“Well, go on!” Herakles blurted.
“The Fire Star,” the Widow Maker replied.
Taeral’s eyes almost popped out of their orbits. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
“The scythe reacted to its proximity to Eirexis,” Eira said, somewhat confused. “Why didn’t it do the same when we were on the Fire Star, prior to our departure to Cerix?”
“Little-known fact about scythes and Death, in general… Nothing is ever a pattern with her. Not all three pieces of Thieron respond to a Reaper’s scythe the same way,” the Widow Maker explained.
“With Eirexis, the scythe glowed and vibrated,” Taeral said.
“It’s not the same with Zetos,” the Widow Maker replied. “Don’t ask me why. I don’t know. Death makes things in ways that don’t make sense to us. Just take it as it is, and, should you ever get the chance, ask Death yourself.”
“But you know exactly where Zetos is,” Lumi said.
He nodded. “I do. I’ll take you to it. First, however, we really need to get out of here.”
The booms and thuds increased their intensity outside. The elemental fight was reaching a whole new level of viciousness.
“Fallon is up there,” Taeral said.
“He’s with Kabbah. He’ll probably find you later. Now, let’s go. The protections I put in place are no longer working,” the Widow Maker urged them.
Amelia cursed under her breath. “Medina. We can’t leave without letting the emperor know, without settling the score with that wretched creature!”
I actually agreed with her. Besides, after losing Acantha, I figured they needed to blow off some steam. Unmasking and beating the daylights out of a Hermessi cult member could easily qualify as therapy for these people.
Taeral nodded. “Good point. We’re heading back to the palace, then.”
“Link hands,” Riza said. “I’ll do the teleporting this time.”
They huddled together, making sure they were all physically connected, while the Widow Maker stood to the side, his hands resting on his hips. Taeral gave him a cold stare. “Are you coming or what?”
“I don’t need to cuddle with you to follow you around. Reaper, ancient type, remember?” he replied, pointing a thumb at himself. That was true. I’d been able to follow them with great ease. Once a Reaper locked on to someone, they were forever in the Reaper’s sight. Never lost. Never hidden.
The crew vanished, leaving behind an empty room. The Shills’ ashes had settled across the floor. The pond’s crystalline water glimmered softly. For millions of years, this chamber had been the silent home of Eirexis. It seemed a little sad now, with Eirexis gone, without a purpose. Time would finally take care of it, though.
Bit by bit, the stones would be turned to rubble. The water would dig its way through. The tunnel system would eventually collapse. Time didn’t spare anyone, regardless of the tricks used to stall it.
Amelia
There was so much anger and grief bubbling inside me, I was itching to avenge Acantha’s sacrifice, somehow. Knocking Medina’s lights out was literally within my reach, and I was pretty sure everyone else in my crew felt the same way.
Riza teleported us inside the emperor’s throne room. Given the time of the day, she’d likely known he’d be here. Emperor Tulla was, as expected, surprised to see us show up like this. His guards moved toward us, but he instantly waved them away.
“Stand back,” he said firmly, and rose from his gilded throne. He smiled. “You’re back. Good! How was it?”
“Oh, fantastic,” I said, my tone clipped and dripping with sarcasm. My gaze was fixed on Medina, who’d frozen on the spot, eyes round and filled with what I assumed was sheer horror. She hadn’t expected us to return, unlike the emperor, who frowned.
“What happened?” he asked, glancing around at our crew. “Where’s Acantha? Fallon?”
“Your Majesty, we got Eirexis,” Lumi said, unwilling to go into details. “And Medina here went to a lot of trouble to stop us.”
The emperor shot Medina the single coldest stare I’d ever seen in a living creature. “Please, don’t tell me it’s true.”
“You believe them?!” Medina gasped, feigning outrage. “Your Majesty, I would never—”
“Lessie heffis!” Lumi shouted, putting a hand out. A golden spark shot from her palm and smacked Medina right in the throat. The light expanded into a tight collar that glowed amber and cut off the prime minister’s breathing. This was the first time I’d heard the spell—it was likely something that Lumi had recently uncovered from the Word. The entity never stopped teaching its swamp witches.
Medina tried to take it off, but the solid light burned her fingers, making her squeal. Eva dashed forward and stung her with the truth serum she’d kept brewing. It acted fast, instantly relaxing her muscles. “You will tell the truth, now,” she hissed in Medina’s ear, her serpentine tongue slipping between her teeth.
“She is a cult member, Your Majesty,” Taeral said. “We were attacked by Shills and Hermessi and Cerixian acolytes as well. One of them mentioned Medina, who had the audacity to send us her regards, probably thinking we’d never survive this quest.”
The prime minister fell to her knees, choking, her lips turning blue. I had a feeling Lumi was perfectly okay with killing her, and, for the first time in this mission, I didn’t even think about intervening. No, there was no room for mercy here. Not after what Medina had done. Nethissis motioned for her to stop, and Medina was able to breathe again.
“Tell the Emperor what you did!” she told Medina again.
“It’s true,” she managed between gasps. “It’s… It’s true… I’ve been a cult member for months, now. Never revealed my markings. Kept my head down. I was a sleeper cell, activated before Brann started messing with the Ritual. I was ordered to get as close to you as possible, Your Grace. Luck pushed Figgen out of my way.”
“We lost a few people, unfortunately,” Raphael added, ignoring Medina’s confession.
“But we got Eirexis,” Taeral continued, patting the stone dragon bone handle tied to his belt.
“I was ordered to get you as far away from BemHur as possible,” Medina continued, stunned by her own inability to stop talking. The serum was an absolute treat, though we already knew what she was telling us. We just needed the Emperor to hear it himself. “I told Cerix’s Hermessi that you were going to Mollyn. You weren’t supposed to come back alive.”
“Well, you also got a new crew member,” the Widow Maker said, emerging from his subtle form and also ignoring Medina. The emperor was stunned, and the guards were speechless. They didn’t need to know who he was to understand exactly how fearsome he was. The leather gimp-suit and the galaxies in his eyes kind of did the trick.
“Medina. I chose you because I trusted you wouldn’t be foolish enough to go against the empire,” the emperor said, scowling at her, as she continued her struggle to breathe.
