Before the night of Myron’s disappearance, it would have been an opportunity I looked forward to. Now, I just thought of all the time it would take away from my true aims. But I was a First Verifier. Futile though this task might seem, I had to help Nomusa preserve our position for the time when it mattered. “Then I’ll track their investors down.”
Nomusa glanced at me. “There’s also another task you could take on.”
I sighed. “Out with it.”
“Hiring other Verifiers to pick up your inevitable slack.”
I smiled sheepishly. “You see right through me.”
She smiled in return, but only briefly. “But do remember to take this seriously. Being Verifiers for the Conclave is different than it was for Jaxas. The Council needs to see progress on their directive, and soon, or they’ll disband the Order as quickly as they resurrected it. But this is what we always wanted, isn’t it? To be at the heart of thing, cutting to the secrets that matter most? To change the course of Oedija?”
Her resolve inflamed my own. “Yes,” I said quietly. “That’s what we wanted.”
She exhaled like she’d been holding her breath. “Good. Now maybe we’d better rest before yet another long day.”
We’d arrived at the Aviary and, after a hasty meal, we both went to our rooms. I briefly debated sending a finch to my family and decided it could wait until tomorrow. I’d already faced that issue once today and couldn’t force myself to revisit it. Besides, I wasn’t exactly sure which estate Jaxas had sent them to. I sighed and put it from my mind as I undressed and settled into bed.
As I drifted off, I thought of another message I’d have liked to send. Talan’s visit the night before had been far too brief, and I wanted to see him again. But he’d refused to say where he stayed, and I doubted a finch would be able to safely reach him anyway. I’d pry his location from him the next time he came, along with the answer to my question about Linos.
Sleepily, I imagined reaching out to him, grasping after his shadow as it flitted across the city. I followed it through the courtyard of the Conclave and onto the streets, but always it kept ahead of me. Still, I felt I could find its source, if I could only gain a proper vantage point.
I looked up, and saw that Oedija loomed above me as well as around. The world had doubled, half of it hanging precariously overhead. But I was seeking Talan. I drew my gaze away and continued my search, first running, then soaring as I gained speed and my feet left the ground.
I swept through Iris; when I didn’t find him there, I sought him in the demes beyond. As I quested further, focusing on my task became harder, and I had to thrust more of myself into my search. I felt stretched, thinned, but I didn’t dare slow. If I slowed, I might never find him.
Then I felt him, a warmth in the cold night. Nearing, I saw his bright flame appear amidst the dun bodies that filled the city. Not recognizing the place in Hull where he was, I approached, curious as a moth.
But as I neared, I saw Talan did not burn alone. Another flame, curiously detached, like it burned at the end of a long wick, was next to him. This second flame rose into the mirror world above. An impulse to sever the long flame seized me, and I felt the edges of myself sharpening. The anger came so suddenly and strongly that I barely had the strength to hold it at bay.
Then I felt another gaze upon me. I turned from the two flames and was near blinded by the inferno rising silently behind me. It swept forward, a wildfire in full bloom, and closed in around me. It drank from the anger that oozed from me, and from my fear as well, as I comprehended the vastness of this entity.
I gathered myself close and searched for an opening, but any escape was fast closing. All around was a sphere of writhing flames, each tendril yearning to burn me into itself. I stiffened my resolve and dared them to try.
The walls of fire began to close.
“Stop!”
The word reverberated through me, though the voice that had called it was weak. The inferno faltered, then retreated to form a gap, as if fearing the voice. In the center of the gap, a small black figure floated, unbothered by the flames that licked its feet. I stared in wonder at this being who could not be burned.
“You are mine still,” the figure said, the same booming resonance in its reedy voice. “Your seed does not yet lie fallow.”
The flames pulsed, as if daring the newcomer to try.
“Return to me!” the black figure hissed, spreading its arms.
But the conflagration didn’t obey. Instead, it surged toward me, flames reaching their blistering arms forward.
Another figure, gray with streaming shadows about it, suddenly appeared between me and the great fire. It seemed the flames would consume it as well as me, but at the last moment, the fire surged to a halt.
“Return to me!” the black figure commanded again, voice stronger yet.
Caught between the figures of gray and black, the inferno gathered into itself. Then slowly, reluctantly, the great fire began to retreat. It flowed along itself toward the dark figure, then slithered inside it in glowing streams. The figure’s pain washed over me, one wave after another, until the inferno was a glowing sphere inside its middle.
Then the shadowed figure turned its gaze upon me. “You would doom us all,” it said. Then it disappeared.
The gray figure, still floating before me, slowly turned around. I stared in mute wonder at its strangeness. She resembled a woman, but her features were so strangely disproportionate I knew she couldn’t be human. Her eyes were angled sharply and opened wide, with irises black and silver. Her hair streamed about her head, silver against the gray of her body, moving as if they were a thousand tiny adders. Her robes hung in tatters, revealing gray skin beneath, and streamed in eleven long tails below her.
The strange woman drifted closer, then opened her hands. In one, I saw she held a sandglass, small and without a frame, little more than two glass bulbs fused together. Sand dripped down in it, the stream unnaturally slow to fall. Her other hand was empty.
This empty hand she extended toward me as she stopped before me. Her gesture was unmistakeable. I hesitated only a moment. She had saved me. She couldn’t mean me harm.
I took her hand.
Suddenly, I was thrown swiftly down. The ground rushed toward me, closer and closer, then the blinding crush—
I sat up, gasping for air. Sweat beaded my skin, and a feverish heat radiated from me. All I could do was pant and let the memory of the dream stir in my mind. A dream. Surely that was all it had been.
I pulled the blankets off, wishing my hot skin to be exposed to the cool air, when I heard a strange crackle. Something flaked beneath my fingers. Dreading to see, I reached one shaking hand over to the pyrkin pot on my bedside table and lifted the lid. Yellow light flooded the room, revealing two black marks upon my blankets. My hand rested in one. The other, I was sure, was where my other hand had been lying.
I stared for a moment, breath caught in my throat. Radiance — the word echoed in my mind. I had channeled radiance. Relief washed over me. I should have worried that I might have burned down the room, and perhaps the whole Aviary. But the doubts that had worried at me for the last two days were finally dispelled. Shifts or not, I knew I was a warden. I’d channeled radiance.
And I could have killed Nomusa. The thought chilled my excitement. If I couldn’t control my channeling, how could I keep my friends safe? I clenched my fists around the ashy blankets, feeling the black flakes crumble under my fingers. I had to learn to control this. I’d endangered my friends far too often already. How could I put them at risk from myself?
Words crashed into my mind, splitting it open.
COME TO ME!
The thought burst in uninvited, chopping through me like an axe. Vaguely, I was aware of falling back against my bed, arms flailing out to either side, limp as a corpse. I felt the parts of myself scatter all around me, and it was beyond me to put myself back together.
Fragmented, I sank into darkness.
The Good Pupil
Tyurn Sky-Sea listened to his daughter’s words, and knew them for wisdom.
‘Very well,’ he agreed heavily. ‘If the fault is mine, the price is also mine to pay. Thank you, Daughter, most true to my heart.’
Clepsammia, the Hand of Destiny, said nothing, but only smiled a sad smile.
Tyurn Sky-Sea looked at the world below, the world he so loved, and made his decision. He would give of all his remaining strength to grant those he had failed the strength to protect themselves.
From among humans, he chose eleven of the noblest, bravest, cleverest, and wisest. Foremost among these was Agmon who would become known as Brandheart, already a famed general in his own right.
To the eleven, the Ruler of All Realms said:
‘I, Tyurn Sky-Sea, Lord of All who walk, swim, or fly, do admit to you, my lost children, that I have committed a grave sin against you. And so I will repay you with power only a god has before wielded, that you might defend yourselves against my error.’
And so he made these eleven humans the First Wardens, and the First Wardens awoke to their godly powers.
- The Seeds of Famine, a translation from the Lighted-tongue; by Oracle Kalene of deme Hull; 881 SLP
Pain like nothing I’d felt before greeted me when I awoke. I gingerly touched my temples, opening my eyes to slits. Even that small amount of light woke a fresh round of pain. My mother had sometimes complained of migraines as if there were no greater pain. Now I understood why.
Groaning, I forced myself to sit up. My stomach roiled, queasy and unsettled. For a moment, I thought I wouldn’t hold it down. I felt miserably sorry for myself as I put my legs off the side of the bed. Why today, of all days, did my mother have to be proven right?
Then the memory of last night rushed back in.
Come to me.
I would have sprang to my feet if I could have. As it was, I hunched against the pain and slowly began dressing for the day. I recognized who had spoken the command now, somehow. Even though I couldn’t explain it, I had no doubt it was Eltris who had reached out to me. She’d summoned me to her.
And I’d fallen unconscious.
Strapping on my sandals, I wondered if it had been her that struck me unconscious, or what had come before. The dream had been strangely vivid. Could it have been more than a dream? Caught in its throes, I’d ignored all the strange aspects of the world. The city mirrored above… I’d imagined flying through the Pyrthae, I suddenly realized. But of Talan and the long flame with him, the dark figure that tamed the firestorm, the strange, gray woman who had protected me… It had to be nonsense made up by my imagination.
Unless I’d truly visited the Pyrthae again.
Madness. I slowly eased onto my feet, though my aching head made my limbs shaky and weak. Every movement jarred. My neck felt so stiff it was difficult to turn it from side to side. I knew my hair was a mess, but I just grabbed a thin cloth band to bind it back. My Verifier medallion hung heavy around my neck.
Just before I left my room, I noticed two things waiting for me on the floor by the door. Cursing how far away they were, I bent slowly to retrieve them. One was a knife half a cubit long, nestled into a plain leather sheath that was connected to a series of leather bands. The other was a folded piece of parchment. I picked them up and opened the note.
Remember to report to our clerk Galene as to your expenses the day before, and retrieve today’s allowance. If she isn’t waiting for you in the atrium, you can find her in the clerks’ chambers off the Conclave.
Wear this knife always. It won’t be comfortable, but it won’t be in danger of slipping down.
Don’t entrust yourself to a cartman. There have been reports of them delivering patricians and clerks of the law into the hands of brigands and Guilders. Your feet will carry you safer.
And who’s sleeping late now?
~Nomusa
Her reminder was timely; I’d completely forgotten about reporting to our clerk, though I’d noticed the distinct lack of silver among Nomusa’s gifts. I tried reining in my impatience at the delay. Eltris had called me, and I’d already wasted a night in answering her. And now, it wasn’t only about learning what I could of Famine. I glanced back at the twin sears on my blanket. Best to hide evidence of my channeling, as much as I could — the last thing I needed was Hyrol’s suspicion, especially if he did turn out to be someone’s agent.
After I’d stuffed the blanket under my bed, the best hiding spot I could manage until after dark, I followed Nomusa’s advice and unbound my chiton to strap on the knife. Little good it would do me under my robe, I thought sourly. Once again, I yearned for a tunic and trousers, even if I didn’t often walk about in them alone. But why not? Wasn’t the situation dire enough that I should do what was practical, not what was expected of me? Corin regularly wore such pedestrian clothes.
And why stop there, I thought as my hair fell in my face for a third time. Why not shear my hair short as well? But in the end, once the knife was securely against my back, the leather rough against my skin, I tied my chiton on again and bound my unruly hair back in a tail. Appearances still mattered to an extent. For now, I’d preserve them.
The headache still assaulted me as I descended the stairs through the finch tower, the birds’ chirps needles stabbing into my head. But as I entered the atrium, I found my nausea easing and my habitual hunger returning so that I resolved to break my fast.
But I found that someone waited for me. The woman was very clearly a Conclave clerk, not only in dress but in manner. She’d seated herself in the middle of one of the long tables and spread out her work’s materials around her. A small strongbox, a ledger neatly arranged, an inkwell and pen sitting at the ready. Her hands were folded before her and her eyes on me, as if she’d just been doing nothing but waiting for me to descend.
“First Verifier Airene,” the clerk said briskly. “Please be seated. We have the Aviary finances from the past day to discuss.” She gestured to the chair opposite her.
“Galene, I presume?”
The woman gave a curt nod. “Of course. Now if you would, we can settle these accounts straightaway.”
“I’ve only just risen. If you’ll permit me a moment for my body’s needs.”
I couldn’t keep the annoyance from my voice. Even if my head didn’t feel as if smiths were busily pounding away at it, the woman’s disregard for my time pulled at my frayed patience.
Her lips thinned. “Very well. I will be waiting.”
I took my time. Once I’d returned from my morning necessities, I snuck back in through the kitchen and made a small meal of what Sizani had prepared. Bread, fruit, and cheese, my mainstay these past few days, continued to be on the menu. Torn between haste and a petty desire to make the clerk wait, I let my disturbed stomach set the pace, then returned to the atrium.
Galane’s narrowed eyes let me know the delay hadn’t escaped her notice. “If you are ready to begin,” she said coldly.
I sat. “I am.”
She straightened the ledger before her, though it had seemed straight to me before, then dipped her pen in the inkwell. “I believe, First Verifier, you were given an allowance of five silver scions yesterday. If you would tell me how much of it you spent and on what, we can soon be finished here.”
“I didn’t spend any of it.”
She raised an eyebrow. “Then you have no need of an allowance today.”
“No, I do. I don’t have it anymore.”
“I’m afraid I don’t understand.”
Though I’d been playing coy at first, now I found the truth hard to admit. “I was robbed. All of it was stolen on my way to the Acadium.”
As she noted this in her ledger, Galene’s expression plainly told her disbelief. “I see,” she said as she finished the entry. “I would advise you to be more careful today.”
I nodded regretfully. “It is a bad habit of mine, making friends with thieves.”
She
made no comment, but made another note in her ledger. Then, setting her pen neatly in its stand after dabbing the end with a cloth, she shifted to the strongbox and, turning a key in its lock, opened it. I heard the faint rustling of coins within as she moved it.
“Five silver scions, as is your allowance.” She withdrew the coins and set them in a neat stack before me.
I took them. “Do you have a purse as well? I’m afraid mine was taken.”
Galene stared at me as if I’d asked her for gold. “I do not carry purses with me, First Verifier. I am not a street peddler.”
I found it hard not to roll my eyes. “Then I’ll manage. If that’s all…” I rose to my feet more swiftly than was comfortable. The food had helped my aching head, but the world still tilted violently.
The clerk watched me. I wondered if she thought me sick from too much wine; I knew I must be displaying some of the signs. Perhaps that was what she thought I’d spent the coin on. “I will see you tomorrow, First Verifier Airene,” she said, judgment plain in her voice.
I didn’t acknowledge her as I left. With silver in hand, I had what I needed from her.
By the time I’d crossed the bridge and exited the Laurel grounds, my headache had eased, and I increased my pace. Even though a fair number of people wandered the streets, I remembered keenly my robbery from the day before. No need to be on Oedija’s streets any longer than I had to. Keeping to the main roads, I managed to make it to the Acadium gates with no incident, only stopping briefly at a peddler’s stand to buy a small purse. The woman’s eyes went wide as I handed her a silver to change, and I wondered if she would have enough small coins to do it. But a minute later, I walked away with nickel, silver, and copper all softly clinking in my purse, tucked safely beneath the neck of my chiton.
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