In all documentation of bloodline and lineage, there shall be no mention nor record made of the powerhue of an individual. There shall be no discrimination made by hue of power, nor by those of parents, nor shall it be any factor in any undertaking. Judge each by skill, not by presumption, and set aside utterly any considerations of innate hue.
-The Third Decree, as given by the First Conversant Conclave in the Eighth Year
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Pelys and I entered Raysh the evening before our planned assault, posing as negotiators for a fictional import company from Oros.
It felt very odd wearing the stiff Oros uniform robes, which turned out to be much tighter than the more casual Varon and Sarosa styles. We had plain blue battle robes to change into for the actual attack, as Pel would be claiming credit for the entire affair if we were noticed and questioned. As a man who’d lost multiple friends, he had the strongest claim to individual action, and could be safely disavowed by the Sarosa reirn and reirna regardless of how they may personally feel about his actions.
We spent the night in the city nearest Retti’s hideout, sharing a flat in one of the available buildings with Lan and Vess. They’d been in the city for nearly two weeks now and arranged everything from here.
The place was surprisingly full, given the decline in Raysh’s reputation of late, I’d have expected more people to stay away. But, no, apparently disappearances and murders weren’t worth noticing unless they took place right in front of you.
It made me reconsider every kind thought I’d ever had toward the nobility. True, a few individuals may be decent people, but on a whole the entire strata was pretty much horrifying. I’d known it before, but after living among them for so long I’d begun to forget. Begun to overlook the things swept to the side.
It made me question the purpose of our whole crusade. What was the point of stopping one murderer if the world would continue to defend the rest? Maybe, for all his naivete, Desten 3 actually had the right idea. Maybe solving one problem wasn’t enough.
I couldn’t sleep. I worried and wondered and drove myself in circles trying to find the right thing to do, the right path that would lead to true justice and not simply vengeance upon one individual.
Why didn’t they care? How could anyone go about their day and ignore people’s lives being destroyed around them, caring more about the potential power they could gain by recruiting killers than the ultimate cost of encouraging such acts?
If someone had suggested that it would be better to break the Alliance and destroy Raysh for good, I may well have agreed with them.
But that was not our problem. I could no more change the world than Desten 3 with his naive scribblings, than Pel with his power and rage. We could only change our little pieces of it. And if that meant putting a stop to Retti and Desten, it would have to be enough.
I stopped even trying to sleep and began pacing, practicing my shield. I’d dropped another minute off the creation time and increased the complexity yet again. Pel could still destroy it in half a minute, but hopefully in the chaos I’d be able to avoid anyone engaging me directly with full focus.
I could also disrupt power directly, by forming a section of the shield in my palm. It wouldn’t be very useful as an offensive attack, but it would be enough to escape if Retti tried to control me again with the physical shell of force like she’d used in our duel.
Which … technically, was still legally underway? Since neither of us had died, the light we bore hadn’t been decided.
Nope. Not going to think about that.
I paced and pressed my power harder, until Lan stepped out from her room. She paused, as though surprised to see me, then walked toward me. I relaxed my control, letting the shield stabilize but not advancing it.
“Astesh, you should be resting.” She spoke softly so as not to wake the others. “Now is not the time to wear yourself out.”
“I can’t rest.”
“Lie down at least. Let your body recover its strength, even if your mind cannot be at peace.”
In her eyes I saw a similar sleeplessness reflected, and knew she understood. More than understood. In her face weariness layered atop a deep sorrow that I wasn’t sure would ever fade.
However harrowing my own experiences had been, at least I’d never watched someone I cared about be killed right in front of me. Fylen’s death haunted me still, though I’d never even met him. My own fight with Retti would be enough to scar my mind for years. And still, I’d gotten off lightly compared to Lan and Pel and Vess.
I swallowed. “Please, if— if there’s any way we can stop Retti without hurting Desten 5 …” I couldn’t finish. The anger in her eyes, in the tightness of her jaw, I had no right to ask this of her. It was as stupidly naive a notion as any Desten 3 might put down.
“You don’t know what you’re asking,” Lanyss said coldly.
“I do. I understand that it’s unreasonable to request. But he’s young, and frightened, and only doing what he’s been told to. He doesn’t want to fight, doesn’t want to kill. He’s just lashing out. We can help him.”
“No. It’s too late for that.” Any softness in her voice had vanished, replaced with anger and loathing. “We are here to end this, not postpone judgment.”
“And I think we can end this without killing Desten. Please, let me try to talk to him at least. If he agrees to stand down without fighting, please.”
“He won’t. He’s too far gone. You can’t change him. He’s a killer now and that isn’t going to change no matter what you say.”
“But let me try.”
“Fine. You can try. And then I’ll avenge you as well as Let and Fylen.”
I felt a chill as Lan turned her back and walked away toward the kitchen. I wasn’t sure how to feel. She’d agreed to let me face Desten, yes, but fully expecting me to die in the process. Well, I just had to prove her wrong.
I finished the shield I’d been working on, then dismissed it and returned to my room. My mind was no quieter, but my power and body were exhausted, and resting would be a good idea tactically.
I lay awake for hours, staring into the unfamiliar shadows, and never noticed when I finally slipped into true sleep.
All too early, the time had come. Pel woke me before dawn and I stumbled through the motions of changing and washing before joining him and the others in the front room. Lan was wearing armor over her robes, an odd mix of chain and plate linked together with straps, all of an unfamiliar blue metal. Pel and Vess wore the same simple robes as had been set out for me.
Aneeyha sat in the corner, Fyless sleeping in her lap. She looked like she hadn’t slept nearly enough either.
I blinked. When had she come in? I glanced at Pel questioningly.
“I won’t be joining you,” Aneeyha said softly. “I’m only here to deliver that.” She nodded toward Lan.
“You’re sure no one will find out?” Lan asked, fingering the delicate chain that extended halfway down her hand, looped around her thumb to hold it in place.
Aneeyha raised her chin. “If they do, I do not care. I have chosen how I will act, and would do the same again. I will be waiting here for your return.”
Pel nodded. “Thank you.”
Aneeyha smiled sadly. “May the heights watch over you.”
We reached the cottage on schedule. Glitters of blue, red, teal, and orange showed our allies spread out around the area as planned. Pel flared his own blue light in a quick signal, and received two orange pulses back in response.
“They’re still inside,” he whispered. “We’ll try to take them by surprise.”
Vess flicked his own aura into three quick silver bursts, which was answered by a single pulse from each of the others.
I focused on holding my shield in place, as everyone else went dim. They still glowed faintly in the darkness, but compared to me they’d be practically invisible. There was no helping it; I had to be prepared in advance. I couldn’t possibly bring the shield up during a fight. It was obvious glow or nothing.
I hung back as they advanced, then followed at the prescribed distance. If we could catch them sleeping and unaware, I may be unnecessary. But if it turned into a fight, I had to be ready to block any unfriendly attacks and divert attention away from the more vulnerable members. Pel and Vess would be focusing on offence, along with most of our unknown allies.
The house was low and wide, single-story but easily large enough to contain my mother’s house four times over, sturdily constructed with sheets of stone and metal beams. Plain windows looked out over the descent on three sides, the back built mostly into the side of the low hill atop which it perched so only a few feet of the back wall showed above the ground.
The house had two exits, one in the front, another at the right side, but most of the windows looked large enough to be flown out of if necessary.
Red and yellow light glowed across every door and windowframe, solid sheets that rippled oddly between the hues. It made the whole house look sinister and evil.
Fortunately, any fields were situated further downhill and away from the lone house on the hilltop, so our battle shouldn't cause much collateral damage to the commoners living nearby. I still instinctively identified with them more than with any of the nobility, especially after seeing how few people were willing to fight with us. The fact that Raysh had blatantly refused to hand Retti over was really shaking what little faith in humanity remained to me.
Dawn began to light the sky, though the sun wasn't yet visible past the mountains. I held my shield. Pelys and Vess followed Lan in a tight wedge, the two other groups advancing similarly.
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Pel's blue power flashed out, dispelling the power across the front door. At almost the same moment, the two other teams erected secondary barriers across the exterior walls. An extra layer of power, outside of the house's defences, to prevent any easy escape.
We all knew it couldn't hold Retti or Desten for long, but the hope was that they'd be less inclined to run with Desten 4 and Tali still trapped inside.
The door stuck. Pel threw his weight against it, and it slammed open in a screech of metal on stone.
“So much for surprise. Go.”
Lan led the way into the building, her armor glinting in the light of yellow and red lighting constructs along the walls and ceiling as she hurried through the entry and down the only hall. I followed next. My bubble brushed the edges of the wall and I had to consciously restrain it from damaging the structure, but at least that meant I could block the entire hallway.
I heard Pel and Vess hurrying in behind me, along with three others from the other groups. The hall split, one branch continuing forward, the other splitting off to the left.
“Keep going straight,” one of our allies said. “We’ll check the side.”
Lan nodded and strode onward. I followed as closely as I dared without letting my bubble get too close to her armor. I’d seen what that strange metal did to constructs and I had no desire to be caught vulnerable here of all places.
I heard the other group’s footsteps as they split off, then we reached a second branching. Lan hesitated, then continued straight.
It was completely quiet apart from our footsteps.
The first room was sealed with red power; Lan simply touched her armored hand against it and the construct slowly destabilized and fell apart. It wasn’t as fast as one of Pel’s spikes or my shield, more like melting an ice cube with hot water, but it still cleared the door.
Lan opened the door onto a meeting room or dining hall, a large table with chairs set around it. Pristine. Untouched. We continued past. Beyond the meeting room, the hall turned, a half-dozen doors lining it, each sealed with a sheet of red power.
How big was this place?
I felt lost, my heartbeat urgent. There were too many rooms to search. Every moment we spent trying to find them was another moment for them to recover from the surprise of being invaded.
And the way the halls wound around through the building felt odd, as though trying to separate the rooms from each other rather than bring them closer.
The first door was an empty bedroom. The next door was the same. Then a bathroom, then more bedrooms. How many people were supposed to live here? This was just one small section of the house overall, and it seemed set up to host a whole family.
The hall turned another corner, ending in one last bedroom door.
Still no one.
Lan gestured for me to go back, but that required Pel and Vess to slip off into a side room while I passed, my always-active shield too big to allow them past in the hall. And that put me firmly in the lead as we reversed course and headed down the other branching.
Another turn in the hall. I headed straight for the end, letting my bubble disperse all the barriers along the way. I smiled faintly. At least one good thing was coming of the oversized shield I had to wear; it would save time getting into those rooms.
Pel and Vess each opened another door, while I poked into the last. Another empty bedroom. Lan strode past, turning the corner again and into the last hallway we hadn’t searched yet.
I started to follow, but before I could take more than a few steps, Lan returned. She shook her head. “Empty.”
I led the way back up the hall and we took another branching. My bubble dispelled any lighting lines it brushed up against, adding darkness to the eerily silent atmosphere.
Soon the other team rejoined us, quietly informing Pel and I that their wing of the building had been abandoned as well.
The passages wound around the building, splitting too many times for sense. From all the bedrooms and extra sitting rooms, my best guess was that this place was built to rent out to multiple families.
Four sections of rooms, each distinct from the others. An impressive kitchen, three sparsely-stocked storage rooms, and a large dining area.
And it was all empty.
The second team split off again, searching the further corridors, but we were beginning to return through the same halls that we’d already checked.
The others glowed only faintly in the dimness, my heavy pink shield nearly the only real light now that I’d inadvertently dispelled so many of the wall lights.
We retraced our steps, slower, more cautiously, checking every door in case we’d missed something.
Nothing. The building was completely empty.
Pel and Lan exited through the kitchen side door to quietly converse with the team watching that side. The edge of the sun was just beginning to peek above the mountains, scattered clouds casting patches of shadow across the frosted grass.
“No one has left since they returned yesterday. I swear it.”
“Well, no one is inside. Is there any other exit? Any way they could have concealed themselves?”
“I don’t think they know they’re being watched, but why would they pretend to return only to sneak off in the night?" The other man shrugged. "If you can’t find them, then you take a turn watching out here while we find them.”
I bristled at the implied insult, as though Pelys wasn’t capable of looking through empty rooms and determining if they had occupants, but to my surprise Pel didn’t punch the man for his insolence. He shrugged instead. “Be my guest. Call if you find anything.”
So we stood outside as the sun slowly rose into the sky, waiting in silence until the other team finally returned with obvious perplexity. “You’re right,” the leader reluctantly conceded. “No one in there.”
“How did they slip past us?” one of the others on the team who’d accompanied us inside asked. “We were watching constantly.”
"I don't know, but this is a problem. If they knew to get out, maybe we've been worse at keeping ourselves hidden than we thought. If they can come and go without us seeing, who knows what else they've been up to?"
"They could be anywhere," a woman on the other team agreed. "We need to find them."
"Does anyone have access to a spectrum reader?" Vess asked. “They’re very strong, it’s possible we could trace them, if they left recently enough.”
Pel glanced at me. “No, but we have something better.”
I flinched back instinctively, memory of the last time he’d used me as a search focus. “No, I can’t— not—” Last time he yanked out my power to fuel the search construct I’d been out for a day; if we planned to chase them and risk a fight, I would be useless.
“It won’t be like last time. You’ve gained a lot of control. I promise, you can do this yourself.”
“Should I drop the shield?”
He nodded. “Lan, keep watch. Vess, shield us both.” Then he started painting the complex series of lines and reservoirs that somehow made up the tracing construct. A rough arrowhead shape, narrowest at its input and widening as it spread out and away. A minute later, it was complete. He rested my hand on the input. “Go ahead. Just push your power out into it.”
I hesitantly did so, encouraging liquid light to flow out from my hand and fill the construct. It didn’t want to, trying to stay close to my body, but to my surprise I was able to overcome that reluctance without difficulty. Months spent shaping it to my will had done more for my control than I’d realized.
As it neared completion, the construct began to glow and vibrate, the pink light clashing against the blue which contained it.
“This is a lot easier to maintain with you handling the input,” Pel commented. “Last time was, ah, exciting.”
Then the construct snapped into place, disengaging from me as it began to rotate wildly in place, like a leaf fluttering on its branch in a heavy wind.
It finally stilled, hovering between Pelys and me, its light dimmed except for three vividly glowing points. It had reoriented itself so the widest part was upright, as though balancing on the input point.
“Astesh, get your shield back up now,” Pel said with quiet intensity.
I began the process at once, instinctively, but it would take nearly a half hour. I glanced at Pel questioningly.
“We missed something,” he whispered, pointing to the tip of the arrow. “Desten 4 is downstairs.”
“There are no stairs down.”
“There must be. And that's probably where Desten and Retti are. We didn't miss them after all. They’re still in there. Follow me. We need to triangulate.”
I followed Pel around the other side of the house, where we repeated the search construct. Then a third time, at the front. The effort of powering the construct dragged my attention away from the slowly-forming shield and strained my focus to its limits, but I felt the urgency that had infected the group. Every moment we delayed gave Retti and Desten more time to prepare.
Pelys frowned. “He’s deep. According to this, probably three or four floors down. There’s no way of knowing where the entrance is from this. I hoped it would be a simple bunker. I wish we had a way to track anyone but the unconscious one.” He sighed and shook his head. “Keep working on your shield.”
“Should you go without me?”
“Your shield is the strongest protection we have, aside from Lan’s flashmail.”
I had to admit he was right. With a forewarned enemy, we’d need every advantage we could muster. I understood the necessity, but any composure I'd had this morning had vanished. Between the relaxing of tension of assuming we’d have to resume the assault another day and the realization that we had just lost our only advantage yet had to continue, I’d lost my edge. It was like realizing I still had work to finish right after lying down to sleep. Disorienting, leaving me far from my prime.
My control over the partly-formed shield quivered, ripples crossing its liquid-light surface. I gritted my teeth and clamped down hard on my trepidation. This was no time for fear.
Weeks of practice came to my aid as I fell into the practiced mindset and steadily built the shield, focusing my mind on the task and nothing else. I vaguely noticed our allies moving about, sometimes speaking to Pel or each other, but I couldn’t have said what they spoke of.
Still, no amount of familiarity could do away with my growing anxiety. Twice more I nearly lost control of the shield, but each time I was able to catch the error and continue. I had to grudgingly admit that Pelys’s rather strenuous training methods did indeed translate to better control and faster recovery in a high-stress situation.
Then my shield was finished, and no more excuses for delay presented themselves. The sun had risen fully now, its light reflecting golden off low clouds.
“I’m ready.”
Pelys nodded. “Then let’s go.”
Lan led the way back inside, followed by Pel, Vess, and three others I didn’t know. I brought up the rear, holding my shield steady and watching for any sudden movement.
The hallways were dark now, only a few lines of light having survived my passage the first time. Sunlight spilled through the wide bedroom windows of the outer rooms, but most of the complex had no access to sunlight.
Lan drew a point of light in the air and pushed it ahead of her to show the way, her blue-tinted armor glinting even deeper blue with the reflected glow.
We went back over every bedroom, every hallway, every meeting room with a completely thorough search. In several of the rooms we discovered concealed doorways, but they only led to more bedrooms or hallways or meeting rooms which we'd already seen.
No sign of a stairway down.
“Perhaps there’s an external entrance downhill?” Vess whispered as we neared the kitchen. “It looks like a housing complex more than anything else.”
“All those secret doors between rooms are suspicious,” Lan pointed out, also in a whisper. “I wouldn’t make any assumptions at this point.”
“We know they’ve gone inside up here and haven't left,” one of our allies added. “It’s pretty obvious they’re using this place as a base. It’s possible there is a secondary exit, but there also has to be a way down in from up here.”
Twice I jumped at nothing. When Lan’s light passed behind one of the others at just the wrong angle, it sent shadows flickering in my peripheral vision, and I was so on edge that it felt like an impending attack.
The longer we spent searching the house with no interruption, the more unbearable the silence and uncertainty became. Any room could hold the secret descent; any door we opened could lead straight to our enemies.
The kitchen and its attached dining hall were empty of secret doors, apart from one at the back of the dining hall providing access to the meeting room beyond - a room which could normally only be reached by traversing several corridors. Perhaps they were servant access? But then why would they be concealed?
The whole place was too dark and quiet. I wanted someone to shout or laugh or scream - anything to break the quiet - but I didn’t dare make a sound. I’d have almost welcomed an ambush from Desten; at least it would put a stop to this interminable waiting.
No attack came.
We discovered hidden passages through easily half the rooms, but none led anywhere but to more rooms. And then we were finished, every room searched and no stairs down.
“Alright, we’re doing this the hard way,” Pel said. He shook his head. “Probably should have started with this.” He led the way confidently to the meeting room most central to the structure overall, then created another search construct. “Astesh?”
It took a bit of finagling to figure out how to shift my shield around so I could reach the input without the shield dispelling the whole thing, and I didn’t dare risk the shield. My steadily increasing anxiety did nothing to aid in concentrating. But somehow I managed it. The construct swung about, finally coming to a stop pointing downward and a little to the left.
“Stand back.” Pel waited for us to obey, then launched a scything attack at the floor, tearing into the carpet and floorboards beneath.
Vess and two of the others moved to help, clearing away the detritus as he continued smashing further down. Lan stood by the door and our third helper joined Pel in digging our impromptu tunnel.
Even if Desten and Retti had somehow overlooked our presence they wouldn’t be able to miss this.
Less than five minutes later, Pel broke through into the room beneath: another bedroom much like those in every direction. Lan stepped forward and dropped down, motioning for me to follow.
I followed.
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