“We should let him rest,” Eiva said quietly.

Rian, Halbert, and Eiva stepped out into the hall.

Eiva sighed. “Maybe what Mortua has done to Ransey isn’t what he wants, but he’s too loyal to her to fight it.”

“It might be too late for him to fight it,” Halbert said. “Mortua won’t let him. He knows that. Even so, he might escape her grasp with help.”

“He brought this on himself,” Eiva said.

Halbert shook his head. “There is good in him. I’ve seen it, and I know it’s still there, but Mortua will try her hardest to keep a tight hold of him.”

Did Ransey truly have doubts about where Mortua was leading him? Rian thought he might, but at this point those doubts would only torment Ransey. Halbert was right, Mortua wouldn’t let Ransey turn away from her. What could they do to help him, if he did accept their help? Blossom joined them in the hall.

“I think we can get into Dienia’s Sanctum using the book,” Blossom said. “I can get us in and back out.”

“We would be facing a goddess in her own Sanctum,” Eiva said.

Blossom stiffened. “We have to at least try. Tierney declared his loyalty to her, but she denounced him to the Sancta. She didn’t take back her magic even after doing that. Dienia clearly still has plans for him. We may take her by surprise.” She looked at Rian and Halbert.

“It’s worth a try,” Halbert said.

Blossom smiled. “I’ll need to prepare to open the way. I think I’ll be ready by morning.” She walked away, back along the hall.

Eiva sighed. “I’ll meet you at the graveyard in the morning.”

Rian and Halbert returned to the graveyard. Rian glanced back at the iron archway and saw an Ectu moving out of sight quickly. Rian watched, but the Ectu didn’t come back into sight. He wasn’t certain, but he thought it might be an Ectu he’d seen watching him over the last few days.

He wore clothes like the Ectu who lived in cities. His short red hair was a mess, and his eyes were a light shade of brown that was almost golden. The Ectu had been watching for days, but he hadn’t spoken to Rian and always hurried off when Rian tried to approach him. Rian tried to push it from mind, but why was the Ectu watching? Halbert had said the Ectu all knew the two of them were undead. Maybe the Ectu man was curious about them. Rian took his cloak off and lay on the ground. Halbert had already done the same.

As soon as Rian let the ground swallow him, he saw Ruari talking to his wife, Frona, at their small house in Derwen. Ruari didn’t tell Frona about Trivius yet, not wanting to worry her. Ruari had told Dion, who was terrified when he realized Trivius had given him some kind of magic at the shrine. A few days had passed since Ruari had spoken to Trivius in the forest.

Ruari stood on the wall of Derwen, keeping watch. It was nearing midday, with no fog in sight. He could see across the plains, almost to the forest in the distance, where Trivius’s shrine and bones were. An unfamiliar knight joined Ruari on the wall. The knight looked only a little older than Ruari. He wore the armor of a Sancta Knight.

The Sancta Knight stared at Ruari for a long moment, as though deciding something. “Ruari of Derwen?”

Ruari nodded, trying not to look as nervous as he felt. What did the Sancta want with him?

“As I understand it, you and a fellow knight were sent to search the forest due to disturbances,” the knight said. “Sounds, lights, that sort of thing. What did you find out there?”

The knight had likely spoken to Dion as well, and possibly to the captain. If he hadn’t, he would.

“We found an old shrine,” Ruari said.

“Anything else?” the knight asked.

Dion wouldn’t tell a Sancta Knight what they’d seen after Ruari had explained to him who Trivius was. The two of them hadn’t mentioned the apparition to the captain.

“Nothing else,” Ruari said. “Just an old shrine.”

The knight frowned. Ruari could tell the knight didn’t believe him. “Very well. If you think of anything else, I’ll be in Derwen for a few days.” He walked away.

Ruari watched the knight go. What did the Sancta know about Trivius’s shrine? Did they know everything and were just keeping it a secret from the rest of Ivrua? Ruari kept watch on the wall all day. What Trivius had given him felt like it was burrowing further into him, doing something to him. By the end of the day, Ruari felt very strange.

On his way home, in the narrower alleyways of Derwen, he heard someone following him. He didn’t look back to see who it was. The strange feeling was getting more intense, a coldness in his skin that was more uncomfortable by the moment. Ruari changed direction, going down a side alleyway, then he ran. He heard the one following him running as well.

Ruari couldn’t go any further. He stopped, leaning against the wall of the alleyway as everything spun out of focus. It felt like his skin was burning. He cried out as a red light flared somewhere deep beneath his skin, burning through it. Ruari watched in horror as his flesh burned away. The red, burning light in his bones faded out as his last breath left him.

At the sound of a sword being drawn, Ruari turned to face the one who had followed him. It was the Sancta Knight, his eyes wide with fear. Ruari turned and ran further into the alleyways. He was much more familiar with Derwen than the knight and managed to lose him. Ruari went home, not knowing what else to do. What had Trivius’s power done to him?

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Frona was there when Ruari went inside. She froze in the middle of sweeping the floor. She dropped the broom, taking a small step back, staring at him. Ruari took a step toward her. Before he could say anything, Frona ran from the house, leaving the door open behind her. Ruari stood there for a moment, not knowing what to do.

Even Frona was afraid of him. He went to the washroom. They had only a small shard of mirror in there, as mirrors were hard to come by. It was enough to see what Trivius had done to him. A skeleton looked back at him in the mirror, with empty eye sockets. Ruari thought quickly. He couldn’t stay in Derwen. He grabbed his cloak and pulled the hood up, then left the house.

Ruari left Derwen, crossing the plains to the forest. He didn’t stop when he reached the shrine, not until he reached Trivius’s bones. Ruari took the cloak off, letting it fall to the ground. Red light flickered in the one visible socket of Trivius’s skull.

“What did you do to me?” Ruari asked.

“You have become fully undead,” Trivius said.

“Undo it,” Ruari said.

“I cannot.” Trivius sounded pleased.

Ruari sat on the nearby rock, a deep hopelessness washing over him.

The red light in the eye of Trivius’s skull flared brighter. “You have nothing left to lose. Truly become my Speaker. Embrace the power I have given you.”

Ruari wanted to go back to Derwen. He wanted to take back that moment he’d agreed to help Trivius. He hadn’t known Trivius would do this. But he couldn’t undo his choice, and he still had the feeling this was something he needed to do. The truth needed to be known, the truth the Sancta and Quidvis were trying so hard to hide. Ruari stood, feeling the power Trivius had given him deep inside of him.

That power was meant to be a part of him. With it, he would achieve what he had set out to do. The red light burned in his bones again, cracking them at first. Then the cracks healed, but the light remained. Trivius’s power flooded through Ruari, an inescapable heat. Ruari cried out, trying to pull back from the heat, but it was everywhere. At last the heat faded, but the light remained, glowing from deep within his bones. He reached up and felt long, curving horns on either side of his skull, like Trivius’s.

“Ruari.”

Ruari turned sharply at the sound of the voice.

Dion stood among the trees not far off, worry and fear in his eyes. Had he followed? “I’m here to help.” He took another step closer, but he looked uncertain.

“Do not trust him,” Trivius said. “I sense Quidvis’s magic in him.”

Dion frowned, then he drew his sword and struck at Ruari. Ruari drew his sword just in time to block.

“Quidvis and the other gods destroyed Trivius for a reason,” Dion said.

Ruari sensed many buried bones beneath the ground, bound how Trivius was. They were Trivius’s knights. Ruari reached out with his magic and freed them. The skeletal knights pulled free from the ground. Dion took a step back. He stared at the knights with wide eyes, much how the Sancta Knight and Frona had looked at Ruari, then he turned and ran back through the forest.

Rian awoke with a start, still under the ground in the graveyard. He returned to the surface, where the sun was just about done rising. Halbert was already up, sitting at the base of a tree, with his cloak still off. He looked at Rian but said nothing. Rian remembered the rest of what had happened to Dion. The All-Keeper’s magic had destroyed him. In the end, he had begged Ruari to kill him. Rian tried to push the memories away, the memories that were not his.

“More memories?” Halbert asked.

Rian told him what he’d seen. “I still haven’t heard Ruari’s voice in my head. I don’t know why Trivius and the voices of the dead think I’m him. The memories feel familiar, but I know they aren’t mine.”

“Perhaps the part of Trivius in you is weakening,” Halbert said.

Rian nodded. “I feel him getting weaker. Maybe that’s why he doesn’t hear my thoughts about Ruari.” He had heard Rian’s thoughts before.

“Are you ready to face Dienia?” Eiva asked, joining them in the graveyard.

Rian wasn’t sure he would ever be ready to face a goddess in her own Sanctum, but they couldn’t put it off any longer. The three of them went to the castle library. Blossom and Leaf were already there. The library was vast, with the shelves all against the walls, going up to the ceiling.

There were windows built into the sloping ceiling, letting in a lot of sunlight, but at angles that kept it away from the books. A large book rested on a podium against the far wall of the library. The podium was intricate metal. The leather bound book was gray, looked ancient, and had no title.

“I don’t feel magic from it,” Rian said.

“Neither do I,” Eiva said.

Halbert nodded. “The magic has already been given. Only Dienia could have given it.”

Leaf sighed. “I see little other choice than to face Dienia in her Sanctum. She is the one leading Tierney. He’s plenty dangerous on his own, but at least if we stop Dienia, he won’t have a goddess on his side. And there is a chance Dienia can be reasoned with.”

Rian wasn’t sure about the last part, but hopefully they would find out why Dienia was working against Mortua.

“I just hope we survive this,” Eiva said.

Blossom’s brows were furrowed as she stared at the book. “In angering a goddess, surviving might not be such a good outcome. It depends on what she does to us.” She opened the book to the middle and closed her eyes.

“Gather closer,” Leaf said quietly.

Rian, Halbert, and Eiva moved closer.

A dark green light flickered across the old, yellowed pages of the book. The words on the pages were out of focus, seeming to change while Rian stared at them. The green light faded, then a flash of white blocked out everything else. When the flash faded, they were standing in an ethereal library. It looked much like the one they had just left, only much bigger.

The walls of bookshelves seemed to go on forever ahead and behind them, and there were no windows. Everything was the pale gray, slightly translucent that Mortua’s Sanctum had been. This was what Rian had thought the Sanctum of the Goddess of Knowledge might look like.

They weren’t alone. He could already feel Dienia’s presence getting closer. It wasn’t as frightening as Mortua’s, but it was powerful. Books left the shelves on either side of them, flying together to loosely form the shape of a person.

“I knew you would come,” Dienia said, her voice echoing all around them. She sounded entirely calm.