Ryk E. Spoor's Blog, page 39

Phoenix Ascendant: Chapter 22

Well, we'd left off with Kyri in a rather bad spot...

 

-----

 

 

Chapter 22.

"This is going to look so stupid, Poplock," Tobimar said, settling his swords back into place. "We –"

"I'll take all the blame if it looks stupid. I know that it seemed like we pretty much settled it just now, but there's still that chance left, and can we afford it if you're wrong? We can take a little embarrassment, even getting Kyri mad at us, but…"

"Fine, fine. You're right. You generally have been. I just hope we're all wasting our time on this one and that you're going to have to do the apologies."

The brown Toad bobbed his body. "Oh, believe me, I'd much rather end up doing abject apologies."

It had been about fifteen minutes; they'd agreed that was the right amount. Of course, if they were misjudging…

"They're not in the dining room any more."

"That much is obvious, now that we're looking into the dining room." Poplock nodded towards the front door. "If he went back towards the town…"

"Right. She'd go with him, of course."

"Meaning they're alone."

Tobimar strode to the front door and opened it. Another warm night, some ragged, drifting clouds obscuring stars in patches of pure black edged with faint silver, but mostly clear. With a moment to adjust, he could see fairly well. But the pathway down towards the village seemed empty. "You see anything?"

Poplock wobbled side to side, his equivalent of a headshake. "Nothing. So they didn't go this way – I'm sure they'd still be in sight. Around the side?"

"We can do a full circuit. If they're not out here… then they probably went upstairs, and that's okay."

The toad grunted. "Yeah, if I'm right nothing's going to happen indoors. Too close. Too much chance of someone stumbling on you."

"All this because of her reactions?"

"Don't tell me you didn't notice." They started a careful circle around Vantage Fortress.

Tobimar sighed. "Yes," he admitted, speaking in a whisper. "Subtle at first, and perfectly reasonable I guess, but… she's just a little too loyal, too accepting, too defensive of Rion."

"Right," Poplock said, matching his quiet tones. "Now, like you say, it could be natural – she practically idolized her brother, from everything I've heard – but I dunno; the woman who got tricked once by Thornfalcon, then got faced like the rest of us with the truth about Miri and Shae… I don't see her taking him at face value or losing her caution – or her control – that easily."

"Thus your plan to give him an obvious chance to move, now that our five guests are gone, and before we have a chance to get new suspicions."

"Exactly. If he's got anything planned, now's the time to do it, when our suspicions should be at their lowest and our forces weakened."

Tobimar was silent. He liked Rion. He didn't like trying to set a trap for him, when he was about nine-tenths sure that Rion was being as straight with them as he could. But Poplock's caution had saved them all more than once; he wasn't going to disregard it.

He almost missed it; the movement was small, in shadow, barely visible, the motion of velvet across ebony. But he belatedly caught it out of the corner of his eye and turned, focusing on that spot.

What the…?

For one incredibly confusing moment, he thought he was seeing a lover's embrace, Rion and Kyri together in a pose too close and intimate for even brother and sister. Then he saw how limply Kyri was standing, and betrayed fury flared up in him. Without even thinking of it, his vya-shadu were in his hands and he was sprinting like lightning across the grass. "RION!"

The taller figure's head snapped up, and fury now became certainty, for the eerie yellow glow of those eyes was like nothing human. But instead of just dropping Kyri and fleeing, the figure lowered her gently to the ground, coming on guard just barely before Tobimar's swords blazed a silver-green path through the air.

Rion, or whatever it was, parried both blades almost casually, then simply flicked a glance sideways. Tobimar only just managed to dodge as a tree branch three inches thick hurtled at him. The longsword tried to bite through Tobimar's armor, and even as he parried that, two rocks the size of his fist hammered into his side, sending him staggering. A spray of gravel and sand flew up from the ground behind the false Rion, and Poplock went tumbling away, spitting out dirt and wiping his eyes.

In that instant, Tobimar was startled to see that the impostor chose to run. He had a perfect opening; I'm sure he could have run me through there.

Instead of taking the opportunity to finish him and Poplock off, Rion sprinted away, heading towards the road, at a speed that astounded Tobimar. Even in High Center with full strength and speed enhancement I'm going to have a hell of a time catching him!

But in that moment, five figures simply materialized in front of Rion. "You are going nowhere, jerk," Xavier said.

"Out of my way!" A fountain of stones and gravel roared towards them –

-- and stopped dead in midair. Aurora lowered her hand, and the rocks dropped straight to the ground. "Oh, not that easy." Her voice was low and furious; not waiting for her comrades, Aurora lunged forward, leaping up and slamming an axe-kick down.

Rion barely evaded it, but the concussion blew him off his feet and staggered Tobimar, who hadn't yet caught up; a crater ten feet wide and three deep surrounded Aurora, radiating from her foot. Great Light, she's strong.

The false Rion did not look intimidated, though; strangely, he looked sad. "Then I must fight."

The figure blurred into motion, so fast that Tobimar actually lost track of him. Aurora was suddenly toppling, wincing, and Xavier tumbling backward, one of his swords actually flying from his grasp. Gabriel had barely managed to get his own huge blade up in time, and the false Rion was again visible, driving Gabriel Dante back with sheer strength. He disappeared again, speed incarnate, as Nike and Toshi took aim, and Toshi was abruptly defending against strikes that came from every direction.

Concentrate. The power of Terian lies within me now. Call it up. Channel it with the meditation of High Center.

He could see his power within, now, a spark of blue-white energy that surged into a flame as he touched it.

Speed blazed through him, and he accelerated forward. His adversary was fast, but now Tobimar could follow his moves, track his strategy. Even as his shield smash sent Toshi's bow spinning aside, Rion stiffened and whirled, just in time to catch Tobimar's swords, one with his own weapon, one with his shield, and Tobimar saw him wince as the blue-white aura touched him; a wisp of white smoke rose from the unshielded hand.

His adversary sprang into the air, impossibly high, twenty-five, thirty feet, running through the sky now, heading for the shelter and cover of the trees.

Without warning, the earth heaved skyward, stone and soil forming a barrier that was three hundred feet tall in an instant. Rion was unable to completely halt, smacked into the solid obstacle, and then was dashing down as bolts of fire, accompanied by sharp, ear-shattering reports, chased barely inches behind him; out of the corner of his eye, Tobimar could see these came from Nike, who was holding a weapon that must be one of the "rifles" that Xavier had told him about once; but the rifle was spitting what looked like solidified flame, cutting holes in the rocky bulwark as though it were a hay-bale.

Tobimar wasn't sure whether it was wise for him to re-enter the combat. He definitely didn't want to get in the way of either Nike or Toshi, who was now firing arrows at an impossible rate, arrows that shone like the stars and hit like bludgeons. These five know what they are doing. They're coordinating as well as we do!

"Don't kill him!" Kyri's shout echoed across the battlefield. "Keep him alive!"

Rion threw a vial into the air that detonated and sent uncountable metal spikes spearing down. "Easier said than done," Poplock retorted. "He's not worried about us!"

At first Tobimar was inclined to agree, but… High Center. Find the danger, the menace. What is the shape of the battle, the outline of possibility and peril?

The vision finally began to flow for real, Tobimar now at one with himself, and he could see, not just what was now but in a sense what might be a few split seconds later, link that with action, and move.

And as Rion sent Nike sprawling – yet with a blow that stunned, not the easier strike that could have killed – Tobimar was already there, twin swords passing his opponent's defenses, coming to rest on his throat. "Stop."

For just an instant he thought that Rion wouldn't stop – that he'd fight on, let himself be killed, a near-perfect way to maintain his silence; the impostor's eyes flickered to the one direction he might escape in, saw Xavier there, and his shoulders slumped. He let his weapon fall and dropped to his knees. "Then finish me."

"No," Kyri said, anger, confusion, and obvious shock warring for dominance on her sharp features. Blood smeared her face and Tobimar couldn't tell if it was hers or Rion's. "No. You knew so much. You spent so much time with us. You were so much him. You'll tell us the truth."

"Or… what?"

Even through the blood, Tobimar saw the teeth flash in a tired, uncertain grin. "A good question. I won't torture you. A part of me wants to. Maybe I should. But …"

"No," said Toshi, studying the false Rion with an analytical gaze that if anything was sharper even than Poplock's own. "No, he could have killed several of us. Instead I don't think any of us are even seriously injured."

Poplock bounced over and looked up. "Why not show your real face? It's not like there's any point in continuing the lie."

The impostor gazed down, and then he gave a low, tragic sigh. "Yes. The matrix is shredded beyond recovery now. I've failed completely."

With a shimmer, Rion Vantage faded away, replaced by a more slender youth. Long white hair, with perhaps a faint touch of lavender, cascaded down straight and true. The new features were definitely more delicate and defined, almost as pretty as those of Toshi, but in the straightness of the hair and something about the shape of the face there was something that echoed Xavier far more closely.

The eyes were the only inhuman feature, glowing yellow, dark-irised. But the glow was fading, less a lambent threat and now a faint flicker.

"Who are you?"

"My name is Tashriel," he answered.

"Tashriel? Why is that… Oh!" Kyri nodded, even as Tobimar remembered where he had heard that name before too. "You were Wieran's assistant. Miri mentioned you, but we never met you."

"So what in the world got you stuck into a bottle pretending to be Rion? That doesn't seem anything like what that crazy old man would be doing," Poplock said.

Tashriel hesitated, then shrugged. "You're not going to kill me?"

"I haven't decided yet," Kyri said; her voice was not steady, and Tobimar stepped to her side, put a hand on her shoulder; she reached over and gripped his fingers tightly. "Personally I would like to cut you apart for what you've done – this false hope you've given me and taken away. But… you must know something about our enemy. If you can tell us something…" Her sword slid back into its sheath. "We'll decide… I'll decide… afterward." She wiped her face, looking even shakier, and sat down on a nearby stone.

Tashriel looked around at the whole group, and suddenly gave a low, rueful laugh. "It was all a trap. A trick."

"Hey, we'd always planned on us coming back after apparently leaving," Xavier said. "Or, to be honest, Toshi always planned on that, he's the brains in this outfit. Stood to reason that if their enemies were going to do something, they'd do it when Kyri, Tobimar, and Poplock were basically on their own. Poplock just orchestrated the timing. He figured you'd move as soon as a couple hours had gone by, because most people would be expecting you to wait a little longer, maybe a day or two."

Kyri shook her head. "And… And you had guessed he had some influence over me. I can feel it fading away now."

"Not much influence," Tashriel said. "Just… increasing your own reactions, mostly. Exaggerating them." He shook his head. "I'm sorry. I didn't have any choice. But… I'll tell you everything I can about everything I know… what I did with Wieran… what my mission was… and especially what I know about your enemy… about Viedraverion."

 

 

Phoenix Ascendant: Chapter 21

They had discovered a possible problem...

 

-----

 

 

Chapter 21.

     "A vampire?" Kyri repeated in shock. There hadn't been a vampire of any type in Evanwyl for years, maybe decades, at least as far as she knew.

"And it might be Rion," Poplock said.

She found herself half out of her chair, hammering her fist down on the table. "Rion is NOT…!" Then she realized how ridiculous her reaction was. These are my friends and best companions. They wouldn't say things like this to me idly. She sat back down slowly, not looking at either of them as she took a drink of water from the glass nearby. Then she looked up at them, deliberately meeting both Poplock and Tobimar's gazes. "I'm sorry. Please, tell me what you know and why you think… think Rion might be involved."

"Well…" Tobimar looked hesitant. Poplock took over.

"We've been keeping tabs on him all along. You guys decided to let him walk around if he kept himself out of the public eye, but – sorry! – we don't trust him all the way yet. So me and Tobimar have been watching him. We were also thinking of having Xavier in on it, but him and Rion have gotten to be pretty tight." She noticed a small furrow in Tobimar's brow at that. I don't think he's aware of how he's a little jealous of that; he and Xavier spent a long time together and got to be good friends, too.

The realization her friends had decided to follow her brother around – and not tell her – was a bit of a jolt, but she didn't need to be told the logic. And since Xavier's group was leaving this afternoon, they couldn't hold off on telling her any longer, either. "Go on."

"Well, most of the time we didn't see something too suspicious. But then a few days ago there was that attack on Helina…"

"Helina? What does she –"

"If you'd let me finish you wouldn't need to ask!" Poplock said acidly. "Like I said, there was that attack on Helina, but the details of what we know weren't in what went around the village." He detailed what had happened the night that he'd lost Rion temporarily, then continued, "Arbiter Kelsley kept it quiet while we looked into things, but he's about ninety percent sure that it was a vampire that attacked her."

"What type of vampire? There's at least three I know of."

"Five, as far as I know," Tobimar said. "We think it's the sort called, more formally, the Curseborn."

"Balance. They're almost universally monsters, aren't they?"

"Yup," Poplock said, no trace of humor in his voice. "Transfer the curse by blood exchange, feed off of both blood and soul, usually go insane from the transformation, and even if they recover they're usually pretty much monsters from then on. Tough to kill because they're fast, strong, and invulnerable except for a few difficult-to-exploit weaknesses. Helina's description of what she saw could match one that was very powerful – a very old one – and that'd be even harder to kill."

"How does Kelsley know it's a vampire?"

"The first and strongest indicator," Tobimar said, "is the signature bite – twin punctures. Kelsley said he found them, er, lower down, where ordinary circumstances would never lead them to be discovered. Then there was her weakness, which Kelsley determined was due to her spiritual energy – her soul – being severely drained of energy, as well as to a significant though not dangerous loss of blood."

"With that as a clue," Poplock said, "I did a little poking around and found that there were at least two other people in Evanwyl – both women – who showed similar symptoms over the last few weeks, before Helina. Though they just claimed they were sick – no one mentioned an attack or anything. They just suddenly got ill, no warning."

Kyri tried to think about this rationally. "So your theory is that Rion is the vampire in question, and that normally he would complete his… feeding and then use whatever mental magic or powers he has to make the person forget they were attacked, but you interrupted him. Right?"

"I am not entirely convinced," Tobimar said, with a glance at Poplock. "Helina's story has a couple of inconsistencies if I assume it was Rion who attacked her, the most important being that she claims she heard a shout, and then felt herself falling to the ground as her last memory before blacking out. But she was already on the ground, and had been for at least a couple of minutes, when we came running up to Rion. If her memory is even close to accurate, then whoever shouted as she lost consciousness wasn't us – and would seem likely to have been Rion, as his story would have it."

"Of course, if he can mess with minds, he could've already started, and her story isn't accurate," Poplock said.

Kyri found the idea that Rion might actually be a monster incredibly painful. It had been so hard not to believe in him at first, and now… "Do we have any way of proving this?"

Tobimar frowned. Both he and Poplock were silent for a few minutes.

"I honestly don't know," Tobimar said after a while. "We already knew he was made from something dark, at least in part. We've seen what happens when Xavier's blade touches him. But all that means is that his essence isn't entirely human and holy, which tells us nothing we didn't know. He's walked plenty in sunlight, but if he's really one of the ancients then walking the sunlight is something he can do pretty well, even though it probably weakens him. And as Khoros once pointed out to me, the fact that a wooden stake kills a man doesn't say much as to whether he is in fact a vampire, so to speak."

"About the only think I can think of that might work is if you directly interrogate him about it using that powerful truth-sense you can get from Myrionar. If you're willing to do it."

A part of her wanted to refuse, but with great difficulty she did not even permit that part of her to voice an objection. I need to remove this doubt – or reveal the truth – and this is for our good, not just mine. If it truly is Rion, this will do him no harm, and if he is not, it may save us all. "I will see if he is willing." She stood. "Now."

Poplock and Tobimar both looked relieved, which at least confirmed that she was making the right decision. Our general truth-senses have claimed he was genuine, but this will be something more detailed… and confrontational. Very, very few things could carry off a deception under those conditions. 

They found Rion reluctantly handing Xavier's LTP handheld game console back to its owner. She couldn't quite repress a smile, even under these circumstances. Rion had been bitten hard by the fascination of the strange electronic game device, just as Tobimar had during his travels with Xavier. This was another reason that he and Xavier had bonded so much during their relatively short acquaintance. "Rion, could we talk to you?"

"Since when have you had to ask to talk to me?" he retorted with a smile. "I recall you sometimes starting a conversation in the middle of the night, when I was trying to sleep."

That was so very Rion a response – and so very true – that she wanted to just stop right there. She was so sure this was Rion, in all the ways that really mattered. But she refused to allow herself to waver. "Rion, this is serious." As Xavier and his friends started to leave, she held up her hand. "Actually, I would very much like it if you would stay. Just in case."

Gabriel gave one of his courtly nods. "We are then entirely at your disposal, Lady Kyri."

She waited for everyone to be seated. "Rion, you know there are a lot of questions about exactly what you are, and that Poplock and Tobimar caught you out under some very suspicious circumstances. I really, really hate to do this… but I must ask you to allow me to ask you some questions… as the living emissary of Myrionar, with Myrionar's Truth manifest to give me the ability to sense any lies you may tell."

"I… see." He looked around, then shrugged and smiled. "And if I said 'no'?"

She'd expected that; Rion would ask it. "Then we'd have to cut you out of any further discussions, keep you confined to the estate, and make sure you were secured here – imprison you, to be honest, until we've dealt with Viedraverion and the False Justiciars."

Rion nodded. "Of course you would." He folded his arms, as he sometimes did when preparing himself for a confrontation. "All right, then, Kyri; ask."

She closed her eyes, shutting out the sight of all the others staring at her. Myrionar, I need your Truth once more. Let me see through lies and disguises, through deceit and misdirection, and come to the knowledge only of what is.

The golden power flowed up and around her; as she opened her eyes she could see that it bathed the room in an auric glow, and there was awe in the faces of those around her, awe from what they could feel within that power.

At the same time, she could tell that the power was weaker than it had been. Myrionar really is dying. We have to finish this soon, or…

She buried that thought. Focus on the present. "Rion, are you a vampire?"

Rion raised a brow. "I can't say that I'm not a vampire. I don't know exactly what I am."

The first part could have been a neat evasion, but the second part was a pretty clear statement. Her sense of truth did not show a falsehood. Unless his power was sufficient to mislead Myrionar's power even in direct confrontation, Rion actually did not know what he was. So if he is a vampire, he doesn't know it. "Did you attack Helina?"

"I did not attack Helina," he said flatly. She was startled to find herself not merely relieved, but surprised, when she sensed nothing of falsehood in his statement. A part of me really did suspect him.

Feeling lighter in her heart, she continued. "Rion, are you truly my brother?"

He looked directly at her. "I am."

"Have you informed anyone of any of the plans we made here, or the discussions we have had on Viedraverion or the False Justiciars?"

"I have not."

She let the power go, feeling the strain on herself and Myrionar, and allowed a huge smile of relief to spread. "Truth."

"Truth," agreed another voice; she saw Gabriel Dante nod. "I sensed nervousness, but no lies."

"Not one hundred percent proof," Toshi said bluntly. "We do not know the limits of our powers, yours, or those of our adversaries. This truth-sensing of yours might be very strong… but we know our adversaries are also very strong."

She sighed, but smiled again. "True enough. But we have done what we can. I asked him questions that were direct, he answered them, I sense that they are true. Should I retain suspicion and allow it to destroy my hope?"

"No," said Poplock. "Sure, he could be fooling us somehow, but… well, that turned out to be the case in Kaizatenzei, and somehow we came through it all right anyway. Let's just say he's Rion and not worry about it unless things go south."

She suspected the little Toad would still keep a close eye on Rion, but she appreciated him at least making a public acceptance of her judgment.

Looking around the group, she saw backpacks, weapons, and other equipment assembled. "So… you're all really leaving."

"Now that we've settled – as much as we can – whether Rion's a problem? We kind of have to," Nike said. "Fact is, that war's not stopped while we're here, and even if your shortcut's saving us time… well, we don't know how much time we actually have, so…"

"You don't need to explain," Tobimar said. "Khoros brought us together, but he gave you a mission too. For all I know, you've already done whatever he expected you to do here. It's not like we'll all know for sure."

"True enough," Toshi said. "And we're leaving in the evening because most people would expect us to leave in the daytime, if we left at all."

"What about the possibility of spies?" Rion asked. "If you're leaving and you're followed –"

"Leave that to me, guys," Xavier said. "Remember, I got us all out of a prison that your people thought was impossible to escape from. And got Tobimar and Poplock past guard posts, too."

Kyri laughed, startled. "You can do that with your whole group?"

"If we all keep hold of each other, yeah, for a while at least. If I can do it for a mile or three, it'll be almost impossible to track us. And I'll do it a few more times along our route."

Knowing how utterly impossible it seemed to be to detect Xavier when he used that strange Tor ability, she felt he was right. "Is this goodbye, then?"

The cheerful gray eyes were suddenly not so cheerful. "Yeah. Yeah, I guess so." He looked at Tobimar and Poplock. "Um… Khoros said that this was the only way for us to get home."

"I know," Tobimar said quietly. "You told us that. All of you were stuck here unless somehow the Great Seal was broken."

"But I guess once it's broken we go home," Xavier said. "I thought I'd be happy about that. Now… well, I am, but…"

"I know," Aurora said, and put a hand on Xavier's shoulder. "We felt the same about leaving Skysand. And I guess Toshi and Nike, leaving Artania." She laughed suddenly, a great bell-like laugh that reminded Kyri poignantly of Lady Shae's. "Boy, I was so pissed at Khoros when he brought us here, and I would never have thought I'd be sorry to go home."

"We all will be," Nike said. "But… we'll all be happy to get home too. Xavier may have a real mission at home, but all of us have reasons to go back."

"Then…" Tobimar stepped forward, and suddenly Xavier hugged him fiercely. The two held the embrace for a long moment, and then Xavier picked up Poplock and looked at him; the Toad looked only slightly bemused by the handling.

"Have I ever told you you're kinda cute, Poplock? My sister would think you're adorable."

"Well… fine, thanks. I guess. It's okay for this once, anyway." Poplock's voice was a little unsteady.

Xavier then went to her. "Kyri… you finish your job, okay? Kick that bastard's ass for me. Promise?"

She laughed and swept him into a bear hug. "I promise, Xavier."

Rion said nothing, just embraced the boy from Earth, and then shook his hand. But as Xavier turned back to his friends, he spoke. "Xavier?"

"Yeah, Rion?"

"I pray for you to get your vengeance. But… don't leave your family alone."

The smile was brilliant and the gray eyes, so like her own, were happy again. "I won't, Rion. And when I go on the hunt again… well, I'll say a little prayer to your Myrionar, just in case."

Rion smiled back.

The other goodbyes didn't take as long. While Kyri liked all of them – studious, sometimes oblivious Toshi with his razor-sharp mind, analytical, dangerous, yet cheerfully friendly Nike, the ever-charming and talented Gabriel, and strong, awkwardly-loyal Aurora – they hadn't shared adventure with Kyri and Tobimar, been part of giving her the first real chance to avenge her family. Finally, the five shouldered their packs, bowed to all of them, linked hands… and disappeared.

For a little while it was hard to accept that they'd left; no door had opened, they had simply vanished in the dining room. But as the much quieter evening began to lengthen, she accepted that the group from Zahralandar – Earth – was gone.

"Well… we're on our own," she said finally to Rion, Tobimar, and Poplock.

"We are," Rion agreed. "But we knew we would be. There has to be some way to get to the Retreat."

Tobimar grunted. "So far we haven't had much luck." He yawned. "Look at that. This early?"

"You stayed up late last night," Poplock pointed out, "Hanging out with Xavier, as he'd put it."

"Yeah. Well, I'm going to at least do a little sparring before I wash up and go to bed. Want to join me, Poplock?"

"Why not? You need someone to beat you once in a while."

"How about you, Kyri, Rion?"

Kyri didn't quite feel like sparring. "Not right now. Maybe tomorrow."

"Okay. See you in a bit, then."

She looked back at Rion as the two left. "Well, as they said, we haven't had much luck. I can only think of one possibility, but unfortunately I don't control that possibility."

"What possibility is that?"

"If we could somehow get you back your … connection to Myrionar, maybe you could find your way there."

Rion tilted his head, puzzled. "But… you are a Justiciar, and you can't find the place."

"True, Rion… but I haven't ever been there. As a Justiciar, you were there. And since Myrionar was the source of your strength, it wasn't through our enemy's power that you could find the Retreat, it was through Myrionar's and the fact that you were already admitted to the Retreat."

Rion's mouth dropped slightly open and he stared at her. Then a slow grin spread across his face. "You know… that's just about simple enough an idea that it might just work." Then his face fell. "If it could work."

"Rion…"

He stood suddenly, started to walk out. Then stopped. "I want to go for a walk. But you're welcome to come and keep an eye on me, if you want."

"I'm not suspicious of you."

"Your Toad friend still is. And maybe he's right."

They stepped out into the deepening night. The sky was awash in brilliant stars, shimmering in soft colors and sharp, infinitely small and bright points, the great arc of dark-streaked light that the Sauran's called the Dragon's Path crossing the entire sky. She heard the faint trilling cry of a Least Dragon in the distance, the sussuration of insects much nearer at hand. Rion was a black outline on black in the darkness.

"If we aren't going to suspect you, do you need to be so hard on yourself, Rion?"

"Kyri, I can't even touch holy objects. I'm surprised I can touch your hand without being scorched." He walked towards the rear of the estate – not towards the town; obviously he wasn't taking any more risks. "Can you imagine what it would do to me if Myrionar was even willing to take me back? I'd explode in fire."

"There has to be a way around that." The idea that her brother – that Rion – was barred from the thing he had dreamed of, had worked for, had achieved – was maddening and tragic. "We'll find one. Somehow."

He stopped, the two of them in the deeper shadows beneath the trees that shaded the rear of the estate. Even in that darkness, she saw a phantom flicker of white teeth as he laughed. "And maybe I should just accept that you will," he said quietly, laying a hand on her shoulder. "You've been beating the odds all along."

"I try," she said.

They stood that way for a moment. Then Kyri became aware she could see his eyes, a faint shade of a shimmer in the darkness. "Your eyes are –"

"Yes, I know. Subtle, but one sign that can remind me of what I am. Is it… scary?"

"No," she said with a faint snort of laughter. "I've seen things that were actually scary." She concentrated on the faint discs of light. "A little eerie, but I can just about make out the detail – not just a general glow of light for the whole eye. Faint touch of blue in the center."

"Really? You can see that much?"

"Yes." She found herself concentrating on the eyes again. Wait. Why am I paying so much attention to this?

But now the eyes were shimmering with yellow.

Oh, Myrionar, NO. "R…Rion…"

"I… I really don't want to hurt you, Kyri. I'm … I'm sorry, but I just realized… I don't have a choice now. I don't know why…"

Desperately she fought to move, feeling the same helpless fury that she had when Thornfalcon had caught her – but made worse by it being Rion, by the genuine regret and self-loathing in that voice.

But she could only raise a hand slowly, weakly, as Rion – or whatever it was that wore his face – bent towards her throat.

 

 

 

Phoenix Ascendant: Chapter 20

Tobimar and Poplock had decided that Rion had to be watched...

 

-----

 

 

Chapter 20

     "You lost him? You?" Tobimar couldn't keep the incredulity from his voice. There was a part of him that felt almost betrayed, and he finally identified it as the same feeling he'd had the first time he realized his mother couldn't fix everything. Poplock had always been the one who got things done when other people couldn't.

The diminuitive Toad couldn't meet his gaze. "Yeah. I lost him."

"Where?"

"He'd taken a walk into town – stealthily, but that's no surprise, since we'd all agreed he wasn't supposed to be seen. Drought! I was sure he didn't know I was following! But he turned down that same alley across from the Balanced Meal, and when I got there and looked down it, he was gone."

Tobimar glanced around to make sure his door was closed. "Have any idea how he did it?"

Poplock sighed, then finally faced Tobimar and wrinkled his face. "It was only a few seconds; even if he'd been running I should have seen him going the other way. Hm. Well, he could have gone up, to one roof or the other."

Tobimar frowned, thinking. "You're assuming he was limited to ordinary speed. If I use my Tor meditation, or Kyri used her Justiciar power…"

"You're right." Poplock smacked his own head with a small hand. "If he's actually not who he appears to be, he's probably got a lot of power he hasn't shown us yet. Stupid."

Tobimar pushed open the window. "Come on. We have to see if we can locate him."

"Tell Xavier or Kyri?"

"We haven't got anything to prove our suspicions, yet," Tobimar said, and jumped lightly to the ground ten feet below. Poplock followed, landing with a thud on Tobimar's shoulder. "Oof! You're heavier than you look. Anyway, without proof we'd be getting into an argument that wouldn't go anywhere."

At least we don't have to be subtle, Tobimar thought. Everyone knows we're back. Poplock was silent on his shoulder, and the walk to Evanwyl proper was ten minutes of quiet worry.

It wasn't just Rion, either. Searching the temple's records – which hadn't been fast or easy -- had turned up just enough to confirm that Justiciar's Retreat was located to the west, several hours' travel at least, and a vague description of the Retreat itself. But nothing about the defenses or the diversion wards.

Kyri and the others hadn't had any better luck with the Watchland; if the location of the Retreat was somewhere in his mind, it was buried deep. Toshi was of the opinion that only the right conditions would trigger the memory, and of course they had no idea of what those conditions would be.

And they were running out of time. The research, interrogation, and experimentation had used up two weeks. The five natives of Earth would be leaving soon; neither Tobimar nor Kyri could argue that their friends' mission was less urgently vital than their own, not when said mission would be a direct assault on one of the most ancient achievements of the King of All Hells. No, the five would have to leave, and soon.

The familiar sign of the Balanced Meal was visible ahead. "Okay, where do you want to start?" asked Poplock.

He nodded towards the nearer building across from the inn. "Up top. We'll get a good vantage point of a lot of the city that way."

"Okay. But what if he's running off to the Retreat?"

"Then we've totally lost him. But I'm pretty sure he hasn't."

Poplock's grip tightened as Tobimar – after a quick glance around to make sure no one was watching – sprinted up the side of the small warehouse. "Not saying you're wrong, but why?"

The roof was flat and solid, one of the few stone structures in a town made mostly of wood. It was a perfect observing platform, and Tobimar began a swift circle of the perimeter, looking out over Evanwyl in its somewhat disordered tangle of roads and houses and buildings, shading out into farms in the distance.

"He hasn't been caught yet," he said, answering the Toad's question. "The Retreat's hours away; he'd never get back in reasonable time. So if he's headed for the Retreat, he's throwing away all his work in staying with us, for what? A report that we're still in the area but haven't found anything? I can't see that being enough to justify the loss."

"Can't argue that, I guess." Poplock gazed out, large eyes seeming wider in the darkness. Tobimar knew that the Toad's natural sight was better in the dark than a human's, but he had his own trick; after so much practice in the last few months, it was just a matter of closing his eyes and focusing for a moment to bring up the High Center.

There was a clarity to the world now; it was dark, but at the same time it was as bright as day to the senses that High Center gave him. The shadows beneath trees were luminous with possibility, with the vectors of what was and what could be, and even what had been.

Almost instantly he saw something he had not before: a tall shape, kneeling in an alleyway over another figure, with a sense of danger lingering above it. Even if it's not Rion, that's something we'd better look at. "There!"

Poplock squinted. "Got it. Yeah, let's move."

With High Center already up, he could channel the strength and speed of his soul, leaping from the roof to the ground in a single motion and hitting the street at a sprint, ignoring the mist of rain and fog.

"Rion!" he said as they came up.

The figure, that he could now definitely recognize, jumped at his name, but as he turned Tobimar saw to his surprise an expression of relief, not guilt or anger. "Tobimar? Thank the Balance. Help me, would you?"

He was kneeling over an unconscious young woman.

Good actor? Or what? "What happened?"

Rion stared out into the darkness. "I was just looking around the town – hiding, as we agreed, since we're not announcing that I exist yet. And then just as I was heading up the cross-alley towars Mizuni's, I heard a sound like a faint scream or gasp. I got up there," he pointed back, to the very roof that Tobimar had just been on, "and I saw Helina struggling with … something. Dark and shadowy. Couldn’t make it out exactly. But I figured that my secret wasn't worth risking her life, so I charged toward them. The thing…" He suddenly shuddered. "It looked sort of human, but the eyes… yellow, hungry, and the hair was pale white. Dark clung to it, like it was covered with shadow, but it looked almost white under the shadow.

"Still, I had my sword out and took a cut at it. It was dead silent, didn't even hiss or anything, but it fought back and I don't know how long I was dueling it. Finally… I drove it off, and it disappeared into the darkness. Helina had collapsed. I don't know why, though, and she won't wake up, and I couldn't figure out what to do."

Poplock was scuttling around the area that Rion had indicated the duel took place; Tobimar knew what he was looking for. But in the meantime… "All right, Rion, we'll take care of it from here. You go back to the estate – and I mean straight back."

Rion paused, then his gaze dropped. "Of course. You're wise not to trust me. I just hope… hope we can find a way to get rid of that doubt. Somehow." He got up, sheathed his sword (which had been on the ground near him) and headed up the deserted streets towards the Vantage estate.

Tobimar waited until Rion was well out of sight. "Well?"

The little Toad made a wrinkled face. "Mostly his own bootprints all over… but they do look like a fighting pattern. Like he was fighting something that wasn't leaving prints. Right there," he pointed to the wall, "there's a cut that's pretty much certainly from his sword, like he cut at something and it ducked. What about her?"

"She's … cold. Not dead, though. Unconscious. Don't know why."

Poplock hopped back to the girl Rion had called Helina. "She's not much older than you."

"I don't think she's as old as me. Maybe younger than Kyri." He looked at her hair, which was as black as the night but otherwise similar to Kyri's. Not surprising. I would guess that if you go back generations enough, everyone's related to everyone in this small a country. "I think I'd better get her to the Temple. You go after Rion and make sure he's headed back."

As Tobimar picked her up, though, the girl stirred, and suddenly pushed away with a weak scream. It was all Tobimar could do to keep her from dropping straight to the pavement. "Get away! Get a…"

Helina's eyes focused, and widened. "…oh! Oh, Lord Silverun!"

Tobimar found himself being almost strangled by a desperate embrace, and could feel Helina shaking. "Ugh! Um, it's all right, Helina. I'm going to take you to the Temple."

She nodded, but only fractionally released her grip.

"What happened? Do you remember?"

For a few moments she was silent, still gripping him tightly, then slowly, slowly, she released him. "I… I was walking home from the Balanced Meal," she said, and swallowed. That gave Tobimar time to place why she looked somewhat familiar; she was one of the servers at the inn, he'd seen her several times before.

"And…?" he asked quietly.

"And…" she drew a long, shuddering breath, "and… suddenly someone stepped out in front of me, at the end of this alley. I thought it was maybe Mizuni out for a walk, but then I saw the eyes." She swallowed again, and almost collapsed. Tobimar could tell she was still terribly weak – far weaker than a mere fright would explain. He helped her put an arm over his shoulder and started walking with her to the Temple of Myrionar. "Yellow, glowing eyes. I wanted to run as soon as I saw them, but my legs wouldn't move!"

So far this fits with Rion's story. Part of him was disappointed, another part cautiously optimistic. "Anything else?"

"Oh, Balance, yes. There were … shadows crawling over it, darkness stuck to it like cobwebs when you push through them, and it came closer and I…" she bit her lip. "I … found myself almost relaxing, like it was all right, all the fear fading to the back, and it reached out and everything went all hazy." She frowned. "The last thing I remember is a shout, a distant shout, and falling."

"I'll go look and see if I can find this thing," he said. "But here we are at the Temple. Seeker Reed!" he said, seeing the young priest-trainee. "Take Helina in; she's been attacked by something which seems to have drained her in some way. She's terribly weak."

"Myrionar's Justice! Here, Helina, sit down." Reed drew out one of the benches. "I will call the Arbiter immediately."

"Good. I'll be looking for whatever did this."

He returned to the alley, but pretty soon came to the conclusion Poplock had. Rion's bootprints were scuffed all over the end of the alley in a way that could indicate a combat, but there wasn't any trace of another combatant except a few marks that showed sword blows gone astray, presumably aimed at this enemy.

That sort of argued against Rion's story, but not entirely. There were quite a few monsters, ranging from hungry spirits to vampires to things from beyond other veils, including demons, that could fight you without leaving obvious traces.

There was a scuffling in the alley behind him; he glanced back, saw Poplock bouncing towards him. "Well?"

"He went straight back to the estate," Poplock confirmed, reaching his accustomed position on Tobimar's shoulder. "Didn't even go slow, went as fast as he could manage and still stay hidden."

Tobimar kicked pensively at the dirt. "Her story fit his."

"Hmph. That's interesting. Though depending on what Rion really is, convincing someone to believe a particular story isn't hard to do." The Toad shifted his weight. "The real problem I have with his story is timing. Took too long, from the time I came back to get you to the time we found him. I can't believe the fight he described took fifteen, twenty minutes. Can't believe it took half that. Most fights are measured in seconds."

"I know what you mean," Tobimar agreed, as he started retracing their steps to the Vantage estate. "And that would mean he spent an awfully long time, relatively speaking, in that alley with Helina. He could've picked her up and carried her somewhere."

Poplock grimaced. "Of course, he could argue he was frozen with indecision – carrying her anywhere would reveal his presence, especially if she woke up, and since we haven't decided whether he is the real Rion, we've been pretty emphatic about him hiding it. Heck, this wandering around at night is pushing it, no matter how good he is at hiding and how well he knows the land."

"I guess. But I don't know that I'd swallow that argument. If we don't, though… what was the point? What did he do to Helina, and why?"

"You took her to the Temple, right? Maybe old Kelsley will have answers for us."

Tobimar nodded. "We'll have to check in tomorrow. But we'd better get answers soon. Won't be long before Xavier and his friends have to leave… and then it'll be you, me, Kyri… and Rion."

 

 

 

Phoenix Ascendant: Chapter 19

So there were some questions to be answered...

 

-----

 

 

Chapter 19.

     "You wish to see… what, precisely?" Arbiter Kelsley asked.

"Well, that's part of the problem," Poplock said. "We're not sure."

Kelsley jumped. "By the Balance… were you always able to talk?"

"Yep," he answered. It was still amusing to see people suddenly have to revise their entire evaluation of him in an instant.

"Then why… ah. Because you were a far more dangerous weapon when not suspected. Obvious, really. But why reveal yourself to me now?"

"Because we know you are not one of our enemies, but an ally that we can trust, sir," Tobimar said. "It makes it much easier to discuss things with you, and I think that by now his secrecy is no longer terribly useful; our enemy probably has guessed his nature by now."

Kelsley nodded, contemplating the little Toad with an amused smile. "Well enough. Can you at least tell me the sort of thing you are looking for in our records?"

"We're looking for any clue as to how to find the Justiciars' Retreat," Poplock answered. "I know it's probably not going to be so simple as finding a map and following it, but this has been the center of the faith since the beginning. Somewhere in those records might be a clue, and we're just about certain that the Retreat is what our enemy's using as a base of operations, along with the fallen Justiciars."

"Of course," Kelsley said, his cheerful face turning grim, as Poplock suspected it always did when reminded of how the representatives of his faith had been corrupted. "I recall no such traces in my readings, but I will admit that I have never sought such knowledge, so it may be that you are correct. Come."

He led them from the main temple through a smaller door at the back of the stage where the rituals of the Balance were enacted. This opened into a set of well-lit, wide corridors with several doors opening onto each. Kelsley led them straight on, deeper into the temple, until they came to a set of unadorned doors of polished olthawin, a deep blue wood that Tobimar had only seen once or twice before and never in such large pieces. The doors were clearly ancient, worn in gentle curves where untold thousands of people had passed over the centuries.

The twin doors swung open, revealing a wide, sweeping semicircular room on the right and a doorway on the left. The semicircular room was lined with bookshelves, and other books, scrolls, and artifacts were also in cases spaced around the room.

"These are the archives of Myrionar," Kelsley said slowly. "It is said that some of the artifacts, if not the records, go back to the days of the founding of the church, Chaoswars ago. A few other valuable records and manuscripts are kept here, in my office," he opened the door on the left and showed them a large office, with a broad desk, lamps, chairs, and a safe inset into one wall. Normally," he went on with another smile, "those not of the Faith would not be brought here, but you are an ally of Kyri and have already done our temple a signal service, and continue that service; it is only just that we provide you with all the support we can."

He crossed to the safe, touched it; the solid metal shimmered, and the door opened. He extracted the contents and placed it on the desk. "You are welcome to search as long as you like, just be appropriately careful with the more ancient and fragile materials. I will be tending to temple business most of the day, and services this evening, and I will give directions that no one disturb you here."

"Thank you, Arbiter," Poplock said sincerely; the holy man was certainly going all the way to be helpful, and he certainly could have tried to be a bit sticky about showing any of the really valuable or old materials.

"You are more than welcome. I only hope you find what you are looking for."

For the next two hours, Poplock and Tobimar scoured the archives. Most material could be instantly dismissed as not bearing on their search, but there was still a lot to look at. Finally, Tobimar brought two stacks of books and papers that seemed to have a fair amount to do with the Justiciars and their activities, and the two settled down to start looking.

After a while, Poplock said "So… what do you want to do about Rion?"

Tobimar started, then looked up from the huge tome he was leafing through. "What? What do you mean, 'do about Rion'?"

"You've noticed a couple of oddities – like me. Right?"

Tobimar shrugged. "Poplock, we know there's plenty of 'oddities'. He's a construct, made from a piece of Rion's soul and at least a couple of other things to create his body. It would be pretty much unbelievable if there weren't oddities."

"I'm not talking about that kind of stuff," Poplock said, hearing a slightly injured note in his own voice. He found it was more annoying when Tobimar didn't get what he was saying than it was when other people didn't have a clue, probably because he was used to the two of them being in accord. "I'm talking about the little signs he gives of either not being himself, or of knowing things I don't think he should."

Tobimar got a thoughtful look on his face; he was silent for a few moments, paging through the book. Poplock continued perusing the large scroll he'd unrolled, hopping from point to point.

"All right, what little signs are you talking about?"

"You first. You must have noticed at least one."

Tobimar sighed. "Yes. Xavier's swords."

"He recognized them."

"Or that symbol, anyway. Which bothers me, because I've never seen that symbol before; it's similar to the one the Spiritsmith put on mine, but I've not seen it, or its like, anywhere else. And Kyri's seen those swords, and never said anything about that symbol. So where did Rion see it before?"

"Right. So, my turn; he recognized the name Tor for you and Xavier's fighting style, and it gave him a jolt."

"You're right. I remember, he stopped for a split second. A good recovery, but not quite perfect. Anything else?"

"When we were leaving Jenten's Mill, remember that he and Kyri were talking a little ahead of us?"

"Yes."

"Well, I was able to catch some of that, and at one point Rion went… kinda blank on her. Couldn't remember something that was obviously a big deal when they were younger, the roles they always played as kids; she was a Phoenix, he was the Dragon."

Tobimar stretched, obviously thinking. "Well, he was just a soul fragment, and one slashed from the original by a monster. I think it's kinda surprising he's as intact as he is."

The Toad had to concede that. "More like astonishing, I'd say. Like someone who knew him did the repair job."

"Well, if Viedraverion's been playing Jeridan Velion, that might be the case."

"Hmph. True enough. But about Tor – remember when we were helping put things back together, both Miri and Shae told us that Tor was something that scared demons half to death. Why would Rion get all startled hearing about some martial art no one ever mentioned before? He should have been just thinking 'oh, some new name I have to remember'."

He could see that stopped Tobimar for a bit. There was a furrow between the Skysand Prince's brows as he continued searching through the tome before him.

"Well," Tobimar said at last, "we know he was made from something demonic, too. What if the soul that was used to provide the structure for Rion wasn't just a human, but part of a demon? Then he might have some faint memories or reactions from that."

"Ooo. You know, I hadn't thought of that." Poplock pulled a dried beetle out of his pack and chewed thoughtfully for a bit. "Might be true. On the other hand, it might not, which would mean… what?"

Tobimar waited, obviously wanting Poplock to continue; when the Toad simply kept looking at him silently, he cursed. "Shiderich! Fine. It means that there's at least part of something in there that's afraid of Tor, a demon probably, and that means that at the minimum Rion isn't just Rion."

"And at worst it's a demon somehow pretending to be Rion. One that somehow can hide its deceptions from both Kyri's truthsight and Gabriel's senses, which Aurora says are pretty darn impressive."

Tobimar's blue eyes narrowed. "One that's listening to a lot of what we're doing."

"Most of it, actually. Kyri trusts him – and I can't really blame her. She might be the big ol' Phoenix Justiciar, but she's no less a person than the rest of us, and I know I would probably really, really want to believe that someone I loved that much had come back."

"That's why you waited until we came here to talk."

"You see clearly with those squinty eyes. After what happened with Xavier's sword, I knew Rion wouldn't want to take a chance on what might happen to him if he walked straight into the actual Temple of Myrionar. And that meant we could have this talk and be absolutely sure neither he, nor Kyri, heard it."

"Don't tell me you don't trust Kyri!"

"When it comes to acting sensible about her brother? Well… yeah, I guess I do trust her, if we can present a good case. She's honest with herself that way."

Tobimar looked somewhat mollified. "All right. But Sky and Sand, what a mess this could be. What do you think we should do? Confronting him won't do any good – we've accepted him for a while, and there's perfectly good excuses for any of these issues, I'm sure. I'd be disappointed by our adversary if there weren't provisions to explain little lapses."

Poplock grimaced, rolled up the scroll, dragged over one of the books and started paging through it. "You're right. Confronting him would be useless unless he's dumber than a dung beetle, and he's not." He thought for a bit, while looking for Justiciar references. They talk a lot about how awesome the Justiciars are, but not much about the practical stuff. "I guess all we can do is make sure he's never not being watched. Unless he's a telepath or mindcaster mage, he's not going to be able to communicate with his boss while around us without us noticing something – and I'm pretty sure he's neither of those."

"True. So does that mean we make sure he's always accompanied?"

"No, no. We need, as I heard a fisherman say once, to let him wade out far enough to hit the dropoff. If he tries to go off on his own, someone has to follow him and watch him. And as far as I'm concerned, that 'someone' has to be me, you, or Xavier. I'm not trusting anyone else."

"Xavier likes him a lot, though."

"Saw that, playing that poker game. It's that brother thing; he knows Rion isn't really his brother, but he can't help but feel like there's a connection there. Still, I think Xavier will go along with it. If he won't, well, it's me and you. You in?"

Tobimar hesitated, then nodded. "I'm in. I hope we catch him doing nothing more interesting than taking walks."

"You and me both, Tobimar, believe me," Poplock said. "Because if he's up to something bad, our enemy's got all the info he needs to trap us."

 

 

Phoenix Ascendant: Chapter 18

Having broken the Watchland's enchantment, the question is what to do next...

 

 

----

 

 

Chapter 18.

     Tobimar watched as Xavier and Rion sparred. Rion wielded what Tobimar thought of as an Odinsyrnen sword and some others called a knight's weapon – a fairly long one-handed blade, double-fullered along most of its length, with a dragon-motif hilt – and a small shield, slightly larger than a buckler, and wore chain armor with some plate elements. Xavier, of course, wore no apparent armor and used two swords. As usual, Poplock had put safecharms on the blades so they wouldn't kill each other.

The two circled cautiously at first, but Xavier chose to go on the offensive quickly, striking out to disarm or create an opening – and nearly getting a sword in the face for his trouble. But Rion's attempt to follow up on that ended up catching nothing but air, as Xavier backflipped rapidly away and landed in the Tor combat pose, prepared.

Rion is good, Tobimar realized. He'd seen Rion in combat in their trek through Rivendream, but here he was watching Kyri's brother dueling Xavier, someone whose skills he knew well; the two of them had practiced together, sparred frequently, both during their travel from Zarathanton to Evanwyl, and in the few months Xavier had remained after Thornfalcon's defeat. Rion was holding his own against an increasingly serious assault by the Earth native.

Rion was grinning at Xavier. "You're not even trying. Where's your real skill, your real strength?"

"Dude! I'm not trying to kill you here, and I want to leave Kyri's house intact, too."

Rion blinked, as did Tobimar; for Rion, the blink was more costly. Ow! That blow to the ribs must have stung. "Are you joking with me, Xavier?"

The gray-eyed boy glanced at Tobimar, then looked back to Rion, catching his opponent's sword on one blade and turning aside a shield-bash with the other, then dodged back, leapt completely clear. "I can keep up with my friends. And your sister. So no, not joking."

A sudden bright grin. "But that doesn't mean there isn't something I can do!"

The swords slashed down, ten feet distant from Rion; but pearl-white light streaked out, extensions of blades and spirit. Rion's eyes widened and he brought up his own sword and shield barely in time. Even so, the impact sent him sprawling; he rolled badly, turned aside to evade Xavier's follow-up, and found his neck touching one of the bright leaf-green blades.

Rion flinched away from the blade surprisingly violently, but then laughed. "I asked for that, didn't I? Well struck, Xavier."

"Well, we'll try that again when you've got your Justiciar mojo back; I'll bet it won't be so easy then." Xavier's eyes narrowed. "Hey, Rion, did I cut you? I swear I was careful –"

Rion's hand came up, touched the bright red mark on his neck. "No, I swear you barely touched me." His face darkened. "Is there … a special virtue in those blades you carry?"

"Well, Khoros said that I wasn't ever going to find better blades. My sensei gave them to me. And Idinus seemed to think they were interesting." Xavier started to hand them to Rion, glanced at the red mark and obviously thought better of it, settled for holding the slightly curved sword where Rion could study it.

Tobimar was, of course, intimately familiar with the weapons, which both Xavier's sensei and the Spiritsmith called vya-shadu. At the base of Xavier's blades was a symbol, parallel swords and seven stylized towers; the ones the Spiritsmith had forged for Tobimar incorporated a similar design but used the Seven and One of Skysand.

Rion's eyes widened as his gaze focused on Xavier's swords. It was a momentary thing, almost instantly hidden, but Tobimar was sure he had seen it. However, all he said was, "They're beautiful. And I think I can sense… something there." His gaze dropped. "I was made by… monsters. From monstrous things. Perhaps the reason I'm not a Justiciar again is because the holy power would burn me."

"Might be right," Poplock murmured to Tobimar. "You notice his –"

"Yes. Talk later."

Xavier had put his hand on Rion's shoulder. "Hey, c'mon. Maybe you're right, but I'm sure you and your sis will work through that somehow. Your god's into Justice, and it wouldn't be fair if you couldn't get back into your old profession, right?"

Rion looked at Xavier and gave a snort of laughter. "An unbeliever reminding me of the basics. All right then, no need for me to dwell on that."

"Maybe we should do something less strenuous, anyway. I have a—"

At that point Toshi poked his head through a doorway into the practice yard. "Oh, here you are. Come on, we have something to discuss with everyone."

Poplock gestured and a twinkle of light showed he'd dispelled the safewards. "Looks like we'll be doing something a lot less strenuous, sitting in chairs."

"Probably not as boring as a conference on Earth," Xavier said cheerfully. Rion followed them, still not looking entirely happy.

Can't blame him, Tobimar thought. What must it be like knowing you're the creation of your own enemies?

Once more the table in Vantage Fortress was laden with food, and there were plenty of seats already filled by the others. "We're all here, Kyri," Toshi said. "Can we back up a little and let everyone know what we're talking about?"

"Of course, Toshi," Kyri said. She waited until Tobimar and Rion had seated themselves on either side of her, and Xavier had decided which dishes he wanted to be sitting near. "Toshi and I were discussing the critical time problem. If they were to set out immediately but had to go through Hell's Edge to get to the Black City, it would take them several months; the distance is almost as far as getting to the Fallen Hills, and the last part of it would be going through Hell itself."

"Although with two armies having gone through there recently," Poplock said, "that probably wouldn't be so much of a slowdown as it might be otherwise. I'd bet both the Empire of the Mountain and the State of the Dragon King are keeping supply lines open, too."

The Toad scratched his head. "You might have trouble convincing them to let you through Hell's Edge, though. You can't just walk through…" He trailed off, seeing Xavier grinning broadly at him. "Okay, no, that won't be a problem."

Remembering how Xavier had been able to use his power to help him and Poplock literally walk right past Dalthunian guardposts, Tobimar had to grin along with Xavier.

"But I realized that there might be another solution, if you can manage to scale a few really difficult mountains."

"Hey, wait," Poplock said, and Tobimar continued, "Kyri, you won't be able to escort them."

"I don't think it will matter," Kyri said.

"Begging your pardon, Lady Kyri, but it might make things clearer if you finished telling us about this other solution," Gabriel Dante said.

"Sorry, Gabriel – and Aurora and Nike. Poplock, can you get out a map for us?"

"Hold on… yes, here you go!" The Toad pulled a scroll of paper out of his neverfull pack – a scroll several times longer than the Toad and pack combined, a sight that always looked peculiar even though Tobimar ought to be used to it by now.

Unrolled, the paper was a detailed map of the known continent of Zarathan, with Artania also up in the northwest corner. Kyri leaned over it, pointing. "Evanwyl's here; we're just about in the center of that star-shape that marks the city. Way down here is Hell's Edge. You do not want to go through the Gyrefell Forest; no one does. Even the Dragons warn against it.

"So you have to either go right along the base of Hell's Rim until you get to Hell's Edge, which will be a very rough journey, or you have to go south, catch the Great Road, and travel along here until you reach the Odinsforge Range and can take the northwest fork. That will be faster, although Dalthunia's hostile territory and there's no telling what you might run into there."

Nike nodded. "Yes, we're generally familiar with the map, although talking to someone who's actually been through those areas will certainly be helpful."

"Hey, I was through there not all that long ago," Xavier pointed out. "But they're right about it not being safe."

"In any case, you can see that's a long trip. But when I had my Raiment forged, and Tobimar got his new swords, we visited the Spiritsmith, and he lives here." She pointed to a point on Hell's Rim which was slightly north of the easternmost part of the circle of mountains, and thus part of the section of mountains not too far from Evanwyl.

"But he's still on this side of Hell's Rim, right?" Aurora asked.

"Technically, probably," Poplock said. "But Kyri's on to something. From one part of the plateau the Spiritsmith lives on, you could see straight into Hell, and we did see the… black glow, whatever you'd call it, when the Black City manifested."

"That might work," Toshi said slowly. "If you can actually see into this place you call Hell, then the mountain range must be considerably narrower there. Still high enough to serve as a bulwark against the things you mention live there, but if we can reach this plateau… Between me and Aurora, we could probably get us down from there with minimal noticeable power, avoiding calling attention to ourselves."

"But he's notorious about not wanting visitors, Kyri," Tobimar reminded her.

"But he's not there now," she said. "Remember, he was packing to leave when we left. He's gone with the army by now. Oh, his forge itself is probably all secured, but there weren't any signs of any traps or enchantments or wards on the plateau itself. Poplock?"

"No, no sign of any, or any sign there'd ever been any. I think he considers it pretty secure as it is."

"Can you give us clear enough directions so that we can get there ourselves without you having to lead us?" asked Aurora. "Because Xavier's never been there either."

Kyri glanced at Tobimar and Poplock. Tobimar thought back to the trip they'd made, then looked at Poplock for confirmation. "I think so. The three of us could work out the route to Waycross, and from there it's a pretty straight walk following the split-peak landmark."

"How far from that plateau would you guess the Black City would be?" Toshi asked.

Tobimar shrugged, looking at Kyri, who also shrugged. Poplock rolled his eyes. "You guys can't even guess that? Figuring elevation at around twenty thousand feet, and the fact that the city itself was still over the horizon, something over two hundred miles, I'd guess."

"Twenty thousand feet!" Nike was startled. "Good Lord, Toshi, you'll need to be providing us with oxygen or something."

"It's not that difficult to breathe up there," Kyri said. "Though it is colder than down here."

"Hmmm," Toshi said, frowning. "But this planet has similar gravity to Earth and apparently similar diameter. Why would the scale height be so much different?"

"They call it magic for a reason, dude," Xavier said.

"But why? Why would the magic do this?"

"It's possible that the Spiritsmith arranged it," Poplock pointed out. "He needs air for his forge, and probably doesn't want any visitors keeling over just because the air's too thin."

"Might be," conceded Toshi. "Which might mean that it's no longer in force when he's gone. But Nike is also right that I could manage to address that problem. So this seems a very viable alternative and one that would reduce our journey, even taking into account the need for a very slow and cautious descent on the other side, by at least two months, possibly more."

"In that case, I think we should stay for at least a couple of weeks," Nike said, "and see if they or the Watchland can somehow locate this 'Justicar's Retreat'. If they can do that before we leave –"

"—we'll go in with you and help kick this guy's ass," Xavier said firmly. "Which for all we know might make things easier all around, if he's been the guy pulling all the other strings."

"You don't have to –"

"Of course we don't," Gabriel said immediately. "But you and Tobimar and Poplock are Xavier's friends, and we now know what a terrible enemy you will be facing. We do indeed have our own rendezvous with destiny… but you have shown us a shorter way to that destination than the one we would have taken. It is only just, as your own god would say, that we devote some of that time to you. And a few weeks of rest, after what we went through, also sounds attractive."

Toshi bit his lip, then gave a little bow. "Agreed, unless Aurora has an objection?"

Aurora smacked her fist into her open hand; the concussion shook the conference room. "I would love to punch the guy who put that disgusting spell on the poor Watchland. Two weeks, maybe three."

"Done, then," Toshi said. "Do you have any leads on how to find your target?"

"I'm going to talk with the Watchland again tomorrow," Kyri answered. "You – any of you – could come if you like. I'm hoping that we'll be able to draw out some repressed memories of the Retreat. Either the Watchland has been there, or he's been repeatedly possessed by a being that has. It seems at least reasonable to think that somewhere inside, Jeridan knows how to find it."

"Right," Tobimar said. "Poplock and I are going to go talk with Arbiter Kelsley; it seems to me that the remaining high priest of Myrionar and his temple might have some clues, even if they don't know they're clues, so to speak."

"And at the least I might get an idea of how to get through the diversion wards they must have set up," Poplock said. "Since they'd have to be real similar to the original wards."

"Diversion wards?" Aurora asked.

"Enchantments to keep people from reaching a certain spot," Poplock said. "You get diverted around it, no matter how hard you try. Gets more and more blatant as you fight it harder. If you don't know it's there, what happens is that even if you started going straight for whatever-it-is, you just gradually change your course. If you're following a compass, you'll keep mis-reading it until you're well past, and so on."

Poplock rocked side-to-side, frowning. "Real hard to get through unless you're either a lot more powerful than the person who put them up, or you know whatever the trick is to get past, or if you're able to focus a counter-diversion ward and get through. That's what I'm probably going to have to do if we can't figure out how to just walk there… and I'm guessing that Viedraverion set it up so that only False Saints can get through."

"But that's tomorrow," Xavier said. "We're not getting any of that done now."

Gabriel raised an eyebrow at him. "And you have something else in mind?"

"Well, I'm not saying people who have more deep thoughts can't keep talking, but I'm not planning on it. Instead – partly because he reminds me of Mike -- tonight, I'm gonna teach Rion, and anyone else who wants, my brother Michael's favorite card game."

He produced a pack of cards of a type that Tobimar had never seen before. "Time for this world to learn five-card draw poker!"

 

 

Phoenix Ascendant: Chapter 17

They had to begin addressing the problems... and one of them isn't far away...

 

------

 

 

Chapter 17.

     The Watchland's Fortress lay in front of them, only a few hundred yards distant. Of their dual group, only Rion was not present; he had remained behind with Lythos at Vantage Fortress. His presence would have vastly complicated the entire issue. Kyri looked to the five younger people. "Ready?"

Toshi nodded. "This should not be complicated, only potentially dangerous. For our purposes, there are really only three scenarios. First, we discover the Watchland is our enemy immediately, and the battle is joined; at that point I would hope that all of us together will be able to overcome pretty much anything."

Remembering the Elderwyrm Sanamaveridion, Kyri shuddered. "Maybe. But we can't just use the full powers we've talked about here. Jeridan has a staff of at least twenty people; we're not very far from the center of Evanwyl. If we fight a battle anything like the one we fought in Kaizatenzei –"

"Lady Kyri," Gabriel interrupted, "please – we understand. We very much understand." She saw in his eyes that he, too, was remembering something devastating. "But if you are right, your ultimate enemy is the cause of most of this. We are choosing to confront him here; that leaves the possibility that such a battle may be fought here."

"You wanna abort?" Xavier asked. His expression was serious, not judging her, just asking a question. "Drop it and try something else?"

In her mind's eye, Kyri saw her golden fire contesting with night-black destruction, shattering hills, blasting buildings, igniting fields. Can I even possibly risk that?

Tobimar and Poplock were silent; neither seemed willing to advise her to either go forward or retreat.

Myrionar, guide me. Do I move forward, or back? Do I risk this, or is it wiser that I do not, and seek another course?

She waited, but there was nothing; neither an omen of danger nor something drawing her forward. Even Myrionar is saying to me 'this is your choice, and yours alone'.

The fortress ahead gleamed white and silver in the afternoon sun, a structure whose design made massive walls and watchtowers seem delicate and airy, faced with polished white marble and enchanted steel. She remembered the Watchland from her youngest days, always present yet always moving, and remembered their talk at Rion's dance years before. With a shock, she realized that the towering older figure she remembered from her third year must have been a youth, someone no older than Gabriel or Xavier. He's been protecting our country since he was younger than me, since his father died fighting something out of Rivendream.

That, somehow, decided her. I have faith that I am right about him, and that it will not come to destruction, not here. "Come on," she said quietly. "It's time."

The others followed in silence. As they approached the Watchland's Fortress, Kyri saw the guards at the gate snap to full attention and bow. "Phoenix! By the Balance, you're back?"

"Hello, Renthas, Yomin," she said with a smile at the pair, one blond, solid, and cheerful, the other tall, dark, and deceptively dour. "We are indeed. Would the Watchland be available? I would like to introduce him to some important visitors."

"It would be extremely improbable that he would not receive you," Yomin said, a rare smile flickering on his long face, softening the expression of disbelief that had also been there. "Give me a moment to check, of course." He stepped into an alcove with a speaking tube, while Renthas kept watch; the guard's gaze scanned the group with abject curiosity, but no suspicion. I'd be stunned if there was, actually. My advantage here really is being utterly above suspicion. And hopefully, there is no need for suspicion.

Yomin emerged and nodded. "The Watchland says he would be most pleased to receive you and your friends; go straight in, you know the way. He's in the library."

Kyri felt her heartbeat accelerating as they approached the dark-red polished wood of the library doors. Please let me have made the right decision.

Jeridan Velion rose as she entered. "Kyri! You've returned from beyond Rivendream?" Before she could answer, he strode forward and embraced her. "Oh, welcome home, welcome home, Phoenix Kyri! And Tobimar! By Myrionar's Blade, I had begun to give up hope that you had survived!"

Kyri felt unexpected tears welling up. This isn't an act! I can… feel him here. Not distant, not cold hiding behind a warm face! This is the Jeridan I was hoping to find!

She returned the embrace, but at the same time felt tension rising in her. But that's just my feelings, and it's what I wanted to find. It really depends on what the others see…

"We did, Jeridan – not easily, I admit. And that's a long tale that you'll have a hard time believing," she said. "But first, I want to introduce you to our visitors."

Watchland Velion immediately straightened and gave the customary Armed Bow, allowing all to see the straight, double-edged sword in its sheath on his hip as he completed the turn. "My apologies to you; all of us in Evanwyl have been concerned for Kyri on this venture, and to know she was well –"

"Don't worry about it, Watchland," Xavier said with a grin. "I was just as glad to see them."

"Xavier Ross! I admit this is a pleasant surprise."

"Jeridan, you recall that Xavier mentioned he'd come here with four friends?"

"Indeed." The golden-haired Watchland raised an eyebrow. "Then these are your lost companions?"

"Yep!"

"Jeridan, allow me to present to you Gabriel Dante, Nike Engelshand, Toshi Hashima, and Aurora Vanderdecken," Kyri said; the natives of Earth, being somewhat close together and not practiced in the idea, didn't do the Armed Bow but instead bowed from the waist.

"Welcome, all of you," the Watchland said, his blue eyes studying the newcomers keenly. He also clasped hands with each of them. "All from the legendary other world? A momentous occasion for my Fortress, I must say. Please, come with me to table, I will have some refreshments brought and we can talk a bit before I must tend to other duties."

"How could we refuse?" Nike said. "We'd be honored."

"I assure you, the honor is entirely mine. There must be a grand story behind your arrival here as well, and I look forward to hearing something of it."

As the Watchland led them to his private dining room, Kyri glanced quickly at the others.

Gabriel gave her an emphatic nod, but raised one eyebrow; Xavier gave a thumbs-up gesture which she knew meant "yes", then also shook his head. Poplock also bounced once on Tobimar's shoulder.

Relief surged through her again, this time so strongly she felt herself momentarily weak. He's nothing monstrous. But they've found something else. Now we find out if he can be saved.

It took only a few moments for everyone to be seated. "Once more, welcome, old friends and new. I will call to have us served –"

"Wait, please," she said. He paused, hand reaching for one of the gems that would have brought servants in to take direction. "There is something we would rather say to you in private, now."

"Ah. Something more than a social call, then? I should have suspected as much, since I had heard no word of your coming, despite having heard that there was a small group of strange youngsters at old Kell's place." Instead of touching for a summons, he passed his hand over another, which was meant for privacy; Kyri felt a faint wash of magic. "As you wish, then."

The others looked at her. This is all mine; they're right. "Jeridan… Do you trust me?"

He opened his mouth to answer instantly, but then paused, seeing her expression. "Completely and without reservation, Phoenix Kyri Vantage," he said quietly, after a moment. "Speak, then; I gave you my trust that day in the temple, and you proved me right. I shall always trust you."

She took a deep breath. "Then I must tell you that – somehow – your… likeness, at least… has been used and is perhaps still being used by our enemies."

Jeridan's eyes narrowed. "How do you mean?"

"She means," Tobimar said, "that the architect of not just the fall of the Justiciars, but of most of the current troubles of the world, has been wearing your face, Watchland. We found yet another part of the plot beyond Rivendream Pass, in a country called Kaizatenzei, and one of those high in the counsels of the enemy was able to show us the likeness of this master manipulator. That likeness was yours."

Watchland Velion was on his feet, and his face was dark with anger. But there was no anger in his voice when he spoke to her. "Kyri Victoria Vantage, do you trust me?"

"I do… now," she said. "Jeridan – Watchland – understand, we have already seen evidence of the ability of our adversaries to work through others, so that sometimes they were… themselves, and sometimes not. I had reason to believe that this was true of you. I know that – at least for now – you are the man I have always known."

The Watchland slowly examined those seated at his table. "I see. What is your purpose in this visit, then?"

"Initially," Toshi said, "to examine you at close range and determine whether you were a monster hiding in the guise of an ally, or the man you appeared to be."

"And have you found that I am who I appear to be?"

"Yes," Gabriel answered. "But not one without mysteries about him. There is a complex enchantment woven about you; I can see it, but I do not yet have the knowledge to interpret what I see fully."

"Right," said Xavier. "There's a layering of something through your soul, but from what and what exactly it does, I don't know."

"We think at least part of it is memory implant," Poplock said, causing Jeridan to jump.

"So you are a member of their party, Poplock Duckweed, not merely a pet!" he said. "I had wondered about that more than once. What do you mean by 'memory implant'?"

"Do you remember what you said to me, when you came to bid Aunt Victoria, Urelle, and myself goodbye?" Kyri asked.

"I confess that I do not remember it in detail, no."

"I do, though. You said '…for many of the last few days I have felt almost outside myself, watching what I have been doing, seeking to make it all right, yet… not able to let myself … truly reach those who needed me most…'." She met his gaze. "Do you understand what I am saying?"

Jeridan Velion's gaze dropped, and he was silent for a moment. When he looked back up, she saw something bleak and frightened there. "Yes," he whispered. "Yes, Kyri. I've… felt that many times over the years. I would awaken one morning, and remember what I had done over the past days or weeks, and yet it would feel… flat, cold, colorless, as though I were trying to remember someone else's dream. The facts would be there, the images, but the feelings, the connection, would be wan, dim, cold."

"As though you had not, in fact done it," Toshi said. "That someone had instead effectively given you the memory, but without the associations that make living memories so rich and strong."

"And you are saying that this is exactly what has happened to me?"

"Yes. The very nature of the memories confirms it," Toshi answered, after a quick glance at Poplock. "Our adversary could certainly give you memories of what they had done – but those memories, to be innocuous to you, would either be entirely synthetic, made-up, and thus expected to be thin and less convincing, or would be actual events but stripped of our enemy's actual thoughts and reactions, which would have been far too revealing."

Kyri put her hand on his shoulder. "Jeridan, where we came from, our enemy had effectively made duplicates of people, ones they could leave acting as though they were those people and then take over whenever needed; they described similar symptoms. We need to find out what, exactly, has been done to you – and if our enemy has any hold on you, to break that hold."

"And can you do this without our enemy being aware of it?"

"Probably not," Poplock said. "But we're getting ready to go after him and he is probably aware of that. Making sure he doesn't have you as a battlesquares piece? That's worth it."

Kyri saw Jeridan looking with grim curiosity at the group, and she knew what he saw; children, mostly, with her an unusual and still very young exception. "When you say this being who has been using me is the 'architect' of the current troubles… what exactly do you mean? Is he…"

"… responsible for the Black City arriving? Yep," said Poplock. "According to our sources, he planned the whole thing, including the assassination of the Sauran King, the attacks on Artania, Skysand, Aegeia, all of it. He arranged a trap for us, too, in Kaizatenzei. And he is the one behind the False Justiciars, the corrupter of the order. He is the son of Kerlamion, called Viedraverion."

Jeridan shuddered. "That name… I… feel something, something terrible, when I hear it." He raised his head, looked into her eyes. "I trust you implicitly, Kyri, the Phoenix of Myrionar, the one who tore the mask from Thornfalcon and the other fallen Justiciars. And this… this explains other things, veiled comments, occasional odd looks I recall from the Justiciars. Yes, Kyri." He straightened. "If you must do something, then do it. Even if it is something less… gentle than you imply."

"Less gentle…?" For a moment she wondered what he meant, and then saw the bleak acceptance in his eyes, the stiff rise of the chin. "Oh, Myrionar, no, Jeridan. I did not come here to kill you."

"If in any way I can be used against you – against Evanwyl – you should kill me," the Watchland said, hands clenched at his side. "I—"

"Let us try something less drastic first, sir," Gabriel said; the very slight smile was apologetic.

"Yes," Poplock said, interrupting the Watchland before the man could more than open his mouth. "We know that anything Viedra put on you will probably be mud-sticking hard to break, but we've got a couple advantages. First, he probably doesn't know we're going to try that now, and second, I don't think he knows anything about our friends, and even less that they're here. His daddy's opposing forces got pretty much wiped out without a chance to report, and no one's going to believe they all got here from there so quick anyway. And I've learned a few tricks since we've been gone, too."

Jeridan Velion looked at them with dawning curiosity, and then smiled weakly at Poplock. "Well, I recall being warned by Adjudicator Toron once, many years ago, to never underestimate a Toad. It seems I might do well to remember that advice."

"Yeah, you should. He forgot it and had to slap himself later," Poplock said dryly.

"Then the moments pass no less swiftly; can you perform whatever spells or rituals you envision here and now?"

"If you'll let us move the table and chairs out of the way, Jeridan, yes."

"Burn them if you must!" The vehemence of Velion's outburst made them all stare. "My apologies," he said, face dark with fury. "I am not angry with you, Kyri, nor with any of your friends and allies. Only at this monster who has used me as a tool. Any price is worth paying to free myself of that."

"Understood."

Kyri dragged the massive table to one side as the others gathered up the chairs and stacked them; Xavier locked all the doors and Poplock put a seal on them to prevent any possible interruptions.

"Now what?" Toshi asked. "We're not magicians, Poplock, so this part is up to you."

"You're right that you're not magicians," Poplock said, "but you're something even better. You're elementals, and not just any elementals, but ones probably designed by Khoros himself. For a guy like me, that makes you, um, how would Xavier put it – oh, yeah! Makes you the biggest batteries ever."

Aurora looked suspiciously at Poplock. "You're not going to drain us or anything, are you?"

"Well, yes and no," Poplock said, his voice somewhat muffled as he was digging through his neverfull pack at the moment. "I'm not going to rip out your spirits to fuel a dark spell or anything, but I am going to be tapping the power of all of you in this. Might leave you tired, but shouldn't hurt anyone." He emerged with various ritual tools, including colored sands and drawing materials.

"Elementals?" Jeridan looked intrigued, even as Poplock chivvied him to the center of the room and started drawing a complicated circle around him. "Truly?"

"Probably more than that," Toshi admitted. "We're trying to figure all that out ourselves, but at least one of our allies said something about also having virtues associated with us –"

"Oooo, that makes sense!" Poplock said. "But keep the conversation down, please – if you distract me I might put the wrong symbols down and that would end badly."

"Should we get the others set up?"

"Please do. I'll give you some guidelights." Poplock muttered and gestured, and suddenly a pyramid of light appeared, each of the five points glowing a different color: white at the apex, then light blue, crimson, green, and violet around the perimeter of the base.

Xavier looked up, nonplussed. "I suppose I can get up there, but if I'm in my not-here mode I don't think I'm going to, well, be here."

"Trust me," Poplock said. "I've thought of that. Just jump up there – pretend there's a little platform up there, because there is. You just can't see it."

The gray eyes closed. "Oh, yeah. I can see it now." Xavier gave a somersaulting leap that took him fifteen feet up, brushing the ceiling, to come down atop what looked like empty air. "On station!"

Toshi nodded as the rest took their places. "The color associations are common?"

"Here, yeah."

"Will I need to do anything?" asked the Watchland.

"Just… don't move. I've got your circle done here, and you know that damaging a ritual circle can be a bad thing, right?"

"Yes, I've seen the results of one that was damaged during the ritual. 'Bad thing' indeed." Jeridan looked carefully around him and then removed his sword, then sat down on the polished wood floor. "Now it should be safe."

"Good call."

Kyri watched the remainder of the preparations, the Toad carefully drawing complex circles around the four positioned at the points of the pyramid, and felt tension once more return. Poplock was much more skilled than he had been when first they met, there was no doubt of that. And if even half the stories of Xavier and his friends had been true, they would represent an immense amount of power.

But on the other hand, if they were right, Poplock was trying to break the bonds of one of the most powerful demonlords… bonds in use for years.

"Ready for you too, Kyri, Tobimar."

Two more circles had been drawn – one on each side of the Watchland, a line facing towards the rising sun, if the room had been open to the sky. Kyri could recognize symbols for Myrionar, Terian, Chromaias, and the sketched pop-eyes of Blackwart, and saw others scattered through the symbolic pyramid. He's invoking just about everyone on the side of Light in this. I think that double lightning bolt is the symbol of the Three Beards, and there's the Triad, and definitely that's the Hammer and Spear. The little Toad gestured with a tiny wand, sketching more mystical symbology into the air itself, following the lines of the pyramid and encircling Xavier as the boy sat in meditation. The others of the Five had also seated themselves. Only she and Tobimar stood, facing each other and the Watchland between them.

"Almost there," Poplock said gravely. "Once this starts, though, it's going to get dangerous. I can sorta see the enchantments in Jeridan, and they're gonna be tough."

"I can see them clearly," Gabriel said. "They are strong. But I do not think they are stronger than we are."

"Bet on it," Xavier said. "We're ready."

Nike nodded. "Ready."

"So am I," Toshi said.

"Do it already!" Aurora said.

Poplock bounced a grin at that. "Okay! Watchland, get ready; this might hurt, or might not, but I can't promise anything."

The figure of the Watchland tensed.

Poplock Duckweed began to intone a ritual. It was a strange, patchwork ritual; some of it, Kyri could tell, was in the peculiar language of the Toads, sound and motion interspersed; other parts were in the more common language of Zarathan; some words of Ancient Sauran were used, and even a few ancient phrases which clearly came from the old language of Kaizatenzei. Poplock invoked gods ancient and new, recited words of reinforcement and strength, murmured pieces of ancient prayers, and, once, touched the Gemcalling matrix on his arm, sending a glitter of power through the symbols.

The pyramid began to glow brighter, the previously invisible faces of the figure shimmering with five colors in constant interplay. White light surrounded her and Tobimar and the Watchland, flowing and shifting and running through the dozens of symbols invoking both magical power and deific assistance. Myrionar, stand with me, she prayed. Help to free the Watchland, my friend, your servant, from the grasp of our enemy. She could see Tobimar's eyes also focus on something beyond him, praying.

Suddenly the Watchland gave a gasp and a grunt, and dark, sharp-edged mists swirled from within him, darting, slashing like knives of shadow or swarms of black, vicious insects at the circle enclosing him. She saw Poplock stagger, then hold Steelthorn up and shout words she did not understand in a tone that reminded her of Hiriista, the Magewright of Kaizatenzei.

Red-gold fire ignited in her circle, blue-white flame erupted from about Tobimar, the two channeling into and reinforcing the circle around the Watchland. At the same time, the circles around the five from Earth blazed to life, pure white from Xavier streaming out to encircle the entire pyramid, outlining its shape as the colors of the others welled out to the walls, lambent solidity manifesting.

"Got you!" Poplock shouted. "Living binding, master-ward, seal of the soul – I banish you from Jeridan Velion! By earth, by air, by fire, by water, by spirit, I abjure you! By passion and knowledge, judgement and trust, by truth I cast you out!"

The swirling, sawtooth-edged blackness surged, making the lines ripple, and a line of dark vapor streaked out, clawing and ripping at Poplock, who barely caught it on the shining silver blade of Steelthorn. For moments Poplock dueled what she now realized was a sentient, fighting spell with nothing but a mystical blade and his own will, cuts appearing by malign magic across his brown hide. The shadow-darkness rose higher, split in three, struck like a snake; Poplock evaded it, then reversed, barely keeping himself from crossing one of the mystic circles. A keening, hungry sound rose from the eldritch thing as it slashed out again, the Toad's blade only barely parrying the razor-sharp gloom.

But then Poplock somersaulted over the next lunge and slammed Steelthorn down; to her astonishment the enchanted steel impaled the shadowy, half-living construct of sorcery. "To the Circle and then oblivion!" the little Toad bellowed, his voice far louder than Kyri would have believed possible. "By the power of the Five Elements and Five Virtues, be you sealed!"

There were gasps from the five around the pyramid, and Kyri saw that they were sagging, visibly weakening, as the energy was pulled from within them to streak to the circle surrounding Jeridan; with a subliminal shriek of fury, the black-bladed shadow was drawn back to the dark storm within.

Blood streaming from a dozen places, Poplock levered himself upright on Steelthorn, then raised his sword high; he no longer looked small or innocent or funny; he towered within the space of the pyramid, and his voice was filled with fury. "Begone and be obliterated by my will, by my magic, by my friends, by my teachers, by my name! Myrionar and Terian are with me, and by the Companions and Blackwart the Golden-Eyed himself, you are ENDED!"

The light of the circle imploded, crushing in on the seething darkness within, and the scream was not soundless. A detonation echoed out from that nexus, and Kyri was flung backwards to crack against the wall with stunning force. She made herself scramble to her feet, grasping at her sword, afraid for a moment that something new and terrible had been born.

But instead she saw Jeridan Velion, slowly raising his head from where he was sprawled. His eyes were wide, surprised, but clear, and they warmed when they met hers, and she knew it was the man she had come to save.

"Poplock? Poplock! Are you all right?"

Tobimar was crouched over the limp form of the tiny Toad. "C'mon, Poplock!"

Vaguely, she could tell that the others were barely able to move; Xavier had fallen from above in the detonation, to land a short distance from Jeridan. The others, like her, were around the perimeter of the room.

She ran painfully to where Poplock lay. "Move away, Tobimar, please."

She touched the little body, felt the faint pulse of life. "He's alive, but very weak." She heard her own relief echoed in Tobimars sigh. "I can take care of that."

The healing power of Myrionar came in red-gold light and Poplock opened one eye. "Are we done here? Because that really hurt."

As concerned shouts and pounding began from the locked doors, Jeridan Velion began to laugh.

 

 

 

Phoenix Ascendant: Chapter 16

Xavier and his friends finally tell something about their adventures...

 

-----

 

 

Chapter 16.

     Poplock watched from his perch on one of the unlit candleholders, nibbling on a thimbleberry, as the others slowly filtered in. Xavier practically leaped back into his chair and started eating. "You know," said the Toad, "you seem to eat like twice as much as everyone else."

"Yeah," Xavier mumbled around a mouthful of crispwing, "my sensei said something about that being a consequence of burning more energy than everyone else. Then there's Rion who doesn't seem to eat much at all."

"We figure that's because he's, well, not human."

"Makes sense. Maybe an advantage in some ways." Xavier reached out and poured himself more water.

Gabriel and Tobimar came in from opposite directions, while Lythos finally seated himself rather than standing and observing. "These matters run deep and strange," the Artan warrior observed. "And I suspect your stories will prove even stranger."

"I can't say for sure on that, sir," Gabriel said. "As Nike observed, I would hardly have expected their tale to include what we would call a classic mad scientist – which surely fits your Master Wieran to perfection – so they already have from my view something of an advantage on us."

Most of the others had returned and gotten settled. Nike nodded at Gabriel's comment, and smiled at Xavier; Poplock noticed that Xavier's gaze often strayed to Nike even when he was talking to someone else. Which, if there's mutual attraction, would leave Toshi odd man out. He couldn't tell if there was a mutual attraction, though; Nike's demeanor was calm, professional most of the time, even with those she traveled with. Xavier said she was raised by guardsmen – police – so she obviously takes after her parents.

"Where's Rion and Kyri?" asked Toshi.

"I think they were out getting a little air before coming back in," Tobimar answered.

"Huh. Dude, I would've thought you would be taking her out for a walk, not her brother."

Tobimar laughed. "He was thought dead for two years, and she always… well, rather idolized him. Besides, he's been confronted with his nature a couple of times tonight, they're probably talking some of that out. He's … not happy with it."

"Yeah," Xavier admitted, "I wouldn't be too comfortable finding out I was a half-undead demon-duplicate either."

"Please don't say stuff like that casually, especially around Rion," Tobimar warned him.

As Xavier nodded his understanding, Poplock saw the two remaining people coming in from the front entrance. Without her habitual helm to conceal her face, the Phoenix Justiciar seemed noticeably more tired than usual, but cheerful, greeting the room with one of her flashing smiles. Rion looked also more relaxed than he had before they left; as per usual habit, he waited for Kyri to seat herself next to Tobimar before taking the seat on her other side.

"Okay," Poplock said. "We're all here. It's you guys' turn to tell us what you've been up to."

The five young people looked at each other, and then Gabriel nodded. "Aurora and I will go first.

"You all know that we managed to escape from the prison under the Dragon's Palace. When we did that, it was agreed that we would split up; I believe that Xavier has already told you that Khoros had apparently foreseen this?"

"Yes," Poplock said, searching his memory for the exact wording. "So you could, um, '… find answers to the tasks before you, the powers within you, and the doubts that surround you,', right?"

Aurora snorted, her expression an odd blend of fury and gratitude. "Yes. I will still kick that old bastard in the balls before I thank him, though."

Gabriel shook his head. "I think the first may be difficult to achieve. In any event, we were agreed that we had to go our separate ways to minimize the chance of all of us being recaptured. So we attempted to … flee as quickly as possible." Toshi had glanced at him during the last sentence. "Exactly how is one of the things we won't detail. We found ourselves, eventually, in a desert, something which was most distressing to me as I am – as you so correctly observed – inherently of the Water element. But with Aurora's support we were able to travel until we came in sight of a city, which turned out to be Tempestward."

"Tempestward?" Tobimar repeated. "You traveled from Zarathanton to the northernmost desert of Skysand in such a manner you knew not where you had gone or how?"

Poplock was at least as stunned. Thousands of miles, in what they imply was an extremely short time, without knowing the territory they passed through? But teleportation's severely limited these days. Makes sense as to why they don't want to explain just how. Big useful secret there.

"We did," confirmed Aurora. "And then we were chased into the city by something that we figured out later was a demon. Which did at least get the attention of Sundrilin." Her face fell.

"You were friends with her, weren't you?" Tobimar asked quietly.

"Eventually… once I stopped being paranoid about everything. She brought us to Skysand, the capital, and that was when the real trouble started…"

Poplock saw Kyri reach out and take Tobimar's hand in hers as Gabriel and Aurora continued their story – a story that included mystery and intrigue and even betrayal within the capital city, a siege, and eventually a counterstrike against demonic forces that seemed endless and unstoppable…

"… We had to fight for them," Aurora said, and by now there were tears in her voice, her eyes wet. "I'd been… we'd both been… difficult to deal with. But your mother and Sundrilin and your other brothers and sisters… they had patience, they helped keep us alive in more ways than one. And then these monsters were trying to wipe out your people, it was a planned assault, and time was running out…"

"The demons were, of course, beings of fire and sand, taking advantage of the terrain," Gabriel said. Poplock remembered the sand demons that had ambushed him, Tobimar, and Xavier, and thought about what an army of such monsters would be like. "We tried to fight them… did fairly well… but while demons of fire are certainly things I can fight well, those of sand could sap my strength easily; not so much Aurora's, but she did not have any particular advantage against them, and many of them seemed able to ignore ordinary blows entirely."

Aurora swallowed, then sat straighter. "And then the royal family took the field." She looked directly at Tobimar. "Be proud of them all. They were amazing. They rallied everyone – including us – and drove towards the leaders. I was… not fighting as well as I should."

Now it was Gabriel's hand taking Aurora's, even as the girl forced herself to continue – even as Toshi shot them another warning glance. "I… I can't tell you everything. But I was… fighting myself, I guess, my own mistrust. My parents… kinda screwed me up without meaning to, and I made things worse. But even with us not doing our best, me and Gabe… were pretty obviously dangerous targets, so they sent a force against us… and when one of them almost had me, Sundrilin…"

She stopped, unable to go on, not that she had to; Poplock had seen more than enough battles to understand the rest.

"And then?" Kyri asked finally.

"And then… we found the key we had been searching for, the answers that Khoros had spoken of," Gabriel said grimly, "and we scoured the desert until not one of the monsters was left standing."

Rion stared at him. "By… by yourselves?"

Aurora gave a predatory, vicious smile from beneath her tear-streaked face. "Oh yes. By ourselves, then."

There was a short silence as Poplock and the others took that in. "Okay," Poplock said finally. "I guess you are playing on the same level as we were, there. Ouch. How'd you end up back here?"

"A few weeks afterward, the Nomdas – the high priestess of Terian? – called us and said that she had been sent a vision by her god, a message that was clearly for us. Once Gabriel unraveled it, it basically said for us to head to a particular place and we'd find what we were looking for. And sure enough, when we got there, we ran into Xavier."

"Which means it's time for our story," Nike said, "since we ran into all three of you a little while later."

Poplock saw both Tobimar and Kyri take some havaja, a herb and fruit brew that helped maintain alertness, as Nike and Toshi related their own adventures – with the same vagueness on key issues. Even so, Poplock could pick out the same basic threads and implications of the narrative. The two had arrived in a forest filled with dangerous demonic things and barely managed to escape to a city under siege – the city named Nya-Sharee-Hilya, Surviving the Storm of Ages, capital of Artania, home of the Artan. Lythos listened to their story even more intently than he had the previous one – a story with similar complexity, subterfuge, espionage, and danger, culminating with a battle against the forces of the Demonlord Balgoltha – a battle that ended with yet more vague generalities.

"Then, sifting through what was left of the besieging forces' materials, we came across a reference to Evanwyl that seemed promising," Toshi said.

Nike raised an eyebrow. "Boy, you make that sound easy. Took both of us to piece together that –"

Toshi held up his hand, and Nike paused; Toshi continued for her. "Anyway, we decided to go. Queen Mithras felt she owed us, um… pretty much anything we wanted," for a moment he looked embarrassed, "so we got passage on the fastest ship she had and they sailed us up the Nightsky River as close to Evanwyl as possible."

"And ran into our friends a little before actually reaching the city," Nike finished. "Xavier?"

"Heh," Xavier said, dropping a bone into a plate already stacked with them. "Mine wasn't nearly as combat heavy. Kinda funny, since only me and Gabe really started out as fighter types." He leaned back and took a drink. "Anyway, I set out to get to Mount Scimitar, like you guys already knew. Unlike my friends here, I don't have some super-fast trick for travelling, so that was a long haul. Had to dodge around what looked like a big force headed for the Broken Hills, then hiked pretty much straight East for a long time. Spent a lot of my time invisible, figured that'd make me harder to track and keep me out of trouble. Still, there were times…"

Xavier had continued through most of the Empire of the Mountain, occasionally running into people who needed the kind of help he could provide, and getting better directions from them in turn. Eventually he'd gotten close to the legendary Mountain.

"Man, that's a different place. Scimitar's Path, that is – the capital of the Empire? It's sorta like I figured Vatican City must be like, everyone all religious and faithful and like that, except that the god they're worshipping isn't somewhere beyond the sky, he's right there at the top of the mountain." Poplock didn't exactly get the "Vatican City" reference, but he remembered well enough that on Xavier's world the gods didn't ever seem to act, at least not the way they did here.

Xavier went on, "And it's kinda creepy; he's got all kinds working for him, including undead, some demons, other pretty shady types, but they don't cause trouble in the city.

"I figured I could just head on up the mountain by myself, but the only decent path up had a big temple straight across it. I could sneak around, but… well, anyway, I started asking around, and it turned out that anyone could try climbing the mountain, but no one actually knew anyone who'd gone above a certain point, basically where there was a little shrine, and come back alive. There were a few stories – but always the 'a friend of a friend' kind, where you can't actually find the friend of a friend who reached the top. Turned out that I couldn't even get a good idea of what this Idinus guy really looked like."

Xavier had finally set out on his climb, and found that even with his unique powers it was hard to progress. It took him a couple of months, he said, and there was a trick to it that took him most of that to figure out. "And I felt kinda stupid when I did, but anyhow, I got to the top finally."

Tobimar stared at him, then shook his head in disbelief. "Really? You got to the peak of Mount Scimitar? And… was he there?"

"Idinus?" For a moment, Xavier's usual breezy, casual manner vanished; he was deadly serious, his eyes seeing something beyond the room they sat in. "Oh yeah, he was there. Scariest son of a … gun I ever met, except maybe my sensei if he got mad. Never raised his voice, barely moved most of the time, but he didn't have to. But… he told me what I needed to know."

"The location of the Great Seal?"

"Yeah." He glanced at the others; Toshi gave a nod. "It's in the center of the Black City; probably in Kerlamion's throne room itself."

"Great Balance," whispered Kyri. "You mean that you…"

"… have to find this Black City, get into it, find the throne room, and then somehow break this seal, yeah," Xavier confirmed. "And the longer we wait, the stronger those guys are getting, the more their grip on this world tightens, at least as I understand it."

For a moment even Poplock couldn't speak. These five people – five children, really, not even as old as Kyri and Tobimar – were supposed to invade the fortress of the King of All Hells, enter his castle, and then undo his greatest work, a work that had endured for half a million years. What in the name of Blackwart is Khoros thinking? I mean, these kids obviously have got something or they wouldn't have survived what they did, but that's… way, way out there.

Finally he bounced, shrugging off the mood. "Well," said Poplock, "We know that the Empire and the Dragon have armies there, so Kerlamion's invasion isn't proceeding without a hitch. He's not going to just brush the Sauran King and the Archmage aside, no matter what he's set up. Plus if I don't miss my guess, what you guys did has seriously messed up his plans; I'll bet he was planning on having both Skysand and Artania totally dealt with, so he could be calling in the forces he had there to help him with the main battle – and from what you said, he's not even getting most of 'em back even in retreat. Still…"

"We understand why you do not wish to wait for long," Tobimar said. "But now that you know that the architect of these events is here in Evanwyl… what we need to know is can you stay at least a little while to help us?"

Toshi looked at his friends. "For a little while. What we need is to figure out a route to the Black City, preferably one as quick as possible. We could go to the city of Hell's Edge, but that is a long, long way from here, and we have good reason to suspect that using any of our… quick methods of travel would get us noticed immediately, especially as we get closer to our goal, now that the City is actually manifest here. Also, taking the expected route will mean a route that is under constant observation. If we can determine a better route, it will be worth some time."

"Besides," Nike said, "Your group's also been guided by Khoros. We've got a mission in common along the way, I think."

A wrinkle appeared on Toshi's forehead, then cleared. "So desu," he said. "In both our stories, one thing stands out: nothing like our meetings is left to chance. Khoros has mapped out every encounter both of our groups has had. The fact that Kyri did not meet Tobimar and Poplock in Zarathanton, but rather only in desperate need at the end of their journey; the way in which Tobimar and Poplock first met; the exact ways in which each of us was … brought in by Khoros, the encounter between Xavier and Tobimar that brought him here twice before – Khoros obviously planned that.

"Given that, it's completely ridiculous for us to think he didn't plan this encounter, and the only reason I can think of for that is that he wants us to help you, and maybe something else, something we haven't thought of. Maybe you even have a way for us to shortcut getting to the Black City."

Poplock blinked at that. You know… maybe we do. Not one I'd recommend to anyone else, but… I'll talk about it with Kyri and Tobimar later.

"So…" Toshi went on, "… unless there's an objection, yes, we will stay for a while."

"What do you have in mind that we can help with?" Gabriel asked immediately.

Poplock gave his widest grin. "Be our backup when we pay a social call … on the Watchland."

 

 

 

Phoenix Ascendant: Chapter 15

Finally, after hearing about them since Phoenix Rising, we get to meet Xavier's four companions!

 

------

 

 

Chapter 15.

     Kyri gave a full, formal Armed Bow to the five young people – all of them definitely younger than she was, Xavier's age, sixteen or seventeen at the most. "Welcome to my estate, all of you." She was dressed in the Raiment; not only was this an official council of war, with hopefully new allies, but also if somehow their enemy realized what was going on, she wasn't going to be caught off-guard.

Her companions clearly felt the same way; Tobimar had cleaned up and probably had Poplock help, but he was in traveling gear, Poplock was on his shoulder, and Rion had simply added one of his old traveling cloaks to his armor. Lythos stood to one side, watching, his sword-hilts visible on the left and right.

The newcomers bowed back, emulating the bowing pirouette, but aside from Xavier none of them appeared to be armed; fortunately, she wasn't a Sauran, so she wasn't going to take offense. But how in the world could they have traveled so far and seen what must have been a great deal without weapons or, as far as I can see, armor of any significance?

Xavier stepped forward. "Thanks, Kyri. Let me introduce my friends here."

Seeing the five close-up, she was once more struck by their impossible beauty. In their own way both the girl with white-blond hair and the taller one with locks of forest green rivaled Miri and Lady Shae in appearance, and that was without the shining rightness of Kaizatenzei to help the perception along. Similarly, the other two boys – one with hair as straight and black as Xavier's but with brilliant blue-green eyes that seemed to take in everything about him at a glance, the other tall as Rion with golden-blonde hair and exotic violet eyes – were almost otherworldly in their beauty. I had gotten somewhat used to Xavier's appearance, but seeing all of them together is still strange.

Apparently oblivious to her musings, Xavier proceeded with the introductions. "This is Nike Engelshand," he said, gesturing towards the silver-blonde girl whose crystal-blue eyes were set off by the unusual golden-pale skin, tanned yet far lighter in shade than almost anyone Kyri had met except Miri. "The emerald-haired girl's Aurora Vanderdecken, this guy who stole my hair is Toshi Hashima, and the too-tall fashion plate there is Gabriel Dante. Guys, this is Kyri Vantage, Rion Vantage, and my real good friends Tobimar Silverun and Poplock Duckweed."

"Xavier's told us a lot about you," Gabriel said, and his violet eyes twinkled at her in a way that reminded her, with a pang, of Condor – Aran – before everything changed. "I must say his words failed to do you justice, Lady Kyri, although that is perhaps not so much his fault as that of words themselves."

Kyri noticed Aurora give him a gentle jab in the ribs with an elbow; Gabriel grinned and slipped an arm around her waist. Together, then. "I see you have someone capable of flattery, if not diplomacy, in your group. But please, all of you, come in. We've laid the table for all of us to sit and eat and talk."

"Eating and talking sound like a good idea to me," Nike said.

"But there is one other issue first," Gabriel said, and his gaze was on Rion. "Xavier, I see what you mean."

"And?"

Gabriel turned to Kyri. "You are aware that he is not human; are you aware that he is demonic, and something else – undead, I believe – as well?"

"Well mudbubbles!" Poplock said in chagrin. "You know, it took days for me and Hiriista to analyze all that, and you and Xavier can just look at him and see it? How?"

"Let's leave 'how' for later," Gabriel said. "We have very good reason to be suspicious of such creatures. Demons do not just hunt your group, they are hunting ours as well, and the unliving even more so. What of this… being you are calling your brother?"

Kyri started forward even before she knew she was doing it, but both Rion and Tobimar caught her arms. "Kyri, calm down. Let me answer them."

She couldn't keep from glaring at Gabriel Dante, but forced herself to control the anger at his words. "All right." I am overreacting. I knew people would be wary of Rion's nature, to say the least. Why am I so… touchy over what I already expected?

Tobimar faced Gabriel. "Your suspicions are perfectly reasonable – and echo our own when we first discovered Rion." He quickly summarized the situation. "Do we know that this is really Rion? No. He could still be a spy or worse, but if so he knows Rion's past and personality to an incredible degree – enough so that Kyri has no doubt that it is him. Either way… we had no choice but to bring him with us. And with that, we've had to trust him in our counsels or we might not have gotten out alive. If he's what we believe, then Rion lives again, and we will be using one of our enemy's creations against him. If he's not… well, at least he's not out of sight."

Nike nodded, smiling wryly. "I see. 'Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer'."

Gabriel bowed. "A perfectly reasonable position. I apologize, Rion; I meant no offense."

"None taken," Rion answered with the smile she remembered so well; she felt herself relaxing as she saw that Rion wasn't bothered by the situation. "It was the right question to ask. But now, I think we should take our seats."

"I'm starved," Xavier said, heading for one of the chairs nearest the largest roast.

Toshi spoke only after everyone had been seated and served. "Xavier has, as Gabriel mentioned, told us a fair amount about you. I think it's only fair we tell you something of us."

"You're right," Aurora said suddenly, "but first – Tobimar, you're from the country called Skysand, right?"

She saw Tobimar quirk an eyebrow. "I am – technically in exile, though don't take that negatively." He flashed a brilliant smile. "And that will end soon enough, if I can only get home."

"I just had to be sure. We just came from Skysand, and –"

Instantly Tobimar was up, leaning eagerly – and fearfully – across the table. "From my home? What has happened? Even the Sauran King could not get word – is my mother all right? The city? How –"

"Whoa, slow down!" Xavier waved a hand. "Dude, get a grip. She was going to tell you and now you're like all freaky."

She watched Tobimar take a deep breath and then looked at Xavier. "I can't blame him," she said, realizing how Tobimar's reaction echoed hers about Rion. We're both tense. "I'd feel the same way if I hadn't been to Evanwyl in a few years."

"Can we do this in some sort of order?" Toshi said, looking slightly put out.

Nike's laugh was a light glissando, a sparkling sound in keeping with her looks. "Oh, Toshi, you know how crazy everything gets. But you're right, we should do things in order or it'll all get confused."

Tobimar seated himself slowly, and Toshi looked around the table before speaking again. "All right. First… what has Xavier told you about us?"

"Not too much," Poplock said. "He said that he actually hadn't known you guys all that long to begin with, but that you were all from Zahralandar – what you call Earth – and that Khoros had brought you all together and dumped you here."

"And that Khoros somehow expected you to find a way to break the Great Seal itself, or you'd never go home," Tobimar continued; at that statement she saw Lythos give a noticeable start. "We were at the Dragon's Palace when everything went to the Hells, so we ended up seeing something of your conversations in the cells – though," he paused and nodded to Toshi, "you should know that Willowwind Forestfist was exceedingly impressed by the way you made it almost impossible to drag meaning out of those recordings."

"Almost?" Toshi looked crestfallen. "I'd hoped I had made it actually impossible."

"Take it as a compliment," Poplock advised. "Willowwind is one of the best there is, and you managed to really mess up most of his reconstruction work. Don't get all hung up on it not being perfect."

He shifted on Tobimar's shoulder. "So, anyway, you got caught, broke out of prison, and scattered, leaving Xavier to watch everything and decide if he could talk to anyone. I think that's pretty much it. Oh, yeah. You're elementals of some kind – Willowwind figured that out – and we know Toshi's gotta be Air, and Xavier's obviously Spirit." The little Toad squinted. "Somehow Aurora just screams 'Earth', to me, which makes Gabe and Nike the last two. I'm gonna make a guess and say that just because she looks cool as frost that she's probably actually Fire, and Gabe's Water."

Toshi raised an eyebrow and looked over at Xavier, who was wearing a vindicated grin. "That Toad is good," Toshi said finally.

"You have no idea," Kyri said. "But I think that is pretty much we know about you. Do we need to know more?"

"Need, I don't know. But there is a lot more to know. You are aware, I presume, that all of the simultaneous assaults around the world were part of a larger war launched by Kerlamion?"

"Yes. We also know who planned it – and that he's here in Evanwyl."

"The man behind the man," Xavier breathed, leaning forward. "You know who was pulling Thornfalcon's strings."

"We do." She saw that Lythos was also standing straighter; they had not yet told him, since they planned on explaining everything all at once. "His real name – at least, the name that anyone will speak – is Viedraverion. He is rumored to be the first son of Kerlamion himself. And…" She hesistated, finding that saying the last part was surprisingly hard – painful, in truth.

Lythos stepped from his position near the door. "And…?"

"And he is known to us as Jeridan Velion."

"Oh, crap," Xavier muttered. "The big boss of this whole country? The Watchland? He seemed like a pretty cool guy while I was here."

Lythos had simply closed his eyes as though in sudden pain; when his eyes opened, they had clear understanding. "Of course. It answers many mysteries. But you do not look as I might expect you to look, having finally found the architect of this evil."

"Because I am also sure that there is a real Jeridan Velion, Lythos. That many of his words and deeds are as honest and true as those of any in this room."

Toshi's head tilted. "Possession? A duplicate?"

"Something possibly more complicated than that," Tobimar said. "Look at Rion for one possibility. I think we will need to tell each other our stories, since at least the time that Xavier left us, and ours might be the more urgent here. But, please," he looked intensely at Aurora, "tell me at least – my mother, my brothers and sisters – are they all right?"

Aurora looked at Gabriel for a moment, then shifted in her seat. "Your mother Talima is well. Most of your brothers and sisters are also. But… Terimur and Sundrilin fell defending Skysand. Sundrilin… defending me." She looked down. "I'm sorry. It was my fault."

Kyri's heart felt pierced through as she saw the stricken look on Tobimar's face. Then as his expression relaxed, with an effort only she could sense, she thought the pain was worse from her love for him in what he said next.

"Aurora…" A hesitant glance up. "Did Sundrilin know what she was doing? Did she choose to do what she did?"

"I…" Aurora's swallow was audible across the table. "Yes. Yes, she knew what she was doing, and why."

"And did she achieve what she hoped?"

For an instant, Aurora's face was transformed, to one of anger and certainty. "Yes. Oh, yes, she did."

"Then do not apologize." The hint of tears in Tobimar's voice could have torn Kyri apart, but there was only gentleness in his voice. "We are Silverun. We are the defenders of our people, of our lands. We know our duty and the peril of our lives, and the most any can ask of their deaths is that they gave their lives well. And it sounds to me as though Sundrilin died well."

"As did Terimur," Gabriel said. "Both of them died very, very well, and gave us the time we needed."

"That I needed," Aurora said quietly. "Gabe, I know you'd like to take part of that responsibility, but it was my fault." She looked up, eyes shimmering with tears, but she smiled. "But… thank you, Tobimar."

"You are welcome." Tobimar sat down slowly, and his head bowed; Kyri saw Poplock pat his friend's head gently.

"More of that story in its place," Lythos said. "Kyri, I believe you were going to tell us all of what has passed since last we saw you."

She took a deep breath. "Yes. Well, first we traveled back to the Spiritsmith…"

The tale was long and involved – longer, now that she had started, than she had realized. As time passed and dishes were cleared and refilled, Tobimar roused himself from his private grief and began to help, giving his keen observations, with Poplock adding key insights along the way. Even though the five visitors – for the most part – listened quietly, it was still a long time before she was finished.

In a way, she was reminded of the night they had first met Tobimar, and each had told their stories to the others. It is similar. We are on the same quest, in a way, and guided by Khoros' phantom hand, and I think now is one of the most crucial moments of all our lives.

Finally she reached the climax, the duel against alchemy and madness culminating in a battle of gods and magicians, and then the recovery and rebuilding where it was possible. "… and then we made it back through Rivendream and, well, here we are."

For a few moments, the room was silent as it had not been for over two hours. Nike broke the quiet with a sudden laugh. "Well, I thought we had had something of an adventure, but I'm not sure it compares. Mad scientists and dragon-gods!"

"It compares," Toshi said calmly. "I think we are of rather equal footing overall – which is frightening in its implications." He looked at the others. "Our own stories might take even longer to tell. There are aspects that I think would be best kept to ourselves, as well. Meaning no offense," he looked at Rion, "but if there is even a chance that one of the people here could be – willingly or not – a spy, there are details we shouldn't discuss. I am presuming Rion was already familiar with your own story, so it was not an issue there."

Kyri wanted to protest, but… Toshi was right. There weren't that many secrets she had to hide from Rion, but these five… "Understood. But there is one question I want to ask Xavier first."

"Sure," said Xavier.

"When you saw Rion, you called him by another name. Who –"

"Michael," Xavier said quietly. "And jeez, I still see Mike over there if I don't look carefully."

"Hold a moment," Kyri said, suddenly dizzied. "Xavier… Michael, of course, I'd forgotten… that was the name of your brother? The one you were planning to avenge?"

"Yeah." Xavier cast another incredulous glance at Rion. "Here, lemme show you."

He dug through his pack for a moment, then held out a leather wallet which he flipped open to show a small picture. "There, that's Mike."

"Great Balance," she murmured.

Michael Ross did indeed look very, very much like Rion Vantage. The hair and eyes were identical; the faces shaped much the same, the smile was very like Rion's; even the build of the two men was very similar. She could see some small differences – the darker shade of Rion's skin, the slightly narrower cheekbones of Michael – but the effect was startlingly similar; the two could have been brothers, almost twins.

"Terian's Light, no wonder you thought it was him come back from the dead," muttered Tobimar.

"Lady Vantage –"

"Oh, Kyri, please," she said, glancing over to see that it was Toshi addressing her.

"Kyri. Just so I understand – you had an older brother who died, and for whom you swore vengeance against his killers, yes?

"Yes."

He glanced to Xavier. "And you are one of three children."

"Yes."

"And you and Xavier share eyes of a rather unique shade of grey." Toshi considered. "Your brothers are startlingly similar in appearance as well as circumstance. There seem many peculiar parallels here."

"Want another?" Poplock said. "Xavier's middle name is Uriel, right?" A nod. "Well, Kyri's little sister's name is Urelle."

"Fascinating." He looked over to Nike; the silver-blonde haired girl nodded.

"Does it mean anything?" Aurora asked.

"I think it means Khoros," said Nike bluntly. "We know he manipulated our lives – our families' lives – for as far back as we can count. And we know he can travel between the worlds. So it makes sense he's doing the same thing here."

"Still, one has to wonder what the purpose is."

"I don't think it matters at this point. Perhaps one day we shall have the chance to ask him," Gabriel said reasonably.

Nike shrugged. "Perhaps. Now, we have to tell you our stories… maybe with a little less detail and a little faster."

"I'll trust you to tell ours," Toshi said.

The white-blonde girl raised an eyebrow. "You do?"

The blush was just visible under Toshi's skin. "I have learned a few things."

"We'll both tell ours," Gabriel said. "Different experiences and perspectives. But Toshi will probably hush us at points."

"And then I'll tell mine," Xavier said, "since I was the only one there."

Kyri glanced at the clock. "We lack only a few minutes of midnight. Does everyone still wish to go on? You could rest here –"

"Not unless you're too tired to listen," Toshi said. "We are in a hurry – not a desperate one, but a hurry nonetheless – and finishing this will help you understand that, just as we now understand what you might need of us."

"All right," Tobimar said. "But I need a few minutes to visit, er –"

"Yeah, we all need a bathroom break, I think," said Xavier bluntly. "So, what, let's all take a break, let Vanstell and the others clean up our mess, and meet up back here in fifteen?"

"Agreed," Kyri said, smiling at Xavier's straightforward handling of the situation. "In fifteen minutes, then, you'll tell us your stories."

 

Phoenix Ascendant: Chapter 14

Poplock had made a welcome discovery in the last chapter...

 

 

-------

 

 

Chapter 14.

     Once more, Tobimar found himself hiding in shadows, watching an inn. A misty, warm drizzle of rain wet his hair and dripped from the eaves above. Poplock was on his shoulder as they stared at the Balanced Meal from the darkness of a narrow alley between a clothier and a farrier's stables across from the main inn of Evanwyl proper. "This is going to be difficult," he murmured.

"Why in Blackwart's name aren't they at the Vantage estate?" Poplock complained. "I'm sure Vanstell would vouch for Xavier, right? And it'd be so much easier that way."

The problem was that they still didn't want Evanwyl at large to know they were back. No telling what their enemy might be watching for or planning as a sort of welcome-home present. They could have gotten to and into the Vantage estate without anyone noticing easily enough – even Tobimar and Poplock had been there long enough to know the less-obvious ways inside – but walking into the Balanced Meal would be practically hiring a crier to announce their return.

"Because he's too polite to do that," Kyri said quietly from next to Tobimar; Rion was all the way at the other end of the alley, watching in case someone seemed likely to intrude. "He wasn't entirely comfortable staying at the estate even when it was just him; I'm sure he'd feel that he was imposing far too much if he showed up and asked Vanstell to put up not just him, but four other friends of his as well."

That fit with Tobimar's memory; Xavier was, from his point of view, a bizarre mixture of the formal, casual, and utterly alien who was nonetheless one of the best friends the Skysand prince had ever had. "We'll have to do something soon, though." Tension made him feel as though he were being watched, and he glanced around, then looked back at the inn. "We know they're in there, but not how long they're staying, or if they're watching the area… or if someone else is spying on them. Probably is. We were lucky to get this close without being seen, but who knows –"

"—what evil lurks in the hearts of men?" asked a voice that was, impossibly, behind him.

Even as he spun, swords unsheathing in a single motion, a part of him recognized the voice, and by the time his blades were parried in mirror-perfection, he was grinning from ear to ear, feeling a startling joy surging through him. "XAVIER!"

The gray-eyed, black-haired boy grinned back, his swords crossed before him in the exact same pose as Tobimar's. "You really have to stop saying 'hello' with your swords, dude. Someone could get the wrong idea."

"Xavier!" Kyri said it quietly, but still stepped forward, caught up their friend, and hugged him so emphatically that he gave a little oof! sound. "I'm so happy to see you!"

"Same here," Poplock said, bouncing onto Xavier's head and looking down. "What was that stupid line you just said?"

"Oh, it's a quote from some old show and comic my mom and dad had around. I'll tell you later, it's kinda cool. Anyway, who's the guy down there?"

Kyri gestured to Rion, who was looking in their direction, but still at his post. "Come on down, Rion."

"How in the name of the Balance did someone get past me?" Rion hissed as he approached.

"We'll show you later," Tobimar said with a grin, sheathing his swords. "Rion, this is Xavier. Xavier –"

But as Rion's face came into the dim light of the street, Tobimar saw Xavier's face go gray beneath its olive complexion. "M… Michael?"

As they stared at him in confusion and consternation, Xavier's face slowly started to regain normal color. "No… no, you're not Michael. But Jesus you look like him. I mean, you really look like him. Even sound like him, I think. Holy crap. I'm kinda freaked out here. Who is this again?"

"This is Rion, my older brother," Kyri said. "Rion, this is Xavier Ross – who helped us clean up Thornfalcon's final revenge, and helped Tobimar get to Evanwyl in the first place."

"Pleased to meet you, Xavier. Balance and Justice be with you."

"And you," Xavier said, shaking his hand. He squinted at Rion narrowly, and without warning there was something else in his gaze. His voice didn't sound different, but Tobimar was suddenly sure he was looking as something that the rest of them could not see. "Wait a minute. Rion. Your brother. Your dead brother?"

"Yes. In a way, anyway. It's a long story and not suited for an alleyway. Is there any way for you to get your friends to come meet us at the Estate?"

Xavier hesitated; he glanced to Tobimar, and in that wide gray gaze Tobimar saw both a question and worry that surprised him. "Is something wrong, Xavier?"

The native of Earth looked back up at Rion, then at Kyri. "Do you know that he's… not normal? Not like ordinary human?"

Kyri was startled. "How can you… Oh. That sense of yours."

"Yeah. I wasn't really looking at him before, but now that I do… there's something wrong there."

Poplock bounced back to Tobimar's shoulder. "We know there's something weird about him, yeah. Like she said, long story. But do we want to go through that now?"

Xavier studied Rion a moment longer, then gave a shrug. "I guess we can wait if you're cool with it. As for the Estate, yeah. We've been… well, arguing a lot, and letting them know you're back will end a lot of the argument."

Tobimar saw the embarrassed-yet-defiant expression and leapt to a heartwarming conclusion. "You've been keeping them here. Waiting for us."

Xavier looked down, and his cheeks were a shade darker. "Yeah. We've got important stuff to do… but I tried checking out that Rivendream Pass, and knowing you guys went there, well… I didn't want to go without knowing what happened to you, no matter what else was going on."

Kyri beamed at him. "Thank you, Xavier. So yes, can you get them to meet us there… perhaps in two hours, if you're all willing to stay up a bit later?"

"Ehh, sure, most of us don't go to bed all that early anyway. And they'll really want to meet you." He glanced speculatively at Rion again, then nodded to Tobimar. "Okay, see you in a couple hours at Kyri's place."

With that, he closed his eyes and vanished. Rion gave a startled curse. "Invisible… no, more than that. I can't sense him at all."

"Nope. As far as I know, no one but me's ever been able to sense him," Tobimar said, now leading the way cautiously back up the alley, and trying to figure out the quickest way to get to the Vantage estate without being seen.

"And why you?" Rion asked, eyebrow raised.

"Because both of us were trained in the same discipline, called Tor."

Rion stopped in his tracks for a moment, then resumed walking; but Tobimar thought that his face had looked shocked for a moment. "Tor? The name's very vaguely familiar," Rion said, in a voice that sounded faintly brittle, tense. "Is that what gives him the ability to do that trick?"

"Yes," Tobimar said, trying to figure out what those reactions – if they were real reactions, and not just a figment of Tobimar's imagination – meant. "He learned it in a different way than I did, from a different teacher, so each of us knows different parts of the art."

Rion seemed to be walking normally now, and his next words sounded perfectly at ease, so Tobimar wondered if he had actually seen and heard what he thought. "Well, whatever that art is, I'm very impressed. I would have sworn no one could pass me unawares, not a magician, not a spirit, nothing. Yet he apparently did."

"Or he just stepped through one of the walls without even going past you," Poplock said. "He can do that kind of thing."

Rion looked even more impressed.

Between the four of them, it took about three-quarters of an hour to work their way to Vantage Fortress. There was no one in sight of the front gate, but they weren't planning on taking chances, so they went to a rear entrance concealed in an area of brush; walking through the short tunnel, they emerged into a small courtyard that Tobimar remembered fondly from hours spent practicing and sparring.

A door opened at the far end of the courtyard, a tall, slender figure visible holding an unsheathed blade. "Who enters Vantage Fortress unannounced? Speak, or you shall pay a short and bitter price for trespass."

"Lythos!" Kyri said, her joy clear in face and voice.

The gleaming blade vanished, and the Artan master of arms, or Sho-Ka-Taida, ran lightly across the courtyard to stop and bow before her. "Lady Kyri," he said. "I had hoped for your return, but not looked for you to enter your own home as a thief in the night."

"We have reason for caution, Lythos, as we'll tell you shortly," Tobimar said.

"I will expect to hear every detail, Lord Silverun," Lythos said calmly. "Now, I—"

The Artan stepped back, his blade materializing in his hand as if by magic; only the tension of his voice and a slight widening of the eyes showed how shocked and startled he was. "… You cannot be what you appear. Name yourself truly, or be destroyed."

"Lythos," Kyri said sharply. "This is Rion, as best we can determine."

"That is impossible," Lythos said coldly, his blade a literal hair's breadth from Rion's throat; Rion stood frozen, his eyes wide and staring at his former teacher. "I saw his body, I prepared it for its final rest myself, I helped the Arbiter perform the final rites. Rion Vantage died and passed from this world. I say a second time, name yourself truly!"

"Stop it, Lythos," Tobimar said emphatically. "We know there's something wrong here. We know there are questions we haven't answered. But –"

"Tobimar, you will stand silent, guest though you are. I am Sho-Ka-Taida, and I am also the guardian of House Vantage, and now thrice I say to this one: name yourself truly!"

Rion swallowed, and then said, slowly, "Rion. Rion Vantage, Lythos. It is me. I don't know how, I don't know why, but it is me."

For a long, long moment Lythos gazed straight into Rion's eyes, and Tobimar was tense, hands gripping the hilts of his swords. He knew that Kyri would act to defend Rion if Lythos chose to act, and that the tableau could abruptly dissolve into incredible violence. Despite Kyri's earlier words in Rivendream Pass, he was not at all sure of the outcome of a duel between Kyri, himself, and Sho-Ka-Taida Lythos.

But the Artan's blade was sheathed again, and Lythos bowed. "There are mysteries behind your eyes, Rion, and I think there are some not yet spoken. At the same time, I see you, and ask that you forgive my caution."

Rion laughed. "There is nothing to forgive, Lythos; you were protecting my sister and our home."

"Well enough, then. Welcome home, all of you – including you, oh mighty Toad."

"Thanks!" Poplock bounced onto Tobimar's head and bowed. "Now, we'd better get ready."

"Ready?" Lythos looked at them questioningly. "For what?"

"For a council of war," Kyri said. "Our friend Xavier and his four companions will be here shortly, and we all have much to tell one another. And then I will have to speak of our true enemy." Her face was once more the cold vision of Vengeance. "And you will not be pleased to hear that truth, Lythos."

Lythos studied them an instant, then bowed again. "Then I shall tell Vanstell to prepare. Your room, Rion, has been maintained since your … death, at the wish of your sister and aunt; as they accept you as Rion, so shall I, and thus you know where you may go to refresh yourself. I shall await you all in the grand dining room."

He bowed and left, and the four of them left by one of the other courtyard doors. Tobimar felt tension rising in him.

The final preparations were about to begin.

 

 

 

Phoenix Ascendant: Chapter 13

At long last, Kyri and Tobimar have come back to Evanwyl...

 

 

-----

 

 

Chapter 13.

     "Gharis again," murmured Tobimar.

"Appropriate. It was the easiest of the outlying towns for us to get to from Rivendream," Poplock said. He was feeling perhaps unreasonably cheerful and optimistic; getting out of the vile, sanity-eroding nastiness of Rivendream had that effect. Maybe Evanwyl wasn't the sparkling perfection of Kaizatenzei, but compared to Rivendream Pass, well, close enough. "How do you want to do the reconnaissance?"

Tobimar frowned. "People there might recognize me, so I can't go too far in."

"Neither of us can even get close," Rion said reluctantly. "We are… were, in my case… known throughout Evanwyl, and there's no one that would mistake us for anyone else unless we try disguises."

Kyri shook her head. "And against the forces we're worried about, I don't know if disguises would help. You're not really much better off, Tobimar, except that you're not so tall that you'll stand out."

"That's why I'm going to only go in close enough to be able to hear if things go too badly wrong. It's really going to be up to Poplock."

"Yep," agreed the little Toad, checking his pack and making sure it was well settled and its subtle camouflage was working. "As far as I know, no one except maybe the Watchland himself ever twigged to the fact that I was something more than a pet. And I'm small enough that people often don't even notice me."

"True," Kyri said. "All right; Rion and I will stay back here and wait for you two. Do not take any chances you can avoid, Poplock. I don't want an alarm or a fight if we can evade it."

"Hey, I don't stab people who don't deserve it. Trust me." He gave her a pop-eyed smile so she knew he wasn't really annoyed; she returned the smile and bowed, then kissed Tobimar quickly.

It wasn't a rainy night, as it had been the first time they approached the little town. Poplock pointed out a dark street that led to a tiny copse, a sort of park, not even a stone's throw from the Southern View, the main inn and gathering spot in Gharis. Tobimar nodded. "Okay, I'll wait there. Good luck."

"See you in a bit."

Poplock dropped from the Skysand prince's shoulder and scuttled through the grass. He could make better time bouncing along the main road, but that would make him more visible. Toads didn't stay on streets often, not when they had a choice.

A few minutes took him to the wall of the Southern View. Constructed of large logs carefully fitted and laid in an interlocking pattern, the inn also had verminseal wards on it, with some security webbing in place as well, as he could see by looking at it through one of his special lenses. But it hadn't changed since the time they'd come here searching for Thornfalcon, as far as he could tell.

He squinted up. Sure enough, there were a couple of vents under the eaves. That allowed air circulation through the building, which could get stuffy otherwise. He climbed swiftly up to the roof using the log ends, which were also the anchors for the security and verminseal wards; this meant their outer edges weren't inside the wards, but normally that wouldn't matter much; the only vermin that attacked big wood blocks were kept out by the preservative paint.

Fortunately, the fact that they were relying on the cheaper security webbing meant that there were significant gaps in the coverage – significant to a toad who was less than four inches across. The webbing had a six-inch spacing, which made it almost easy to get through and enter the vent.

Remembering the mazakh ducts, Poplock looked carefully inside, but this wasn't even really a duct, just an opening to permit good air circulation through the building; he just had to remove and replace the grating that kept debris like dust and leaves from entering.

The attic was filled with various dry goods – beans, gravelseed flour, smoked meats hanging from the ceiling, and such. It didn't take long for Poplock to figure out how to ease his way into the gaps at the side of the floor and drop down, first to the second floor and then to the first. They build everything so open in Evanwyl. Almost unfairly easy.

He reminded himself that he was just about to hit the hard part of this job. He was now hanging upside down, looking into a pantry with a half-open door through which came the sounds of cooking, someone moving about, stirring something, rattling of pans. "More tineroots, and where's the roast for Gillie?"

"Coming!"

Poplock poked his head back up, found that – as he had hoped – the ceiling down here was a thin layer of boards concealing the supporting beams and braces. It was only about six inches high, but that was more than enough space for him. He scuttled along, following the sounds of movement and the structural components until he figured he was over the common room where most people would gather. Hopefully I'll get some idea of what's going on around here.

For the first time he had a problem. Listening was all well and good, but seeing people was really important. Words could say one thing while expressions, gestures, and body posture said another, something that old Hiriista had proven when he figured out that Poplock wasn't an ordinary toad.

The problem was that the ceiling boards were really well fitted. There was barely a hint of light seeping through them. That left only a few choices. He could try to lever one of the boards so that there was a gap he could look through; he could bore a hole through the wood and peek through, either by eye or using a small mirror; or he could take a chance at being spotted and just go to the edge of the ceiling and peek down from between the gap between the ceiling and wall.

After turning the possibilities over in his mind, he opted for the last. Levering boards you hadn't fitted yourself could break them or cause obvious sounds or movement. Boring a hole could easily end up with splinters or shavings dropping down where someone could see them.

He scuttled quietly over to one side, which he thought would give him the best view, and then very slowly and cautiously lowered himself until he could just make out the room below.

The initial glance was encouraging; there seemed to be about as many people in the little inn as he remembered from their first visit, which meant that business was reasonably good. People's expressions also covered the gamut but were tending towards good cheer, something he would definitely not expect had, say, a demonlord announced its overlordship of the country and begun crushing the citizenry.

A young man and young woman – both black-haired and dark-skinned, like the majority of people in Evanwyl – were waiting tables and taking orders, directed partly by an older woman with graying hair who was also going in and out of the kitchen. I remember her… Gam, I think it was?

The man who had been here on that visit, of course, was gone; Vlay had been a collaborator with Thornfalcon, one of the few who knew of the Justiciar's very unheroic tastes and assisted him in the procurement and disposal of people when necessary. Gam must not have known, if she's still here.

Poplock settled himself down and listened. Tobimar knows I'll be here a while. You couldn't gather good intelligence if you weren't patient. Momentarily, Poplock wondered about Kyri and Rion, but shrugged. Rion had had plenty of opportunities to betray them before. If he was really in league with their enemy, his best bet was probably to just go along with them and then backstab the party when they were already in battle with Viedraverion. If he wasn't, well, the two had plenty to talk about; sometimes even in Rivendream Pass they'd ended up discussing their younger days to the point that Kyri almost seemed to have forgotten Tobimar was there.

"Hey, Pingall, how goes it? Have a few days next week?"

"Ah, so it's the harvest you're ready for? Sure, I have a day or three. Good weather we've been having."

"Not like three years ago. Remember that drought? Like to lost the whole crop."

"Oh, yeh, that was bad. Now, not as bad as the one in 2112, though…"

Poplock moved around from point to point along the edge of the rafter space. Most of the discussions were like that – talk of crops for farmers, shipments and manufacturing points for merchants and smiths, a few children out with their parents demanding treats, an apprentice mage of some sort trying to study while her larger companion kept interrupting with questions that showed that he wasn't perhaps bright enough to understand her answers.

Then he heard something that would have made his ears prick up, if that was something physically possible for a Toad. "… war's not going well, I hear."

"Oh, have you heard something since the last quarter-year?"

"My son works the road to the south, you know, and a runner came through – about beat, he was, too. Seems the rumors are true."

Silence; Poplock noticed the whole inn had suddenly quieted. The protests of the youngest child at the far table were being shushed.

"You mean…" the questioner's voice dropped to a penetrating whisper, "the Black City?"

"That's what he said," the first person, an older woman, answered. Her tone was that of someone both horrified, and incredibly pleased to be the one bearing important news. "Said that the City's sitting right in the center of Hell itself. Said that the Sauran King marched an army right through Hell's Edge, had them open the gates that were never opened so they could pass through."

"Great Balance, Enn. That sounds like…"

"Chaoswar, so they say," Enn continued, with that same horrified relish in her voice. "And that's not all. He says the Empire sent an army through right after. Both the Dragon and the Archmage are on the move. What does that say?"

"I don't believe it," a deep-voiced man said, though his tone was uncertain. "The Black City's the center of All Hells, not something sitting on this world."

The debate went on below. The bit about the Black City wasn't news to Poplock; he, Kyri, and Tobimar had been at the Spiritsmith's when it happened, and the Spiritsmith himself had told them what they had seen. But the idea that the massed armies of the Dragon and of Idinus of Scimitar himself had gone together to face the threat… that was news, and not really good news. Well, it was good that someone was facing the forces of Kerlamion, but Poplock had a bad feeling that once the King of All Hells had a foothold on Zarathan he wasn't going to be easy to kick back off.

The smiles were fewer and the atmosphere of the inn had changed. The discussion of a Chaoswar that might already be upon them had thrown a pall over the entire crowd. Some were already leaving.

Then Poplock caught a fragment of another conversation.

"… to believe. Haven't been any travelers through Evanwyl in months."

"Not quite true. There's that group of youngsters that showed up over to the Balanced Meal."

"Strange ones, those are. Though they say the one boy's been here before."

Been here before? Could that be…

"Oh, aye, I know the one. Looks like he could be a by-blow of old Kyril Vantage, eyes just like Miss Kyri he has."

Poplock felt his broad face trying to split into a grin.

Xavier's back!