The White Fox (32 page)

They were helping to clear out the rubble, and now, with the assistance of alchemy, this was much easier. Lucy even managed to perform her first spell in levitating a rock, a feat that earned her praise from Hakim, who happened to be passing on an errand at the time. Jack reacquainted himself with some of the crew members he had met on their journey here, Aonair the Irishman and São the Spaniard amongst them.

At around five o’clock, just as the first hints of dusk were creeping into the sunlit sky, a messenger arrived to tell the four of them to come to the throne room.

“This was found on the battlefield an hour ago,” the king informed them when they arrived. Sardâr, Hakim, and Bál were already in the torch-lit chamber. He gestured to a slab of black stone, smooth except for the symbol—an ornate black rose—carved into the center in the middle of the table. Turning it over, he showed them the other side—a sheet of glass as dark as the stone itself, completely unreflective.

“It’s a dimension mirror,” Sardâr said. “It’s what the Cult of Dionysus use to communicate.”

“How does it work?” Ruth asked.

“It would normally respond only to a member of the Cult,” Sardâr replied, “but I think I can fool the alchemical protection.” He placed his hand over the surface and began whispering under his breath.

Then, suddenly, with a whip crack, a black force exploded outwards from the mirror, shrouding the room in shadow. Sardâr backed away quickly. They saw lights flashing by—stars, planets, and galaxies all moving outwards. They zoomed in on one in particular. As they got closer it became a cluster, then a shape, a perfect spiral of glowing orbs—a miniature galaxy suspended at the center of the room. They continued moving closer to one of the nearer spirals. More stars flashed beside them until they reached one, a massive ball of fiery energy which, to them, took up only half the room.

The speed did not stop there. They blasted by the star and five more planets, getting closer all the time, until they reached an orb, its surface like that of a spherical stormy sky, though spinning slowly on its axis.

Farther in, it was as if they were going to hit the surface. Past many layers of clouds and they were hovering over a vast ocean, thunderous and dark. They moved sideways and over land, a mass of dark buildings and skyscrapers glowing with ghostly blue windows. Now upwards to an immense dagger shape—a castle suspended above the waves on a floating rock. Up to the third highest tower, then in through the window, down a corridor. They were about to hit the door … but they went straight through it into a dark chamber and finally stopped.

They were in a large circular chamber by the door. Tall, black thrones rose up in a circle around them. In each one sat a black-cloaked figure, and in pride of place, in the highest position, was someone with silver embroidery to his robes. They were all looking downwards into the center of a room, where a man knelt, shaking upon the same embossed rose emblem engraved on the dimension mirror.

Jack started towards him and cried out in pain. Though he could not see it, he had just walked into where the table had been before the mirror activated.

“It’s no use,” whispered Sardâr from his side. “This is just a vision of what is happening elsewhere. You can’t touch any of these people, and neither can they see you. Just watch.”

Jack turned back to the scene just in time to hear the man in the silver-embroidered robes speak.

“You have failed us, Iago.” The voice was perfectly clear, as though he were actually in the room with them.

“Master,” Iago moaned, shuddering. “Master, please …”

“Please what? You wish for mercy? I do not give mercy.”

“No, master … the girl … the informant … that was me. I retrieved her for you.”

“That is beside the point.” The master’s voice was shrilly cold. “Have you, amongst your many failings, forgotten the mantra of the Cult?”

In unison, the eleven other figures chanted: “The Darkness is power. We wield the Darkness. We become power itself.”

Iago gave another shudder, as though the words made him gag.

“Precisely. And what have you done, Iago? Not only did you fail to retrieve that Shard of the Risa Star, but you did not even weaken that world sufficiently to absorb it into the Darkness. You have squandered the recent work of Archbishops Icarus and Tantalus.”

“But, my liege, my years of service—”

“Count for nothing. You have made us suffer an irritating setback. You have failed us, and you must suffer the consequences.” The master clicked his fingers.

Instantly, something stirred in the darkness behind the throne. Jack gave an involuntary shiver, remembering Iago’s own
Sleepy Hollow
–esque demon.

“Execution?” one of the other cloaked figures said, though not at all concernedly.

“No. Iago shall suffer a fate much more painful. His essence shall be wrenched from this reality and sucked into the Dark Realm. There he will traverse the Darkness for eternity, tortured by the insatiable temptation to submerge himself into the collective Dark, but with the knowledge that if he does so, he shall become a mere tool for the Darkness itself.” The master’s lip curled. Jack knew that he was deliberately explaining in gory detail to make Iago’s fate even worse.

Below the foremost throne, only just discernable in the dark, black smoke was beginning to coil upwards from the floor. As its tendrils twisted around themselves, they formed into the shape of a tall, long-haired humanoid, completely naked, with a pair of massive dark wings extending from its shoulder blades to shadow its face.

“No, master, please!” Iago’s voice rose to a scream as the creature dived. A mass of dark feathers, robes, and hair engulfed the elf, his hastily summoned Abaddon falling pathetically under the master’s demon. Iago’s screams rent the air around the chamber, and Jack noticed many of the others averting their eyes.

In a moment it was over. The shadowy, vaguely humanlike winged creature evaporated. Iago’s lifeless form slumped, motionless, on the marble floor. A pool of congealed dark liquid began to form about it, and it sunk like a rock into the sludge until it was completely submerged. Then the pool shrunk and closed, with no sign that there had ever been a body there.

“Now that is dealt with, we have to right his mistakes. Iago’s blunders, whilst dangerous, will not be fatal if we act quickly. Another Door to Darkness has been sealed by that infernal Star, so we must move onwards. Phaedra, Paethon,” he addressed two figures in seats opposite, “our latest intelligence shows that the goblins of the Sveta Mountains on the planet of Yarkii are long known to have guarded the Fifth Shard. Go there and extract it from them.”

They stood, bowed in unison, and disappeared into the same gusts of dark smoke Iago had used during the battle.

“Nimue, time is short. We now know that the Third Shard is hidden somewhere around the city-state of Albion in the Centauras galaxy. Obtain it by any means necessary.”

The woman, one of the few with her hood down, nodded and made for the exit.

“Nimue,” the master called as she opened the door, “take our informant. She may be useful in negotiations.”

Nimue nodded again and left, and the door swung shut behind her.

“Now, Icarus. You have proved yourself time and time again as the prime example of a loyal servant.”

The hooded figure on his right bowed his head.

Jack felt his stomach squirm. This was the man who, he now realized, he hated above all others, only meters away, and yet he could not touch him.

“We will discuss your next assignment in private—”

“Master!” A shrill voice interrupted him.

He quickly turned to the woman across the room from him. “What, Ino?”

“We are being watched.”

There was a pause, and then the message sunk in. Figures all around the room began pulling their hoods over their faces. The master clapped, the noise echoing supernaturally loudly around the chamber. Dark fog rose from the floor, tentacles twisting like black serpents around the bases of the thrones and their feet, cloaking everything in deep shadow.

Jack couldn’t see anything. He seemed no longer to be standing; he was falling backwards into darkness, and it was cramming into his eyes, his ears, crushing his lungs under its weight …

An arm grabbed the neck of his tunic and pulled. Slowly, the fog drifted away, leaving him behind. Then he crashed onto the throne room floor. Blinking furiously and rubbing his head, he stood up.

Everyone stood and moved away from the mirror. It hovered in the air above the table, the oppressive dark smoke swirling around it.

Jack looked behind him and saw Hakim, evidently the one who had pulled him out of the fog. He became aware of chanting. Somewhere to his right, Sardâr was bellowing syllables with his hands pressed together, a blinding white light shining within them. At a last word, which seemed to shake the room itself, he released the light. It flashed across the room and exploded, imprisoning the mirror in a cube of burning energy. There was another flash, and the smoke vanished, the mirror falling to the table with a dull clunk.

Jack breathed out slowly. All around him, people were making their way cautiously towards the incarcerated mirror.

“Don’t touch it! I have restrained the Dark alchemy for a time, but it is still very dangerous.” Sardâr approached, and everyone backed away. “The Emperor has blocked this mirror from tapping into Nexus. It is unlikely that we will be able to access it again.”

“So that was the Emperor?” Ruth asked breathlessly.

“Apparently so. And that was this mysterious planet Nexus. It must have been the Council of Thirteen, which coordinates the Cult of Dionysus.”

There was silence. Everyone around the room was trying to work out the intricacies and implications of what they had just seen.

Eventually, Sardâr let out a long breath. “I think it would be best if everyone went to bed. There’s nothing we can do about that now, and I need some time to compose my thoughts. I suggest we meet back here tomorrow morning.”

They all nodded and departed for their rooms.

Jack and Lucy headed to their rooms on Sardâr’s request. The fortress was quiet now, quieter than it had been all the time they had been here. Earlier in the day, a decree had been issued granting refugee peasants permission to return to their villages. Eager for the space and comfort, many had moved out immediately, hoping to arrive at their homes before sunset. The miscellaneous barrels, carts, and sacks that had adorned the hallways almost like festive decorations were diminishing, swept away by the rush of relieved travellers.

Jack bid Lucy good-night, and after seeing her into her room, he opened the door to his own. He was only mildly surprised to see the glimmering, white-furred form of Inari sitting on his bed. “I haven’t seen you for a while,” he remarked, taking off his boots.

“You haven’t needed me for a while,”
Inari replied, hopping off the bed to let Jack sit down. The fox spirit positioned himself on the floor, looking up at the human elf.

“Where do you go when you’re not here?” Jack asked.

“Now, that would be telling,”
the fox said, echoing his reply the last time they had spoken in this room.
“Around and about. Lots of different worlds. I’m always pulled back to the same place in the end, though.”

“You don’t know anything more about Alex, then?”

“Sorry, but no.”
Inari stretched out, yawning.
“You’ve become quite the hero since we first spoke. An alchemist. Who would have thought it? And a fairly competent swordsman, if you don’t mind me saying so. You’re almost unrecognizable.”

Jack glanced down at himself. He knew he looked different, thanks to that alchemical egg. But he felt different too. He felt braver, as if he had proved to himself as well as everyone else that he could hold his own in a difficult situation. He did not hear Inari’s words without a slight flicker of pride within.

“We’ve spoken four times. The first time you gave me the Shard. The second time you gave me some answers, and the third time you saved my life. So why are you here now?”

The fox turned his head slightly, as if trying to look at Jack from a different angle.
“Tomorrow morning you’re going to be faced with a choice that will have repercussions much more far-reaching for you and your friends than you can possibly see now. You will be made an offer, and I would urge you to accept it. If you do, then I’ll be seeing you again very soon.”

“Do you have a setting that talks in something other than riddles?” Jack asked exasperatedly.

The fox gave the closest thing a fox could give to a smirk.

It was then that Jack noticed something. “You’ve got two tails. I’m sure you had only one last time.”

Inari turned to look at his own rump.
“So I have. You learn something new every day.”