Evan Burl and the Falling, Vol. 1-2 (10 page)

Chairs screeched on the brick groundwork as the city's leaders turned.

"I've just come from the..." The man leaned over, sucking in air.

"Breathe son," I said. "You are going to suffocate yourself."

"I have... very bad news..."

Mahalelel glanced at me with the eyes of a man who realizes he's just been checkmated.

The man took a long breath. "The chancellor and his seven sons are dead."

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Evan

Wednesday

12:32 am

2 days, 22 hours, 17 minutes until the falling

We slaved sixteen hours in the Caldroen before Mazol let us go to bed. Only eleven of us now: ten Roslings, one dark beast.

I lay awake next to Henri, tracing my fingers though her hair until she fell asleep. She hadn't been crying as much as the others. Trying to be strong. Her breathing steadied. I moved slowly, careful to not shake the bed as I sat up.
 

I sniffed the air. Smoke. Someone screamed. Henri's eyes snapped open. Firelight flickered under the door. Bursting into the hall, I stopped short. Flames rose from the rug outside our door. I grabbed it by the corner, beating it on the stone until the flames extinguished. Henri stomped out the last of the smoldering embers.

Another scream.

"Pearl." I dashed down the hall, ignoring the pain in my leg, and yanked open her door. Smoke billowed out. Pearl's bedsheets erupted in flames. Kicking, she rolled to the floor, taking the burning blankets with her. I pulled Pearl free as Henri beat out the blaze.

"What happened?" I said.

"The bed. I woke—it was burning."

"Did you see anyone?"

She shook her head, but her eyes kept finding their way back to me. Something in them made my stomach churn. Some secret accusation.
 

A thump against the wall. Pearl clutched the bottom of my shirt.
 

I pried her fingers free. "Stay here."
 

Henri followed me.
 

"Stay with Pearl," I said.

"I'm going with you."

Another thump.

I traced along the wall, trying not to make a noise. Reaching the door to the room next to Pearl's, I pushed it open, revealing a wall of clouded night. The room was filled with furniture, a maze of sheet-covered chairs and hutches and shelves and tables. In the dark, something crashed.

I stepped in, using my hands as a guide through the gloom. Henri held my shoulder as she followed.
 

Pearl appeared at the door.

"Go back to your room," I said.

"I don't want to be alone." She caught Henri's hand. I breathed in and moved further into the room. We made our way deeper into the maze. The glow from the hall grew dim.

Another crash. Wood screeched across brick.
 

"We're not going to hurt you," I said.

From the darkness, a whisper. "Take it back."

"Who's there?"
 

"Take it back!"
 

A tower of chairs fell on us. The room lit with red, flickering light. I scrambled to escape the tangle of furniture, pulling Henri free beside me. Smoke filled my lungs.
 

Coughing, I picked up Pearl.

"Get help," I said to Henri as I dropped Pearl into her arms. We turned to the door. Flames rose, licking the ceiling.

I saw a body. Lucy. Writhing on the floor in the midst of the flames. I lunged for her, but Henri held me back.

"I have to save her."

"The flames will kill you."

Henri ran to her instead, pulling Lucy from the sparks. Screaming in pain, she wrapped herself around Lucy, rolling until the flames extinguished.
 

"She's dying," Pearl said.

As Lucy shook on the floor, I leaned over, wiping her forehead, holding her hand. Then she went still. All around the room, flames went out in a puff of smoke. Her skin, covered in scratches and bruises and rash. Words, cut into her arm.
 

Take it back.

I turned Pearl away, hugging her tight.

Smoking embers littered the floor. Henri's face was sooty, her clothes charred. Pearl sobbed as I rocked her in my arms.

"We're all going to die," Pearl said.

"Shhhh. It will be alright."

"I don't want to die."

"I'm going to make sure you don't."

Henri flinched, like I'd just made a promise I couldn't keep.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Evan

Wednesday

9:12 pm

2 days, 1 hour, 37 minutes until the falling

Twenty more hours slipped through my fingers like wisps of smoke. The countdown had not slowed, though I'd managed to avoid using sapience. I think. It's hard to know exactly what happens when you're asleep.

An hour ago, I woke outside Pearl's door to the sound of her crying. She'd discovered an itch on her neck. I wasn't any closer to finding out what was causing the Roslings to die. The affliktion—that's what I was calling it now. And I had only two more days before I would disappear forever. That is, if Mazol didn't figure out he's supposed to kill me first. I can only hope Terillium doesn't have another way to communicate with my uncle.
 

I massaged my temples, going through everything I could remember about the Roslings' deaths again and again. Combing for clues. Problem was, whole chunks of my memories were starting to fade. Twice in the last two days I'd woken somewhere else. One time I'd been unconscious for twenty minutes. The other time, three hours. A lot of hurt can happen in three hours.

I poured the sack of onyx iron rubrics into my hand. The star showed Anabelle's memories, but they were blurry. The vision only lasted a few moments. If one of these other rubrics worked like the star, only stronger, I might be able to discover the truth about the affliktion.
 

I put all the rubrics except for the skull back into the sack. Turning the door handle, I walked in. Pearl rolled over in her bed. When she saw me, I think she scooted away, if only just an inch.
 

"What is it?" she said.
 

"How do you feel?" I said.

"Just a little itchy." Her hands fidgeted. Her teeth chattered. She watched me inspect her. "I'm going to die, aren't I?"
 

"Everyone gets an itch now and again."
 

"Not Roslings."

I sat next to her. "I need your help." I lifted the chain from her neck and laced the skull on it. "Will you wear this pendant for me?"

She stared at it.

"I think it will help us find out what's causing the affliktion."

She dipped her head. The skull pulsed with shades of darkness when it touched her skin. The pendant seemed to draw any nearby rays of light to it. The sack of rubrics in my pocket vibrated. I heard a beating heart. Pulling the little clanker from the sack, I felt rhythm beat through my body in time with Pearl's chest.
 

The sound of Pearl's heart beat inside the clanker.

Pearl grabbed the rubric. "It burns."
 

Radiance seeped out from her skin, like drops of blood, clinging to the skull before slipping inside through invisible pores. I ripped the rubric from Pearl's neck. At my touch, the globs of light reversed direction, penetrating into my skin.
 

I was transported into a vision.

I saw myself, but through Pearl's eyes, watching Pearl's memory from the moment the skull touched her.

The light stopped. The vision ended.
 

I put the rubric to my chest, felt a stab of pain. Tiny rays passed through my skin into the skull. The pain faded after a few moments. It was recording
my
thoughts now.
 

With some effort, I broke the skull's connection to my chest. I dangled the skull between us. If something happened to Pearl tonight, I'd be able to see it all when I retrieved the skull. I'd be able to see who was hurting the Roslings.
 

"Will you wear it for me?"

She eyed the trinket.

"It only hurts for a moment."

She nodded weakly.
 

"I'll be just outside if you need me." I kissed her check and went to the door.
 

She slipped the skull on as I clicked the door shut. Footsteps approached. I darted inside a room across the hall.
 

Henri appeared. She looked behind her then ducked inside Pearl's room. I moved to follow her, but my head felt suddenly airy.
 

No, not now. I can't blackout now.
 

I leaned against the wall for balance.
 

Stay awake, Evan. Stay—

My knees gave out. My vision expired.

CHAPTER NINETEEN

Cevo

The Regents' mouths hung open as they stared at the man who'd just told them their Chancellor was dead. I looked sideways at Mahalelel. He ground his teeth with an awful sort of scowl on his face. He wished he had thought of my plan first. He was always in my shadow. Always a few steps behind.

"Show me the bodies," I said to the message bearer.

"Who are you?"

"I am your new Chancellor."
 

I followed the messenger down a narrow, round passage and through the kitchens to a large nickel-plated door. Mahalelel and the other regents treaded along behind me like a herd of cattle who'd just seen a butcher's shop for the first time. The floor and edges of the door were covered in the rendered remains of hog carcass. How horrifying it would be if anyone important discovered I was chancellor of such a nasty, worthless corner of the world.
 

The messenger pulled the handle. Frozen air billowed out. I stepped inside, and my nose hairs instantly turned to ice. I pulled my barathea silk cloak around me as tightly as I could. The Regents folded their arms tight and huddled together as they followed. We walked past row upon row of hanging carcasses. There must have been more than forty, 200 pound hogs hanging by their hind legs, waiting to have their hair burned off before being sliced into bacon and ham and tenderloin. The dullgloom was bleak. I am not fond of inanimance, at least when the creatures are not stuffed by a proper taxidermist or cooked. Particularly not a whole pack of slaughtered pigs.
 

In the far corner of the icebox hung eight thinner shapes of various lengths. Like the pigs, they dangled upside-down by their feet. The shapes made me wonder: when men are frozen alive, do they die first or do they fall asleep before they die?
 

I turned the longest shape so its face could be seen. "Mahalelel, would you please identify this man for me?"

"You know well who it is."

"The Chancellor?"

"You murdered—"

I wagged my finger at him. "Whether they were murdered or not does not really matter at this point, does it? In the matter of the Chancellor and his sons, the agreement which the Regency just unanimously endorsed clearly states..." I unrolled the contract to read it verbatim. "'As of today, if the Chancellor or any of his seven children are murdered, our agreement will be considered completely null and void.' Everything that happened before 12:01am today is immaterial. I am, therefore, the Chancellor of El Qir."

I tried to ignore the shorter bodies hanging at the end of the row. I didn't like to see children mixed up in these kinds of affairs. Stooping, I pulled at the Chancellor's Lictor Ring, wiggling it back and forth on his frozen knuckle. I breathed on it a few times to warm it up and then placed it on my left thumb. The man's robes would be even more difficult to remove since he was completely stiff. I turned to the Regent standing nearest me. "Would you mind giving me a hand with this?"
 

He nodded dumbly.

"Better yet, you better pull them off for me." I stepped back as three Regents stripped the man, working the thick garment off one arm at a time. They helped me pull the stiff robes around my shoulders. I turned the old chancellor so his face was directed away from me, pushed past the gawking Regents, who I thought at that moment rather resembled hanging hogs, and made my way back into the kitchens. I passed a standing mirror and stopped to inspect my appearance. The brown color of the fabric was not flattering in the least, but the ring shimmered in a beam of sunlight. It looked as fine on my thumb as nearly any ring I had ever owned.
 

I caught Mahalelel staring at me. "I always thought gold looked delicious against my ebony skin."

He strode past me without looking again, passing into the judgment room along with the others. I took one last glance at myself in the mirror, watching over my shoulder at how the fabric swayed behind me, then followed the Regents in. I climbed the stairs to the raised throne. It, gratefully, was made of gold plated wood, not the reprehensible velvet on the rest of the Regents' chairs. The frosted Chancellor's robes draped heavy around my shoulders. And the Lictor Ring shimmered even more brightly now that we were out of the freezer. As soon as possible, I would have the fabric cleaned, but I was willing to endure wearing an expired man's dressings for a short while, if only to see the look on Mahalelel's face.
 

"Animus attentus," I said. "There is a matter we must attend to immediately."

The room exploded into commotion like the market streets of Carnis.
 

I held up my hands. "Silence!"
 

They obeyed.
 

Feeling rather embarrassed for losing my temper, I continued, "We are not getting off to a very good start, are we?" Adrenaline pumped through my veins. The hunt for Evan Burl was picking up speed. "When you woke this morning, you had no idea that today would be the day you are called to turn from your pathetic lives of self-indulgence and live a life of higher purpose. Allow me to reveal that purpose to you now."

Pulling something smooth from my pocket, I flipped it onto the table. It clicked across the surface, coming to a stop in front of Mahalelel. The Regents leaned forward, craning their necks to see.

An azul diamond.