Rcanian placed his hand on the door. “That man is a jerk.”
“Yeah,” I agreed with a sigh. “I’d thought that he wasn’t, obviously.” I motioned to my swollen belly. “I don’t know how deep Gryshelm’s conspiracy goes. It sounds as if Altis has been converted. Maybe we should have all stayed together. Good night.”
He smiled once more at me and entered his room, closing the door softly behind him. As I opened my own door, I felt the tip of a knife at my back.
“Where is Meena?” a voice I recognized demanded.
“Lazurte?” I asked. The knife moved quickly from my back to my neck. He pulled me close to him, his breath blew warm on my cheek.
“Of course,” he whispered in my ear. He pushed me into the room and slammed the door behind us.
“I’ve only just arrived. Stars and planets! Has something happened?” Faster than I had any right to, I twisted his arm so that he flopped to the ground. I wasn’t sure if I should be worried that my reflexes had changed. I knew that it was from Azabin. More than just my Mist was changing.
Lazurte scrambled to his feet and brandished the knife defensively in front of his body.
“You do know that knife really isn’t going to do anything, right?” I asked him, but he didn’t lower it. “Why are you worried about Meena?”
“I told her to drop her questioning. I told her the White Knights were involved.”
“When did you hear from her last?”
“Last week.”
“That’s not so bad. Maybe she’s busy?” I said hopefully.
He collapsed onto the simple bed either figuring that his knife wasn’t going to be effective or deciding that I wasn’t a threat. “Around the time you left, Meena started suspecting that your aunt laundered money through the library budget. Six weeks ago, she traced it to the White Knights and suspected that Altis himself had joined with them.”
“I noticed Altis’s change in attitude,” I said dryly.
“Last I saw her, she said that she was going to trick Nazarie into confessing that she killed Shezdon and tried to kill you.”
“What about Adine, the Dybreakean? He was going to help her.”
“He left about a month ago. He said that whatever she had gotten into was too much for him.”
“Meena wouldn’t have done anything rash,” I insisted, but even as I said it, I knew that she would definitely do something rash if she felt whatever risk she took was worth the possible reward.
“She is measured in her responses,” Lazurte agreed, “but she’s never been out of communication so long.” Fear and worry etched across his face. “Her father hasn’t heard from her either.”
“Go home. I’ll find out what happened to Meena,” I said. He began to protest. I put my hand up and he silenced. “There is nothing for you to do.”
“I had warned you,” he reminded me again. “And I think Meena has paid the price.”
I couldn’t help but assume that he might be right.
Chapter 36
The next morning, we gathered together in the same reception room as the night before. The winter sun streamed in through the glass, bright and fresh. It caught against the crystals in the chandeliers, which acted like prisms, casting a constellation of tiny rainbows around the room. Nazarie marched toward us, each step with more purpose that I’d ever seen in her before. She held her chin high and smiled.
“Where’s Meena?” I asked before anyone could interject with matters of state.
“Your little friend?” Nazarie responded, without breaking stride. “Why, she agrees with me.”
“About what exactly?” Prince Jaysen glowered, almost equally at me for interrupting him as at Nazarie for her half admission of her crimes.
“It’s all true, every single word,” she waved her hand as if accusations of murder, treason, and espionage were of little importance to her. “But you’ve not heard it all. You’ve not heard why the gods created a Counter.” She paused and Altis nodded encouragingly at her.
Nazarie continued. “You all know the story. When the gods realized that they could no longer control Azabin and locked his fate and ultimate destruction within our world, the Guardians took pity upon us and betrayed their parents, creating the Prophecy’s Promise, locking it within the bloodline that Hailey and I share. The Guardians provided humans with a way to expel Azabin. But the Promise is only a desperate scramble against all hope, against all odds.”
Jaysen observed Nazarie with skepticism. “And?”
Nazarie pressed on, undeterred. “What about you from the other Slice? Have you ever heard the Promise to be of freeing our world or destroying Azabin?”
“The Promise could fail. The Prophecy does not deny this,” Desha admitted. “But if we do not try, we will all die.”
Nazarie nodded. “But if Hailey fails, we will die anyway. And we will destroy the entire universe. This is why the gods created a Counter. The Guardians hope that the Promise can destroy Azabin, but it is not for certain. If we fail, we will re-release this monstrosity into the universe.”
Altis spoke up. “The gods were unable to destroy this creature. It is irrational to think that we can. I do not believe that success is possible.”
“I am not willing to throw my people on a proverbial sword for worlds and creations that we don’t even know,” said Jaysen.
“But that is the point. We are already under the sword. This is our fate,” Altis said.
“It is the god’s fate,” I responded. “They created Azabin. We did not.”
“Kirta, do you have any Foresight into this?” Desha asked.
“This is closed to me,” she responded. “Many paths are possible. Hailey could succeed. That path is possible. But, if Hailey fails, this Power will be released upon the whole of the universe. Any time that she removes an Edge, she risks releasing Azabin. I see another path where Hailey does seem to defeat it, but then she becomes Azabin. People, gods, Guardians, stars, and planets will shrivel and die. With each death, her reliance upon Azabin will grow stronger and she will lose herself more and more. It has already begun.”
“Hailey, is this true?” Desha asked, concern in her eyes.
“I have felt him,” I admitted. “I’ve Channeled his power, but I’ve controlled it.”
“Have you?” Desha asked. “I saw what happened at Gryshelm’s Edge yesterday.”
Rcanian stepped forward. “My grandmother did not see this path before the seed of doubt was planted in her. It may not happen.”
“But it could,” Desha cautioned. “And that is the problem. The Mitanni will stand with the Counter, not with the Promise. I am sorry, Hailey. Truly, I am. I am sorry for helping you and the part we had played. Last night, your aunt explained the price of attempting and failing. Azabin could escape. If he does, he will destroy the universe.”
“It is not our people who should suffer,” Kadir said. “And I told Nazarie Troubade as much last night.”
Smart, Nazarie having side conversations before the audience. This is why I had not wanted Altis aware. He must have warned Nazarie and organized these meetings.
“I disallow it,” declared Prince Jaysen. “Nazarie, you are ordered to hand over the missing pages.”
Nazarie turned to Altis. “What say you? As the Chief Weaver, I take my orders from you above any government.”
Altis paused. The eyes of the rulers of three nations were upon him. If others outside this room understood the magnitude of what he was being asked to decide in this moment, they, too, would hold their breath and wait.
Did he believe in the possibility that I could fail?
Did he believe the risk of destroying the universe was worth saving our tiny planet?
“The Weavers will be with the Mitanni,” Altis said evenly.
“Cousin!” Jaysen whispered in shock. “This is treason!”
“Yes, I know,” he responded, sadly.
Krystin bit her lip; her perfect golden curls cascaded over her slender shoulder.
“Dybreakea will remain neutral in this. But the betrothal is severed. I will not pair myself with a man willing to commit treason, regardless of the reasons.”
“You will not stand with the Mitanni,” Rcanian said to Desha. “I am sorry, but I cannot agree with you.” He moved to stand beside me. “If you insist on that path, I will demand you hand over the Burden of Rule.”
I knew it; Desha knew it; Rcanian knew it. This was the moment that Rcanian had seen. This was when Desha would refuse to return the Burden of Rule. Rcanian had sacrificed his ability to See even while knowing the Burden would be snatched from him.
“No. I join Altis in treason,” Desha said.
“Guards, arrest them,” Jaysen ordered.
I knew the next move. I knew Altis.
I took the shield that had been protecting the blue ball from near the Edges and put it around Kadir, Adara, Bahlym, Jaysen, Rcanian, and me. I also put it around the hovercrafts and the people of the Empire on the outskirts of town.
“Kill!” Altis ordered, and Desha’s voice echoed after his.
Chapter 37
Wave after wave of Mist beat upon the shields, but the shields were not mine. I controlled them, but they had withstood millennia next to The Edges. This onslaught would not harm them. Rather, every time Mist hit upon them, they grew stronger, absorbing the energy. Rcanian tried to hurl Mist at Desha, but the shield caught that, too.
We were in a stalemate, and everyone knew it.
Altis, patient, wise, strategic Altis was the first to acknowledge it. “We can’t hurt you, but you can’t move.”
I did move. I put the shield around them instead of around us.
“Nice,” Nazarie said. “But you don’t know where the pages are, and you can’t protect everyone.”
I did not understand what she meant at first, but then Kael entered the room followed by a dozen Mist Weavers, each holding a different Lord or Lady in the air.
“We will kill them,” Altis said.
I turned to the prince, waiting for direction. “Very well,” he sighed. “We will let you go into the Weaver’s Keep. Take your hostages to the opening and as each of you goes, let them go. No hostage is to go in with you.”
“What of my People outside your town,” Desha demanded, turning to Altis. “Their safety must be guaranteed or the Mitanni will abandon you.”
“They must be brought to the Weavers’ Keep before we will release hostages,” Altis commanded.
In the end Jaysen, had no option but to agree to the terms. He held tenuous control over the kingdom as his mother was not yet dead. He had effectively lost the Mist Weavers. He could not risk the backlash of the rest of his nobility if he allowed these people to die. And Altis knew it.
Only Altis, Nazarie, Desha, and the hostages remained outside of the Keep’s walls. Altis and Nazarie held the nobility by their life force. One pull of the Mist and a dozen people would die. None dared to move as we waited for the Mitanni to be escorted through the City. I left the shield around them the whole time. When they reached the entrance to the Keep, Desha explained the situation to them. Only a dozen of the Mitanni chose to stay with Rcanian. The others followed Desha into the Keep.
“Any Weaver who does not agree with us will be free to leave. I will not kill a fellow Weaver in cold blood,” Altis decreed. “But believe me, we will come to Counter, and we will kill anyone who stands against us.”
“I want to see that Meena is safe,” I commanded.
“Why would she be in any other state?” Nazarie asked an equal measure of puzzlement and suspicion upon her face.
“You held those nobles hostage and I care nothing for them.”
“It seems Meena cares nothing for you,” said Nazarie.
“I want to see for myself.”
“Very well,” Nazarie agreed, turning to whisper to an apprentice.
Within minutes, Meena materialized. “I do not wish to speak to the traitor who risks our universe for the sake of a single planet, but I’ve come as my Lead Scholar has commanded.” She stared into the empty space above my head, refusing to even make eye contact.
“Meena, surely you don’t believe that I will fail?” I cried.
Bahlym stood behind me and placed his hand sympathetically on my shoulder. “Come away, Hailey,” he whispered. “There’s nothing to be done.”
I nodded curtly and bit my lip. Altis had already betrayed me. I was expecting Nazarie. I hadn’t known Desha very long. All three of those losses hurt. But Meena? It seemed my trust in her had been a mistake. I’d sold myself to Adine’s university for her sake. I’d wanted the university, but still, had I not, I still would have agreed to going with Adine. Anything to help her. She’d been like a sister to me.
Bahlym had led me to a bench away from the crowd.
“If no one thinks that I can do this, who am I to disagree?”
Bahlym knelt on the ground in front of me. “I believe that you can do this. I believe that you will save our planet. You will save our lives.”
“I keep meddling where I don’t belong and make it worse. Like when I brought that painting for you. I tried to help. I break things when I help.”
“Is that what you think?”
“You were so upset.”
“I was so upset because I’d followed family duty over religious. I’d lost my faith.” He sat down next to me and took my hands in his. “I’d prayed when I painted that picture that the Guardians would show me what to do. I begged. I pleaded. But, of course, they were silent. Until the day you fell through our Edge, what you call Gryshelm’s Edge. I knew they’d answered me. And when you brought that painting…” His voice caught in his throat. “I was so overwhelmed that the Guardians had spoken to me and that you, the Promise, trusted me. I had doubted the Guardians, but they had not doubted me. They entrusted you into my safe keeping. One thing I’ve learned is that you have to trust yourself. It doesn’t matter what your aunt, your lover, or your friend think. It matters what you think.”
“I think that I can do this.”
“I know you can,” Bahlym insisted. We sat there for several long minutes, hand in hand. Altis approached. He stared at my hands interwoven in Bahlym’s. I smiled.
Altis cleared his throat. “I’d hoped to speak with you alone, to beg you to reconsider.”
“There is nothing to consider,” I said coldly. “Unless you wish to reconsider your treason.”
“There is nothing to consider,” Altis echoed my words. They sounded hollow, empty. “The thirty-two Weavers who stand with you are ready. This is good-bye.”
Part of me yearned to tell him that Bahlym was not the father, that Bahlym was only a friend. That Altis was who I loved. A stronger part of me wanted never to see his face again. And so I did not tell him that he was Sara Heather’s father. Hand in hand with Bahlym, I followed Altis to the Keep’s entrance. Before they disappeared into the Keep, Nazarie turned. “Hailey, I am sorry, but you need to stop your selfishness. You risk the whole world.”
“How old was my sister when you killed her?” I asked her.
“Nine,” Nazarie swallowed.
“You are thinking that you should have killed me, too?” I asked.
“You were like a daughter to me,” she responded sadly, turning to go into the Keep. The door slammed and the hostages crumbled to the ground.
I sighed in frustration. “The missing page is inside that stronghold and guarded by three hundred Weavers and fifty Mitanni.”
Kadir cleared his throat. “We don’t have time to wait for them to starve to death. However, there is another option. The Empire would be willing to help you.”
“Help or conquer?” Jaysen asked dryly.
“Help. The Empire is at your service,” Kadir bowed. “If we don’t get in there, we are all dead within a month. Maybe two. I have Weavers and weapons back in my Slice. We can bring reinforcements.”
“There is another weak point at the South Pole,” I offered. “I do need to collect another
cistea’a from down there. I could take Kadir with me, let him across, and wait for him there.”
“If we were to do that,” Kadir said, “I should be able to raise an army and be back to you within three days.”
“Let’s formalize a treaty first,” Jaysen insisted. “I’ll not lose this kingdom before it’s even fully mine.”
Chapter 38
We were to leave first thing the next morning. Before we left, I penned a note to Lazurte and left instructions on how to deliver it. I wrote several versions, going into her betrayal, her change of mind. I wrote another explaining why I believed as I did and why she believed as she did. But each letter was therapeutic for me but contained little in the way of information he would care about. In the end, I simply told him that I’d seen her, she was fine, and he didn’t need to worry. I hoped it would be enough for him.
“You keep odd friends,” Prince Jaysen noted, when he realized to whom I wrote.
“Meena did. He was worried. I owe him this.”
Only a handful of us set forth on the hovercraft. Bahlym and Adara refused to allow me to wait for the Empire’s reinforcements alone, so they demanded a place in the hovercraft. Kadir left most of his best warriors to help defend Gryshelm if the Weavers did break out. Rcanian and Kirta also stayed behind.
The flight south took much longer, but eventually we reached our destination. I pulled apart Gryshelm’s Edge and the hovercraft made its way through. Adara, Bahlym, and I watched it disappear as Gryshelm’s Edge settled back into place. Azabin’s power was weak down here. Perhaps he still hunted for me in the north.
I couldn’t feel the cistea’a this time. Maybe I was wrong? The whistling wind wove through my thick coat and sweater. “It’s only going to get colder once this sun sets. I’ll go find the cistea’a. Can you two set up camp?”
Last time, the cistea’a was exactly where the two Edges met so I followed Gryshelm’s Edge further and further south. In not too much time, I came upon it. There was no Mist barrier, but the snow was much lower around it.
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