With careful fingers red with Winters's blood, Eliz Xhum reached up now to untie her hands one at a time. Then, he untied her feet and gently rolled the girl onto her back. Jin saw the whites of her eyes, and her moan was the sound of thunder. Once again, she found herself nearly losing her composure and still was not certain she did the right thing.
She makes her own path, and I must respect it. She was fairly certain that the cutting was not a part of Winters's plan, but the girl had shown some premeditation in smuggling the voice magicks into the gathering and making her loud proclamation. And she'd kept it to herself. She was fairly certain that the cutting was not a part of Winters's plan, but the girl had shown some premeditation in smuggling the voice magicks into the gathering and making her loud proclamation. And she'd kept it to herself.
Certainly, Jin realized, they both had their secrets. Aedric had sought her out regarding the missing pages from the book, and she was confident that Winters had known of this as well. She wondered if the girl had picked up the subtle message she'd intended by sending Aedric to her to confirm that fact. And she wondered how Aedric and Charles fared and if, as she suspected, the Watcher had left his cave to watch this first open mass in the Named Lands.
She did not subscribe to the Marsh dreams herself, though she took it more seriously now that she'd had time to get to know the girl.
And now I know just how seriously the girl takes it.
The knives were down now, and the regent was reaching for buckets of steaming water and clean white rags, laid near the table where Winters stretched out naked and bleeding.
Something broke in her, and the rage could no longer be contained. She stood and pushed her way to the front as he squeezed out the excess water, a smile of pure love upon his face.
"No," she said in a loud voice. "You'll not touch her again." She doubted it carried very far, but it carried far enough. He straightened and turned to her as she approached, and whatever he saw upon her face took his smile away.
"Great Mother," he began, "it is customary-"
But she interrupted him. "I will tend her. You've done enough." Then, she poured every bit of the rage she felt into her eyes and watched him blink at what he saw. She walked to him and snatched the cloth away before he could object.
The words of her sister-if indeed it was her sister-suddenly reasserted themselves, and she could not fathom why under any circumstances she would go with this man. She forced the thought aside and pushed past the regent to stand near the girl. He looked from her to Winters, then nodded slightly and returned to his seat.
She leaned over the girl, taking in the smell of her blood. "This is going to hurt," she said as she lifted the cloth.
The girl fidgeted and croaked; it took Jin a moment to recognize the word. "No." Then, the girl mumbled words she could not make out.
She does not wish to be washed clean of this.
She bent her head closer. Behind her, Ria was on her feet and inviting others to stand as another Y'Zirite hymn rose up into the night. It was a song about kin-healing, and despite the noise of it, she could just make out Winters's whispering.
"And she shall call forth the true Machtvolk by blood," the girl muttered, and Jin Li Tam understood. Let them see her, naked and bleeding for them. This blood purchased exodus for those who chose it.
She rose up and turned to the regent. Their eyes met. "You will honor your promise?" she asked across the platform, her voice drowning in song.
"Yes," he said.
Then she turned back to Winters. "Can you walk?"
The girl struggled, and Jin took hold of her arm to help her up. Her hand slipped over the blood and Winters gasped, but she rolled and sat up on the table. Jin cast a glance to her neatly folded dress and furs, but knew that anything she put over the girl would simply add more pain to what she'd already faced. Instead, she tried to find a part of her body that had not been cut and helped pull her, sobbing, to her feet.
"Lean on me," she said, "as best you can."
Together, with slow and measured steps, they crossed the platform, and Winters cried out softly with each step, though Jin knew she tried not to. They would leave this place, and when they were alone, Jin would wash the true queen of the Machtvolk clean of the blood and see her to Lynnae's care for the treatment of her wounds.
When they climbed down from the platform, she guided the girl onto the wooden boardwalk and noted the wash of emotion upon the faces of those they passed. Some wept in ecstasy and others in sorrow. Some averted their eyes in shame and others gazed upon her in pride.
They shuffled their way out of the crowd, and when they were safely into the forest beyond the gathering, Winters slumped against her and nearly fell. The girl was of small frame, but the dead weight of her staggered Jin, and she held her for a moment.
Then, she felt a hand upon her shoulder and looked up into the face of a weeping young Machtvolk soldier. She'd seen this one before, guarding the door that led into the abandoned throne room and the caves that wound their way down to the Book of Dreaming Kings.
The young man scooped the girl into his arms, and Jin heard the sorrow catch in his throat as Winters cried out at his touch. "I will bear you, my queen," the young man said in a voice that stumbled with emotion.
Jin inclined her head. "Thank you."
He returned the gesture and then set out down the wooden boardwalk in the direction of Ria's lodge.
Jin paused before turning to follow him. The night was filled now with song instead of screaming, and she looked back in the direction of the singing.
This must be ended.
She did not know now how that could happen exactly. It was a vastly larger proposition than she had conceived when she'd first seen the beginnings of this resurgence last year. And she'd had no suspicion that anything could be darker and more frightening than the pillar of smoke and fire on the day that Windwir fell. But that pyre, it seemed, had only been the beginning of a darkness she could not comprehend and could not bear to be a part of.
The last thing she noticed, gleaming wetly in the scattered moonlight that penetrated the evergreen canopy, was the footprints in blood leading backward along the way that they had taken.
"We walk a path of blood," Jin Li Tam whispered, and as she said it, a shudder ran its course along her body, like the kiss of a silver blade over a cold and salted wound.
Chapter 27.
Neb.
An unsettling calm flooded him, and Neb looked down to where he stood upon the silver pond before looking back up to the waiting mechoservitors.
He could feel their song now vibrating up through his feet, and he could hear the whispering of their processing scrolls in the aether.
And from where he stood, he could sense a myriad other vibrations in the strange waters.
You stand upon the veins of the world. They are yours to command now, something whispered within him. something whispered within him. And the aether is yours to walk, but you will need assistance there. And the aether is yours to walk, but you will need assistance there.
He cocked his head. "Father?"
I am with you, Son, but only for a short while. I cannot follow where you must go. A strong sense of urgency flooded him, and he felt the pull of his inner eye eastward across the aether. But whatever lay there was out of reach. A strong sense of urgency flooded him, and he felt the pull of his inner eye eastward across the aether. But whatever lay there was out of reach.
Neb walked to the waiting mechoservitors, and as he did, they both knelt. He took his robe from them and clothed himself. One reached within a pouch to withdraw a small object and hold it out to him in a closed metal fist. "I've held this for you, Lord Whym," the mechoservitor said, its voice reedy.
When the small black bird fell into the palm of his hand, the world shifted and Neb fought the vertigo that seized him. His mind flashed back to his last encounter with it, lying naked and staked in the Churning Wastes while the Blood Guard took their knives to him and pressed a similar bit of carved stone into his skin. Now he saw the meaning of it.
The stone extends my sight within the aether. They'd used it to find the location of the antiphon. They'd used it to find the location of the antiphon.
Yes. Once more, the whispering of his father's ghost. Once more, the whispering of his father's ghost.
Neb felt the slightest tingle beneath his scalp, soft fingers on his brain, pulling at him, and he gave himself to it. This is how you look, This is how you look, the whisper continued. And Neb understood, bending the lens of the dreamstone east. the whisper continued. And Neb understood, bending the lens of the dreamstone east.
He found Petronus first. The old man stood at the foot of a tall door, surrounded by a ragged group of Gypsy Scouts, Gray Guard and sailors looking out of place. The song poured out from the old man.
No, he realized, it poured out from the pouch the old man held.
Neb smiled. "You hold the dream, Father Petronus."
Petronus jerked alert and looked around, his eyes wide.
"Do not be afraid, Father. It's only me."
His voice was incredulous. "Neb?"
There was a low rumbling, and Neb saw that the gate was slowly swinging open. And though he could not see behind the gate with his eyes, the aether showed him. A single metal man dressed in Androfrancine robes worked the large wheel that opened the way to them. Beyond him, others took down the scaffolding and camouflage to reveal a large metal vessel that was tethered to the ground. Overhead, the moon filled the small circle of sky visible from the bottom of the hollow mountain.
Amber eyes turned upon him. "The antiphon is ready for you, Nebios Homeseeker, son of Whym."
But before he could speak, those ghostly fingers were in his mind again, pulling him away, and he looked south to see a storm of wind that raced across the shattered plains, raising clouds of dust. Time, Time, his father's ghost told him, his father's ghost told him, is of the essence. is of the essence.
"But how will I-?"
The ghost anticipated him. You will swim the veins. I will show you. You will swim the veins. I will show you. Already, the fingers were back, and Neb felt as if parts of his mind long left dark were suddenly lit, though poorly. He saw the veins and the pools they linked to, a world shot through with silver, and he knew that it was made for him. He held dominion over every aspect of it, and it served him with gladness. The vast network of pools were his for traveling if he bent them to his will. Already, the fingers were back, and Neb felt as if parts of his mind long left dark were suddenly lit, though poorly. He saw the veins and the pools they linked to, a world shot through with silver, and he knew that it was made for him. He held dominion over every aspect of it, and it served him with gladness. The vast network of pools were his for traveling if he bent them to his will.
He was before Petronus again as the man and the others moved quickly into the large cavern behind the door. "I will be to you soon," he said, "but they will be to you sooner. You must hold the gate against them."
Petronus opened his mouth to answer, but before he could, a scream rose from the west so loud that it blotted out the song. The old man's eyes went wide and Neb faltered. He lost hold of the aether and found himself suddenly pulled back to the cave and the mechoservitors who still knelt before him.
The scream was still with him even in that place, and the sound of it raised the hair on his arms. There was familiarity in the shrill cry, and the power of it drowned out all other sound within the aether.
He released the stone and fell to his knees to bury his face in his hands and somehow rub the pain from his skull.
You are new to the dreamstone, the whisper told him, the whisper told him, but with time you will learn how to control it. but with time you will learn how to control it.
He couldn't find his voice. Instead, Neb poured focus into his own thought. Who is it? Who is it?
It is irrelevant; time is of the essence. The antiphon awaits.
But the familiarity of the voice chewed him, and with shaking fingers, he reached out again to take up the carved kin-raven.
Her scream flooded him when his fingers closed around the stone. Closing his eyes and gritting his teeth, he forced himself to steer into the scream and follow it west across the aether. What he saw broke him, and his own cry joined hers.
He knew her instantly, stretched out upon the table, and the shock of seeing her there blinded him momentarily to the massive crowd that watched. He saw the lines of words upon her bleeding skin, saw the strong, sure hand that wielded the silver knife, and it summoned a memory of pain and despair. He felt the bite of the hard ground in wounds now healed, felt the burn of salted blades upon the softest of his skin, and heard the questions incessantly asked as the kin-raven was pressed to each wound.
Neb blinked. "Winters," he whispered.
Their eyes met for the briefest moment before her back arched and she screamed again. The man who stood over her wore a red robe and set to his work with a quiet smile. Now Neb took in their surroundings and saw the gathering. He saw the platform, saw Jin Li Tam as she whispered with a woman he did not know before handing a baby-Lord Jakob, he realized-over to her. Another woman, one who could be an older twin to Winters, stood by watching the man at his knife work.
Abomination.
It was a metal voice that filled his mind, overpowering even the screams.
Neb looked around and singled out a lone robed figure on a hillside. "Who are you?"
I am one who watches. Your woman is beneath the knife. Come and save her, I bid you. There was a tone of amusement in the voice. There was a tone of amusement in the voice. Surely your baptism has revealed your heritage. Surely you have now attained dominion over the ancient ways. Surely your baptism has revealed your heritage. Surely you have now attained dominion over the ancient ways.
Come and save her, Abomination.
Neb saw the distant flash of jeweled eyes from beneath the cowl.
Do not listen, the ghost of his father whispered. the ghost of his father whispered.
But Neb did not know how to do that. The sound of the screams tore at him from the inside, wrenching a sob from him even as he pulled back from the aether.
"Time is of the essence," he told the metal men. "I must leave you now. Join Rudolfo in his work. He will hide you among the others."
He turned to the bargaining pool and stepped out onto it, willing its silver water to bear his weight. He clutched the kin-raven in his fist and felt the veins of the world shifting and whispering beneath his feet.
He looked first east to the pool buried deep beneath the antiphon, then looked west to find the pool closest to Winters.
All will be lost, the voice inside told him, the voice inside told him, if you do not reach the antiphon. if you do not reach the antiphon.
He heard the truth in it, though he also knew from the canticle that played among his abacus, his metal servants, that only part of the antiphon was truly complete. Silence to the south told him that his abacus had failed there, that Frederico's kin had yet to attain the staff. And in the midst of the madness to his west, a dream could not be found.
He felt the weight of it, but a greater weight settled upon him, and it surprised him after so long away from the girl.
"No," Neb said, "all will be lost if I lose her her."
Then, he bent the fingers of his mind west and pulled at the vein that would carry him there. Light swallowed him as he descended suddenly into the pool and rushed at him, roaring, as he shot west, now blue-green lightning in a twisting stream of silver.
When he stood at last upon the pool he'd called for, he stretched out a hand over it.
"Clothe me," Nebios Whym cried out, though he was uncertain why he did so.
The blood of the earth heard him and gave itself to him, rising from the pool to enfold him in its embrace. It crept over him, into his ears and nostrils and mouth, and he pulled it in to himself with a reflex he did not know he had.
He felt strength flooding his body even as the makers and workers within that fluid shored him up and fit his hands for war. He felt his mind clearing, felt the gentle rhythm of his breathing as it steadied.
He stared down at his hands and flexed them. The sheath that encompassed them flexed as well, fluctuating between a bright white that blinded and a silver so pure that its intensity reflected his surroundings and bent light around him.
He took the dreamstone from his pocket now, letting his fingers brush its dark surface. Winters's screams still flooded the aether, and he winced as he turned in the direction they came from.
Two leagues hence he knew a ladder and hatch awaited him. Beyond that, the woman he loved and must soon leave lay writhing beneath knives his own body remembered too well.
"I am coming," he whispered to her where she lay stretched upon the table.
He ignored the metal laughter that tickled in the back of his brain and, instead, gave himself over to the surge of strength within his legs, the sudden sureness of his feet in dark places, the sweeping song that filled him up to overflowing and threatened to burst his heart.
Vlad Li Tam A wall of water struck him and then lifted Vlad Li Tam up, bringing him down hard, and he moved into a breaststroke in the direction of Behemoth. The sea was hot enough to burn him, and his nose stung from the briny steam that lifted from it.
What in hells is it?
It thrashed the waters, and as a wave lifted him up, Vlad saw that the beast-something like a snake-had turned in their direction, its maw grinding open. Ahead, Mal Li Tam swam for the open mouth, and Vlad tried to recall what Obadiah had told him about Behemoth.