s window casting its warmth onto her face. The sound of voices and the smell of cooked bacon wafted through her door making her stomach growl. The bed had been incredibly comfortable, and she longed to stay in it, but her noisy tummy had other ideas. Reluctantly, she got up and walked into the adjoining bathroom. For an Inn to have running hot water was a rarity. Only the nobility was able to afford such a luxury. She went over to the porcelain sink and turned the tap savouring the feeling of the hot water washing away the dirt from her trial of the previous day. Once refreshed, she opened the wardrobe of the room and took out one of the long dresses that hung from a wire hanger. It smelt freshly laundered. She brushed her hair with the ebony handled brush lying on the bedside table before tying it up into a top knot. Satisfied that she now looked respectable, she left the room and walked down the hallway towards the voices. She could make out the deep voice of Kasdar and- she smiled before breaking into a run and bounding down the stairs. Sat at the bar were her friends. All of them!
“Little Rea!” exclaimed the tall, slim woman sat nearest to the stairs. “Cleo!” Rea ran to the woman and hugged her tightly. The Master of Anticipation was as beautiful and immaculately dressed as ever. Her embroidered pale blue silk gown glistened in the light, and her auburn hair was curled into ringlets that reached her bare shoulders. About her neck, she wore a necklace made of silver, and her arms were covered by long dark blue gloves. She was the epitome of an Imperium Noble. She was also one of its most dangerous adversaries.
Sat next to Cleo and the stark opposite of her grace and nobility was Garen, a master of Disgust. The middle-aged man smiled at Rea and raised his tankard of beer in greeting. As usual, his greying hair looked as though he’d been dragged through a hedge backwards and his dirty green overcoat and black trousers were covered in soot and dust. Only his nose and cunning eyes hinted that he was the elder brother of the man stood behind the bar.
“Take a seat Rea, breakfast shall be served shortly. I’ve told them about Wesil,” he said softly as he busied himself behind the bar.
She took a seat and gratefully took the glass of water offered to her.
“So, Kasdar says that you’ve had a bit of an ordeal since returning to Olandis and that you have some more bad news to tell us. As if losing Wesil isn’t bad enough,” Garen said bluntly.
Some things never changed. The man was still his grizzled old self. On the surface, he came across as distant and cold, but once you got to know him, he was as gentle a soul as you could ever hope to meet. She sighed heavily and drank from the glass before facing her old friends and telling them of all that had occurred in the preceding months.
“We succeeded in our mission of finding the one whose Emergence we all felt. The source was a young man, a boy really, named Elian. We tracked him down to the village of Fork in the Northern Imperium, but we arrived too late. The First Fear and the Imperium army reached the village first, and this is where my first piece of bad news comes in;’ she paused to look each of them in the eye. ‘we found Yin. He was killed by The First Fear,” she wiped a tear from her eye. The others groaned at the news. Cleo pulled a handkerchief from her breast pocket and dabbed away tears. Garen stared into his tankard, Kasdar took off his top hand and closed his eyes.
“It gets worse I’m afraid. Elian escaped but was captured by slavers and taken to Asta. The main problem was that a Conclave had been called, so getting inside was a challenge. Cutting a long story short me and Tarv fell in with some Liberators and managed to infiltrate the city and free him. It was shortly after that we learnt of Vavius.”
Kasdar looked up sharply at the mention of their leader. Cleo’s eyes widened in surprise.
“Is he alive?” she asked her tone full of hope. Rea couldn’t hold her gaze. How could she tell her that the man she loved was now a traitor to everything they’d fought for? She shook her head and pressed on with her story.
“He’d been captured infiltrating the estate of a baron in the Western Imperium. Minister Trajan had been planning on presenting him to the Supreme, but then something happened. The First Fear and the Hollowed killed Trajin and massacred the nobles at the Conclave.”
That news elicited a gasp of surprise from Kasdar.
“So that’s what happened. Several of my contacts went silent shortly after the news reached Olandis that the Supreme had seized control of the lands of numerous traitors. I had hoped they’d been taken into slavery or something, but to know they’re all dead, it defies belief.”
Rea pressed on; the most difficult part of her story was still to come.
“We saved Vavius from The First Fear’s clutches but-’ she paused and forced herself to stifle the sob that threatened to escape her throat. Her chest felt heavy and sadness almost consumer her. ‘-Tarv. He, he stayed behind to buy us time to escape.”
Kasdar leant over the bar and placed a hand on hers and squeezed it gently.
“He didn’t make it.” He finished softly.
Cleo stood suddenly and paced the room her head in her hands. Even Garen wiped tears from his eyes. Rea nodded, grateful to her friend. She let them mourn qui
etly for a few moments before gaining the courage to press on with her tale.
“He sacrificed himself for us. After that, we fled Asta and went into the countryside where we regrouped. Vavius explained that he’d been captured whilst seeking out some old map. A map that would lead him to the Temple of Arrival and a way to defeat the Supreme. Turned out that the Hollowed were in possession of it, so he devised a plan to lure The First Fear into a trap. It was his idea to return to Asta and use Elian as bait. The city was already in chaos by the time we returned after the Liberators had rallied the populace and driven out the Imperium garrison. The Supreme sent an army against us, and a battle followed. We were vastly outnumbered, and it was during the fighting that Vavius betrayed us.”
A stunned silence filled the room. Garen blinked a few times as he digested her words.
“What do you mean betrayed?” he asked in shock.
Rea got off her stool and paced the room.
“He made a deal with the First Fear. The map in exchange for Elian. He attacked Elian and left him to die and that monsters’ hands. In all the confusion we barely escaped the city alive, but there is no doubt that Vavius betrayed us. He’s never been the man we thought he was. He told Elian that he despises everyone that isn’t Gifted, that only people with the Power had the right to rule all life in this world. Elian described a look in his eyes, a look of madness. It also turns out that Corvan wasn’t slain by the Supreme as we believed either. Vavius had betrayed him to the Supreme, and she turned him into a Hollowed. He was the First Fear!”
Kasdar looked desolated at the news. He and Corvan had been good friends when they were younger. He’d always felt guilty for what had happened to him. He bent down and pulled a bottle of wine from beneath the bar. Popping the cork, he drank.
“Yin and Tarv dead, Vavius, a traitor! I can’t believe it. Everything we’ve fought for has been a lie,” Cleo said bitterly, her sadness now replaced by rage.
“Where is Vavius now?” Garen growled.
“That’s why I’m here,” Rea answered, “I need your help to find him. There’s no better tracker of Gifted in the Imperium than Kasdar, and I can’t take Vavius on alone if I do find him,” Rea explained.
“Where is this Elian now?” Cleo asked. “We will need an Empowered One to stop him. As strong as we all are, there’s no chance we can stop Vavius. He knows everything about us, how we think, how we fight.”
Rea leant heavily against the bar.
“He’s with the Liberators in the north. I asked him to come to Olandis if he was able. The way the uprising is going, however, I don’t know if he’ll be able. Before I left, they were planning something big.”
Garen reached into his coat and pulled out a newspaper that he slid across the bar to Rea.
“The crazy bastards attacked Hestra. Sounds like they caused some damage, but that headline will not do them any favours,” he said.
She picked up the paper. Emblazoned in large lettering was the headline; ‘Abandoned to die by so-called ‘Freedom Fighters’ closely followed by a sketching of slaves being cared for by Imperium soldiers.
Rea stared at the paper a knot of dread worming its way into her gut. The uprising depended on the goodwill of the people.
“Surely no one will believe this?” she said angrily.
“Well, the nobility will and seeing as how most slaves can’t read, I dare say the words will have little effect, but that image will. The masses believe what they’re told; it’s always been the way. They’re sheep, always have been. How else do you think the Imperium has survived this long despite all the horrors it commits. The Venerable Chamber control the masses through its propaganda. It’s all they’ve known.”
Rea crossed her arms at Kasdar’s words, knowing them to be true.
***
Chapter 7.
The Kaspen countryside
Hiking cross country wasn’t fun. Elian’s feet ached, and the rain clouds rolling in the sky had quite literally put a dampener on his mood. His cloak was now heavy with moisture, but at least he was dry. Walking beside him was Cassia. The mysterious woman strode ever onward with no sign of tiring. They had descended from the highlands of Hestra into the valleys of Kaspia, and now a thick mist was rolling in from the western hills. It was a desolate place.
“We need to be cautious from this point onwards. The Kaspen tribes still roam these canyons and hills,” she said suddenly.
“I thought the Supreme wiped out all the tribes?” Elian said.
Cassia stopped and pulled down her hood. To Elian’s surprise, she closed her eyes and breathed in the sweet chill air.
“No. This place has little interest for her. To tame the wild folk of this land would be more trouble than its worth. Can you smell that? Air untainted by the scent of industry and pollution. I miss that.”
Elian walked over to her and adjusted the gauntlets on his wrists. If the tribes were dangerous, then he would be ready to defend himself.
“Come. We have many days travel ahead of us to Olandis, and it’ll be dark soon,” Cassia added before setting off again.
They walked on over difficult terrain. The earlier rain softening the ground to produce thick black mud in places. More than once Cassia had to help Elian pull his leg free of the grasping substance. The pace was slow going but as the sun began to set, they’d emerged from the first of many misty valleys. As they walked Elian could sense eyes watching them, but whenever he turned to look, he saw nothing. They climbed a stony mound and took shelter under a lonely tree.
“We will rest here for the night. The terrain is too treacherous to traverse in the dark,” Cassia said as the sun dipped below the horizon. They set about collecting dead wood and gathered stones to create the base of a campfire. As the darkness fell, the temperature fell sharply. As an Empowered One Elian could endure extreme temperatures better than other people but even, he shivered. Cassia picked up two stones and channelling. Anger struck them together to create a spark. Within a few minutes, they had a roaring fire. They sat close to the flames and Elian reached into his bag and pulled out a tin of beans.
“I didn’t think I’d need a cooking pot,” he muttered as removed the lid. Cassia smiled and gestured for him to give her the tin.
“Empowered Ones don’t need such things,” she chuckled. She gripped the tin tightly in her hand and narrowed her eyes. To Elian’s surprise, her hand glowed red, then white. Steam rose from the tin, and the smell of cooked beans wafted into his nostrils.
“How’d you do that?” he asked as he took out a spoon from his pack.
“I used an upper form of Anger. When focused enough, Rage can produce heat.”
Elian nodded. Vavius had spoken of the ability before, but he’d never mentioned that it could be channelled in such a way. The more time he spent with Cassia, the more he realised how little he actually knew of his abilities. They ate in silence, but all the while Cassia’s eyes never left him. Her gaze was beginning to make him feel uncomfortable.
“What?” he asked.
“Sorry, I know its rude to stare. It’s just that I’ve not been around another Empowered One for a long time,” Cassia blushed.
“It’s okay,’ he said. “So, how do you know Vavius? Earlier it sounded like you knew him.”
Cassia looked into the crackling flames and pulled her purple cloak tighter about her shoulders.
“I met him when I was on the run from the Venerable Chamber. He had an energy about him that was infectious, and I am ashamed to say I was drawn to him. It was in the capital, at the height of the Chamber Crisis.”
Elian blinked. “Chamber Crisis? What was that?”
Cassia looked at him with a smile.
“I sometimes forget that events are hidden from the wider populace of the Imperium. I doubt anyone aside from myself, and Vavius even remembers what happened. Everyone else was killed by the Supreme and the Hollowed. The Crisis saw two of the Chamber’s Archons wage war with one another for dominance of the Venerab
le Chamber. Both sides had amassed supporters that almost tore the capital apart. Of course, Vavius and other rebels were present, stoking the flames in the hopes that the conflict would lead to disarray across the Imperium.”
“What happened?” Elian asked.
“For a time, the Supreme watched to see who would emerge the victor, but once Vavius and other Empowered Ones entered the fray, she intervened. She killed the Archons and every one of their followers. By the end of it, just Vavius and I were the only ones to have escaped her wrath alive. We escaped the city, and for a time we travelled together. His passion for defiance was catching, and for a time I believed in him. Later I learnt the truth. He had no interest in freeing the world. Instead, he sought to simply replace the Supreme and enslave the world anew, only this time, those with the Power would rule all others. His vision made me sick; so, I left him and ever since I have wandered this world doing what I can to survive.”
Elian nodded in understanding. She too had been betrayed by Vavius. Only, instead of the Anger he felt, all he could sense from her was a deep, profound sadness. It dawned on him then that the two had probably been closer than just friends.
“Vavius told me that weren’t any other Empowered Ones. That he was the last and that the Mentors were all dead. The fact you’re here makes me think he lied about that too,” he said.
Cassia laughed.
“He always was one for the dramatic. No, the Mentors yet live. They cower in Arikar, safe from the Supreme’s reach. They try to interfere as best they can, but they are nothing more than a bunch of old mystics cowering in the shadows.”
“Oh,” Elian said confused.
A chill wind swept through the valley causing him to pull his cloak tighter around his shoulders. He watched the dancing flames deep in thought.
The crackling of the fire broke the silence and shook Cassia out of her memories.
“Anyway, enough about that. I want to know more about you,” she said with a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes.
The Temple of Arrival Page 5
