Rift in the Races (6 page)

She thought she might be overreacting and challenged herself as to why. She thought it might be the blood-red glass adding to the effect, for it was from the center depths of that crimson vastness that the tendrils came. The color was so rich it seemed liquid, a suspended sea of blood, one that might at any moment splash down upon them in a dark sheet of warm stickiness as if gushing from an enormous wound. She could feel it on her skin, smell it, taste the copper on her tongue, as would the golden tendrils when they descended to have a lick, a hungry, trembling licking of the people steeped in the macabre marinade.

Orli blinked out of the trance she had fallen in and staggered back a step. She saw that others were doing much the same. She dared a glance up again, and her original appreciation shifted toward dismay. It was beautiful, for certain it was, but she wondered, despite its beauty, what sort of person would choose such a ferocious design for the heart of
Citadel
. She forced her eyes elsewhere, uncomfortable with how looking up at it made her feel. The tendrils near the two seats she’d picked out as measurement were now three seats apart.

Focusing on the chairs rather than things that moved yet seemed not to, she traced the circular rows of seats with her eyes, turning a full circle as she did. The chamber was ringed from the floor to the base of the dome with them, arranged in tiers just as one would expect in a room named Concert Hall. At the center of the hall, set apart evenly like the numbers on an eight-hour clock, were eight stools made of gold and capped by plush cushions of red velvet to match the ceiling. They formed a perfect circle around a golden disc that measured a pace across. It was sunken into the absolute center of the room, an axis point. At the center of this disc stood a single seat, an elegant ottoman upholstered in the same velvet as the eight stools and standing on golden legs carved to look like lion’s limbs—Altin would later explain to her what a manticore was.

“This beautiful chamber is where the real magic takes place,” said the Queen. “This is where Prosperions join your people as a race that travels amongst the stars as easily as leviathans through the sea. It is here that the brightest sorcerers on Kurr will bring the galaxy into the purview of my people and my people out into it. We look forward to exploring it all with you as our friends and allies.”

“It is very impressive, Your Majesty,” said Captain Jefferies. “That’s a most … intense design up there.”

The Queen’s smile was nearly sinister. “It is, isn’t it.”

“So what does this do?” Orli asked, ignoring the chill that swept down her spine. She went to the seat at the center of the room and started to touch it, then pulled back. No telling what might happen, especially in a room like this. She looked to Altin and asked, “May I?”

“Of course you may, child,” answered the Queen for him. “That is the Master Conduit’s seat. There’s no magic there. A fabulous paradox, for it is from there that the most powerful spells can be cast. In the day-to-day spell casting, we’ll keep a circle of magicians operating from those,” she pointed to the stools ringing the ottoman. “One magician from each school, each operating independently, but working together. Duty magicians from each school will support them from there.” She pointed into the general seats behind the stools. “But for the truly magnificent magic, this room will be filled with magicians, eight hundred strong, and they will channel all that power to a Master Conduit, seated there, where you are.” The Queen was nearly rapturous as she described it, her eyes glazed over, clearly lost in the vision playing out in her mind’s eye. “Oh, it will be a beautiful thing to see what a full concert can do in space. A whole universe just waiting for us. We shall conquer it all! Especially once our dear Sir Altin gets them all trained up, which should be nearly done, should it not?” She looked to him expectantly, though she already knew the answer.

“Yes, Your Majesty. The core crew is mainly ready, and the last batch of recruits from the university will be selected any day.”

“Of course they will. You’re a fine instructor, whether you care for it or not.” She saw Orli rather reluctantly petting the lush fabric and smiled patiently. “Go ahead, dear, sit down.”

Orli looked at Captain Asad to see if she was going to get yelled at for having asked, but he was still chewing on what the Queen had said. Seeing that she was in no immediate danger on that front, Orli sat down in the Master Conduit’s seat. The ottoman began to turn. Though slow, the unexpected motion startled her, a jolt that caused her to clutch the thick upholstery with more rapidity than balance actually required. It was evidence of how unnerving being in this room was. She relaxed and looked down, noting that the disc was rotating clockwise at a slow but stable pace that would take a full minute to go once around.

“So is conquest of the universe why you need so many seats in here?” asked Captain Asad. “Since one magician seemed to manage well enough on his own, are we to understand, then, that conquest is the goal?” He looked toward Altin as he said it and pointed as if accusing him of something.

“Oh, Captain Asad, you are so dramatic,” answered the Queen. “The truth on that matter is that Sir Altin is a rare gem of a teleporter. However, the conquest I speak of is akin to that of cresting a great summit or crossing a great ocean. And the number of wizards required for an ocean as vast as the firmament requires more than a single rare gem, even one the likes of Sir Altin here. There is a matter of movement, mass and distances that have to be considered when teleporting, and, to be frank, our
Citadel
has a greater mass than any other single structure on Prosperion—with the exception of the Palace of course—and it will be getting more so as our people continue their work to strengthen it over the next three or four months.

“Not to mention there is a rather considerable issue involving unknown distances and incongruent spell casting. This was the sort of thing that was thought, at least in the main, to be essentially impossible to conquer, but Sir Altin has discovered a technique that, while labor-intensive, has made these things not only possible, but even endurable if enough minds are bent to the task. So, the short answer, if I may still call it that, is that we will have this many wizards because we will need them to get anywhere new.”

Captain Asad’s expression made it clear he wasn’t satisfied with the reply he’d been given, and his gaze upwards at the blood-red ceiling prompted Altin to mistakenly think he wanted further clarification on the spell-casting portion of what the Queen had said. He jumped in straight away, intending to be of help. “The strength of a magician in any given magic school is measured on an exponential scale that runs from A to Z. By whatever accident of birth or divine design, I have the fortune of being a Z-class teleporter. That affords me certain abilities. Ranking that high in any particular school is very rare. The relationship between any rank of magic and the one that precedes it is a half measure. It requires two Y-class teleporters, working with a conduit, to teleport any given maximum mass any given maximum distance that I could do alone. It would take four X-class wizards to do the same. Eight W-class and so on. There are not many wizards alive who rank over an N, and the scarcity is greater with each increase in rank.

“The greatest quantity of guild and military sorcerers are between D and K, which would preclude deep space travel entirely. However, a group of wizards linked by conduit, and in this case linked through full circles of mages, can get amazing things done, things that even a single Z-class anything could never hope to accomplish alone. It’s really a marvelous feat of modern magic, and this room is the pinnacle of that development. You’re in the presence of history, if I may be so forward to say.”

“Forward indeed,” said the Queen. “I’m quite proud of it. I’m sure our company is happy to be part of it too, and we are eternally gratified to you all for the inspiration your arrival has brought to my people.” She beamed gratitude at the ship captains, one by one, before once again prompting them onward. “But, as much as I would love to stand here and gloat about the dreams this room has inspired, there’s still a lot of
Citadel
to see. Shall we?”

Nods and spoken affirmation followed, and the group moved out through the concert hall’s only other passage, opposite the way they had come in. Orli paused just long enough to note that Captain Asad seemed to regard the groping bloodbath of the ceiling with similar sentiments as her own. There was definitely something scary about it. And the Queen
had
said “conquer the universe.” Even Orli caught that one.

Chapter 4

A
s the tour progressed, Altin found himself spending more and more time watching the awed expressions that shaped Orli’s porcelain features with each new surprise. With Aderbury having built the fortress and the Queen having worked herself into a fine enthusiasm over the course of the tour, Altin had time to fall back and enjoy the sight he’d really come to see: Orli.

Her blue eyes would widen at each new discovery, an enchanted feature here or an immense grandiosity there, as each was described in glowing detail by Aderbury or the Queen. She would laugh, delighted, her soft lips parting to reveal the white line of perfect teeth as she tilted forward eagerly, her supple hands clasped together at her bosom and candid enthusiasm gushing from her as if she were nature’s purest source. She poured herself wholeheartedly into learning about every new item and new idea, her zeal unfiltered and innocent, unconcerned with appearances of nonchalance and unafraid to show either ignorance or awe. She was childlike and yet entirely woman, animated by ambient joyfulness rooted in nothing more than letting life be. No selfish ambition or avarice corrupted her. She was without material greed. Her appreciation of the things she saw was as unmoved by the expectation of glory as it was by the anticipation of cost. Those were the thoughts and motivations that sculpted the expressions on other faces, but not hers. Orli shared no consumption with such emptiness, and the breathless
oohs
and
ahhs
she murmured as they went along were as unaffected as birdsong.

And so it was that he trailed at the back of the pack, watching her, answering a one-off question for this captain or that dignitary, but mostly just enjoying her enjoying the sights she saw. He was a patient connoisseur, knowing that he need not gulp down the delicacy the moment the table was set. He was determined to enjoy each course as it came along.

And he might well have enjoyed it all afternoon had it not been for their arrival at the top-most level of
Citadel
. This was his particular area of expertise, and his agreement with Aderbury had included the concession that he would cover this part of the tour given the complexity of the battlements on the massive space fortress. To begin, they weren’t actually battlements, or at least, they weren’t in any singular kind of way. They were the collected bulwarks of two hundred and twenty-five separate towers, squat and squared off constructs of stone, gathered together and tightly packed side by side, row by row. Together they formed a grid, with the individual units combining to making one checkerboard whole. The only variation in the pattern was a single central tower that climbed some fifty spans above the rest, the last several spans of its height thrust into the diamond shell.

“What is all of that?” asked Captain Paxton as they emerged from the stairwell and onto a walkway that ran around the edge of the assembled towers. “It looks like a giant egg crate.”

“I prefer to think of it as a wine crate,” Aderbury said. “But I realize that may be optimism on my part.” He laughed and added, “Sir Altin is better equipped to describe this particular part of
Citadel
, given that all of this is entirely inspired by his hard work and genius.”

“If it’s a wine crate, there are no bottles in it,” said the Earl of Vorvington. “Emptiness on such a scale would be tragic. I’d rather miss a lifetime of omelets than so much wine. Imagine having lost two hundred and twenty five bottles of elven gossamer or the frostberry vintages of Dae.” He shuddered at the horror of it, sending ripples down his jowls and neck, likely straight through his body to his feet.

Most of the group laughed, fleet officer and Prosperion alike, though the marchioness was clearly displeased that the earl had stooped to participate in the commoners’ game.

The exchange went on for a few moments as others tried their hands at making jokes or analogies for what this uppermost level looked like until eventually the Queen grew impatient, wanting to carry on. “Sir Altin,” she said, “speaking of wine, we still have a dinner to attend. Get to the redoubts.” She pointed outside through the transparency of the diamond armor, to make her point. In doing so, she reminded them all that her cooks were busily setting up long tables, preparing to serve the feast in the meadow far below. Vorvington made an almost sexual sound as he watched a distant mammoth haunch being basted by a cook wielding a brush the size of a broom.

“Yes, Your Majesty. The redoubts, of course,” Altin said. He’d been watching Orli lean against the smooth surface of
Citadel’s
outer hull, her body stretched languorously, which had transfixed him momentarily. The Queen had caught him in it. He flashed a glance back at Orli whose cheeks rounded with a smile and eyes glinted mischievously. She’d been more than aware of his persistent gaze these last two floors, and while she sympathized with his present discomfiture, she had been taking great pleasure in presenting a sinuous limb for him here and there, stretching this way or that, or just tilting her torso when some wonderful object allowed a succulent and teasing reach. He was so easy in that way, and she had every intention of having her way when it came to chasing a sequence of sunrises tonight.