He looked up into Belle’s face and saw fear.
Andy scoffed. These three women are running and cowering when a few minutes ago they were laughing at me.
Andy chuckled, but felt a tear threaten to well up. He brushed it away and left the changing room. He found his money bag and left a gold coin for Gilda, hoping she wouldn’t take it as an insult.
He looked around, but didn’t see her anywhere. He wanted to apologize, but no one was there.
Andy left the store and turned left up the street. His feet moved almost by instinct. He felt his breath deepen, and a smile snaked its way onto his face.
He looked up at the windows and saw faces looking down on him. He heard dozens of whispering voices as he passed. People cleared the street as he came. He saw a group of guards distracted by a sudden fistfight, right as he walked by.
He made another turn before looking up at the pillar.
Here it is!
He craned his neck to take in the full dimension of the Guilt. The massive, craggy column of natural stone looked encased in a polished white finish. Twined grapevines and the bent wings of songbirds rose in deep-cut relief on the alabaster surface. Andy felt that a story, never seen by the people within, was carved all the way up the edifice.
A dozen guards stood on the road that led to the wide snaking path which traveled up the Guilt. Andy saw that the base of the column had been ringed with a ramshackle wall, to separate it from the rest of the city. This was the only way onto and off the column.
This is the way in, but it’s watched. How am I supposed to get by? They’ll spot me for sure.
Andy looked over at the guards. He spotted more ornate guns.
A moment later he heard a loud hiss.
“Watch out!” a guard yelled, pushing one of his fellows to the ground.
A gun fired, and then another, and finally a few more. Andy saw one go off. The strange mechanism spun sharply, before sparking and firing.
People panicked and raced in and out of the Guilt.
Andy looked down and saw his right hand was lifted. His fingers had bent in a strange way.
What?
He shivered, lowering his arm.
Ignoring the feeling of violation, he raced past the guards, who were busy inspecting their weapons and yelling at each other about misfires.
Once past, Andy turned up the curving path. Guards stationed inside the Guilt nearly knocked him over as they ran towards the sounds of firing. Andy ignored them and kept on.
Minutes later, with the excitement died down, his thoughts drifted back to what he had seen his hand doing. The gesture reminded him of Pythia trying to fold the Juncture. She had raised her hands and held them like that.
Andy was startled by a score of young, smiling faces.
“This way,” said a small boy.
They seemed insistent that he follow them, but Andy ignored them and pushed through.
I don’t need any more weird help, or scared people, or stupid songs.
Andy remembered the Casque. He remembered being crushed down into the smallest corner of his mind as another being piloted. He recalled seeing out of his own eyes, but also being unable to direct them. Andy shivered again and nearly slapped himself as he felt the urge to break down and cry. He paused for a moment and looked out over the city. He was hundreds of feet up.
He realized that his legs were throbbing. He felt his thigh muscles and realized that they were as stiff as rocks.
How long have I been climbing?
Andy had been leaning over the rail on the right-hand side of the path. On the inside of the path, was the body of the guilt. Occasional alleys and paths led from the corkscrew path into the body of the pillar, and whatever was inside. He saw a few young faces staring at him from a window. None of their expressions were alike.
Andy ignored them and continued on.
Not certain where to turn, he tried to recall Ziesqe’s exact words. His thoughts were a blur and he knew that he should feel lost and scared, but despite that, he felt something he could only describe as, powerful.
As his legs pumped up the steepening path, he thought back to Letty, the Caspians, and his mouse friends.
I wonder what they’re up to. Hopefully I’ll see Titus and Taptalles again. They’re supposed to be in the city. The others though—I might never see any of them again, or my parents.
Andy’s thoughts drifted back to all the faces he had seen. He remembered Thrag, and his mind lingered on memory of the man.
Andy stumbled.
His hands reached out, but he still smacked his head into the stony path. He tried to pull himself up, but found that his legs refused to hold any weight. Andy felt his thighs. They were shaking.
He pulled himself to the rail and looked out over the city.
Oh, God.
He slowly pushed away from the edge. He was far higher than he had expected.
My legs are dying, but I barely feel it.
Andy felt the urge to cry again. He knew people were looking. He sat against the rail and manually lifted his knees, so he could hide his face behind them.
A few small tears fell.
I should be in school. I should be afraid. I’m not right anymore—
He kept his eyes closed for as long as he could.
Am I going to die? Should I be dead already? Maybe this is hell. Climbing a tower, and not realizing it, not seeing more than a few seconds, when you have been climbing forever. Is this hell?
Andy felt a tap on his shoulder. He cleared his throat and wiped his eyes before looking up.
“For you.” A small girl held out an apple for him. “Since you made it.”
A few other children stood nearby. They seemed cautious, but carried food and water-skins.
Andy accepted the apple. He took a large crisp bite, and nearly wept all over again. It was delicious. The speed with which he ate calmed the children.
“Come on, sit with me for a minute,” Andy said, reaching out for a water-skin.
The children looked back and forth between one another before they sat with him.
“What’s in this?” Andy asked, as he downed the whole water-skin.
“That was wine,” a shy girl mumbled.
Andy laughed like an idiot before taking a second apple.
“I almost don’t believe you, little girl. The last time I had alcohol, it tasted disgusting.”
“This wine’s for you,” she said, sheepishly. “It would kill anyone else.”
Andy tensed and looked down at the apple he had nearly finished. The apple looked normal. It had tasted far better than any he remembered.
He recalled being in the Juncture, after having food and drink that Pythia had given him; he had felt the same then.
His body tingled with elation. His muscles buzzed with the need to work. He felt a grin trying to break out onto his face, but he knew that something more had happened.
“What do you mean, little girl? Why would this wine kill anyone else?”
“It’s moon wine—any who drink it, die,” she said, plainly. “You have made proof.”
Andy took a deep breath and felt nothing at this news of poisoning. He saw the children, saw silver cloth bracelets tied to their arms, and felt this must mean something. He saw a score of nervous parents peeking out onto the curving pathway.
The Acceptance. This pathway up the Guilt is the Acceptance.
The parents watched from the windows of a closed temple. He saw boards nailed over the pediment, but someone had painted over these boards.
The Caesura.
Andy stood. The children did likewise, they seemed expectant, and motioned him towards the temple. The heavy doors opened, and he stepped inside.
The chamber was long, narrow and poorly lit by lamp light. Banks of seats ran down the left and right sides of the chamber. At the far end stood a tall podium overlooking a font.
A piece of Argument! But it’s so tiny.
Andy saw the floating orb a
nd nearly ran towards it.
The parents and children walked with him to the orb. Looking beyond the podium, Andy saw that the rear of the chamber was heavily damaged. The walls had been mostly demolished, and a debris strewn path led to another room beyond.
Andy reached out and grasped the Argument, which, to his dismay, was much smaller than his original had been. He wondered if it would work.
He tightened his grasp on the pea-sized marble. A weak glow appeared.
He tightened further, and the blade flickered momentarily into existence. He had an urge to twist his hand and flex his fingers. As he did so, the flickering blade shortened into more of a dagger, and solidified.
“The blood is strong,” a few voices whispered at the display.
Andy cringed and released his grip, before turning to leave.
The people, surprised by this, tried to direct him further into the chamber.
“Why? I have what I need.”
He tried to evade them, but suddenly felt nervous. Andy wasn’t sure what to do; every step he took towards the exit made him feel worse.
“Maybe I’ll just take a look.”
Andy went with them to the damaged wall. He was surprised when they would only go so far. He produced a glow with the Argument.
There was a creature lying on the floor in the chamber beyond. He nearly jumped at the sight before realizing it was dead.
What the hell is going on here?
The creature had the torso of a woman and the body of a lion. She had wings, which splayed out helplessly on the floor. Her hair fell across her face, and Andy saw she was motionless. He was most surprised by her blood, if it was blood. A trail of flickering letters lay pooled around her body. Occasionally, a symbol or letter would crisp off the pool and float away, smoldering as it went.
Andy shook his head.
He felt a sting of pain when he leaned in closer and saw a tattoo running up her right arm. The tattoo looked like a few paragraphs of text written in different languages.
Andy stepped past her body and saw, on the far wall, a door surrounded by fine clockwork gears. The door was flame-scorched and covered in scratches. Andy saw small plaques above each gear. He noticed that they were also scorched. He walked around the room, inspecting the gears.
Let’s just take a second, before I use the Silversight.
Andy spotted a shining letter on one of the less damaged plaques. He rubbed the plaque clean and sighed as the char wiped away. There sat the letter T.
Andy went around the room, cleaning the letters where he could. He found Latin and Greek letters, as well as a few unfamiliar symbols. The whole contrivance struck him as another puzzle.
Andy held the marble up to his eye and wasn’t surprised when it disappeared and the Silversight remained.
He walked over to the door. The sight showed that it was held in place by hundreds of locked bolts. He looked closer and saw silver threads running through the mechanism in ways he couldn’t understand, but he realized that not all the locks were engaged, only a dozen or so kept the door sealed. In his attempts to open the door, he made a few mistakes, and realized that when the wrong gear was turned, several bolts locked, while others unlocked.
I need to take my time. Every time I mess up, the locks reset.
Andy located the correct levers as he had in the ossuary. He was careful around the woman-creature’s body. It struck him that she was something out of mythology. Andy felt a lump in his throat as he stepped past her again. He wondered how she died.
A few minutes later, Andy had flicked the last lever. The door popped. He paused for a moment and tried to make sense of the letters that corresponded to the gears.
They make no message at all. Most aren’t even English characters.
He felt the urge to dismiss it as another trick, like the one he experienced outside the Juncture.
If there was a greater test, why would the door open for me?
Andy scowled, staring at the gears, before finally giving up and going for the door. He found it unlocked and pushed it open. The space inside was cramped and cylindrical. He realized it was an elevator.
Andy stepped onto the round platform and saw another lever at waist height. He summoned the dagger before raising the lever.
The cylinder shot upwards without a sound or delay. He felt the speed pushing him down. There was an almost instant stop, and he lifted slightly off the floor.
He left the elevator and found himself in a rocky nook. He heard rushing water nearby. He stepped forward and saw a glittering silver light reflecting off the rocks ahead. There was a sharp left turn, and Andy had to cover his eyes before the overwhelming silver light. There was a piece of Argument, enormous and dazzling.
Andy felt his heart leap as he stepped out of the narrow rocky hall into a much larger cylindrical space. The round room contained the massive orb, which floated a few feet off the floor. A torrent of rushing water poured from the roof, about twenty feet up, over the Argument, and then onto the floor, where it drained as quickly as it fell.
Andy saw the sheer walls rising at least twenty feet, before terminating in a carved stone rail. The space between the rail and the ceiling was filled with steel bars. It seemed like the orb was trapped inside this large, cylindrical cage.
Andy stood, overwhelmed by a surge of awe.
He saw his right arm reaching for the orb and struggled to stop it.
Andy stepped forward and nearly slipped.
The floor is covered in coins!
He saw copper, silver, and even gold coins lining the floor. He was so awestruck that he hadn’t seen them.
Andy felt like grabbing a pocket’s full. He even bent to grasp a handful of the shining coins. He listened as they slipped through his fingers and clattered to the floor.
It wouldn’t be right.
Andy smiled as the last of the coins fell and clicked against each other.
He heard a loud tap and looked up. A guard with a musket leaned against the rail, looking the other way, while a second guard, with a halberd, approached. The noise of the water was so loud that Andy couldn’t make out what they were saying.
Andy saw his arm reaching for the orb again.
What the hell?
He resisted and stepped back.
He heard another tap as the guard lent his weapon against the bars.
Andy shied away and hid behind a rock.
He felt the ground crunch as the coins slipped and pushed against each other. He saw a piece of cloth sticking out from under the coins. Andy pulled on the cloth and saw it was quite long.
There’s a message here: “Cogito, purifier of Degoskirke, for your enduring patronage we give endless thanks. We will not curse the day when you are called to serve.”
Andy dropped the banner.
This is for the Argument. It has a name, Cogito. It must purify the water that the city uses. They were thanking it, as if it were a person.
Andy couldn’t help feeling the urge to reach out and touch the Cogito.
This is the one Ziesqe told me to find. But I need little more than the small Argument I have now. I can draw a dagger and use the Silversight. If I take this, I might hurt the city.
Andy remembered the first Argument, and the mouse town of Cair Fromage. He regretted what happened to the mice and felt responsible. He couldn’t take the Cogito.
“There!” a voice cried out.
The guards had spotted him. A musket fired and a pile of coins to Andy’s right exploded in all directions.
Andy rolled away and towards the rocky hall that led to the elevator. A fearful urge told him this might be his last chance.
Andy ducked back into the hall and looked out at the Cogito. Another gunshot grazed the stone near his face.
He backed away and went towards the elevator, but found it gone, and no friendly button stood out to summon it.
Andy’s legs shook as he fumbled at the closed door, searching for anything that might call it back.
He summoned the dagger and prepared to fight the guards.
What the hell can I do with just a dagger? They’ll kill me!
Andy looked back into the Cogito’s cell. He spotted the guards unlocking a panel of bars and readying themselves to descend the circulars stairs into the pit full of coins.
There’s no way out. They’re going to shoot me!
Andy froze. All he could do was wait for the guards to come down and find him.
“How’d he get in?” A guard yelled.
“I don’t give a damn how he got in; the punishment is death!” Another responded.
Andy looked out onto the Cogito. Everything in his body wanted to race out and touch it.
Now! This is your last chance! Take it now!
“No! I won’t do it!”
Andy felt his limbs move. He lunged towards the Cogito. He tried to resist and pulled against the force driving his legs, but he only succeeded in falling to his knees, out in the open.
This is it. I’ll die here.
“There!” a guard yelled.
Andy didn’t look up. It was all he could do to keep his arms and legs from racing forward. He heard heavy footsteps on the coins. The slick crunching made his skin crawl.
“This is how it has to be,” a guard said sadly.
Andy heard a click, and the spin of the clockwork mechanism.
He heard a crack, but felt no pain.
There was silence.
Andy looked up and saw an orange burst hung in midair. A round bullet floated a few inches from his face. The water pouring over the Cogito had frozen in place. He stood and felt the carpet of coins sticking firmly, also frozen.
Andy saw something moving on the other side of the massive Argument. He circled and saw a shadow, like a moving body obscured by glass and water. It looked to be a walking form, like his own.
On the far side of the Argument he came face to face with Caspian.
Caspian wore the same clothes, and blackened armor. His face was neither sad nor disappointed, nor was it proud, but it somehow conveyed all these emotions. Andy was afraid and ashamed, but more than that he felt something he had never experienced before.
I hate this man.
Caspian smiled.
“You’ve put me through my paces.”
The Immortal of Degoskirke Page 5
