While the warrior poet concentrated, Nua stepped aside and sat down for a longer talk with Anki, to exchange the information she learned from the goddess and that he gathered while scouting. They could finally take time to trade more than brief warnings, and make the fullest use of the king’s scouting ability.
Anki’s reach was far, but to his chagrin, not all the walls let him through. The very center of the goddess’ chamber was inaccessible, and there was a circle even before the walls surrounding it that the spirit could not cross. This was exactly the place he would like to visit, and yet, Nua would not agree to the risk. She recounted the conversation with Ninisina Nammu’s illusion, the king’s mood growing darker with each tidbit of new information.
“It is correct that my daughter could have predicted your arrival,” he answered after she was done. “Perhaps not yours exactly, but a person that could fill your role. Ninisina Nammu had the gift of an Oracle, and her mastery of probabilities was unparalleled. She was, as you would say it, crazy prepared. I cannot exclude planting the seeds of a plan that would hatch a thousand years in the future. Her words worry me all the more, and I am certain that we should head to the inner sanctum even if I cannot see it from the inside. I saw the rest of the tower; it looks wrong. I’ll show you.”
“We’re not on our own.” Nua shook her head. “Even if this place protects me because it’s my kinfolk’s, the same does not apply to the rest. She said “error” when taking the defenses down. And I don’t want to see anyone else injured because of me. It wouldn’t be the first time either.”
“We are so close to the answer,” Anki whispered, still hesitant.
“Listen, she said that we actually have to come back to get this crystal of whatever. Let’s just rob the tower properly and return later, when I’m all good and strong, all right? She said that my safety is the most important thing ever, and I wholeheartedly agree.”
“I suppose you are, for once, right,” the king sighed, disappointment clear in his demeanor. “Let me show you through the etheric window what I found.”
He flew away.
Before, Nua saw the inside of the Southern Temple in the Overlord’s Mercy. Its story ended with a siege, the temple’s resources exhausted, its last defenders perishing of hunger, self-inflicted poison, or the unknown ritual mentioned in her vision that has, probably, sealed the complex, killed off the attackers or something of the sort. She had never actually asked Anki about it. This temple had been purposefully abandoned, but not entirely emptied. Except for the glowing silver glyphs on the walls (which, as a source of light, helped Anki to scout in detail), the chambers were full of delicate equipment made of golden and silver wire, crystalline arrays, and transparent glass. Some resembled the etheric machinery she saw near the ancient goliaths, only there was more of it and different kinds. There were also human-sized containers, intact and empty. Other artifacts looked like nothing she knew. There was a miniature golden tree growing in a round chamber filled with purple grass, and a construction welded entirely of blue-tinted glass bottles and swirly tubes. There was a cabinet made of crystal; the glyphs that covered it and the surrounding wires suggested that it wasn’t actually a cabinet at all.
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All that would be the more impressive if it was intact. The chambers, as it appeared, were not entirely impervious to the earthquake. Parts of the most delicate equipment littered the floor as if the wind blew through the chambers, and the floor harbored stains. Probably toxic, Anki has said. Whatever had evaporated here was not date wine.
The sense of wrongness came from the walls. They weren’t just cracked; they looked absolutely shattered and held together only by the sorcery that absorbed the impact and kept the tower from falling apart. Everything indicated that the inner sanctum, that Anki was so keen to get into, was the epicenter. And if it was the epicenter, it was probably the source.
Nua thought there was no way Ninisina Nammu could actually stay in there and survive. Anki didn’t say anything, but she could see that right now, he wanted to make sure that she was not, in fact, sleeping inside when it happened. Or that she had defenses protecting her from the worst outcome. The actual origin of the earthquake, though, was mysterious and worrying. After all, it had happened not that long ago.
He was almost cheerful when showing her the chambers. It was a terrible act and it worried her more than it helped.
“This,” Anki said, directing the window at an object that looked like a black case the size of a clay tablet. “This is a rare find. Ask for this one as your share of spoils.”
“What is that, exactly?”
”It’s a wearable PAD, a short for a personal assistance device. In my days, almost no one owned them since everybody had implants. I haven’t even thought about keeping one in my personal storage. Its previous owner was probably medically incapable of using implant ethertech. Or some traditionalist. But that’s hardly possible in my daughter’s facility.”
“This is a lot of words, Anki, but you’re talking to yourself again. What does it do?”
“Back in the day, it was capable of wonders, but even without the ethersphere, it is a precious artifact. Think of it as a library of a thousand scrolls. I can teach you emegir with it, and who knows what the previous owner’s stash contains. Perhaps even spells if we’re lucky.
“One last thing. Did you find a working elevator to the surface?”
“Yes, but I would not try it. It looks too damaged. There is an emergency staircase, though. Protected like the previous one. That’s a lot of stairs, I know. I will scout it once I have the whole vertical riser in range. The maps suggest that the surface buildings were uncovered, and we will hopefully have a passage without having to blow up anything with the tower’s defenses.”
“Are you done, Nua?” Quintus opened his eyes and stood up. “There is an area my Muses couldn’t get into. But the rest is safe, as the goddess promised; the feeling of mortal danger is gone. They also whisper of the treasure.”
Nua nodded.
“It’s true. I had the time to take a good look. Let’s go; I will show you.”
They were prepared. They have properly communicated. They had everything covered. Nua entered the elevator with her conscience clear. This time, nothing could go wrong.