Page 322 of Alchemised
Pace shook her head. “Of our remaining combatants, more than a third are still showing signs of the nullium poisoning. The wind’s shifted, so we’re spared most of the dust now, but even the parts of the island that are still intact are dangerous. At least until there’s rain.”
“I heard that Althorne died.”
“And Ilva.”
“What?” Helena stared at Pace in shock.
“A little more than a week ago. Her heart failed from the stress. Luc is inconsolable. You should go see Lila tomorrow. She was devastated when she learned you were listed among the dead.”
No mention of Luc’s reaction to Helena’s presumed death. Her throat tightened.
“How is she?”
“Progressing. Everything is quite healthy.”
THE BOMBING HAD DAMAGED THE island’s structural foundation and flood infrastructure, and it was impossible to repair due to the risk of nullium exposure. The Resistance had also lost almost all their prisoners because the building had collapsed, including Crowther’s, whom he’d moved to keep from Ivy’s grasp. They were all presumed dead, but it was impossible to verify much of anything within the blast zone.
Even the smuggled aid received from Novis was now difficult to obtain, and the scale of injuries too great to let patients evacuate to Novis. Their monarchical neighbour was beginning to signal a dwindling enthusiasm for both providing resources and absorbing Paladia’s injured.
The war had gone from teetering in the balance to a Resistance free fall. Without Althorne or Ilva, the Council was reduced to three: Matias and Crowther, who had almost entirely opposing views, and Luc, who distrusted both of them.
Crowther had always operated from the shadows, allowing Ilva to take the lead with his tacit support. Now he was alone, seeming to shrink and writhe under the glaring scrutiny of Luc, like a spider without its web, fumbling about on overlong legs.
There was a part of Helena that wanted to leave him to his fate, but she knew that the more powerless Crowther felt, the greater his danger to Kaine.
She sat, watching him move around his office, pausing at various maps and diagrams now riddled with black slashes of ink.
“How much communication have you been in—with Ferron?” she asked, exhausted from the journey from hospital to Tower.
“None, except that you were alive and would be returned once you were out of danger. Why?”
Helena drew a labouring breath. “I think I’ve discovered something. Ever since Wagner—I was studying the array, thinking about the different kinds of resonance energy to understand the process Morrough uses.”
A wary look entered Crowther’s eyes.
“You know, normally arrays are elemental or celestial, five or eight axis points. But Luc’s pyromancy uses seven, and Wagner drew nine for the ritual. Kaine confirmed it was nine, so I was trying to think differently about the energy. When I’d try to envision how it would work, I kept thinking about a feeling I have in the hospital sometimes—”
“Marino, get to the point.”
“When a patient dies, there’s an inverted form of the energy that Morrough utilises to make the Undying. The vitality changes, and there’s this moment as it dissipates when I feel it.”
“And …”
“Before the bombing, I figured out a way to channel it and trap it inside obsidian. It didn’t seem to do anything, but when I was at the field hospital, I cut one of the necrothralls with it, and it collapsed—as if the reanimation had been severed.”
Crowther looked over sharply. “Are you sure?”
She shifted and grimaced as pain fractalled like lightning through her chest. “Well, I was injured, but I’m pretty sure. I’ve replayed it again and again. We should test it.” She swallowed hard. “I have a few more pieces, and once my resonance is stable again, I can make more.”
“Bring them, I’ll see who I can pass the idea off to.” He waved her away in dismissal.
Helena didn’t move. It wasn’t that she’d expected to be credited; she just had no intention of letting Crowther casually exploit her anymore.
“You must be very busy now,” she said.
“Indeed. I am.”
“I’ll help you, but I want something in return.”
