Dusk, page 23
They’d been hard at work in the laboratory since that terrible night in the Ascension chamber. Out of fear that Mordessa would sense Mina in her sleep, Eros had kept them both awake with spells he’d learned as part of his training at the Temple of Daahl, in the service of Ishnu. Meanwhile, they occupied their time trying to fix and adjust Ahm’s flying machine.
Mina joined him at the table and waited patiently as his spells filled her with renewed stamina and a forced sense of alertness. He then directed her attention to the tray of fruit he’d brought with him. She grabbed an apple and took a hearty bite, smiling as widely as her mouth would allow around its contents as she chewed.
“You’re going to make me ask, aren’t you?” he sighed.
She nodded, swallowed, and smiled wider.
“Fine. What did you figure out?” he asked.
“Advan’s diagrams! I can read them now,” she chirped gleefully.
“Yeah, I don’t believe that for a second,” he said with a chuckle.
“Well, come look!” she said, standing abruptly and racing over to the workbench. She started explaining again before he even caught up with her. “See, we were thinking that we were supposed to lay these on top of each other and press them together, right? Then look through and see everything in layers?”
“Right?” he asked.
“That’s not the case at all. See, each of these sheets is a different system, yes, but none of those systems are the same size when you try to find them inside the machine. See these gears?” she asked, pointing at two gears that were drawn the same size on two different sheets. “They aren’t the same size in the machine. One is as big as my fist, but the other one is as small as the tip of my thumb.”
“So they don’t overlay to show the whole thing at once?” he asked.
“No. The red ink on each piece of paper includes those tiny little numbers, right? They correspond to one another, showing where they overlap or interact. So the twenty-three on sheet one matches the twenty-three on sheet four. However, while sheet one is drawn to scale, sheet four is five times the actual scale. He drew the smaller systems bigger to make them easier to understand,” she explained.
“Okay, that tells us how each system works, but-” he started.
“Then there’s the blue ink that we couldn’t figure out the purpose of?” she said, pointing.
“Mmhm.”
“Those markings correlate to entries in his journal,” said Mina.
“Not the parts list, or the other diagrams?” asked Eros, perplexed.
“No! They were basically his way of saying, ‘I need a spell here to make this part work,’ but he didn’t know yet what spell was going to be used. If you look at the journal, now and then you’ll see an entry mention ‘Marker fourteen’, or whatever, and then go into detail about the spell Ahm or Whun used to solve the problem,” said Mina.
“No wonder we couldn’t figure it out. Every dead end we hit while tracing the rods and gears of the system wasn’t a real dead end at all,” he realized.
“Nope! It was just being handled by magic,” she said. “In one of his journal entries he goes on and on for pages about how he wished they could make the parts smaller, lighter, and more flexible; that the rigidity and size of the frame were causing problems they hadn’t anticipated. He even did a calculation about the size of gears they would need to lift a single wing, and lamented their inability to fit them into the body and drive them properly. Whenever he ran into something like that, he basically threw up his hands and said, ‘well, I guess magic will solve this too,’ and left a marker on the diagram. Then it was up to Ahm to find the spells they needed.”
“That both solves and confuses a lot of things,” said Eros.
“It solves things completely. We don’t need to understand every little detail of how it all works. I wanted to fix the controls, right? Maybe move the levers around, or whatever we could do to make it easier to drive? Well, I think we can do that now. As long as our new controls move the same gears in the same way...” she explained, letting her words trail off for him to draw the conclusion.
“...then the same parts of the machine should respond in the same ways, no matter where the lever is fitted for you to use,” he finished.
“Precisely,” she said. “So we can stop worrying about wing this, and tail that, and focus on the levers, and where they’re positioned. We don’t have to bother with the rest. More importantly, all those connections we thought broke in the crash? They aren’t broken, they were never physically connected.”
“I still think it’s odd that some old man was writing about this strange machine in his diary, instead of just redrawing the diagrams with full detail, or keeping them in some ‘Raven Handbook’, or something. Don’t you?” he questioned.
“It’s not a diary, it’s his work log. He documented their progress every day for years. Reading it is like being there as they built it,” she answered.
“And you’ve read the whole thing?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Most of it,” she said.
“We shouldn’t have had the time for you to read the whole thing. I don’t know how long we’ve been down here, but I know we should have had answers by now,” he complained.
“Twenty-four days, eighteen hours and six minutes, give or take a few seconds,” she chimed, looking over his shoulder.
“Well, that was a bit precise,” he said in disbelief.
“The runes along the top of the wall. You didn’t notice they changed?” she asked, pointing.
“Can’t say I’ve been staring at the ceiling, no. Not quite that bored yet. I mean, we’ve been working on this, so...”
“Ahm asked Lord Whun to place the enchantments during a visit when I was young, since I couldn’t see the sky, use the sundials that dot the city’s squares, or even hear the church bells. I had no way to mark the passage of time, and he’s a stickler for punctuality. So, Ahm had melrithium inlays placed into the engravings on the crown molding, and Whun enchanted them to glow with hovering sigils that changed based on the position of the sun, moons, and stars in relation to the Cryx. Once I learned to read them, I could always tell what time it was by simply looking up,” she explained, smiling.
“That’s a lot of trouble to go through for such a simple thing. He could have just let you breathe fresh air now and then,” lamented Eros. He thought for a moment about whether he should say what was really on his mind. She could see the look of concern on his face, but still he hesitated. Without saying a word, she put a hand on his arm and leaned forward, staring deep into his eyes with that caring but inquisitive look she knew he couldn’t resist. If he did, she’d end up badgering him until he admitted what was wrong anyway, and that was always worse.
“Are you okay?” she asked.
“I’m fine. Why don’t you show me what your thoughts are about those controls?” he suggested, thumbing toward the device.
She smiled wide and skipped past him, grabbing his hand and guiding him to follow. He gladly moved to play along, but his body had other plans. He felt a sensation at the back of his head, like something intangible snapped and twisted, sending his mind spiraling, as if something had suddenly stripped away his ability to maintain balance. As his strength spilled out of his muscles, he collapsed onto his haunches, instinctively gripping the sides of his head to keep it steady.
“Oh my gods, what’s wrong?” gasped Mina, turning and kneeling to tend to him.
“I don’t know if it’s because I’m not used to being underground for such long periods of time, or if it’s the water, or something we ate... but I haven’t been feeling very well,” he explained.
“How so?” she asked.
“My heart seems to skip or add a beat now and then, completely at random. It feels like I’m trying to breathe through a wet rag. When I lay down, everything gets worse, which of course makes me very, very glad we’ve been using spells to avoid sleep. My brain feels like it’s swimming. My muscles are slow to respond. My skin feels achy and dry. This is the worst I’ve ever felt in my life,” he explained with a sigh, glad he finally put his feelings into words.
“Is it a side effect of the spells we’ve been using?” she asked.
“No. I used them for years during my studies, because I got a late start. Those were the first spells I learned, for the express purpose of working around the clock, so I’d be ready by the time my day of Ascension came. I never once felt as I do now. This is totally new, and it doesn’t help that I can’t stop thinking it might’ve been caused by however Advan brought me back,” he said.
“Let’s go talk to Ahm, okay?” she suggested, slipping her arm under his and lifting. “You’re right, this doesn’t sound normal, and I’m really hoping your suspicions are incorrect.”
MINA LED Eros toward Ahm’s office, stopping every ten or fifteen yards to let him rest. Their slow pace meant that she could hear Ahm pacing in his office, talking to himself for several minutes before they even got close enough to touch the door. She almost called out for his assistance, but something in the back of her mind encouraged her to wait, that she was being silly.
Just before she reached the handle, the door at the far end of the level, leading from the stairs to the surface, slammed shut with a ferocity that took her quite by surprise. What sounded like hooved feet and the horrid scrape of bone on marble echoed down the hall from around the corner, accentuated but a sound she could only assume was the tucking of leathery wings.
Mina’s heart felt like it was about to burst. A warm sensation grew in the depths of her chest and spread quickly across her torso as a cold chill rippled across her flesh and up her spine. With her eyes wide in horror, and her breath caught in her throat, she whipped around toward Eros. Upon seeing her, he opened his mouth to respond, but it was almost instantly covered by her right hand as she shoved him backward with her left.
Every fiber of her being knew that she absolutely had to get out of that hallway. She had no desire to see what was coming, and even less of her wanted to be noticed. A rush of adrenaline flooded through her just as her mind consciously realized she had no choice but to escape. She wrapped her hands around Eros and half carried, half dragged him back down the hall and around a nearby corner. Returning her hand to his mouth, she pulled him to the ground and held him fast.
Eros’s face drained of blood as he looked into Mina’s eyes. She hadn’t blinked since the door crashed at the end of the hall, and she was currently staring at him. Her eyes were so wide he thought they’d start bleeding, and she was trembling as she bit her lips, slowly shaking her head to ward off his questions.
The granite floor seemed to crack under the weight of the approaching creature. Each of its steps shook the hallway, even as far away as their hiding place. Between their impact, and the high-pitched scraping that accompanied them along the ceiling, Mina realized she could no longer hear Ahm speaking.
When the unseen force reached Ahm’s office door, a loud crash echoed through the halls and chambers, followed by the sound of hooves on cracked wood, and a terrible, multi-layered voice.
“Threm sends his regards,” Mordessa declared in sarcastic tones.
“Your Majesty!” gasped Ahm, falling to his knees.
“I knew I should have sent for you directly,” she growled. “Clearly, Threm and his predecessor had no grasp of the urgency of our situation. Once again, I am forced to rely upon you to get the job done, where others have failed.”
“Yes, your Majesty,” he stated.
“I would say that Threm’s failure and subsequent death stand as warning to you, but I know you do not care for the fate of such men. It’s clear my threat would fall on deaf ears. Instead, I will make you a promise. Bring me Lord Whun, or find another world to inhabit. I made you who you are, and I will unmake you without hesitation,” she growled.
“Aye, your Majesty. I will travel to Talaani immediately,” he agreed, nodding.
She turned to leave, but hesitated. Looking back at him over her shoulder, she added, “While you are there, if you happen upon any strange, unknown visitors to their Empire who claim to come from distant lands... slay them. Do not hesitate. Do not think. Do not investigate, or seek to make sure of your targets. Slay them, and take whatever consequences the Talaani might impose. If that brings about your end, I will see that all of Dusk honors your sacrifice until the end of days.”
“Whatever you ask, your Majesty, it will be done,” he answered.
Mordessa ducked through the doorway she’d ripped from the ceiling, turned back down the hall and made her way out of the Cryx. Her exit was just as terrifying as her entry to Mina, save for the fact that once the sounds of her passing dissipated, it would mean she was no longer in their presence.
When Mina finally felt her fear fade enough to move, she quickly stood and raced into Ahm’s office. He was more pale than she’d ever seen, and seemed genuinely shaken by their surprise visitor. They embraced to offer comfort to one another as they settled their hearts and calmed their breathing. Before either of them could speak about what had just happened, Eros stumbled into the room, crashing over the remnants of the door and barely maintaining his weak footing.
Mina went over and helped Eros to a chair, then pulled one alongside and joined him. Ahm watched, seemingly detached from reality for a short time, then sat behind his desk.
“I have to go to the Talaani Empire and search for Lord Whun. He was stationed at our embassy in the Elonesti Dominion, and has apparently gone several months without reporting to Mordessa. She assigned Chancellor Threm to find him and he came here, instructing me to do it. However, you were in a coma and I didn’t want to leave your side, so I blew him off. I shouldn’t have done that,” he sighed. “You don’t want to be on Mordessa’s bad side. That’s never a good place to be.”
“We heard,” said Mina. “We’re coming with you.”
“This is not a vacation, or any other sort of leisurely outing. Talaanians despise our Kingdom. If Whun has gone missing, this trip is going to be exceedingly dangerous. I cannot allow you to accompany me,” he said firmly. “If you indeed heard her, you also know I’m being sent as an assassin in addition to rescuing Whun, which puts me in very real danger.”
“I am not staying locked up in the Cryx without you or Advan. Besides, staying here means using Eros’s magic to stay awake so that she won’t detect my presence. We’ve already been doing that for the past month. So, take this however you like, but fuck you. We’re coming with!” she insisted.
“If you join me, then I need to find somewhere else to hide the Raven... that, or we have to find a way to transport it along with us. Neither of those sounds feasible to me in my current state of mind. Whun is the most powerful Lich in all of Dusk. If he’s fallen victim to a Talaani plot...” he began, then shuddered and let his words trail off.
“Well, I’ve been studying Advan’s journal regarding the device. He designed it to be disassembled. So, if we can take a Flute north to one of the farming villages outside the wall...” she started.
“Then we could load the parts into a carriage unseen and hide it somewhere outside of Baan’Sholaria,” he finished.
“Exactly. Then nobody would find it,” she said.
“Just make sure we take the journal and drawings with us,” added Eros.
“And everything I’ve been researching about Korr. We don’t want her finding that either,” added Ahm.
“Do you have answers?” asked Mina, perking up.
“None you’ll enjoy hearing,” sighed Ahm. “I’ll tell you on the way. For now, get back to the laboratory and dismantle the Raven. I’ll send agents to procure shipping crates, and we’ll make our way to a station. Eros, go pack clothes and supplies for the three of us while we handle the other tasks.”
“Eros needs to rest,” said Mina.
“Pardon?” asked Ahm.
“That’s why we were in the hallway. She was bringing me to come see you,” said Eros. He explained the symptoms he’d been experiencing in recent days and waited patiently while Ahm fell silent, deep in thought.
“Provided your concern is accurate, removing you from the Aggripha’s presence could be the solution. If you’re wrong, though, and your symptoms get worse, we’ll have to send you back to the Aggripha to await our return,” said Ahm. “Otherwise, if this is just a simple illness, I can treat the symptoms with a few of my spells while we wait for it to pass. If we had more time, I could do a more thorough examination, but I fear we’ve precious little before Mordessa grows impatient.”
“Oh, fuck! What happens if she scries us with her crystal ball?” gasped Mina.
“I can mask you from clairvoyance with a blessing. I can’t mask your connection to the Aggripha, but I can at least prevent her seeing either of you when she spies on me to see my progress,” said Ahm. What he didn’t tell them was that he had every intention of leaving them inside whatever cave they stashed the Raven in for safekeeping. He had no desire to drag them into enemy territory.
THE STATION was eerily quiet the next morning. Mina wasn’t sure if that was normal, considering she’d never ridden in any of the northbound tracks. However, she couldn’t help but constantly check every shadow for signs of hooves, horns, and wings. Every other sound seemed to make her jump a little, and Ahm was slowly getting dragged into her anxiety just from witnessing it.
“Please calm yourself. You heard how much noise she makes when she travels. She can’t possibly sneak up on us, and she can’t see you through divination, either. You’re safe,” he reassured her.
“I can’t help it. I need something to take my mind off her,” she explained.
“Tell us what you found out about Korr?” suggested Eros, his voice weak and skin pale.
“If it will settle you down for a time,” sighed Ahm. “I had hoped to find out more before sharing. Unfortunately, it seems that someone has cleansed almost every reference to Korr from our records. My agents had a troublesome time finding anything about the man or his prophecy. They found every other cryptic prediction you could imagine... but this one? This one was tricky.
