Chapter 33 Ares #2
Lara paused in front of the arched, leaded glass window.
Backlit by the late morning light, she looked rather like one of the statues of avenging angels that could be found around the city.
I could see how she got her moniker. “Some have also called our swords by that name. The word has as many meanings as our name does.”
“Maere?” I asked.
Now it was Briony’s turn to answer a question, and she looked pleased as a schoolchild. “Maere has roots in lots of words. It can describe the sea, or nightmares… it even has roots in some of the names of the original factions of warriors who populated the island, right?”
Ember nodded. “Yes, all that is true. Thrysos is not a word we commonly use on the island. It’s a human name for our tools, which is why it has an inconsistent meaning… much like the word Maere itself. But it could be referring to Chiore’s weapon, certainly.”
Rhiannon appeared in the doorway, dressed in a matching set of navy blue workout clothes, her hair pulled back tightly into a slick bun.
“If the Chiorics are looking for a thrysos, it is because they want to cut us down.” She stalked towards the pinboard, staring at the date in question in comparison to the others that had been identified.
“I think we should assume they were successful.”
“No,” Briony answered. “They weren’t… How to explain this…
The dates are a pattern of some sort. A mix of moon phases, though not all our moon.
They seem to be tracking a moon from a distant planet, Tyche.
Some of these dates are when Tyche is in a kind of alignment with our moon…
There has to be some significance here.” She turned her screen. “Does this mean anything to you?”
Ember glanced at the screen, then shook her head.
“That’s not very precise, but you might be onto something.
Rituals do typically follow an astrological pattern.
” She pointed to several of the alignments in the simulation Briony had seemingly conjured from nothing.
“Look, each is several degrees off; they’re all different. ”
Briony shrugged. “I’ll keep working on it.”
Both Rhiannon and Ember nodded, while Lara simply turned to stare out the window. When she spoke, her voice was flat. “This is a setup. Surely you see it. Someone’s luring us in. Whether it’s some Chioric faction or the missing Maere, this whole thing is a trap.”
“Yes,” Ember agreed, standing up from the couch. She stared at the pinboard, frowning at the list of dates. “But what else are we going to do? Just leave the swords?”
“We could try to buy them,” I suggested. As soon as the words left my mouth, I wanted to take them back.
Ember leaned back on the arm of the sofa. “If they want us trapped, they’re not going to allow us to simply buy them.”
Rhiannon crossed her arms tightly over her chest. “So we have to be better than them. Faster. Get in, get out fast, before the auction even begins. That’s been the plan all along.”
Ember nodded, but as she did, she frowned. “The trouble is, if we assume this is a trap, then we have to assume they’ll assume we plan to do this the safest way possible.”
Rhiannon grimaced, then stared at the ceiling. “So, what do we do? Go to the auction?”
I drew a breath in. That would be dangerous, but it might also play to our advantage.
Whoever was planning this would assume that we wouldn’t risk doing this the hardest way possible.
But if we waited until the very last moment to steal the swords, we might actually take them by surprise.
I shook my head at Ember. It was a wild idea, but it might work.
Ember smiled when I finally shrugged, tossing my hands into the air. “Guess we’re going to a party,” she said with a grin.
Lara groaned in response, while Rhiannon simply glared at the pinboard. The only sound in the room was Briony’s fingers clacking over her keyboard, drumming out an anxious rhythm.
Rhiannon moved towards the pinboard. “There’s something about these dates I don’t like…” She shook her head, as though frustrated, then glanced at Briony. “Any luck refining those numbers?”
Briony shook her head, her fingers still flying over the keyboard. “No, but it might help if you told me what you’re thinking.”
Rhiannon grimaced. “I can’t put my finger on it. There’s a pattern in them, like you said, but it’s more than just some astrological event. The whole thing looks like something.” It was the most imprecise I’d ever heard her be.
Briony stopped typing to stare at the pinboard. She nodded. “I see what you’re saying. It’s like there’s a pattern behind the pattern. Like chess, almost. Like someone orchestrated all of this very carefully.”
Ember grimaced. “The Cognoscenti they have working for them. That’s gotta be it.”
Lara sighed. “Is it possible Cromvale is the Cognoscenti, and that’s why he has all this stuff? Or Fairchild? Both of them are way too deep into all this.”
I shook my head. “They’re human. We’d know if they weren’t. It has to be someone else.”
The silky fabric of Ember’s robe trailed behind her, catching on the couch for a brief moment as she got up to stand closer to Lara, giving me a glimpse of her bare skin.
Ember’s arm went around Lara’s waist. The two of them were the same height and Lara had to bend somewhat to lean her head on Ember’s shoulder, her muscular arm snaking around Ember’s waist as she hugged her tightly.
Rhiannon only watched the two of them, some unspoken pain in her eyes.
Did she feel left out by their affection for one another?
The look passed in the span of a heartbeat, and I feared I might have imagined it, but for the way the assassin now appeared to force her hands from fists, balled at her sides, to a more relaxed state.
The sound of the front door opening and closing was quickly followed by the sound of Eryx and Av talking at once.
Both of them sounded excited, and I noted with some guilt, relieved.
From the sound of things, they’d figured out a way to get the swords out of the case once we’d dealt with the spirit traps.
I heard the words “shape charges” and “targeted explosions” in the midst of their chatter. Lara’s eyes lit up at the same words, and she slid out of Ember’s arms to go join Eryx and Av in their discussion.
As Lara said, “so, we’re blowing shit up, huh?” Ember turned to me. Her eyes met mine as a soft ray of sunshine broke through the clouds for a moment, before retreating, leaving her face in shadow. Her smile stretched into a grin, and for the first time in years, I no longer felt lonely.