Chapter 37
“There,” gasped Sam, staggering back from the collapsed titan. It was the third she’d killed. Her braid was coming apart, her face drawn with effort, her eyes wide as she read some invisible text. “I’ve… I’ve done it.”
Harald hurried to Sam’s side and helped her sit. “What did you get? Anything…?”
“Useful?” Her smile, as she blinked and came back to herself, was wry. “I think so. Possibly.”
Sam had done the impossible.
“My Active’s called Covenant of the Brightest Star,” began Sam.
“Hey!” Vic perked up. “That’s your Soul Nature! I remember that.”
“Well done, Vic,” said Nessa, patting him on the head.
Vic scowled at her.
“Yes.” Sam took a final sip from the waterskin before handing it back to Harald.
“It allows me to forge a temporary sacred bond with someone else. A willing target. For its duration, I share their burden. Corruption attacks, psychic assaults, demonic influence, or… I think even Throne Fatigue—all of it passed through the Covenant into me, first, where I process it through my Nature.”
Kársek ran his hand over his short beard braid. “So, you become akin to a filter?”
“I think so, yes.” Sam wiped sweat from her brow. “I’m better suited to resist corruption, after all.”
“Well!” Vic rolled his eyes. “We all know who you’re going to be bonding with. So much for the rest of us.”
Nessa elbowed Vic just right so that he staggered away, off-balance.
“Your Passive?” prompted Harald, thoughts already spinning with the potential of what she’d revealed.
“Crucible. It’s the flip side of Covenant. The more darkness I process, the brighter my light burns.” She frowned, as if studying her very words. “My powers intensify under pressure. I…”
“That’s incredible,” said Nessa. “You’re saying that the more you’re attacked, the stronger you become?”
“I… yes.” Sam sat up straighter. “That’s exactly right.”
“Sam.” Harald met her defiant gaze. “What aren’t you telling us?”
“That’s the crux of it. I’m not hiding anything.” She forced a smile. “Darkness in, light out. I’m a Netherwarden Knight, Harald. It’s my Class. My duty. Simple.”
“Uh-huh.” He considered her. How to get her to reveal what she was hiding?
“It’s a potent combination,” agreed Kársek. “She forges a bond with you, Harald. You drain Eclavistra of her power. She filters the power through her Crucible and purifies it. That in turn protects you from being consumed by Eclavistra’s evil.”
“Very neat,” agreed Vic. “In theory. We’re talking oceans’ worth of power, though. It’s just a Level 7 Ability. Let’s not get too ahead of ourselves here.”
“Level 7,” countered Nessa, “but empowered by Exeros.”
They all glanced at the burning mote.
“Well!” Harald rose to his feet and took Sam’s hand to pull her up. “We’ve got a plan. Sam’s hit Level 7, and her new Abilities will only help. Now we need the Crown, Brianna, and a place to ambush Eclavistra. Sam, ready to use the Waymark of Alabenthos?”
“Sure.” She wiped her hands on her hips, took a deep breath, then smiled. “Are we ready now? I can take us directly back to Anna’s.”
“Ready,” said Nessa, glancing around the shifting tides of green smoke that were already building in the distance.
“Agreed,” said Kársek.
“Oh, fine,” said Vic, then he brightened. “Can we take a quick detour? I’d love to—”
“No, Vic.” Nessa all but rolled her eyes. “We’re about to fight an arch fucking demon. We don’t have time to stop by the Kitty Kat.”
Vic pouted.
“Let’s get back to Sonora Manor,” agreed Harald. “And hope that Flutic hasn’t devolved into even more violence.”
Sam manifested the Waymark. It was an ivory disc gifted to her by Alabenthos when she absorbed the Angel Seed. She focused on it, and a white fire portal appeared by their side.
“Me first!” cried Vic, and jumped through.
“Vote on just closing the portal, ditching him in Flutic, and coming up with another plan?” Nessa eyed the others. “No? Very well.” And she stepped after.
Kársek patted Sam on the shoulder. “You did well, Sam. Very well.” Then he, too, departed.
“Together?” asked Harald, extending his hand.
“Together,” she agreed, and interlaced her fingers with his own.
For a moment they stood thus, then, just as the green wave was about to inundate them once more, they stepped through.
* * *
The portal opened onto the driveway before Sonora Manor.
Rather unexpectedly, it was early morning, and the weather was beautiful; delicate sunshine was warming the crystalline cold, and the last traces of frost were burning away across the wild grass that grew rampant on the Sonora lawn.
The sky was lofty and a delicate blue, with traceries of clouds in the east only now losing the last touches of sunrise gold.
“Huh,” said Harald. “I don’t know why I expected it to be midnight.”
“It’s always midnight in your heart,” said Vic, rubbing at his upper arms. “Do you think we’re too early for breakfast?”
“At least the manor still stands,” said Nessa, taking in the grand building. “No smoke, no broken glass. Disaster hasn’t struck.”
“Seems awfully quiet,” said Sam, turning in a slow circle. “No one in the gate house.”
“And no challenge from Eadwolf, either,” said Harald, scanning the rooftop.
“Let’s see who’s home.” He jogged up the broad steps, and had a vision of the old butler, Rivik, opening the door with a look of disdain, but Rivik was dead, had died in that very doorway, and the thought cast a pall over his excitement at returning.
Harald knocked on the door.
To his surprise, it opened almost immediately. A City Watch guard stood before him, clearly trying to shrug off a sleepy stupor, but at the sight of Harald, the man’s eyes snapped open wide. “Sir Darrowdelve?”
Harald resisted the urge to summon his Scourge. “Where is Countess Sonora?”
“She is spending nights at the Council Basilica, sir. Negotiations and the establishment of the new government is keeping her away from home, though she was able to return briefly yesterday.”
Harald blinked. “She’s helping to set up a new government? That’s… great.”
“She asked that someone be staffed at her manor at all times in case you returned, sir. I’ve instructions to answer any questions and bring you to her.”
“Excellent.” Harald glanced back at his friends. Sam shrugged. “So—what’s going on?”
“Do you want to head to the Basilica now, sir? We’ve a carriage held in waiting if so.”
“Sure. Let’s… talk while we go.”
“Very well. One moment, sir.” The guard dashed away into the hall.
“Well.” Harald glanced back at his companions. “It seems Anna hasn’t been idle in our absence.”
“I think this bodes well.” Sam frowned, considering her own words, then nodded. “For her to have the City Watch at her command is no small thing.”
“Agreed,” said Vic, tone neutral. “I’m very curious as to what’s going on.”
“No stabbing Anna,” said Nessa sharply.
Vic raised his hands. “I wouldn’t dream of it. Not after how poorly you all took it last time.” At the stares he received, he raised his hands higher. “A jest! Haha. Funny ol’ Vic. Pretending to not care about stabbing his best friends.”
The carriage was brought around some ten minutes later, two horses stamping and shaking out their bridles as they came to a stop before the front door. The guard had been joined by a second, a heavily freckled young woman who gaped at them all with unabashed curiosity.
The first guard leaped down and opened the door. “My name is Joras, sir. I’ll tell you everything as Sam takes us to the Basilica.”
There was a moment of confusion until it was determined that the freckled guard was also called Sam. Vic announced that he was probably less than welcome at the Basilica and would instead be staying to bathe and sleep.
Nobody disagreed.
Everybody piled inside, and Joras apologized profusely at the cramped space within.
He then launched into a rapid explanation of the past week: how Lady Elara of House Viridian had used a combination of potent Artifacts to steal the Twilight Crown away from House Celestara, teleporting it into a secure and unscryable safe, only to then surrender the Crown to Lady Anna after Brianna Hammerfell convinced the new Lord Draken to support her claim to rule.
With Draken and Viridian united, and responsible for defeating Vic and his Handmaidens, House Emberfell had fallen in line, which prompted the remaining Houses to do the same, like dominoes toppling into each other.
“Too much blood was spilled too quickly, I reckon,” said Joras, staring out the window as they rumbled through the morning traffic.
“Too many Gold and Silver-ranked raiders killed in the civil disturbances. The leaders of the Houses took a fright and lost their appetite for further bloodshed. Now Countess Anna negotiates a new government though, from what I can tell, it’s slow going.
Every measure must be debated to death. But it’s going. ”
“And the Crown?” asked Harald.
“Held in security. A group of six Gold-ranked raiders watch over it at all times. Nobody yet trusts the other, but Countess Anna’s willingness to put the Crown under general observation went a long way to getting the other lords and ladies to come to the table.
” Joras caught himself and blushed. “Or so I hear, of course. I’m just a guardsman. ”
“Sure,” grinned Harald. “Well! That’s an unexpected turn of events. Good to hear.”
Kársek fixed the young guardsman with his gaze. “And the dwarves of Deepforge?”
“Oh! Right. They stand with Countess Anna.” Joras flushed.
“I’m sorry. Slipped my mind. They’re why House Emberfell agreed to fall in line.
Something about the dwarves’ relationship to Emberfell, how they supply most of their raw materials, or…
I’m not sure, but dwarven dignitaries visited Lord Doran Blaze the very same day he agreed to follow Lady Anna’s lead. ”