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April 23rd
Torin came up to Phaedra standing on the deck, watching the ground below pass by. “You know Command Words,” Torin said, not looking at her.
“I do,” she said, shifting her weight to the foot farther away from him.
“I’ve never encountered them before. It took me by surprise.”
Phaedra glanced at him. “Really?”
“The city I grew up in didn’t have Temple. And while I’ve killed many magic users, few of them had any sort of official training. Not like you at least.” Phaedra stared at him as he trailed off. The way he stood, shoulders slumped forward, chin almost touching his chest, hands shoved into pockets, wasn’t the stance of someone who enjoyed his job.
“You’ve never felled a city?” she asked, turning to face him.
Torin shuddered at the words. “No. Well, yes, but never anything like Sanctuary. Just small trading ports and places like that.” He swallowed audibly.
Phaedra turned back to face the railing, though she looked at him out of the corner of her eye. “Abraham has sent some strong magi to various ports, so I’m surprised.”
“I’d list names of places to compare notes, but I try to remember as little as possible.” His shoulders heaved, and he held his breath.
Phaedra turned her head to look at him again, took in his same posture, and hated how broken he looked. “Why not leave?”
“We’re his thralls. He can find you through anything, and there is no fighting him. Everyone leaves once. No one makes a second attempt. Death is a mercy we’ve all been denied.”
Phaedra rested her back against the railing and drummed her fingers on it as she considered Torin. He slouched forward, head down, not looking at anything around him. She glanced around for Luca and saw him over on the other side of the ’ship glaring at her before walking away.
“What’s Luca’s problem with me?” Phaedra asked.
Torin’s head snapped up for a second, and he looked to one side as a light rose color touched his cheeks. “Nothing to worry about,” he said, turning and walking away.
Phaedra shook her head. It was clearly nothing, but it also wasn’t her problem. She felt the upper deck on the airship was too windy, so she went down below. Phaedra had very little practical knowledge of ’ships and didn’t know what the different areas were. The crew that assigned to them were an interesting mix of people. This one wasn’t one of the big monstrosities, like Aurelius would take to the surface from his flying fortress, but much smaller. Even those Phaedra had only seen in books from her childhood home, before her and Demeter fled the violence.
Time passed. How much Phaedra wasn’t sure. A tickle in her mind caused her to look up to see Torin.
“Hey,” he said, keeping a respectful distance. “We’ll be there soon.”
“What are we doing when we get there?” she asked, voice lifeless even to her.
Torin shook his head and produced a hip flask from his pocket, stepping closer to hand it to her. “It’s dandelion wine. Have some,” he offered. “It makes the job palatable.” Phaedra took it, sniffing it before taking a sip. Done, she handed the flask back. “Keep it,” Torin said. “Looted it elsewhere, but I already have one.”
Phaedra eyed him. “You just take things that aren’t yours?”
“Seemed like a waste to leave it with a dead person.” He ran a hand through his sandy brown hair. “As for what we’re doing, well, we’re looking for the ’stones.”
Phaedra didn’t want to play twenty questions. “I’m aware. How is this going to play out?”
Torin eyed her. “I’ll walk you through each step as needed.”
“I’d rather you told me.”
“To preserve your sanity, I’m putting you on a need-to-know basis.” Torin paused. “I’ve been all over the world, twice over, and haven’t found them. He’s hoping that, since you’re The Oracle, maybe you’d have better luck.”
She slipped the flask into a pocket. Phaedra thought about her limited interactions with Aurelius and suppressed a shudder. “That makes sense.”
Phaedra caught Torin’s look of sympathy. “We’re almost there. If you need to get ready, I suggest you do it now,” he added, before heading up to the deck.
Phaedra stood up and made her way up to the outside. She saw they were coming down in a clearing in the middle of a stretch of forest. Deckhands were running around and doing something that interested Phaedra, but Torin caught her gaze. “I’ll go first when we land, then you, then Luca.”
“Just the three of us?” Phaedra asked.
“If we need to, we can empty the local graveyard.”
Phaedra shivered, feeling her stomach flip-flop. “I didn’t know there was one in the area.”
Torin harrumphed. “You just haven’t learned how to feel them out yet.”
The ’ship thumped down, and deckhands lowered the ramp to the Terra. Torin hustled down. Phaedra hesitated, but a hand touched her back and pushed her forward. She stared behind her at Luca, who was glowering. Phaedra turned and poked a finger in his chest. “Don’t touch me,” she said, meeting his gaze until he looked away. Huffing, she turned back around and thudded down the ramp, grumbling to herself.
Torin stared at her. “You’ll come with me. Luca will scout ahead.”
Luca took off towards the woods as Phaedra looked over at Torin. “You look way too scrawny to be giving him orders,” she said.
Torin snorted. “Aurelius put me in charge. Whether Luca likes it is a moot point.” Torin started walking, angling a little away from Luca. Phaedra fell into step behind Torin, not minding his company as much as some of Aurelius’s other men. Not everyone shielded as well as Torin did, and she was glad for the respite. The further they got from the ship, the quieter her head got, and Luca was much faster than someone so big should move. For the first time in a while, Phaedra felt like she could breathe.
Torin flowed around the obstacles in his path with a grace Phaedra didn’t expect, sliding between the dappled bars of sunlight coming down through the canopy. Time was meaningless still to her, and the lack of a need for sleep was messing everything up still. She knew it was midafternoon and that some time had passed since she woke up in the fortress. She just wasn’t sure on how much had actually gone by.
“Have you been able to orient yourself yet?” Torin asked.
“What do you mean?” she asked.
“Like days, time, stuff like that.”
Phaedra faltered, almost tripping over her own feet. “No. How did you know?”
“Like I keep saying, it happens to all of us. Some people adapt faster than others, but you will too.” Torin paused, glancing around. “Let’s wait here a bit.”
Phaedra sat down on a fallen log, Torin doing the same. “How long have you been serving under him?” She asked, her curiosity overwhelming her.
Torin made a face as he sat near her. “Oh, about ten years now, though I haven’t been keeping track of it much.”
“You don’t look old enough to have served him ten years.”
Torin arched an eyebrow at her. “I suppose being dead keeps me from looking thirty.”
Phaedra looked around her, not sure what to say to that. She could see lichen on the surrounding trees, and various mushrooms on the logs they sat on. “Why did Cristiano kill you?” Phaedra asked.
Torin laughed. It was a bitter sound. “You don’t beat around the bush, do you?”
“We don’t have much choice but to work together, right? Might as well make the most of it. And we can start by getting to know each other.”
Torin was quiet. Phaedra could all but hear him mulling her words over in his mind. She resisted the urge to hound him for an answer. “Cristiano killed me as part of a bargain.” Torin looked up and, catching Phaedra’s expression, groaned to himself. “Cristiano took me in as an orphan, but his motives weren’t altruistic. He turned out to be one of Aurelius’s eyes on the ground. And when Aurelius needed a magic user. . . well. . .” He glanced at Phaedra, not raising his head, before looking back down at the spot in front of him. “I know how you died, but how did you wind up at Temple?” he asked. Phaedra could feel something about him. Not quite tense, but on edge.
“I was a kid when we entered Sanctuary as refugees, with a band of other kids. Temple took us all in as long as we were willing to learn a trade to help Temple out. We all went through testing to see where we’d fit. They assigned me both a magic instructor and a combat instructor if I was willing to work for them after I was through training. Eldren—”
“Who’s Eldren?” Torin asked.
Phaedra looked surprised. “Oh. He was a friend of mine.” She looked down at her hands, heart aching at the thought of being on the opposite side of the battlefield from him now. “The band of kids, at first it was just me and Demeter. Others joined us. The first of them was Eldren.” Phaedra glanced up from her hands to see Torin watching her; she had piqued his interest.
“He’s the elf.” Not a question. A statement. “The one who joined you,” he said, breaking eye contact to look down at the ground again.
“He got stranded on this side, didn’t know how to go back. His parents were merchants who got killed, and he ran off.”
“No one came for him?”
Phaedra shook her head. “No. He learned how to travel back-and-forth thanks to an elven merchant when he was older, but he was also mad the elves left him to rot, so he stayed here.”
“I can hear you two from a mile away,” said a deep, irritated voice. Torin and Phaedra looked up to see Luca standing there, scowling.
“Who cares?” Phaedra said. “What did you find?”
Luca sneered at Phaedra and looked at Torin.
“What did you find indeed?” Torin asked. “Spit it out.”
Luca raised an eyebrow at the command. “I found both the graveyard and an abandoned Temple. I didn’t see signs of life, but I wasn’t too thorough in looking for it, either.”
Phaedra scoffed as Torin nodded, causing Luca to stare at her.
“You have a problem with that?” Luca asked.
“Aren’t you worried about missing someone?” she asked.
“What are they going to do, kill me again?” Luca huffed and rolled his shoulders. “Let’s go.”
Torin shot Phaedra a look that she couldn’t quite decipher before standing up. “You heard him, let’s go,” Torin said as he walked off to follow Luca.
Phaedra stood up, feeling a certain lack of grace both men possessed. She was used to city streets and flat land tilled for farming, not wooded areas that looked like they hadn’t seen a person, human or otherwise, for a hundred years. She picked her way through, cursing the lack of paths, as she struggled to keep up. Torin looked back and his mouth twisted into what could have been a smile.
“You’ll get used to it,” he said as she caught up to him. “It just takes practice.”
“At least you didn’t call me city folk, I guess,” she said.
“You never left the city?”
“Demeter and I hiked cross-country with a bunch of other kids when our hometown got wiped off the map, but aside from that I haven’t left a city in my life,” she said. “I was just never sent out into the wilderness. That was a different team.” She trailed off, swatting some branches out of her way. “How do you even do it?” She asked.
Torin gave a low chuckle. “Like I said, you get used to it,” he said.
“At least give everyone a machete. Jeez,” Phaedra said, swatting more plant life out of the way.
“Will you two be quiet?” Luca asked as he appeared before them. “You’re going to give us all away.”
Torin looked away; Phaedra didn’t have to see his face to know he was feeling sheepish. She shifted her shoulders, feeling like her skin didn’t quite feel right. There was something about Torin that got to her, unlike the others. Luca she just felt a general distaste for everything from, but there was a certain something from Torin that she hadn’t ever felt from anyone before. Then again, she was newly undead, with innate powers Aurelius had been trying to stamp out for as long as she could remember. Maybe it was because they were both magi and bound by the same magic that stemmed from Aurelius? Glancing at Torin and his passive expression as they stood around, she wondered if that was it.
Luca shook his head and pointed at Phaedra. “Stop distracting him.”
“Why? What are they going to do, kill us again?” Phaedra said, unable to resist the urge to bait Luca. He puffed up, angry, and Torin lightly punched her in the shoulder. The sudden touch, so similar to what she and Eldren used to do, caught her by surprise.
“Stop poking him,” he said, sounding irritated. “It’s getting us nowhere fast.”
“What do we do?” she asked, voice pitched at a stage whisper.
Luca ignored her. “This Temple seems abandoned, but still be careful. There might be refugees or traps or something else here,” Luca said, looking at Torin while addressing Phaedra’s unspoken question. Finally looking at her, he pointed again. “You. Use your. . . whatever, to see if you can detect any sort of magical item here.”
“Ask nicely; I don’t take orders like that,” Phaedra said, ignoring Torin’s exasperated sigh.
It was impressive when Luca growled. “Just look for the damn item we’re trying to find,” he said, and stormed off.
Torin side eyed her. “You’re far more of a hassle to work with than I expected,” he said, shaking his head.
“I’ll do it, but that doesn’t mean I have to be happy about it.” She crossed her arms as much as the armor would allow. “Lead the way,” she said, gesturing in front of her.
Torin grumbled, but took off in Luca’s direction. The trees thinned, and Phaedra gasped. It was an old Temple building, but the architecture was so similar it made her chest hurt. Temple rose high into the sky just beyond the tree line, and Phaedra’s heart squeezed at the only home she had ever known. For all the state of disrepair it was in, it was still Temple, the last beacon of hope in a dying world.
Phaedra stepped forward, listening for the little voice that had guided her since time immemorial. There was something there, but what was it?
Torin looked at her as she came back into her body. “Well?”
“The plants picked up and disbursed the latent magic associated with Temple over the area,” she started.
“That’s what I caught onto,” Torin sounded almost excited.
“There is something else here besides us, too, but it doesn’t have any sort of signature I recognize,” she said, disappointed as Torin’s face fell.
“It’s a start. Can you tell where it’s located?”
Phaedra shook her head. “No, but if we get closer, I can try to find the trail.”
It was Torin’s turn to walk behind her. Phaedra felt uncomfortable having him at her back, but she didn’t think he’d try to stab her. Phaedra reached out for that strange link and followed it through the gates.
She smiled even as tears sprang to her eyes at the almost familiarity of it all. The orange roses had spread throughout the courtyard, blocking most of it off. It would be worth exploring another time, but she didn’t think the ’stone would be there. She led Torin through the building, shoulders heavy with the memories that sprang up.
“You found it?” he asked.
“No, but the structure is so close to Temple back home that I think I can find where it might be,” she whispered, looking around in awe. The rest of the town, which didn’t seem large here, was not more than a farming community, but Temple was Temple, and they picked locations for a reason. She was hoping to find something at least somewhat useful, though she kept that to herself. Phaedra didn’t think Torin and Luca would let her pilfer just anything. But if she could get them to trust her, maybe she could find something to satisfy Aurelius.
No. Aurelius had Demeter trapped. She had to at least get her sister out of there with her. She didn’t trust Luca, and knew she shouldn’t trust Torin, but what choice did she have at that moment?
The diffused feeling of the item whose magic signature was different was everywhere here. It made it hard to find any sort of trail. Phaedra hoped she wasn’t wrong. Aurelius had promised, after all.
Torin followed, not saying a word. Phaedra could feel waves of awe coming off of him without having to look at him. “You’ve never seen Temple?” she asked.
“No, I haven’t. My hometown didn’t have one, not that Cristiano dealt much with priests and priestesses.”
Phaedra glanced back at him in surprise. “Not even working under Aurelius?” she asked.
He shook his head and returned his gaze to the ceiling.
Phaedra looked up with him in awe. The roof was caving in, allowing in more light, but the parts left still had remnants of the frescoes. “It’s the history of Temple,” she explained. “Temple cultivates every part of their image to fit a certain aesthetic. And it’s all meant to inspire hope for a new world. It’s why every Temple is the same. Why every one has the same building, the same frescoes, the same orange roses.”
Torin had a look of amazement on his face as they looked up. Airships and magicians were the primary focus, with crystals not too far behind. “I had no idea,” he whispered.
Phaedra’s stomach tightened with homesickness. She continued to lead them through it, coming to what would be the armory door. She busted the lock and stepped through, blinking in the dim light. The roof was more intact here, and the canopy that hid this Temple blocked the light better than she expected. “If it’s something important, it’ll be here.”
Torin looked at the various crates, shelves, and other storage solutions that were untouched. “No one’s raided it,” he said, surprised.
“That’s Temple’s handiwork. I had heard the magic would get stronger if it ever fell, but I’ve never seen it in practice. I doubt anyone has been here in a hundred years.” She worked the top off of a crate as she spoke. Nothing much of interest was inside, just some old spell cartridges that had been left behind when everyone fled. “Help me look through the crates,” she said, picking another one. She heard Torin pull the top off one. “Anything?” she asked, digging through the one in front of her.
“No, just looks like more spell cartridges,” he said.
“Keep looking,” she said, also striking out.
Torin moved onto the next one. “Why are you so eager to help us?” he asked, pawing through the contents.
“I can’t get away without my sister, and he said that if I got the Godstone for him, he’d let us go.”
Phaedra caught Torin shaking his head. “I wouldn’t count on it,” he said. “Just because he says something doesn’t mean he’ll follow through.”
Phaedra bit her tongue, not wanting to say what she was thinking. “Still, I have to try,” she said. She had to trust someone, and he seemed far more likely to be trustworthy than anyone else she had met so far. Phaedra hated the logic though. It seemed so manipulative. Looking at him as he glanced around, she wondered if there was a possibility she could take Torin, and maybe Luca, with her. Not that Luca deserved it. He was just less corrupted than many of the others, and as an elf, she was sure he still had family that missed him.
“Could it be anywhere else?” he asked.
It must have been somewhere underground, but where she wasn’t sure. Not that she wanted to show her entire hand yet. Kicking herself for talking so much about Temple earlier with him, she thought fast. She would have to be sure not to let her guard down again.
“Well?” he asked, staring at her.
Phaedra looked at him and blinked. “We can try the treasure room,” she said. She knew it wouldn’t be there, but they might find something to explain the muddled magic feeling.
Torin waved her in front of him. Fighting to not look at the doorway she knew was behind her, she led him out of the armory and towards the treasure room.
“Each Temple has a treasure room?” Torin asked. “I never would have guessed.”
“Kind of. It’s where things go that have no other home. It’s oddities; machines, gems, paintings, things like that. Sometimes they’re worth money, but mostly it’s just things that don’t fit anywhere else.” She stopped in front of a door and broke the lock. The door swung open, and they stepped in. Clockwork birds hung from the ceiling, glass globes in ornate stands lazily spun around in their clockwork stands. The paintings on the shelves still had their dust clothes draped over them. Books not in the library were on bookshelves alongside various other knickknacks, too many to name. Not that Phaedra knew what half the things were. There was a strong feeling of magic here, too, which Phaedra had been hoping would be the case.
Torin looked around, interested in everything, as Phaedra looked for something that might be a Godstone. She knew there were Hellgems that Temple hoarded that often got placed in this room. She hoped that if she located one of those, that would explain enough of it. As Phaedra wandered around looking at everything, she wondered if the Temple back home even had a Godstone. She had grown up under the umbrella of powerful magic, so it startled her, the feeling of strange magic here; she felt nothing like this before. But a quiet whisper told her not to reveal everything just yet, and that voice was more trustworthy than Aurelius’s promise to her.
Phaedra smiled as she located a box that had a much more intricate lock. Magic hummed under her hands as she touched it reverently. “Torin,” she said. “I think I found it.”
Torin raced over, looked over her shoulder as she pulled it off the shelf. “The lock won’t break as easily as the doors will. We have to find the key,” she said. “Otherwise, it might destroy whatever is inside.”
She glanced over at him in time to see his look of disappointment and almost felt bad.
“I’m surprised it’s just sitting out like that.”
Phaedra exhaled. “No one ever skulks around Temple, not really. It’s never asleep, for one, as you never know what midnight will bring,” she said, reciting the old saying. “And for another, there are powerful wards everywhere to discourage people.”
Torin side eyed her as Phaedra hefted the lock box with ease. “You didn’t seem to have problems with that.”
“I grew up in Temple’s halls. It’s amazing what they’ll let you get away with when the prophecy machine chooses your older sister.”
“That makes sense. Where do we find the key?”
“If it’s anywhere, it’ll be in the main office.”
“Keys?” a voice asked from behind them. She turned, heart pounding in her throat, to see Luca standing behind them, holding up a massive keyring.
“if anything is going to have them, it’ll be with those.”
Torin looked uncertain. “If that’s it, let’s go.”
Luca gave Phaedra a look, as if he didn’t think she had found anything useful. She stared back at him, schooling her face into something more aggressive.
“If you two are done grandstanding, we should go,” Torin said, rubbing a thumb over his eyebrow a few times.
Luca scowled and turned away, following Torin out of the room. Phaedra steeled herself, lockbox in hand. Could she do this? She didn’t have a choice. Chest hurting, she walked out after Torin.
