His Final Secret Page 18

  When they reached the edge of the pipe, Worm motioned out towards the water. Eryn was surprised to find there was a ship anchored there, a large sailing vessel with four huge masts. It was big to have traveled inland from Tilling along the coast, along the river to Elling. She wondered how close it was to scraping the bottom with its hull.

  Even more curious was the flag of the Empire flying at the top of the mainsail. More curious than that was the light of lanterns moving about along the deck, providing flashes of life on the boat.

  "You knew that ship would be there?" Eryn asked.

  Worm nodded.

  "How?"

  He smiled and reached into the pocket of his pants, removing a small silver disc from it. He held it up in front of her.

  "You signaled it?"

  He nodded again before pressing the disc once more. Then he pointed at her and put his hands together before spreading them wide, the way she did when she created a magic light.

  Eryn stared down at the ship. It was alone in the lake, the rest having surely fled Elling when the fighting started. How long had it been waiting for them? Was it only there to carry her and Worm to the Unknown Lands? Did the crew know who she was, and what she planned to do?

  She looked at Worm. His face was gentle, his eyes sincere. He seemed to be telling her, "It's okay, you'll be safe on the boat with me."

  She wanted to believe that. She needed to if she was going to make it to him. She summoned her Curse, whispering into the night and watching the ball of light appear, grow, and float out ahead of them.

  When she returned her eyes to the ship, the sails were already beginning to unfurl.

  CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN

  Eryn

  The Captain was a tall, narrow man with a long beak of a nose and beady eyes that looked angry all of the time, despite the otherwise pleasant tone of his voice. He was waiting at the bow of the ship when Worm and Eryn reached the bottom of the cliff, shouting orders back to his crew to keep the boat only scant inches from being smashed upon the rocks. At first, Eryn had wondered how the Captain had managed it with no sign of oarsmen and four tall masts of mostly flat sails.

  Then she had felt the resonance.

  "Welcome aboard," he said with a warm smile as his crew helped them onto the shifting deck of the boat. "My name is Ballard. Captain Ballard." His head turned away from her. "All reverse, full speed," he shouted back towards the crew.

  Eryn felt the resonance change with the command, and she stared at Ballard with a wide-eyed look of confusion.

  "You can feel it, can you?" Ballard said. He looked at Worm. "You found her."

  Worm nodded.

  "What do you mean, found me?" Eryn asked.

  Ballard smiled. "We've been looking for you for a long time, my Lady. A long time."

  Eryn stared at the Captain. Back in the village, a long time might have meant a dozen years. After all she had seen and learned, a long time could be closer to a thousand. "How long, exactly?"

  The Captain continued to smile. "This ship is named the Sorrow. Do you want to know why?"

  "Yes."

  He reached out for her hand. She took it and allowed him to help her along the deck. Worm followed close behind while the Sorrow continued moving back away from the rocks.

  "Pardon me, my Lady," he said, extending out to the end of her grip. "Come about, full speed. Let's hope we get some wind or this is going to be a long journey."

  A collective grunt from the crew served as the reply.

  He led her along the deck towards the quarterdeck. The motion of the ship was smooth now that it was away from the cliff. "You wanted to know why. I suppose I should tell you who I am, first."

  "I know who you are. Captain Ballard."

  He laughed at that, loud and deep. It sounded strange coming from someone with such a lanky frame. "Aye. That is true, my Lady." He glanced past her, to Worm. "I should have said what the Sorrow is, and why we're here." He kept walking until they reached the quarterdeck. There were stairs leading up and down. He pointed her at the downward steps. "I want to show you something."

  She saw him glance at Worm again, a quick look as though he was waiting for the painted man to approve. She looked back at Worm, who seemed impartial to the whole thing. In fact, he sat on the upward leading steps and drew his knife, looking it over for she didn't know what.

  "Right. Follow me, my Lady."

  Eryn followed him down the steps. She had been nervous about the ship, but Worm's ease around the Captain and Ballard's ease around her, and understanding of who and more importantly what she was had quelled her fears. It was clear they had been expecting her, though how or why was beyond her ability to guess. She assumed what the Captain had to show her would answer that question.

  "Are you familiar with the history of the Unknown Lands?" Ballard asked as they descended.

  "I don't know anything about them, except that no one who ever goes there comes back."

  "Aye. Most people don't know anything about them except for that. And yet, it isn't that hard to find a ship that will sail there from the Empire. A ship that is inevitably destined never to return, I should add. So then, the question becomes: do they not come back because some ill befalls them or do they not come back because they do not wish to?"

  He turned to face her, pausing on the steps.

  Eryn thought about the question for a minute. "Worm has already told me that he is in the Unknown Lands. I imagine they don't return because he wants to discourage people from going there. Just as the Dark, Genesia, was shrouded in mystery."

  She used the name intentionally, to see how Ballard would react. He didn't.

  He shook his head. "If it were to discourage... I don't see that working, do you? Four ships left Tilling headed east towards the Unknown Lands in the last six months alone. Twelve attempted the journey the year prior." He smiled. "None of them came back."

  "Then why? Surely they aren't living in peace there, whole and healthy and happy while the rest of the Empire suffers in misery?"

  "No. Forgive me, my Lady because my question was a trick. Or at least, it was half-truth and part trick. No one returns from the Unknown Lands because no one ever reaches them."

  Eryn was surprised by that. "Why not?"

  "They can't find it."

  "How can that be?"

  "Perhaps it doesn't exist."

  "It does."

  "How do you know?"

  "He is there."

  "You believe that?"

  "That is what Worm told me."

  "You believe him?"

  "Yes."

  Ballard reached the bottom of the steps. There was a door there, and he reached for the handle, pausing before revealing what was behind it. "You are right to believe him. The Unknown Lands are real. They do exist. Only, they aren't easy to find. Not at all."

  "Magic," Eryn said, realizing what Ballard was getting at.

  "Yes. A fog that rises from the ocean, impermeable to the eyes. Sailors think it is a small patch of weather they can cut through, but it isn't. They get turned around, lost, and eventually the people aboard either kill one another, kill themselves, or starve. The ships... the current takes them away and piles them along the shore in a place we call the Boneyard."

  "We?" Eryn said.

  "There are some boats that get through. Boats like the Sorrow."

  He pulled the handle of the door, swinging it open and revealing a hold filled with open barrels. Eryn could see a layer of irregular black shapes poking out from the top of barrels, and she moved past the Captain to take one of them in her hand.

  She recognized what it was. She had seen carts filled with it in the Washfall mines.

  "Ircidium," she said.

  Ballard entered the room behind her. "Yes."

  "From the mines?"

  "Yes."

  Eryn looked at the dozens of barrels in the hold. There was so much of it here, the output of two or three mines at least. "I don't understand."

&nbs
p; Ballard approached her slowly. She saw Worm appear in the doorway behind him. She tried to catch his eyes with hers, but he refused to look at her.

  "The Sorrow is a cargo ship, my Lady. We pick up the ore from the mines in Edgewater or Tilling, and we bring it across the sea to the Unknown Lands, to a place known as Area North."

  Area North?

  Eryn's heart began to race, as the truth hit her hard in the gut.

  Ares'Nor.

  Talon had spoken of it. The place where he had defeated the Shifter army. The largest and most powerful of all the reactors that had ever been built.

  Magic.

  Power.

  Control.

  She felt her skin begin to tingle, as her anger at what was happening flared. She had been stupid. So stupid.

  Then Worm had his arms around her, holding them close to her body, pressing against her to absorb any magic she might try to unleash.

  "How could you?" she said, struggling against his grip but nowhere near strong enough to fight him. "How could you?"

  He wasn't taking her to kill him.

  For whatever reason, for whatever purpose, he was taking her to meet him.

  CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT

  Talon

  They followed the Empire Road south before turning east, leading an army of juggernauts and a contingent of horse over two hundred strong in a line that spread dust a mile behind them. Word of their travel moved ahead of them, reaching the ears of the townspeople along their path long before they did, and leaving them to find entire towns emptied of his soldiers, save for those who wished to join the rebellion.

  Their pace was hard and fast, but for Talon it could never have been fast enough. In the days since leaving Edgewater, his mind had never strayed far from the thought of sticking a knife into his gut and watching him bleed out along ash-covered earth. The voices that so often taunted him gained strength and pitch and energy. Alyssa and Aren and Eryn. Kwille and Clau and Feng.

  "Murderer," they said, over and over and over in a rote chant of violent suggestion.

  Before, the word had been a curse thrown at him, an accusatory, angry incantation that he couldn't shake.

  Now, it was encouragement and enthusiasm.

  He had stolen everything, and he needed to die. Whatever broken part of him created the voices, even it knew the truth in that.

  Four days found them in the town of Valance, a small waypoint that was popular with merchants moving between Edgewater and Portnis. It sat on the edge of a narrow, dirty trail that cut between the southern and eastern segments of the Empire Road, offering a faster route of travel for those who didn't mind sacrificing a little bit of comfort. The trail didn't have a formal name. The soldiers called it the Rut.

  His men had cleared out of Valance by the time they arrived. Their presence in the small town had always been light, and Talon could only guess that loyalists had ridden ahead of them to warn others from their path. It had left the town completely under their control, and they had taken advantage by putting the men up in every available room, giving them a warm meal and shelter for a night. While the mayor, a man named Colesum, had appeared distressed over the costs, the townsfolk themselves had been pleased to see them. Valance was at the edge of Edgewater province, and rumors of the beautiful and kind new Overlord had arrived even sooner than news of the Generals and their army.

  "Six more days to the foothills," Talon said.

  "At least you aren't walking in circles," Spyne replied.

  They were sitting at a table in the common room of Valance's largest inn, one of only three in the town. Wilem sat on Talon's left while Jeremiah stood behind him, his metal body too large to sit. The Generals had taken position there because they didn't need to sleep, and the soldiers were occupying all of the rooms save Wilem's. The Mediator had claimed he wasn't tired, but now he slouched in his chair, his eyes drifting closed.

  "You said you came across Thornn there?" Talon said.

  "Yes. He's been chasing the dragon for weeks. Since you set it free."

  "I didn't set it free. He brought Genesia down on top of us and opened its prison. How did he seem?"

  "Thornn? I've never liked that dandy. He did help me get past the dragon, though."

  "I assume if the dragon is still there, he will be also. Do you think he will fight us, or join us?"

  Spyne took a drink from his mug, setting it down and wiping his beard. "He can't take us both."

  "Can we convince him?"

  "It does not," Jeremiah said.

  Spyne glared up at the juggernaut. "I wish you could speak in sentences."

  A puff of steam escaped from Jeremiah's faceplate. "It does not. It remembers."

  Talon turned in his chair so he could see the metal man. "Thornn?"

  "It remembers. It hurts it. It does not." Jeremiah pressed a finger on Talon's shoulder. "It helps it." His eye glowed brighter. "It hurts it. It remembers. It hates it."

  "We all hated you, Jeremiah," Spyne said. "Don't think I wouldn't like to kill you myself."

  "Really, Spyne?" Talon said. "You know this wasn't his fault. Without the things he learned, there would be no Empire to save."

  "It was all of our faults, yes. But it was his fault. More than anyone's." Spyne's face twisted in anger, and his eyes shifted to the juggernaut. "You knew there was a problem with the resonance. You knew there were anomalies in the suspension. You ignored it."

  "Spyne," Talon said. He felt a flash of memory course through his mind. This wasn't a new argument, despite the centuries that had passed since the last time they had fought it.

  "No. How can you sit there and pretend that all is well, Thomas? How can you ignore the truth?"

  "Jeremiah wasn't acting alone."

  "He was in charge of the project. It was his responsibility."

  "They made the decision together. Even I remember that."

  Spyne slammed his hand on the table hard enough to splinter the wood. "He could have stopped it. He could have overruled them. She didn't have to be dead, Thomas. Alyssa didn't have to be dead either. We shouldn't be here. This should never have happened."

  His face was bright red, his anger overwhelming him. He reached for the hilt of his sword, intent on drawing it and using it. On Jeremiah? On Talon? He didn't know and didn't care. He could blame him for everything that happened after. What happened before was Jeremiah's fault.

  "Spyne, stand down," Talon said, rising between them. He noticed the innkeeper leading the few remaining patrons from the room.

  "You don't tell me what to do. You're no better than me."

  "I'm trying to help you. We need Jeremiah to get to him."

  "We'll find another way."

  "There is no other way, and you know it."

  Spyne gripped his sword and began to pull it from his back. "They took her from me. They took them both from me. They stole it all away. Look at me, Thomas. Look what I've become!" Spyne felt the tears well into his eyes, and it only served to make him angrier. "It's gone. All gone. What does it matter?"

  His blade came to hand, and he held his arm back, prepared to swing.

  Wilem put his hand out next to them, whispering something that neither men could hear. Spyne suddenly fell back into his seat, his body limp and weak, caught off-guard by the wizard. His eyes rolled back in his head, and his sword clattered onto the floor.

  "I thought you had fallen asleep," Talon said.

  "Thankfully, so did he. He's dangerous," Wilem replied. "Unstable."

  "I know. I've been waiting for this outburst."

  "So have I. We should leave him here."

  "No. We will need his sword, especially if we are to slay a dragon."

  "What about after?"

  "I will do what needs to be done if he doesn't do it himself."

  CHAPTER FORTY-NINE

  Talon

  Talon left the inn some time later, excusing himself to get some fresh air. Jeremiah was keeping an eye on Spyne, who was still out cold, slumped
in the chair and snoring while Wilem had finally decided to head up to his room.

  He had been waiting for Spyne to snap. He had seen the fury that raged behind the man's eyes, along with the constant tension in his muscles and the snarl that snuck into all of his words. He had thought maybe it would have been directed at him for starting this rebellion and putting him in the position to learn the truths of the past. He could certainly understand that. He had been through similar agony and was still lost in its grip more often than not. Finding Aren only to lose him immediately after had made everything so much worse.

  He felt the same anger Spyne felt. Perhaps in a different way, and perhaps he had better external control of it. Internally, he was on fire, and the voices pushed and taunted with every whisper.

  Murderer.

  Spyne had mentioned Alyssa during his tirade. He had spoken of the death of his wife, his love. Talon had done his best to ignore it, to forget about it. In his memories, Alyssa had given him back their ring. She had boarded a boat and set sail for the Unknown Lands. In his memories, Aren had been killed only days after Eryn had been born. In his memories, he had given the order.

  He knew his memories were suspect. Not all of them, but enough. Aren, the real Aren, had been the cure for magic. What of Alyssa?

  He closed his eyes, searching his shattered mind. Could he trust what it revealed? Would it reveal anything at all?

  He heard Jeremiah's voice in his head, behind a screen of pitch black. It faded away slowly as if a curtain were rising on a theater.

  "I'm sorry," he had said. "The creatures came out of nowhere. They found this."

  Jeremiah's hand. A ring resting in the palm. Her wedding ring. It was dark on one edge, burned by the fires he was sure she had called upon to protect their children.

  He fell to his knees, the same as he had then. He put his hands out, clutching at the invisible band and feeling the pain as though it had just happened again. "What of their bodies?" He looked up at the wizard.