Page 46 of Queen Demon
Kai said, “But not to sharp blades. Or dull ones, if you’re not in a hurry.”
“Which is why we’re all still alive,” Ziede finished.
Tahren’s brow was furrowed. Bringing them back to the point, she said, “This badge could have been left by survivors who fled to the far south after the war.”
“Yes, fled back to where the Hierarchs’ Well is,” Dahin said pointedly.
A little of Tahren’s exasperation slipped out. “I am not disputing that. But there are many ways a piece of jewelry could end up somewhere that don’t prove that another invasion is imminent.”
The Tescai-lin jumped in before it became an argument, and the conversation became quickly mired in detail. Tenes followed it, frowning intently, but Kai had already been over most of it in his own mind.
Ziede said through her pearl,Expositors, tinkering with the Well all this time? Surely we would know about it before now, surely they would have attacked in force, somewhere in the Rising World.
I know,Kai thought back. He added,And they’ve never been good at cooperating with each other, especially if there’s not a Hierarch holding the whip over them.
He couldn’t imagine expositors, even with some new Hierarch to keep them in line, calmly sitting around up there biding their time. Except, of course, that was what they had done the first time, wasn’t it—built up their strength gradually, subjugated the lands of the far south first with tricks and then with force…
Sanja shifted around, distracted by a shout from the attached atrium. From the noise, the children of the house were playing in there. “You can go join them if you want,” Kai told her quietly. She had only taken one of the little blackcurrant cakes, which showed how much she had probably put away at the port cookshop.
She eyed him suspiciously. “You won’t leave me.”
“No,” Kai told her. She hadn’t seemed concerned about that at any of the places where it would have been truly terrible to be abandoned. It said something about her estimation of Kai’scharacter, that she only worried about being left behind at safe places like here and Nibet House in Benais-arik. “I don’t leave my discarded children with the Tescai-lin; that’s considered very rude in Enalin.”
Sanja gave him a withering look. Then she scrambled off the couch, collected some fried hand pies stuffed with spiced cabbage and chickpea into a napkin, and went out to the atrium.
“But do we know if anything has happened since the object was found?” Tahren was asking. “It must have been months ago, if they had to send back word of it all the way from the Capstone.”
“Much more recent than that.” The Tescai-lin’s expression was somewhat wry. “When Highsun joined the effort to make the trek to Sun-Ar again, he also brought Immortal Blessed anchor stones.”
Kai said, “He what?” which was drowned out by Tahren and Ziede’s startled exclamations. Dahin shushed them all, waving an annoyed hand.
Kai thought,he’s not surprised. He must have had some inkling of it. But why hadn’t he mentioned it.
The Tescai-lin continued, “He apparently taught at least some of the mortal scholars to use them. That’s how they’ve been getting messages back to Ancartre so quickly.”
Tenes sat forward and signed in Witchspeak,What are anchor stones?
Preoccupied, Ziede told her, “They let Immortal Blessed travel quickly, very much like the way Saadrin came to us on the ship. But more portable.”
The anchor stones were tied to the Well of Thosaren, like the well sources used to power ascension rafts and Immortal Blessed ships. They were like portable well sources themselves, and Immortal Blessed could use them for transport over long but limited distances. They had to be placed in prepared locations in advance, before they could be used; Ilhanrun Highsun must have planted them along the route the expedition had taken across thesouthern continent. How he had taught mortals to use them, Kai had no idea.
Tahren muttered under her breath, “Mother of Thosaren.”
“Right?” Dahin agreed, glancing over at her, his enmity apparently forgotten for once. “And they called you an apostate.”
“Did you know about this?” Tahren turned to Dahin, knotting her fingers together. Normal conversations with Dahin were not something she took lightly. Kai was aware Ziede was holding her breath.
“I suspected.” Dahin shrugged. “From what I overheard in the council meeting, it sounded like they were getting information surprisingly quickly from a group of people so far away.”
“Yes, of course,” Tahren murmured. She added, “Highsun was always full of surprises.”
It was almost funny. All that effort the Patriarchs had expended to keep the secrets of their Well of Thosaren and here Highsun was, equipping a bunch of mortal scholars with one of the most rare and powerful Blessed devices in existence. Kai said, “It’s too bad Saadrin isn’t here.”
The Tescai-lin lifted their brows skeptically. “Is it?” Immortal Blessed, other than Tahren, weren’t exactly welcomed by the Enalin, even after all these years.
Dahin snorted a laugh. “I know, but— To see her face when she hears about it!”
Kai gave them all a moment to imagine that. He looked out toward the atrium. The children had settled on the floor near the archway. Sanja appeared engrossed in an elaborate game with the others, played with tiny ceramic figurines.It’s not the same,he reminded himself.We’re not the same. If something comes down from the south, we’ll meet it head-on this time.He said, “What does the expedition know about the Well? Highsun would have told them something, if not everything.”
