by Dante King
It was time to find out what Cadrin’s game was. He’d kidnapped one of my friends and tried to destroy the city. He’d find justice at the end of the Sundered Heart. And if Horix was behind this?
I’d bring down the whole of the Resplendent Tears Guild.
Chapter Thirteen
A storm gathered overhead as Labu guided the ship along the coast toward the guild island. Great black clouds rolled in off the sea and towered over the ocean as they cast everything into deep shadow. The wind whipped my hair around my face and tipped our boat to one side while the pitching waves flung us up and down.
The coast seemed to fly past to our left. In any other situation, I would have been struck by the incredible variety of our surroundings, from the sandy beaches to towering cliffs to swamplands that melted into the sea. To fit such variety into such a short stretch of coast couldn’t be natural, at least not by the laws that governed reality back on Earth. But this wasn’t the time to dwell on my surroundings.
I drew the tidal wyrm core from my pouch, closed my eyes, and pressed it to my chest. It took a moment for the magic to sink in, but when it did, it sent a rush of energy through my veins. The tidal wyrm was clearly the greatest beast I’d slain so far. I attempted to carve a pathway from the monster’s core, but I was only able to fashion a single line that didn’t connect with my water channel.
“What technique did you learn?” Vesma asked me, her voice excited.
“None yet. I’ll need to kill a few more wyrms.”
A snake-like head burst from the water to our right, and I drew my sword. But instead of the thick, muscular body of a tidal wyrm, the creature tapered to a slender neck, then a flippered body bulging with fat. It opened its mouth and sang a mournful note so clear and perfect that my heart stirred. Then, it sank back beneath the waves.
“We won’t be returning to the mainland tonight,” Labu said as he gazed up at the brewing storm.
“We can’t stay on the island. Not if your buddies take issue with rescuing your sister,” Kegohr said. “I just knew something was off.”
“We could barricade ourselves into a room,” Vesma said. “Wait out the storm and then make a break for it once the weather’s cleared.”
“If this is Horix’s doing,” I pointed out, “that’ll just give him time to search us out and surround us. I don’t like any of this. We’ll go in, find Kumi, and take our chances with the storm.”
I turned to Labu. “How come you’re a member of the guild in the first place? Your family have Wild Augmenting powers, but there you are working with people who reject your kind.”
Labu frowned. “I am not truly a guild member. I am my father’s emissary to the guild. And as part of that, I have been learning their techniques, turning my Wild power into something more civilized and focused. It is the only way we can bring the Qihin to their former power—by becoming stronger, fiercer, more skilled in the ways of civilization.”
“And do the guild members accept you as one of them?” I asked. “Because from what I’ve seen, they don’t seem to like Wilds.” Understatement of the year, right there.
“They know that I’m one of them at heart,” Labu said. “Not some barbarian constantly on the verge of pillaging their goods. They know that I will bring an improving influence into the world.”
“And kidnapping your sister—is that also supposed to be an improving influence?”
Labu scowled even more deeply. “Not everybody agrees about how the guild should deal with the clan. I doubt Horix would have supported a declaration of war. I will have words with the Guildmaster about Cadrin once this is done.”
Labu believed the guild had taken his sister just as much as I did. He was only denying it because he wanted a tense peace that let him be a part of both sides. I suspected he’d been the reason behind the temple guards locking us inside the shrine, but I doubted he’d known exactly what Cadrin had planned to do.
It struck me as odd that Labu, who had seemed to be the most belligerent and unreasonable person we had met so far, was a moderating influence in the region in his own objectionable way. He was the one member of the clan who had been allowed into the guild. He was therefore also the one guildsman I had met with any sympathy for the clan. Unlike at the Radiant Dragon Guild, where half the initiates had been drawn from the local Wysaro clan, here, the Wild magic of the Qihin seemed to have turned the two into entirely separate bodies. Labu the Wild Augmenter straddled the two traditions, standing between clan and guild.
The more I thought about it, the more I found a similarity in our approach. As an elementalist, I combined different magical traditions in the forms of the disparate elements. I could appreciate being stepped on as an outsider to a group. What differed between us was our execution. Labu wanted his cake and to eat it, too.
We rounded a headland, and the guild island appeared in a flash of gleaming ice and marble. Labu turned the boat and sent us in a loop around the inner coast of the island, toward the dock.
All my previous pondering had left me with one important question unanswered. I knew that there was a sharp divide between clan and guild, but I didn’t know why. Sure, there seemed to be a lot of Wilds in and around the Qihin Clan, but that shouldn’t have been an insurmountable obstacle. The Radiant Dragon Guild accepted Wilds and had benefited from their power. Kegohr had been an absolute powerhouse in the fight to save the guild from the Wysaro attack. Basic prejudice alone wasn’t enough to explain why the Resplendent Tears was in conflict with the Qihin, not when the two of them relied so heavily on each other. What more was going on here?
I had more urgent concerns as we approached land.
“If the guild has kidnapped Kumi, we can’t just walk in the front door,” I said. “If they’re a part of it, they’ll see us coming and lock us out. Or worse.”
“I’ll go in first,” Labu said. “Then I’ll open one of the side doors to let you in.” He pointed to a cove away from the docks and underneath the towering walls of the guild house.
“You planning on betraying us?” I asked.
“No,” Labu said. “I want my sister returned more than any of you. And I want the Depthless Dream back in its rightful place.”
I stared at him for a moment and wondered whether I could trust him. I knew I couldn’t, but at the moment, I didn’t have a choice. If he betrayed us, then I’d just have to deal with him.
“Take the boat close to the entrance,” Labu said. “Wait there for me.”
He slid into the water and vanished from view.
I fuelled the boat with my own Vigor and sent it on a curving course until it stopped beneath the walls of the guild. Waves lapped around us with mounting urgency against the jagged rocks. The storm was about to close in.
I fought to keep the boat off the rocks and prevented our craft from colliding against them. I couldn’t see any sign of a door and began to suspect some sort of trick. Had I been right about Labu? Had this just been his way of shaking us off so that he could go into the guild on his own? Was it turning into a trap?
The prince’s finned head appeared from the water amid the rocks. “This way,” he said before he disappeared from view again.
Kegohr and Vesma met my gaze.
“Can you guys swim?” I asked.
“Well enough,” Vesma replied.
“A bit,” said Kegohr, shuddering. “But this ain’t gonna be fun.”
“We’ll help if you need it,” Vesma said.
She went over the side first. I followed suit and swore as the cold of the ocean punched into me. Vesma turned to reassure Kegohr as he made his way into the waves, mace strapped to his back. We sank beneath the surface together.
Labu floated a few yards ahead among the rocks. He beckoned to us, and we followed along a safe channel through the jagged points and into a tunnel in the rock face. It might not have been a long way, but there was no surfacing for air, and the tunnel seemed to stretch on interminably as my lungs burned from lack of oxygen. At last,
Labu swam up, and I gratefully followed. The freezing air was a relief after the strain of swimming against the current.
I climbed out of the passage and into a cave. Kegohr trailed after me. Vesma swept her long hair out of her face and tied it back. We crouched at the edge of a rock pool in a cavern lit by a pair of lanterns. Condensation dripped onto cold rock and echoed through the rough-edged cavern.
“Follow me,” Labu said as he took one of the lanterns. “And keep quiet.”
I took the other lantern, and we ghosted him up the stairs.
We emerged through a low doorway into a cellar. Labu moved a rack of barrels back into place to hide the doorway, and we moved on. Our soaked clothes left a trail of wet footprints as we moved quietly over the flagstones. These traces weren’t ideal, but the constant use of water Augmenting in this guild wouldn’t make the footprints too noticeable. I hoped.
We crept through the corridors in total silence. The Radiant Dragon had taught us plenty about stealth, and sneaking around for a living even before I’d landed in this world gave me an extra edge over the others. We left the cellars and storage rooms behind us and approached the servants’ rooms and guards’ quarters.
Labu made a signal, and we all froze and pressed ourselves back into the shadows. I closed the shutter on my lamp half a second faster than the prince. Torches burned in the corridor up ahead and cast a flickering pool of shadow across us.
Footsteps approached along the corridor, and a conversation came into earshot.
“. . . doesn’t matter; he’s one of the initiates,” a woman said. “You know they’re not allowed to fraternize with maids.”
“That’s part of what makes it so exciting,” her companion replied. “Sneaking around at night, trying to steal a moment to ourselves.”
Two women in servants’ livery and aprons appeared, walking along the corridor ours was about to join. They paused, and one leaned against the wall. Her back was to us, but her friend couldn’t see us. If she paid any attention to the shadows beyond, we’d be spotted in an instant.
“He only wants you for your body,” said the one with her back to us. She was short and wore a white ribbon in her hair.
“And you think I want him for his sparkling personality?” asked her friend, who was tall, wide, and not exactly attractive from the back.
“He barely even treats you like a person!”
“Still makes a change from serving my own needs. I swear, those two fingers were starting to cramp up!”
“Betha! You’re awful!”
“He’s not brilliant either, but he’ll get there with practice.”
They both laughed.
“All right, I need to get a little something from the cellar.” The maid with ribbons in her hair jerked a thumb toward where we stood.
I opened up the ash channel, and readied myself to summon a cloud and choke them unconscious before they could raise an alarm. I didn’t want to hurt the cleaning staff for the sakes’ of their masters, but Kumi’s life was on the line.
Betha laughed. “If you’re looking to skim the brandy barrel again, forget it. I have plenty stashed away.”
“Then let’s finish our shift and get started!” exclaimed the girl with ribbons in her hair.
Their voices disappeared down the corridor. We continued along our path as the sound of their footsteps finished their echo on the stone walls. That had been way too close of a call.
Two corridors and a set of stairs later, we found ourselves in the main structure of the guild house. Spheres glowed softly against tiles and illuminated abandoned display sections in the walls. Men’s voices and the sound of hurrying footsteps forced us to press ourselves against the walls and hide the sound of our breathing.
There wasn’t time to get back around the last corner, certainly not without making a lot of noise. Instead, we drew back into the nooks and hoped that the shadows would keep us hidden.
Half a dozen guild guards marched into sight in full armor. Bright spears shone in the light as they rested against the owners’ shoulders.
“. . . says he spotted a boat,” the leader said, “so now, we have to bring it in and tie it up at—wait, who’s that?”
He turned to look directly at the nook where Kegohr was hidden.
There was no time to hesitate.
“Keep it quiet and non-lethal,” I muttered urgently to the others.
I squeezed water Vigor through my flesh and flung a Smothering Mist around the guards. Thick white fog surrounded them and blocked their view.
“What the hells?” the lead guard exclaimed. “Is this another damn training exercise?”
Labu and I leaped forward. We could make out the vague outlines of the guards through the mist. I struck with the pommel of my sword while Labu used the shaft of his spear. There were cracks of wood and metal as they hit skulls, a couple of strangled yelps of alarm, and the thud of bodies hitting the floor.
The last couple of guards only just realized that something was seriously wrong. They raised their spears hesitantly and opened their mouths to scream out. One weapon jabbed at me, and I dodged aside so that it missed me by six inches. Labu grabbed it by the shaft. While the guard struggled to yank his weapon free, I punched him in the jaw and put him to sleep. The last one turned to run, but I swept his feet out from under him, and he fell to the floor. Labu landed on him in a flash, knocked the air from his lungs, and wrapped a hand around his mouth.
“Got him,” he said.
I dispersed the mist and looked about. We had six unconscious or incapacitated guards in the hallway that gave away our presence. We needed to do something with them.
“Can’t have them following us,” Vesma said. “We can lock them in the cellar. Kegohr, can you help me with this?”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah.” Kegohr caught the armor of two of the guards in a single hand and dragged them over the tiles, back along our path. ”
“What if they wake?” Labu asked.
“We’ll tie them up in the cellar,” Vesma snapped.
Labu watched me with the same wary respect I was now granting him as my friends dragged the unconscious guards down the stairs. Kegohr did most of the heavy lifting. I had no doubt that my friends could handle themselves, but Labu was the new guy in this equation. We’d worked well together in the fight and, loath as I was to admit it, he could be quick-witted as well as quick-fisted.
“We’ll press on without you,” I called to Vesma and Kegohr.
“Sure,” Kegohr said. “Just leave us a trail so that we can find you.”
“Wet footprints, perhaps.” Vesma winked as she tucked two spears under her arm.
“I think I can manage that,” I said. “If you don’t catch up with us, we’ll find you here on the way out.”
I headed up through the guild house and followed Labu’s lead. The prince’s caution apparently overcame his sense of urgency, and we slowed our pace. We still weren’t in the heavily used areas toward the front of the building. This part seemed to be older, the architecture mismatched and primitive, like old buildings had melted together to form something new. Some of the rooms clearly served specialized purposes, including an alchemical lab and a documentary archive. Others were store rooms or small, dusty corners that had fallen out of use. The prince grew more tense in his stride the further we moved through the guild house.
Labu led me down stairs again, past a row of storerooms.
“The secured quarters are down this way,” he whispered. “Not many people have a reason to come here, but those who do are either guards or important, so be wary.”
We crept along the corridor lit once again by flaming brands in sconces along the walls. It was like walking into the dungeon from a Hollywood movie. A dark, cold space with uneven flagstones underfoot and wooden doors bound in iron greeted us as we descended further. Water dripped from the ceiling and left small pale stalactites behind. There were very few signs of life, and none of the light and style of finesse that marked the other
parts of the guild. A rat-like creature took off at a run as soon as it saw us, taking its prized meal with it.
“Why do they need all these cells?” I asked after we passed at least a dozen of them. “Surely, the guild doesn’t have this much of a discipline problem.”
“There was a castle here before the guild house,” Labu replied. “Home to a clan family, long before the days of the empire. The histories say that they wouldn’t bend the knee to the first emperor, and the first Qihin king won favor by bringing them down.”
“Sounds like things have always been tense here.”
“The Diamond Coast is full of Vigor as well as stopping ports on the trade lane from Azachan to High Sparus. It’s worth fighting for. And when we don’t stand united, that’s when outsiders come in to take our wealth and our land.”
“Is that why you’re so keen for the guild and your clan to work together?”
“My motives are none of your business,” Labu hissed.
“No need to be a prick about it.”
“And there was no need for you to come to our land, stirring up trouble for everyone, but still you came.”
We reached a T junction with each arm holding the doors to three cells. These cells were different, and all but one of them had a kind of silk rope hanging on a hook beside them.
“This is where they’d keep a prisoner who can Augment,” he said. “She’ll be in one of them, if she’s here at all. I don’t know what game Cadrin is playing, but. . .”
I left him to talk to himself as I moved along the row and peered through the barred windows of the cells. The first two were empty, and I approached the third. It was the only cell without silk ropes hanging beside it. Inside, sat a familiar figure.
Kumi was tied to a chair by silk ropes and with a strip of cloth across her mouth. Her eyes widened when she saw me, and she moaned something, her gag making her words unintelligible.
I stepped back to look at the door. It was solidly built, with an iron lock and a heavy wooden bar. I slid the bar out of the way and pressed my hand against the lock. It was old, rusted, and moist from the air. I focused and fired off a tiny, powerful blast of Untamed Torch. The intense heat found the water inside the mechanism and boiled it instantly. One sharp hiss and a searing crack later, and the lock exploded inside its wooden housing.
