Youve been asking a lot of questions, the woman said, leaning over the table. Close enough that Stephania could have put a knife in her easily. Close enough that they could have been confidantes sharing gossip at some courtly dance.
Stephania smiled. I have.
Did you think that those questions wouldnt attract attention? That the First Stone doesnt have listeners in the shadows?
Stephania laughed then. Did they think that she hadnt considered the possibility of spies? Shed done more than that; shed relied on it. Shed fished for answers in the city, but the truth of it was that shed been fishing for attention as much as anything else. Any fool could walk up to a gate and be denied entry. A clever woman made it so that those within brought her inside.
After all, Stephania thought with more amusement, a woman should never be the one doing all the chasing in a romance.
Whats so funny? the woman demanded. Are you mad, or just stupid? Who are you, anyway?
Stephania pulled back her hood so that the other woman could see her features.
I am Stephania, she said. Former bride of the heir to the Empire, former ruler of the Empire. I have survived the fall of Delos and Irriens best efforts to kill me. I think that your lord will want to talk to me, dont you?
She stood as the others looked at one another, obviously trying to decide what to do in the face of this. Finally, the woman made a decision.
We bring her.
They moved in on either side of Stephania, but she made a point of moving with them, so that it looked more like a noble escort than her being taken prisoner. She even reached out to rest her hand lightly on the womans arm, the way she might have with a companion walking around a garden.
They led the way across the city, and since it was one of the rare gaps in the dust storms off the cliffs, Stephania didnt bother with the hood of her cloak. She let people see her, knowing that the rumors of who she was and where she was going would start.
Of course, in spite of what she made it look like, this was still a long way from a pleasant stroll. These were still killers beside her, who wouldnt hesitate to murder her if Stephania gave them a reason. As they came toward a large compound in the heart of the city, Stephania could feel the fear knotting in her stomach, pushed down only by her determination to do all the things she had come to Felldust for. She would have revenge on Irrien. She would get her son back from the sorcerer.
They marched her through the compound, past the working slaves and the training warriors, past statues depicting Ulren in his youth, standing over the bodies of slain enemies. Stephania had no doubt that this was a dangerous man. To be second only to Irrien meant that he had fought his way to the top of one of the most dangerous places there was.
To lose here was to die, or worse than die, but Stephania didnt intend to lose. Shed learned the lessons of the invasion, and even of her failure to control Irrien. This time, she had something to offer. Ulren wanted the same things that she did: power, and the death of the former First Stone.
Stephania had heard of people basing marriages on worse things.
CHAPTER SIX
Ceres stepped from the small boat onto the bank, in awe of the fact that a place like this could exist somewhere underground. She knew that the powers of the Ancient Ones were involved, but she couldnt see why they would do this. Why make a garden in the middle of a nightmare?
Of course, from the little shed seen of the Ancient Ones, the fact that there was a nightmare might be a sufficient reason for the garden.
Then there was the dome, which seemed to be composed of pure golden light. Ceres walked closer to it. If there was an answer to be found here, she was sure that it was somewhere inside that dome.
There was a faint haze to the light, and inside, Ceres thought she could see a pair of figures. She just hoped they werent more of the half-dead sorcerers. Ceres wasnt sure she had the strength to fight any more of them.
She pressed into the light, and Ceres couldnt help bracing herself for some kind of shock or force designed to fling her back. Instead, there was just a moment of pressure, and then she was through it, inside the dome and looking around.
Here, it looked like the interior of some opulent room, with rugs and divans, statues and ornaments that seemed to hang from the interior of the dome. There were other things too: glassware and books that pointed to a sorcerers art.
Two figures stood at the heart of it. The man had the same look of grace and peace that Ceres had seen in her mother, and he wore the pale robes that she had seen in the memories of the Ancient Ones. The woman wore the darker robes of a sorcerer, but unlike the ones above, she still seemed young, not desiccated by time.
Looking at them, Ceres realized that they also had the faintly translucent look shed seen in other parts of the complex, in the memories there.
They arent real, she said.
The man laughed at that. Do you hear that, Lin? We arent real.
The woman reached out to touch his arm. Its an understandable mistake to make. After all this time, I imagine we look mere shadows of what we were.
That took Ceres a little aback. On impulse, she reached out for the man. She found that her hand passed straight through his chest. She realized what shed just done.
Sorry, she said.
Dont be, the man said. I imagine it is a little disconcerting.
What are you? she asked. I saw the sorcerers above, and you arent like them, and you arent like the memories either, because those are just images.
Were something else, the woman said. I am Lin, and this is Alteus.
Im Ceres.
Ceres noted how close the two stood to one another; the way Lins hand lingered on Alteuss shoulder. The two had the look of a couple very much in love. Would she and Thanos ever end up like that? Presumably not that transparent, though.
The battle raged, Alteus said, and we couldnt stop it. What the sorcerers planned was evil.
Some of your kind were no better, Lin said with a faint smile, as if theyd had that conversation many times. It happened so fast. The Ancient Ones imprisoned the sorcerers as they were, their magic blended past and future together, and Alteus and I
You became something else, Ceres finished. Sentient memories. Ghosts of the past who could touch one another if nothing else.
I get the feeling you didnt fight your way through everything above just to find out about us, Alteus said.
Ceres swallowed. She hadnt expected this. Shed expected an object, perhaps something like the point of connection holding the spells above together. Still, the Ancient One in front of her was right: she had come there for a reason.
I have the blood of the Ancient Ones, she said.
She saw Alteus nod. I can see that.
But something is restricting her, Lin said. Limiting her.
Someone poisoned me, Ceres said. She took away my powers. My mother was able to restore them for a little while, but it didnt last.
Daskaloss poison, Lin said, with a note of disgust.
An evil thing, Alteus said.
But a thing that can be undone, Lin added. She looked at Ceres. If she is worthy of it. Im sorry, but that is a lot of power for someone to have. We have seen what it can do.
And given what we are, it would take a lot to undo it, Alteus said.
And given what we are, it would take a lot to undo it, Alteus said.
Lin reached out to touch his arm. Maybe its time to see new things. Weve been here hundreds of years. Even given the things we can create, maybe its time to see what is next.
Ceres paused as she heard that, the implications of it sinking in.
Wait, healing me would kill you? She shook her head, but then thoughts of Thanos, and all the others on Haylon, interrupted. If she didnt do this, they would die too. I dont know what to say, she admitted. I dont want someone to die for me, but a lot of people will die if I dont do this.
She saw the two spirits look at one another.
Thats a good start, Alteus said. It means that there is a reason for this. Tell us the rest. Tell us everything that led up to this.
Ceres did her best. She explained all about the rebellion, and the war. About the invasion that had followed and her inability to stop it. About the attack on Haylon that was, even then, putting everyone she loved at risk.
I understand, Lin said, reaching out to touch Ceres. To Ceress surprise, there was a sensation of pressure there. It reminds me a little of our war.
The past proceeds in echoes of itself, Alteus said. But there are some echoes that cant be repeated. We need to know if she understands.
Ceres saw Lin nod.
Thats true, the ghost said. So, a question for you, Ceres. Lets see if you understand. Why is this still here? Why are the sorcerers trapped like this? Why didnt the Ancient Ones destroy them?
The question had the feel of a test, and Ceres got the feeling that if she couldnt give a good answer to it, she wouldnt receive help from these two. Given what theyd said it might cost them, Ceres was astonished that they were considering it at all.
Could the Ancient Ones have destroyed them? Ceres asked.
Alteus paused for a moment, and then nodded. It wasnt that. Think about the world.
Ceres thought. She thought about the effects of the war. About the blasted wastes of Felldust and the wreckage of the island above her. About how few of the Ancient Ones were left in the world. About the invasions, and the people who had died fighting the Empire.
I think you didnt destroy them because of what it would take to do it, Ceres said. Whats the point of winning if theres nothing left after you do it? She guessed that it was more than that, though. I was part of a rebellion. We fought against something that was large, and evil, and made peoples lives worse, but how many people have died now? You cant solve something by just slaughtering everyone.
She saw Lin and Alteus look at one another then. They nodded.
We allowed the sorcerers rebellion at first, Alteus said. We thought it would amount to nothing. Then it grew, and we fought, but in fighting it, we did as much damage as they did. We had the power to wreck whole landscapes, and we used it. Oh, how we used it.
You have seen the things done to this island, Lin said. When I heal you, if I heal you, you will have that kind of power. What will you do with it, Ceres?
There was a time when the answer would have been simple. She would have brought down the Empire. She would have destroyed the nobles. Now, she just wanted people to be able to live their lives safely and happily; it didnt seem like too much to ask.
I just want to save the people I love, she said. I dont want to destroy anyone. I just I think I might have to. I hate that, I just want peace.
Even Ceres was a little surprised by that. She didnt want more violence. She simply had to do it to prevent innocent people being slaughtered. That earned her another nod.
A good answer, Lin said. Come here.
The former sorcerer went among the glass vials and the alchemical equipment that seemed to exist in illusory form. She moved among it, blending things and shifting things. Alteus went with her, and the two of them appeared to work in the kind of harmony that could only come over many years. They poured solutions into new containers, added ingredients, consulted books.
Ceres stood there to watch them, and she had to admit that she didnt understand half of what they were doing. When they stood in front of her with a glass vial, it almost didnt seem enough.
Drink this, Lin said. She held it out to Ceres, and although it all seemed insubstantial, when Ceres took it, her hand met solid glass. She held it up, seeing the sparkle of golden liquid that matched the hue of the dome around her.
Ceres drank it, and it tasted like drinking starlight.
It seemed to wash through her then, and she could feel its progress in the relaxation of her muscles, and the easing of pains she hadnt known were there. She could feel something growing inside her too, spreading out like a system of roots running through her body as the channels along which her power had run regrew.
When it was done, Ceres felt better than she had since before the invasion. It felt like a deep sense of peace spreading through her.
Is it done? Ceres asked.
Alteus and Lin took one anothers hands.
Not quite, Alteus said.
The dome around Ceres seemed to collapse inward, the contents disappearing as they turned into pure light. That light gathered on the spot where the Ancient One and the Sorceress stood, until Ceres couldnt make them out in it.
It will be interesting to see what happens next, Lin said. Goodbye, Ceres.
The light burst toward her, filling Ceres, brimming through the channels of her body like water along freshly built aqueducts. It filled her, and it kept filling her, pouring in so that it seemed that there was more power resting within Ceres than there had ever been before. For the first time, she understood the true depths of the Ancient Ones powers.
She stood there, pulsing with power, and she knew the time had come.
It was time for war.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Jeva could feel the tension growing with every step as she made her way up toward the meeting hall. The people of the gathering place stared at her the way she would have expected people outside their lands to stare at one of their kind: as if she were something strange, different, even dangerous. It wasnt a sensation Jeva liked.
Was it just that they didnt see many with the markings of priestesses here, or was it something more? It wasnt until the first insults and accusations came from the gathering crowd that Jeva started to understand.
Betrayer!
You took your tribe to the slaughter!
A young man stepped out from the crowd with that swagger that only young men could manage. He strode as if he owned the path leading up to the house of the dead. When Jeva moved to step around him, he went to block her.
Jeva should have struck him just for that, but she was there for more important things.
Step aside, she said. Im not here for violence.
Have you forgotten the ways of our people that completely? he demanded. You dragged your tribe to die in Delos. How many came back?
Jeva could hear the anger there. The kind of anger that even her people felt when they lost someone close to them. Telling him that they had gone to the ancestors and that he should be happy would do no good. In any case, Jeva wasnt even sure that she believed that right then. She had seen the pointless deaths of the war.
But you came back, the young man said. You destroyed one of our tribes, and you came back, you coward!