Acolyte's Underworld

by Levi Jacobs

  6

  Ella stood in a moonlit barley field two hills past the cottage, out of sight of the pilgrim encampment, uai roaring through her. Part of her was terrified of what she was about to do—knowingly call a god against their wishes?—but more of her was determined to do whatever was necessary to keep Tai safe. They couldn’t wait for the next attacker, or for someone with more knowledge than Nauro to show up and be trustworthy enough to help figure out what was happening. They needed answers now.

  And if she was wrong and the god killed her, well, they’d nearly died today anyway.

  So she took a deep breath, night air chill in her lungs, and struck resonance. Brawler’s buzz first, because it was the lowest and hardest to tune. Strength flooded her limbs. Then a wafter’s rattle, her limbs lightening, its resonance falling into harmony with the first.

  Four more to go—far more than she’d ever tried. Still, real power was uai and belief, and she had tons of uai. She struck her native timeslip next, breeze slowing against her skin. The higher powers were easier to tune, and she brought it in line with the first two, her bones beginning to resonate with the combined harmony. Fatewalking next, the almost-inaudible whine of Marea’s resonance topping off the chord, then before she could question her ability to do it, mindsight, bending its eerie hum to fit into the chord. Mosstongue in a last push, the voice at the center of the song.

  Resonance struck her like a hammer to bell, only this bell felt the size of the entire hillside, tolling straight through her into the earth, ringing from her skull up to the heavens, the air and soil around her beginning to soften—

  Ella released the power and stumbled to her knees, gasping for air. Six costs hit her at once: the pain of a brawler’s breaks. The vertigo of a wafter’s bends. The age of a timeslip, thick throat of a mosstongue, headache of a mindseye. Gods. She had known it would be hard, but—

  “Get up, Ella,” she muttered. This was no time for distraction. She stumbled up, leaning on the spear. She needed to be ready, mind and body. To turn the archrevenant to their side if she could. To fight her if not, or at least escape.

  A zip sounded behind her, and Ella spun. The spear ripped from her grasp, and Ella saw a shapely woman outlined in moonlight, face a mask of fury.

  “What is the meaning of this?” the woman hissed. “Do you want to die, girl?”

  “We need your help,” Ella said without preamble. “We were attacked by a—”

  “Silence.”

  Ella’s mouth slammed shut, lips sticking together. True fear woke in her gut—not just the loving fear that Tai was in danger, or even the fear for her own life. Fear for the woman’s raw power. She’d taken the spear like it was nothing. Sealed Ella’s lips like she was a creature of brute clay.

  And now the archrevenant stood with arms wide, uai roaring from her like a rush of boulders downhill, face turned to the sky. Waiting.

  Ella had no idea how long it went on. She was frozen in place, trying to calm the breath rushing in and out of her nostrils, fear clawing at her control.

  After some time curiosity took over despite the danger. Ella studied the darkhaired woman before her, crouched with arms spread as though ready to wrestle a giant opponent, eyes deadly still and focused on the sky. Her clothes were as outlandish as before, dress made of glossy layers that rustled in the breeze, impossible clouds of lace framing her neck and wrists and ankles, hair invisibly tied in an elegant swirl. Her face itself was nothing special, save its intense air of command. Here was a woman who knew how to get what she wanted and expected nothing less.

  A part of her mind noted the woman did not hold the spear—it lay in the grass a few paces away. So she really didn’t want the power. And judging from how still she stood, how intently she focused on the sky, she really did fear something happening from the harmony. But what?

  Ella looked up too, but there was nothing but the moon, a quarter-shadowed tonight, lines and clusters of fire burning in the dark quarter. The sky beyond it was dark with a few thin clouds. Nothing more.

  At length the woman relaxed, and Ella’s lips unsealed.

  “I’m sorry,” she said, more quietly than she’d intended. “I didn’t mean to—”

  “Doesn’t matter what the child intended,” the woman broke in, “when it throws rocks at the lion, does it?”

  “Is it that dangerous?” Ella asked. This was not why she called the woman, but curiosity had her now.

  “Are they,” the archrevenant corrected. “And yes, they are. Though we haven’t seen them in a thousand years. Now. Are you the spear carrier, or did you steal that from Sekaetai?”

  Ella startled, but of course the woman knew Tai’s name. She’d probably read the deepest corners of their souls with mindsight at last meeting. She was probably reading Ella’s thoughts right now.

  “Something like that,” the woman said, quirking a smile. “But there are limits to even my abilities. Mindsight can only read what your thoughts at the moment and their antecedents, sort of like an annotated page of text. Archrevenants are still people, girl. Remember that. You may need it. Now. I am going to bring your man.” Her look sharpened briefly, and a piece of the sky started moving.

  Ella gasped. “Were you holding him there this whole time?”

  “I was,” the archrevenant said. “I needed no distractions in case your little stunt brought them down.” She glanced toward Tai. “A word of advice to you, one woman to another: much as it may sound romantic to share the spear, choose one of you to keep it and make your peace. Trust me.”

  Tai slammed to the ground in a roar of uai. “Ella,” he said, his eyes hard on the other woman. “You’re okay?”

  “She’s fine,” the archrevenant said, “and she was right that I wouldn’t attack, though I wish you’d respected my request not to strike a full harmony again. But then you didn’t agree to that, did you?”

  The archrevenant gave a wicked smile and Ella fought down a wave of anger. The woman was intentionally baiting him, but the stakes were too high here to get emotional.

  Not that she could choose to stop being furious.

  “It was my decision,” Ella said, straightening her back, “and Tai I’m sorry, but we needed to know. Now, ah—”

  “Falena,” the archrevenant supplied, still smiling her lazy smile.

  “Falena. We were attacked by someone trying to take the spear, and we thought you would want to know about it.”

  Her expression didn’t change. “And why would you think that?”

  “Because we know you have some sort of alliance with the other archrevenants,” Ella said. “And we think one of them was behind it.”

  Falena’s eyebrows rose a touch. “Very good. There are not many that know of our alliance. And yes, if one of the Nine was behind it, I would want to know. But what makes you think that? Surely in the wake of Aran there are plenty of shamans around with a desire for power.”

  “Because our attacker showed powers it’s unlikely a shaman would have,” Ella said.

  “And we already know of another attempt to take the spear by gifting someone special powers,” Tai said. “Eyadin was his name. Your mindsight should tell the rest?”

  Falena eyes grew distant, then she nodded. “Yes. Eyadin alone might have been sent by a shaman who’d collected some of Aymila’s powers, but your memories of his memories indicate something else. And another gifted vulgar, coming after you’ve retrieved the spear, is certainly suspicious. You have my attention.”

  “Did you see the mark on his chest?” Ella asked, still uncomfortable with the idea of the woman in her mind. “Do you recognize it?”

  Falena clucked her tongue. “I do not.”

  Ella fought a wave of disappointment. “Are there any other ways to find out where he came from?”

  Falena cocked her head. “Yes. But one of the few terms of our alliance is to not intervene with the normal process of archrevenants rising and falling. If I don’t see evidence of another of the Nine behind it, you
will be on your own, lest I be seen to be keeping you in power.”

  Ella thought fast. “But if he is trying for the spear, then he will be the one intervening. And you will be obligated to stop him?”

  “Something like that. But first things first. I need to check the body.”

  She disappeared in a clap of air, leaving Ella alone with Tai on the hillside.

  “Tai,” she said, reaching out to him. “I’m sorry. I just—I needed to know. I’m fine with fighting, I just need to know what we’re up against.”

  He relaxed his shoulders with what looked like effort. “It’s fine. But if you cared that much, you could have just told me.”

  Ella held back a snort. That would have gone well. “Are you mad at me?”

  “Yeah,” he said, “I am. But I love you too. And she didn’t kill us on the spot, so maybe we’ll learn something here.”

  She could tell she had more making up to do, but Falena reappeared in a zip and a rush of air.

  Ella started. “You’ve got to show me how to do that.”

  The archrevenant frowned. “I have better things to do than teach you, girl. You already know it’s about uai and belief. Figure it out.”

  “The body?” Tai asked. “Did you find evidence?”

  “Yes,” Falena said. “And a disgruntled Yatiman I thought I might have to put down while I did my work.”

  “And?” Ella prompted.

  Falena sighed. “It’s Teynsley. Like I thought.”

  Ella recalled this as one of the names Falena had said days ago. “One of the Nine. So you’ll take care of him?”

  The archrevenant considered her a moment, then said, “Sit down, won’t you? This might take a while.”

  Chairs pushed up from the earth, strange elegant things of pale wood with delicate crimson grains. Show off, Ella thought.

  They sat. Of course the things were ridiculously comfortable. Falena cleared her throat. “I’ve suspected for some time that Teynsley wanted to upset the balance. That it was part of the reason he made the Councilate instead of sticking with the feudal Yersh kingdoms.”

  Ella goggled. “Did you say made the Councilate?”

  “Well,” Falena said, adjusting her skirts. “Made might be a strong term. You’ll discover, if you stick around long enough, that taking a direct hand in things rarely works as well as inspiring a few likely vulgars to fulfill their potential. But yes, Teynsley has been very involved in the Councilate’s rapid rise to power on this continent, and its expansion ever southward. I don’t doubt he intends to take on the Brineriders and Alenul next.”

  Tai sat on the edge of his strange seat-bench, looking ready to fly in any direction at a moment’s notice. “I’m surprised no one has upset the balance before now,” he said.

  “It isn’t easy to do,” Falena answered, leaning back as though this moonlit field were her personal sitting room. “No human can host more than one full resonance at a time. It’s why there are fundamentally nine of us, instead of one or another killing and thralling the rest long ago.”

  “The spear,” Ella said, suddenly remembering the thing was still laying in the grass, and starting up only to find Tai already holding it. “The spear would let him hold more than one resonance?”

  “Yes,” Falena said. “It would not give him as much control, but the uai would be his. It is a way around our limitations. A way we had thought closed off until you opened that stone at Aran. Who taught you?”

  Ella couldn’t help but smile. “No one. I figured it out.”

  Falena nodded. “Very good, if unfortunate. Your killing Aymila and letting her power go back to the spear has given Teynsley the perfect opportunity to try and consolidate power.”

  “But you know now,” Tai said. “You can get the rest of the alliance together and stop him.”

  Falena twitched one foot. “Our alliance is not so tightknit as it may sound. To rouse more than Hathrim and Lagulan, I will need better proof than some third-hand memories and a single corpse with wafter’s binding. I need someone to witness him in the act.”

  “So what,” Tai asked, “you want us to wait for someone to attack again?”

  Falena flicked her foot again. “Even that won’t really be enough. Such things can be faked. The memories need to be of his material body, directly involved in an attempt to take the spear.”

  “So go wherever he is and observe awhile,” Ella said. “You know what you’re looking for now.”

  “That would be like one canopy grazer trying to secretly observe another on a savannah populated with ferrets,” Falena said. “A bit difficult, even in Worldsmouth.”

  “I can do it,” Ella said.

  Tai’s head snapped around and Falena’s eyebrows raised.

  “What?” Ella pressed. “You need someone to gather evidence, and this is apparently the only way we’re getting your help in stopping him. I’m from Worldsmouth, I look the part, and I’ve lived most of my adult life under an alias. I can do this.”

  “Ella—” Tai started.

  “You are a brave woman,” Falena cut in, leaning forward. “The most likely outcome of this is that he finds you out and kills you, even if I block your thoughts off from his mind. Teynsley has not kept his resonance 1500 years from incompetence. But this is also the only way I can help you. And without help, well.” She shrugged. “You are technically an archrevenant now, whichever of you ends up holding the spear, but power means little without ability.”

  “I need to go, then.” Ella said, straightening. “I’d rather die trying than sitting around waiting. And if Teynsley’s the one who made the Councilate the way it is, then I guess I have a little bit of a personal vendetta against him too. I’ll get your evidence.”

  “Ella, no,” Tai said, taking her arm.

  Ella bit her lip. How did you convince someone to let you protect them when they were trying to protect you? “Falena, could you give us a moment?”

  “Of course, dears,” she said. “But get used to a world where people like me can listen from anywhere.” She disappeared in a clap of air.

  “Let me do this,” Tai said afterwards, moving to her chair and sitting close. “I’ve killed an archrevenant, and with the cost of your resonance—”

  “Tai,” Ella said, determination not swayed in the least. Of course he wanted to go. He always did. It was one of the things she loved in him. But this wasn’t the right time. “I’m not going to kill him, I’m going to spy on him. I have experience spying, remember? And she said he’s in Worldsmouth, a city I know like you know Riverbottom.”

  “I’m a fast learner,” he said, but she could tell he saw the truth in her points. Not that it convinced him, the stubborn fool.

  So she said the part she hadn’t wanted to. “Whoever he’s pretending to be, it’s going to be high up in the Councilate,” Ella said. “Meaning I’m going to need to get high up there too. And manners and education aside, your hair’s the wrong color for that.”

  Tai opened his mouth and closed it, then looked at the ground for a long minute. “We send someone else then,” he said. “Someone we trust.”

  “None of them are lighthairs,” she said. “Nauro was the closest thing, and he’s gone.” There really was no one else: Feynrick was a redhead and far too rude; Marrem was Achuri to her bones, and even refined and moneyed Arkless would stand out in the halls of power. Because of his hair.

  “Then I come with you,” he said. “Watch your back. Keep the spear safe.”

  “And abandon Ayugen? I can tell you’re worried about what’s happening down there. You need to go to your people. And I will do this meanwhile.”

  “Then we both go,” Tai said. “Set up defenses. Or set up a trap. Draw him to us. Take him down.”

  “You know as well as I do,” Ella said slowly, “that killing Semeca was as much luck as skill. That she was ready to go. That it was a near thing even to take down the shamans in Aran. Odds are Teynsley is much more powerful than Semeca was, if he controls the wa
fting resonance. This has a much better chance of working. And if it doesn’t—”

  “Then I lose you,” he said.

  Currents. “Then you survive, I was going to say,” she said quietly. Why was it so much easier to think about your own death than the one you loved? “Keep going. Tai you have a vision now. I know it. Everything you struggled with on our trip here, what you did to stop the violence at Aran, the way people are flocking to you—something important is happening. You need to be here for it.”

  “My vision includes you,” he said, voice thick.

  “Hey,” she said, pulling him closer, brushing at the tears rolling from his eyes. “I know. I know.”

  And then there were no more words for it, no arguments to be made. No good answers, only the right ones. So she held him and hated that she had to leave even as she resolved to do it. She would pin Teynsley to his ambitions and let the archrevenants kill him, so Tai would stay safe.

  And if the chance came to kill the archrevenant sooner than that, she’d take it.

  Falena walked back, singing something low and sweet, giving them plenty of time to see her coming. Ella revised her opinion of the woman. She still didn’t trust her, but maybe she was a decent human who just had her own reasons for what she was doing.

  Falena stopped a few paces away. “You’ve decided then?”

  “I will go,” Ella said, and Tai didn’t contradict her.

  “And Tai will keep the spear?”

  “Ella will take it,” Tai said, pushing it into her hands. Power rushed into her even as a knot of worry formed in her stomach. This was the only part of her that wasn’t ideal for the mission.

  Falena raised an eyebrow. “You would take the spear of second sight to him?”

  “I need the spear,” Ella said. “I used my resonance too much, without realizing the cost. I age rapidly without the regenerating effects of an uai stream.”

  Falena pursed her lips. “That sort of passive benefit should be fine. But Teynsley will know if you actually use the spear. Its resonance is like a familiar voice shouting in a crowd—the closer you are, the easier it is to place. Use it only in dire circumstances.”