His Final Secret Read online

  "It hurts. It is scared. It is alone. It is Thornn."

  "Thornn?" Spyne said. "He attacked you?"

  "It is Thornn. It is here. It is its command."

  "He told Thornn to attack you?"

  "It kills it. It is dying. It is scared. It helps it."

  "Who?" Talon asked.

  "It is you," Jeremiah replied. "It helps it. It is pleased. It is its friend. It hides. It hides. It hides. It hides. It forgets. It hides. It remembers. It hides."

  Talon shook his head, trying to jog the memories there. "I helped you? I put you in the juggernaut?"

  "It helped it. First of Nine helped it. It is pleased. It hides."

  Talon still couldn't remember, but he didn't need to in order to understand. "You were hiding from him. All of these years. You were waiting."

  "It hides," Jeremiah confirmed.

  "You used your magic, the procedure, to put yourself in a juggernaut. I helped you do it."

  "It hides."

  "Jeremiah, why? Why did he want to kill you? Why did he do this to all of us? You must have known something that he didn't want anyone else to know."

  A poof of steam escaped the juggernaut's faceplate. "It knows."

  "Knows what? Do you know his secret?"

  "It knows," Jeremiah repeated. "It is this way."

  "You know where to find him?" Spyne said, the anger darkening his already dark visage even further.

  "It knows. It remembers."

  CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

  Talon

  "Well then, what are we waiting for?" Spyne asked.

  "We can't leave while the city is in chaos," Talon said. "The juggernauts will keep the soldiers in line until we can determine who is loyal to us. In Edgewater, those people will be few enough."

  "Forget the city, Talon," Spyne said. "Let it burn itself to the ground or tear itself apart. I don't care. Jeremiah knows where he is. He put me back together to help you kill him. That is what we need to do."

  "No. Innocent people will die if we leave right now. Twelve hours, brother. That is what I promised them."

  Spyne cursed beneath his breath, turning and punching the wall hard enough to leave a dent in the stone. "We're so close."

  Talon ignored his temper, looking past him out the window. "We'll be busy enough. Look."

  Spyne looked out the window. Smoke was rising from the palace, and from the barracks nearby. Shouts began to permeate the night air, along with the sound of clashing metal.

  "They're turning on one another," he said. "So what?"

  "So we need to ensure that the correct side wins. If you ever want to leave Edgewater, we need to place it in control of someone who is loyal to us and defend it with an army that will follow their commands."

  Spyne nodded, taking his broadsword to hand. "Fine. I have some energy to work off."

  Talon set his mind to the control stone, finding three of the juggernauts and calling to them. "Meet us at the front gates."

  He didn't need a response. "You can sit this one out," he said to Jeremiah. "You look a little worn."

  "It is pleased to follow First of Nine," Jeremiah said.

  They abandoned the headmaster's office, moving through empty hallways, down a grand marble staircase to the Academy's foyer. There was a desk at the center of it where a scribe would normally greet the Cursed the Mediators brought in, taking their name and place of birth and being as calm and welcoming as possible before a second Mediator took them away.

  The position was vacant now, though it seemed as if the scribe had been pulled from duty to join the ambush. The ledger was sitting open, the quill resting in an inkwell. Talon smiled when he saw the last entry was weeks old. It had been some time since a new Cursed had been brought in.

  None will ever be brought here against their will again.

  The three of them exited through the front doors of the academy, already pushed open by the Carriers waiting outside. They could hear the battles growing in pitch beyond the tall iron gates, as a city full of soldiers made their choices on who they would follow. He was a powerful figure, a nameless, ageless thing to be feared and respected. Talon and Spyne were known to the armies, Generals who had earned the soldiers' respect through their actions, their courage and their strength. They were real, solid, tangible men.

  And they were fighting back.

  They were descending the steps, headed for the gates when Wilem appeared in the doorway, flanked by Delia and two of the more advanced students.

  "General," he said, getting Talon's attention. Spyne turned around as well, responding to the title.

  "Wilem, go back inside," Talon said. "Your task is to guard the Academy."

  "You'll need help."

  "I have it." Talon pointed to the juggernauts near the gates.

  "At least let me come with you," Delia said. "I owe you for my failure."

  "As do I," Wilem said.

  "These Cursed need you, Wilem. You are the proof of his lies, the only one who can lead them right now."

  "Listen to your betters, boy," Spyne said.

  "Delia, you're welcome to come along if that is your wish."

  She leaned over and kissed Wilem on the cheek. "It is," she said, rushing down the steps. Wilem didn't look happy about her decision. Perhaps she didn't need him as much as he had thought?

  "Where is it the worst?" Talon asked.

  "Near the barracks, I would guess," Spyne replied. "It's going to be violent and ugly."

  "Change usually is." Talon sent a thought through the control stone. "Open the gates." He turned to Wilem. "Close them behind us, do not open them for any reason. If anyone tries to get inside, do what you must."

  "Yes, sir," Wilem said.

  "Are you certain you want to come along?" Talon asked Delia.

  "Yes, General. I know you think less of me because of my affection for Wilem. I am more than just a pretty face."

  Spyne huffed. "We'll see about that, girl."

  Delia glared at Spyne but didn't respond. The juggernauts pulled the gates open, and they moved out into the street.

  "We'll head towards the barracks, and then circle back to the palace. Once we've taken the palace with a large enough force, the fighting will stop."

  "Once the juggernauts have killed enough of his soldiers, the fighting will stop," Spyne said.

  "It is pleased to follow First of Nine."

  The group moved down a quiet road in the center of lush green hills that led down from the Academy to the city proper. The barracks was located at the bottom of the hill leading up to the palace, itself a massive structure able to house and train close to five thousand soldiers at one time.

  It was also on fire.

  They had nearly reached it when the first group of his loyal soldiers spotted them. The force was at least three hundred men strong, with a mix of horse and archers. They positioned themselves in the street two blocks away from the barracks, overturning carts and merchant stalls and whatever else they could find to make a barricade before drawing their bows and unleashing the first barrage. Talon and the others stayed close behind the Carriers, letting the missiles bounce harmlessly off their metal hides.

  "They're shooting at me," Spyne said, his beady eyes narrow and angry.

  "You're a traitor," Talon said.

  "Not as far as I'm concerned." He moved out from behind the juggernauts, charging the barricade and screaming. He leaped it easily, carrying his massive frame over the debris and into the thick of the soldiers.

  "He's insane," Delia said.

  The procedure. It had changed them all. "He was made for war," he replied. "As was I."

  He ordered the juggernauts forward at a run. They didn't go over the barricade, instead slamming their heavy bodies through it, breaking it apart as though it was no more than an inconvenience before falling into the fray.

  There were people everywhere, soldiers in armor pressed tightly into the melee, struggling to find the space to maneuver their blades. The juggern
auts waded through the mix, grabbing them and crushing their skulls, throwing them against walls, or slamming them into the ground. Talon stayed behind them, only engaging when he was attacked, growing more comfortable with Kwille's blade as he discovered the strengths of its form. Delia remained at his side, her knives flashing against the flames and street lights, finding the chinks in their armor and digging into flesh. The enemy soldiers couldn't touch her as she ducked and darted around attacks that were meant to fight other swordsmen and soldiers, not a foreign style they had never seen.

  The battle was over in less than a minute, with most of the enemy forces dead and the rest attempting surrender.

  "You were warned," Spyne said to them, looking back at Talon. "You made your choice."

  Made for war. Made for violence.

  Murderer.

  He ordered the juggernauts to kill them.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

  Talon

  They continued on from the massacre, crossing the remaining streets to the barracks. The fighting was intense inside the gates, where soldiers had heard the news and moved from wherever they had been to join their side. Some were in full armor, others in plain clothes, underclothes, and even a few who had come from the baths or from their beds with nothing on at all, their bodies bare though they held swords in hands.

  The dead already littered the battleground, and Talon was certain he would find many more inside the rooms and halls of the building.

  "Spyne," Talon said, getting the other General's attention.

  Spyne turned to him. His face was red, his chest was heaving, and he was coated in a layer of spattered blood and broken flesh. He looked more like a rabid animal than a human.

  Talon lifted the control stone from his neck and tossed it to him. "Take this and finish this part of the business. I'm going to the palace. Delia, with me."

  Spyne caught the stone and put it over his neck. The juggernauts ripped at the barracks gates, tearing them down before moving into the fight. It was hard to tell which side was which in the chaos.

  "If you fight for your Generals, retreat to the gates," Spyne bellowed, his voice echoing across the night. "If you fight for him, prepare to meet Heden."

  A third of the soldiers began backing away towards where the General was standing. The others gave chase, soon finding themselves face to face with a Carrier before finding themselves dead on the field.

  Talon headed away from the scene, cutting laterally across the field before reaching an open door into the main building.

  "I thought you said we were going to the palace?" Delia asked.

  "We are. There's another way. A secret way. There always is for the Nine. We were never supposed to remember. We were never supposed to break the promise. We were intended to live forever, and to hold the oath forever."

  "Nothing can last forever," Delia said.

  Talon nodded. "No. It can't."

  "What about the juggernauts?"

  "There is no time. We need to get in before he destroys the farspeak stone."

  "How? If the Mediators are all dead, who will tell him?

  Talon pointed at the second of the two towers rising from the palace. It had taken him some time to remember enough to realize the truth. "No one needs to tell him. He can see it. That is why there are two towers, built so high above the cities. One to speak, and one to watch."

  "Then won't he have destroyed them already?"

  "Not if he believes his armies might still be victorious."

  "Against the juggernauts?"

  "We must try."

  "What are you going to ask him?"

  "I'm not. I'm going to challenge him. To force him out of hiding. To come to Edgewater and end this before the entire Empire is in ruin. To face justice for what he has done."

  For Aren. For Alyssa. For Jeremiah. For the people of Genesia and all of those who have followed after. Even for Spyne.

  They made their way into the building. The fighting had already moved outside, leaving nothing but corpses in its wake. They could hear the screams from the dying soldiers as they raced down stone corridors, turning left, then right, and then left again and finally coming to a more open and opulent section of the barracks.

  "Officer's quarters," Talon said.

  "General Rast," a weak voice whispered from a dark corner.

  Talon turned his head towards it. A soldier was slouched against the wall, his shirt soaked in blood. He was staring at Talon, his eyes glazed over.

  "I fought for you General. I served you in the last uprising. I never thought you were a good man, but I always respected you. Leaders can never be good men in such a dark place, can they?"

  Talon paused at the statement. "No. Nothing changes on words alone."

  There was no response. The soldier was dead.

  Talon felt the weight of the man's dying breath as he led them up through another series of corridors to the rear corner. He had been a good man, once, when his name was Thomas. He had been a good man again when he was the drunkard Silas Morningstar. Good men existed in the world, but they were too good to affect it.

  Murderer.

  Because someone had to be.

  "The General's apartments," Talon said, entering a large, decorated suite. He felt the flood of memories pouring into this mind and he fought to push them aside. There was no time to sit with them. No time to let them slow his momentum.

  He moved to a large armoire and circled to the side of it, leaning against it and pushing. It slid aside at his effort, revealing a door beneath it. He pulled it open and climbed the ladder down, with Delia right behind him.

  It was dark, but he didn't need to see. The corridor went straight below the ground, under the hill to a second ladder that led into the smaller palace barracks. It would bring them inside the walls, but they would need to cross the field to the main structure on their own.

  "Keep your fingers along the wall and run as fast as you can," he said.

  "Yes, General," Delia replied.

  They reached the ladder within minutes. Delia paused to catch her breath.

  "There's no time," Talon said. He could feel the magic coursing through him, keeping his body strong. "Don't let an old man beat you."

  She straightened up, smiling at his encouragement. "Yes, General." She grabbed the ladder and began to climb ahead of him.

  They reached the top. There was another door here, and a metal pole that jutted out alongside it. She had noticed the same pole at the other end of the passage.

  Talon took it in his hands, bracing his body against the ladder. He shoved it, his lean muscles flexing as he pushed it along its track. He could hear the armoire above sliding along the floor. It had always been the perfect set up. Only one of the Nine was strong enough to move the furniture from below, and only a Mediator could have shifted it otherwise.

  "Lift it," Talon said.

  Delia did, pushing the hatch up and over. They climbed out of the hole and into a room not very different from the one they had left.

  "General's quarters in the palace?" she said.

  Talon nodded. "Inside the guard barracks. The guards are all on alert, so we're safe here. We need to cross to the main building. We won't make it unseen, so be ready."

  "I'm ready."

  Talon led her out of the room, through the barracks to the door. He stopped in front of it, listening. He could hear fighting outside. Shouting and screams. He hadn't expected any of the Overlord's guards to join the rebellion.

  He threw the door open, leading with his sword and taking a quick scan of the courtyard. There was a dead soldier on the ground a dozen feet away, three dead servants laying around him. Further off was another dead servant with an arrow in her chest.

  "The servants," Delia said, pointing towards the walls. Four women had one of the soldiers cornered, and they were trying to get past his blade to stick him with knives of their own.

  Talon smiled. How may of them had lost a Cursed child or knew someone who had been s
ent to the mines?

  "Should we help them?" Delia asked.

  "We are," Talon replied. "We're helping all of them, everywhere."

  He crossed the courtyard, stepping over the bodies to reach the door to the palace. He heard a woman scream and then a thud as her body fell to the ground beside the wall.

  "They're dying for you," Delia said.

  "You don't think I know?" Talon hissed. "The sooner we draw him out, the sooner the dying ends."

  "He won't come," Delia said. "Not for anything. That's what I believe."

  "We have to try."

  "You have to try, General. I'm going to help them."

  A second woman fell from the wall, followed by the soldier. More guards were rushing towards them, and Talon watched Delia race for the steps up. She threw her dagger when she reached them, planting it neatly into one of the guards' necks.

  Talon was tempted to go to help her, but he knew he couldn't. It was only a matter of time before the farspeak stone was destroyed, if it wasn't too late already. It didn't matter if Jeremiah knew where he was, or where the former wizard turned juggernaut thought he was. So many years had passed, it was impossible to be sure. What they had started needed to come to the swiftest end possible for the sake of everyone in the Empire.

  Besides, he knew the soldiers were no match for the girl.

  He made his way inside, through the livery and past the great hall. More bodies were laying in the corridors, enough that he wasn't sure that the entire staff of cooks and laundresses, tailors and stablehands hadn't all rebelled against their master as word of his death had begun to spread. There were a few dead guards as well, but not nearly enough to account for even a small portion of them.

  He turned the corner, headed for the base of the tower leading up to the stone. Three Overguard were waiting there, caught by surprise at his sudden appearance. They reached for their blades, trying to set themselves in time, even as Talon used the thin, light blade to remove the hand of the first before it could grab its target hilt, and bash the second in the face with the pommel. The third switched tactics and threw a punch instead, catching a glancing blow off Talon's jaw that knocked his head aside. He used the momentum of the blow, letting it spin him around, ducking beneath a punch and kicking out into the Overguard's midriff. The force of the strike sent the Overguard backward into the wall, where Talon stabbed him with Kwille's blade.