The Blood Sigil (The Sigilord Chronicles Book 2) (39 page)

The sun blinded Urus, and the smells clawed at the inside of his nose. Hot, damp air clung to his heavy clothes; within second he was sweating. Shielding his eyes with one hand, he was finally able to take a look around.

He stood at the foot of the famous Sky Gate of Waldron, only it seemed less majestic than it had the last time he had seen it. Cracks and recently repaired holes lined the once solid and expertly carved exterior of the city.
 

Everywhere he turned, people stared at him. Goodwyn, Therren, and Aegaz stood in a group, their gaze fixed firmly on him. The radixes and their commander, Choein, encircled him in a defensive perimeter. They too stared at him. Luse, Captain Jols from Niragan, and his soldiers all stood on the narrow road leading to the famed gate.
 

Everyone stared at him.

It was like the culling ceremony all over again. It didn't matter that this time instead of staring at him out of pity and shame, all eyes looked to him for guidance and leadership. In fact, that made it worse. He was no leader; he didn't know what to do or why everyone suddenly thought he had the answers. All because he could barely manage to control some ancient power.
 

Their faith was misplaced.

The awkward moments with everyone gaping at him seemed to go on forever. He had to get out of there. Waiting for just the right moment when everyone was distracted by the dozens of conversations all happening at once, Urus charged through the open gates into the city and ran as fast as he could, seeking the dark refuge of alleyways.

He didn't know where he could go to escape the crowd, so instead he made for the only other place in Waldron that felt familiar to him, the common room of the hostel. Making his way between and under the scaffolding platforms, he wove through the commotion of a bustling city and slipped through the hostel's side door.

The last time he had been to Waldron, he and Goodwyn had nearly been arrested, Knight Marshall Corliss having accused them of being assassins sent by the leader of the thieves' guild. The short, goggle-wearing briene, who had spent most of their lives underground, had been manipulated by the blood mages into attacking Waldron. As Urus worked his way through the city, he was surprised to see hundreds of the little builders, all busy at work repairing damage that must have happened during the attack.

So much has changed
, Urus now thought.
It's only been a few days for me, but six months have passed in Waldron, and the city looks half destroyed.

With no one in the common room, Urus's eyes were immediately drawn to a table next to the wall. The last time he had been in this room, his power had nearly sent a boy to his death as he shattered the table into splinters. The proprietor must have had a new table built to replace it.

So much blood on my hands
.
Everywhere I go, people die or get hurt
.

He sat at the table, remembering that night, the night Cailix had stopped him from killing an innocent boy. That night there had been no sigils, just raw power and unchecked rage.

A glimmer of silver and grey movement in the corner of his eye pulled him out of his thoughts.

"Mist," Urus said aloud as the silver fox approached. She leapt up onto the table, circled three times and then curled into a ball.

"How did you find me?" Urus asked, gently scratching the fox behind the ear. Her front paws twitched involuntarily and Urus couldn't help but smile.
 

Lu appeared inside the front door. Urus had never watched anyone else appear after using a travel sigil. The effect was quite startling, and far more breathtaking than the nauseating experience of being the traveler.

She smiled, greeting him with the sign of the bull. "You can't hide from us, little bull," she signed. "What's wrong?" She took a seat across from him, scratching the fox behind the ears.

"I told you in Almoryll," Urus signed. "I'm no leader. I don't know what I'm doing. All those people out there want something from me I don't have. I'm dangerous."

"You're not dangerous," Lu signed, a sad look in her eyes. "You're a blue sigilord."

Urus frowned. "That's a birth defect. Just like my ears. I can't lead those people out there."

"Look at how far you've come. I saw you in battle. Your sigilcraft is as good, if not better, than my own, and you've only had a few weeks training. You have earned their respect, and mine."

"You didn't see everything in that battle," he signed. "I fumbled around like a toddler, just like the councilor said during my trial. There was so much killing in that battle, and there's going to be more."

Luse nodded. "There will always be killing."

Urus let out a deep sigh. "That's just it. I don't want to be around the killing. I don't want to be anywhere near the fighting. And…and I don't want other people's lives depending on my actions. I don't think I can handle that kind of responsibility."

"I don't think you have a choice," she signed.

I never do
, Urus thought. As a culled, an exile, he wouldn't get to choose the life he wanted. As a Kestian, he would have been forced to be a warrior. As a sigilord, he still had no choice, being forced to fight in wars other people started millennia ago.

The door to the common room swung inward and Choein stepped through, one hand on the hilt of his sword. He bowed slightly once saw Urus and Luse sitting at the table.

"My lord," he said. "My lady."

"How does everyone know how to find me?" Urus asked. "I just need some time alone."

"Everyone wanted to know where you had gone off to," said Choein. "I reassured them all that you had important sigilord business to take care of and that you would return shortly."

"Thank you, Choein," Luse said, standing up.

"What do you want?" Urus asked the radix, staying in his seat.

"My lord, a young man is demanding an audience with you. I tried to send him away, then I threatened to disembowel him, but he still insists on seeing you. He claims he has information about a friend of yours."

"What friend?" Urus asked, now curious enough to stand and cross the room to face Choein.

Choein chuckled before replying. "He says this friend of yours is a blood mage. The thought of such a thing, my lord. One of us, friends with a blood mage. Such a thing would never happen."

"Send him in," Urus said.

"But, my lord, he claims—" Choein started, but Urus cut him off.

"I said send him in. Then wait outside and guard that door. I don't want any more surprise visits."

Choein bowed slightly and withdrew. A moment later a young man—taller than Urus, though he looked a bit younger—entered the hostel. His skin was among the most pale Urus had ever seen, his hair long and unkempt, though he had the strong arms and thick hands of someone who spent his days at hard labor. He recognized the face instantly—this was the lad who had run through the swarm of undead and been caught up in the travel sigil.

"Do you recognize me?" the boy asked.

"Yes, from Findanar. You were in the middle of our battle."

"You don't recognize me from before that?"

Urus shook his head, already growing impatient. "You told Choein you had information about a blood mage friend of mine."

The boy's eyes darted from Urus to Luse and back. "My name is Colin. We've met before, on Aldsdowne, after Cailix used her magic to save your life."

Urus relaxed with recognition. "I remember. For me, that was only a few days ago. What does this have to do with Cailix?"

"She was in the battle on Findanar," Colin said. "She used her magic to draw those creatures away from you."

"We know," Urus said. "The red fireballs."

"Did you know that she's sick? Anderis called it the corruption. Her blood is poisoned, and it's killing her. She found a way to keep the symptoms at bay, but…but it's…it's not good."

"Did you say corruption?" Lu asked. Urus was suddenly aware of the fact that Mist had again disappeared.

Colin nodded, then jabbed a finger into Urus's chest. "And you need to fix it."

"Where is she?" Urus asked. "Take me to her and I'll do whatever I can."

"She used dead blood to try to save Miss Orla," Colin said, clearly struggling to contain his emotions. "Then after Anderis nearly killed her, she used
your
old blood to heal herself. She kept some of it from that day she saved you and you were bleeding all over the beach. Months-old sigilord blood, she used. Now she's sick, her blood is sick. She's dying, and you need to help her."

Cailix…dying? How is that possible? Next to Luse, she's the most powerful person I know
, Urus thought.

"How long has she been drinking blood?" Lu asked.

Urus gasped. "Drinking blood?"

Colin hung his head, then slumped onto a bench. "Not long. She did it to escape from Anderis and Autar, then again on the wyverns and to distract those…skeleton things."

"Anderis is with Autar?" Urus said, gripping the table.

"Yes. Now can we get back to how you're going to cure Cailix?" Colin asked.

"Colin," Lu said, putting a comforting hand on the boy's shoulder. "There is no cure for the corruption. She cannot be allowed to continue drinking blood."

"That's the only thing keeping her alive," he said, his voice desperate.

"Before long you won't be able to describe what she is as
alive
," Lu said, and a chill ran down Urus's spine.

I truly am dangerous
, he thought.
I've brought this on her. This was my blood, my war. She saved me right here in this common room, and this is how I repay her.

The door to the hostel again burst inward, this time admitting the hunched, grey-skinned form of Murin. Even once through the door he still had to duck to avoid hitting his head on the ceiling.

"Choein, you weren't to allow anyone else in," Urus scolded, catching sight of the soldier standing outside the door.

"I didn't even see him approach, my lord," Choein said. "I am sorry."

"Urus, whatever sigilord business to which you are attending here in this hovel needs to come to a conclusion immediately," said Murin. "We are meeting with Duke Corliss in the council chambers."

"We?" Urus asked.

"Our group, the radixes, the Niragan soldiers, and a host of soldiers and commanders from the Waldron and briene armies."

The prospect of a crowd that big, crammed into a small place, terrified Urus.

"Anderis is alive," he said, changing the subject. "And he's working with Autar Kelus."

Murin reared up, bumped his head, and then hunched back down. "It is as I feared. Come, we have little time to waste."

"Murin, this isn't going to be one of those times when you give some mysterious half-answer and then walk away," Urus said, gripping the man's arm.

"I will explain everything to everyone once we gather in the council chambers. Come, we must hurry."

"Is Corliss there?" Urus asked. The man who had been the Knight Marshal when Urus and Goodwyn had first arrived in Waldron was now its duke.
 

Murin nodded.

"Then he can take care of the crowds and armies and all of that nonsense," Urus said. "I'm not going into the council chambers."

"We need to find a cure for Cailix," Colin shouted.

Murin exchanged a look with Urus. When he realized Urus wasn't going to move, Murin sighed, squeezed his massive form behind a table, and sat down.

"There is no cure for the corruption," Luse signed so Colin wouldn't hear.

"None that we know of," Urus signed back.
 

"In the three millennia of the Fulcrum War, no one ever found a cure," Luse responded.

"Maybe they didn't know where to look," signed Urus.

"Urus, I don't know what you're saying," said Colin. "Do you know how to cure Cailix or not? If not, then I need to get back to Niragan so I can find her again."

Murin knocked on the table and spoke. "Of course saving Cailix is of paramount importance, but we must discuss this terrible alliance between Autar Kelus and Anderis."

"All right, but you're going to give us the whole story this time," Urus said. "All of it. No holding back. I want to know what those creatures were that we were fighting, and what Autar is doing with a blood mage."

Murin shifted, trying to get comfortable. He made the furniture look like it belonged in a doll's house.

"As you already know, since you were in Almoryll, the universe in which this world sits is not the only universe within the greater multiverse. When most of these universes develop and expand, they do so according to a known set of laws. These universes obey mathematical rules. Stars are born and die, planets form, comets collide. It is the natural order of things."

Murin took a deep breath. "But this is not always true. Some universes are bent, warped. The laws and rules which they obey are different from the others. On worlds in those universes, evolution is corrupted. Creatures evolving over millions of years are changed for sadistic, cruel purposes rather than creating adaptations for survival."

"What does this have to do with Niragan?" Colin asked. Urus's heart ached when he looked at the farmer. He was clearly a good friend to Cailix, and Urus had done what could be irreparable harm to her.

"The creatures we fought today, the bile wolves, their handlers, and those filthy abominations, the twisted versions of wyverns—they all came from such a warped universe," Murin said. "My people, and the arbiters who at one time claimed to serve balance, refer to these universes as the banished realms. Those of you who hold religious beliefs would call them the
hells
, or simply
hell
."

"So Autar is building an army of creatures from hell itself, and he's unleashing them on Niragan?" Urus asked.

"Yes. He has taken advantage of…recent events…and, I believe, has created a stable gateway from the banished realms into this world, likely somewhere in or below the abandoned island in the city harbor. However, Autar Kelus is not the worst of our problems."

"What could be worse than hell itself?" Luse asked.