Chapter 6 #2
“Taenaron. That is what they are named,” Vex corrected. “The mouth that devours.”
“That seems accurate.”
Golden gates stretched up over a hundred feet above their heads and barred their path into the city. They shone as if lit from within. Finley wondered how they would get in. Would Vex use magic to open them? Would he simply fly them over the wall? Or perhaps he would teleport them inside?
Without a word or gesture, the gates suddenly began to swing open of their own accord.
There was a clanking sound as internal machinery moved the massive doors.
Finley’s lips parted. They were going into Illithor.
They were really going inside! He would be the first in how many millennia?
And he would have the Night King as his guide!
Suddenly nearly dying seemed like a very small price to pay for this.
“Is this why you’re here? To visit your old city?” Finley finally asked. “Or is it to see Declan?”
This was a risk to bring up his best friend.
If he were wrong about what Declan was to Vex or if he misunderstood that it was Vex that had secreted Declan away on Earth, he could be putting his best friend in danger.
But if Vex knew about him–and he clearly did as he knew Finley’s name!
--then he must know of Declan. In fact, his relationship with Declan must be the reason that Vex claimed to want to get to know him.
Or it could be because of Rhalyf. He is Vex’s nephew. But I’ve just met him. That’s too new a friendship to attract the Night King’s attention.
Vex’s smile at the name of his best friend had Finley’s heart lifting. Whatever else might be true, Vex had seemingly very good feelings towards Declan.
“My Rahven!” He put one elegant hand against the center of his chest. There were delicate tattoos across the backs of his fingers. Finley wondered what weapons they were. “I am most eager to be with him!”
Eager? That’s good. I hope that Declan is eager, too. Or will it be a shock?
“Rahven?” Finley clarified. “Is that Declan’s, ah, real name?”
A nod. “Prince Rahven Vaeduzor Zinsandoral Vex!”
A frown. Zinsandoral? I swear I’ve heard that name before. Oh! Declan asked me if I’d ever read about anyone with that name. He asked me about it just last night at the inn. Was Declan recovering some of his memories even then?
“Why did you take Declan’s–I mean Rahven’s–memories?” Finley asked. “He doesn’t–or maybe didn’t–even know he wasn’t human. He didn’t realize he should stay out of the Sun and–”
“But now he knows,” Vex murmured.
“Yes, yes, uhm, he figured that out.” Finley did not want to say how Declan had figured that out or that it was Vex’s nephew who had helped him figure that out.
For all he knew, Rhalyf was right to think his uncle still thought him a traitor.
Maybe Vex wasn’t even aware that Rhalyf was in Tyrael at all and–
“How do you like my nephew?” Vex interrupted.
Finley winced and his eyes darted towards the Night King who had his hands now loosely crossed at the wrists behind his lower back, appearing for all the world like he had nothing at all on his mind even though they were entering a city he had abandoned ages ago.
And if there were any enemies about, he didn’t appear worried whatsoever.
In fact, Finley didn’t see any Leviathan or traces of them.
But he supposed that if they had been nesting here, Vex had simply destroyed them as easily as he had the one that had wanted to kill Finley.
“It’s like you’re reading my mind!” Finley sighed. “Rhalyf is…”
“Arrogant?” Vex looked amused.
Finley snorted. He liked Rhalyf much better now than he had when he’d first met him, but there was no denying he was arrogant. Even if that arrogance was earned. “Yes, but–”
“Vain?” Vex’s amusement grew.
Finley’s mouth flattened as he thought of Rhalyf practically oozing out of his clothes so that everyone could admire his powerful chest and lean hips. “Well, he does think highly of his looks–”
“Ambitious?”
That brought Finley up short and he realized it was a real question. Vex was asking him if he thought that Rhalyf was ambitious. Perhaps ambitious enough to join a coup against the Night King. He had to be careful when answering this. And truthful. He knew that no lie would get past Vex.
“Actually, no, that’s the one thing he isn’t,” Finley said slowly. “I believe what he enjoys most in life is slinging spells better than most anyone else, drinking too much wine and eating tons of good food.”
“And sex. My nephew has almost as prodigious an appetite as I do for breaking hearts.” Vex’s red eyes hooded when he shot a glance at Finley.
Finley pinked and stutter-stepped before he realized he was being left behind again and he didn’t wish to be. Even though this place was…
“Amazing,” Finley breathed as they stepped through the gates and he could really see the interior of the city. “It looks more grown than built.”
“That’s because it was,” Vex answered. “Clever boy to realize that though the buildings look like stone, metal and glass, they are more than that.”
The soaring buildings that stretched so high into the air that Finley could not see the tops of them, surrounded a large square right inside the gates.
Finley imagined that hundreds of people would have gone in and out of Illithor here, the great capital city of the Kindreth Empire.
For a moment, he thought he could almost see them.
All dressed in jewel-colored silks–mostly dark colors, but with pops of color in crimsons and golds–as they spoke in the liquid accents of Illithor.
There would likely have been shops and stalls that would have sold street food and whatever the weary traveler needed.
“Swords! Swords for sale! Just what you need to keep you safe and climb the ranks of the city’s elite!” He imagined a squat dwarven weaponsmith calling out to the crowd.
“Scrolls! Scrolls preloaded with powerful spells to use on your enemies! No need to worry about slurring a word or skipping a movement of a hand with these scrolls! Fireballs will bloom like roses under the high moon!” He imagined a Kindreth woman saying, a dark green skirt slit up to her hips.
“Need a place to stay? Don’t have the coin? No worries! We here at the Temple of the Arctuthia offer soft beds, warm meals and friendly faces!” A Kindreth man dressed in saffron-colored robes would call. “Come join us!”
“Wouldn’t go with him, if I were you,” the dwarven swordsmith would mutter under his breath. “Anyone who does never returns. Sacrificed on Arctuthia’s altars or sold into slavery. Ends the same. Life as you know it is over.”
“Imagining your game set here?” Vex asked, breaking him out of his reverie.
“What? I… you know about my game?” Finley blinked at him, unsure if he was thrilled, worried or both. Maybe both. “How do you know about that? Oh! You must be watching? Listening?”
He wondered if Vex knew he was the Big Bad in Finley’s game. Of course, he did. Because it seemed like whatever Finley hoped he didn’t know, he did.
Vex simply smiled.
“Yes, I admit I was imagining my game right here. How I would describe it to others,” Finley said.
“A dwarven weaponsmith who will give you a deal if you help him find his missing brother. A scroll-seller who works for the local thieve’s guild and has a quest for the less savory players.
Steal some ancient artifact from a leering noble.
And then there would be a priest who offers you help only to try and slit the players’ throats at the end.
The players will have to kill him and his god to get out of that encounter. ”
Vex chuckled. “That is an accurate representation of what this market was.”
Was. Is that sadness in his eyes? In his voice? Why did he leave the city then? Or, even if he left it, why shut it down like this? Why not let it keep going? Keep thriving? It seems like such a waste…
They continued walking forward across the large, empty square that was silent except for their footfalls. Or really, Finley’s footfalls, because even spelled he made more noise than the shoe-less Vex.
And his feet aren’t even getting dirty! He’s walked for how long and through who knows what in the Under Dark to get here and he’s spotless!
“You said earlier that you think Rahven knows he is not human,” Vex suddenly said. “But, surely, you are the one person who would be certain of what he thinks. You are his best friend, are you not?”
Finley nodded. “I don’t think he realized it until yesterday. Maybe not even until today.”
“His memories are well hidden from him to be sure,” Vex agreed.
“I left to go to town before he was up and about so we couldn’t talk then.
He had some errands to do as well. And then we were caught up in going after Darcassan who–” He stopped as he caught Vex looking at him out of the corner of his eye.
He swallowed. These were excuses. They were valid.
But they were excuses. He hadn’t sought Declan out on the long ride to Chicago.
He hadn’t attempted to gain his ear in the Thompson Center.
It was almost like they were avoiding each other.
“I think… I think Declan’s afraid to tell me what he thinks about that. ”
“Oh? Why?” Vex feigned innocence.
Finley sighed. “I think you know.” But Vex said nothing so Finley found himself filling the empty air, “He used magic against the Leviathan when they first attacked Earth. I thought he was human then and… and if he could use magic then maybe other humans could. Like… me.”
“But he is not human. He is Kindreth,” Vex stated simply.
“Exactly. Which means that what everyone has been telling me about humans and magic is true.” Finley felt the weight of that knowledge settle on his slender shoulders. It felt like it might crush him.
“Which is?”
“Humans don’t have magic,” Finley answered flatly.