Page 13 of Destroyer

The researchers nodded their assent, moving toward the artifact. They were clearly reluctant to conduct this specific task, but even so, Ru noticed a strange excitement about them. The artifact had everyone buzzing, whether they wanted to be or not.

“It may not be physically volatile,” said Lady Maryn, “but I think you’re correct — it was emitting something… a frequency, as you said.” She turned, taking Ru’s dusty arm in hers, guiding her away from the artifact.

Ru’s belly tightened as the artifact reached out to her across an unseen thread, wanting her closer. Goosebumps formed on her arms; how long would this go on? How could she get it to stop?

“We didn’t dig here at random,” said Lady Maryn, her voice low. “There were orders.”

Ru looked at the woman sharply. “How?”

Lady Maryn shrugged, veering toward the largest tent. “The regency sends patrols here on a regular basis. Not very often, once a year at most. My theory — based on only conjecture, you must know — is that someone, one of the riders on patrol, must have sensed it, just as our pocket watches sense it.” She smiled ruefully, shaking her head. “And the fact of its location… Strange things are coming, Miss Delara.”

“Its location?” Ru said, her attention split between Lady Maryn and the artifact. “You mean the Shattered City.”

But Lady Maryn shook her head, her eyebrows raised suggestively. “Yes, but…look.”

Ru looked. They stood on black packed earth, scorched since the Destruction. On every side were the massive remnants of stone, large and irregular, reaching upward. All around them, equidistant.

And then Ru saw. It was silly that she hadn’t noticed until now, hadn’t seen the truth of it. The artifact had been uncovered at the very epicenter of the crater.

* * *

It became quicklyapparent that life at the dig site was strictly regimented. Ru was allowed an hour to lunch with Lady Maryn, and another hour to rest in a well-shaded tent before she was expected to come out again to inspect the artifact.

She spent most of lunch trying to wheedle every droplet of information she could from the other woman, but Lady Maryn was tight-lipped when it came to the politics surrounding this dig and the strange black stone it had uncovered. She only smiled conspiratorially when Ru asked why the Cornelian Tower hadn’t been informed, which Ru found deeply frustrating. If anyone ought to be aware of a dig at the crater, the first sanctioned dig since the Destruction, it would be the Tower.

The food, at least, was far better than what Ru was used to in the field. They were served cold fruit, tea sandwiches, scones with cream and jam, and even hot tea. It was almost good enough to make Ru forget the artifact for a moment, the incessant thrum at the back of her thoughts, its inexplicable presence.

A liveried servant whisked back and forth with their lunch items. Ru was acutely aware of just how different a regency-funded dig site was to the rough-and-tumble Tower sites. At Dig Site 33, she and the other academics had brought in their own food, preserved meat, and soon-stale bread. Ru thought she could get used to this, the drip of peach juice on her lips, fresh cream on soft scones.

When they finished eating, Lady Maryn stood abruptly, all business. “Now for rest, Miss Delara. The artifact waits for none, and I don’t want you to be sleep-deprived when you inspect it.”

Despite her initial desire to see the artifact again, to touch it, Ru’s exhaustion decided otherwise. A heavy tiredness settled over her, eyelids hanging low, her stomach full of sandwiches and tea.

She was shown to a little tent with a rug and a small bed inside. There was a miniature stove and, to Ru’s surprise and delight, a basin of water. Lady Maryn explained that this tent would be her home for a while, until they decided what the stone was and what to do with it, and whether there might be more of them in the crater to dig up.

After washing her face and pulling her hair into a loose braid, Ru fell into bed, grateful for even its firm mattress and thin pillow. It was luxurious compared to what she’d had at Dig Site 33.

Yet even in the haze of exhaustion, despite the softness of the bed, sleep refused to come. No matter how hard Ru tried to succumb to sleep, her mind raced. The soft murmurs of the researchers outside, the plunk of metal tools on dirt, the breeze flapping the tents… it would have lulled her to sleep at any other time. These were her comfort sounds, evidence that she was home.

But nothing could wrench her thoughts from the artifact. It was as if she had bonded with it. As if it needed her. She felt, inexplicably, that it wouldn’t be safe without her. That she should go and soothe it, or carry it back to bed with her. Make sure that it was comfortable and protected.

And not just that — there was an urge, deep down, to simply hold it. She wanted so badly to know what it felt like against her skin. Would it be smooth or rough? Cool or warm?

The more she thought about it, the more restless she became. How was she supposed to sleep when the artifact was just outside? She could hear the researchers out there, extracting it from the hole. She vibrated with tension. What if they dropped it?

She sat up suddenly, ready to bolt out of the tent.

Ru took a long, slow breath and laid down again, feeling foolish, undone. Nothing felt right, and she sought desperately for something solid to cling to in that moment. After that day-long ride, the hot sun, the touch of something foreign in her mind, her certainty that she had been called here by the artifact… she was overwhelmed. Confused. A stone, talking to her? Nothing about it made sense. What if she was going mad?

Wind buffeted the tent.

She needed sleep. Exhaustion had taken hold of her mind and made her delirious. Ru lay back on the pillow, certain now that everything was due to lack of sleep and too much sun. She would wake, and all would be well. She owed Lady Maryn, Regent Sigrun… she owed them her sharpest mind.

With these thoughts, her mind was finally able to rest. And by the time Lady Maryn came bustling in, calling her to action, Ru was more than ready to see the artifact up close.

CHAPTER5

The artifact seemed far less mysterious bathed in the late afternoon sunlight. It sat on a delicate wooden table that was out of place in that desolate, dirt-strewn landscape. Ru recalled now that it was the same table that the tea had been served on.

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