Facets of the Nether

by William C. Tracy

  “Do we know who started the chime? Who’s the one making the call?” Rilan asked, and Ori’s crest rose.

  “I had not been thinking of that.” That was true Ori form, leaping toward the answer without thinking about the causes.

  The chimes died away, though echoes rang between buildings in the Imperium. Music in the hall outside the apartment began again, jerking and discordant.

  “The bridge is the only structure touching the wall, if I remember correctly,” Rilan said. “Everyone else keeps away from it not to block the light. If the chimes are involved with the workings of the Nether, then perhaps that’s why the bridge was built in such an odd manner.”

  “It is a strange construction, of that there is to be no doubt,” Ori said, tapping his cheek with a fingernail. He rose to pace, thinking. “It has been there so long, none of the maji in the House of Communication question it, save to be taking walks along its length.”

  “Then it must not have been used for its intended purpose in many cycles,” Rilan said. “Why was it built?”

  Ori looked down at her, his eyes narrowed, his crest rippling. “An excellent question. The answer may be helping us immensely.” He took a step forward so he could run a hand up the side of her face, his long fingernails trailing shivers in their wake. His fingers brushed up into her hair and Rilan leaned into the motion, taking in a deep breath. “You do know you were being wasted on the Council.”

  She had taken offense at him saying that in the past, but no sense of injured pride rose this time. “I don’t miss it,” she said into his hand, and realized she meant it. There had been days where she wanted to stab everyone in the council chambers. She hadn’t been nearly as stressed since they removed her. It might have been for the best.

  She purred as Ori trailed his hand through her hair and down her long braid, making the bell at the end ring.

  “An adventure then,” she said, once she caught her breath. “We should take the whole group to the bridge. Maybe we can discover why—” she jumped as someone pounded at her front door. She ran a hand down Ori’s robe, but gently pushed him away with the promise of more to come later. “Who is that?”

  Was it Enos, back at last? The girl had been out for a day or so. Rilan hoped she was with Sam. If she was missing much longer, Rilan would go looking for her.

  She went to the door and pulled it open. Sam and Rey spilled in, but the third person wasn’t Enos.

  “Inas!” Ori took two longs strides forward at her exclamation. She was about to close the door when a wide figure stumped into view around a corner. “And Caroom!”

  A few minutes later, they were settled in her apartment, Caroom leaning against a wall. The Benish’s dour look from the past several days was lifting, their eyes glowing a cheerful green again. But while their apprentice had returned, now Enos was missing.

  She kept her cool, barely, while listening to their story. Afterward, Rilan glowered at Rey, keeping her seat only with an effort. Her jaw flexed, and if she had her way, she would be out the door this instant, but they needed more information.

  “You let Enos be captured by the Life Coalition? Again?” Every word was a low growl. “I’ve only just gotten her back.” Yes, she was an Aridori, but Rilan, Brahm bless her, was actually getting used to that part. “Do you know what happened to her the last time I lost my apprentice?” She clenched her fists to keep from throttling the Sureri. She was standing now, too annoyed to stay in the chair.

  “Why does aught all keep blamin’ me?” Rey whined. He slouched as far back in his chair as he could, head ducked away from Rilan’s ire. “It was the lass’ idea, and no effort on my own part would have stopped her. I just wanted to talk with the Coalitioner blokes. She was the one with the plan to save Inas, and it nearly worked perfectly.”

  “Nearly. Yes, we have Inas, but you could have tried harder to stop the Coalitioner. That means you let her be captured,” Rilan insisted. Maybe it wasn’t fair, but she didn’t want be fair.

  “So I was supposed to fight away a full majus of the Life Coalition?” Rey shot back. “And House o’ Strength at that? She’d have flitted us all away, eyah, and I’d not be tellin’ you what transpired.”

  “Those Coalitioners are not, hmm, maji,” Caroom rumbled. Their eyes were dark pinpricks of anger.

  “And the answer is yes, you should’ve fought them to keep my apprentice from unknown torture at the Coalition’s hands,” Rilan said.

  “They would not have released me,” Inas said. He held up both hands, one toward Rey and the other toward her. They were shaking, and Rilan hardly kept the disgust off her face as something rippled beneath the surface of his skin. “Please stop. It won’t fix anything. They already have her, and as Rey says, she sacrificed herself to bring me back, though she tried to save all of us. I have her and Rey to thank.” Sam was half holding him, making soothing sounds. Rilan wasn’t sure Inas could stand up on his own without Sam’s help. He was a mess.

  Rilan stared at Rey until he grimaced and looked away. He wasn’t telling her all of it. How had he gotten so close to the Life Coalition? She wondered if she should report this to the Council, despite her current relationship with them. But admitting she’d lost her apprentice again was likely to get her demoted back to an apprentice herself. She didn’t even know if that was possible, but she didn’t want to chance it. They had kept Inas’ disappearance relatively quiet, mainly because of his species. If the Assembly as a whole knew the Coalition was keeping an apprentice, the negotiations with them might take a far different tack. She shuddered to think of the Aridori assassins loosed with no warning on the unsuspecting Assembly. No, better for the Life Coalition to want to negotiate. For now.

  “Why did you want to talk with the Coalitioners?” she asked the Sureri. “How did you get in contact with them?”

  Rey looked back, his hairy face crumpled into a grimace. “I bothered Majus Kheena to set up a back and forth with ‘em. We both thought they had more to what they were on about. Sommat they wouldn’t say to the Assembly, but might to one o’ their kin.”

  Rilan crossed her arms, but let Rey get away with his answer, such as it was. Coming at the Coalition from multiple sides wasn’t far different from what she had been thinking. Though his mentor wasn’t here, she noticed.

  “Does Kheena know about all this?” she asked. Rey hung his head.

  “Not all, no. I will be tellin’ him, short-like.”

  “You do that,” Rilan said. It wasn’t her place to punish another majus’ apprentice, though she wanted to.

  “What about the one who was taking her?” Ori asked.

  “Dunarn took her,” Sam said, and Rilan’s attention snapped to him. “She was the one who captured Enos and me the first time.”

  “She worked with the…Aridori prisoners, though not as much as Nakan.” Inas shivered as he spoke, his words broken and soft. He looked rough, even after the obvious cleaning Sam had administered.

  “Just rest,” Sam told him. “You can tell us later.”

  “No.” Inas pushed him away with a weak hand. “They had barely started on my ‘training,’ even after almost two months. I resisted as long as I could.” He gave a shudder, and Sam held him close.

  Rilan looked between the young men. At least they had each other for comfort. What about Enos? Furthermore, what about Rey? He’d gone to great lengths to get Inas back. How reckless was he, to bargain with the Life Coalition on his own? Even if he told his mentor, she had to talk with Kheena about him.

  “What ‘training’ is this?” Rilan asked. She crossed to Inas. “May I take a look?” She directed the question to Caroom as well, who gave a creaky nod. The Benish was hovering like a mother hen.

  Inas moved in Sam’s grip, and for a moment, he seemed to pull away from her, his face lengthening and shifting. He opened his mouth, and Rilan swore she saw fangs instead of teeth. Then he was the same as always. “You already know, as does everyone here, so I suppose it will not matter,” he whisp
ered.

  The twins had shied away from her hearing their biological signatures in the Symphony of Healing. Once, it would have revealed them as Aridori.

  Rilan closed her eyes and let the music rise in her mind. The Symphony of Healing around Inas had holes, with measures where the music skipped a beat, or a note was out of place. She thought even Sam didn’t know how much effort the Aridori was putting forth to appear normal. Panic and the urge to flee echoed through the music of his mental state. His body was another matter. The song was fluid, changing key and notes. She could see little ripples in his flesh. What had the Life Coalition done to him? But Sam wasn’t even flinching away from the undulating motion passing through Inas’ body.

  Physical healing was not her forte, and even if it had been, the Aridori body was strange, with its ability to change shape. But she could treat his mental torment—that was her specialty. Rilan took a few notes from her core and placed them in spots where the chords skipped in Inas’ psyche, smoothing rough edges caused by sleeplessness and captivity. Inas sat straighter as she did, leaning into Sam. It was a permanent use of her notes—she would have to regrow more from future experiences, but in this case it was worth the cost to see Inas breathe easier. It would not erase the scars of his suffering by any means, but it would help. Now they just had to rescue his sister. Again.

  “Oh. Thank you,” Inas breathed. His eyes were still hollow, but brighter. He flexed one hand as if it ached. “I did not realize—”

  “Often we do not feel a burden we’ve held for a long time,” Rilan told him.

  “How is one’s, hmm, apprentice?” Caroom said. “One would have brought Inas sooner to a medical practitioner, but as that one says, the risk of others discovering that one’s biology, hmm, outweighs many other factors.”

  “I am well,” Inas said before Rilan could reveal what she thought. Sam shot a concerned look at Rilan for confirmation. She hesitated, then nodded back to him.

  “I think he will recover, with your help. He needs rest,” she said. “We won’t know all of what he went through until he tells us,” at this she shot Inas a look, but he had his head down again. “From what I heard in the Symphony, it will take time to adjust back to this life.” She looked around the room. “It’s up to all of us to help him.”

  “I will,” Sam said immediately.

  “One is hesitant to suggest, but, hmm, would Inas be able to add to the markers for the portal to the Life Coalition’s headquarters? Then this group may be able to rescue that one’s sister.” Caroom brought their wide hands to grasp each other with a creak like branches snapping. Their eyes were dim. Rilan knew they were worried about their apprentice.

  “They…they have a field which damped my access to the Symphony,” Inas said. He wasn’t looking up, and burrowed into Sam’s arms. “I could not create a portal back to the Nether. My impressions of the Life Coalition’s headquarters are very limited. I saw only two rooms.”

  “We may still be attempting,” Ori said, his voice soft, “if you are to be up to the task.”

  “I can try,” Inas mumbled into Sam’s shoulder. Sam patted his back.

  Rey pushed to his feet, looked once to Sam and Inas, then away. His shoulders slumped and Rilan wondered what the Sureri thought of Sam and Inas together. “If we’re all happy here, mind if I pop on?” he asked. “Got some things to tell the majus, yer know.”

  “I suppose,” Rilan said. She stared at Rey until he ducked his head again and scampered for the door. He might not be committed to bringing down the Life Coalition, but she didn’t think he would actively work against them. He had gotten Inas back, when the rest of them couldn’t. She stared after him until the door closed.

  Enos was just as complicit in her abduction. Rilan couldn’t fully blame Rey, but he had his own secrets, and she hadn’t been watching him as closely as the twins and Sam. She wouldn’t continue that mistake.

  The next several lightenings were concerned with Ori trying to coax location markers from Inas’ memory, while Caroom and Sam paced and got in the way. Inas grew more haggard throughout, his hands shaking, and strange changes rippling through his figure. Rilan was about to suggest they give in for the day when a rumble interrupted them, shaking the building.

  “Again?” Ori said. “This is not to be the time the chimes should ring. The pattern has changed again.”

  “It’s rung three times today instead of two,” Sam said.

  “And it’s getting more insistent,” Rilan added. The plates on her shelves rattled and she watched, ready to catch any that dropped like the vase had.

  She turned to Ori. “We have plenty of problems between the Life Coalition, Inas’s return, and now Enos going missing, but I think you should keep looking for old records to tell us what’s going on. We won’t be able to do anything if these chimes vibrate the Nether to pieces around us. I’ll work on the portal. It’s the only way we have to reach Enos.”

  * * *

  In the days after Inas’ return, the chimes grew more unrelenting every day. Sam worried over Enos missing. None of them had a way to get her back. If Majus Ayama’s portal had worked, they would know how to reach the Life Coalition, but now they had little choice but to wait until the organization made another move.

  He thought of the Effature’s direction to learn more about the coincidences. He’d learned more about his house, hadn’t he? But nothing about the chimes or the Dissolution. What else did the Effature know that he hadn’t told? Sam would ask Majus Cyrysi if there was a way to contact the Effature, soon. Now wasn’t the time. Only the routine of taking care of Inas kept Sam from having anxiety attacks.

  “Just a little more,” Sam said to Inas that morning. He’d had a poor appetite since he got back. Inas pushed the bowl away and Sam frowned at him.

  “You’re acting like me, Inas,” Sam said. His friend had gotten scared at unusual things, stayed inside, and pulled away from others.

  “Just give me a few days,” Inas said.

  “You haven’t even talked to Rey.” The fact sent an unfortunate sliver of satisfaction through Sam, though he chastised himself for not being bigger than that. But with Enos missing, he wanted Inas all to himself. Rey’s connection to Enos’ disappearance, however much he protested they were both at fault, did not endear him to either Sam or Inas, even though the Sureri had also been a factor in freeing Inas. He’d been missing the last few days from meetings with the maji. Sam suspected Majus Kheena had him working through some punishment.

  “I’m getting better, Sam,” Inas replied. Sam sighed and cleaned up the table. He’d have to urge Inas to take a shower later. He turned for the little kitchen.

  “Wait,” Inas said. “Come here.”

  Sam put the bowl down and went to him. Inas raised a hand but the fingers were changing, lengthening and shortening. Sam took his hand and smoothed the ripples in Inas’s flesh.

  “You’re still having trouble with that?” Sam said. “Maybe if we—”

  “I said it will take time, Sam,” Inas growled and jerked his hand back. His face showed sudden anger, eyebrows shadowing his eyes.

  Sam stopped himself from backing up. Why had Inas called him over, then? He held his ground against Inas’s change and stood silent, waiting until Inas looked away.

  “I’m sorry,” Inas took Sam’s hand again, this time gently. “It will take time, though.”

  “I know that, Inas,” Sam said. “We’ll get there.”

  * * *

  Three days later, Sam’s anger at Rey, worry for Enos, and frustration with Inas was drowned out in the throbbing thrum of the chime. It drove everything from his mind. It was even hard to hear the Symphony, much less the sounds and music of the House of Communication.

  When he could hear it, the chords wobbled like a violinist with too much vibrato. Majus Cyrysi’s penthouse apartment shook like a tree in a hurricane, but all the Imperium’s tallest buildings trembled in the sustained vibration.

  “It’s gone off four times
already this morning!” Sam shouted to Majus Cyrysi as he exited his room. He had to hold on to the doorjamb so he wasn’t shaken off his feet. “Have you found anything else?”

  Majus Cyrysi came from his room, his crest waggling in all directions. “The bridge must be the key! I am thinking this is the culmination of the signal—likely today. Be finding Rilan and Caroom. I am to be going up to the bridge now. It is still the only lead, but I am certain something will be happening soon.” Majus Cyrysi practically flew out of the apartment, heading down the stairs, his multicolored robe whipping out behind every long stride.

  Sam sighed, but watched him go. Inas was on the couch—he’d been living in the majus’ apartment, which Sam wasn’t going to argue with, especially with the nightmares that woke him. He dreamed about what had happened to him, or what he suspected was happening to Enos, but wouldn’t give Sam specifics. Majus Caroom wasn’t happy about Inas getting even further behind on his lessons, but they also would do whatever they could to help their apprentice recover.

  Inas was still having trouble with his form shifting, and Sam didn’t know what to do about it. They had held hands, and even kissed, but there was always a reticence underneath. Sam could feel the flinch of Inas shying away when they touched. What had the Life Coalition done to him? He wouldn’t say.

  “Come on. Let’s find the others and catch up,” Sam shouted over the noise. Inas levered to his feet, but said nothing, ready to follow him out of the apartment. Butterflies rose in his stomach at the prospect of leaving the apartment of his own volition, rather than with someone else.

  No, that’s not right. Hiding behind someone else.

  Did Sam need someone more wretched than him to drive away his anxiety?

  What does that say about me?

  Once he caught up with Majus Ayama, on her way to the offices of the Spire, she directed him to gather everyone else. Only Majus Hand Dancer was at a concert in High Imperium and could not attend, though Sam guessed such activities wouldn’t go on much longer with the ringing of the chime.