Chapter Twenty-Nine

MICHEL-LEON WOKE up as Constantin stirred next to him. Light and warmth from the noonday sun flooded the bedroom. His thoughts immediately jumped into what he had to do, even as his body protested with the need for more sleep. Shouts of alarm caught his attention, but they were from outside, not inside, and must’ve been what awoke him. Though he suspected the cause, he rose to be sure.

Through the window, he observed people scurrying about, closing shutters and hiding behind closed doors. Already the light was dimmer. His window faced the wrong way, but Michel-Leon knew the mists were coming.

As he pulled on his breeches, Constantin pushed himself up. “Do you want to send another party out? I can be ready in a few minutes.”

“Non,” Michel-Leon replied after a moment’s thought. “Vautrin will expect that and be ready for us. We don’t need more bloodshed. As much as I want to go out and rescue every mist-spelled there is, the quickest way to save them is to destroy the swarm. That’s what Vautrin wants as well. Then we can figure out a way to keep him from causing more harm.”

“This may be cold, but why not shoot him?” Constantin sat up, his golden hair flowing around his naked torso. He appeared more fey than man. Michel-Leon constantly marveled that they had found each other.

The voices in Michel-Leon’s head hissed their disapproval at Constantin’s suggestion. “I’m afraid I can’t.” Michel-Leon tapped his temple. “They won’t let me. But we’ll figure out a way to deal with him.”

“Well, I don’t have the same restraint.” Constantin pulled back the covers, rose naked, and stretched luxuriously. “What he’s done, there’s no coming back from. You didn’t sense it the way I did. Blood and agony saturated him. S’il te plaît, understand, I do not kill lightly. It would be a mercy for him as well.”

“I’m going to ask the ancestors to see what we can do. In the meantime, why don’t you try sending your constructs into that zone? If that works, we will figure out what to do next. There has to be a way around the barrier, or better yet, through it.” Michel-Leon shrugged into his shirt and ran his fingers through his curls as he decided against getting dressed further. For what he had to face, he wanted to be comfortable.

“I have some thoughts.” Constantin stamped his feet into his boots. “It could be something similar to my glamour. In which case, I can dispel it easily if we find the right pressure points. If the construct goes through, I think I can experiment further with that.”

“Do you need me to keep a guard while you do that?” Michel-Leon asked, and Constantin shook his head.

“We are pressed for time, and if I’m correct, I should be safe. Vautrin can destroy the constructs, but he can’t harm me through them.” Constantin gave him a humorless smile. “He can only do that in person.”

Michel-Leon settled himself into a comfortable chair near the window and rested his hands on the arms, his head against the back, and lifted his legs onto the settee. “I’ll come find you when I’m done, and we can compare notes.”

Constantin gave him an odd look and crouched near his chair. “Do you need me to keep an eye on you? Didn’t you say Janvier used to do that for you?”

“He did when I got pulled in unexpectedly. Kept me from falling over and bashing my head.” Michel-Leon smiled at him. “I should be fine. I’ve been dealing with this all my life. If you don’t hear from me in an hour, come in and shake me. That should pull me right out of it.”

“If you’re certain. You did say we would look out after each other.” Constantin covered Michel-Leon’s hand with his own. “Don’t take risks.”

“Only calculated ones, I assure you.” Michel-Leon stared up into his brown eyes with a new sense of security and comfort. “I have many reasons why I will fight to remain whole and sane, and you are one of them.”

Constantin smiled and kissed him. He remained near as Michel-Leon closed his eyes and relaxed. This differed from when he was yanked in. This time, he was seeking admittance. Once his thoughts settled, he focused on the plane where he’d find all the ancestors. “Take me in.”

A roar of voices came at him like a rushing wave and Michel-Leon let it flow over him, concentrating instead on spacing his breaths until they were even. When the tumult subsided to a manageable level, he opened his eyes and focused on the first wavering form in front of him. The ruined face of his brother stared back, and Michel-Leon’s heart ached with remembered grief.

“How do I counter Vautrin’s blood magic?” Michel-Leon asked, reminding himself this was just Gregoire’s shade and not his fallen brother.

“The watcher is the key.”

Constantin. Michel-Leon’s heart caught again. “Where does the watcher’s soul hang in balance? Is he in any danger of becoming a magicman?”

The air swirled around his brother, and he disappeared to be replaced with another familiar face. Michel-Leon’s father did not appear any less disapproving in death than he had in life. “The watcher is on the side of the healers. But he is not one to dally with as you have done. You need to rebuild the chevaliers. You need to attend to your duty.”

There were far more important concerns on Michel-Leon’s mind than making more chevaliers and inflicting his father upon them. “We believe we’ve located the swarm. How do we destroy it?”

His father grabbed ahold of him with phantom fingers that dug into his arms despite their insubstantiality. He loomed before Michel-Leon as he had so many times before when Michel-Leon was a child. “Are you listening to me, garçon?”

Years of training and discipline settled over him, dispelling the ice filling his veins. Michel-Leon pushed back and his father vanished. He took a step deeper into the void and latched on to another shadow with a face he didn’t recognize. “How do I destroy the swarm?”

“The swarm destroyed Metz. So many dead. So many lost to the shadows.”

Michel-Leon side-stepped the wraith’s attempt to latch onto him. “I know about Metz. I don’t know how to destroy the nest. Can you help?”

The man shook his head regretfully, and Michel-Leon took another step. He sensed the ancestors gathering around him as he passed, opening a pathway for him to go in deeper. He glanced back over his shoulder at the shining cord connecting him to the real world. It disappeared into the shadows, but it was still there. The only thing he could do was go farther, and as he did, his sense of time faded.

Eventually, a light appeared ahead, flickering orange and yellow. The clamor of the ancestors’ misery, their screams and moans waned, replaced with the tormented screams at the heart of this place. He paused. Michel-Leon had never gone in so deep. He’d never heard of anyone speaking to the Burning Maiden. He’d wandered back through centuries of chevaliers.

If anyone would have answers, it would be her. Michel-Leon stiffened his resolve and locked his gaze on that unsteady glow. The ancestors melted away, leaving him alone. The flickering light became a pillar of fire, and as he neared, he saw the pile of logs that fueled its base. A slender form twisted and writhed within that pillar. Her screams pierced the air, and his heart wrung with pity and awe.

Michel-Leon fell to his knees and bowed his head with the profoundest respect, his fist pressed to his heart. “My lady.”

The screams of agony retreated into the distance, though still audible, and then the roar and crackle of flames faded too. Light approached him. “Look at me, my chevalier.”

Michel-Leon lifted his head. One moment she was a blackened corpse, her body twisted in torturous pain, the next she was a young maiden dressed in armor with her helmet tucked under her arm. The vision wavered back and forth between the two images. “I need your help, my lady.”

“You are the first to have risked coming this far back in a long time.” Her eyes narrowed in thought, and she cocked her head as if listening to voices only she could hear. It had been rumored angels talked to her, though those who killed her would’ve argued it had been demons. Michel-Leon saw nothing demonic in her eyes, only an unwavering determination he understood.

“I had to. So many lives are at risk. We’ve already lost too many to the swarm.”

“How long has it been? How do my people fare? Do many chevaliers remain?”

“It has been centuries, my lady. Centuries filled with bloodshed as the people of France battled ourselves. But a new time is coming, a time of science and progress, and I have hope it will unite everyone.” If they could survive. “I am making a book, recording everything the chevaliers have learned about the monsters and creatures that inhabit our world. The book will last when the chevaliers are gone.”

She stared down at him sternly. “You did not answer my last question. How many of my chevaliers remain?” She looked away, her gaze distant as the flames flared again. “They were witnesses to my end. I saw each one in the crowd. They remained loyal after my death.”

“There are two bloodlines I know of remaining. Mine and Vautrin’s if his grandchildren survive his madness. He never had the benefit of our training. The tragedy at Metz warped his mind. Everyone remained loyal to you until the last chevalier.” Michel-Leon closed his eyes. “Je suis désolé, my lady, but the chevalier bloodline will end with me.”

“Look at me,” she commanded again, and Michel-Leon could not deny her. She touched his chin with charred fingers and heat seared him, making him cry out in pain. “The chevaliers will not end with you. You will usher in a new era. Swear this to me. Swear you will not lose faith. You will recruit and teach to make sure all of France’s children remain safe.”

Michel-Leon thought of Constantin’s efforts to bring others in. He thought of the shrouded bodies laid out this morning, fallen soldiers in an endless fight. He thought of the farmers’ lost goods when dealing with the goblin raids; the orphans tormented by the magicman, all the missing people of Paris and those who returned, scarred from their experiences in the mists. It was a brutal, never-ending fight and one he could not abandon.

“I swear it, my lady.”

She smiled, though there was as much steel in that gesture as there was when she was at her most stern. “I believe you. Why did you seek me out, Chevalier? The need must be dire.”

“The swarm has returned, and this time the death toll will be in the hundreds of thousands. In the past, it has forced us to evacuate until the danger has passed. Even then, so many were lost. We have narrowed down the likely location of the nest, and we have found ways to counteract the effects of the mists it produces. Before I go down with my team, I need to know how to destroy the nest. We may only get one chance at this.”

“You say we, though you are the last chevalier.” Her eyes went distant again and the voices of the ancestors murmured. Michel-Leon heard bits and pieces of conflicting advice about the watcher, and he stiffened. “Your sister in spirit, the watcher, and the people he has found—you will be the new order, one not tainted by my gift that became a curse.”

For once, Michel-Leon wished Régine had the capacity to be here. She put in the work of a chevalier, lived and breathed it, but always considered herself as less. He’d have to tell her the Burning Maiden saw her as one of them.

“The watcher has dangerous abilities. You know the risk he carries.”

“I do,” Michel-Leon said hoarsely. “I also know his heart and the strength of his will. He won’t go down the wrong path. Not when he knows what the cost would be. He has dedicated his life to saving people, whether or not he admits it, not harming.”

She peered over his shoulder, cocking her head again as more voices murmured. “He has fed off souls before.” She caged him between her burning fingers again as he tried to shake his head, and they seared deep into his skin. Michel-Leon bit back the cry of pain. “Unwittingly. He has also healed unwittingly.”

“I believe in him,” Michel-Leon insisted. “He will not falter.”

“And if he does? Would you have the strength of will to do what you must?” Michel-Leon’s heart broke at the idea. He’d have to. Constantin would want him to, but it wasn’t a situation he’d ever want to contemplate. It would kill him inside. “I can see you would. However, I do not believe it will be necessary. He is strong and his heart is as pure as yours.”

Relief flooded through Michel-Leon as the ancestors whispered. “Merci, my lady,” he said reverently.

“There is strength in your unity. Hold to that. Love sees us through our trials. Love of our country and our people. Love of family and individuals. My chevaliers have forgotten that part, and it’s the most important. We fight because of love. Don’t forget.”

“I won’t.” Michel-Leon watched in bewilderment as she stepped back. The burns disappeared, leaving her whole and almost childlike. “My lady, what about the swarm? How do we destroy it?”

“The answer is fire. It is always fire, our weapon and our bane,” she whispered and faded into the shadows as Michel-Leon’s heart lurched. “Goodbye, last of my chevaliers. Go build a new world. A better world.”

Michel-Leon reached out toward her, but she was gone. He rose on unsteady feet and turned to go back, only to find his path blocked by row upon row of shadowy wraiths.