The duelist 11, p.19
The Duelist 11, page 19
“There hasn’t been a demon attack on Alem in centuries,” I agreed. “Whatever means the Council has to keep the demons away, it must have only become strong enough to affect all of Aventoll in the last century.”
Sinopa’s normally cheerful expression had turned grave, and he poured himself another goblet of wine. He swirled the dark liquid around in the cup for a long moment before he spoke again.
“I refuse to be a part of something so corrupt,” he said. “I heard stories from my grandfather of the corruption in this world, corruption no one else could see because no one else had ever thought to compare it to anything different. But it is forbidden to speak of the Old Ways, or to question the Council’s authority, because without the Order and the Council, we would be overrun with demons.”
“Amaya has her own issues with the Order,” I told him. “And her sister, Anwaar. They’re an augur-mage pair. But they told me they don’t serve the Order, they serve Mercedes. In the same way… I don’t serve the Council, I serve Aventoll.”
“I like that,” the Vulpian man murmured with a thoughtful expression. “That is a creed by which I could live. So, you’ll help me?”
“Councilman,” I said. “The whole reason I came to Alem was to stop the Council’s corruption. They sent Teivel Tas to kill me because me and mine threatened to upset the system and take some of their power. My wife Shay, she’s the Incarnate, and she healed the Heart of Aventoll so no demons would be able to attack the Islands.”
“What?” Sinopa looked up at me with wide eyes. “Is that even possible?”
“Yes and no,” I said. “If the corruption within the Council and the Order isn’t dealt with, the Hearts of the Islands will become sick again, and the demons will be able to set foot on the land. But for now, the Heart of Aventoll, and by extension the Hearts of each of the Islands, are healthy, and demons cannot attack. If we figure out how to restructure the Council and the Order so they’re actually serving Aventoll, and not just claiming to serve, I think the ability to repel demons might stick forever.”
“An Aventoll free of demons…” Sinopa breathed. “Truly free, not just whatever happened in those seventy-five seasons.”
He swirled the goblet of wine again and then took a long, deep drink.
“I heard rumors, you know,” he said as he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “That even though there were no Red Skies, there were small attacks by demons, on Islands who failed to pay enough to the Council, or those who spoke out against the system where the Ashers of Blood were the ones in control.”
“I wouldn’t be surprised if the Council has been using the Scourge as their personal attack dogs,” I agreed in a grim tone. “Whatever’s inside that chamber must be it. Some spell or machine.”
“But the Red Skies are separate,” Sinopa said, and I looked at him sharply.
I hadn’t told him that, so how did he know?
“What makes you say that?” I asked.
“Because there were seventy-five seasons without a Red Sky, and yet there were still small attacks by demons,” the Vulpian man answered. “The two are connected-- perhaps the old Wolfmen myth of the Moon cutting himself in sacrifice is true, I cannot say-- but Red Skies are not the direct cause of a Scourge attack, nor a symptom.”
“But the Council wants Aventoll to think it is,” I said with a nod. “Do you think the means to cause a Red Sky is also in that chamber you mentioned?”
“I can’t say for sure,” Sinopa replied. “But I think the Silent Ones may be involved.”
“The Silent Ones?” I asked.
I’d never heard of this group before. Were they another set of enemies my Crew would have to deal with?
“They occupy a strange position on Alem,” the Vulpian man explained. “They’re the most holy servants of the Council, the go-between for it and the Order of Mercedes. Their work is so sacred that they have taken a vow of silence to ensure the Order and the Council remain separate, despite their shared goals.”
“If the Council and the Order are as corrupt as we suspect them to be, then the Silent Ones must be corrupt, too,” I said. “Maybe their vow of silence is a way to protect themselves against saying something they shouldn’t, letting the secret out.”
“Or they may genuinely be unaware,” Sinopa countered. “The more people involved in a conspiracy, the quicker it falls apart. The Council is only sixty-four, and I doubt there are more than a dozen in the Order who know the true extent of what is happening. The rest of the Order is happy to follow instructions because the worship of Mercedes through the Ashers seems logical.”
“Since Ashers are blessed by Mercedes,” I said with a nod.
I thought of the High Priestess who Cursed Eng by piggybacking off the transformation magic that created the first demons, and the High Priestess who had been on Krev Alda’s payroll. Where was she now? Eng had been Cursed only a few decades ago since both Tovish and Jenner both had childhoods on the Island. Maybe she was still alive, still serving in the Order, and now working for Kavo Alda instead.
“After the Uprisings, when the Council was formed to give the Ashers of Blood a permanent superiority over non-legacy Ashers, they must have taken more steps to secure their power,” Sinopa said. “Anyone who overstepped was gotten rid of.”
“The entirety of Eng and Lycae were Cursed because they refused to play the Council’s tune,” I said. “Lycae was Cursed earlier, because the Wolfmen Tribes refused to renounce the Moon as a god alongside Mercedes, but Eng was only Cursed a few decades ago. What finally caused the shift?”
“I suspect someone on Eng must have learned about the truth of the Council’s ability to fend off the Scourge,” Sinopa sighed. “The Eng-folk are a tenacious lot, and very good at seeking out the truth. They never truly accepted the Temple Order over the Old Ways, or the Council’s superiority.”
That made sense, if there had been a version of Teivel’s machine on Eng. I thought it was strange the cleric built it all by himself there, but if the machine had already been there, constructed by an Engish person trying to figure out what the Council was up to, then the cleric could have modified it to control the Cursed Eng-folk.
“I’m sure whatever secrets were buried there will soon come to light,” I said grimly, and Sinopa looked at me with some amusement.
“You sound particularly sure of that, Alex,” he remarked. “Am I to understand you have some friends working to that end?”
I didn’t answer an explicit yes, but I did smile knowingly at the fox-man, and he nodded.
“In the meantime, however, something must be done to stop the Council. There has been growing agitation recently-- agitation which I suspect you are the cause of, my friend. The Council is becoming desperate to cling to power, and it knows you intend to put an end to their influence.”
“I do,” I said. “Which does make me question why you’re so willing to help me, if I’m being honest.”
I liked Sinopa, so I wanted to be truthful with him, but I also knew I needed to properly vet my allies. I’d been wrong about people before, so I had to be careful.
“I want the same as you, Alex,” Sinopa said simply. “I want a Council that actually serves and protects the people. If what you say is true, and your Incarnate wife has purged Aventoll from demons, then we have a real chance to make a lasting difference.”
“That’s what I was thinking,” I said with a nod. “But the Council will lose its status. All the wealth and power. Even if it remains in some form, it will have much less than it has now.”
“I never needed the wealth or power,” the Vulpian man said. “I have more than I know what to do with, and so many others have so little. In many ways, we are reaching a breaking point. Help me fix the Council, Alex Brightwood, before it breaks and takes all of Aventoll with it.”
“Don’t worry,” I said with conviction. “That’s exactly what I intend to do. But first, I need a way to get into this chamber you mentioned.”
“Impossible.” Sinopa shook his head. “Only a legacy, a descendant of the Sacred Sixty-Four, may enter.”
“But there has to be someone else,” I insisted. “Like, someone from the Order or something, or the Silent Ones. If the Council works so closely with them, then someone else must be allowed access in some way.”
“I truly don’t know, Alex,” the fox-man confessed. “You might have more luck at the House of Silence, but all I know is that I, as a non-legacy, am forbidden to enter that chamber, just like you and Sha-Kane would be.”
“Then I guess we’ll have to ask the Silent Ones, and hope they’re a little more chatty than they sound,” I said. “We need a way into that chamber if we’re going to stop or destroy whatever’s inside.”
“I will aid you in any way I can,” Sinopa told me. “If your meeting with the Silent Ones proves fruitful, summon me, and we can discuss this further.”
“I will,” I promised with a nod, and then I rose to my feet. “I hope you’ll forgive me for leaving like this, but I think it’s best if we move quickly.”
“There are eyes and ears everywhere,” the fox-man agreed, and he gestured to the door. “Best of luck to you, Alex Brightwood. May Mercedes’ favor shine upon you.”
One of Sinopa’s servants led me to the women’s sitting room, where the fox-man’s four wives were all sitting and chattering with mine. Niabi and Halcyon had evidently joined after they’d finished ‘entertaining themselves’ and were talking excitedly with Amaya in particular.
Ariav, Sinopa’s lion-wife, was the first to notice I’d walked in, and she smiled.
“Asher Brightwood,” she said cheerfully, and Zoie, Shay, Amaya, and Nova all turned to look at me and grin. “Is everything alright?”
“Quite alright, Lady Ariav,” I said to the lion-woman. “Lunch was excellent, and your husband is a fine man. But I’m afraid I need to return to my own estate-- I have important business to take care of.”
“Of course,” Alopa said, and the arctic fox-woman rose to her feet gracefully. I’d suspected she was Sinopa’s first wife, and how she acted now only proved it, because she curtsied delicately as Zoie and the others also got to their feet. “Thank you for visiting our home.”
“Once I have everything in order, you and your husband are welcome to, uh, ‘luncheon’ with us in kind,” I said to Alopa, and she smiled in a way that reminded me a bit of Anwaar.
“That sounds lovely. Good luck with your affairs, Alex Brightwood.”
“Thank you,” I said. I inclined my head as Zoie took my arm, and the five of us walked out of the manor and into the handsome gardens dotted with purplish nightblossoms.
“Is everything alright, Alex?” Shay asked as we walked. She kept her voice in a hush, but I could hear the tension in her words.
“Yes and no,” I said. “The good news is, I’m very sure we can trust Sinopa. He seems like a good man. Like us, he wants to deal with the corruption in the Council. And he’s given me a lead on where we can go next.”
“Does he know what the Council is doing with their version of Teivel’s machine?” Amaya asked.
“Sort of,” I answered. “He doesn’t know it’s a machine, but he suspects the Tas family’s involvement, and he spoke about a chamber that only the legacies can enter. There’s like, a more advanced version of the lock on Teivel’s basement. Only a blood descendant of the sixty-four, holding their Duelist Stone, can enter this chamber.”
“That must be where they’re keeping the machine,” Zoie said as her ears flattened against her head. “Where better to keep something that runs on Asher transformation magic?”
“That’s exactly what I thought,” I said with some pride, and I brushed my nose over hers in a butterfly kiss. “But it also means we have no easy way of getting to that machine and destroying it. Not to mention, it’s possible someone could rebuild it, or work off Teivel’s research.”
“So we burn the research, destroy the machine, and then enact meaningful changes in the society,” Shay said, as if it was that easy. “Focus on destroying the machine first, then we can think about how the Council can be restructured.”
“Plus, if we manage to deal with the Council and the Order adequately, it won’t matter if someone figures out how to recreate the machine, because the Scourge can’t set foot on healthy Islands,” Amaya said.
I thought back to all the history I’d learned about Aventoll, about how the Scourge had first been created by the jealous Moon, because he’d been shunned in favor of Mercedes and her Sun. The Scourge had been able to set foot on the Islands then, before any corruption about Ashers and power and improperly worshiping Mercedes had come about. Surely the Islands had been healthy then? How would the Moon have made the Hearts sick to begin with.
“The Moon,” I realized softly, and the four women all looked at me.
“What?” Amaya asked.
“The Moon is important, too,” I said. “I don’t know how I didn’t see it before. It’s the whole reason the Lycaen Ashers were Ousted. But we need the Moon, too.”
“What do you mean?” Nova asked.
“It’s… it’s like…” For a moment, I struggled to find the words. “The Red Skies, they initially came about because the Moon cut himself, he bled to appease the Scourge he’d created, because he regretted his actions. Before Alem managed to find a way to make them happen on its own. But how did the Moon make a Scourge that could walk on the Islands if the Hearts only became sick when the Council and the Order took power? That was long after the Scourge happened.”
“So you think it’s not just about the worship of Mercedes and the Sun,” Zoie said, and the realization dawned on her face. “You think it’s about the Moon, too.”
“Why else would the Council have been so adamant that the Wolfmen Tribes abandon the Moon as a god?” I asked. “I understand Ousting the Lycaen Ashers, but they Cursed the entire Island. What if… what if it was because Lycae continued to worship the Moon as well as the Sun, and they were free of the corruption as a result?”
“By Mercedes…” Amaya breathed. “So… that’s why Lycae was Cursed centuries ago, whereas Eng was only Cursed a few decades ago. The key to keeping Aventoll healthy and free of the Scourge is the Moon as well as the Sun.”
“Balance,” I said simply. “Day and night, dark and light, male and female. The Ashers, men, have too much power. Even the highest levels of the Order are occupied by men. But the Incarnate is a woman, and the sky-warriors were women. Everything’s out of balance.”
“The Moon introduced the Scourge to try and put the balance back,” Zoie said softly. “But it went wrong. He created demons instead.”
“I don’t know if the demons were intentional or not, but they definitely started as an attempt to restore balance,” I said, and I scrubbed a hand through my hair. “Shit, fuck, shit. This is… this is insane. We have to tell Sha-Kane and the others, we have to get a letter to Jenner.”
The five of us walked back to the Tas estate as quickly as we could without drawing attention, and when I threw the doors of the manor open and shouted for Sha-Kane and the others, they assembled in record time in the entrance hall.
“Alex, you’re back!” Horus said, and before I could tell the falcon-man what we’d figured out about the Moon, he shoved a letter in my face. “Jenner wrote back!”
My urgency was mentally tripped up by my surprise, and I stared at Horus.
“What? Already?”
“They found the buried Archives on Eng,” the falcon-man told me, and he waved the letter in my face. “It was super easy with the calming-cuff and with Vel-Rala’s help. They found the records, and they managed to prove she’s the real Prophetess.”
“Oh, that’s wonderful!” Shay gasped, and she clapped her hands and began to hover a few inches off the ground. Then she landed and frowned a little. “Well, if you ignore how the entire Order wants to use her as a mouthpiece.”
“That’s great, H,” I said to Horus. “Does that mean they can come back?”
“They’re already on their way here,” he confirmed. “But it’ll take them a little longer because they’re on a boat, not flying by Manta.”
“That’s fine,” I said. “Because we have work of our own to do here. Sinopa’s trustworthy, and he mentioned a chamber inside the Council. I think that’s where they’re keeping their version of the machine.”
“The memorial chamber?” Sha-Kane asked, and then he frowned deeply. “Of course, that would make sense. I never thought to question the existence of the memorial chamber when you told us about that machine on Eng, or when you found Teivel’s version here.”
“That’s not all,” Zoie said. “Alex figured out how to keep the Hearts from getting sick, how to actually keep Aventoll safe.”
“Get out of here,” Horus said flatly. “How?”
“The Moon,” I said, and I gave him, Sha-Kane, Anwaar, and Sera a quick rundown of what the five of us had figured out. “It’s all about restoring balance.”
“Of course the Council and the Order would go after Lycae,” Sha-Kane murmured. “Not only were they going against the story that had been set up, by worshiping the Moon, they were probably immune to the Scourge.”
“We were going to un-Curse Eng and Lycae anyway, but now it’s even more imperative,” I said. “Once the rest of Aventoll sees why they were Cursed, and once they see why the Council and the Order were so intent on keeping Lycae and the Old Ways suppressed, everything should mostly sort itself out.”
“Provided we can take down the Council, the Order, and Kavo Alda, who’s been pulling their strings,” Horus said lightly.
“We can manage it, don’t you worry,” I told the falcon-man. “First order of business in that plan, we need to go to the House of Silence.”
“The House of Silence?” Sha-Kane repeated. “I don’t know if that will be very helpful. The Silent Ones are, well, silent.”
“But they know something,” I said. “About how the Council is using the machine, or how the Red Skies are caused. They’re also our best bet of getting inside the memorial chamber to access the machine and destroy it.”
