Citadel of Fire (The Ronin Saga Book 2) (43 page)

Sunji nodded. “It’s not like the Algasi at all. They do not care for the affairs of this world, or so we’ve always been told. Something must be happening. Are they hurting the unarmed at all? Those in the countryside?”

Gray took a guess. “No.”

“As I thought,” Sunji replied. “Their prize is greater. But what do they seek?”

“I wish I knew,” Gray said honestly.

Sunji sighed deeply, blue eyes looking away, as if seeing the world crumbling beyond the black walls. “The world stands upon the brink of destruction. We must seek to stop it as best we can—I only wish the Devari had both the answer and the strength to stop it.”

“If you seek unity and peace, then what are you doing questioning a brother at the tip of your sword?” Zane said furiously.

Gray waited for the man to snap back, but he simply nodded, sorrowful.

“The tide of darkness has changed me,” Sunji answered sullenly. “But still, it is no excuse. We must stand together as brothers. Forgive me for questioning you so, brother.” He said, looking to Gray sincerely.

“You’re forgiven,” Gray replied, as if grudging.

The man held out his tan, leathery arm laced with scars. And Gray remembered Victasys’ counsel.
The Devari greeting.
He clasped Sunji’s arm heartily, showing his strength. Victasys, still menacingly silent, stepped forward and motioned the two men aside with his presence. And together, they moved away, joining others entering the Citadel, taking the wide steps swiftly.

“What in the blood and dust was that?” Zane whispered. “I’ve lied in my time, but you? That was like a completely different man! And a believable one too.”

Gray kept his teeth from gnashing.

A thank you would be appropriate
, Kirin voiced.

As soon as they reached the Citadel’s grand entry, breaching the last of the massive steps, Victasys grabbed Zane and Gray. He pulled them aside, behind a sea of colossal black pillars, each the girth of ten men with their arms linked. High above, a domed ceiling of gold, silver, and glittering blue gems sheltered them. Most importantly, it was out of the flow of traffic and away from ears and eyes, aside from the occasional glance. “First, pull your hood up. Second, explain yourself,” Victasys said darkly.

The scarred Devari’s silence had been unnerving, and Gray was almost glad to hear him speak at last.
Almost
. The man was a thunderhead. “What is there to explain?” Gray said, looking over his shoulder as a young gray-robed flock noticed the three Devari huddled by the pillars, staring at them with fear and respect. A guard ushered them on, deeper into the wide hall.

“What you did…” Victasys said, looking flabbergasted. “That was impossible.”

He swallowed. “What did I do?”

“You changed your ki.
Willfully
.”

“And?”

“You don’t get it,” Victasys growled. “You didn’t just alter your emotions, you somehow implanted entirely different ones.”

Zane shook his head. “Sorry, still not following you. Your brief sketch on how to be a Devari didn’t really explain this. How is that strange exactly?”

“How to explain it to you two fools…” Victasys grumbled, “To put it simply, it would be like trying to remember something that someone
else
has forgotten. It’s not possible. It is a thing of myth.”

Zane let out a breath, and then scratched his head. “That does sound confusing.”

“I’m not sure what you’re so upset about,” Gray said. “I got us out of there, didn’t I?”

Victasys made another disgruntled sound. “Alas, now I wish I’d asked more about your past, for I fear it will get us into more trouble yet.” He turned to Zane. “And you? Any large, dark secrets to unveil?”

Zane grunted. “No. And I agree. Based on that little encounter, I fear Gray’s past is not done with us so soon. But it’s all the more reason to find Ezrah, and quickly. I don’t want to waste any more time here. Hannah is waiting for me.” He left unstated that Faye and the others had to succeed first for that to happen. But Zane’s fire wasn’t something Gray wanted to question. Not without expecting to get burned.

Victasys exhaled thinly. “So be it. Follow me.”

With that, they left the columns and moved back into the flow of the crowds. The hallway was wide enough for four carts to move through side by side. It opened up abruptly into a huge chamber, and Gray’s next step faltered.

Even Zane, at his side, fell short with a curse.

The hall was breathtaking.

Fiery opals were set into the floor, smoldering like small flames just beneath the marble’s surface. On the far walls,
white crystals glittered. The walls themselves were fashioned in a bizarre but symmetrical pattern of shapes. Each of them glowed, refracting light. Gray realized the faceted walls were meant to extract the natural light from outside and reflect it all over the great hall. The result was an ever-present bloom of soft white light, bathing his skin. It made all those in the hall appear divine, like spirits sent from above. Gray peered up and held back another gasp.

Simulated clouds swirled, skimming across a dome of bright blue. The clouds flowed as if alive, forming shapes and strange patterns. It mimicked a real sky, if the real sky was a thousand different shades of blue, and clouds were made from the dust of glimmering stars. It was truly remarkable, and Gray wondered if he could ever look at the sky without feeling it somehow paled in comparison. Granted it was not as opulent as the entry hall, it was far more stunning in his eye.

With the gems, clouds, angular walls, and crystals, the vast chamber appeared cut and polished from a glorious mine, and then shaped by a master craftsman’s hand.
Wayfarers’ Hall,
Kirin said. He sounded unimpressed. As if there could be places grander than this. Gray snorted. He didn’t believe it.

In the center of the vast floor was a statue of a man. It towered ten men high, looming like a giant among giants. The man was clothed in elaborately carved robes that fell about his form gracefully. His face, wizened but not old, held wisdom, power, and truth. In one hand, the man held a scepter, in the other, a huge
real
flame burned brightly, cradled in the figure’s upturned palm. Who was this man?

A second figure knelt at the robed statue’s side. And Gray knew instantly who it was.

Seth.

The Ronin was carved immaculately. It was as if the legend had returned to life, grown a hundred feet in size and girth, then been frozen in stone forever, immortalized. Seth’s hard, angry face was just as Gray remembered it. It stared outward, as if seeing beyond the grand chamber, past the hall, to something no one else could see. In the man’s hands, of course, was the Ronin’s famed blade, carved to scale. One swing of that stone blade, Gray imagined, could have smashed Mura’s hut, leaving nothing in its place but splinters the size of toothpicks.

Yet most stunning were the sounds and colors.

On the far walls, hundreds of purple spheres opened and closed making a droning
vwoom.

Over and over again it sounded. Soft individually, but together it created a humming chorus like a host of men in prayer, like those they had passed at the entrance to Farbs. Gray watched, stunned and fearful as men and women walked casually into the spheres, and then disappeared, each
vwoom
resonating through his limbs.

Transporters
, Kirin said.

Suddenly, the teeming of voices and even the droning of Transporters was dulled as a ripple appeared in the crowd coming toward Gray, Zane, and Victasys.

The ripple spread, approaching.

Hundreds parted like fearful insects scattering, and at the center of the now hollow corridor was a woman. From far away, Gray took her in. She had raven hair that flowed to her shoulders. With her head bent, he couldn’t make out her features aside from a heart shaped face and pale skin. Her robes were a pure white, but they were laced with gold filigree, and her cuffs and skirt that brushed the marble floor were trimmed in black. She bore no stripes of rank. In her hand she held a thick tome, her gaze absorbed in its pages. Abruptly, more men and women stepped nervously aside, revealing a horror that made Gray’s hairs stand on end.

A gangly beast crawled by her side, using a dozen, long, multi-jointed legs and arms. Those limbs moved too fast. They appeared neither bone nor flesh, like black knives ringing on the marble floor. From it, darkness emanated, shadows eating at the light. Yet there were white parts to the creature too: translucent horns, silver eyes, long fangs, and splotches of white hair. Gray didn’t know what to make of it, but he knew distinctly what its darker side was.

Darkwalker.

With the horror trailing at her side like a misshapen pet, the woman strode down the path created for her. She seemed oblivious to the others around her—or perhaps uncaring. Power hit Gray like a wave, crashing against him and stealing his breath. His knees quavered. The sensation was different than anything he’d ever felt. He was torn between grasping his neck and clutching his heart, feeling a heady mix of terror and awe. This woman was death and life all wrapped up in one, and he knew instantly.

An Arbiter.

And they stood straight in her path. Gray glanced around, realizing the truth of that statement.
None
stood near them. Not a single soul. He didn’t see Victasys. But the rest of the crowds had parted and now watched him and Zane in fear.

Gray’s mind raced. Where could they go? There was nowhere
to
go. If they ran back, the woman would only see that oddity and notice them even more, and if they jumped into the crowds? No, the crowds watched them like an anomaly. They would stick out like a fly swimming in fresh milk. Gray’s heart thumped faster, hands sweating as the woman’s steps glided closer.

Something droned nearby.

It distracted Gray, but he couldn’t move. He was rooted, his gaze fixed and limbs frozen. Somehow the woman was still not looking at them, but she was drawing nearer. The creature at her side still moved, a mass of flashing white and black limbs, scrambling along the marble. Gray felt as if each step of the Arbiter rattled the floor, shaking him, and spiking his dread.

Vwoom
.

It hummed and pulled him from his fear.

Gray felt something well up inside him. The Transporter. At the same time, a white sphere appeared in his mind. He grabbed at it, and the mantle of fear and the awe-inspiring power that rooted him diminished.

A hand gripped his shoulder. “Come now!” Victasys breathed, pulling them as another Transporter opened a dozen paces away.

Gray looked away for a split second and saw the Arbiter was almost to them.

When he looked back, the purple sphere was nowhere to be seen. The Transporter was gone.
No!
He thought, dread rising, sweat flashing across his arms. In the corner of his vision, the Arbiter was nearly upon them. Victasys smacked the wall. To Gray’s surprise, a block of stone slid into the wall and a purple sphere appeared from thin air. The Devari shoved him and Zane in then dove headfirst after them, just as Gray saw the Arbiter’s gaze pan up.

The purple light coated him, taking his vision. He felt stuck in solid stone. Light and time distorted as he floated in nothing. Then, as quickly as it came, it was gone. He hit something hard. His hands gripped a stone floor. Dazed, he looked around. Gray saw they were now in a strange wide hallway with a series of windows on one wall.
Where… are we?

Victasys pulled Gray to his feet.

“Who was that woman?” Zane asked, brushing himself off.

“Arbiter Fera,” the Devari answered. “She is one to be feared and avoided like death.”

“I sensed that,” Zane grunted. “But what was that thing at her side?”

Gray shivered, remembering that horrible looking beast.

Victasys answered, “It’s an abomination. Arbiter Fera has been experimenting, breeding the magical creatures of this world. She considers herself an inventor of sorts, and all the Citadel fears her creations, especially that beast.”

“It seemed like she was looking for something,” Gray said, hoping to change the topic.

“You used your ki, didn’t you?” Victasys said. “It’s true. According to rumors, she is searching for orphan boys.” He dipped his head towards Zane. “It is part of why I saved his life.”

“And why Ezrah saved me as well. He pretended to be my father,” Zane explained.

Gray looked around. Outside the windows, he saw more green courtyards with soldiers and several Devari. Haystacks riddled with arrows and wooden dummies hugged the long wall.
A training grounds,
Kirin said.
One of many.
“Where are we?”

Victasys looked up and down the empty hall. “I don’t know.”

“What?”
Zane asked. “How?”