> My grandfathers flew in the sky and etched their will into the very air, my fathers mastered the land and engraved stone with their desire. And I, pitiful scion of their legacy, have told my children nothing of the greatness that should be theirs. Why should I? What benefit is it to them, knowing that their long-dead fathers could accomplish more with a twist of their fingers than they could manage in a lifetime? That their birthright is an impossible duty, a promise broken long before even I was born? It is, perhaps, the ultimate proof of my weakness that I gladly choose ignorant happiness for my heirs rather than impotent sorrow. I will watch them play under the cerein and grow strong, while I clasp the old world so tightly that it cannot help but die with me.
>
> - Unattributed fragment, early Aejha script on unknown material. Not handwritten. Royal archives, Ce Raedhil.
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The sun slanted brightly into the alleyway, not quite reaching the sand below. It was quiet in this part of the city, far from the bustle of the camp and not well-trafficked by scavengers. As extra insurance, Ajehet and his men had posted themselves in a loose perimeter - to ward off any curious wanderers, or to spot if Sjogydhu decided to follow them instead of waiting impatiently back in his excessively ornate chariot.
Jesse looked up at the others. Jackie’s face was twisted with concern, while Arjun and Mark were deep in thought; the former looking intently at the sword across Jesse’s lap, the latter staring at nothing in particular. Gusje and her parents were unreadable, although Tesvaji was slowly running his thumb over the stump of his missing finger as the silence dragged out.
Finally, Mark turned to look at Jesse. “All right,” he said, holding a hand up. “Let me see if I’ve got this. Eryha, the one coming for Tinem Sjocel, is not actually Eryha. The real Eryha was taken over by some kind of fake version of herself that, what - grew inside her?”
Jesse waggled his hand. “More or less. The way she described it, it sounds like exposure to ruud slowly warped her core processes until parts of her system were operating independently.”
“Like radiation causing cancer,” Arjun mused. “Except you say that it was a targeted attack.”
“She thinks so, and it lines up with what we read at the Mosatel Sanctum,” Jesse confirmed. “As well as what Maja told us. Whether ruud itself is intelligent or it’s just being directed by something else, it doesn’t really matter - Eryha was targeted because she had access to the most raw potential for destruction. If she hadn’t intervened to stop the impostor the scale of the explosion would have been much larger - large enough to weaken the structure holding the source of ruud in place and let it free.”
“That structure being a whole damn planet,” Jackie said, furrowing her brow. “The one we happen to be standing on. Sorry, Jesse, but this is just a lot to take in.”
“How do we know we can trust this Eryha?” Gusje asked. She looked around, then let her gaze linger pointedly on Jesse. “She could be setting us up, or using us. She could be using you, considering what she’s already done to you.”
“Yes,” Jesse admitted. “She could be, I’ve thought about it. She’s asking for a lot from us.” He looked down at the sword again, then back up at the others. “I think she doesn’t want to hurt us, at least. If that was her goal she could have just not given me Jes.”
“She wants us to kill Maja,” Mark retorted. “I’m feeling like that could end up with us getting a little hurt. I’m the last person to stick up for her, but it just seems like a bad idea all around. Isn’t Maja the only thing holding the weather together in Tinem Sjocel, not to mention all the other magic protection crap? If she dies, won’t the Sjocelym be totally fucked?”
“Under ideal circumstances she would be crucial,” Arjun murmured. “But if we take Eryha’s story at face value then she was attacked by water intruding into her functional structure. I thought it was odd that there would be such a large amount of mineral buildup in the Sanctum’s hallways given its altitude, but I had written it off as an unimportant discrepancy. Now, I’m not so sure.” He rubbed his eyes wearily. “If she’s compromised in the same manner as Eryha was, it could be disastrous for Tinem Sjocel in a way that mere droughts or even the total abandonment of scriptsmithing could never match. They could all be killed, or subsumed as the impostor’s horde has been.”
Jesse nodded. “Not to mention the sword,” he said. “Looking back, there were several instances where she tried to convince me to let her have it - even just for a moment, like when she enhanced Mark’s weapon. She also displayed interest in the tablet, especially after it was brought back, and we’ve determined the tablet is very similar in function to the sword. Only Tija’s influence prevented her from interacting with it.”
“Even if her intentions are benign now - and we have several reasons to think otherwise - once freed from her restrictions and empowered by the sword, she would be in a more vulnerable position than Eryha ever was,” Arjun mused. “Her downfall would be just a matter of time.”
“But she’s never been anything but helpful,” Mark pointed out. “Creepy, stuck-up, way too smug for her own good, but she’s pretty much the only reason we’re still here and not hacked to bits by fanatics. If her goal was the sword all along, why not just take it from you?”
“She tried, when we first opened the gateway. I didn’t see the attempt for what it was at the time, it went so badly that Jes and I thought she was actually trying to help us,” Jesse said, smiling faintly. “It didn’t work, though, and that made her cautious. I think she’s just been biding her time until she’s got us figured out. I don’t think she views us as a threat, just an opportunity - or maybe an obstacle.” He sighed, looking back down at the blade. “That’s why I can’t go back there. If she realizes I made contact with Eryha she might decide to just kill us and take her chances.”
“Can she do that?” Gusje asked. “I thought she wasn’t able to harm us.”
Mark shook his head. “We took off a lot of restrictions so she could help us out with the Sjocelym,” he sighed. “And she’s the queen of loopholes, if she decided that she wants us gone she’d find a way to make it happen.”
Jackie gave him a look. “You just said she’d been nothing but helpful. Which way are you leaning on this?” she asked.
“You think I know?” Mark said, exasperated. “Yes, she’s been a real peach so far - but do I think she could find a way to fuck us up if it came down to that? Absolutely. Hell, I can think of three or four ways just off the top of my head where she could get the Sjocelym to do it without even getting her hands dirty.”
“You have a point,” she admitted. “She’s definitely had the time to think about ways to do an end-run around her limitations, and even those are suspect if she’s already been compromised by ruud or whatever.” She rubbed her arm absentmindedly, looking uncomfortable. “Honestly, now that I know she might be out to get us I’m not looking forward to going back. If she decides to turn on us while we’re there…”
Jesse gave her a wan smile. “If it makes you feel any better,” he said, “you can’t go back to the Sanctum either.”
Jackie blinked, then looked down at her hands. “Because of Tija?” she asked. “Shit, do you think she’d do something just because of the script I’ve got left?”
“No, not really,” Jesse said. “It’s possible, I guess, but that wasn’t what I was worried about. We can’t send the tablet back through the portal, and I can’t carry it. You’re the obvious choice to keep an eye on it.”
Mark frowned, looking between the two of them. “Hang on,” he said. “The tablet is back at the Sanctum, still. Tasja has it. We’re going to have to find a way to sneak it out without tipping Maja off, if it’s dangerous for her to be around it.”
There was an awkward pause as Jackie winced, and Jesse raised an eyebrow at her.
“It’s in my pack,” she said, not meeting Mark’s annoyed glare. “I was trying to see if I could do anything useful with it.” She looked at Gusje instead, who shook her head, eyes wide. Jackie turned to Jesse, studiously avoiding looking in Mark’s direction. “How did you know? Did you see me practicing?”
Jesse shook his head, laying his hand on the sword in front of him. Light snapped into focus over the various scripted items lying around them, clustering weakly on Mark and Arjun while Tesvaji and Gusje bore the thunderstorm pulse of the asolamyn they wore. Jackie was overall somewhat brighter, with traceries of light spiderwebbing over her hands and right arm - and from the pack that lay between her feet, shining with cold, deadly light.
“Eryha gave Jes some things,” he explained, pointing to her bag. “One benefit is that I can pick out scripted things with her help. The tablet is - well, it stands out.”
“Dammit, guys,” Mark said, rising to his feet and glaring around the group. “Anything else you feel like sharing? I’m getting pretty tired of finding all the important shit out after the fact.”
Jesse took his hand off the sword, then shook his head. Mark turned his glare on Jackie, who hesitated for a moment before taking the tablet out of her pack. “I was going to show you all,” she said apologetically. “I just wanted to get my technique down first.”
Jackie walked to the edge of the circle, facing down the alley towards a chunk of wall that had fallen across the path. Her fingers brushed over the glowing crystal set into the tablet, coming away with a gossamer filament of light trailing from them. She stretched her arm out before tracing a quick loop with her fingers, the filament drifting free as both ends snapped together into a ring.
Mark’s eyes went wide as his hands came up to plug his ears, but before the glowing ring could destabilize Jackie shifted her hand to sit behind it, palm-out - and pushed. A sharp crack echoed through the alley as the ring blurred forward, vanishing from sight. It echoed briefly, then was drowned out by the crash of the wall segment toppling from where it had been cracked in two. The remaining half of the wall bore a chipped crater where the blow had hit, with small cracks spidering outward across its surface.
The alleyway was silent as Jackie turned back to find the rest of the group staring wide-eyed. “So, I figured the script on my hands had to be good for something,” she said, giving them an exhilarated smile. “Turns out it is.”
Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
“Holy fuck,” Mark observed, stepping forward to get a better look at the bisected wall. “That’s - I’m still pissed, but that’s so fucking cool. How many times can you do that? Does it have to be the crystal from the tablet?”
“Not sure, to either question,” she said. “I was hoping to try it with one of the big charge crystals from the warehouse once we got one at full, but I guess that’ll have to wait. All the solar power is back at the Sanctum.”
Arjun stood up, looking lost in thought. “I really wish you hadn’t hidden your practicing,” he muttered.
Jackie walked towards him, looking stricken. “I’m sorry,” she said, “but knew you guys would try and stop me unless I had proof it would be useful. All I had was a feeling, but it was strong enough that I had to follow it up.”
“What?” Arjun said, blinking. “Oh, no. I mean, yes, it was very dangerous and, ah, ill-advised.”
Jackie frowned. “Wait, what did you mean, then?”
He tapped his chin, then looked down at the charge crystal. “I was just thinking,” he said. “About the nature of scriptwork. I don’t suppose you’ve tried any shapes besides a circle?”
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The sun still burned overhead, but the shadows were steadily carving their cool islands into the day’s heat, stretching out from the ruined shells of buildings like grasping fingers. A chunk toppled from the top of one half-intact tower, followed only a moment later by an echoing boom that Mark felt in his ribs.
He shook his head. “How the hell did she practice this in secret?” he wondered aloud.
“I suspect my daughter may have aided her,” Tesvaji said, his mouth quirking into a rueful grin. “I have never had cause to scold her for going against my wishes, but that is a comment on her stealth more than her behavior.” He shook his head, picking up one of the industrial charge crystals and turning it over in his hands, watching the sunlight glint from its polished facets.
Mark picked up another crystal and wrapped it in a length of cloth stolen from the king’s chariot - thick brocade of some sort, enough to cushion it for transport. He cinched the wrap tight before sliding the crystal into a sack. “Well, I’m nobody’s dad - that I know of,” Mark said, wiping sweat from his brow and grinning at Tesvaji. “And I’m not in charge here, I’m just louder than the rest of them. Hell, I don’t have standing to tell the others a damn thing. Jesse outranks me, they’re all older than me-”
He grunted, lifting another charge crystal and setting it on a fresh bolt of cloth to be wrapped. “So I figure I can’t get too mad that they were playing their shit close to the vest,” he said. “I kind of get it, for them it’s personal. Big glowy women fucking around with their heads.” He rolled the cloth up, blinking at the rather lewd tapestry depicted on the obverse, then shook his head. “I just wish they’d trust me enough to tell me first, not last.”
Tesvaji set his crystal down and gave Mark an evaluating look. “You claim not to be in charge,” he said, “but they clearly listen to you. Do you think they would respect your opinion, if they did not also hold respect for you?”
Mark cocked his head, thinking for a second before another wave of noise rippled over the desert. Dust fountained up from an unseen event in the distance, followed by the faint noise of Jackie shouting excitedly. He listened for a moment, a smile tugging at the corners of his lips before he sighed and shook his head.
“I don’t know, man,” he muttered. “It’s not like we’re sitting down and having a discussion about this stuff. I’m just the only one dumb enough to say ‘hey, we should go this way’ without really thinking it through, and they go with it because - well, I don’t know.”
“Because so far, everything has been fine,” Tesvaji said, his eyes glittering merrily. “You are not a Madi, but in that respect there is little separating you from one. Sometimes all that is needed is a man with a direction. I could lead a team of men and speak only to call the start and end of our travels. Our scouts and trackers would determine the heading and pace of our movements, but at the end of it all they would credit me with the team’s success despite my contribution measuring nothing they could not have provided themselves.”
“It used to trouble me, and still does from time to time. But - there is a weight to those words that would burden the others, if I passed it to them. In that first step lie the seeds of all other decisions that could press themselves upon us. Many men who would stare a charging esemadhe in the teeth without flinching will waste days hiding from a weighty decision, or even the chance of having to face one.”
Tesvaji inclined his head at a plume of dark smoke that rippled up into the sky. “And there they all stand,” he said. “They test possibilities, choices. They explore and wonder.” He smiled fondly into the distance, sunlight glinting off his teeth. “And they are free to focus on tracking, finding, knowing, because they trust that if there is a decision that seeks them out, you will shoulder that burden. You are the man with a direction.”
“But what if it’s the wrong direction?” Mark protested. “Hell, I’ll be the first one to tell you I haven’t always jumped the right way, especially when we were with the Sjocelym.”
“You are very young,” Tesvaji chuckled. “I have likely spent more time walking the wrong path than you have spent walking at all. I find it matters very little, as long as all walk together.” He squinted at Mark, who was still looking sullen. “But you worry that your mistaken choices have damaged their trust in you?” he asked. Mark didn’t reply immediately, and Tesvaji smiled again.
“Answer a question,” he said. “As the man with a direction, what do you do when you are uncertain of how to proceed?”
Mark shrugged. “Figure it out, I guess,” he said. “Do the best I can with the information I have.”
“Exactly,” Tesvaji confirmed. “You decide, you resolve the problem. So, then - you are your friends. You have been touched by a great vinesavai and feel its weight on you. Your path is twisted in ways you have never seen, in ways that eat at the question of who you are. You have a problem, and are in need of a clear way forward.” He leaned in, his craggy face no longer smiling in the least. “So tell me, man with a direction. What do you choose for your friend?”
Tesvaji’s abrupt seriousness took Mark aback for a moment, and it was a few seconds before he shook his head, looking puzzled. “I wouldn’t even know where to start,” he said. “I’m not sure that’d be my decision to - oh.” He grimaced, pinching the bridge of his nose as Tesvaji’s face split into a dazzling grin. “Thank you, I’m an idiot.”
Tesvaji laughed and clapped him on the back, staggering him a step forward. “What you just said is the secret to my success,” Tesvaji said conspiratorially. “Both as Madi and in my marriage.” He laughed again, delivering another punishingly fond blow across Mark’s shoulders despite it being something of a reach for the shorter chief. “When you are the man with a direction, people only come to you when they are ready to move forward. You must wait for them to finish readying their pack, or risk sending them on a journey they are unprepared to face. In the end, though, they will come to you.”
Mark managed a smile, looking somewhat mollified. “Well, that’s-”
He broke off as a series of loud staccato cracks echoed across the sand. Arjun and Jackie both begin yelling as the noises continued, becoming louder and closer together with every passing second.
Mark looked worriedly out over the ruins. “So is this one of those ‘let them pack their bag’ moments?” he asked.
Tesvaji chuckled, inclining his head sagely. “As a Madi, sometimes it can be difficult to stand aside-”
He paused as Gusje’s voice joined in the yelling. The telltale whump of her gauntlet began to sound in between the cracking noises, which intensified further.
“Then again,” he said, beginning to walk quickly out towards the ruins, “the bag was only a metaphor.”
Mark sighed and jogged after him as Jesse’s voice joined the cacophony.
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A roaring vortex of sand and dust whirled in the sun, the toroidal twisting of the air flinging a constant sandblast of grit at anyone who drew close. Purple fingers of static lightning writhed through the cloud as the churning dust built up a charge, snapping constantly at the stone around them.
They had tried having Jackie disrupt it, and even tried breaking the airflow with a blast from the gauntlet - but more energy into the system was only feeding it, and it did not appear to be winding down on its own anytime soon.
Jesse drew his sword, then held it before him as he walked slowly into the duststorm. Immediately he was beset with a melange of rippling color from the ruud-infused dust, backlit by the blinding glow of the symbol hanging in the center of the storm - one they had lifted from his armor, somehow tied to the concept of motion. The sword was an eye-searing slice of void hanging amid the psychedelic hurricane.
Between the grit and the view, Jesse’s eyes hurt.
He suppressed a sigh, not wanting the lungful of dust that would entail. Arjun’s suggestion had been perfectly reasonable - the circle was the foundation of scriptwork, after all, so why not try expanding Jackie’s glowing rings to approximate actual script glyphs? Their first tests had gone quite well - the focal glyph from a qi coin had produced a painful blast of light, while the one featured prominently on Gusje’s gauntlet had converted Jackie’s hesitant push into a spray of flames.
The results cleaving so close to what they had expected may have spurred some overconfidence, Jesse thought ruefully. At least enough that they overlooked the potential pitfall of making a glyph that both fed on and produced motion.
He drew near enough to the hissing vortex of sand to extend his sword outward, feeling the sting of small particles on his face despite its warding effect. As he held it closer to the symbol he could feel the winds slowing, the purple snakes of lightning striking the sword so quickly they appeared as a continuous, writhing beam. Finally, the tip of the metal touched the glowing ring - which promptly vanished.
A basso noise reverberated across the desert as the sand unceremoniously fell out of the air, leaving Jesse coated in a thick layer of brownish-red dust. Goresje’s sword seemed to hum in his hand. Frowning, he made an effort to look past the disconcerting void-and-glare images Jes overlaid and saw the bare steel of the blade - but also rippling patches of cold light crawling over its surface, similar to when Eryha had touched it during their conversation.
There was a sense of triumph that filtered through from Jes, followed by the sense of a mischievous smile. A mild shock of static lanced through him as the dust sprung from his body, making him jump. The patches of blue on the sword dimmed noticeably.
“What the fuck was that?” Mark yelled, coming around the corner just behind a worried-looking Tesvaji. “Is everyone okay?” He drew up short as he took in the scene - Jackie and Arjun’s frazzled, dust-filled hair, Gusje scowling and holding her smoldering gauntlet, and Jesse still standing in the middle of the settling dust cloud with chill light rippling through the metal of his sword.
“It may be prudent to set up some safety measures before we test further,” Arjun said mildly, brushing sand from his shirt. “That was an interesting result, though. I think that this was definitely Tija’s intent for the script in Jackie’s hands. If she had full control and access to the tablet, with her knowledge of scriptwork, well-”
He broke off at a pointed nudge from Gusje. Jackie was looking down at the tablet with an inscrutable expression, running her thumb along the edge.
“Jesse’s right,” she said. “I can’t go back to the Sanctum any more than he can. If I can do this pretty much by accident, then we can’t risk giving Maja more time to study it. She might find a way around Tija’s protection, or just get a good enough look to try duplicating it on someone else. If that happens…”
“Yeah, that wouldn’t be great,” Mark said. “Shit.” He looked around the disheveled group, then sighed and turned his eyes back towards the gate. When he looked back towards the others he noticed more than a few eyes on him, and a covert smirk from Tesvaji.
“Direction time,” Mark muttered, shaking his head.
“What was that?” Jesse asked, walking up and sheathing his sword. The dust behind him rippled as his fingers left the grip, and Jackie sneezed suddenly.
“Nothing,” Mark sighed. “All right, we should probably get ahold of Ajehet and figure some stuff out.”
Jesse frowned, flexing his fingers. “Like what?”
Mark shrugged. “Like what to tell Sjogyhdu, and how to tell Maja her favorite humans aren’t coming back through the gate without her deciding to kill us all,” he said wearily. “Probably some other stuff, but I figure it’ll come up as we talk.”
“Easy enough,” Arjun said dryly.
Gusje frowned, looking very like her father for a moment. “It may actually be that simple,” she said. “What if we just told everyone we’re going to Idran Saal? The keystone is needed there, the captured Aesvain are there - it’s a perfect excuse to ride back with Sjogydhu.”
“But we can’t take the keystone,” Mark protested. “Your folks will need it if not-Eryha swings down this way.”
Tesvaji shook his head. “Not if we leave before you do,” he said, earning a few quizzical looks from the others. He smiled, then gestured toward the gate. “I have already chosen our path. You must go with the Sjocelym to do the things only you can do, there is no option there. It is also true that Maja may grow suspicious of your absence if you appear to be keeping what she craves from her. What you need is a diversion, and what my people need is a refuge - and answers about their past.”
He grinned as they took his meaning, spreading his hands wide across the ruined city. “No matter what Maja may be, this many Caretakers walking into her home cannot fail to hold her attention.”