broccolifloret
The strands of hair loosened up from my arms and legs, hesitatingly, as if they weren’t sure of what was going on. Once they made up their—minds, I guess, they went after Vanth right away. He set me down. Valentino was ready to hold me.
“I’m fine.” I supported myself with a hand on Valentino’s shoulder, but not too hard, because he didn’t seem to be in great shape.
My eyes mostly stayed with Vanth, though. Even in such a short time, the strands of hair had wrapped themselves over much of its bare skin. Now I was free from them, I could clearly see they had burst out of the ground like some freakish pnt. Even with the scarce light provided by my spell, I could make out several different colors and textures. The whole thing felt pretty disgusting, especially how they crawled over Vanth all wormlike. I’m sure they had started piercing his skin too—after all, they’d mistaken Vanth with me.
But that’s exactly what Vanth wanted.
Magic thrummed all over Vanth and the strands of hair both, so sudden and intense my eyes watered. Just as soon, it was over. The strands of hair uncoiled and fell, lifeless. Already crumbling before they hit the ground. Vanth stepped on them without even looking down, leaving dust under his boots.
That’s the thing with using your own essence as a spell focus. It gives you a tremendous burst of power, but it leaves you open to retaliation. It can be helpful in an emergency, but it’s not surprising that most people will avoid it if there’s any other choice.
“Vanth!” I went to check on him, standing on tiptoes to get a good look at the left side of his face, the bloodstained side. “Thank heavens, it’s not your blood. I don’t have any healing spells right here, but I can handle a few cuts just fine. Do you need healing?”
Instead of answering, he leaned over me, tilting my neck to the spell light as delicately as if I was made of soap bubbles. “You’re the one who’s hurt.”
I hadn’t been paying attention to it, what with everything else in my mind, but Cassel had to have left some bruises on my neck. “No, that’s no—“
Vanth ran a thumb over the tender parts of my throat, so softly it didn’t hurt at all. “He could’ve killed you.” His voice trembled with anger. And then again, with pain: “He could’ve killed you.”
I took his gloved hand on both of mine and kissed its knuckles. “You wouldn’t have let him.”
“You sound quite sure.”
“Well, you did came when I needed you!” It was only when I said those words that I realized I didn’t have any doubts left. “Honestly, it’s my fault that I couldn’t bring myself to call you.”
“Why not?”
I hadn’t trust him, that’s why. This wasn’t the right time to admit that, though.
“I was afraid, so I wasn’t thinking right. But now I know you’ll come help me no matter what, so I don’t have any reasons to be afraid anymore. If you feel bad, though, I’ll accept a healing spell from you.”
His shoulders gave the smallest shake of despair. “I can’t do that.”
“It’s fine.” I checked his arms and chest for wounds, too, but the strands of hair hadn’t pierced him much more seriously than a mosquito would. “I’m going to heal myself, yes?”
“Of course.” He took a step back, as if I needed room to do something very complicated. Then he turned to Valentino. “Is everything fine, Sergeant Vargas?”
“Yeah.” Valentino had taken seat in the rocks by the river.
I focused on my injured neck muscles, the way Grandma Cielo had taught me to, and told them to heal themselves. Healing spells weren’t my best or my worst ones, but they’re easy ones—your body wants to be healed and whole. If you want to hurt someone, on the other hand, you’re swimming against the current.
“The river seems to be clean,” I told both of them, “in case you want to drink or something.”
As Vanth washed his face, I checked how Valentino was doing. Of course, he hadn’t suffered any sting damage—not any physical damage, I mean. That’s how the greensuits work. I didn’t wat to think about them, though. What mattered was that he didn’t really need my help.
I picked up my jacket next, and as I put it on, the snake bracelet blinked at me from inside my sleeve.
“And aren’t you supposed to prevent bleeding?” I asked it.
“It may not have done its job perfectly, but it kept you alive.” Vanth was scooping up handfuls of water to wash the dried blood from his hair. “Twelve against one really is unfair. One might even say it’s excessive.”
“Well, thank you both.” The snake bracelet blinked again.
“Where now?” Vanth asked.
“You asking me?”
“I assume you understand the situation better than me.”
“Better, yes.” I crouched between him and Valentino. “I think I even get what’s going on, more or less. But first, I need to check a few things with you.”
“Go on.”
“You’re not involved in the strikes and such going on in High Tomenedra, are you?”
“No.”
Well, at least I didn’t have to worry about him being part of this particur mess.
“But Cassel thinks you are. Do you know what gave him that impression?”
Vanth sighed. “I’m not legally allowed to influence political decisions, but I financially support some groups. Workers’ rights and that kind of thing. Some people at court have gotten the idea it means I’m trying for a power grab.”
I told him how Cassel seemed to believe he had proof of Vanth’s interference. “I could be wrong,” I added, “but I do think you’ve been framed. That sounds more likely than Cassel bothering to lie to me.”
“Probably.”
“Do you know who could’ve framed you?”
“I would’ve bmed Cassel himself, but you clearly have a different idea.”
“Yeah. I think the strikers did it.” Both him and Valentino looked at me with interest. “I mean, who else could’ve done it? Namedropping you at the right moment costs them nothing. Pnting false motorcycle tracks would be harder, but I don’t think you’d even need a whole motorcycle, just a wheel or two. And who’s to say they can’t steal them from guards? Are there different types of wheels or something?”
“There’s a couple of different manufacturers, but I don’t believe the guards in High Tomenedra can recognize my brand.”
“There you go. The strikers also have a motivation. It’s a good way to distract Cassel from their own trail.” I expined my theory about the map, and how it might’ve led me to that river. “There’s something that doesn’t add up, though. I can’t figure out what the necromancer has to do with any of this.” And then I brought Vanth up to date with my findings from st night—or as many of them as I cared to mention in front of Valentino.
“There’s probably more than one necromancer involved.” Vanth had sat on the ground with his long legs folded up before him. “First, there’s the person who summoned the needleteeth. Then, there’s the person who summoned you to the Underworld. These can’t be the same. One is vastly more skilled than the other. And then, there’s the people who just tried to murder you.” He looked at the smattering of dust that was all that remained from the strands of hair. “They were skilled, too, but much more aggressive than the one who summoned you. That person might not have intended to harm you in the first pce.”
“What makes you think that?” I asked. “They almost got me eaten.”
“Only in spirit—literally, but even so, you would’ve survived.”
“Yeah, well. I wouldn’t have appreciated that at all.”
He sort-of-smiled. At this point, though, I knew that was the best approximation of a smile he could pull off without looking creepy, so I smiled back at him. “Simply pointing out that this dozen dream-walkers absolutely wanted you dead, no ambiguity to it.”
I stared at the opposite shore, where yellow moss grew. “That’s way too many people who want me dead all of a sudden. What the hells happened?”
“Her Magnificence summoned you.”
“So I guess it’s now common knowledge at court?”
“Maybe not common knowledge, but at least a few influential people are aware of it.”
“But what’s even the point of going through all this trouble?”
Vanth shook his hair to get rid of any lingering drops of water. “It’s because they don’t know why Her Magnificence summoned you. They expect the worst, one supposes.”
“Well, that makes no sense.”
He looked right at me. “Do you know why she summoned you?”
My tongue stuck to my pate. With some effort, I unstuck it.
“No.” That wasn’t a lie. Who ever knew why that woman did anything? “What do they expect, anyway? She’s not going to name me her heir or anything ridiculous like that.”
“She might want you to prop her chosen heir up.”
“And is that worth the bother of sending a dozen people to murder me?”
“In someone’s opinion, it was. Though they might’ve changed their mind.” I detected just a hint of pride in his voice.
“Yeah,” I added, because I was pretty sure he would appreciate it, “with you on my side, they really should think twice before trying again.”
Vanth looked away. I swear he looked bashful—for Vanth standards.
I stood up, stretching. “You know, st night I almost found the necromancer, and twelve hours ter I almost got killed. That don’t sound like a coincidence to me.”
I wasn’t going to mention the Snakes when Valentino was listening in, but the important part got across.
Vanth stood up too. “You still want to kill the necromancer yourself?”
“Yeah.”
He nodded. “I’ll help you as much as I can. Just remember I can’t hold myself back from killing a necromancer for long.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.” I looked down the river, into the darkness that went on and on. “All that’s left to do is figure out what direction to follow, I guess.”
Valentino got to his feet too. “Are we meeting with the strikers, Your Excellency?”
“They’re Cassel’s enemies, so I’m on their side. For now.”
Despite his own wishes, Cassel had done me a favor—he’d provided me with a perfect excuse to side with the Snakes. Valentino looked like he agreed, if only for now.
I turned to Vanth. “Not trying to pressure you or anything, but it’d be a really big help if you could tell me whether following that river will lead us to the strikers, and if so, which direction is the right one. Because I have no clue.”
“You said there’s a necromancer near the people you’re looking for, didn’t you? That might help. The nd doesn’t like it when the Underworld touches it. With any luck, I’ll be able to feel its distaste.” He crouched and touched the ground with an open hand. Almost as soon, though, he removed it as if he’d been burned. He looked up at me, confused. “The nd is angry.”
“Yeah, that’s—you missed it, but right before you showed up, Cassel was showing me the mountain god. I’m not kidding, it looked back at me and all. It really is angry.”
“Tipilej-tepuy?”
“Yeah. No, wait. Tipilej Awki.” That’s the title Nina had used for the missing mountain. I figured out it was just as appropiate for one of the Twin Tepuy. “It don’t like that Cassel’s been drilling holes all over it. And can you bme it? Cassel works for the descendant of someone who destroyed one of Tipilej Awki’s own. I’d be mad too.”
Vanth nodded. “That expins why Cassel hasn’t been in the best of moods tely.”
“Aren’t you worried though?”
“I’m not the one who angered Tipilej Awki, so no.” I wasn’t entirely convinced, and it obviously showed in my face, because Vanth hurried to add, “I’ll make sure to protect you, of course.”
“Oh, I know that! It’s just that—this is all so unexpected.”
The Megarchon was dying, gods were waking up—no wonder nobody wanted to work on the Big Project anymore!
“It was inevitable, though,” Vanth said. “The gods didn’t really go anywhere, they simply stopped talking to us. I just wish this would’ve happened under better circumstances.”
“Guess so,” I said. “Let’s find those strikers first.”
Though I wasn’t exactly looking for the strikers. Those were the people entrenched in the industrial district. At this point, I was pretty sure they were a decoy—meant to attract Cassel’s attention. Much like that dead guard with the dog’s head, or framing Vanth. It was only a guess so far, but I suspected the Snakes were the ones behind it all.
Did the Snakes know Tipilej Awki had woken up? Surely. Nina knew I was in High Tomenedra, so she wouldn’t overlook the angry god under her feet. Unless she was making shit up for the sake of sounding impressive. Was she, though? Usually, when people do that, they’re trying to scam something out of you. And Nina didn’t seem to want anything out of me—unless she went in a very roundabout way about it. So let’s say she knew. Let’s say the Snakes could predict people’s movements around the city. Or maybe not predict, but see them.
I took a couple of steps back. “Nina? Are you hearing this?”
Neither Vanth nor Valentino looked at me like I was crazy. That was very kind of them.
“I don’t know how to attract your attention, that’s the problem.” What did I know about the Snakes? Other than Nina, there was that blind woman, Amankay. There was someone who liked to sing and T’ika who gave me that leaf to guide me and that skinny asshole. And they had a bunch of strings for messages; that made me think of the map. Well, that was something to go on, at least. “I know how you smuggle your supplies! There’s a map on the mountainside, isn’t there? Your allies look at it from the outside and know how to reach you. I didn’t realize that when I was looking at the map though. So I don’t know how to continue. And you know, I could’ve told Cassel about the map, but I didn’t. Help me out, will you? Tell me how to find you, and I’ll help you back.”
That was a wild guess—I didn’t know if Nina or whoever was listening, much less if they could communicate with me. It turned out to be a good guess, though.
The river rippled as if someone had thrown a stone at it. Instead of quieting again, the water surged upwards and took the shape of a woman I knew. Not Nina, though. She was Amankay, cane and all.
“Ah, but what can you do for us?” she asked.
broccolifloret