26: THE WELL OF SPIRALS
(Kihrin’s story)
Dead and injured vané littered the ground. Other vané hurried from group to group, treating the traumas. Putting out literal fires complicated attempts at healing. And it all seemed incredibly familiar.
It reminded me of the Capital Hellmarch.
I rushed forward to see if I could help, when vané soldiers spotted us first. And to be fair, the thriss clothing and animals only meant so much when at best only one of us—maybe two depending on how they viewed me—was vané.
The soldiers headed in our direction.
“Let me handle this,” Teraeth said.
“By all means,” Thurvishar responded.
Teraeth stepped forward, bowed, and began speaking in low murmurs.
After a few minutes, Teraeth returned. “I have good news and bad news. The good news is they’re not thrilled by outsiders, but we’re clearly not demons. That’s what attacked here.”
I said, “So demons don’t have any problems with the barrier roses?”
Teraeth grimaced. “So it would appear.”
“Lovely,” Janel said. “What, then, is the bad news?”
“We’re still under arrest,” Teraeth admitted.
“What?” I looked behind us. Guards now stood at the end of the bridge we’d just crossed. More soldiers were arriving as reinforcements.
“Not all of us are vané,” Teraeth explained. “Even if we have every reason to be here, they’re going to follow orders. They’re surprisingly apologetic about it. I’m flattered.”
“I’d settle for being less flattered and more not arrested,” I said.
“Trust me on this.” Teraeth wagged a finger. “Let them do their jobs.” He turned to thank the thriss for their help.
The two thriss saluted us, hopped back on their rides, and left across the bridge. The vané soldiers didn’t try to stop them.
Teraeth turned to us. “Come on, let’s go.”
No part of me calmly accepted turning myself in to the watch or whatever passed for the authorities in the Manol. That was never a good idea. I’d spent too many years living in a town where justice came on the edge of a gold coin tossed to a Watchman. No situation was ever so quarrelsome that the addition of the guard wouldn’t make it a thousand times worse. The Watchmen were always the enemy. I edged away.
“Kihrin,” Teraeth said. “Trust me.”
I stopped myself and exhaled. “Okay.”
We stepped forward and let the vané put us in chains.
The vané took our weapons. They patted us down. They even found the knife I’d turned invisible. Then they tied our hands and marched us around Saraval’s spiral until we reached a structure that looked like a municipal center.
Since I was under arrest, I wasn’t feeling as sympathetic to Saraval’s citizens as I should have been. To my eye, the damage looked superficial, less like an invasion than a raid. Demons had popped in, burned and killed everything they could, and then vanished before reinforcements arrived. With the demon invasion, no one noticed us entering town except for the soldiers—everyone else had their own problems to preoccupy them.
The soldiers escorted us down a dark hallway, which looked like it dug into the giant trees themselves. The room we entered looked forbidding and not designed to engender goodwill, tailored for violent interrogations. I contemplated turning invisible and making a run for it, but I’d have to leave behind the other three. That was purely unacceptable.
Then the soldier leading me untied my hands.
“Sorry,” the man said. “We had to make it look good.”
“What?” I turned around. The vané were untying everyone.
The guards set our impounded weapons on a table.
Janel rubbed her wrists. “What just happened?”
Teraeth raised his hands and gestured to the surrounding room. “May I present one Black Brotherhood chapter house, as promised.”
I blinked and looked around. The vané smiled. Several wandered into other rooms to take care of other duties. “Right. May I have my weapons back?”
A soldier pointed. “Everything’s on the table.”
We immediately retrieved our weapons. Thurvishar stayed where he was, but Thurvishar wasn’t carrying anything more dangerous than a food knife on him.1 Teraeth didn’t have nearly as many weapons in the pile as I knew he carried on him. I suspected the soldiers hadn’t completely stripped the vané assassin—professional courtesy.
“So the demons,” Teraeth said. “Just a lightning raid, or were they after something?”
“Not sure,” a soldier admitted. “Possibly a distraction. Someone used the spiral path without authorization.”
Teraeth froze. “Someone snuck into the Well of Spirals?”
“The former queen, no less,” the vané said. “King Kelanis is there with his people right now on the off chance she returns.”
I stood up. Teraeth’s plan to make contact with King Kelanis at the Well of Spirals looked like it was going to take us even less time than expected. “Take us there. Right now.”