A Rose In The Wind: A Saga of the Halmae -- Updated June 19, 2014

[Middle Snu]

Curse you, curse you all.

On Thursday morning, I had a bit of downtime at work. "Ah," I said to myself, "I wonder if Sagiro's updated. What's this? StephenAC archives another story hour?" I was just starting up a new project, and didn't have too much time... but what was the worst that could happen?

16 hours later. It's 6am on Friday morning - I finally tear myself away from the screen, drive home, and spend the next day on 1 hour of sleep.

Two days later. I lie in bed, defeated. I had, over the last 60 hours, read all of both "Welcome to the Halmae" and "A Rose in the Wind." My mind is spinning with plot points, characters, skill challenges. I feel a strange urge to DM 4th edition to orchestrate a similar "skill cascade," but I know it would be only a shadow of the glorious events described here.

Seriously, this is one of my favorite story hours ever. The worldbuilding is amazing, the characterization fantastic, and the writing is spectacular.

So really, by "curse you all," I mean "Thanks so much. I'll keep reading."

 

[Ilex]

I lack the words, emoticons, or animated gifs to adequately express how gleefully happy your comment makes me, Middle Snu. Thank YOU.

 

[Ilex]

34x01

The day dragged past, the wind soughing in the pines outside the cave’s entrance, the party restlessly inventing and discarding plan after plan for negotiating with—or ambushing—their hoped-for visitor. Savina cast the ritual Banish Vermin just inside the mouth of the cave, blocking the entrance and creating a zone within that would be safe from spying rats and other servants of the mysterious woman. Kormick and Arden lurked behind the tumbled boulders around the cave’s mouth, hidden from approaching eyes—just in case. The rest of the party, Rose at their center, waited in plain sight within the ritual-protected safe zone inside the cave.

And they waited.

Finally, the sun sent long shafts of light through the trees from the western horizon. Slowly the light faded, and dusk settled over the pines outside. The wind rushed in the forest like a distant ocean and sent leaves skittering past the cave’s entrance. A small dark shape swooped past the cave’s entrance, and Savina saw the flash of a dagger in the shadows as Arden nearly threw her blade before realizing that the shape was merely a hunting bat.

Another bat flitted past the cave entrance, then another, then two together, looping dizzily. Then there were five.

Then ten.

“Not natural,” muttered Kormick, and now it wasn’t just leaves skittering at the cave’s mouth, there was skittering behind them, too, against the back wall of the cave where Savina’s ritual zone didn’t reach.

Tavi threw a torch against the back wall: it was alive with rats, beetles, and worms, all the cracks in the rock squirming with life. Arden gasped, Kormick cursed, and both of them dodged back into the safe zone, flicking centipedes and spiders off their arms and legs.

Countless bats now darkened the cave’s mouth. And it wasn’t just bats: Savina glimpsed crows, robins, and finches swirling around with the bats.

They were surrounded. Savina consulted her feelings, gave a sharp nod, and spoke loudly, making Rose jump: “This is a rude response to a friendly request for parlay.”

“Typical crime boss, arriving with a show of force,” added Kormick.

“Let’s leave,” said Savina. “I will not play audience to this display.”

In answer, the birds and bats pulled back to either side, like a curtain parting on a stage, making a living tunnel in front of the cave’s mouth. The ground, a mat of beetles, gathered itself together, each shiny body piling onto the next in a mound, then suddenly the beetles were forming themselves into arms, legs, head—and suddenly there were no beetles at all but an older woman dressed in blue and green standing before the cave’s entrance. It was the Alirrian Tender whom Twiggy had seen in her magical investigation of the pot shard.

“Greetings, Sister,” said Savina. “I’m pleased you accepted our invitation.”

“My name is Sister Orchid, and I have no interest in further violence,” answered the woman.

Kormick’s snort made no attempt to hide his skepticism, but Savina thought the woman seemed sincere. Sincere, and sad, and very, very concerned.

“You have attacked us several times. What do you fear from us?” Savina asked her.

“I fear little from you,” the woman answered, “but I do fear…” She raised a finger, and pointed at Rose.

“What do you fear from her, then?” Savina asked.

“I know who and what she is. I know the danger she represents.”

Savina felt Mena, Tavi, and Twiggy draw closer to Rose as Kormick gave an exasperated sigh.

“Let us speak plainly,” he said. “Why? Who are you? Why have you come after our friend?”

“The Church of Alirria has been watching her for some time,” said Orchid. “We are confident in our conclusions. She is dangerous.”

“She’s just a young woman!” Savina burst out.

“I know. But she is also the Sacrifice of Death, and the Church has tasked me with making sure her doom does not come to pass.”

Mena put her hand on Rose’s shoulder. “Again, we ask you to speak plainly,” she said. “Tell us everything you know. Rose also wants to hear it.”

Rose nodded, her face very pale in the darkness.

Savina watched Orchid’s lips form into a thin, unhappy line. The woman didn’t want to explain.

“Let’s start with this,” Kormick said. “When I say I work for Kettenek, I sometimes mean something different than… let’s say… Justicars from other places, or other Kettenek-ish orders and whatnot. What is your particular version of the Church of Alirria?”

He was fishing to find out if she represented a strange splinter group of the church, which made sense to Savina, until the woman’s next words chilled her heart:

“I work for the Council of Mothers,” said Orchid.

The Council of Mothers was the governing body of the entire Alirrian Church on the Peninsula. Savina’s order answered to them, as did all the other Alirrian sects. If the Council of Mothers had sent this attacker after Rose….

“Why,” whispered Savina. Then she raised her voice firmly. “Why wait until now, and why do you pursue us with violence? If the Council itself is concerned about Rose, why not talk to her and her family years ago?”

“We have studied, we have debated, we have gone over and over our conclusions. And then, when you acted, when Rose ran away, we realized that we could risk no further hesitation—so I was sent forth.”

“And your mission?” asked Mena.

“I must kill her,” said Orchid, “to keep her from danger of death by the wrong hand.”

 

[Ilex]

34x02

Silence. With Orchid’s mission stated baldly, none of them seemed quite able to find breath.

“If the girl is killed by the wrong hand, it is the unmaking of all that has been made,” added Orchid. There was pleading buried beneath the calm resolution in her voice; Savina heard it and knew that the woman longed for them to understand and accept.

Kormick had no interest in acceptance. “What’s your source for this?” he demanded. “Because we have a prophecy from an actual Alirrian angel that offers a little more hope than what you’re peddling.”

“You have an angel,” Orchid replied. “We have communed with many since the child’s birth. They’ve revealed that Rose is perfectly safe unless her death is brought about by a being they call the Agent of Destruction. We cannot identify who the Agent might be, so we have determined that we must kill the child instead. We cannot risk the alternative.”

“How do we know you’re not the Agent?” Savina asked, beating the rest of them to the obvious question and earning a thumbs-up from Kormick.

It was Orchid’s turn to sigh. “We spent a great deal of time and effort communicating with the divine, making sure that it wasn’t me. It was exhausting—and conclusive. But that is all we know. No one but me is safe.”

Twiggy spoke up: “I’d like to know a lot more about that process. What exactly did you do? And how do you know the Agent is anyone in particular? That you won’t somehow become the Agent simply by being the one to kill Rose?”

“You must trust that we know,” said Orchid. “Making this determination was so difficult that it was almost beyond the Council. It took immense resources and the wisdom of our greatest minds, and no one is sure we could repeat the process. But the result was certain. This is our one chance.”

Savina felt sure that Orchid believed what she said—which was more upsetting than the alternative. A lying Alirrian she could cope with. An Alirrian bent on this killing, however… plus the terrifying implications behind her reasoning…

“You’re saying,” said Mena, voicing Savina’s next thought out loud, “that this Agent of Destruction could be anyone. It could be one of us.”

“It’s not one of us,” Kormick said. “We’d have done it already. We’ve had a ridiculous number of opportunities over the last few months.”

“There have in fact been five hundred and seventy-six such opportunities merely during the events I have Witnessed,” Nyoko piped up.

“We cannot know who it is. We only know it is not me. The Council went to great lengths to confirm that--to ensure that there was one person who could safely do what must be done,” said Orchid.

“And what’s this ‘unmaking’ you talked about?” asked Kormick.

“It is, as I said, the unmaking of all that has been made. An evil great enough that we must commit this lesser evil to prevent it.”

“All right, let’s say we believe you,” said Mena. Orchid’s sincerity was too hard to keep doubting. “Maybe you’ve failed to find the Agent, but we haven’t even begun to try.”

“With so much at stake? We dare not take the risk of letting you try.”

“Now wait just a minute,” said Kormick. “I’m new to all this … divine stuff … but your answer to the problem is too pat. Sure, you could kill Rose, but do you really think that the goddess Sedellus would let her plans be wrecked that easily? She is a goddess. You can reroute a stream, yes? But you can’t make it disappear. You’ve spent sixteen years doing things people in robes do, and this is the best answer you’ve got? To reroute the stream? Meanwhile in just a few months we’ve found more leads than you ever did: we’ve got our prophecy, we’ve got this stuff about the Sheh killing baby girls, we’re on this. We may not be smarter than you, I’m not saying that, but obviously at least we’re luckier.”

Savina felt like cheering, but Orchid merely raised an eyebrow and asked, “And you would trust to Sedellan luck?”

“Alirria isn’t the goddess of killing,” Savina shot back.

“You think we don’t know that? You think I don’t know?” Orchid shouted. Then she took a deep breath and, when she resumed speaking, her voice was calm once more, with only a slight tremble and that faint, pleading undertone, begging them not to make this harder than it already was. “The Ehktians don’t care about this problem--the Kettenites endlessly debate it among themselves, but take no actions--and the Sedellans… Pray you don’t encounter those the Sedellans have sent. They are without mercy, without compassion. They do not care who they hurt. I seek only one death.”

Finally, for the first time, Tavi spoke. “We left the safety of our family’s estates to face Rose’s destiny,” he said. “We are agreed with you that merely waiting is folly. However, to sacrifice the light that is my sister without recognizing that she is innocent—”

“How many ways can I say it?” Orchid interrupted. “The Council has debated these questions at length. No one is happy with the answer.”

“But they all agreed?” Savina asked.

“Enough did.”

Savina knew enough about politics to imagine the impassioned arguments that Orchid’s simple statement concealed. “What was the position of the dissenters?” she pressed.

But Orchid would not be drawn out. “You are not a policy maker, Daughter,” she said. “We won’t roll dice with the world.”

“The Twilight Lurker won’t be defeated this simply,” said Mena.

“In fact, have you considered that Sedellus may have manipulated the Council?” Kormick snapped his fingers. “Tell you what. This is very complicated. How about you go back home, and we’ll go back to the city, and we’ll all think and research and meet again in two weeks to talk it over? …No?”

Orchid’s face said it all. No. And still that pleading, deep in her eyes.

“I’m so sorry for you that this evil is your burden,” Savina told her, and she was sorry.

Orchid finally looked directly at Rose. “My dear, I regret this deeply, tremendously,” she said. “But for the good of all who live, please, will you surrender yourself?”

As one, the party drew in and became a wall around Rose as Savina’s seedling pity for Orchid was swamped by a flood of anger. “Don’t you dare,” she heard herself saying, in a voice that shook with rage rather than fear. “Don’t you dare make this polite and cover it in pretty words and justifications. I trust Rose with my life. This. Is. Evil. Say that!”

“Step aside,” Orchid said. “You’re so very young. The Council has far more experience fighting Sedellus than any of you or the organizations you represent.”

“Wait a second,” said Kormick, and his warhammer was already in his hand. “I think… this is new for me, but I think, as a member of the Justicars, I’m actually offended by that.”

“I’m definitely offended,” said Mena. Her armor whispered: offended…

“While I’m sure due care was taken, your Council are not Adepts,” added Nyoko. Her hand lay casually on the shoulder strap of her quiver, but Savina knew how fast that hand could move.

“Nonetheless,” said Orchid, “you have heard their judgment. Will you surrender, Roseanna di Raprezzi?”

Tavi caught his sister’s eye for one long moment. She made no sign, merely looked back at him, ghost-pale. Tavi turned to Orchid, and when he spoke, every word was soft, slow, and considered. “I assure you, Rose will not be surrendered in this moment.”

…in this moment, Savina had time to think. Someday, will another moment be different?

“I am sorry,” said Orchid. I am sorry, said her sad, pleading eyes.

And the ground around them erupted.

 

[coyote6]

Ooh, I hate it when that happens. Has anything good ever come of erupting ground?

 

[Ilex]

34x03

Dark green vines blasted out of the ground, turning the cave’s floor into a tangle of undergrowth while twining tendrils curled inward, reaching for the party. Tavi stepped in front of Rose. “Don’t leave my side,” he told her—something between a request, an order, and a prayer to whatever gods were listening.

Nyoko shot two grasping vines as they waved within reach of Rose, and they wilted to the floor.

Arden danced between the vines and went straight for Orchid. Kormick was right behind her, tramping rather than dancing. Arden got there first: her dagger struck, Orchid’s side flickered into beetles for an eyeblink and then reformed, and Arden slipped back out of range. Kormick swung a warhammer, and the woman’s body again turned to beetles beneath the blow before becoming human again. Then plant tendrils wove toward Rose—

Tavi sent magic racing down his arm and into his sword, which burst into flame as he lopped off the plants’ ends; fire raced up the stems and stalks and the plants crumpled into ash.

But Rose screamed: through the plants came charging three huge white apes, the first grabbing Rose by the arm and hair and flinging her away from Tavi towards the other beasts; she fell hard.

Mena was there instantly, catching the first ape in its thigh with her blade. The ape pounded its chest with both fists and roared, then spun to lumber back toward Rose. Tavi and Arden caught it with paired attacks and now it was bleeding in three places.

Beyond it, Rose struggled to her feet, bleeding, only to be grabbed by another plant. Get there now, Tavi told himself, but got only two steps before his own feet were tangled up by green vines. He cut it away with his flaming sword only to be grabbed again, immediately, by yet another plant. As he struggled, he heard Savina chanting and blue light burst from her holy symbol. He felt her healing power wash over him, but their enemies seemed unharmed: in the chaos, her prayers lost focus.

The injured ape burst into flame and Tavi knew Twiggy was at work, though he couldn’t see her past the vines that encircled his body, their tendrils waving tauntingly before his eyes. His sword arm was bound against his body. Somewhere, Rose screamed again—his name. Tavi yelled back in wordless frustration as he strained against his bonds.

###

At the cave’s mouth, Kormick found himself alone with Sister Orchid, staring into her eyes as her body reformed after his hammer’s stroke. She seemed slumped as she stared back at him, and Kormick dared to hope she was hurt.

Orchid stretched out her hand and placed it with surprising gentleness on his shoulder. Kormick really dared to hope that she might be giving up.

Then his life’s energy was running out of him: he could almost feel his body’s warmth, his ability to think straight, his arm’s strength racing up to his shoulder like water and flowing out of him through her hand. Orchid stood straighter.

She removed her thieving hand, and Kormick staggered. The cave was spinning. The noise of the battle mere feet behind him seemed miles away. It seemed to him that Orchid leaned in close to his ear and whispered, “Don’t oppose me, Sister,” but that was obviously wrong. He wasn’t her sister.

There were beetles swarming over his body—touches of flaring pain as a few got inside his clothes and bit. Then Kormick was stumbling backward, then falling, and as he landed within the zone of Savina’s original Banish Vermin ritual, the beetles fell away.

A plant wove toward him.

“Sister?!” he said to it, and re-gripped his hammer. Orchid was crazier that he’d thought.

###

Tavi struck down the last tendril binding him and dragged himself, at last, to Rose’s side. All three apes were struggling to reach her, but her friends had her mostly surrounded and were fending off the beasts. Unsuku, to Tavi’s surprise, was holding off one ape entirely by herself, ducking, weaving, dancing around behind the brute and snaking her arm around its neck, graceful as a vine herself.

Savina chanted again and white light seared across a second ape. Scarcely missing a breath, Savina turned her gaze to Rose and her voice grew softer; Rose stood taller as healing energy coursed through her.

Arden slipped around behind the ape that had first thrown Rose—the one that was now bleeding and on fire—and slid her dagger between its ribs. It dropped. Its two comrades, undeterred, fought on.

Tavi busied himself with the one Unsuku wasn’t fighting (dancing with, his mind insisted; even her fighting was elegant). Mena turned her attention to Kormick, who was still battling vines on the other side of the cave and looking gray in the face.

“Jan, pay attention,” Mena snapped at him. “There are beasties with kneecaps over here.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Kormick said.

The ape Tavi was battling took a swing at Mena; her armor hissed at it and it blundered sideways—and met Kormick’s warhammers. He struck it twice, then crossed the hammers and sent a burst of arcane energy crackling into the ape’s face. Tavi seized his chance and drove his sword home. The second ape fell to the floor.

As if that had been a signal, the third ape twisted away from Unsuku and backed away into the darkness outside the cave; in the same instant, the waving vines grew still, lowering to the rocky floor. Silence fell, except for the insistent buzzing and fluttering of the birds, bats, and insects that still swarmed outside the zone of Savina’s ritual.

It wasn’t much of a silence, in other words, but Tavi had bigger concerns.

“Rose,” he asked. “Are you all right?” Savina was already healing her, but Tavi was more worried about the look in his sister’s eyes.

“Is she gone?” Rose whispered.

No one answered: reflexively, everyone looked to the living, flying, creeping wall outside the cave. Orchid wasn’t gone. Not yet.

“Perhaps she’s too weak to attack,” ventured Nyoko.

“She stole energy from me, I think,” said Kormick. “With magic like that, she’s not too weak. Not yet.”

“Then what is she waiting for?” asked Twiggy.

“Don’t ask,” said Mena. “Drink water, take a breath, and prepare yourselves for whatever comes next.”

Tavi managed two gulps before the fluttering, buzzing tone went up a notch and the living curtain parted for a second time.

Orchid reformed herself out of the beetles and surveyed them.

“I didn’t want it to be like this,” she said. “But you leave me no choice.” She took a deep breath, and Tavi—even through his fear for Rose, his exhaustion, his quick calculations of tactical position—even through everything—Tavi saw the sorrow in her eyes.

“May the Mother of All forgive me,” she whispered.

She stepped forward, into the ritual circle. Her body flashed into beetles, which sheered off in waves, unable to enter the zone of Savina’s magic. Left behind was an old, frail woman who raised her head and screamed, “Mother forgive me”—the last word shredded by choking as her throat was torn open from within. A thin, bloody something reached out, reaching upwards. All over her body, Orchid’s flesh was pierced from within by—branches, Tavi realized, watching in shock, those are branches and thorns, it’s like she swallowed a demon acorn and now it’s growing out of her—

The last shreds of Orchid’s body hung like rags and dead leaves from the monstrosity that now towered above the party: a giant tree-monster of pulpy, bloody wood-flesh. Its body was studded with foot-long spines, random patches of bark like a disease, and strange, misplaced, bulging eyes that seemed barely to see at all. It was a horror like Tavi had never seen before, a supernatural assassin Orchid had died to bring into being, and it was coming for Rose.

 

[Ilex]

34x04

The thorny branches of the thing that had been Orchid slammed into Tavi, Twiggy, and Kormick, throwing them aside into the rocks, creating a gap in the wall of protection around Rose. The ease and speed with which that gap appeared scared Mena to her core—So fast. Just like that, it happens so fast—and two more limbs snaked forward, ensnared Rose, and began dragging her forward.

Mena’s fear flashed into colossal terrifying despair (It’s over, Rose is gone) so quickly that it threatened to consume her soul.

Kormick struck out at one of those limbs and missed. Savina cast a zone of Consecrated Ground, but Rose was beyond it, and now Rose writhed as a beam of light arrowed from the tree’s trunk and burned her skin. Nyoko shot one of the tree’s limbs, but it lashed back in an eyeblink, its thorns racking across Nyoko’s body. Arden flung a dagger into one of the thing’s bulging eyes… and it screamed.

It screamed a wordless plea—to powers beyond their comprehension—for strength, for forgiveness, for mercy, while knowing that mercy was impossible.

Dimly, Mena was aware that Kormick, Arden, Twiggy, and Unsuku were wilting beneath the agony of that scream. Mostly, she heard it reverberate in her own heart: it was the sound of someone doing an evil that must be done.

And Mena thought: No. That is my scream. I promised Rose, if anyone had to do this evil, it would be me. Not you.

She bit down, clenched her fist on her sword, and drove all the despair back down.

“STAND. YOUR. GROUND.” she roared to her companions. “STAND!”

She strode into Orchid’s whirling branches as thorns raked Arden and a limb came thundering toward Kormick. Mena lopped off that limb and grabbed Arden’s arm, steadying her and shaking the lost, scream-stunned expression off her face in one quick move. Tavi’s flaming blade whirled into view and gashed the tree-creature on its other side.

Orchid dropped Rose. Arden, Twiggy, and Nyoko kept up an assault on the tree as Mena dodged in, threw an arm around Rose, and helped the girl limp away. They only got a few feet before Mena felt an impact and found herself flying: a limb had swept into her ribs and she landed, hard, on the cave’s rocky floor.

As Mena rolled to her feet, she saw Rose retreating farther, behind Twiggy, while the rest of the group threw everything they had at Orchid. It was working. Severed limbs littered the floor, the trunk dripped a sappy ichor from many gashes, and Mena didn’t think she was imagining that the tree’s movements were ever so slightly slower now. She stepped forward to join Tavi, who was dueling one large limb, and Kormick, who was hammering at another.

Then, of the corner of her eye, she glimpsed something large and white in the darkness at the back of the cave. There was a grunt and a thump as the last surviving white ape came up behind Rose and punched her to the ground.

Orchid seized the moment to press forward, her roots propelling her across the ground like countless crooked limbs, fingers, toes, her remaining branches brushing everyone aside with renewed vigor, until she towered over Rose. Mena saw Rose’s wide eyes as she looked up at the monstrosity, one look before Orchid’s roots snaked up around Rose’s neck and clenched, and the tree’s strange lightning blazed into Rose’s face, burning her, and Mena saw—they all saw—Rose’s body first stiffen and then go limp.

For one split second, Mena’s heart stopped.

Then her armor screamed a battle cry, she raised her sword, and they all moved as one. Twiggy and Tavi threw light and flame. Nyoko shot arrow after arrow, ducking and weaving under the thrashing limbs. Arden sprang onto a branch near Mena and hung on long enough to jam a dagger straight into the point where the lightning seemed to emerge: the blazing light flared and went dark, while Arden was flung backwards and landed in a roll. Kormick, meanwhile, took it upon himself to deal with the ape: “Why! Won’t! You! Die!” he bellowed, punctuating each word with a hammer stroke, until on the final word the ape keeled over and was still.

Mena saw Savina attempting to reach Rose, but a lithe figure got there first: Unsuku. The Adept uncorked a healing potion, lifted Rose’s unconscious head, and tipped the potion down her throat.

The instant Rose’s eyes blinked, Mena yelled at her, “Teleport behind Kormick! NOW!”

Flash. Rose appeared huddled behind Kormick, next to the ape’s corpse. In the same moment, Mena saw the tree quake all over as a pulse of light rippled across the earth beneath it: it was standing in the zone of Consecrated Ground that Savina had cast, and this weakened it.

“Surround Orchid!” Mena yelled. “Don’t let her move!” The others caught on quickly, moving to confine the creature to the prayer-touched ground. Savina’s eyes were nearly closed as she concentrated intently, keeping the zone’s power intact. Everyone else piled on, hitting the tree with all the strength they had left. It thrashed and jabbed in return, but Mena was certain that it couldn’t last much longer.

With a terrible crack, the tree launched one more massive bolt of energy over their heads, arcing down straight toward Rose.

Kormick threw himself in its path. The light slammed into his body, burning him, but Rose was spared.

Kormick came to his feet and, in the same motion, began to stride toward the tree, his eyes—two glints beneath his lowered brow—locked onto the tree-creature. He threw aside one warhammer and raised the other in both hands. Then, like a logger felling an oak, he smashed the warhammer into the side of Orchid’s trunk. The hammer hit with a pulpy, wet thud, and the trunk collapsed like long-rotted wood, the hammer sinking into its heart.

Something deep within the tree screamed—not in pain, but in sorrow. The tree-creature that had been Orchid keeled over onto the ground Savina had blessed and lay still.

Around them, the birds, bats, and insects fluttered away into the night.

Silence fell, but for the endless wind in the trees outside.

Savina picked her way through the mass of dead branches toward one inhuman eye that still stared sightlessly upward. Murmuring words of Alirrian comfort, Savina closed the eye. “She took on an aspect of the goddess,” Savina said softly. “Not an angel, but a power that was more than she could hope to handle. She must have died as the tree came into being. She gave her life for—for this.”

They said little else as Twiggy re-set Orchid’s teleport circle in the back of the cave. Savina healed Rose and Kormick with what energy she had left, and then they gathered in the circle to teleport back to Overlook and resume their journey to Divine Mark.

Rose never said a word. And Mena never left her side.

 

[Ilex]

35x01

As they stepped out of the teleport building in Overlook, a stray nighttime breeze fluttered Rose’s cloak. She grabbed the hood and pulled it more tightly forward around her face, her hand holding it clenched at her throat. Twiggy couldn’t see her expression at all.

As they walked back to their lodgings through the darkened city, Savina was the first to venture a comment.

“Rose…?” she said. Rose’s free hand made a brief gesture that Twiggy understood well: not now.

“What Orchid told us… it’s almost good news,” Savina continued.

“There you go,” Kormick chimed in encouragingly. “You’re not going to destroy the world after all, yes? It’s just that any random stranger who stabs you… might.”

Twiggy said nothing, understanding that Rose didn’t want to talk. As silence fell again, Twiggy simply hoped that her presence at Rose’s side was at least a little comforting.

In the morning, they all settled into two carriages to continue their interrupted journey to Divine Mark. They had gone as far as they could go by teleport: the Lord High Regent’s home city had no public teleport circles. Now they would have a three-day journey over the high plateau beyond Overlook, slowly climbing, until they reached the holy city among another range of mountains in the west.

Twiggy craned her neck out the carriage window to see as much of Overlook as she could before they left it behind. This town was perched high on the edge of a plateau with vast views to the east, toward Cauldron and beyond. Twiggy thought of how far they’d traveled since leaving Pol Henna, and she wondered how much farther they might go. In the profound distance, where the land blurred into sky, she imagined she could see a twinkle of water—the Halmae Sea? But she was certain she was imagining it. We’ve come farther than I can see, even from up here, she knew.

The first day of travel took them across farmland: a smooth ride past workers in fields. Except for the unhappy silence emanating from Rose’s corner of the carriage, the day was pleasant. Twiggy wondered how long she should let Rose brood. At some point, they had to talk, not only to give Rose support but to figure out the meaning of everything they’d been told. She caught Mena’s eye and guessed that Mena was thinking the same thing; Mena gave her a sympathetic look and a head-shake that said not yet.

Twiggy settled for mentally reviewing everything Orchid had told them. It had been such an infuriating conversation: beyond the obvious fact that Orchid had been trying to kill her best friend, Twiggy had found her refusal to explain things maddening. How had the Council of Mothers reached their conclusions? What spells? What divinations? What was their level of certainty about this Agent of Destruction business? She found herself getting angry all over again.

Up above her, from where he was riding outside with the driver, Twiggy heard Kormick exhale comfortably—she could almost imagine him stretching—and say, “Now this is more what I was expecting when I agreed to escort a rich girl on a trip.” She tried to follow his lead, rolling her shoulders to loosen them and forcing herself to look out and enjoy the views.

It wasn’t easy.

That night at the waystation, Nyoko played and sang, to the delight of the travelers gathered there. Then Unsuku took the floor to dance, and Nyoko sat down next to Twiggy with a small cup of rice wine.

“Have you ever been to Divine Mark?” Twiggy asked her.

“I have not.”

“Is that because it’s kind of a forbidden place?”

“Not at all,” said Nyoko. “It’s merely very remote. Also quite formal.”

Twiggy thought that every city in the Sovereignty was, to put it mildly, quite formal; she wondered what nightmare of bureaucratic rigidity they were riding into. Nyoko must have caught the expression on her face, because she smiled.

“Don’t worry. Many pilgrims visit there,” Nyoko said. “They welcome and understand travelers in that sense. But it is a place of intense tradition. I will be shocked, for example, if we catch a glimpse of the Lord High Regent, even though we have been invited by Lady Akiko-san herself. By custom, he would never interact with heathens… or an Adept of my level.”

“What exactly do pilgrims do there?” asked Twiggy.

“Well, there are shrines, of course. And on certain festivals the Lord High Regent might hold a public celebration and bless the crowds… hold on…” Nyoko leaned forward, observing Unsuku’s gestures intently.

“What is it?”

“This is the Dance of the Earth United. I’ve working on it in my spare time.”

“—You’ve had spare time?”

“I hope never to be obliged to say it to her face, but Unsuku is… frustratingly good. Watching her is instructive.”

Twiggy settled back and watched the dance, too. It was good. In fact, it was mesmerizing, knitting the crowd into a sense of such shared experience that, at the end, they all collectively sighed. Twiggy found herself smiling into her fellow travelers’ faces as if they were old friends, all of them sharing the enjoyment of the performance they’d just seen. She even felt connected to Unsuku herself, and remembered that Unsuku had, in fact, helped save Rose’s life the night before. Perhaps the self-involved, ambitious Adept was becoming part of their family, after all.

And thus Nyoko learns the “Anthem of Unity” ritual.

On the second day, out of nowhere, Rose finally spoke up, as if voicing her conclusion from a long process of silent thought: “I agree, in the final analysis, there is—perhaps—good news. It’s just that, in the moment, it hurt.”

“In more ways than one,” said Twiggy, thinking of Rose’s battered body during the fight.

“I am glad to know more about your situation,” stated Mena, picking up the conversation as if they’d been chatting about nothing else throughout the journey. “This information about an Agent of Destruction who seeks your death is disturbing but clarifying. That said, the Council of Mothers’ research is not complete. We must not mistake knowing more for knowing everything.”

“Exactly,” said Twiggy. “Orchid wouldn’t tell us everything she knew, and it’s obvious even her people only understand part of the puzzle.”

They spent the rest of the ride going over everything they had learned—and getting nowhere. Somewhere out there, a Sedellan agent waited to kill Rose. And if that being (a person? an angel? something else?) succeeded, then… “The end of all that has been made,” mused Twiggy aloud. “Not ‘the end of the world,’ exactly. The wording seems extremely precise.”

“And yet extremely vague,” sighed Mena. “Didn’t I teach you to refrain from passive voice when you were trying to make your point clearly? ‘Made’…by whom? By the gods? That would, indeed, be catastrophic. Made by Culetto the cobbler during a particularly eventful visit to the outhouse last Tuesday? Less terrifying.”

“I don’t think it’s the latter,” said Rose.

On the third and final day of their journey to Divine Mark, the traffic on the road slowly increased, as did the number of roadside stands. By afternoon, the road was lined with merchants’ stalls selling snacks and trinkets to the pilgrims entering the city—Kormick bought a red chapbook to send home to his mentor Brother Scribe—and sunbeams shot over the mountains that rose directly ahead.

They were still talking.

“So you want to know more information,” said Rose. “So do I—I think. But is this going to keep happening? These attacks by the Alirrians? By others? What about next time, and the time after that?”

“We’ll protect you,” said Twiggy.

“But who’s protecting all of you? I’m not the only one who nearly died last night…”

“We make our own choices,” said Mena.

“And I choose to be here, with you,” said Twiggy.

“Balls of stone!” hollered a shockingly familiar voice from outside. “Big balls of stone! Big, tough balls of stone!”

The carriages jerked to a halt and Twiggy glimpsed Arden—who’d been riding on the outside, like Kormick—leap down and stride into the crowd, a chill gaze locked on something up ahead. Kormick was two steps behind her, growling “You have got to be kidding me” as he passed the carriage’s window.

Vatik was back.

 

[spyscribe]

Ah...good old Vatik.

 

[ellinor]

35x02

As they strode toward the rag-tag market stall containing the bellowing dwarf, Arden turned back and gave Kormick a quick, meaningful jerk of her head. He understood her instantly and continued to march toward Vatik while Arden slipped into the crowd and vanished.

“Giant balls, tiny balls! Buy my little, tiny--” Vatik’s last word ended in a gulp as Kormick’s shadow fell over him.

The dwarf wasted no time wheeling and dodging backward out of the stall--only to run into Arden and nearly impale himself on her dagger. As he backed off, she twirled the dagger meaningfully, almost hungrily.

“How was Dar Und?” asked Kormick, thinking back on the fine letter he’d written to introduce Vatik to his countrymen--and all, apparently, for nothing.

“Ah. Right. Funny you should ask,” said Vatik, turning back around with an ingratiating smile. His Common, Kormick noted, was much improved. “It was nice, for a day, but then things got warm. Very warm. For me.”

“So you came back to the place you’d been thrown out of?” Kormick wasn’t sure if he felt more irritation at Vatik’s waste of his time or admiration for Vatik’s shamelessness.

“This is not the same place! This is high up, different mountain! How could I know you’d follow poor Vatik here?”

“All mountains belong to Kettenek,” Arden observed. “And so they’re deadly places, especially for lying, cheating--”

“But not for poor, honest merchants, pretty lady,” said Vatik. He held out several rocks carved roughly into spheres--plainly unmagical and not even particularly decorative. Twenty stalls they’d already passed were selling the exact same thing to souvenir-seekers. “Not for honest Vatik just trying to sell his balls to the pilgrims.”

Kormick squelched a smirk, charmed to see the look of chilly distaste on Arden’s face. She’d lived with a lot of rough people--was rough, herself--but just then she looked about as disgusted by this petty scoundrel as Brother Scribe did when he caught a grammatical error.

Arden shot her next words past Vatik to Kormick: “We would have an obligation to report any merchant to the local Inquisitors, Justicar, if we suspected he was selling false relics or operating without a permit. This could be sacrilege.”

Vatik’s improved language skills vanished. “So apology-sorry. I no Common good.” He turned to Kormick. “I no understand servant-girl. What be ‘permit’? Is like bagel?”

“You heard her,” said Kormick. “Why not show us how these relics work? You could eat a couple and then shove the rest up your--”

“Ha ha ha!” Vatik’s laugh was beautifully forced. “Tell you what!” He began fumbling several small bottles out of a dirty sack. “Presents! For you! To make up for this terrible misunderstanding!”

Kormick made a quick grab to prevent the bottles from falling out of Vatik’s shaking hands. He took a look, holding a vial up to the sunlight. Then he uncorked one and took a sniff.

“Healing potions,” he declared.

“Are you sure?” Arden asked.

“We can check with Savina, but these seem legit. After all, he’s given us working items before--”

“Yes! Always generous, me! They’re very best! Highest quality!”

“They’ll work,” said Kormick. “Stick to that.”

Vatik held up five stone balls. “More gifts!” he said.

“Those, we do not need.”

Vatik nonetheless bestowed the whole load abruptly on Arden, finally forcing a stop to the dagger-twirling as she struggled to catch them. “Justicar--” she growled.

“The murder-slave is losing patience, Vatik,” said Kormick. “So, thanks to your generous gift--”

“--bribe--” muttered Arden.

“--we’ll be on our way. Stay out of trouble.”

“Yes, of course, always! And don’t forget to tell everyone you meet: Vatik gave you his balls!”

As they walked back to the carriages, Arden dumped the balls into Kormick’s arms and snatched one of the vials from his hand. She gave it a skeptical sniff.

“Smells like the good stuff, yes?” asked Kormick.

“It does,” she allowed. “But listen, Justicar. Next time, I really might kill him.”

“No, you won’t.”

She sighed in frustrated agreement. “Then the local authorities. We know he’s a con artist, he’s broken laws, let’s turn him in… Justicar, please?”

“You sound like a kid begging for candy. Alas, I’d prefer to watch him enrage you.”

“I was afraid of that.”

“You should be, murder-slave. Now give these potions to Savina while I present Dame Mena with Vatik’s balls.”

Kormick felt victorious to see Arden turn away quickly to hide an involuntary twitch of her mouth, a leak of amusement. They really did understand each other well.

###

Nyoko had spent the past half hour in a semi-doze, her mind automatically recording the conversations around her even as she registered them as personal, not requiring Witness. Justicar Kormick and Dame Mena, in particular, were engaged in a mock-serious disputation about a lakeside cabin they proposed to build together in Dar Und “when all of this is over.” Given that the two had not yet (as far as Nyoko had Witnessed) actually admitted their obvious affection for each other, let alone consummated it, Nyoko found the discussion premature.

But she knew flirting when she heard it. She found her mind drifting back to the samisen player at the Indulgence Party…

Then, as the carriages crested a small rise, Nyoko looked out and saw the city of Divine Mark, at last, before them. It towered above the road: an elegant, intimidating cluster of right angles, pale marble, and obsidian, cold but beautiful. Behind the buildings rose the sheer cliffs of the mountains, dominating the city just as the city dominated the road, and built up to and against those cliffs, in a half-circle, were the seven great complexes of the Rings of the Sovereignty. The middle palace was, of course, the home of the Lord High Regent, built with a huge and ornate presentation balcony protruding from its exact center. Nyoko wondered if she would see that balcony occupied by its master.

The carriages entered the city, which seemed quiet and orderly compared to the raucous market stalls on the road: here, the people walked solemnly and the road was paved with near-perfect smoothness. Nyoko glimpsed striking architecture, stunning mosaics, and tranquil rock gardens as the carriages wound upward toward the great House of the Ring of the Inquisition.

All too soon, they found themselves facing the long, stark main corridor within that House. Nyoko barely had time for a few whispered reminders of protocol before they were ushered into a sparsely decorated audience chamber and found themselves facing the woman they had worked so hard to meet, the woman who might be next in line to the “dying king” of their prophecy: Lady Akiko-san, Head of the Inquisition and Heir to the Lord High Regent.