Page 55 of Queen Demon
Sura shifted uncertainly, but didn’t retreat. She was tall, with the dark hair and light brown skin of far southern Belith, so similar to the Erathi. Her stole was a little dirt-stained, and looked like she had been using it as a towel. Kai said, “You’re certain.”
“As much as we can be. There were artifacts—” Sura turnedand waved. Another scholar hurried forward with a light wooden box.
Sura took it and laid out the contents with quick practiced movements. There were broken pieces of pottery, with a red glaze and chips of gold embedded. Things made of polished wood, a silver jewelry setting with no gem inside, broken silver chains, tiny enameled silver plates, the smallest the size of a fingertip, the largest no bigger than… Kai grabbed Sura’s wrist. She flinched, then opened her hand so he could see the symbols in the black enamel.
“That’s a Hierarch’s Servant badge.” Ziede looked up at Sura. She seemed outwardly calm, but Kai knew how unnerved she was. “The one Seeker Orai went to Benais-arik to tell the council about?”
“No, there were six so far, when I left to bring word back here,” Sura said. Kai realized he was still holding her wrist and let go. She was focused on the question now and didn’t seem to notice, setting the badge down and explaining, “Some of the metals and gems must have been brought from northern and eastern lands, they aren’t often seen in the far south. And there were remains under the collapsed section of the structure, the burned section. Bones, you understand. These artifacts were found with them.”
At the other table, Dahin was placing various instruments on the map with the help of the Arike scholar, and two others were writing furiously on chalk slates. Measurements of distance? Calculations? It didn’t make the cold hollow in Kai’s stomach feel any better. “Were they small people?” he asked, holding out a hand well below his shoulder height. He knew he was grasping at straws now.
“Like the people who lived in Sun-Ar, before the Hierarchs killed them?” Sura understood immediately what he was getting at. “No, they were around our height, not much different from the people in this room.” She admitted, “The situation would be less alarming if these people were from Sun-Ar or somewhere nearby,who used these same symbols, or the Hierarchs had adopted the symbols and the building style from them. But this is nothing like the structures left behind by the Sun-Ar. It looks as if at least some of the people who occupied the earthwork are descended from those who fled back to the south after the war.”
Ziede started to touch one of the gem settings, then pulled her hand back. “And the only ones who would need to flee that far south would be expositors and Hierarchs’ servants.”
Sura’s expression suggested that she was glad someone else had said it. “Obviously, the people who lived there would have been descendants of those survivors, so we can’t surmise anything about their character—” She stopped, recalling that she was speaking to a room currently occupied by four Blessed, two demons, and two Witches. “Some of them, anyway,” she corrected hurriedly. “We can’t ascertain that with the information we have here. The others were continuing the search, so they will have found more by now.”
Found more. Kai exchanged a grim look with Ziede. This was far worse than any find of a single expositor’s badge, which as so many had pointed out, might have arrived through trade or a refugee.
Dahin was right about the urgency,Ziede responded.I wish we had been able to get here faster.
Kai wished they had been able to beat Ramad here. They were just lucky that Chancellor Domtellan was so stubborn. He said to Sura, “But you haven’t found any living people?”
“Not yet,” she assured him. “The destruction of Sun-Ar—I don’t know if you’ve heard much about it, but there were many changes the inhabitants made to the land to support their population. Crops grown underground, homes built in caves, herds of winter ox, bred to survive on the local grasses. These are things that have to be maintained, for anyone to survive there. When the Sun-Ar were killed before the Hierarch War, all that would have gone away, some of it quite quickly. The people who areliving up there now haven’t been thriving. We found little sign of agriculture near the earthwork settlement; they must be, or have been, living off herds and hunting, and so on. With the destruction of their settlement, they may have had to break up their group to survive, or perhaps moved further back to the north, where the land is more hospitable.”
“No one has shown the Tescai-lin this drawing, or explained this reasoning,” Etem said, peering over Ziede’s shoulder. They sounded indignant. “Why was this information withheld?”
“We intended to, but—” Sura threw a look at the Chancellor, clearly asking for help.
Domtellan said, “The university’s Head Scholar thought it best to notify Seeker Orai, who is a Rising World envoy, before anyone else, so that he could take it directly to the Rising World council. Or the Emperor, or both. I think it was the Emperor at the time, but I believe that situation changed rapidly. We are still waiting for word from Seeker Orai as to the council’s advice on what to do next.” She didn’t look pleased by the length of the wait. “I believe the Head Scholar thought it would cause undue panic to spread the word too widely, and I believe she is right about that.”
“Undue panic?” Ziede repeated blankly. “What about perfectly justified panic and time to prepare?”
Ramad cut in to say pointedly, “I would like to remind you all I was sent here by the Rising World council—”
Domtellan turned to him sharply. “But you don’t have any more idea of what to do than we do, and you’re dragging along this person you’ve imprisoned and Immortal Marshalls—”
Dahin strode back over and two scholars shifted readily to make room for him. With renewed urgency, he said, “Kai, Ziede, that little problem I discussed with you earlier—”
This would be easier if Dahin had agreed to take a pearl. Kai signed in Witchspeak,Is this close to where you think the Well is?
Too close,Dahin signed back.Whoever is living up there, if they have an expositor, they know where it is.
We have to get there,Kai told Ziede.
Ziede said silently,Yes, it’s the only way.
Kai turned to the Chancellor. “We’re going to join your expedition. Can you take us through the anchor stones?”
“What?” Ramad stared. “Why?” The obvious answer must have occurred, because his expression changed. He turned to Dahin. “What did you see in that map?”
Sura cut to the heart of the matter. “You think there’s an expositor up there?” She didn’t sound afraid enough, was Kai’s first thought. Her expression was grave and serious, none of the scholars gathered here were taking this lightly. But they weren’t afraid in their bones, they had been born too late to really understand.
Domtellan added, “We have of course discussed the possibility of survivors, before the expedition discovered the earthwork and the artifacts. Ilhanrun assured them that he could deal with any problems.”
Kai did not grit his teeth. They would be lucky if one expositor was all they had to worry about. He glanced at Dahin, but couldn’t read his expression. Kai said, “If you’ve actually found the location of the Hierarchs’ homeland, there will be things up there that are dangerous.”
Domtellan opened her mouth to argue, but Ramad interrupted, “I must go as well. As the Rising World representative—”
