Page 29 of Shardless (Tempris #1)
-From the personal notes of Ivain Castaro, Marquess of Tempris
The 22 nd day of the month Meridian, during the 236 th year of the Empty Throne
It’s days like this that make me question whether we truly deserve to endure as a species. Last night, Vale, Plum, and Bago were burned to the ground. I had heard there was a rumor that someone saw a time crystal near the old palace, but I never thought that a mere rumor would warrant this level of destruction. After almost five decades without a death that could be attributed to the Hunt, I had hoped that the Sanctorum had finally managed to curb their bloodlust. It seems I was wrong—so horribly wrong.
Vale was hit the hardest, and I accompanied Sarina and young Skye to inspect the burn site this morning. I had almost given up hope that we would find anyone alive, but Skye somehow managed to find a small mortal girl—Talya. Her home was burned, but, by some miracle, the child’s basement bedroom was nearly untouched. For as long as I live, I don’t think I shall ever forget the sight of those two younglings walking down that ashen lane, hand-in-hand and both completely covered in soot.
I’ll need to make some inquiries to find her next-of-kin, but I don’t have much hope. I’ve never heard of the Caro family, here or on the mainland. If the worst happens and she truly is alone in this world, I’m considering taking her in as my ward. Human or otherwise, both Sarina and Skye are already quite taken with the little one, and I know the boy could benefit from having a playmate.
For now, I’m going to put the child in the eastern wing, just across the hall from Skye. I haven’t opened that room in centuries, but it was originally designed with a little girl in mind. I do hope that Taly likes blue. It was my late wife’s favorite color, and I daresay the woman practiced very little restraint when she was decorating what we hoped would be our daughter’s bedroom.
Taly groaned, repositioning her legs and grasping the gnarled trunk at her back as the tree branch swayed beneath her. A muted whimper fell from her lips when she chanced a glance down, her eyes following the spiraling trails of leaves that had shaken loose and were now fluttering to the forest floor over a dozen feet below.
Since departing Ebondrift, she had made good time, but any hope she may have had that the Plum relay was still serviceable had been quickly dashed as soon as she had come upon the still smoldering remains of the little village. It had been burned to the ground. So, not wanting to waste a single moment of daylight, she had immediately moved on to the next township.
After finding a secure branch, Taly ventured a tentative glance at the nearby town of Vale. She could just make out the outline of the old village to the west. When the villagers had rebuilt after the fire that had stolen away her childhood, they had left the remains of the original town undisturbed, expecting the forest to reclaim the land. So far, that had not been the case. The original roads were still somehow covered in ash, and the fragmented skeletons of what used to be charming little stone cottages cast long shadows across the strange, treeless space. In the span of a single evening, this tiny town had become the gravesite of over 300 innocent people, and it was as if even the forest was afraid of disturbing the ashen tomb, lest it anger the horde of lost souls that was said to roam the area.
Taly suppressed a shiver and pulled at the collar of her tattered leather jacket. Even under the best circumstances, she hated coming to Vale. The other salvagers and guides delighted in telling ghost stories, each swearing on their honor that they’d personally seen the distinct blue glow of fairy fire during their travels through the village that she used to call home. None of them seemed to have a problem with the old town, but Taly had started avoiding it when she could .
Peering through the shadowy forest canopy, she could clearly see men and women sluggishly ambling about the neatly paved roads of the new town square. On the surface, nothing seemed out of place as the villagers went about their evening routine. And if Taly hadn’t seen firsthand what happened in Ebondrift, she probably wouldn’t have had a second thought about trotting her horse right through the middle of town and straight up to the relay.
But she had witnessed the horrifying events at Ebondrift, and she quickly recognized the jerky, uncoordinated movements and listless shambling of the citizenry for what they were. What they signified.
Vale had been taken.
She had a decision to make—either try to get a closer look or move on. While Della was the nearest town, just an hour away by horseback, she couldn’t risk it. Although she could make it there by nightfall, she would then be stuck in Della until morning. And since Kato had almost certainly told Skye about her magic and how it was connected to the attacks, there was a possibility they had already sent someone to retrieve her. That meant Della was out.
There was still Bago to the north, but she’d never make it there before sundown. Vale was the only option if she wanted to try to get out a message today.
“Damn it all,” Taly muttered. The town was crawling with shades, and the scrying relay tower was on the far side. Even if she was able to get inside the building, there was no guarantee the relay would still be intact. Nevertheless, if there was even a slight chance that she might be able to warn Ryme before it was attacked, the risk was worth it.
Looking down, she grimaced. It had been easy getting up the tree but getting back down was going to be the real problem.
“Shards. Well, come on, Caro. Let’s get this over with.”
Sliding off the branch and catching herself with both hands, Taly let herself dangle as her toes groped for the tree branch she knew to be somewhere down below. It was times like this that she wished she had longer legs. While being small sometimes had its advantages, Skye had always had a much easier time where tree climbing was concerned.
When Taly finally planted her feet on solid ground, she leaned heavily against the trunk, waiting for the dizziness to pass. Ever since the ordeal with the harpy, she had found that she didn’t really fancy being too far off the ground. Her head started to swim as she recalled that aerial view of the canopy, and she could still feel the phantom slice of the harpy’s claws on her back. Her stomach convulsed, and her breaths came in short gasps as the memory of being stuck inside that tiny crevice flashed through her mind.
Jerking suddenly, Taly brought her hand up and slapped herself across the cheek. Again. And then again. The pain— real pain—helped her focus.
You don’t have time for this. Get going.
She pushed herself up and started forward cautiously. The scrying relay was on the western edge of the village. If she skirted around the perimeter of the old town, she should be able to get a better look. With a little luck, maybe the situation wouldn’t be as bad as it had appeared from the tree.
“Hey Byron,” Taly whispered as the little gelding pushed his nose into her palm. Thankfully, the public stables in Ebondrift had been left relatively untouched, and the horses, though slightly antsy and in need of fresh food and water, were in good health. She had heard the guards at the compound making plans to retrieve the horses for the caravan, and so, rather than letting the animals loose, she had taken the time to water and feed the remaining horses when she had gone to retrieve her own mount.
“Okay, boy,” Taly said, untying the reins and leading the little gelding through the underbrush, “we have to be quiet.”
Byron nickered softly, thrashing his head up and down as if he understood her. Who knows, maybe he did. If the Elvethan, the ancient line of horses that Ivain favored, were as smart as the older fey noble claimed, then it was certainly possible.
As she circled around the older village remains, Taly’s eyes were drawn to a burned-out cottage situated near the forest’s edge. There wasn’t anything left except a few stones that may have once been a part of a garden wall and a hole in the ground that most likely led to a basement.
A dull pain throbbed behind Taly’s temples, and she was hit with a sudden flash of… she wasn’t sure what. Snowdrops in the spring, then lilies in the summer. The smell of baked bread and burned stew wafting from a tiny kitchen. A stern reprimand when she had been caught drawing stick figures on the closet floor, and a man with kind eyes and hair the color of dawn that helped he r catch butterflies in the woods.
Taly started when the ghostly figure of a small child darted past her. A golden fog began rolling in around her feet, and she frantically prodded at that mental wall, only to find the barrier holding strong. Although she could distinctly feel the prickle of magic against her skin, it wasn’t her own. Something else was reforming the landscape, building up the stones of the destroyed cottage one-by-one, breathing life back into the scene in front of her and undoing the ravages of fire and time.
Taly’s body tensed as panic set in, but a wave of calm immediately rushed in behind it. Whatever magical entity she had inadvertently stumbled upon quickly smoothed away the sharp edges of her rising fear until it felt as though she was walking through a dream, one that felt warm and familiar. If she looked behind her, she could still see the shadows of twilight chasing away the last golden rays of the evening sun, but the cottage itself was bathed in the warm glow of morning. Her fingers gripped the reins and Byron nudged her shoulder, his eyes following hers. He could see it too.
“Cori! It’s time to come inside and start your lessons!” a man’s voice called out as the blue cottage door opened. Although she couldn’t place his name, Taly knew she had seen this man somewhere before. He was so familiar, everything from the neatly trimmed beard to the scar that ran down his cheek. If she were to look closer, she somehow knew that he would have another scar in the shape of a hook on the back of his left hand.
His eyes scanned the garden, but he looked startled when he finally spotted Taly standing just behind the gate. “Breena?” He squinted, trying to get a better look. “What are you doing out there? I told you we can finish the spells later. Come inside and rest.”
“What are you talking about, Esmund?” A woman this time. She was wiping her hands on a threadbare rag as she came up beside him. “I’m right…” Her lilting voice trailed off, and her shockingly gray highborn eyes widened when they met Taly’s decidedly duller human ones.
A single tear, followed by another and then another, streamed down Taly’s cheeks as an intense longing welled up inside of her. She knew this woman. Even if she couldn’t conjure a name, she had seen that face in her dreams ever since she was a child.
Both the man and woman stared at Taly for a long moment. The tiniest sliver of fear finally broke through the strange blanket of calm muddling her senses, and Taly took a tentative step back. The woman immediately held up her hands. “No,” she called gently, running towards the gate. “Please, wait! Cori, wait!”
Taly shook her head as she retreated another step. “I’m sorry. I don’t know who…” The scene vanished, and suddenly Taly found herself standing in front of that same burned-out cottage, the fragrance of summer flowers still filling her nose. “…that is,” she finished, her voice barely above a whisper.
Taly looked around incredulously, turning in a full circle as her heart thumped in her chest. Byron stood beside her, seemingly unaffected by whatever had just happened. In fact, if horses could shrug, she was pretty sure that was what he would’ve done .
What was that? What the hell had just happened? Those were the people from her nightmare, but she had seen them plain as day—both alive and unharmed. How? Restless spirits, maybe? Or perhaps that strange vision was all the work of an overactive imagination coupled with what was becoming a distinctly uncomfortable sense of hunger. Yeah… that made sense. Sort of.
“Shit!” Taly whispered as she tugged on Byron’s reins and continued on, her eyes darting around more frantically than before. “I hate Vale!” All she needed now was to hallucinate a few orbs of fairy fire and her day would be complete.
The relay center, a circular structure that backed up to the edge of the forest, was in view now, and she shook herself. She needed to focus, strange visions aside.
Tying off Byron farther behind the tree line, Taly crept forward, teasing out a small trickle of power as she crouched behind the cindered trunk of a burned-out tree. When she blinked, the visions sputtered to life. She could see the golden forms of a few shades shambling down the road just in front of where she hid, but they were faint and indistinct, blurring even further as they moved away. That wasn’t good enough. She needed to be able to see if anything was moving near the relay.
Feeling curious and just a little daring, she began pulling out more magic, wedging open the crack between the stones of that mental wall until the trickle became a steady stream. With that flood of power rushing her system, her field of vision exploded, allowing her to see farther than she had ever been able to see before. A golden fog drifted across the landscape in front of her, and even though she could only make out the faint outlines of their physical bodies in the dim light, the shambling group of ghostly afterimages lumbering about the new town square all the way at the end of the main road were blinding against the darkening evening sky.
Damn, Taly thought, a wide grin splitting her face. While she would’ve given up almost anything to be rid of this curse, she couldn’t deny that having time magic could be sort of useful—putting aside for the moment that she had no idea what she was doing.
A low groan and the sound of twigs snapping had Taly shrinking back against the trunk. One of the shades had strayed beyond the main road and was trudging around the back of the nearby relay building. As it lumbered closer, she had to forcibly suppress a shudder when she saw its face, or what was left of it. A large portion of the creature’s cheek looked like it had been crudely excised with the edge of a dull blade, and the telltale yellow and black of decaying teeth were visible through the rot. The veins around the wound had turned black beneath its sallow skin and crept across the side of its face like a spiderweb, up over and around its single bloodshot eye.
Its golden aura walked two steps ahead, and as the creature drew nearer, the smell of decomposing flesh assaulted her senses. She clamped a hand over her mouth, but that didn’t completely silence the involuntary gagging noise she made as she tried to swallow back the bile that burned her throat.
The shade stopped, its body swaying uncertainly from side-to-side. The bones in its neck snapped dully as its head swiveled in her direction .
No, no, no. Go the other way!
Taly held her breath as the shade took a slow, deliberate step towards her. And then another, its dead eye searching. Reaching out a trembling hand, she picked up a nearby rock. This simple action seemed to trigger something, some divergence, because the creature’s aura split. One of the ghostly apparitions continued to move towards her, but the other turned and shambled off in the opposite direction.
Tossing the rock off into the distance, Taly listened for the low thump and rustle of leaves, not daring to even blink when the shade stopped its approach. The gilded image moving toward her began to stutter as the creature swayed listlessly from side-to-side, apparently uncertain which way to turn. The vision flickered in and out of focus, the edges of its spectral form turning to smoke before it abruptly caved in on itself and vanished completely.
The shade twitched, a full-body convulsion, as if the loss of its psychic shadow somehow made it lose its balance. Then with a grunt and a gravelly roll of its bony shoulders, it turned, stumbling slightly, and plodded around the building as it followed the path laid out by the second phantom.
The danger had passed.
Taly let out a hissing sigh as she sagged against the tree. She didn’t think she would ever get used to seeing those creatures.
Get going . She had already wasted too much daylight.
From where she hid, she could see two sentries standing motionless in front of the relay’s entrance. Their golden forms looked a little hazy from so far away, but they were still distinct enough that she could see their scraggly hair blowing in the gentle evening breeze.
Taly knew she wasn’t strong enough to fight them off on her own, and although she still had her pistols, guns were loud. If she fired off a shot, she’d attract every shade in town. She needed to find another way in.
I wonder if… maybe? Yeah, that could work .
Ducking into the shadows, she edged along the tree line until she came to the back of the relay building, praying it would still be there. The Shards must have been listening, because just as she remembered, a rickety ladder leaned against the side of a wooden boardwalk that ringed the building’s second floor, two half-empty paint buckets sitting nearby. Almost a month ago now, the mayor of Vale had made the mistake of hiring Caleb to repaint the public buildings. While the old salvager was a nice enough guy, he was lazy and absentminded. Taly had lost count of the number of times he had lost his painting supplies, and she was sure there were probably more than a few old ladders leaning forgotten against the sides of buildings all across town.
If Taly ever saw Caleb again, she was going to buy that beautiful bastard a drink.
Each rung of the ladder gave off a deafening creak as she gingerly made her way up, and Taly’s heart nearly stopped every time a twig snapped in the forest behind her. When she finally hauled herself up and over the balcony railing, her hands were trembling. She crouched next to a small open window, avoiding the soft beam of light that spilled out onto the planked walkway.
The hallway beyond the splintered sill looked empty, so before she had a chance to second-guess herself, Taly hopped up and shimmied through the casement, taking small, tentative steps just in case the floorboards decided to creak beneath her feet. She pressed herself against the wall as she slunk down the short expanse of corridor. Doors to what appeared to be offices lined the opposite side. The hinges had been ripped from the doorframes, the wood fractured, and several of the thresholds were streaked with trails of dried blood.
As she tried to step over the shredded remains of what used to be a throw rug, Taly’s toe caught on an uneven floorboard, and she barely managed to catch herself on the doorframe of the main relay room before she went sprawling face-first.
She held her breath, only letting it out when she saw that the relay room, a cavernous chamber flanked by a spiraling promenade, was empty.
A pyramidal obelisk carved from a single slab of hyaline crystal dominated most of the room, its tip stretching at least 20 feet into the air. Alternating bands of shadow and water crystals encircled the structure, and Faera runes were etched onto every available surface.
Today, those runes gave off a blazing magenta radiance, scattering the light that shone through the center of the pillar into countless shards of rainbow-colored splendor. The twinkling flashes of light were almost blinding, and Taly had to avert her gaze until her eyes adjusted to the glow. Still, even if she had to squint, and even if the tickle of magic that swept across her skin set her teeth on edge, it was the most beautiful thing she had seen in a long time.
The scrying relay was online.
Taly resisted the urge to sprint down the stairs, taking her time and avoiding the steps that threatened to creak underfoot. Usually, a special technician oversaw the tuning of the larger relays, but she had gone with Skye to the main relay in Ryme dozens of times. It looked easy enough. Plus, she had once snuck a book about hyaline tuning principles out of Ivain’s private collection when she was 13. She had been grounded for a week when he found out, but it had been an interesting read nonetheless.
And very useful to her now, almost eight years later.
Taly ran her hand over the carved script embedded in the control panel, smiling when she felt the aether tickle her fingers. Whoever had used the relay last hadn’t bothered to cut the connection to the spire in Strio, and she could hear hushed voices filtering in through the speaker. Switching off the glamour interface, she listened.
“When will he be here?” a young boy quavered.
“I don’t know,” a woman snapped. “He’s been delayed. However, he was able to send the list of recruits that we need to track down and convert before his arrival.”
“I’m not sure we’re going to be able to get to all of these,” the first voice replied. Taly couldn’t be sure, but the boy sounded oddly familiar. “Especially this one. Our contact in Ebondrift says that they’ve really tightened up security since this morning. Even if we could subdue him, we’d never be able to get him out of the compound.”
“We’ll just have to figure something out. Hey!” There was shuffling on the other end of the connection. “Shards, who left this on?” The connection abruptly disconnected, plunging the room into silence .
“Damn it,” Taly muttered as her hands raced over the control panel. So, there really was a traitor in Ebondrift, and it sounded like she wasn’t the only one these people were trying to “recruit.”
The hyaline pillar gave a soft pulse as it attempted to contact the relay in Ryme. Other than Strio, that was the only relay that was still connected to the grid. Taly’s heart thundered in her ears as she anxiously waited for the relay technician’s voice on the other end.
Please be there. Please be there, she mentally chanted, trying to summon him by will alone.
“This is Relay 12-001—Ryme. Identify yourself.”
Taly felt liked she’d been punched in the gut and tears pricked her eyes when she heard the familiar sound. “Ivain?”
“Shards! Taly?! Aiden, Sarina—hurry!” Ivain’s voice sounded tinny and far off. “Taly, are you okay? Why can’t I see you? Why are you in Vale? Where’s Skye?”
“No time for that,” Taly said, interrupting his rush of questions. “Ebondrift was attacked by shades, and Vale’s been taken.”
“Are you safe?” a new voice demanded.
“Hi Sarina,” Taly replied, wincing. “You know, safe is really a relative term.”
“I’ll take that as a no then,” came the frustrated reply.
Taly pressed herself against the relay when something creaked overhead. “Look, there is a very real chance that these things could attack Ryme. You need to secure the village.”
“Too late,” Ivain sighed. “They attacked this morning. We were able to hold them off, but we lost a lot of people in the process. ”
“Fuck,” Taly cursed. She could hear Sarina mutter something under her breath on the other end, but the reprimand never came. “Well then for what this is worth, Skye is still in Ebondrift. Both the relay and the Seren Gate have been sabotaged, the leadership is missing, the walls are breached, and they think that there’s someone inside the Gate Watchers’ compound that’s working against them. They’re going to be transferring the survivors to Ryme by way of Della in a few days’ time, and they need backup. I don’t know what you’ve encountered so far, but these things are different from what you saw in the Shade Rebellion, Ivain.”
“Taly—” Ivain tried to interject, but Taly continued to talk over him. There was something moving upstairs now.
“I don’t know how, but they can use aether to remake themselves—completely change their forms. We had something attack us in Ebondrift. Everyone was calling it an abomination. It… it devoured one of the shadow mages and then used the aether to make itself stronger. Skye nearly got himself killed trying to take this thing out.”
“Taly, slow down—" Aiden this time.
“No,” Taly interjected, her eyes flitting to the walkway high overhead. She thought she heard the low groan of a door opening on rusty hinges. “I don’t know how much time I have. Um… Plum was burned, Vale is overrun, and someone here was talking to Strio. They said something about what sounded like a leader of some sort and they have a list of people that they’re trying to recruit. That’s all I was able to overhear before they cut the connection.”