Chapter 9
Radamantha Nems dar Harban was sick to death of adventure.
Her comfortable life as a Senior Archivist at the prestigious Capitol Library had been turned on its head. She’d gone from being a respectable librarian, to unwilling criminal conspirator, to fugitive, to bearer of some manner of ancient black steel device, to hostage, back to fugitive, and now once more she was a hostage again. Not that Great House Vadal would label her as such. Oh no. The Vadal were far too polite for that. She was no hostage. She was an honored guest, who had come to an equitable arrangement with their Thakoor, wherein she couldn’t leave until she had employed her scholarly wisdom to decipher the messages written upon the artifact of black steel she’d delivered to them. If by delivered, they meant confiscated.
That device was the Asura’s Mirror, a menacing and destructive thing that had somehow called down a mighty pillar of flame from the sky to obliterate a vast swarm of locust-like demons. That event had severely damaged the mirror, yet somehow it remained capable of displaying words in the language of the ancients upon its cracked surface. In exchange for her translating these words and using them to find a promised treasure hidden somewhere in Vadal, Thakoor Harta had promised to repay her by not participating in the Great Extermination as the Capitol had ordered. Find the ancient’s treasure: This simple task was all Rada needed to do to keep a great house from murdering all their untouchables, which was a most heinous thing that was apparently happening everywhere else in Lok…and it was partly her fault.
But she was no hostage. Harta’s warriors, who accompanied her wherever she went and watched her every move, were simply there for her protection. That was despite the fact that Rada already possessed her own bodyguard in the fearsome form of Protector of the Law Karno Uttara, who had been dispatched to watch over her by her beloved Lord Protector Devedas.
In retrospect, she could hardly be considered a hostage when she could wander about mostly free, with someone as terrifying as Karno by her side. For if Blunt Karno had decided they needed to leave Vadal, they simply would, and he’d certainly use that terrifying war hammer of his on whomever tried to stop them. The Vadal warriors might have orders to try and contain Karno’s wrath, but everyone seemed aware that would be rather messy, and thus best avoided. So it was all very polite.
Since the Asura’s Mirror had recently burned miles of Vadal countryside, and everyone with any sense was rightfully terrified of the cryptic device, her Vadal escort probably had orders to immediately hack her to bits if it appeared she was doing anything suspicious or dangerous, like attempting to call down more heavenly fire—an act she had repeatedly assured them was impossible since said fire had come from the smaller of their two moons, Upagraha, and that had been the last arrow in its quiver. The mirror had told her so itself.
However, Rada didn’t know if anybody actually believed her.
Regardless, she had made an agreement—her translation and guidance in exchange for the lives of Vadal’s casteless—and honor demanded she fill her part of that bargain. Only then could she return to Devedas with her conscience clean, having made the most of the opportunities she’d been given to atone for her previous mistakes. Despite knowing that she had only played a small part in causing the Great Extermination—and had in fact been a victim of the real villains behind that scheme—Rada still blamed herself. This murderous new addition to the Law had been based on dishonest scholarship on which she had signed off. She had been threatened and coerced into doing it, but an Archivist’s reports must be factual above all else. Normally, when one of them signed off on something fraudulent it caused a scandal. The one and only time in her life that Rada had ever turned in an incomplete report, it had resulted in genocide.
Rada didn’t even know any non-people, but the fact that something with her name on it had caused so much pointless death and misery haunted her.
Sadly, today her conscience wasn’t the only thing haunting her.
Access denied.
“Curse this stubborn mirror!”
Rada was one of the few people in Lok who could read the ancient’s language, but it wasn’t the meanings of the multitude of ever-changing words that appeared on the mirror’s surface that vexed her, but rather the artifact’s obstinate nature in only showing her what it felt like.
“Give me your war hammer so that I may beat this stubborn device with it.”
Protector Karno raised an eyebrow at his charge’s words, for Rada wasn’t given to angry outbursts. “What now?”
“According to the mirror, there’s supposed to be some manner of black steel stored in this tomb.” Frustrated, Rada gestured at the damaged stone slab before her, which was empty of treasure. There were alcoves in the walls, but those were filled with urns containing nothing but ashes. She was a Librarian, not a Historian. Her obligation was books, not rocks. “Not was stored here either, but the device speaks as if it still is. Yet when I ask to be shown where exactly this artifact is hidden, the Asura denies me.”
Karno merely grunted, as if to say, Such is life.
There wasn’t much to explore inside this ancient tomb either. It wasn’t very large, and the Inquisition had long since smashed every carving that they’d decided might hold some religious significance, which from the scarred walls and broken bits on the floor had been nearly everything.
This particular tomb was carved into the rock beneath the oldest part of Vadal City. On this spot had once stood some kind of monument left over from the Age of Kings, but it had been torn down over five hundred years previously and replaced with a cluster of government buildings. It was fortunate the Vadal had left the foundation and the tunnel leading down to this tomb untouched.
It was crowded in here. The air was stuffy and Rada didn’t like being a hundred feet beneath the ground. Their group consisted of Rada and Karno, a wizard of Great House Vadal, and four warriors, carrying lanterns and looking rather uncomfortable at disturbing any of the urns that held the ashes of their house’s founders. It was against the Law to believe in an afterlife, but Rada had found that the lower castes were still instinctively predisposed against giving offense to the dead.
Who was she to judge such superstitions? The strange Asura creature that lived inside the mirror occasionally spoke directly into her mind. What were unquiet spirits compared to a being like that?
“Your reading of the mirror must be mistaken, then,” the wizard Saksham suggested.
“I’ve gone over every character with painstaking scholarship. There is no mistake in my translation this time.”
“That’s what you claimed last time.”
Rada hated being second-guessed by a man who’d gained his status simply by being born lucky enough to have the rare gift of being able to work magic. “This is the oldest city in Lok, and now it is arguably the largest. There are whole districts of it that have been rebuilt ten times over. A great deal has been lost. Yet, despite those challenges, I’m certain this is the location now.”
“Yet there’s nothing here but the ashes of the dead. The mirror has a crack through it. Perhaps that has corrupted the words somehow.”
“This isn’t water spilled on a page to smudge the ink, wizard.”
“What is it, then?” Saksham demanded.
Rada was uncomfortable telling anyone that the knowledge contained in the mirror wasn’t merely long-ago recorded words, but something far more complicated…and seemingly alive. The stress of keeping her safe beneath a pillar of fire so hot it had melted the rocks around them had put a crack in the mirror, but it had not shattered. Everything she’d ever read about black steel artifacts suggested that when they were through, they came apart in the most spectacular manner, leaving behind nothing but fragments.
Rada knew the Asura that lived inside was damaged, not dead. It had not spoken to her recently, but she could feel it.
“Study is a process, wizard. Learning takes time.”
Saksham scoffed at her. “I have learned to harness the power buried in demon flesh to bend fire and wind to my will, and you speak to me as if reading is difficult?”
Luthra, a charming young warrior of the Personal Guard, was the leader of the soldiers who’d been sent to watch over her. Wise beyond his years, he sensed the tension between Rada and the prideful wizard and tried to calm the hurt feelings. “I know our search has been frustrating, but it’s obvious the Inquisition purged this place of illegal imagery long ago. It’s possible they found the black steel back then and took it with them.”
“Stealing the property of our house is a bold accusation to make against a Capitol Order. Especially one as vindictive as the Inquisition,” Saksham snapped. “Mind your tongue, warrior.”
“I’m only making an observation, not an accusation…” Luthra lifted the hood of his lantern so they could get a bit more light into the corners of the cramped tomb, but it revealed nothing but more dust and debris. “Besides, there’s no Inquisitors here. It seems our Thakoor neglected to notify the masks that anyone was going down here.”
“A fortunate oversight,” Karno mused.
“Lucky us.” Luthra had already killed one Inquisitor over an issue of mistaken identity, so he had even more reason to want to avoid that particular Order than most warriors. He had repeatedly demonstrated that he would put honor over blind obedience to the Law. If Harta ever found out how his guard had helped her, Luthra would surely end up demoted or dead. So Rada rather liked Luthra.
The wizard clearly did not. “Be silent, warrior. I hear enough excuses from her as it is. More likely, the Inquisition stole nothing, because there was never anything down here to steal to begin with. The librarian is wasting our time.”
Though she’d met very few wizards in her life, thus far every last one of them had seemed to possess that same sneering condescension for those they saw as inferior, which was damned near everyone. Being able to work magic was a rare gift. Scarcity made them valuable, and that value made them prideful. A couple of years ago, Rada would probably have remained silent in the face of such slander, but frankly, she’d grown weary of her caste’s constant snide pettiness.
“I will accept no disrespect about my integrity from the likes of you, wizard. I’m a Senior Archivist of the Capitol Library, a respected expert in my obligation, and if you were half as literate in the ancient language as you’ve deceived your Thakoor into thinking you are, you wouldn’t need me here at all.”
“How dare you question my word!”
Rada held the broken mirror out toward the wizard. “Here. Show me how easy it is.”
“Keep in mind it ate the arm off the last man presumptuous enough to try,” Karno stated.
Saksham kept his hands at his side. Rada had suspected he wouldn’t dare touch the incredibly deadly thing. Black steel artifacts were notorious for their vengeful nature.
“As I expected, Saksham, I’m more educated than you are, and the mirror has clearly chosen me to be its bearer, so leave me be so that I may concentrate.”
He scowled and folded his arms. “My orders are to never take my eyes off of you, lest you abscond with what rightfully belongs to our house—or worse, use that thing to call down destruction onto our heads once more.”
“Then you can do so with your mouth shut.” Rada turned away and muttered, “Damnable know-it-all wizards.”
One of the warriors snorted but managed to stifle his laughter just in time. Saksham glared at him but was too distracted to take offense.
She went back to the mirror. By touching the cracked surface with her bare fingertips she could move the words about, only they were still flashing denial. In truth, Rada shared the wizard’s frustrations. In a moment of terror and chaos, with only an invisible wall holding back a swarm of vicious little demons and their stabbing razor legs, the mirror had inadvertently given up some of its secrets, including briefly showing her a map where some other weapons had been left behind by the ancients to be used against the demons when all other options had been exhausted. It had refused to show her that map again, and it was only due to her perfect recollection, combined with combing through Great House Vadal’s records—many of which were incomplete or damaged—that had led her to this place.
Sadly, in a city this vast and old there were a multitude of catacombs, tunnels, and chambers beneath it. This wasn’t the first dusty old place they had explored, and every other one of their expeditions had left them nothing to show for their efforts. Perhaps she was being too rude to the wizard after all.
“Forgive me, Saksham. I’m aware of your frustration. I really do believe this is the place this time.”
“My house is currently threatened on three sides. You will have my forgiveness when you deliver what you have promised to my Thakoor.”
Rada sighed. “Very well.”
She didn’t need to put up with this. Devadas had sent her off to keep her safe while he worked to expose the conspirators. Only now everyone in Lok had heard about how he had returned to the Capitol, triumphant. She no longer needed to hide. Devedas was even in the south of Vadal now, bearing some unique new title, leading an army made up of soldiers from many houses. There was nothing stopping her from returning to her lover…
Except her word.
She knew there was a weapon here, and not just by research and memory, but by instinct, for the Asura was acting evasively, like there was something here and she wasn’t supposed to have it. The entire time she had been trying to fulfill her bargain with Harta, the strange being within the mirror had remained elusive, allowing her to read some things while spitefully denying others. There seemed to be no logic why some of its books were open while others remained locked to her. Yet even with Rada’s limited access, the knowledge she had gathered was shocking, and quite certainly illegal. Enough so that she didn’t dare speak of it to anyone, including Karno. Who, despite being her friend, was also an unflinching Protector of the Law. And the Law had no patience for religious nonsense.
“Luthra, hand me your lantern, please.”
The warrior did so, and Rada used that light to better examine the destruction left by the foul Inquisitors. It saddened her that in their haste to scrub anything that might reference the old gods or their teachings, they’d destroyed so much other precious knowledge along the way. Their effort to defend man from the tyranny of a prior age had simply led them into a new form of tyranny. Little did the people of Lok realize how much had been stolen from them. They lived in an age of darkness and were too ignorant to realize it.
The closer light revealed one of the few remaining marks, which caused Rada to grin. “I knew it!” At the time those Inquisitors had done their work, this symbol wouldn’t have been seen as religious at all, but rather representative of an office within the newly formed Law, so it had been spared from their wrath.
“Look at this one, Karno. Do you recognize it?”
The big man didn’t bother to get closer, and instead used that Protector trick of his to focus his eyes in such a way that it allowed him to see things far better at various distances than a regular man could. It was a skill that Rada was wildly jealous of, as her vision was notoriously terrible, and her eyes required the aid of special glass lenses in order to read. The particularly fine set of glasses currently perched on her nose right now had been given to her as a gift by Harta.
Karno frowned, as he clearly knew that sign. “What’s that doing here?”
“What is it?” Luthra asked.
“It’s an old mark the Protectors place on our holdings. It’s tradition that design is used on the armor issued by my Order. I’d show you if I still had mine.” Then Karno looked around at the many urns, as the realization set in that these might have been some of his predecessors. “Are all these ashes from Protectors of the Law, then?”
“According to the records I found in Harta’s library, most likely. Though this dates back to before your Order was named the Protectors of the Law. In those days they were still called the Protectors of Mankind. Either way, this was a tomb for heroes. It’s always been Vadal tradition to cremate their dead, with the high status kept in places of remembrance, while the lower caste’s ashes are just poured onto the wind.”
“And the low status, they burn whatever percentage of the body the family can afford to cremate and then toss the remainder in the river,” Luthra said. “But what’s this got to do with our treasure?”
“Within the mirror, this symbol is repeatedly used for all things defensive in nature. The Protectors were one aspect of the ancient’s defenses. Before the Protectors served the Law, they answered to their gods.”
Karno frowned as she said that. He was her friend, but he would certainly not abide that kind of slander against his beloved Order. She’d be safer insulting his mother.
“I mean that figuratively, of course. Gods aren’t real! Obviously. But the men who founded your Order had different beliefs before the Age of Law. Many of our oldest traditions share a common origin in those times of madness. That’s why the Inquisition had to destroy so much that was here before, to stamp that out. Your Order was originally commanded by that same first king all the people thought had been sent to rule by their gods. This king was named Ramrowan. It is written that this King Ramrowan recruited the mightiest warriors from every tribe, and then granted them special abilities which made them more powerful than regular men could ever aspire to be. Their obligation was to protect everyone who couldn’t defend themselves, regardless of their rank or status. It was only later than this Order’s mission was changed to serving the Law rather than the people.”
It was rare that Karno let much emotion show, but it was clear her tale angered him, for his entire life had been devoted to an Order that was supposedly unchanging and above corruption. “I believe none of that.”
“It’s possible the Historians might have been wrong or biased.” Rada went back to the wall before saying anything else that might give offense, because she sincerely doubted her scholarly predecessors were that fallible. “Either way, this promised ancient weapon and your Protectors share the same symbol according to the mirror. It must be hidden here somewhere. It’s probably behind the stone or buried under our feet.”
“Then we will tear this place apart.” Saksham rubbed his hands together in eager anticipation as he told one of the warriors, “Obligate a crew of workers and have them start digging immediately. In the meantime, we can dump out all these urns and sift through the ashes.”
Karno glanced around at the remains, undisturbed for a thousand years, and growled, “The hell you will.”
Even as important as a wizard was, nobody wanted to cross a Protector of the Law. Saksham took an unconscious step back. “I meant no offense, Protector. But what Law does my command break? These are Vadal lands. If this ancient place was, in fact, once a holding of your Order, it clearly is no longer. There’s no legal reason we can’t do as we wish with our own property.”
The wizard was legally correct, but for once, Karno seemed to be motivated by emotion rather than Law. Rada could tell that defiling this place was—for whatever reason—a line he would not cross.
“Give the librarian time to figure out this puzzle.”
“She’s had enough time. If she says the promised weapon is hidden somewhere within this tomb, we must not delay. Harta Vadal is the ultimate judge of the Law here, and I am his appointed representative. I have spoken. Why do you protest this action, Protector?”
“These ashes were my brothers.”
“So? What does the Law care about that?”
Karno had no proper answer to give, for a perfect servant of the Law couldn’t come out and say that legal and right weren’t the same thing. It was obvious the idea of dishonoring those who’d come before disgusted Karno, and Saksham would happily destroy even more of his house’s history in a moment of eager greed, but the Law didn’t worry about that sort of thing, so Karno wasn’t supposed to either.
“I will take your glowering silence for assent, then.” Saksham barked at the warriors, “Fetch some workers.”
Luthra nervously looked toward Karno before acting. Wizards could throw their weight around, but no mortal warrior wanted to risk drawing a Protector’s ire. The big man just stood there, scowling.
“Karno, please,” Rada begged. “I’ve made a promise to Harta. These men are dead. Vadal’s casteless are still alive, but not for long if I can’t fulfill it.”
The Law said the untouchables had to die. Pleading for their lives shouldn’t have swayed the Protector…yet it did. Dead Protectors and living non-people were equally useless in the eyes of the Law. She didn’t know if Karno cared about the fate of the casteless, or if he was simply trying to help her assuage her guilt, but whatever the reason, he relented.
“Very well…but before you ruin more of your own heritage, as this was once a Protector holding, let me try one of our secret rites. I will require a moment of privacy.”
“Not a chance,” Saksham spat.
Karno blinked slowly, then showed absolutely no emotion as he told the wizard, “Rada has an agreement with your house. I do not. I am aiding her. You, I would gladly kill without a care.”
The Protector said that so flatly and directly it took a moment for it to sink in that it had been a threat. The wizard blanched. “You dare challenge Great House Vadal?”
“No. Just you.”
“Karno…” Luthra tried to keep his voice steady and calming. “There’s no need for anyone to start a duel here. We could move the urns outside first, and then bring them back when the workers are done.”
“Disturb this tomb and you will have my offense. Or you can go upstairs and wait until I am done.”
There wasn’t much space in the tomb and Karno’s bulk took up a good percentage of it. There was no doubt he could inflict terrible violence upon all the warriors if so moved. It became very tense in the tiny room. Karno had been unfailingly polite to the Vadal for their entire stay, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t hesitate to crush their skulls.
“Come, Saksham. Let’s give the Protector his space,” Luthra suggested nervously. “If there are black steel treasures here, it isn’t like our honorable guests are going to sneak them out in their pockets.” Even though it was a violation of protocol to put his hands on a man of such higher status, Luthra took the wizard by the arm and guided him back toward the winding stone stairwell that had led them down here. “We will return in a bit.”
The other Vadal warriors appeared glad to retreat.
Once she was certain they were sufficiently far away, Rada hissed, “Have you gone mad? Are you trying to get us killed?”
“No.” Karno brushed past her as he went to the wall.
“You can’t go picking fights with Vadal wizards when the Law’s not on your side!”
“There’s a feeling about this tomb that reminds me of a different place, far from here. I must check something. Look away, Rada.”
“You don’t trust me either, Karno?”
“I trust you more than anyone other than my brother Protectors, which is why I know you will honor my request.”
That was high praise coming from the likes of Karno. “Alright. Fine.” Rada turned her back in order to let him do whatever mysterious Protector business it was he needed to attend to. It irritated her ever-curious nature, but she’d not expect him to betray the secrets of his Order any more than she would reveal the secrets of the Library to an outsider.
She heard Karno roughly brushing dust from the wall with his hands, as if searching for something. He whispered a few words under his breath. She knew how to read the ancient language, not pronounce it, but she suspected Karno was speaking in the old tongue.
Suddenly the entire wall next to her moved.
A seam appeared as tons of ancient stone moved aside with barely a sound. Rada gawked at the impossibility of it, for to move such a weight the people on the surface should have felt the rumble and heard the grinding, but there was almost no noise or shaking to it at all. She’d read of such ancient engineering marvels, as there were a few examples in the Capitol still, but she had never heard of one as smooth as this.
Rada lifted Luthra’s lantern to reveal that there was another room on the other side, equal in size to the tomb. Just as the modern Vadal felt the need to carve beautiful images into everything they touched, their ancestors must have been the same, because it was truly astounding. Floor to ceiling, every surface was covered in wonderous designs: images of man and beast and what had to be gods, and battles in the heavens and pillars of flames shooting down from a circlet of moons that no longer existed to burn endless legions of demons, and thousands upon thousands of words carved into the stone to explain every story there. Best of all, these carvings had never been touched by Inquisition picks and chisels. There was so much to learn!
Yet before Rada could try to read any of it, she realized that in the middle of the secret room there was something profoundly odd.
The thing was black as the Asura’s mirror, but oblong, around two feet wide and a foot tall. It seemed to hungrily suck in the light of her lantern in a way that hurt to look at. Then it pulsed. A pause. Then it moved again. Repeating the cycle. As if it was slowly beating…like a heart.
Karno gasped, and that sound made Rada jump. Because even when faced by witch hunters or demonic plagues, Rada had never Karno make such a noise of surprise. His all-too-human reaction was rather unnerving. Karno did something with his hands again, tapped the wall while saying a different word in the old tongue, and the stone closed as swiftly and quietly as it had opened.
The strange door’s movement barely even unsettled the dust. Once the battered wall settled back into place, Rada could almost trick herself into believing that she’d imagined the whole thing.
Her mind was reeling. Nobody truly understood black steel. Not even wizards. Even tiny fragments of the stuff held an incredible amount of magical power, while whole artifacts were capable of astounding feats. The thing in the secret room was comparatively gigantic compared to a sword or the mirror…and that was no fragment.
“We must go.”
“What was that?”
“I cannot tell you. You must trust me. Tell them you were wrong about this place. Tell them there is nothing here.”
“But Karno, I gave my word! That’s the only thing saving Vadal’s casteless from extinction. If I don’t give Harta what I promised soon—”
He laid one gigantic hand gently on her shoulder and stared into her eyes, pleading. “I would not ask you to abandon them, only to delay for now. Do this for me. I must seek wisdom, for what we’ve seen here is beyond my understanding.”
Rada had never read about anything like this black-steel artifact before in all of the Capitol Library. Who in the world could possibly know of such a thing? “Seek wisdom how?”
“Devedas will know what to do.”