Chapter Forty
Rae didn’t sleep for a second, unlike Mahk and Lalette and Estev. The justicars took turns patrolling the surrounding forest, pacing nervously between the trees, disappearing for long minutes into the shadows. Whenever one of them returned, they would stand at the edge of the fire’s light, whispering urgently to each other. Predi kept throwing sharp looks in Rae’s direction. Caeris only looked at him with regret, and worry. Rae stayed by the fire. He couldn’t get warm.
Morning’s light cleared the shadows, though a persistent murk clung to the depths of the forest, and a thin fog rose from the ground. Estev went around checking on everyone, to see that the healing he had done the night before was progressing as intended. “The motes sometimes take on a life of their own,” he told Rae as he felt around Mahk’s back. “No pun intended. Even the lesser spirits of Elysium can have a . . . playful nature. Best to keep an eye on them. All is well, young Mahk.” He clapped Mahk on the back, then struggled to stand. “You are as strong as a bull.”
Rae helped Estev to his feet, then directed him away from the others. The lifebinder was looking rough. Estev’s suit no longer fit his shrinking frame, and everything from the cuffs to the lapels were tattered and stained. Dark shadows lined his jowls and the wrinkled circles around his eyes. Rae looked around to see if the others were paying attention, then ducked his head and whispered to Estev.
“This isn’t how you planned what?” Estev was picking at a thread on his sleeve, but at Rae’s words he froze for a long heartbeat. When he returned to the thread, it was with studied nonchalance. Rae pressed on. “What did you mean by that?”
“Just words, Raelle. They’re just words.”
“You’ve never called me ‘old friend’ before.”
“Well, our relationship has grown. How many times have we nearly died together, hm?” Estev looked up at Rae, watery eyes blinking. “You have saved my life, and I have saved yours. What more needs pass between us, before we call each other friend?”
“How about a little honesty?” Rae asked. “Predi seemed pretty determined to stop you. Was there another way?”
“As I told him at the time, there was not, and he knows it. Keep that in mind, when you decide who among us to trust. He would have watched you die.” Estev pulled up short. They were at the edge of the camp, and their furious whispers were drawing the attention of the others. “You are alive, Rae. There are hundreds of people who were aboard the Pearlescent who do not have that privilege this morning. Try to appreciate that.”
He gave Rae’s arm a final squeeze, then strolled into the forest. Predi brushed past Rae as though he wasn’t there, catching up with Estev. The two immediately fell into deep discussion. Mahk tromped after. It was La who paused next to her brother.
“What was that about?” she asked.
“Just . . . coming to terms with last night,” Rae said. “Or trying to, at least.”
“And are you?”
“I will. Eventually,” Rae said. “Honestly, I don’t feel any different.”
“Caeris says that it’s a very thorough sort of binding. Rarely done, because it gives the spirits better access to the material plane than the Iron College would allow.” La slid an arm through Rae’s arm, pulling him into a casual stroll, as though they were on a promenade. “To my eyes, you’re unchanged. Still the same reckless bastard you were yesterday. Maybe a little more nervous.”
“Yes, well. We fell out of the sky. We’re in the middle of the Heretic’s Eye, which is supposed to be a hellish wasteland populated entirely by demons, and instead seems to be some kind of forest. And there’s an apparently immortal, hybrid demon-slash–high mage on our trail.” Rae thrust his hands into the deep pockets of his coat, trapping La’s hand against his side. “So I think nervous is a justifiable emotion.”
“Really? Because I’m much closer to outright panic, myself.” La hugged his arm, then wriggled free of his grasp. “What are we going to do, Rae?”
“I want to start by going to the manor house. Do you trust the others?”
“Mahk, and maybe Estev,” La said. “I don’t know about the justicars. They didn’t have Father’s trust. Why should they have ours?”
“Caeris is at least predictable. And Predi . . .” Rae chewed his lip. “I don’t know what to think about Predi. He was at the raid. He might be able to help us understand more about this sword, and why Father was hiding it.”
“I suppose,” La said. “Still. I’d rather it was just us.”
“Two justicars and a lifebinder who’s more scholar than soldier. Not a bad wagon to tie yourself to, hm?” Rae walked in silence for a few minutes. “At least when you get hurt, Estev can patch you up.”
“We need something more than that, Rae. I can’t run forever.”
“No. Neither can I. It’s this Rassek character, isn’t it? Wherever we go, he’ll follow. Something Caeris said got me thinking,” Rae said. “I think I have a plan.”
“Do you? Is it a better plan than the one you had to get out of Hammerwall?” she asked. “Because that was an unmitigated disaster.”
“Was it? I mean, we got out, at least.”
“You shouldn’t joke about so many people dying,” La said sternly.
“Well, I have to joke about something. And there’s not much else going on.” He looked behind them. Caeris was a distant light, swooping from branch to branch. Rae lowered his voice. “Father did something, Lalette. Something I don’t fully understand yet. But I think it has to do with the Hadroy Heresy, and Rassek, and the College. There’s a reason he ran, when he could have just gone to the justicars. And there’s a reason Rassek came looking for him.”
“I don’t understand why the sword is such a big deal. A scrying of Rassek’s soul? Is that enough to kill for?” La asked.
“Shouldn’t be. But I don’t think they’re right about that. I don’t think this is Rassek’s soul at all,” Rae said. He told the story about forcing the wraith to reveal himself shortly after they fled Aervelling. “I swear to you, La, the wraith is a justicar. So either Rassek Brant was a justicar before he was the most famous heretic in the Ordered World, or our friends have that part wrong.”
“Well then, who is it?” La asked.
“No idea. Not yet. All I can say is that we won’t be safe until Rassek is dead. Truly dead, not just banished for a time.” The wraith coiled through Rae’s soul, whistling harshly in the close confines of his skull. For a second, Rae teetered on the edge of delirium, the world swimming in his eyes. La’s hand went through his arm again.
“Are you alright?” she asked. “You stumbled. Should I get Estev?”
“Your lifebinder cannot help me,” Rae said hollowly, then shook it off. “Just a bit dizzy. Dying, and all. Takes more than a night to get over.”
La pulled a face. Rae disentangled himself from his sister, patting her arm as he pulled free. “I just need some time to think, sis. It’s fine.”
The forest was strange in perfectly normal ways. Unlike the orchard grove expanses of Anvilheim, or the Chaos-tainted wildlands between steadings, this forest simply looked . . . natural. Tall oaks and silverleaf shared the canopy with elderbark and spearpine, while the ground was covered in a low growth of ferns and deadfall. They caught glimpses of animal life, but the creatures kept well clear of Rae and his party.
“This doesn’t seem like I imagined the Eye would be. Shouldn’t there be more . . . demons, or something?” Rae asked shortly after they started their march away from the crash site. “Not that I’m advocating for more demons. I’m just curious.”
“Even the justicars rarely enter the Eye,” Predi answered. “I promise you, there are strange things wandering this estate. Dangerous things.”
“Then how do you explain this?” Rae asked, motioning around them. “Anvilheim was more Ordered than this place. We might as well be on the borders of Hammerwall.”
“I quite like it,” Estev said. “A natural force, untampered with by the College’s clever gardeners. There’s a bit of Elysium in the air.”
“That’s dangerously close to diabolism, friend,” Predi said stiffly.
“Everything is dangerously close to diabolism to you justicars,” Estev said. He and Predi were walking shoulder to shoulder, the shorter scholar hurrying to keep pace with the justicar’s lanky strides. Whatever discomfort Estev felt was forgotten in the fire of discourse. “There are eight arcane realms, as you well know, stonebinder. Both Life and Death are balanced between Order and Chaos. One cannot exist without the other. Just because you’re an elementalist doesn’t give you license to plead ignorant of the higher realities.”
“I do not need to be lectured on planar theory by a rogue fae-friend. Fulcrum has authority in these things, and—”
“Fulcrum’s authority does not override the natural order of things! Or at least it shouldn’t.”
“There it is again: Order! Natural Order, given by Heaven to the material plane to protect us from the depredations of Chaos. Entrusted to Fulcrum to enforce.”
“Now you’re just talking like a zealot,” Estev said dismissively.
“And you’re still talking like a heretic,” Predi answered. “Tell me, how did you come to be in the wastelands in the first place? Caeris said she picked you up wandering east of Hammerwall, well away from the rest of the refugees. What business did you have there?”
“I will not answer these sorts of questions, certainly not from the likes of you.”
“I am precisely the one who asks these questions, lifebinder!” Predi came to a stop, his hands twitching to the firelock at his waist. “And I am not comfortable traveling in your company until I have some answers!”
“Then you are free to make your own way,” Estev said with a snort. “The children and I . . . and that damnable sword . . . are going to the manor house. We won’t miss you in the least.”
“Will both of you calm down?” Caeris snapped. She floated down from the trees, angelic wings curling gracefully. “We stay together. We have enough enemies in this place.”
The two mages faced off, with Caeris between them, an angry sprite trapped between stubborn giants. Rae and La hung back. After a few moments, Estev deflated slightly and waved his hand.
“Of course we stay together. I’m no fool. But I’m tired of being accused of heresy,” he said. “If you wish to make a case against me, you may. That is your right. But hold it until we’ve resolved the problem of Rassek Brant!”
“Yes, of course,” Predi said after a brief hesitation. “Rassek is my highest priority.” He sniffed, glancing at Caeris. “That and the children, of course. We serve to protect the citizens of the Ordered World.”
“Well, serve a little more diligently,” La said. The three mages turned to her slowly, shock on the face of the justicars, a barely constrained smile on Estev’s mouth. “I don’t exactly feel protected. Come on, Rae.” She marched off, brushing past Predi and staring Estev down. Rae bobbed his head as he followed.
“You’d think they were bloody children, the way they bicker,” she muttered as she tromped through the forest. “If they’d done their job in the first place, none of us would be here. Hammerwall would still be standing, and Mom and Dad—” Her voice hitched, and she ran her hand across her face. “We wouldn’t be here.”
“I think they’re doing the best they can, La,” Rae said.
“Well, it isn’t enough.”
They were following an erosion path up the side of a shallow hill. Mahk stood at the top, big hands shoved into his pockets, his back to them. Rae struggled up the last few feet, helping La keep her feet, until they reached the top.
“You missed a fine argument, Mahk. I thought Predi was going to try to put Estev in manacles before Caeris intervened,” Rae said cheerfully. “Just a matter of time before those two go at it. What do you think?”
“I think I found something,” Mahk said. He nodded in the direction he was looking. The shallow hill led down to an overgrown field, perhaps once a farmer’s lot, dotted with copses of windblown shrubbery. At the far end of the field there was another forest, this one dominated by low hedges with the occasional towering trunk, most of them broken and dead. Beyond the hedgewall, buildings rose out of the ground. Empty windows and caved-in roofs couldn’t hide the compound’s former glory, though the charring on the walls gave some indication to how it had fallen.
“The manor house,” Rae said. “As good a place as any to start.”
“Just the place I want to be when the fiendbinder finds us,” La said. She glanced back at the three mages, still making their way up the hill. “Come on. Let’s see what we can find before those three come to blows again.”