City of Light (The Traveler's Gate Trilogy) (49 page)

Simon stumbled and caught himself, face flaming. Andra, Erastes, and Leah had all turned to stare at him before he realized that Caela hadn’t
actually
cast that thought in Leah’s direction.

Judging from her peals of laughter, though, she did find his reaction hilarious.

His cheeks burning, Simon shook his head. “Dolls,” he said.

Without a word, Leah beckoned the guards at the front of the tent. They opened their mouths when they recognized her, but she put a finger to her lips and then waved them closer.

“I hereby order the prisoner punished,” she said, after a brief, whispered consultation with her raven. “Beat her, but don’t inhibit her permanently. While you’re doing that, accidentally loosen the restraints on her hands.”

One of the guards, a Naraka Traveler, cleared his throat. “I’m not…certain that’s wise, Your Highness.”

Leah feigned a look of surprise. “Oh? Are you unable to have an accident on command, Traveler?”

The guard sighed. “No, Highness. But she could very easily kill us all.”

“She won’t,” Leah said confidently, and the raven croaked alongside her. “She’ll be looking for a different opportunity.”

The two guards saluted at the same time, and then headed into the tent. Within seconds, the thud of fists on flesh floated out, along with their grunts of effort.

Grandmaster Naraka made not a sound in protest.

“She’ll head in a line straight for Alin,” Leah said, her eyes flicking over the tent. “And…I see her deep in the fires of Naraka. She craves justice for the other Grandmasters.”

“There are other ways,” Simon said again. “Just have one of those other Naraka Travelers take us.”

Leah didn’t respond. She stared at the tent, her mind obviously elsewhere. “Simon, how many Incarnations can you handle, if you had to?”

The situation caught him off-guard, though he understood why she was asking. According to her mysterious information, King Zakareth was preparing to attack Enosh with everything he had, hoping to destroy Alin and Elysia. With Valinhall and Elysia gone, he would have all of the Territories under his control.

That meant he would be attacking Enosh with all the Incarnations he could command. Counting himself, he had at least five Incarnations, perhaps as many as seven.

Far more than Simon could handle on his own.

He pulled down the collar of his cloak, revealing the chains stretching up to his neck. “I’ve been using the mask too much, lately. I’ve only got a few minutes of power left. With that…one, maybe two, if they don’t work together. Andra and Erastes, perhaps one more. And let’s say that Alin can get one.”

“That’s as optimistic as we can be,” Leah murmured. “Minimum, that still only takes care of the Incarnations under the King’s command. Not King Zakareth himself.”

Another slap of flesh-on-flesh echoed from the tent, as the Grandmaster endured her beating. She still made not a sound.

“Which means that we have no choice but to fight in Elysia,” Simon said. He’d tried making this argument before, but Leah hadn’t been much interested in taking advice. “I can still draw on my power in another Territory, but most of the enemy Incarnations won’t be able to use their full strength. If Alin can call up the City’s whole army, we might have a chance.”

Leah shook her head. “We need the City as a fallback position,” she said. “If we leave Alin exposed outside, he’ll be overwhelmed and eliminated in seconds. He can’t enter the Territory or he’ll be trapped, and that means he probably won’t let any of his citizens enter either. We’ll form lines outside of a Gate and fight a retreat into Elysia, as planned.”

Simon didn’t see why they had to fight for the city of Enosh at all. As far as he was concerned, the city was lost. All they could do was stop the Incarnations after they weakened themselves to assault the City of Light.

“And you’re sure you can’t contact the other two Valinhall Travelers?” Leah asked, for at least the third time.

“You’re the Lirial Traveler,” Simon said. “You find them.”

Kathrin’s advisor is capable of long-distance communication,
Caela noted.
It’s too bad Kathrin’s not here to contact…Kathrin.

Leah was thinking again—he knew that look. It was like she was absorbed deep in some book, and she would come back to reality in a few seconds with a random question.

“Do you have that mask here?” Leah asked, finally.

Unfortunately,
Caela sent.

Simon dug around in his pockets for the mask, and his hand encountered something round, warm, and slightly tacky. He pulled it out for a better look.

Oh, that’s right.
He’d almost forgotten the red stone that the Eldest had tried to take from him. He’d mentioned something about the Crimson Vault in connection to the stone, and Simon had intended to tell Leah, but somehow he had forgotten.

“Do you know what this is?” Simon asked, holding it up to the starlight.

Leah hissed, her eyes widening. She snatched it out of his hand, dropped it immediately, and then almost fell to her knees scrambling to catch it before it hit the ground. When she managed to snatch it out of the air before it hit dirt, she heaved a sigh of great relief.

Simon could only stare. He didn’t think he’d ever seen her so startled. Andra and Erastes moved closer, readying their swords as if to defend her from some threat, but Simon waved them away.

Leah rose to her feet, brushing herself off with her left hand and holding the stone up in her right. “I don’t believe it,” she breathed. “Why didn’t you tell me you had this?”

“I didn’t know what it was. I still don’t,” he added, hoping she would take the hint.

She shook her head wonderingly. “I can see now. No wonder…”

Simon had to restrain his impatience, but he refused to ask the question again.

“It’s a Seed of the Hanging Tree,” she said at last. “Maybe the last one, as far as I know.”

He took a step back from it, wary. He didn’t know what a Hanging Tree would do to an ordinary Traveler, but he knew what it did to Incarnations, and he had no wish to spend three hundred years as living compost. He pointed to the Seed. “Can we use it?”

“I think…yes, I think we can. Simon, I can’t believe you had this. This might mean the difference between living and dying.” She gave him the most genuine smile he’d seen out of her in years, and her red eye did nothing to ruin the effect. “This could be exactly what we need.”

He cleared his throat. “Then, uh, I’m glad I found it.”
Completely by chance,
he added in his head.

You should always take credit for your own good luck,
Caela said.
After all, who else will?

“You realize what this means,” Leah added. “The Seed can’t be planted in a Territory. It seems we’ll have to fight in Enosh after all.”

I don’t know why I’m surprised,
Simon thought.
We suddenly find something that could turn the fight around, and it supports Leah’s battle plan over mine. Naturally.

Maybe
she
should inherit Valinhall,
Caela said thoughtfully.
What do you think, Mithra?

The sword, thankfully, remained quiet.

The sounds from within the tent had stopped, and the two Naraka guards emerged. One of them was nursing a split knuckle. They bowed to Leah and took up their posts outside the tent.

The raven purred in the back of its throat.

“Not long now,” Leah whispered.

After a few more minutes of silence, during which Andra lay back on the grass and began snoring softly, a flash of orange light brightened the tent.

Andra snapped awake, waving her Dragon’s Fang wildly.

“Open a Gate!” Leah ordered the Naraka Travelers, marching forward with Simon and the other two on her heels. This was one part of the plan that she hadn’t explained to Simon.

“There will be traps,” one of the guards said, but he continued waving his hand in preparation to open a Gate.

“Your turn,” Leah said, and Simon stepped forward.

Sure enough, as soon as the Naraka Gate opened, a screaming orange fireball hurled itself from the Territory’s depths.

Simon called ghost armor, throwing up his arm between the Gate and the Traveler. The fireball shattered inches from his forearm, broken by a plate of spectral green armor.

A disgusting smoke-and-sulfur smell wafted from the Territory. “Do we
have
to go through Naraka again?” Simon asked.

Leah shot him a look. “It’s that or fly.”

Simon was prepared to try flying.

Erastes stepped up, preparing to enter the Gate. “Should we follow her, Your Highness?”

Leah pushed past him and stepped into Naraka first. “I can track her,” she said. “And we know where she’s going.”

“I don’t see how having her along will help us,” Simon remarked. “It practically killed us last time.” Maybe if Leah gave up this idea, they could Travel through another Territory.
Any
other Territory.

“Trust me,” Leah said again. She was leaning on his trust fairly hard, tonight. “We’ll have a hard enough time winning Alin over. That’s why this time, we’re bringing a present.”

C
HAPTER
T
WENTY
-S
IX
:

S
TRATEGIC
P
LANNING

359
th
Year of the Damascan Calendar

1
st
Year in the Reign of Queen Leah I

8 Days Since Spring’s Birth

Alin didn’t sleep anymore, so he spent a lot of time thinking. All night, he’d been meditating on the same topic that had haunted him for the past week: his own failure.

You proved yourself an enemy to those who should be your friends,
the Orange Light said.

You let them get away!
said the Gold.

The Violet Light had a different opinion.
You lost control,
it told him.

He was inclined to agree.

Alin knew he was an Incarnation, and for the most part that fact didn’t bother him. His Incarnation allowed him to think more clearly, to bond fully with the essence of his Territory. What harm could there be in the manifestation of Elysian virtues? He was honest and compassionate, wise and patient, valiant and loyal, merciful and diligent.

So how had he allowed himself to be taken over? When he’d let the Gold Light control his body, he hadn’t been patient, or loyal, or merciful. The Light had consumed him in valor, so much that he needed to
prove
his bravery through victory.

But today, after a week of meditation and productive work, he was finally under control. He wouldn’t be making the same mistakes again.

In the Gate next to him, Rhalia drifted over the grass of Elysia, her golden hair shining in the sunrise. “How are you feeling today?” she asked.

“In control.”

Rhalia smiled, watching the sun peek over the city walls. “Ah, so then you’ve learned nothing. That’s what I suspected, but it’s good to have confirmation.”

Irritation shot through him before the patience of the Green Light ground it down. “I am complete, Rhalia. In balance.”

“Not without the White, you’re not,” she added cheerfully, juggling a few balls of Gold Light. She’d been in a better mood ever since the fight in Enosh, in direct contrast to his own feelings. He wondered what had happened.

He elected to overlook her comments about the White Light, which were becoming more frequent these days. “I will not let one battle throw off my balance this time. I will remain composed.”

Rhalia frowned out the Gate, letting her golden lights vanish. “That’s good to hear, because I think you’re going to get a chance to prove it.”

Silver constructs approached from practically every direction, radiating something like panic. A winged silver eye flew up to him and began delivering its report, though he could feel the urgency flowing from it in waves.

“Cordon in Helgard is breached—”

Another Silver construct, like a spider of polished steel, clattered up on the cobblestones and spoke over the first messenger. “Our outlook in Endross was destroyed—”

A golden hummingbird came up from behind him, delivering its message in a disturbingly deep voice. “Over the city walls, Eliadel. You should come and see.”

He leaped toward the walls with Red Light flowing through his limbs, lift provided by a cushion of orange. He was practically flying as he soared over the city, landing with a crunch on roof tiles or cobblestones and pushing off again. The specifics of the various messages were different, but the core intent was clear: he was under attack.

Alin’s heart tore in a dozen different directions.

His Rose-colored compassionate side broke at the thought that the citizens under his protection might be in danger. His Blue mercy urged him to surrender, his Orange loyalty to protect those beneath him at any cost.

But today, he felt more in line with the Gold Light.

At last,
he thought, with a sigh of great relief.
An enemy.

When he landed on the golden walls of Enosh, he realized how right he was.

The army wasn’t as large as he’d expected. Only a few thousand soldiers, mostly Travelers, had lined up in the wasteland between Myria and Enosh. More important by far were the five figures standing at the front, surrounded by a host of vicious creatures.

Helgard, a horned woman with blue skin and white fur, stood stroking the head of a giant blue cat. It was practically a desert out there, but she moved in her own private snow-flurry, a trail of melted snowflakes following her wherever she walked.

Lirial stood next to her, a woman of white crystal and silver wire. She gleamed like a star in the sunrise, and Alin was only sure of her identity because of the open Lirial Gate next to her. She sent flashing crystal probes in and out, apparently communicating with someone.

Ornheim was next, a giant of white stone standing nine or ten feet tall. He crouched in the sand, absolutely still as stalagmites rose from the ground around him. One of them broke off, the rock forming into a three-foot-tall man-shaped golem. It staggered drunkenly around before dissolving into gravel. The Ornheim Incarnation didn’t react. Veins of every color ran through him, so that he seemed designed for decoration rather than war.