The Core

  Arlen had thought them the words of a fool, but now, looking back, everything in his life led inexorably to this moment as if cast by fate. The death of his mother, finding the Spear of Kaji, Jardir’s betrayal, the fluxing of Cutter’s Hollow. Each moment, a stepping-stone leading him here, now.

  And all of it was meaningless, if they did not win.

  One of the queens nosed experimentally at Jardir’s warding field. It glittered like sunlight on water, sending forth rings of concentric light as she pushed her snout through. She drew back, still competing with her sisters to Draw power from the old queen’s bloated body, but soon the ancient queen would be drained entirely, and there would be no stopping them.

  “Ren.”

  Renna fell to one knee, putting an arm around Arlen to ease him up to a sitting position. “Hold on. Gonna be all right.”

  “Ent.” He clutched at her arm, hand shaking and weak. “Venom’s got me.”

  Renna put her other arm around him. “Find a way to stop it. To stop ’em all. Always do.”

  Arlen coughed again. His body began to shake, muscles seizing, but he grit his teeth, forcing out the words. “Got a way. I can still hear it.”

  Renna paused. “The Core?”

  “Ay,” Arlen gasped. “Think it’s time I touched it.”

  Jardir turned to him. “Par’chin…”

  “Don’t be crazy,” Renna said. “Ent no comin’ back from that.”

  “Know it,” Arlen said.

  Renna squeezed him, but he was already growing numb and barely felt it. “You’re goin’, I’m coming with you.”

  “No,” he begged.

  “Swore I would,” Renna growled. “Ent gonna let you leave me behind, Arlen Bales.”

  “Ent just you.” Arlen slapped clumsily at her belly, his limbs no longer obeying. He saw his hand make contact but could not feel the touch. “Ent right to make that choice for our son.” His eyes blurred, tears sizzling as they ran down into the venom on his lips.

  “Can’t lose you,” Renna said. “Won’t.”

  “Ent losin’ anything,” Arlen said. “Core’ll draw you back down when it’s your time, and I’ll be waitin’. Till then, need you to love our son for two.”

  It was a lie. Arlen knew no better than Renna or Jardir about what lay on the other side. But perhaps it was true, and in that moment they all chose to believe.

  Renna sobbed, taking his face in her hands. “Love him enough for everyone in the world his daddy saved.”

  “If you are right, Par’chin,” Jardir said, “and Heaven is below rather than above, you will soon be with Everam, and sup at His great table.”

  “Set things right.” Arlen heaved a breath. “Promise.”

  “I swear it, Par’chin. Sharak Sun is ended.”

  Arlen felt himself slipping away. His senses faded, leaving him blind. Numb. Deaf.

  But still he could feel the Core roaring through his body, resonating with the magic at his center.

  The true Arlen Bales, not the flesh he inhabited.

  The Core pulled at him, offering him everything and nothing, just a feeling of warmth, safety, and infinite possibility.

  For years, the Core had called to him every night, and each time, it grew harder to resist.

  Now, at long last, he gave in and answered, dissipating and letting it take him down.

  —

  Down, down, he went. The queen’s nesting chamber had taken weeks of travel underground to reach. Now it rose above him like the sky as he fell into the Core, Drawing its power in even as it threatened to pull him apart.

  There was no pain, only an urge to relax, to let the current sweep him away to become part of the whole.

  And in that moment, Arlen wanted nothing more than to be part of that beautiful harmony of power. It was the essence of life itself, raw and omnipotent, radiating out into the world above.

  He reached out, Reading the magic flowing on those countless paths to and from the surface—the lifeblood of Ala.

  The world was bigger than he ever dreamed. The lands he traveled his entire life were but a minuscule fraction of its wide grandeur. Oceans and islands and far wide continents. For a moment, his mind was everywhere at once.

  He felt the Core pulling at him, drawing his consciousness still further apart, attempting to dissolve it into the single, omniscient whole.

  It all became clear in that instant. He understood what life was, the simple beauty of its creation, the fragility of its existence. Magic was raw power, but it did not have consciousness, a will to bind it. It flowed out from the Core seeking those things, and when they were not to be found, it created them.

  First simple creatures too small to see, then more complex life-forms, and finally true consciousness that could imprint itself on the world in lasting ways.

  The Creator did not give humans wards. Humans created them out of unified need. Alone, the symbols had no power. It was the resolve of their makers, the hope and prayers of the masses huddling behind them.

  That collective will Drew the magic and gave it structure, and in turn that imprinted magic fed back into the Core, becoming part of the whole. Could any will shape such vastness? Easier to take a rake to shape the Krasian desert. A bucket to empty the ocean.

  The queen’s venom vanished when he dissipated, but Arlen was still melting. The Core pulled at his will from all sides, relentless. Eternal. It was pointless to resist.

  There was no pain here, no suffering. Always Arlen had fought death, struggling to keep himself and others from the lonely path. Now he was walking it, and with a lightening heart. He let it begin to overwhelm him, nestling him into the heart of Ala.

  Don’t you leave me, Arlen Bales!

  The words jarred his consciousness, a slap that ruined the perfect seduction of the Core.

  Had he truly heard Renna’s voice without his ears—felt it without his body? Was it something Read on the current, or simply a memory?

  Did it matter?

  A moment ago he had been ready for the lonely path, ready to meet Everam, or the Creator, or the oblivion of omniscience. But as if remembering a dream that had been lost on waking, his thoughts turned to Renna. Jardir. His son.

  How long had it been since he dissipated? Seconds? Days? Years?

  He gathered his will, pulling back into himself. One, drifting in infinity. There was no escape. He might resist a few moments more, but then the Core would have him.

  He reached out, cautiously this time, Reading the currents coming down from the hive. Barely an instant had passed, and as if watching through a window, he could see what was happening miles above in the laying chamber.

  —

  Jardir again tried to draw wards to summon the Spear of Kaji, but the weapon remained trapped within the body of the queen, unable to return to him.

  The hatchling queens had drained their mother’s corpse of all its magic now, looming over the other demons as they approached the crown’s warding field. They pushed through from all sides. The magic stung and angered them, but they were not slowed.

  One leapt at Jardir, and he caught her foreclaws in his hands, twisting to turn her momentum against her as he narrowly avoided the stinger. His punches were fierce and powerful, but the queen accepted the blows and swept him aside with a lash of her tail.

  Jardir rolled with the blow, leaping just in time to avoid the stinger again.

  Everam, he began, but no words came to him. What did prayer matter? Either the Creator existed or He did not. Either He would help them in their hour of need, or He would not.

  —

  Arlen Drew power through the queens, Reading them—Knowing them. Their nature was so clear to him now, so basic. He felt like a blind man, seeing for the first time.

  He could not return to his friends, but enough of his will remained to shape the magic flowing up from the Core into the chamber.

  There are no queen wards. But that did not mean they could not be made.

  —

/>   Renna threw her knife, setting it quivering in a queen’s eye. The handle shone bright with power as the Spear of Kaji had, Drawing the queen’s power and turning it into killing magic.

  But the blow was not enough to slow the queen, who lashed out with her stinger. Renna slipped the blow, wrapping her warded brook stone necklace around the venomous appendage. It sank into the ridge between reticulations and she pulled hard.

  But the queen’s strength was beyond anything Renna Bales could match. Necklace cord wrapped around her fists, Renna was thrown to the ground, the demon’s maw opening wide.

  A sudden flare of light drew the queen’s attention, a symbol forming in the air, drawn in silver fire. The lines shifted and blurred like a mimic demon at first, but then they began to firm. The queen gave a shriek and took a step back.

  More of the strange wards appeared, circling the chamber. They linked to mind and mimic wards, creating a circle of killing magic that closed inward.

  —

  Arlen tightened the ring and the demons shrieked, writhed, and burned. Like crushing ants in his fist, he killed every demon in the chamber from egg to queen.

  Renna and Jardir were safe for the moment, but it wasn’t enough.

  He expanded the power throughout the hive, cleansing it of drones, and into the hatchery, killing an entire generation of demons in the shell.

  Still, it wasn’t enough. For in that moment of infinity, Arlen had been connected to everyone in Thesa, fighting amid the swarm. He reached for it again, finding his friends, his enemies, as he worked his will upon the endless magic of the Core.

  In Miln, where demons had taken root beneath the city to hide from the power of the great organ, his wards purged the corelings from the tunnels.

  By the River Angiers, where Gared Cutter’s army fought desperately against a demon horde, wards appeared in the air, burning demons on the field.

  In the Hollow, where corelings clustered at the edge of the greatward, he mowed the creatures down like grass. In Tibbet’s Brook, he swept the boroughs clean.

  Inevera was fighting on the streets of Docktown when Arlen smote ruin upon the foe.

  Even in Everam’s Bounty, where Amanvah and Asome led the Sharum against legions gathered by the demon princes, he extended his reach, creating wards the corelings could not abide. They fell to the ground, curling up as their flesh smoked and blood boiled.

  Still it wasn’t enough. There were yet more demons in the world. He reached out farther, seeking to destroy them all.

  But as he did, Arlen realized he had expanded too far. His essence continued to dilute into the Core as he spread himself thinner and thinner, and now he found almost nothing left.

  Forgot to breathe, again.

  He inhaled the current one last time, tasting the essence of Renna, of his unborn son, and then he let the magic claim him.

  CHAPTER 44

  BORN IN DARKNESS

  334 AR

  “Arlen!” The wards circling the room began to fade away, leaving echoes in Renna’s eyelids. “Arlen Bales, you come back to me! Can’t do this without you!”

  Adrenaline still pumped through her, making her feel dizzy, sick. The chamber was empty save her and Jardir and the bodies of her friends, the ruin of their enemies. The air was rank.

  Jardir went to the ancient queen and thrust his hand into her burst eye. He had to reach nearly to his shoulder before he drew out the Spear of Kaji, slick with ichor and glowing brightly.

  He returned to Renna, laying a hand on her shoulder. “The son of Jeph died in glory. Your husband’s honor was boundless.”

  “Don’t care about any of that,” Renna said. “Want him back.”

  “I do not think he is coming back,” Jardir said, “and we cannot stay.”

  Renna knew he was right, but the floor seemed to tilt, the weight of the countless tons of stone above pressing down on her. She fell to her knees, nauseous, chest constricting. She struggled to breathe.

  And her thighs were wet.

  “Creator, no,” she whispered, touching the fluid, seeing it pooling on the floor. “Not here. Not now.”

  Jardir looked at her, one of the jewels on his crown glowing softly, and he knew. His warding field, collapsed by the assault of the queens, reactivated around them, sealing off the birthing chamber.

  He knelt beside her, laying the spear on the floor and taking her hands. “Be at peace, Renna vah Arlen am’Bales am’Brook. Your husband was my ajin’pal, my blood brother. I am not him, but I am honored to stand for him. You are not alone.”

  His words were gentle, his aura sincere. He would protect her like his own bride, her child like his own son.

  She tried to reply, but then the first real contraction came, and her words were lost as she grit her teeth and moaned.

  He squeezed her hands until it passed, saying nothing, but breathing in loud, even cadence, encouraging her to do the same.

  “You got lots of kids, right?” she asked when the contraction passed. “Done this before?”

  Jardir shook his head. “Never. Birthing is the purview of the dama’ting. But I do not believe Everam and the Deliverer could see us through such darkness only to abandon us now.”

  Renna squeezed his hands. “We get through this, you’ll be the rippin’ Deliverer, Ahmann.”

  —

  Weeks later, Jardir emerged from the Mouth of the Abyss. A step behind was Renna, Darin Bales bundled at her breast, sleeping contentedly on a full belly of milk.

  The weight of the ever-present stone over their heads lifted away to open sky, the sun shining overhead. Jardir stood taller, breathing deeply of his first taste of fresh air in months.

  Renna straightened as well, squinting and stretching her hands up to embrace the sun. “Wish the core dwellers could see this.”

  Jardir thought back to the thousands of alamen fae, free for the first time in millennia. “The lost souls of Kaji’s army are not yet ready to see the sun, but the day will come. I will send forces to reclaim the Spear of Ala and dispatch envoys to return the alamen fae to our fold the moment I regain the Skull Throne.”

  Renna nodded, gentling the top of Darin’s head. “Baby steps.”

  “Where will you go?”

  “Home, I reckon, if it’s still standin’. Boy’s got family that’ll be eager to meet him. After that…” Renna shrugged. “Meant to build a new life in the Hollow with Arlen, but I dunno if there’s a place for me there, now.”

  “There is always a place with me,” Jardir said.

  “As what, your sixteenth wife?” Renna asked.

  “If you wish it,” Jardir said. “Among my people, it is honorable for a man to marry the widows of his ajin’pal. You need not fear I will touch you, but the oath will give you permanent protection and a place among my people.”

  “Ent worried about you touchin’ me,” Renna said. “You’ve already seen enough to wilt any man’s spear. But don’t you need your Jiwah Ka’s permission to make an offer like that?”

  “Inevera has always known the Par’chin was special,” Jardir said.

  “Ay, that’s why she had you try’n kill him,” Renna agreed. “Don’t think she’d take kindly to having me as a sister-wife, and I don’t reckon I’d want to be anyone’s Jiwah Sen.”

  “It does not matter,” Jardir said. “You are First Wife of the Deliverer, who put the Spear of Kaji into the eye of Alagai’ting Ka. You will have a place of honor among my people, now and forever.”

  “Still don’t buy this Deliverer business,” Renna said. “Arlen did what he needed to, but that don’t mean he was Heaven-sent.”

  “Perhaps,” Jardir agreed. “Heaven. Everam. The Deliverer. Such words have different meanings now, but I cannot look at all that has happened and explain it away as coincidence.”

  “Ay.” Renna nodded. “Offer means a lot to me, Ahmann, but I think it’s time I made my own way in the world.”

  “Of course.” Jardir reached out, gently stroking the sandy hair
from the sleeping child’s face. “But I pray that path intersects with mine, from time to time. I would see your child grow, and grant you any boon within my power, now or decades hence.”

  “Think it’s over?” Renna asked. The hive was purged, and the handful of demons they encountered as they wandered the maze of tunnels back to the surface fled before them.

  “Light will always war with darkness,” Jardir said. “Substance will ever be the enemy of the void. But we have this chance to strengthen our ties, expand our wards, and usher in a new era of peace.”

  CHAPTER 45

  THE PACT

  335 AR

  They came to the Hollow from all over Thesa and Krasia, royal carts lining the road to Leesha’s palace as they dropped off their charges.

  First to arrive were the Angierians. Duchess Araine, accompanied by Melny and her infant grandson, Rhinebeck the Fourth.

  “Boy wails night and day,” Araine grumbled, but Leesha could tell it was only a façade. Araine looked better than she had in months, and Angiers was slowly recovering under her steady hand. Pawl accompanied the duchess as always, and Leesha could not help but feel a mild discomfort, remembering the boy’s words under the demons’ control.

  Next came the Laktonians, Isan accompanied by his most powerful dockmasters and Captains Dehlia and Qeran.

  “Welcome, Duke Isan.”

  “Damaji Isan,” Isan corrected. “At least until the new pact is signed.”

  Duke Ragen and Duchess Elissa arrived a few days later. Leesha knew what to expect, but it pained her to see Elissa’s lurching steps, even on Ragen’s steady arm.

  “I can have a wheeled chair brought,” Leesha said in her ear as they embraced.

  “No, thank you,” Elissa said. “I spend enough of my time sitting these days.”

  “If you’ll allow it, I’d like to examine you after the ceremony,” Leesha said. “Perhaps there is something I can do that your Gatherers could not.”

  Elissa gave her arms a squeeze. “Perhaps. But I have come to see that there are some hurts even magic cannot heal.”