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  "You? No. You ever only had eyes for Alyssa. She was going to kill Spyne. The juggernauts were meant to distract you."

  Talon knew that she would have succeeded. "You can't beat me in a duel. Even if you had both of your eyes."

  Nayle lowered his blade. "I know."

  "So then what are you going to do? You failed to sneak up on me."

  "I have my orders."

  "You don't have to follow them."

  He shook his head. "I remember how close we all were. How perfect everything seemed, before. I remember being happy."

  Talon closed his eyes, trying to capture the moment. Instead, he saw Aren's lifeless face. "I don't."

  "I pity you, brother," Nayle said. "I will die with those memories and carry them up to Amman. When you die, what will you have?"

  "Nothing."

  Nayle raised his sword. "It was an honor to be your friend, Talon. Despite our differences now. It doesn't change how close we were so long ago."

  Talon drew Kwille's blade. "And you, Nayle. It doesn't have to be this way."

  The man smiled sadly. "I'm afraid it does. I have my orders. I made a promise."

  He charged towards Talon, attacking him with a sweeping overhand slash from the curved blade.

  Talon shifted his feet, slipping to the left of the sword. He caught Nayle's wrist with his free hand, holding him while he jabbed Kwille's sword into his heart.

  Nayle gasped, the blood beginning to run from the wound.

  Thrummm...

  They fell out of the distortion together. Talon continued to hold his brother's wrist as he lowered him gently to the ground.

  "Thank you, Thomas," Nayle said, a small smile creasing the corner of his mouth.

  Talon let him go, shifting his attention to Sazi. Her eyes were wide at the sight of them.

  "It wasn't my idea," she said. "I was only following his command."

  Talon approached her, grabbing her and pushing her up against the side of the litter. He brought the point of Kwille's blade to the edge of her throat.

  "Go back to Varrow. Tell the people that the city is free from his tyranny."

  "What? General, I can't. The soldiers-"

  "I'll send you with your own soldiers."

  "What about him?"

  "He'll be dead soon enough."

  "What about me?"

  Talon smiled. "Of course. Isn't that what you really want to know?"

  "Do you mean what I said to you? I was only telling you-"

  "What he wanted you to say? No, I don't believe that. It doesn't matter. I know what you are, Sazi. All I need to do is consider the opposite of everything your parents were. You're a disgrace to them. That doesn't mean you can't be useful to me. I'll provide soldiers. Take them back to Varrow and set the city free. Do this, and I'll consider letting you remain Overlord when he is gone."

  "What if you don't kill him?"

  "I can kill you now, instead."

  She smiled. "How do you know you can trust me?"

  "I told you, I know what you are. If I die, I'm certain you'll find a way to change your story and come out on top."

  "I always do."

  Talon let her go and returned to Nayle. He lifted the dead man's head so he could remove the control stone from his neck. He placed it on his own, feeling the magic connect him to the juggernauts. He almost laughed before he almost cried. They were advanced, three sevens or three nines. They weren't made for war. They were builders, like the one zeroes. Created to restore the world when the fighting was done.

  It was a cruel twist to have brought them here as an army. A useless army. A distraction, and nothing more.

  He removed the stone from his neck and held it out to her.

  "They can't fight," he said. "The soldiers in Varrow won't know that any more than I did."

  "I'm not Cursed or one of you," she replied. "I can't use it."

  It was one more thing he had once known and had since forgotten. He put the stone back around his neck. He sent a command to them to follow Sazi back to Varrow and wait for instruction inside the palace courtyard.

  "They'll follow you back to Varrow and wait there."

  "What about the soldiers you promised me?"

  "I will provide them as well."

  She nodded, staring at him. "I really believe you can do it," she said. "I believe you will kill him."

  CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE

  Talon

  "Do you really think the subroute will still be intact down there?" Wilem said.

  They were standing at the base of the Killorn Mountains, the narrow path leading up to the reactor climbing the incline ahead of them. The top of the mountain was visible beyond it. At least, what was left of it.

  What had once been a sharp peak that speared into the sky was now a jagged mess of broken stone. What had once been the entrance to the reactor had been buried even deeper below.

  "It is active," Jeremiah said.

  "How do you know?" Wilem asked.

  "It feels it."

  Their journey to the foothills had been as easy as any of them could have hoped for. After Talon had returned to Valance with Sazi at his side and explained what had occurred, they had wasted little time organizing the soldiers to follow her south to Varrow while the four of them and the Carriers had continued to the reactor. There had been a tense moment when Spyne had confronted Sazi, but it had been resolved quickly when she had grabbed the General by his beard and kissed him, whispering something in his ear and leaving him calm once more.

  His grip on the Empire was unravelling quickly, the people's fear diminished with each victory Talon claimed. That he had sent Sazi in the first place, along with Nayle and an army of Builders, only spoke to the pitch of desperation he had to be feeling. They were growing closer with each passing hour, and he knew it.

  It had taken six days to travel to the Killorns. They had stopped to rest only when Wilem and the horses needed it, staying on the Rut for the most part until taking to the wilds and continuing west. Talon had made a number of efforts to confront Jeremiah about the memories surrounding the fate of his wife. The former wizard was difficult to communicate with in his diminished state, but he seemed truly sorrowful at the questions, his eye dimming and soft puffs of steam escaping from his faceplate. "It is sorry," he had said, over and over.

  Talon believed that Jeremiah was sorry and that what he had remembered of his wife was the truth. At least as far as his friend understood it. He mourned her in silence as they rode, feeling as though he had lost her once more. Who was the woman he remembered, the one who had left him to travel to the Unknown Lands? Who was Eryn's father, the false Aren, for that matter? He was certain they had their place in all of this. The thoughts of them were too strong to be nothing more than shadows cast by broken shards of the past.

  Perhaps he knew. Perhaps he would speak of it before he died.

  "I don't see a dragon," Talon said, scanning the sky above the ruined peak.

  "I don't hear a dragon, either," Spyne said.

  "Maybe it's down in the reactor?" Wilem suggested.

  "It would be better to face it in the open."

  "Let us not waste time standing here," Talon said.

  They dismounted and sent the horses on their way, and then began winding up into the mountains, picking their way over rubble strewn earth and ascending as quickly as they could. Spyne sent the Carriers out ahead of them, commanding them to clear some of the stone from their path, using them to push it aside and ease the climb. As they grew closer, the fate of the reactor became apparent. The dragon had collapsed the mountain around it, burying it beneath a heavier mound of stone.

  At first, it appeared as if the only way in would be to shift half the mountain, a task Talon knew Wilem didn't have the power to complete. They spent an hour climbing through the loose stone before discovering that something Spyne called an 'exhaust shaft' had collapsed inward.

  "Clearly, the dragon is gone," Talon said, gazing down into the dee
p hole. The bottom was lined with broken stone and large mounds of less dark material. Wisps of mist were managing to escape through the sediment, carrying the stench of the creature's excrement to them. A dark shadow was visible on the west side. An opening into the reactor. Likely a small service portal. The stone around it had been assaulted by the dragon, with large rends in the surface of the rock from where it had attempted, and failed, to enter.

  "For now at least," Spyne said. "That doesn't mean it isn't coming back."

  "Then where is Thornn?" Talon said.

  "Following it, I suppose. Can you get us inside, wizard?"

  "I'm not sure."

  Spyne glared at Wilem. "What do you mean you aren't sure? That's the only reason we've dragged you out here."

  Wilem returned the stare. He had grown used to the General's angry temperament, and his glares. Spyne hadn't spoken to him once during the journey, still glowering over being put to sleep by his magic. Wilem was sure Spyne would love to break him in half, but he also knew Talon wouldn't allow it.

  "The whole mountain has been heavily disturbed. We need to be careful that we don't shift the stone and wind up collapsing the entire thing in on us."

  "Are you an expert on mountains now?" Spyne spat.

  "I'm simply being pragmatic, and using a little intelligence. You can't always go rushing headlong into everything and hoping a sword and pointy teeth will be enough."

  Spyne lunged towards Wilem, one hand falling to his sword. Talon stepped between them, grabbing the hand and punching Spyne hard in the jaw.

  "Save it for the Shifters," Talon said.

  Spyne rubbed his chin with his hand and smiled. "Yes. As you say, brother."

  They all knew the creatures were down there, drawn in by the ebocite and trapped by the mountain. They didn't know how many had managed to cross over in the time since Eryn had restarted the reactor. They also didn't know what manner of the demons might have passed across the juxtaposition.

  "First things first," Talon said. "We need to get down there. Then we can determine how to get inside."

  Spyne laughed. "I know an easy way down. We seem to be quite capable of surviving long falls."

  Wilem looked down at the bottom of the hole. Then he summoned his magic, whispering as he raised his hands. The ground shuddered, cracks and dust appearing in a near-perfect circle around them.

  "I can't carry the other juggernauts," Wilem said.

  "Don't worry about them," Spyne replied.

  The earth broke away, taking them forward and out over the hole. Wilem's forehead began to sweat as he strained to hold them steady, his hands shaking while they descended.

  He fell on his hands and knees the moment they hit the ground, the stone smashing the dragon's feces below it and making the stench even worse. He tried to catch his breathe, only to choke on the sourness and find himself vomiting instead.

  Talon put a hand on Wilem's shoulder, fighting his own urge to double over. He heard an echo off the side of the hole and looked up in time to see the first of the Carriers tumbling down into the pit. It hit the ground hard, its ircidium armor denting from the impact. It rose slowly, one of its legs damaged. It dragged itself towards them.

  "You're going to destroy the cure," Talon shouted.

  "It is broken," Jeremiah said.

  Spyne shrugged. "Your wizard obviously can't carry them, and they're even more useless in one piece up there than limping down here." He paused, some part of him finding a measure of empathy. "Which one is carrying the cure?"

  "That one," Talon said, pointing up to the one with the pack.

  Spyne smiled and brought it over the edge. It fell without hitting the walls and landed in a pile of the dragon's waste, breaking its fall. "Only for you, brother," he said. The Carrier rose unharmed, and Talon exhaled sharply in relief.

  Then Spyne brought the others over, watching them bounce of the walls and slam onto the rocks. Three of them didn't get back up at all.

  Wilem took Talon's hand and pulled himself up.

  "Are you well?" Talon asked.

  "I will be once we get away from the smell." He smiled, but his face was pale, and Talon could see a small patch of rough skin on his arm.

  "At least you were right about something," Spyne said, pointing to the western wall. There was a dark overhang of rock with a soft glow escaping from behind it. "That has to lead inside."

  The space was there, but it was much too small for a juggernaut to fit through.

  "Wilem, can you make a wider entrance?"

  "As I said, I will try. It will take some time. I don't want to drop the mountain on our heads."

  Spyne huffed and went to sit on a boulder. He didn't seem bothered by the stench. "You won't be getting away from the smell anytime soon, will you, boy?"

  CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR

  Talon

  It took Wilem six hours, plus the help of the Carriers, to clear the stone and open a space large enough for them to enter. Even then, they had to crawl on their hands and knees through a jagged mess of fallen stone intermingled with the smooth metal of an access shaft, which the wizard had pushed and torn open with his magic one small motion at a time.

  He had been right to be concerned about the stability of the rock. It had shaken and shifted while he worked, and one corner of the pit had come falling inward, crushing one of the Carriers. Talon was thankful it hadn't been the one with the cure.

  "You have no reason to believe you'll see her again," Spyne said. They were moving cautiously, careful not to impale themselves.

  "I have no reason to believe I won't," Talon replied. "You said the one you call Worm took her."

  "He may have killed her for all I know. That man was the spawn of Heden himself. No fear, no hesitation, and no motivation. He killed without delight or disgust."

  "Did he rape women?" Wilem asked.

  "No. He could be a eunuch for all I know."

  "Where did he come from?"

  "I don't know that either. Found him in a tavern in Tilling. He picked a fight with my Historians, all of them at once, and left them bloody and unconscious. They never laid a hand on him." Spyne smiled at the memory. "He walked up to me and knelt down, and then offered me his knife. Of course, I took him on."

  "What does he want with Eryn?" Talon asked.

  "I think he's sweet on her. He could have killed her in Varrow, and instead he made big eyes at her and stood there like an idiot."

  "Where do you think he would have taken her?"

  "How would I know that? If he was from Tilling, maybe he took her back there?"

  "Elling is destroyed."

  "I know. I don't know what his reasons are. I don't know where he could have taken her. I can tell you, brother, that he is immune to magic. Completely immune, and faster and stronger than any man his size should be. If he took her, she won't escape him."

  "Immune to magic, and stronger than a regular man," Talon said. "Like the Nine, only better. Jeremiah?"

  "It does not remember it. It does not know it."

  "Are you certain?"

  Talon looked back to the juggernaut at the rear. Jeremiah's eye flickered as though he were thinking. "It does not know it."

  "If he has her, then I will find him," Talon said. "Once he is dead. If she dies because of him, or even worse, changes because of him, I will make him suffer a thousand times for it."

  "He'll kill you," Spyne said. "He isn't like other men. I tell you, he is the son of Heden."

  "Then he'll kill me. I won't free this Empire only to see Eryn suffer. I also won't allow her to destroy it."

  "What do you mean, destroy it?"

  "The Curse," Wilem said. "She's been exposed to ebocite. So have I. When we use too much magic, we begin to change into Shifters."

  "What?"

  "It is prozoa," Jeremiah said. "It makes it."

  "Clau and I fought a Shifter General in Genesia. It took Eryn, and called her its Queen. It was trying to hurry her change. I can only assume tha
t means that if or when she does, she will be more powerful than a General. Perhaps the most powerful Shifter we have yet to see."

  Spyne was silent. A chill ran through him at the idea of a Shifter more powerful than a General. He had never been the smartest of the Nine, but as they continued crawling through the shaft, there was something about it that was gnawing at him.

  He realized what it was as they finally reached the inside of the reactor, sliding out of the shaft and into a smoothly hewn corridor, lit by the fungus that clung to the ceiling.

  "Talon," he said, straightening up and cracking his back. "My orders were to destroy Jeremiah."

  "Yes, you've said. We all know he doesn't want Jeremiah to lead us to him."

  "Yes. That part makes sense. Except, he always treated Eryn as though she weren't that important. Yet he knows how powerful she is. He must, after what happened in the mines, and in Varrow, and even here at the reactor. He must know that she was exposed to ebocite. He must know that the Cursed change. That has to be one of the reasons we have been hunting them all of these years. So why would he treat her so inconsequentially?"

  "Perhaps he assumed she would die alongside Jeremiah, or with me. A secondary casualty."

  "Yes, it is possible. It seems so coincidental."

  "What does?"

  "Worm. That he took her the way he did. Even the fact that he is immune to magic."

  Talon paused, turning to Spyne. "You're suggesting that-"

  Spyne nodded. "He wants her for something."

  "For her power," Talon said, the motive clear in his mind. "He wants her power. To get her under his control. We've killed so many of the Mediators, but what does that matter if you have the most powerful surviving wizard in the Empire under your thumb. Who cares if it is willingly or not?"

  "He has the power to take away choice," Spyne said. "As he did to the Nine."

  "As he did to me, when he took my memories," Talon said.

  "What if he does the same to Eryn? What if he turns her into a brainwashed slave?" Wilem asked.

  "He can't," Talon said. "Without the cure, she will change. If she changes, she will destroy the world."