The Crimson Vault Part 13

Behind you, Caela sent. She sounded very pleased about something.

Behind me? Simon thought. The Gate?

A chain-wrapped arm reached out from the Gate and caught the a.s.sa.s.sin's descending claw.

"They spoke to me," Kai said. He sounded on the verge of tears. "My lovely little ones. It has been far too long."

Simon all but collapsed backwards, looking up at Kai. Simon's master looked down at him, his white hair hanging down and concealing his eyes.

Kai smiled. "They spoke to me again," he told Simon.

"I'm happy for you, sir," Simon said. He wasn't sure what else to say. Denner had told him that Kai didn't have the Nye essence, so Simon couldn't see any way for his master to win against the two remaining Gar'rosh.

And yet, the sight of Kai rea.s.sured him. Kai would handle it.

The a.s.sa.s.sin in red was still scrabbling at Kai's hand, trying to break his grip. He slashed at Kai's wrist with his other claw, but for some reason he couldn't penetrate Kai's skin. That was probably one of the Valinhall powers that Simon didn't have, yet.

"Where's Azura?" Kai asked. Simon tried to get to his feet, but a stabbing pain in his calf told him that one of the lizard-men had slashed him in the leg. He didn't remember that.

Simon stayed on the floor, gesturing over to the side where Azura lay on the tiles.

Kai released the a.s.sa.s.sin's wrist, letting it stumble backward. Then he walked over and s.n.a.t.c.hed Azura up from the floor. He ran the palm of his hand carefully up the back of the blade.

"Azura," Kai sighed. "How I have missed you, my dear."

The Gar'rosh in orange ran across the room toward Simon, both of its clawed hands extended. Simon lurched backwards, pushing himself through the Gate and onto the wooden floor of Valinhall.

Look out, Kai, one of the dolls said. Simon didn't recognize her voice, but she sounded exasperated.

From the other side of the Gate, Simon watched as Azura's gleaming blade reached toward the orange Gar'rosh. The a.s.sa.s.sin twisted to block the strike with its claws, but Kai swung with enough force to toss the lizard to one side.

The Gate had stayed the same size while Simon held Azura, but now that the Dragon's Fang was in Kai's hand, the portal began to shrink. Apparently, only a full Traveler could hold a Valinhall Gate open, and only with his a.s.signed Dragon's Fang. There were so many rules that Simon still didn't know, but he was starting to figure a few out.

Kai strode into view, standing in the dead center of the room. He held Azura in one hand, angled carefully for attack.

"Pay close attention, little mouse," Kai called to Simon, in his typical singsong voice.

Simon watched through the Gate as one Gar'rosh came at Kai in a blur of red, and the other came from the other side in a blur of orange.

In response, Kai proved exactly how much Simon still had to learn.

Kai met the red lizard's attack with Azura's edge, still managing to sweep one leg to the side and trip the orange-robed Gar'rosh. Then he spun Azura back at the red-robed lizard, driving him back, keeping him on the defensive, twisting back every once in a while to nick the orange-robed Gar'rosh with Azura's edge.

Simon could barely understand what he was seeing. Though both of the Gar'rosh were far faster than Kai, the white-haired swordsman seemed to know exactly where they were going to be and what they would try to do. When they attacked, he dodged, or else met them with Azura's point. He seemed to attack one or the other a.s.sa.s.sin constantly, never allowing both lizard-men a chance to go on the offensive together. With only occasional input from the dolls, Kai remained untouched.

I have a long way to go, Simon thought.

Don't let it bother you, Simon, Caela said. You have time. Besides, at least you're not a creepy hermit.

"I heard that," Kai sang out. Azura took a slice out of red, pebbled skin.

"You are a murderer yourself," the red-robed Gar'rosh snarled. "And you stand in the way of justice!"

"An excellent argument," Kai said. "Here's my counterpoint." He spun around and stabbed the orange Gar'rosh in the throat.

Strangely thick, dark blood gurgled as it flowed from the dead a.s.sa.s.sin's throat. The red-robed Gar'rosh roared, its yellow snake eyes gleaming, and threw itself at Kai.

Calmly, Kai stepped to one side and swept Azura up, from the floor to the ceiling.

The a.s.sa.s.sin fell to the tiles in two pieces.

"Predators from Naraka," Kai said thoughtfully. "I haven't seen those in a while. Ah, the beautiful memories of childhood."

Kai started to walk to the Valinhall Gate, which had shrunk until he would have to duck to walk through it.

Not yet, Lilia said dreamily.

Kai sighed and turned around. Through the Gate, Simon couldn't see much of the room, but he could tell when the black-robed Gar'rosh*which had apparently survived a four-story fall*slipped through the window and threw itself at Kai, snarling.

Kai clubbed it on the skull with Azura's hilt, and it crumpled like a rag doll.

"Put up your toys when playtime is done," Kai sang out.

What? Simon thought.

Don't ask us, Otoku sent. We don't know either.

Kai reversed Azura, holding it point-down, and then thrust the blade down. The black-robed Gar'rosh twitched once, and then was still.

"That was amazing, sir," Simon said. "Thank you."

Kai waved that away. "No time for that," he said. "We have real work to do. What have I told you about the Incarnations?" He ducked and slipped through the Gate, letting it continue to shrink behind him.

Simon finally managed to stand on his one good leg. "Practically nothing."

Kai c.o.c.ked his head for a moment before he nodded. "Yes, that sounds like me. Have you learned anything on your own?"

In truth, he had tried, but no one seemed to be willing to talk about them. At least, not to him.

"I haven't learned much," Simon admitted. "The Grandmasters were talking about them*"

"I should hope they were," Kai interrupted. "One of the Incarnations has escaped, and we need to put it down."

"Which Territory is it from?" Simon asked.

Kai gave him a surprised look. "Why do you think we have to deal with it? It's from Valinhall. The Valinhall Incarnation has escaped, and it's on a rampage."

Internally, Simon sighed. I should have known better, he thought. I'm not going to be able to stay neutral, am I?

Otoku laughed. The reward for work well done is more work. I hope you weren't counting on a holiday.

CHAPTER EIGHT:.

ICE AND MOONLIGHT.

Leah knelt on the dusty rock, peering down over the edge of her cliff. Nine moons hung in the sky overhead, some sliding by with unnatural speed, others oddly slow. One moon in particular glowed blue and silver-white, taking up a good quarter of the sky.

She had made mistakes before, but tonight Leah had read Lirial's moons correctly. They had led her to this place.

Or, more accurately, they had led her to a place a hundred paces away and twenty down, at the foot of the cliff on which she crouched. To the spot where two Lirial Travelers from Enosh stood guard.

The two Lirial Travelers had their faces wrapped in silver ribbons, presumably to imitate their mysterious Grandmaster. Leah had never seen other Lirial Travelers dressed that way, though to be honest, she had barely seen other Travelers of Lirial at all before she came to Enosh. Unlike Grandmaster Lirial, these Travelers wore ordinary clothes of gray and black underneath their carefully wrapped faces.

Three glistening crystals floated in midair behind the shoulders of each Traveler. Roughly the size of a clenched fist, they looked like pyramids made of mirrored gla.s.s, and they traced lazy circles as they hovered behind the Travelers' heads.

Leah had never seen the floating crystal pyramids before, but she had heard stories. She had heard them called star-nets, artifacts left behind by the long-departed Daniri. Raiding Daniri tombs was always a deadly risk; even though they were sure to be unoccupied, the tombs contained a lethal variety of tricks and traps. Even the architecture itself tended to shift, making maps useless.

She repressed a shudder, remembering her single trip into a Daniri tomb. She and her mother had barely escaped with their lives, though they had chosen one of the smaller and less-defended tombs. They had emerged with a handful of random artifacts, including her scrying lens. The fact that Enosh Travelers had found two of the same artifact, and star-nets no less, gave Leah cause to worry. Either one of the Travelers below could likely take her apart.

Of course, they hadn't yet noticed her trick. Seven stones, she hoped it stayed that way.

The two Lirial Travelers stood about ten feet apart, backs to one another, each facing a different direction. Every few minutes, they would walk a few paces to one side or another, to keep a different angle in view. They never crossed the invisible ten-foot circle between them.

Tonight, the spot they guarded led directly into the Enosh Grandmaster's council-room. There was nothing to mark the place, and for good reason: the appropriate location for Lirial Gates shifted with the moons. In hours, perhaps minutes, this spot could lead to a random outhouse in Bel Calem instead. Or to the middle of the Badari Desert.

Grandmaster Lirial had calculated the correct spot for their meeting, and sent guards, hours ago.

Fortunately, Leah had gotten there first.

In the center of that circle, buried in the sandy gray dirt that covered practically every inch of Lirial, was a very special crystal. Leah had constructed it herself, out of the same stone that made her bracelet. From the time it was activated until it ran out of energy, the crystal would peer through a tiny Gate, observing and recording whatever happened in the real world. The material for the crystal was rare, it took days to create, and it could only be used once. But anything that allowed her to spy on Enosh without exposing herself to danger was worth almost any price.

She suspected that the Grandmasters' meeting should be ending soon; it had been more than two hours, and time in Lirial moved the same as time in the real world. Usually.

Now all she had to do was wait for the guards to open a Gate and leave, and she could go back down and retrieve her recording crystal. Easy. She would be back in Enosh within the hour*hopefully she wouldn't have to materialize in a broom closet, this time*and if anyone questioned how long she had been gone, she could just claim she'd gotten lost.

Content with her plan, Leah almost didn't notice a particular detail: the wind was blowing.

Weather of any kind was rare in Lirial; the sky was clear nine nights out of ten, and most rainstorms brief. When the sky was covered, and the moons hidden, Traveling accurately became a nightmare. There were no clouds tonight, as usual, just a slow and steady wind.

At first, she just noticed the grit blown in the wind as something she had to keep out of her eyes while she watched the two guards below. Then the silver ribbons on the Enosh Travelers' masks began to trail off to one side. Dust drifted over their boots.

Leah watched the process for several minutes before it occurred to her that the wind could spell disaster.

She had not buried her recording crystal deeply. Only a few inches of dust covered the rocks down there, and her crystal was the size of a small plum. If the wind kept up, the crystal would be exposed in minutes. The Grandmasters would know for sure they had an enemy in Lirial.

She could wait no longer. She couldn't let the Enosh Travelers find the crystal, and she couldn't fight them both, not armed as they were with star-nets. Lirial was not a combat-oriented Territory; legend held that Lirial Travelers had once been scouts and watchful sentinels, protecting and spying for the Elysian Travelers of old. Certainly, the Lirial powers she knew focused on the gathering and preserving of information, not anything destructive.

Star-nets, supposedly, were something else. They were rare*expensive and difficult to make, even for the ancient Daniri race*and used only as a last resort. Unfortunately, that meant that either of those Travelers would be more than a match for her in an open battle.

She could use her crown. With that, she could perhaps kill or capture both enemies before it came to a battle. That meant two star-nets for her collection, which would most likely put her in contention with Grandmaster Lirial and Overlord Belanine for the t.i.tle of most powerful Lirial Traveler in the world.

No, it was too risky. She had to be close to use the crown, and she would have to phrase her command perfectly. Plus, as an artifact of Ragnarus, it was difficult to summon here, and it might prove to be unexpectedly weak. Artifacts of one Territory often weakened or failed entirely when taken to a foreign Territory. In the worst-case scenario, one of the Travelers down below would sense her summoning the crown and attack before she had a chance to get close enough.

Leah leaned back over the cliff, and couldn't stop a gasp. Shifting moonlight gleamed off of a crystal in the dust, directly between both Enosh Travelers. If either one turned around, they couldn't fail to notice.

She had to solve the problem now, and she had to rely on her Lirial powers. Which, unfortunately, meant that she had to deplete her Source even further.

Reluctantly, Leah reached out her mind to her sanctum and pulled.

Hundreds of miles away, hidden in a crack between cliffs, Leah's sanctum sat tucked away. It was protected by a handful of false entrances and dozens of the most devious traps that Leah could devise. Within that narrow s.p.a.ce, only the size of a single room, rested Leah's collection of artifacts.

She could only summon items from her sanctum; that was one of the restrictions placed on Lirial Travelers. She could also only summon them when she was outside the Territory. Within the confines of Lirial, she had to walk into her sanctum and physically pick up anything she wished to use. Most Travelers had this restriction; it was a generally accepted rule in Traveler theory that physical transposition could only take place between two different realms.

Fortunately, every rule had its exceptions.

A four-pointed crystal star shimmered and appeared in Leah's palm, like a mirage suddenly made solid. It shone with a steady light as though it were a star in truth, though not so bright.

Leah's Source. This was the only thing she could summon within Lirial, as*in some way she didn't understand*this crystal was linked to her very essence. With time and concentration, she could funnel her body's energy into the crystal, building it up. The Source would store and convert the force, allowing her to summon and empower Lirial devices.

The energy also happened to work as a wonderful currency.

Leah closed her eyes and mentally seized power from her Source, casting it out like a farmer casting seed to attract birds. When she peeked at the star-shaped crystal, it had dimmed noticeably. If it went entirely dark, she would barely be able to do anything worthwhile. Even opening a Gate would take twice as long.

For two or three minutes, nothing happened. Leah watched the Enosh Travelers down below, her skin tingling, her breath coming too quickly. Any second, they could notice. All it would take was for one of them to turn around.

Then she felt a vibration in her mind, like a fishing line quivering when the bait has been taken. She turned around, to see who*or what*had decided to come for her bait.

A bluish creature loped up from behind her, leaning on its knuckles to run like a great ape. It was entirely hairless, covered in skin of a faint blue. As it got closer, she could tell that it had tufts of fur sticking out at the wrists and ankles, and above the ears. Closer still, and she could see its six eyes: it had three sets, arranged on top of one another. One pair of eyes was blue, one white, and one seemed to be green.

Leah would have groaned, but she had a long habit of controlling her reactions. She had met this creature before.

"Heiress Leah," he said, bowing before her. The movement was strangely graceful, despite the fact that he had to lean on his knuckles to do it. "It has been too long."

"I don't have time for this, Seliethin," Leah said. She gestured to the edge of the cliff. "I need your a.s.sistance."

Seliethin's three sets of eyes blinked one at a time: first the top set, then the middle, then the bottom, in quick succession. He loped easily up to the cliff and leaned over, taking a look.

"Aaaahhh," he breathed. "The crystal is yours, I presume. And the Travelers unfriendly?"

"Can you retrieve the crystal?" Leah asked. The less he knew about her plans, the better.

Seliethin chuckled. "If a fair price is paid."