Edge of Pathos (The Conjurors Series Book 4) (18 page)

“Thanks for the
reminder that I’m a nobody,” Claremont snapped as she left.

“I will watch over
the volatile one,” Cerise said, following Claremont out.

Mer had resumed his
cooking, but his movements were jerky.

“Do you know what I
want to ask you?” Valerie asked him.

Thai gave her a
questioning look, but he didn’t interrupt.

“Last time I was
here, you told me that my father was alive. I found him. His name was Oberon,
and my mother was Adelita.”

“If you are angry
that I did not tell you his name, know that your journey to find him shaped you
into the leader you are. And I only suspected your heritage,” he said.

“It’s not about
that. My father told me that you interrupted a prophecy being delivered to my
mother, stepping into the sacred circles in the middle of a prophecy about the
Pillars of Light.”

Mer sat down, and
his body sagged. “It is an offense that will never be forgiven. They would have
cast me from the city if I had anywhere to go.”

“Why would you do
that? I don’t believe that you want the Globe to follow a path of darkness, but
I can’t think of any other reason why you wouldn’t have wanted my mother to get
her whole prophecy. And she’s dead now. If she’d heard the whole thing, maybe
she’d be alive.”

Valerie was shaking.
She didn’t know how important Mer’s answers were to her until the words had
left her lips. Thai moved to stand by her, his hand warm on her lower back.

Mer’s posture
straightened, and when he met Valerie’s eyes, he stood.

“I did it to save
her, to save us all,” Mer said. “I saw that I would go from being one of the
most powerful and respected Oracles on the Globe to a hated outcast if I
entered those circles, for it is sacrilege to stop a prophecy, no matter the
reason. But I saw a world enslaved if I didn’t, and your mother dead. If she
lives now, it is because of me.”

Valerie had no words
then. The edges of her vision went black.

“Valerie’s mother is
alive?” Thai asked, his arm the only thing keeping her upright.

“There are no
certainties when it comes to prophecy. But it is what I believed when I interfered,”
Mer said.

The hope was more
painful than the certainty that her mother was dead, so Valerie banished it
from her mind. Maybe someday, if this war ever ended, she would think about it.
But now, she had to put aside even her dearest hopes for the war she was forced
to end.

“Tell us what you
saw in your vision,” Valerie said.

“This woman who was
receiving her prophecy—Adelita—would have two children. If she had known they
were Pillars of Light, she would have hidden them on the Globe rather than take
them to Earth. They would have been found and killed, and two worlds would have
been plunged into darkness.”

“Then
you saved us all,” Valerie whispered. “And you have a home with me, Mer, if you
want it.”

After an hour of
pacing Mer’s tiny hut, Valerie finally saw Mira and Sibyl returning with
Claremont and Cerise on their heels.

“How many do we have
to capture to end Putrefus’s rule?” Valerie asked Sibyl.

“Most follow him out
of fear. But his core followers are his best friends of many years. There are
eleven,” Sibyl said.

“We have located
nine,” Mira added. “They reside in the new hut they call the castle.”

Sibyl’s face was red
with indignation. “That structure was intended as a hospital, so that
critically ill Conjurors could come for the healing waters of our pool. But
Putrefus has turned it into his headquarters.”

“I don’t know how
they get off calling it a castle,” Claremont said. “Looks like a big pile of
mud to me.”

“What about the
other two of Putrefus’s friends?” Thai asked.

“We didn’t find
them, but I know where they live,” Sibyl said.

“Let’s grab them
first,” Valerie said.

After conferring
with Sibyl, the group headed out. Sibyl directed them to the huts of the two
allies of Putrefus who didn’t live in his castle. At each stop, Valerie and
Cerise snuck in and quickly knocked the target unconscious.

Thai, Mira, and
Claremont hauled them back to Mer’s hut, where Thai had activated the charm to
turn it into a little prison. It would last a few hours, which should be enough
time to take Sibyl and her friends back into the city. Mer was gleeful about
his role of jailer of Putrefus’s gang.

It was only two
hours later that they gathered at a back entrance of the Oracle hospital.

“I’m guessing
Putrefus and his friends are on the top floor,” Sibyl said. “It has a view of
the whole city.”

Quietly, the group
stepped on platforms that whizzed up a ramp that had stops at each floor.

“Mira and Thai, wait
a floor below. If we don’t come for you, flee back to Arden for
reinforcements,” Valerie commanded.

Claremont was all
but rubbing her hands in anticipation of a fight as she, Cerise, Sibyl, and
Valerie took the platform to the top floor.

They stepped onto
the landing, and the hall was quiet. A murmur of voices was the only sound, and
they followed it.

Valerie stopped at a
doorway and saw Putrefus with three of his friends, laughing as they clashed
with black weapons obviously given to them by Reaper. But other than that, no
signs of Fractus reinforcements were visible.

“This won’t even be enough
of a fight to be fun,” Claremont said before launching herself into the room,
her light-imbued mace in her hand.

Putrefus’s face was
a mask of horror when he saw Valerie, Sibyl, Cerise, and Claremont charge in.

“G-get back! These weapons
will suck your magic!” Putrefus said, but he and his friends had backed into a
corner.

One of Putrefus’s
friends, who had close-cropped hair and a snout that reminded Valerie of a pig,
threw his dagger at Cerise with more skill than she would have guessed he had.

Valerie’s magic
surged, and she knocked the knife to the ground before it lodged in Cerise’s
heart. Then Claremont struck him with a hard punch to his temple, and
snout-nose crumpled to the ground.

Claremont laughed
then turned and swung her mace, knocking the black weapon of another of
Putrefus’s cohorts to the ground. Valerie had drawn Pathos, and she struck
Putrefus’s sword with her own, shattering it.

Cerise delivered a
stunning blow to the last of Putrefus’s followers, knocking him unconscious
with more force than necessary, before Valerie yanked her back.

“I think they
surrender,” she said.

Cerise’s snarl fell
away.

“This fool almost
killed me,” she said, nudging snout-nose’s unconscious form with her toe. “I
was careless, and Emin would have been an orphan if you had not saved me.”

“You’re okay,”
Valerie said softly. “We wouldn’t want Emin losing his boss today.”

“Thank you,
vivicus,” Cerise said.

Claremont went to
the door, looking out eagerly, as if she was hoping for more attackers to mow
down. But no one came, and Putrefus was trembling.

“Don’t kill me,” he
begged. “I’ll give you whatever you want.”

“The Fist doesn’t
kill anyone unless we have to,” Valerie said.

“Unfortunately,”
Claremont muttered.

“You will come with
us and stand trial for your crimes,” Sibyl said.

“You always thought
you were so much better than me, because you were Pythia’s daughter. Not even
her real daughter!” Putrefus said. “Now I suppose you’ll rule the Roaming
City.”

“Keep it up, and
I’ll take you with me unconscious,” Valerie said, and Putrefus shut his mouth.

“This
city was not created to be controlled by a single Oracle,” Sibyl said. “Pythia
guided us, but we all made the rules together. That’s what I want to bring
back.”

Thai and Mira had
discovered the rest of Putrefus’s gang while Valerie, Cerise, Sibyl, and
Claremont captured Putrefus. The entire operation had gone more peacefully than
any in Valerie’s memory, and she was grateful.

Everyone in the
streets stared as Putrefus and his friends were hauled to Mer’s house, where
they’d stay until they were tried, one at a time.

An enormous crowd
had gathered by the time they were shut inside, and Sibyl cast off her novice
robes. She fluttered a little above the heads of the Oracles, and an excited
murmur rippled through the crowd.

Valerie had sent
Thai to let the rest of Sibyl’s Oracles know it was safe to return, and she saw
them meeting friends and family they hadn’t seen in over a year, gripping them
in hugs.

“Friends, I hope you
welcome back not only me and all of the Oracles who left, but also a return of
a democratic Roaming City,” Sibyl began.

Her words were met
with cheers. It was a pleasant relief to only have to stand and watch as Sibyl
outlined her plans for reorganizing the city to be more in line with the values
that Pythia, the original Oracle and Founder of the city, had instilled, and
explained her hope for an alliance with Valerie and the Fist.

“But no one will
force a decision on you, ever. We decide as a group,” Sibyl said.

Valerie walked around
after Sibyl had finished talking, meeting many of the Oracles and stating her
case again and again for why the fight against the Fractus was important. At
last, as everyone drifted away, Sibyl turned to Valerie.

“I will take you to
the Hall of Prophecies now, if you wish it.”

Valerie nodded.
Sibyl led her back to the hut where Valerie had received her first prophecy
four years ago.

“Down there,” Sibyl
said, gesturing to a staircase that led underground. “Concentrate on the
prophecy you seek, and it will come to you.”

Valerie nodded, and
started down the stairs alone. She’d only taken a few steps when Thai slid his
hand into hers.

“You’re not going
alone,” he said.

Valerie lost count
of the number of stairs as they descended down, down, down. Being so deep
beneath the ground was oppressive, like being buried alive, and she was even
more grateful for Thai’s presence. He kept the ghosts of her childhood in
foster care at bay. How would she survive without him once she found the
strength to send him away?

When they reached
the bottom at last, everything was dark, except for the pinprick of light at
the top of the staircase.

“What’s next?” Thai
whispered.

First one light,
then another and another, appeared in crevices in the walls. There were
hundreds, then thousands, then millions of tiny gold lights in the room,
casting a warm, golden glow.

Valerie
shut her eyes and concentrated, thinking of Chern and the prophecy he received
in the Roaming City. When she opened them again, a single light whizzed from a
spot on the wall, darting around the room like it was alive. It shot down and
smacked Valerie directly in her forehead, and her vision went dark.

Her sight cleared,
and she was looking at a redheaded Oracle sitting on a stool in the center of
the room that was above Valerie now.

“I’m lost. I know
what I want, but I can’t get it! Tell me what to do.” Chern’s voice sounded
younger than it did now, and it cracked with despair. Valerie guessed that she
was looking through Chern’s eyes, seeing the Oracle from his perspective.

The
Oracle swayed in his stool, and when he spoke, his voice was melodic.

From Daughter of Earth and Father of Globe

Twins shall be born.

If you command their power, you will rule,

But in failure, down from your throne you will be torn.

Valerie gasped, and
her mind returned to the present. Thai was kneeling next to her.

“It wasn’t the
prophecy I needed,” Valerie said.

Before
she could say anything else, another beacon of light zipped through the room
and hit her in the forehead, and she fell backward.

There was a flash of
a dusty street, and Putrefus’s face, red and a little sweaty.

“Tell me, quickly,
are you drawn to prophesize for me? Know that if your words help, you will be
rewarded,” Chern said, speaking quickly.

“Rewarded how?” Putrefus
asked, narrowing his eyes.

“I will need regents
to help me rule the Globe. Even I cannot be everywhere at once. The Roaming
City will be yours to command.”

“Yes,”
Putrefus said, his eyes glazing. “I have words for you.”

Two worlds, both alike in uncertainty

In a shifting tide of unrest

From ancient rules sweep new possibility

Of chains on men and the shroud of death.

Seize the power of the psychic twin

To gift your army the power of shadow.

Stain the vivicus with the blood of another

And her power will be yours to force man to bow.

But if the vivicus remains untainted by death,

And brother and sister against you unite,

An amoebiate’s power will amplify their gifts

You will fall to the Pillars of Light.

Valerie’s vision
returned, and she saw Thai’s anxious face searching her own until the tiny
lights of the prophecies winked out.

“Tell me what you
saw,” he said.

“There’s hope. But
only if Henry and I can find our way back to each other.”