Who did he trust? Who could he support? Could Bahjal's and Persuader Madol's insistence of Malik Morgra's worth be trusted, or were they simply echoing their boss' propaganda? Was Zerik lying about trusting Keevan with power and wealth? Was his offer little more than a ruse, or did he genuinely intend to give Keevan all the scholars guilds' Sight Seeker records?
The more Keevan thought on the subject, the more sense Zerik's words made. Of course the guild of wizened scholars would neglect to give the 'real' stuff to a Sight Seeker child. Imagine a ten year old boy running around Issamere, manipulating other's minds at will?
Falletal sank to his knees after the guards left, head tilted against a lower rung of the iron bars. He muttered incessantly under his breath, in between frosty sobs. Now that the torches were gone, the cold crept in and claimed his mind once again, including every other Rhetan in the dungeon.
Keevan gently helped Falletal to his feet and guided him back to his patch of straw. The Rhetan's skin sent goose bumps along Keevan's arms. Keevan lit their way with his elemental vision, painting a clear picture of the icy moisture leeching from the walls, running across the floor and dripping down from the building above. Then Keevan took his place on his own matt of straw, facing the entrance to his cell, and blinked in surprise.
A patch of ice coated the iron bars where Falletal stood only moments ago. Hurrying across the room, Keevan examined each one in turn. He pursed his lips anxiously, reviewing all of Nariem's smithing lessons in a brief minute. These cells held Rhetans, using cold to prompt them to despair and the occasional patrol to hasten the process by taunting them with warmth. That meant, for decades, the gate was heated and deeply cooled by panicked Rhetans.
Escape was possible alright, he only needed something to freeze the metal so deeply the bars lost their integrity. Then, a firm blow would be enough. He glanced over at Falletal, feeling equal desires to scream and vomit. Zerik was right. Escape was an option, if he was willing to let Falletal die. Few things carried greater cold than a Tri-Being icing out in the death throes of despair.
Now he understood Zerik's true test. He meant for Keevan to escape, at the cost of Falletal's life. Zerik, Morgra and even Touric considered the Rhetans like sheep, a resource to be used and discarded. Keevan couldn't allow himself to see others in such a light.
Even growing up, The Rhetans were the people he most identified with, for their lack of elemental power kept them on nearly the same level as Keevan, as far as the Etrendi were concerned. Returning to his patch of straw, he curled up into a ball, desperately scraping his mind for any other option. Keevan sat there, trapped between a Malik and a Malik-to-be, both men who sacrificed the lives of countless others to achieve their goals. It didn't take his elemental vision to see the despair eating away at Falletal. Keevan could feel the chilled air emanating from the dying Tri-Being.
In the end, Keevan cried himself to sleep.
Chapter 24
Keevan awoke to a crick in his neck, a bowl of steaming gruel and a perpetual chill emanating from Falletal. The fading light from the window at the end of the hall marked the sunset of another day's passing. Sipping the tasteless mixture of seeds and rice, Keevan savored the heat in his belly, watching Falletal's progress. The Rhetan clutched his bowl with trembling fingers. One glance of elemental vision revealed the Tri-Being's body desperately drawing every ounce of heat from the gruel.
"How are you holding up?" Keevan asked, rubbing the sleep from his tired eyes. Their cell stank faintly of feces and urine, wafting up from a bucket against the wall, a linen cloth draped over the wooden container's mouth.
"I've been better," Falletal answered, staring down at the bowl. Once the heat ran out, he'd fall back into his downward spiraling path of despair and ice. "Was Zerik telling the truth about you having a way out of here?"
"I don't think so," Keevan said, watching the kernels turn as he swirled the bowl. He kept his gaze fixed on his breakfast. If he tried to look Falletal in the eye, the Rhetan would see the lie for sure. "My strengths are different from Corvan's. I don't have his affinity for escape."
"That's what I thought," Falletal coughed. His breath rose and fell in thin wisps of steam. Despite the new supply of heat, his ears were still kissed with frost. "I figured you wouldn't just leave me to die, if you had a way out. Unless you were worried about Zerik."
"I'm worried about the people," Keevan admitted, shuddering from both the chill and Issamere's uncertain fate. "I was only trying to protect my friends at the time, but breaking the Great Crystal was my doing. An accident. But one that made Zerik's attack, the famine, the threat of revolt on Issamere possible. I can't just stand by. Thousands will die if the city revolts. Hundreds already have, because of me." Keevan's last words faded into a soft whisper as he stared into the stone ground at his feet.
Falletal laughed, sipping from his bowl. After weeks of stewing over his guilt and the anger of the Rhetans, this Tri-Being's calm seemed eerie and unnatural by comparison. "You were right to wait this long to tell me. A day ago I would have seared your skin for what you've inflicted on us Rhetans. But, it was an accident, you say?"
"Yes," Keevan said grimly, meeting Falletal's gaze. "The exile, Kors, was about to kill two of my friends."
"And half of Issamere if I've heard the tale right," Falletal noted, closing his eyes as he slurped a mouthful of gruel from his bowl. "You did it to save your friends?"
"Yes," Keevan sighed, taking another sip of his gruel. The grains were coarse and barely boiled but the heat felt amazing as the meal slipped down his throat. He smiled in satisfaction as the warm settled in his belly.
"Are we friends, Keevan?" Falletal asked. He clutched the warm bowl against his chest, curled up on his mat of straw.
"You saved Madol's life. Mine too," Keevan reflected. "If that doesn't qualify you as a friend, I don't know what else will."
"Then stop lying to me," There was no anger in the Rhetan's voice, only cool logic, momentarily freed from Falletal's cage of despair. "What did Zerik mean about you escaping?"
Keevan's contentment turned to nausea. He gulped, shaking his head. "Zerik and Morgra use other people's lives, and deaths, to accomplish their own means. He wants me to do the same."
"To kill me? No, that wouldn't give you an escape," Falletal muttered, tapping the lip of his bowl with his finger as he thought aloud. He stared at the gates, baring their freedom. "You want to ice me out, while I'm lying on the bars, right? That might weaken them enough to break."
"Perhaps," Keevan admitted, staring at his bowl again. "But I'm not like Zerik and Morgra. You didn't ask for this, you just won the wrong bet. You don't deserve to die."
A sudden flash of red cut across the dungeon, casting ominous shadows across the iron bars and ragged prisoners. The hollow roar of an explosion and an ensuing fire echoed from the direction of the harbor. Falletal shot Keevan a quizzical look.
"It's the supply ships," Keevan realized, dread settling over his mind like an overcast sky. "There were three due, laden with enough grain to keep the city alive for another two weeks." A second dull roar echoed through the dungeon. Keevan curled into a ball, staring hopelessly at the far window.
"I'd guess there's only one left now," Falletal noted grimly, shaking his head. "That's it. Zerik will start the riots now. Thousands of Rhetans ready to take the Etrendi's food stores or die trying."
"There aren't any," Keevan said angrily, staring at the distant window. "Someone's been stealing or flat out destroying Etrendi food stores. The whole city is beyond desperate now, Etrendi included. Issamere is looking at a total bloodbath. I can't believe I brought Issamere to this, all from destroying one stupid Danica crystal. Why did I think I could save this city? I can't even save you."
The third explosion echoed across the harbor, followed by a roar of Tri-Being voices. In the distance, steel clashed against steel, flames crackled and lighting sparked. Embers feeding on a chaos that threatened to consume the city. Keevan winced at each dista
nt scream of pain or flash of lightning. He longed to turn away from the ugly reality staring him in the face, but he couldn't. This was partly his doing. The least he could do was face the consequences.
"You have a chance of stopping this," Falletal replied, suddenly calm and focused. "Let me help you. I'll open the gate. You can escape."
"No, you don't deserve that," Keevan insisted, shaking his head. "Zerik's taken enough lives already, he's not taking yours."
"Don't let me die, then," Falletal countered.
"I'm not a Tri-Being," Keevan countered, pointing to the frost dotting the tips of the ragged Rhetan's greasy black hair. "I can't help keep you alive. Even if I tried to use my own body heat, you would kill us both."
"So, stop thinking like a Tri-Being," Falletal insisted, slamming his fist against the stone wall next to him. He grit his teeth as he spoke, a glimmer of heat forming in his hand. A layer of frost broke from his skin and floated into the air, flecks of melting snow. The heat proved only a feeble effort against a dungeon built on moisture and cold. "You're a Sight Seeker. I am one of your friends. You plunged a city into famine to save two close friends, what kind of risks are you willing to make to save only one?"
"I... I," Keevan stammered in surprise. "I don't know."
"Then, find out," Falletal growled, draining his bowl. He staggered to his feet, his veins glowing orange. "I'll not be one of the mindless sheep two Etrendi kill in their war to become Malik. I'll not let them turn my brothers and sisters into lambs for their slaughter. Save me, Keevan, if you can. So we can fight for Issamere together."
"I'll try," Keevan agreed, draining his gruel. The tasteless mush was still hot, scalding his tongue on the way down. He ignored the discomfort, his mind fumbling over more important matters. Falletal couldn't stave off the cold for much longer. Whatever they tried, they needed to act soon. "Alright, put our straw into separate piles. Burn them. Keep your mind sharp for as long as you can. I need to figure this out."
"Alright, but hurry," Falletal said. He turned to their straw mats, separating them into small piles. "Straw burns awfully quick."
"I'm doing the best I can," Keevan insisted, studying the iron bars with renewed fervor. The shiny steal chain and lock winked at him faintly, as if mocking him. "Can you melt iron?"
"No, just make flame," Falletal grumbled, curling up around his first small fire. Thin smoke wafted around their cell. The Rhetan sighed in relief. "At my most angry, I could burn flesh. That's about it."
"How about creating a key of ice?" Keevan pried, reaching around the bars and jiggling the heavy, steel lock. "I've seen a couple Suadans pull it off."
"Let me guess, they were both Etrendi, right?" Falletal sighed, pulling over another bundle of straw. "You've been studying our kind through those infernal eyes of yours since your birth. You really can't find anything more useful?"
Scowling at the challenge, Keevan opened the elemental plane. He saw Falletal's battle against the despair welling up inside of him. Even his cloud-like form appeared withered and faint, the edges glowing with the light blue of cold, relentless sorrow. The Rhetan didn't have much longer. Keevan wondered why the other prisoners didn't succumb as easily to the moist cold.
The ice had taken root in Falletal's body now, like a weed, threatening to overtake a garden. Even the third pile of straw did little more than stall the sadness eating away at Falletal. He produced cold now, as surely as Keevan's body produced warmth. The Rhetan glanced at Keevan, watching the Sight Seeker work while hugging the dying embers of another batch of straw. His elemental field wavered feebly, marking his impending death.
Turning his attention back to the iron bars, Keevan studied them closely. Their exteriors were chipped and warped from generations of heat and cold, all under the weight of prisoners straining to reach the fire of passing torches. The bend in the bars was slight however and their tips were still firmly anchored in the stone roof, floor and walls wrapped around the edges of their cell. Chilled water hung from the horizontal bars, not quite on the point of freezing, like Falletal.
"What about electricity?" Keevan asked. He reached around the bars, tilting the steel lock for a better view of the keyhole. "Could you blast a link from this chain, at least?"
Falletal laughed, coughing fiercely from the smoke. He was down to the last of the straw now, moist and dirty from the days spent on the dungeon floor. The wettest of the bundles, this one spewed more smoke than flame. "I can make a child's hair stand on end. My nephew loved it at his name day celebration."
"Not enough, then," Keevan muttered. Taking a step back, he examined the entrance to their cell from a distance.
Keevan faced a single wall of iron, melted together into a thick lattice work of horizontal and vertical bars. He could see the small cracks on their exteriors, though, the product of years of elemental attrition. A tense minute passed. Keevan kicked and pushed against the iron bars, testing their strength. He bruised his foot for his trouble. They were securely fastened to their stone foundations.
Little time remained for Falletal. Without the straw to insulate him against the cold stone, ice already clung to his knees and the bottom of his legs, like chilled rust overtaking a metal sculpture.
Keevan felt a swell of gratitude for his elemental vision, which blocked his view of Falletal's face. The experience was hard enough without watching the last of the Rhetan's life leave his eyes, slowly succumbing to ice. Keevan growled in frustration, kicking against the gate again. The blow radiated down his other leg, bruising his foot, but he didn't care.
"It's alright, Keevan," Falletal said, his voice soft. He stood motionless, ice gathering along his limbs and hair like morning frost covering a dead tree. "You did your best, that's more than Zerik or Morgra ever did. My death doesn't make you one of them, you have to believe that."
The growing cold emanating from Falletal's body sent goosebumps down Keevan's arms. Shivering, he pulled away. He didn't have a choice, any closer and he'd likely freeze to death. The ice was already leaching into the floor around Falletal's feet.
"Why is this affecting you so quickly?" Keevan asked, watching the last flickers of heat fade from Falletal's limbs. Only his core remained, a stubborn orange glow in a body of icy blue. "Others have been down here for weeks."
"Because, the last of my kin passed away last week. My sister," Falletal admitted. A spike of anger brought new warmth to his chest, but not enough to last. "I used to blame Persuader Madol for it, then Zerik, and for a moment, you. But, you truly fight for the people, don't you? For people you don't even know?"
"I'm familiar with abandonment," Keevan admitted, moisture building in his own eyes. "I had a connection to my brother once, when I was young. After he left, I was alone, weak, vulnerable. The Rhetans are like that, used by the Etrendi for whatever ends they will, then discarded."
"Then, please," Falletal said, ice creeping up his legs like a fast-acting disease. "Don't let them use us. Stop the bloodshed and protect my people. No matter what."
"I'll do what I can," Keevan promised, fighting the need to retch. "But I can't do much from in here."
"I can help with that," Falletal said warmly. His icy legs screeched like steel as he turned, grunting in effort. He hugged the iron bars, setting his head against the nearest vertical rung. Ice flooded into the gate, as Falletal's feeble field slipped into the final throes of death.
Unable to hide any more, Keevan released his elemental vision. If Falletal was willing to do this for him, the least Keevan could do was watch with his own eyes. Shivering from the cold, his breath leaving his lips in gusts of steam, Keevan stood as close to the dying Tri-Being as he dared.
Then he saw Falletal's hands.
The cold already dominated his limbs, gathering around his feet and hands like manacles of ice. A bolt of realization struck Keevan, an idea he couldn't have realized through his elemental vision. Only seeing the ice's behavior first hand, without the interference of the Rhetan's elemental field, presented
an answer. Well, a chance at least.
"Falletal, wake up!" Keevan screamed, slapping the Rhetan full in the face. Feeling fled from Keevan's hand, but the heat from the blow roused Falletal enough to speak.
"Wha-at is-s it?" Falletal slurred, "Can't you let a man die in peace?"
"You're not going to die," Keevan insisted, wrenching the man's left hand free.
Keevan grabbed the steel lock, hissing against the pain. Manipulating Falletal's fingers wasn't easy, considering Keevan's limbs lacked feeling, but he managed to catch the Rhetan's pinky finger on an iron bar and pulled the extremity away from the rest. Ice cracked and re-froze in an instant, like old muscles unaccustomed to work. Then Keevan shoved the Rhetan's finger into the lock.
"Wha-at ar-re you do-oing?" Falletal grumbled sourly, teeth gritted in pain.
"Let your finger turn to ice," Keevan ordered, shaking Falletal's arm. "Concentrate! Build as much ice as possible around your finger."
"You th-hink I c-can ice the lo-ock?" Falletal chuckled, rolling his eyes. Ice crept up his shoulders in thin sheets now, overtaking his will to live. He shook the lock, now frozen to his hand. The padlock jangled against the chain, like a cruelly ironic manacle. "Now it's stuck, see? I can't turn the lock."
"You can," Keevan shouted. "One burst of heat is all it takes. Your body is hoarding cold right now. Warmth will make the ice farthest from your body melt. The part we need to free up, so the key you just made will turn."
"I'm not an Etrendi, foolish Outlander," Falletal sighed, watching Keevan with a soft smile. "Save my people. Remember our sacrifice. Show Zerik and Morgra they can't control the Rhetans like cattle. Good bye."
"Not happening," Keevan retorted, stepping behind Falletal. "Ice this."
Keevan snapped his knee up in between Falletal's legs.
The Rhetan howled in pain, dropping to his knees against the iron bars. Ice shattered around his torso, legs and arms with a fierce crack as his free hand leapt to his crotch. Keevan stumbled from the blow, a rush of numbness spreading into his right leg. He hopped awkwardly on his other leg, until he caught hold of the iron bars in a desperate attempt to stay upright.
Splintered Loyalties Page 25
