Of Bone and Ruin

by T. A. White

  “You think this might be what happens to anyone who triggers a similar trap?” Gabriella asked.

  Tate shrugged. “I don’t see why not. It’s hard to prove one way or another, but we’re still standing. I can’t think of a different scenario.”

  Gabriella looked thoughtful as if she was mentally reframing some things she’d been sure she’d known.

  Jost watched her with a pensive expression. He looked like he knew there was more that she wasn’t telling him, but he was willing to wait until they had privacy.

  There was a commotion at the front of the tent and a voice called out, “You can’t go in there.”

  Elijah, with Tala steps behind him, ducked into the tent. Tala froze at the sight of Gabriella, joy and relief on her face. Gabriella stood, rounding the table and rushing to the other woman. They embraced for a brief moment.

  “You’re alive.”

  “Yes. Somehow.”

  “How is this possible?” Elijah looked like he wanted to deny the proof before his face.

  Tate sat back as a man entered and set a plate of food in front of her, Dewdrop and the spot Gabriella had vacated. “What can I say, we’re just full of surprises.”

  “No, that trap never leaves anyone living. We saw you turn to stone before disappearing.”

  Tate paused with a bite of food in front of her mouth. “Things aren’t always as they appear, I guess.”

  The food tasted so good on Tate’s empty belly. She took several bites in quick succession. Dewdrop wasn’t far behind, scarfing his down as if he hadn’t eaten in days. Which was an actual possibility. Tate had no idea how long they’d been down there. It could have been much longer than a few hours.

  “How long were we gone?” she asked Jost.

  “Almost twenty hours.”

  Her fork clattered onto her plate. Dewdrop paused in his chewing.

  “In light of the discovery in the chamber below the mosaic room and your supposed death, I closed the site to everyone.” Jost looked away from her, tapping his fingers against his glass. He looked uncomfortable at the admission.

  “It was entirely unreasonable for you to declare this site off limits,” Elijah said. “You overstepped your bounds.”

  “Indeed.” Tala’s agreement was a bit of a surprise. Gabriella appeared confused at it as well. “Since my ancestors were discovered tossed about like so much trash, it is only reasonable that the mediator finds in our favor. The Academics involved in this discovery should all be arrested and brought before a tribunal to be judged for their crimes against my ancestors.”

  Tate took a sip of her water. It looked like a lot had happened in the time they had spent wandering the tunnels. No wonder Jost looked exhausted.

  “That is absurd. You saw that place’s discovery just as well as I did,” Elijah said.

  Josef ducked into the room, coming to an abrupt halt at the sight of Tate and the rest. His eyes widened and his mouth dropped open in surprise.

  “There’s no way we could have stashed the remains in a room we didn’t even know existed,” Elijah continued, not paying his assistant any mind.

  “So you say. All we have is your word that you didn’t know about that chamber’s existence.”

  “Enough.” Jost stood. “You’ve been going round and round for hours. This can wait until the morning once we’ve all had time to rest. For now, remove your people from the perimeter. With your Ayer returned, you have no standing to declare a breach of faith and no ability to enforce it. As for you, be grateful you still have your head and your health. I can guarantee neither one would have been assured had the witness and her cohorts not returned safely.”

  The last bit was aimed as a warning against Elijah, who inflated three times his size, like a whiffer mouse at the sign of a predator.

  Neither one looked like they wanted to obey.

  Jost’s voice lowered to a threatening tone. “Unless you want me to find in favor of the Kairi.”

  An amused voice said from the shadows outside the tent. “That would be most advantageous for my people.”

  The Shodon stepped into view flanked by one of his guards. His eyes slid over Gabriella and Dewdrop until they rested on Tate. He arched one eyebrow. Unlike the rest, he didn’t seem surprised to find her sitting there.

  “I see you’ve come through your adventures intact.”

  She lifted her glass to him, too busy chewing to reply.

  “I’m sure you have quite a story to tell.”

  One that would be easier if people didn’t keep finding their way in to interrupt the conversation.

  “Let the witness rest for now,” he told the other two. “It is late and I, for one, wouldn’t mind finding my bed. This will all be here in the morning.”

  Tala didn’t look happy to be taken to task by the Shodon. In a stilted voice, she said, “The Shodon is right. I apologize for my actions.”

  “You’ll remove all of your people from the tunnels and surrounding area.” Jost’s tone brooked no argument.

  Tala gave a resigned nod. “As you wish.”

  “Good. For now, everyone will retire for the night. It is too dangerous to try to walk back to the road right now. You can head back in the morning.”

  That worked for Tate. She doubted she would make it very far right now. With her stomach full, exhaustion tugged at her. Dewdrop looked even more tired. His head bobbed as they spoke.

  Tala didn’t say goodbye before turning on her heel and leaving. Gabriella shot Tate an apologetic look before following her doyenne out of the tent. The Shodon graced them with a nod that Tate suspected was the closest he ever got to a bow before following Tala.

  “I second this motion.” Tate grabbed the artifact from table and stood.

  There was a hushed exclamation from Elijah. His eyes were fastened on the artifact Tate had forgotten as it suddenly glowed with jagged lights as she touched it. She really was tired. She would have preferred to keep that ability under wraps for a little longer.

  “What is this?” For once all the ego was gone from his voice and it was near reverent as he gestured toward the object in her hands.

  Tate looked at it. They all looked at it.

  Dewdrop dropped his head into his hands and shook it. She thought he might have groaned but decided to ignore him.

  “Ah, just something we ran across in the tunnels.” She couldn’t think of a good lie. That left the truth.

  “It’s an artifact.”

  “Is it?” Tate hefted it. “Huh?”

  There was another groan from Dewdrop.

  Even Jost seemed surprised and interested as he glanced from the item to Tate.

  “It works,” Elijah said, stating the obvious.

  “Not really. It just glows. Not much else. It does make a handy torch,” Tate said, trying to downplay the significance.

  “That’s more than any of us have been able to do,” Josef said, pointing at it. “You were able to open the chamber and came back alive from something no person has ever survived. This means something.”

  “It’s just coincidence. I’m sure anyone could have figured that out eventually.” She looked at Jost trying to tell him without words to help her out.

  “Were the secret chamber and the boy you swore you saw there coincidence too?” Dewdrop asked from where his head was on the table. His words were muffled but not muffled enough.

  Tate shot a glare at his bent head.

  “A hidden chamber. A boy. There’s only one possibility.” Elijah’s eyes got even wider, excitement sparking inside them. He started talking to himself, as if the rest of them weren’t even there. “A minor god. I can’t believe it. This could explain so much.”

  “It does beg the question whether minor gods exist in all the present sites. We’ve always discounted that theory because of lack of evidence, but this might give credence to it,” Josef said.

  Dewdrop lifted his head, his eyes closed, as it turned in Tate’s direction. “Sorry, Tate. I’m really ti
red. I forgot.”

  She didn’t respond, waiting for the Academics to wind down. Their discussion went on, the two of them bouncing ideas and theories. They fed off each other, their words tumbling over and around the other.

  “No problem. It was bound to come out eventually.” Just not until she’d had a chance to process it and understand what it meant.

  Jost raised his hands, gesturing for quiet. “Gentlemen. Enough. We’re all tired. Tate and her friend have had a long day. Let’s end this here for the night. I’m sure we can pick this up tomorrow.”

  “Not if you award control of the site to either of those philistines. If they have their way much of this will pass to those who won’t be able to appreciate it.” Elijah’s voice made it plain what he thought of Tala and the Shodon. “Any gains we’ve made in understanding our ancestors and who they were and what they’ve built will be lost because of something as trivial as politics.”

  “Would you rather we did things as we have in the past when discoveries such as this were marked by great battles? Where the victor was determined by brute strength?” Jost didn’t wait for an answer. “I haven’t made a decision in either direction. For now, it would be best to find your bed. Tate will be happy to share some of her experiences and any knowledge she’s gleaned with you tomorrow.”

  Tate shot him a startled look. “She will?”

  He gave her a look that said, ‘she will if she wants to go to sleep any time soon.’ Tate took his meaning and mustered a grimace that passed as a smile for the Academics.

  Elijah and Josef grumbled but allowed themselves to be ushered out of the tent.

  “Finally,” Tate said, collapsing back into her chair.

  Jost held up a hand. “Wait.”

  Tate sat up. What were they waiting for? Jost seemed to be listening. Tate did the same but couldn’t hear anything. Just the sounds that were normal for a night in a swamp. Bugs, and amphibians and other night life that she’d never encountered.

  Danny ducked into the tent. “We’re alone.”

  Jost nodded and turned back to Tate and Dewdrop. “This whole situation is a series of blunders that have cascaded into a problem of epic proportions.”

  Tate lifted an eyebrow. He could say that again.

  “The discovery in the chamber below the mosaic room has thrown everything off course.”

  “How so?” Tate knew it didn’t look good to have the remains down there, but she didn’t think it was that impactful.

  “We were supposed to find in the Academy’s favor. Everything’s changed with the discovery of those bones. Worse, their presence has the ability to set back Silva and Human relationships by decades.”

  “How did we come to find in the Academy’s favor? None of the groups have presented compelling proof of their claim.” Tate looked between Jost and Danny. “Unless a lot more happened while we were gone than you’re telling me.”

  Danny didn’t look very happy as Jost admitted. “It was always going to be in the Academy’s favor. They have the backing of the Duke of Spiritly and several other important figures in the empire.”

  “I was under the impression that both the Shodon and Tala were considered equals to the Duke.”

  Jost looked impatient. “They are but their claims were soft and both of them knew it. This was simply an attempt to make their grievances known.”

  Tate frowned at him, not liking this admission. It felt like the entire thing had been staged. “Why are we even here, if you already knew which way you were going to decide?”

  “Because the empire has to give the appearance of following its own rules even when that appearance is a farce. Both Tala and the Shodon suspect the way the vote is going to go. They’re using their objections as a bargaining tool. They’re hoping that the Academy will consent to allowing their historians and academics into the Academy to study.”

  “I thought it was the Silva academies that wouldn’t allow other races to study there.”

  Danny shook his head. “They only barred other races after the Academy in Aurelia made it clear that different species were not welcome within its doors.”

  “By threatening to shut down the discovery, they’re hoping to force the Academy to recognize the contributions from the Silva and the Kairi.” Jost finished, rubbing his forehead before he dropped his hand and looked at Tate. The exhaustion was back in his face.

  “And now you can’t find in the Academy’s favor?” Tate’s voice held a question. She still didn’t see how they had jumped from the remains to having this entire thing go overboard in a storm.

  “No, the remains change everything. It means they automatically lay claim to any find that is derived from this site.”

  “And that’s bad?” If it was in truth the Silva’s ancestors who built or maintained this place, then they should get control over what was done with the tunnels. Tate didn’t see what the problem was.

  “Yes.”

  “Why?”

  “Besides upsetting a lot of powerful people and destroying the delicate balance that we’ve managed to achieve?”

  Tate nodded.

  “That’s it. That’s what will happen,” Danny said before Jost could respond.

  “Where are the Kairi in all this?” Tate asked something had been bugging her for a while. Of the three, they seemed to have the weakest claim. Add that to the fact that the Shodon hadn’t pushed his agenda at all in the few times Tate had seen him. “They don’t strike me as being particularly cooperative with the Silva.”

  Tate was basing that on the fact that the Kairi had given every indication in considering the Silva as little better than animals.

  “We have no idea. This mediation was originally between the Silva and the Academy. The Kairi only filed a claim a day or so before talks began.”

  “Things may not be as they appear,” Dewdrop said from where his head lay on his arm, proving he had been listening to them talk.

  The three of them looked at him.

  Tate nudged Dewdrop. “What do you mean?”

  Dewdrop sat back, a red indent from the cloth of his shirt on his cheek. “Do you remember that cache in the tunnel leading to the ocean?”

  Tate nodded. The barrel and its contents had definitely been odd but she wasn’t sure how it pertained to the current conversation.

  “It’s a smuggler’s cache.”

  Tate stared at him blankly. That was interesting but not exactly relevant.

  Dewdrop rolled his eyes at her. “A smuggler’s cache that we found bones and artifacts in. Artifacts that looked nothing like what we saw in that hidden chamber with the boy.”

  Tate got it. “You think someone placed the Silva remains to give their claim more credence. That way Jost would be forced to side with them.”

  Dewdrop shrugged. “It’s possible.”

  “It’s thin,” Jost said. He rubbed his chin, the stubble scraping against his hand. “We’d need proof, but it’s a definite possibility.”

  “Where would we get proof? There’s dozens of smugglers around here, more if they operate out of Aurelia. We’d never be able to track them down.” As sound as the theory was, Tate had doubts they’ve ever be able to prove it. “It also doesn’t explain the dead Kairi or human from that first night.”

  “Unless they overheard the plan to tweak things in the Silva’s favor,” Danny rumbled.

  Tate shook her head. “I doubt Tala would be so foolish as to discuss something like that in public where her enemies might hear.”

  “You never know, we’ve seen people do stupider things,” Dewdrop said.

  True. They had. Tate leaned back in her chair. No, the theory just didn’t feel right. There were too many holes.

  She rubbed her eyes, which felt like they’d had buckets of sand poured in them.

  “For now, get some sleep. We can figure this out in the morning.” Jost stood, Danny following close behind him.

  That worked for Tate. With the level of exhaustion she felt, she doubted she�
��d be able to find the right answer even if it walked up and tapped her on the shoulder.

  “I’ll show you to where you two can sleep,” Danny said.

  Tate and Dewdrop followed in his wake. They were only a tent over from Jost’s. Tate was grateful it didn’t require a lot of walking.

  Once they were alone and lying in their separate cots, Dewdrop said, “Tate, I didn’t want to say this before in front of Jost, but I’ve seen that setup before.”

  Tate closed her eyes, sleep already flitting along the edges.

  She had too. It was a common smuggler’s trick, something Jost had used a time or two himself, but there was only one Night Lord who’d expressed interest in the tunnels. A Night Lord that had used threats to get Tate to tell him such a simple thing as who Jost seemed to be favoring.

  “It’s Lucius. He and his people have used that setup before. Many times.” Dewdrop’s voice was hushed and soft, a whisper of sound in the dark.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Sharp words and the threat of violence woke Tate from the odd dream she was having. Something about a purple tentacle monster pulling one of the moons out of the sky. She jolted awake, making a startled sound.

  She lay on her cot, staring up at the canvas above her and experienced the feeling of the world being out of sync. Like she wasn’t waking up in the same place she’d gone to sleep. It took a moment before the memories of the previous night came back to her.

  She sat up and looked at the canvas to her right where the voices were coming from. The disturbance was becoming louder. There were several people shouting now.

  Tate swung her legs to the ground and slumped forward, cradling her head in her hands. “Dewdrop.”

  He grunted and scrunched in on himself. He pulled his blanket over his head, like a turtle seeking shelter in his shell.

  “Dewdrop.”

  His voice was a croak. “What?”

  “We need to see what’s going on.” Tate’s voice wasn’t in much better shape than his. She was too tired for this. How long had she slept?