City of Light (The Traveler's Gate Trilogy) (40 page)

Simon turned that over in his mind. It still irked him, a little, that Alin was still alive and free. Not that he wanted Alin dead, exactly, but it almost insulted his pride that an Incarnation had fought him one-on-one and escaped virtually unharmed.

Would Alin have kidnapped Indirial? Simon still wasn't sure what the Elysian Incarnation might be capable of, but Alin himself wouldn't have targeted the Overlord of Cana. It might not have even occurred to him to do so. If he came after anyone, it would be Simon or Leah. Or perhaps Grandmaster Naraka, who was still bound, gagged, and guarded somewhere in the camp.

He couldn't believe that Alin would plan and execute a trap to capture Indirial, but it seemed that
someone
had. And even though Vasha was missing from the entry hall, Indirial hadn't entered the House in over a week, as Valinhall reckoned time.

Simon had recovered enough from the mask that Valin and the dolls had pronounced him fit for duty. The chains hovered around his shoulder blades, but he could feel their cold links crawling back down even as he met with Leah.

“I don't think it's Alin,” he said. “You have to say, it makes more sense if it's Ragnarus.”

Leah sighed and nodded. “It does. That's why I have the camp on alert. We've been avoiding Cana ever since the barrier went down, waiting for someone to contact us, but so far no one has. The people are getting restless; most of them have family in the city. We're going to send a few parties of Travelers in later.”

“When do they leave?” Simon asked.

“I would rather you stay here,” she said. “An Incarnation, possibly two, infiltrated the camp only a few days ago, and we haven't heard from our most powerful combat Traveler since. We need you in case of an attack.”

It made sense, but Simon didn't have time to explain the powers of Valinhall to Leah. As long as he had a mask and Indirial didn't, Simon had a better chance of pulling him out of Cana. In his mind, he had a responsibility to try.

“If they were going to follow up with an attack, they would have already done it,” he said reasonably. He was interrupted by the raven on Leah's shoulder.

He'd tried to ignore the bird throughout their conversation, which was what Leah had advised him to do, but it was getting harder. The bird stared at him, stared
through
him, in a way that made him nervous. He couldn't help feeling that the raven knew his thoughts and didn't approve.

Besides, it was shouting in Leah's ear, which made it hard to ignore.

Leah didn't seem as irritated as he would have expected, given that a bird was shrieking at her. Instead, she reached out and pulled the Lightning Spear from out of nowhere, her eyes searching the sky. He didn't know what she was looking for, but she obviously knew something he didn't. He called steel.

A screech, as though from a hunting bat the size of a horse, echoed through the camp. The noise of the people dulled to a muted roar as many froze, waiting to see whatever had made that sound.

They didn't have to wait long.

A man, blazing with blue-white lightning, rocketed through the sky. His eyes shone like a pair of thunderbolts, and even his hands and feet were shrouded in bright, flickering light. A set of wings streamed from his back, seemingly made from smoke...no, from stormclouds. They, too, flashed with light from deep within.

The Endross Incarnation screamed again, and this time it sounded like laughter.

A dozen bolts of white, unnaturally straight lightning hammered down from a clear sky, all over the camp.

Leah and Simon stood on a hill rising above most of the tents, so Leah would have a better view of the camp's overall layout. Where the lightning bolts struck, fires burned, and smoke began to rise. Meanwhile, rolling thunderstorms the size of donkey carts flowed through the rows between tents, spitting out hissing snakes, giant lizards, and creeping vines that shot sparks.

Simon summoned Azura, looking up to judge the distance between himself and the Endross Incarnation.

Leah was faster.

The Lightning Spear shot forward like a streak of dark lightning itself, headed directly for the Incarnation. She staggered as if in pain, clutching Simon's shoulder for support.

The Spear tore through Endross's side, sending him shrieking and plummeting into the ground.

With his free hand, Simon had already grabbed Leah, pulling her into a nearby tent. “Keep down,” he said. “This attack will be aimed at you.”

Her eyes were determined even as she staggered after him, leaning on his arm for support. “I can take him out of the air more easily than you can.”

“I’m going to lead him away from you,” Simon said, overriding her objections as he pushed her through the tent-flap. “You can throw the Spear if he gets too close—”

 
“Caw!”
yelled her raven.

The Lightning Spear tore through the side of the tent and smacked into her hand, then she leaned out of the flap and threw it again.

The Endross Incarnation rose from the camp in a fury, trailing smoke and ashes behind him. He shouted at them, his voice choked and barely understandable, his eyes locked on Leah: “I HAVE THE—”

The Lightning Spear crashed into the top of his skull, sending him flipping over backwards in midair. His head was a ruined, bleeding mess that resembled nothing so much as a smashed melon, but it began to rebuild itself even before he fell beneath the line of tents.

“Your turn,” Leah said, panting. She leaned back into the tent, and Simon stepped away. Immediately, he flipped up the hood of his cloak. When the Endross Incarnation burst out of the row of nearby tents, roaring, Simon called the essence of the Nye.

Leah was in the tent, out of the Endross Incarnation’s view. And if this Endross was anything like his predecessor, he would aim straight for whatever target he could see first.

Then again, none of that would matter if Simon hit the Incarnation before it had a chance to strike.

Endross had no more than an instant to look confused before Azura hit him in the neck.

At least, it should have. The blade actually paused an inch or two from the Incarnation’s skin, held at bay by a shield of dense air.

Simon jumped back as the Endross Incarnation gestured, and a thunderstorm Gate opened where Simon had been standing. A reptilian head reached out of the Gate, snapping hungrily on empty air, sparks flying from between its teeth.

It occurred to him that finding himself so close to death would have been a traumatic, horrifying experience for him before his time in Valinhall. Now, narrowly escaping death didn’t warrant his attention. He stepped away from the gnashing Endross creature and thrust Azura at the Incarnation.

…who suddenly wasn’t there, having taken wing and flown off, tossing lightning bolts across the camp.

Simon started to run off, but Leah jumped out of the tent and seized his arm.

He almost pulled her off her feet before he realized that he was supposed to stop and wait for whatever she had to say.

“There’s something wrong here,” Leah said, after she had regained her balance.

Simon looked down the hill, across the camp. Columns of smoke rose from tents and patches of grass where the Incarnation’s lightning had struck, and Endross creatures snapped at the heels of practically everyone he could see.

“Yeah,” he said. “We’re under attack.”

She stepped closer, and the raven on her shoulder let out a soft sort of mewling sound. “Then where are the bodies?”

Simon stopped and looked closer, wishing he’d brought a doll. Down there, one royal soldier pulled another from a burning tent as an Endross crocodile looked on…and did nothing more threatening than snarl and blast lightning into the sky. A giant snake slithered through a crowd of washerwomen, snarling at each but not biting anyone. The Endross Incarnation himself swooped down on crowds, making a startling show of lights and sounds, but now that he thought about it, Simon couldn’t remember seeing him kill anyone.

“What does this mean?” he asked.

Leah shook her head. “I don’t know,” she said. “But something else is coming, and we need to be ready.”

Simon grabbed her by the shoulders and steered her back toward the tent. “Then let’s start by getting you inside.”

***

King Zakareth stood on the walls of Cana, watching the destruction in his daughter’s camp through a spyglass. Ragnarus had many tools, but all of them had some application as weapons; the Vault held nothing to let him see supernaturally far. Perhaps he could rectify that himself, once he’d pulled Elysia down and looted its treasures for his own.

Indirial stood next to him, the chains on his arms turned to steel, a cloak of shadows flowing from the top of his head all the way down to the stone behind him. His eyes were seas of black, on which floated circles of burning violet.

That surprised the King, deep in a part of him that was still capable of experiencing surprise. He had thought the only colors of Valinhall were black and silver, and he wondered if irises of violet flame were Indirial’s choice, somehow.

That was an idle thought, and had to give way before more practical concerns. Indirial’s new appearance was more intimidating, which meant more effective.

Indirial smiled like a proud father. “Leah almost brought down Endross on her own. I think if she’d been forced into a full-on fight, she might have won.”

“The weapons of Ragnarus have great power,” King Zakareth said, wishing he’d seen the fight in more detail. Why could Valinhall have a power to increase eyesight, but the Vault didn’t?

That was an irrelevant thought, and he couldn’t afford distractions. He had to stay focused.

Indirial squinted. “Is that…Simon down there?”

“Where?” Zakareth asked. Through his lens, he had seen Leah as a crimson dot, and the hill she stood on an island in a sea of burning tents. She was missing now, but he had trouble making out details at this distance. Even the Endross Incarnation was little more than a bright spot among the veil of smoke.

“There was someone in black with her before,” Indirial said. “But now I see no one. It’s enough to make me wonder if we waited too long.”

“Do you think he’s recovered from the mask by now?” Zakareth asked, keeping his spyglass trained on the hill. Indeed, there did seem to be a patch of shadow atop the hill that gleamed strangely, as though the darkness concealed a length of polished steel.

But then, it could easily be a trick of the light.

Indirial leaned forward to rest his elbows on the edge of the wall. “I’m not sure,” he said. “I never was familiar with the mask, and it wouldn’t do me any good now. All it does is allow them to draw on Valinhall more deeply, just as I do.”

When the mask had been a part of his Vault, it had been intended to strengthen other Travelers, to increase the reach and depth of their powers. In its original state, it had a series of safety measures built in to keep Travelers from delving too deeply and burning their life away. Then, in a battle long ago, it had been shattered.

Malachi had used it for years in its broken state: all of the power, none of the restraint. Zakareth could hardly imagine what this mask—built from the remnants of the old one and attuned to a new Territory—was capable of. But if the Valinhall Incarnation didn’t know either, then that could be cause for concern.

“If Simon is down there,” King Zakareth said, “his blade will be as well. Do we dare continue?”

Indirial chuckled, pulling his cracked and pitted sword from midair. “If it’s Simon alone, we can take Azura from him at any time. Besides, I’m glad he’s not in the House. I don’t want to fight him in a
group
, or as part of an
ambush.
” He spat out the word ‘ambush’ as though it burned his tongue, grimacing in distaste. “I want to fight him man-to-man, when he’s at his best. He’s the only one to win a fight against the last Valinhall Incarnation.”

His burning violet eyes grew distant, staring off at Leah’s hill. “In fact, why not now? Why don’t I do that first? If he is down there…but if he’s not, I might be able to find Leah. She might be something of a challenge…”

Zakareth laid a gauntleted hand on Indirial’s shoulder. “We have a job to do,” he said.

Indirial shook himself and nodded, walking over to a relatively clear stretch of wall. He didn’t seem to notice how the stones smoothed and cut themselves into tiles as he passed.

Out of idle curiosity, King Zakareth glanced down at his own feet. The stone of the wall was turning red in a steadily expanding pool, as though blood spilled from his feet in a constant wave.

That was appropriate enough.

“This would be easier if we had Asphodel along,” Indirial commented, raising his Dragon’s Fang.

“We do not,” Zakareth said.

“Or even Avernus.”

“You know exactly what happened to Avernus.”

Indirial sighed. “But does it have to be Ornheim?”

The Ornheim Incarnation shuddered to life from where he had been crouched against the side of the wall. The stone had actually started to grow around him, forming a little cave complete with tiny stalactites.

He grumbled, loud and low in his throat, his pale stone skin shivering. He was shot through with jagged lines, like marble, but these veins came in every color. He looked like a statue designed for decoration, not war.

And his all-too-human eyes were locked on Zakareth in an expression of pure hatred.

The King couldn’t even remember a time in his life when that might have bothered him.

“Ornheim is what you have been given,” King Zakareth said, in tones of command. “If you can take their swords, he will be enough. If not, I have kept Helgard with me, and I can send her in reserve. Lirial goes ahead to prepare the way.”

Indirial sighed and sliced open a Valinhall Gate. “Well, since I can’t go myself, I guess two Incarnations are all right. If they can get the job done.”

Ornheim tried to shoulder Indirial aside with a stone arm as he walked into the Gate, but the Valinhall Incarnation didn’t budge.

From inside the Gate, Zakareth could sense two expressions of Ragnarus. The first was shaped like a sword, and was one of the Vault’s various gatecrawlers. With an effort of will, he banished the device at a distance. He didn’t want to leave it there long enough for the Valinhall creatures to attune it to their Territory.