53: BROTHERS

Jorat Dominion, Quuros Empire. Three days since Miya discovered that her son wasn’t dead after all and then discovered that no, he really was

The people sleeping on the ground or lounging on the other side of the tavern room proved they’d just been pretending. They jumped to their feet, reaching for weapons. Janel stood, scowling. Ninavis reached under the bar for her bow. Star pushed Dorna behind him, while Brother Qown inhaled, eyes wide.

Kihrin drew his sword and stood there, eyes narrowed.

“Var, you unbelievable—” Janel started to move forward.

Kihrin caught her arm. “Stop.” He pointed at the ground before them. Here Relos Var had created a defensive second portal, which acted like a moat. It opened onto bright teal sky. Nothing but bright teal sky, and Kihrin was sure dawn hadn’t yet arrived where they were.

So it was a long way away, with a long drop to the ground.

“There’s one other problem,” Kihrin said. He grabbed his cup from the bar and hurled it at Relos Var.

The cup passed right through Relos Var and fell through the second gate, which was still open on the figure’s other side.

“So now that we’ve established you can’t attack me, shall we talk like—” Relos Var said.

Kihrin turned to Janel. “I’m not seeing whatever you’re seeing. Trust me, Relos Var isn’t there. I assume he’s projecting some sort of illusion.”

Relos Var sighed and vanished.

The wizard reappeared. He didn’t use a gate this time. Between one second and the next, the wizard simply stood in the room as if he’d always been there.

“Satisfied?” Var said.

Instead of answering, Kihrin touched Urthaenriel to the edge of the portal on the ground, which fizzled out and vanished. Then Kihrin stepped forward, lunged with Urthaenriel—

Janel grabbed his hand and pulled Kihrin back before he fell through a giant gate—which had opened in the air directly in front of him. Urthaenriel could disrupt portals, but only if Kihrin touched the edges with her. Otherwise, the sword could travel through the center of a gate as well as anyone else.

“The wizard’s put some kind of gate in front of himself,” Dango called out. “Can’t get a shot.”

“Here too,” Ninavis said. “It must be wrapped around him.”

Ninavis’s people spread out through the tavern. Most of them had bows drawn, but all had the same problem as Dango: no clear shot.

The illusion of Relos Var appeared again to the side, outside the gate barrier, so suddenly Kihrin couldn’t stop himself from glancing in the wizard’s direction.

“Oh, you can see me now,” Var said.

“I could see you last time,” Kihrin admitted, “but I wanted to draw you out. There was no point in stabbing an illusion.”

Relos Var scowled before turning to Janel. “Do you want to play these games? Because I can easily leave, taking Khoreval with me too. I’ll be curious to see what you do when Morios shows up to ravage Atrine, but it won’t be my problem.”

Kihrin cocked his head. “Did you really vanish on Duke Kaen like that because I died? What were you going to do when you saw my murderers? Shake Gadrith’s hand or—?”

Relos Var rolled his eyes. “Don’t act like a child. Though I realize that’s all but impossible for you. How many times do I have to explain that I’m not your enemy?”

“Explain as much as you like; it doesn’t mean I’ll ever believe you.”

Relos Var continued as though Kihrin hadn’t spoken. “It was my fault for not keeping better track of what Gadrith and Darzin were plotting. Thank you for killing both, by the way. Especially Gadrith.”

“I didn’t do it for your approval.”

“I never claimed you did.” Relos Var seemed to be grinding his teeth.

“So let me guess—you returned from the Capital before Tya came back from consulting with Thaena about Aeyan’arric,” Kihrin said, “and you reclaimed Khoreval from Xivan Kaen—and made a deal with Janel. But explain something for me, ‘big brother.’ Why do we need Khoreval again? Janel already killed a dragon with Khoreval, and it didn’t stick.”

“Don’t be so humble,” Relos Var said. “You’ve killed one yourself.”

“What?” Kihrin blinked. “Uh, no? I’m sure I haven’t…”

“In the Afterlife,” Janel whispered. “You slew Xaloma using Khoreval.”

Kihrin paused. He’d like to think he’d remember a thing like that. It seemed important. And yet, clearly, he had some big gaps in his memory of events that occurred in the Afterlife. He really needed to find out how Janel and Teraeth were remembering their experiences in the Afterlife. “Fine,” Kihrin said. “I’ll take your word for it. And I’ll assume this ‘Xaloma’ will recover too. Seems to me Khoreval isn’t that great at killing dragons, so why do we need it again?”

At that, Relos Var smiled. He glanced over at Qown. “You haven’t figured it out yet.”

Brother Qown straightened. “Figured what out?”

“What the Cornerstones really are.”

Qown blinked. “What do Cornerstones have to do with—” His eyes widened. “Wait—oh sun—”

Relos Var turned back to Kihrin and Janel. “You need both Khoreval and Urthaenriel because it isn’t enough to simply kill a dragon. You must also simultaneously destroy the dragon’s heart—what we know as a Cornerstone. And only Urthaenriel can destroy a Cornerstone.”

Janel blinked. “Wait. A Cornerstone is the heart of a dragon?”

“Not literally,” Relos Var said. “It’s a metaphor.”

Janel looked extremely relieved for some reason.¹

“Where’s your Cornerstone? Just curious.” Kihrin hadn’t lowered the sword.

“I don’t have one.”

“And once again, I don’t believe you,” Kihrin said.

Relos Var vanished. The portal wall vanished.

Relos Var—the real Relos Var—stepped forward to Kihrin. “Then stab me,” he told Kihrin, “but the moment you stick me with that little piece of metal, I’ll revert to my true form—” He glanced around the tavern. “Which is considerably larger than this room. So Urthaenriel won’t protect you—or your friends—from being smeared against the bedrock. I’ll heal. But you?” He shrugged. “Thaena’s quite busy killing demons at the moment, but I assume she’d get around to Returning you at some point.” Var glanced at Janel. “And you. But probably not anyone else.”

Kihrin set the edge of Urthaenriel against Relos Var’s neck. “You’re bluffing.”

Relos Var smiled. “Am I?”

Another gate opened.

Kihrin didn’t look away from Relos Var, lest this prove a distraction. But the wizard seemed just as surprised by the gate as anyone else.

Relos Var’s eyes widened. “Thurvishar?”

The Lord Heir of House D’Lorus ran through the open portal, which briefly showed a watery expanse and a sky preparing for dawn. He closed the gate, turned around, and then drew up short as he took in the scene in front of him.

“Is this a bad time?”

Brother Qown said, “Thurvishar, what are you doing here? You were supposed to wait—”

“I did,” Thurvishar protested. “That’s why I’m here. Morios just climbed out of Lake Jorat. He’s attacking Atrine.”