The Path of Destruction (Rune Breaker) (27 page)

After long minutes of walking, they turned one last corner to find an open pit in the library floor. There was a rail around it in the same style as the one at the entryway, and it was surrounded by glass fronted racks of scrolls. Librarian Dasahyur lead them to a break in the railing where a set of fired clay stairs circled the pit, leading ever downward.

“This is Librarian Yolinderan's personal archive. He alone knows how to make sense of the recovered texts from pre-Saint's Landing sites, and only he is allowed unrestricted access to all of the library's resources.”

The sudden shift in Ru's attention, transmitted by the link, almost caused Taylin to stumble on the stairs. “Objects have survived from the time before the Vishnari arrived?”

“A few sites.” said the librarian, “Most only recently discovered. The find on the Orudai glacier in Chordin is what inspired a closer relationship between the Historic Society and the Bardic College. Unfortunately, what has been found offers little useful information at the moment.”

“Without context it wouldn't.” Ru said. The link ticked with his calculations. “I want to see what you have.”

“Impossible.” Librarian Dasahyur said without even a thought. “The texts are too old, too fragile, and too precious to allow in the hands of one not trained in their care. Besides, you would have no idea what they meant. It takes all of Librarian Yolinderan's considerable magical talent to decipher them.”

Ru rumbled and glared at the back of her head. “
Eiy toveler hakka novindrie. Yasey maltheies endruiay.
”

Being privy to the translation of those words, Taylin gasped. “Ru! There's no need for that. Absolutely no one in this age knows that language except for you.”

Rai snickered at the exchange and the look the librarian tossed over her shoulder at them.

“I forgot whose presence I am
allegedly
in.” the librarian said with a sniff.

Taylin blinked at her. “You know?”

“And you don't believe it?” Ru added irritably.

“Librarian Yolinderan is my immediate superior.” she pointed out. “Of course I know. But without proof, I see no reason to blindly accept it.”

“Few would.” said Brin, giving Ru a cross glance of her own.

Ru hunched his shoulders and continued floating down the stairs. “One day all will know the name and the face of the Rune Breaker.”

No one refuted him because they reached the bottom of the stairwell shortly thereafter and were confronted by an open arch bearing the same sigils as the doors at the entrance. Librarian Dasahyur once more led the way. Beyond the arch, the air suddenly turned humid again, and warmer still than the air up above.

After a short passageway, they stepped out onto a crescent-shaped platform that formed one edge of a small underground lake.

Unlike the stairwell and the corridor, the cavern they now stood in was natural stone, probably deep beneath the river. The platform had been hewn out of the rock by hand, leaving obvious tool marks as opposed to the smoothness of spellcraft. Occasional drops of water fell from stalactites above to send ripples along the dark surface of the water.

Moments after the group entered the cavern, lanterns hanging from posts along the platform became active, sending white light to flood that section of the cavern. They revealed a stone pier jutting out from the platform directly in front of the entrance. It was eight feet long and ended in a second platform; this one a circular stone fifteen feet to a side upon which was set an inclined writing desk. In front of the desk, facing away from the water was a device that perplexed Taylin as to its function.

It was eight feet tall with a frame of gleaming brass and steel, holding a series of lenses on swiveling arms. Their arrangement seemed designed so that the lenses could be independently aligned to focus on whatever might be placed on the desk. Every inch of it was so covered with carved spellcrafting symbols that Taylin could see them from where she stood. The problem was that it was much too large for any demihuman to actually use.

Kaiel cleared his throat carefully. “How do we let Librarian Yolinderan know we're here?” Librarian Dasahyur didn't answer. She didn't have to, because a moment later, the answer came from the mouth of Yolinderan himself.

“I became aware of your arrival the moment you entered the cavern.” The voice rolled over them, a powerful, deep sound with rich, resonant tones. The accent was educated and full of sophistication. “You may approach my desk.”

They all moved forward. Librarian Dasahyur stood behind them, arms lightly crossed over her chest.

When Taylin got closer to the desk, she found that it was occupied by a rectangular package, presumably a book, wrapped in oilcloth. It didn't hold her attention long, however, as something large disturbed the water in the lake from underneath.

Red lights winked into being beneath the surface. They were arranged in two groups of three with each group consisting of a light only slightly smaller than Taylin's head with two the size of her fists just above them. As she watched, they began to rapidly approach the surface.

Before they reached it though, the lake erupted in a riot of what appeared to be stone spikes, each taller than she was, layered atop each other like gigantic scales. Water streamed off them and seemed to turn to glittering motes in the bright lights along the platform and pier.

A nest of smaller spikes emerged ahead of the main cluster, just behind the red lights. This was quickly revealed to be a horse-sized, reptilian head crowned by a mane of spikes the color of wet granite and shot through with red veins. The lights were, in truth, eyes. The larger ones were set deep into their sockets while the smaller ones seemed simply to rest on the creature's brow like those of a spider. All six glowed a sinister red.

Below the spiked frill and the otherworldly eyes was a thick, hooked beak. Though clamped firmly shut, Taylin had no doubt it could bite her in half.

It was seeing this that finally made Taylin realize what she was looking at: the larger spikes weren't scales, but they were close. They were the thorny shell of a gargantuan turtle, twice as large as the mighty trulls she knew. Instinctively, her hand went to draw out the Eastern Brand, only to belatedly realize that the sword and all her other weapons were with Gaddigan, far out of her reach.

All six of the beast's eyes focused on her. “There is no need for that.” said the voice of Librarian Yolinderan. Even though the crushing beak didn't move, the voice came from the monstrous turtle.

Taylin hesitated, fighting down the itch of scales trying to break out up and down her arms. She'd heard tales of the
ornim-hele
; the dragon-turtles. They were as ancient and wise as the dragons themselves, but few knew anything more than that about them.

Librarian Yolinderan, for indeed that was who he was, brought his head level with the pier to survey those standing before him until he spotted the crest on Kaiel's broach. “Chronicler Keese Kaiel Arunsteadeles, I presume?”

“Sir.” Kaiel said with a formal bow. “It is an honor to meet you in person.”

“A pity it is not in better circumstances.” The head librarian replied, his two largest eyes becoming half-lidded as he affected a sigh without expelling any air. “The tale you've relayed to me via Loremen Ridsekes and Renehe disturb me greatly if they are even partially true. The Rune Breaker has resurfaced, and at the same time Immurai the Masked begins a quest to take control of the Soul Battery.”

Kaiel straightened, bringing his cloak up around him to make the pose regal. “Indeed, Librarian. And that brings me back to my original research query. We have already concluded that whatever Immurai wants from us, it must be well worth it to him. The problem is that we have no idea what the Soul Battery is.”

“Hmm.” said Yolinderan. “It is indeed obscure, even for a scholar of the War of Ascension like yourself. I do not fault you for not knowing: the Empire's records were left in shambles from Dey's retribution and the sharing of information, even in this age, is far less than complete.”

He turned his great head to encompass all of them in his gaze. “I will spare you the close details and tell you only what history you must know:

“Even before the War of Ascension, the hailene had turned from the Vishnari Pantheon and sought to raise up their own ancestral and hero gods in their place. There were some that were not satisfied with this, who did not wish to pray to ghosts and fallen warriors. What they wanted were gods that walked among them and led their people with raw, divine power.

“When theories arose that there might be a way to empower a hailene with that manner of divinity, the Emperor ordered research conducted. The leader of this endeavor was a noble and scholar in the arts of using
vitae
to alter biology named Lena Hiddakko. Her personal theory was that the divinity sparks that fuel spirit beasts could be harnessed and controlled.

“However, in the course of her studies, she discovered that the divinity spark was similar to the power the dragons are born with. Through experimentation, she and her people discovered that the souls of dragons are directly connected to the Well of Souls. Every dragon born on Ere is constantly charged with the discarnate energy from this pure, unlimited source.”

Yolinderan looked up to the ceiling of the cavern as if seeking divine guidance himself. “But the will of a dragon cannot be broken and their soul cannot be harvested for its power. Lena Hiddakko sought to create hailene who were themselves gifted with the souls of dragons.

“The fragmented journals of the Emperor's advisers suggest that when he realized that he could not be personally empowered by the process, he gave the entire project over to the military with the aim to use the resulting hailene not as leaders for his people, but as a source of power for their newest weapon: the Dragonslayer class dreadnought. He is noted to refer to them repeatedly thereafter as '
rom inder hai'
, which translates to the Vishnari tongue as 'power source made from essence', or 'soul battery'.”

A sick feeling hit Taylin's stomach. She'd heard of butterflies in one's stomach, but she imagined these to be made of ichorous slime. She felt the others all glance in her direction and saw Yolinderan set his gaze directly on her.

“In the end, what remains of the official record says that six children were born in the experiment and one died some weeks after. The journal of Lena Hiddakko, found in the remains of her villa three years after the hailene were given back the Illium archipelago, however, says differently.”

Now the dragon turtle had narrowed his focus to Taylin and Taylin alone. “You, Miss. Tell me your name.”

Taylin jumped at being address and the roaring in the back of her head demanded that she lash out. She fought it down and only managed to squeak out a “Me?”

“Yes.”

“Taylin. Sir.”

“Taylin of the Winter Willow.” Rai actually leapt forward so she was standing beside her sister.

Yolinderan rumbled, but Taylin had no idea what that meant. “Taylin then. There is a book on my desk. Please take it and turn to page two-hundred and five. Then read the passage there.”

Everything in her wanted to flee, fight, or crumble now. She didn't need to read the book; she knew what it said. There was no way that it said anything else. It all made sense now: why she wasn't like other dragonsired, what that roaring in her head was, and worst of all why Immurai really took Motsey:

He wanted her.

It all came down to the fact that the hailene had meant her to be more of a weapon than she ever expected. And now she was left with the grim choice: let her nephew languish, become hated by Raiteria and the entire clan, never be able to live with herself—or hand that weapon over to Immurai.

Taylin turned to look at the others.

Kaiel offered a small nod of encouragement and Brin a more expectant one. Evidently, she wanted an unambiguous end to the mystery once and for all. Raiteria was trying ineffectively to hide the dread in her own expression while still standing by Taylin. And Ru... stood impassive as ever, staring back at her.

In the link she found not surprise as she expected, but an odd mix of amusement and... vindication?

You knew.
She glared at him.

I had a theory.
Ru countered.
I sensed the strength of your soul when we met, but only after speaking to Raiteria did it occur to me to ask 'why' and connect several pieces of information.

Taylin's teeth ground and something in her really and truly wanted to let the link do as it wished to him for that. But she beat that part back, then turned away from him and toward the book. If Ru knew things like that about her, she needed to know them too. All of them.

On stiff legs, she stepped forward and lifted the book from the desk. She unbound it from the oilcloth with great care and took a moment to look at it.

Once, it had probably been an elegant volume, but the leather of the cover had rotted in places and the edges of the pages were water-stained. Still, when she opened it, most of the feathery, careful writing was still intact. That included the numbering, which was inked at the bottom center of every page.

Suddenly, she wanted to read the entire thing and find out what this mad woman had done to her in detail. But Yolinderan had been specific in his orders and it was his book. She turned to page two-hundred and five, then read aloud.

“
I have changed all of the records to say that the girl died of a lung infection. It is a plight common to ang'hailene and will be believed. The only record of the girl's true identity resides in these pages. To the rest of the world, she will be the child of one of my deceased relations who I have chosen to raise as my own.”

Taylin looked from the book to Yolinderan. “Wait. Do you mean to say...”

“
You have already guessed.” the dragon turtle pointed out. “You are the sole surviving Soul Battery, and Lena Hiddakko took you as her child.”

Actually, no, she hadn't guessed all of that. Yes, she had come to the conclusion that she was one of the child-turned-weapons, but with the knowledge, she imagined that her life before the mines would be in some dank laboratory being prodded and abused in the name of science.