Threading the Needle (60 page)

Bryce glanced toward Allan. “Do we trust him?”

“For now.”

Bryce ordered someone to check out the other doors and see what Cutter had found. Men shifted to fill in the gap. Allan released Marcus and stepped to the side of the entrance, tipping his head out for a quick look around. The commander stood where Bryce had said, a plinth of stone three paces behind him and to the right that was tall enough to provide cover for a single man. The nearest stone on the left was five paces to the side, shorter, but wide enough that someone could be crouched down behind it. He counted seven men in the shadow of the opposite door in the temple, with a minimum of three windows above that could conceal archers.

He took another look, this time focusing on the man, not his surroundings, then turned to Marcus. “What's the commander's name?”

“Ty.”

“He was a Dog.”

“Dalton ran into him after the Shattering,” Marcus said. “He recruited him and the others for protection. It's the only reason he survived the first few months, before he found this place.”

It sounded like what had happened to the refugees before they'd made it to the Hollow. Allan doubted that those who'd fled the University would have made it far without Bryce and the other Dogs watching their backs.

Their courier returned. “Cutter placed the archers in windows a few levels up. They have a sightline on the commander and the door here. The other three doors are closed. He reports no other activity in any of the windows of the temple—no archers, no watchers, nothing.”

Allan and Bryce exchanged a troubled look. “He should have at least put watchers up there.”

“I would have already had men filing into the stone garden, archers in all of the windows.” Allan turned back to the entrance, watching the harsh sunlight and the sharp shadows it cast as it edged toward sunset. “What's his strategy? We're trapped here, with no way out. He knows that.”

Marcus cleared his throat. “Commander Ty is a reasonable man. And like me, I don't think he's bought into Father and his visions. Unlike his second, Darius.”

“Who's this Father?”

“Dalton. He's the man who established the Needle. He pulled all of these people together, brought them here, all based on visions he claimed to have. He convinced them he saw the ending of the Nexus and the Shattering. He told them he could save them all, that he could heal what had been destroyed, that we could begin again on the correct path.” Marcus' eyes flicked toward Bryce and the others. “Before the Shattering, he was the head of the Kormanley.”

The Dogs in the group spat curses and shuffled around, the tension in the small entrance room doubling.

Allan kept his focus on Marcus. “But Commander Ty isn't a believer.”

“No, he's not.”

“That could mean anything.”

Allan considered. “Let's find out.”

He motioned Marcus toward the door, then fell into step behind him, but off to one side. He didn't place his hand on Marcus' shoulder as he'd done before; Marcus had earned at least that much.

As soon as Marcus stepped into view, Allan called out, “I've brought Marcus. We're coming out.”

Marcus paused a step beyond the door, letting his eyes adjust, Allan guessed, then walked toward Commander Ty. Allan had to blink away the harshness of the sun, but he never took his eyes off of Ty. The man was older by ten years, face scarred and pitted like anyone who'd spent time as a Dog. His stance was solid, shoulders wide, back stiff. A sword sat sheathed at his hip, but his arms were crossed over his chest as he watched them cross the short distance to his position. His light hair,
thin and wispy, glowed in the sunlight, his body framed behind by the shadow cast by the stone plinth on the left.

Marcus halted three paces from him without any direction from Allan. A quick glance revealed that no one was hidden behind either of the nearest stellae.

Ty caught the look. “No one is lying in wait. And no one is preparing to flank you through the other entrances to the stone garden.” He didn't wait for a response, shifting his attention to Marcus. “What's happened here?”

“What happened to the Gorrani?”

“They have been routed. The fires that Father Dalton foresaw—that I assume your White Cloaks provided—destroyed nearly all of them. Those that remained regrouped after a disruption at the walls”—he stared at Allan for a moment—“but we held the minor breach. Once they realized they couldn't take the walls—not with only a thousand men—they retreated. Returning to the southern flats, I presume. We have scouts trailing them.

“Now, what's happened here?”

Marcus had paled at the mention that only a thousand Gorrani remained. “Lecrucius and the other White Cloaks used the Nexus to bring you the ley fire, but it destabilized the network we'd established. That's what caused the extended earthquake. We nearly lost the Nexus completely. It would have caused another Shattering. Not as destructive, but devastating nonetheless.”

Ty's only reaction was a slight tensing of his shoulders.

“With the help of Kara—the Wielder Iscivius captured in Erenthrall—we managed to bring the Nexus back under control. But the damage had already been done. The network around Erenthrall had collapsed. Kara attempted to repair it, but it triggered the distortion. As it imploded, she managed to heal it. The distortion over Erenthrall is gone. The ley lines to the nodes in the city have reinitiated and stabilized the ley. That's why the quakes have stopped, at least for the moment.”

Ty's eyebrows rose. “She healed the distortion in Erenthrall? By herself?”

Marcus waved a hand. “She had the support of the White Cloaks here, and the Nexus to draw power from, but essentially, yes.”

“And what did Lecrucius have to say about this?”

“He didn't survive the near collapse of the Nexus.”

Ty nodded, as if he'd expected that answer. Oddly, the tension in his shoulders eased.

He turned toward Allan. “Which brings us to you and your men. You breached our walls, and then sealed them back up. Not without damage, of course. The height of the wall in that area has dropped by nearly thirty feet. That's a weak point that we'll have to watch and repair sometime in the near future. How did you do it? We saw you approach with that other group. You had no siege weapons, no ladders. No one on the walls saw you set any black powder.”

“It doesn't matter.” Allan had no intention of giving up such an obvious advantage. “We came for our people, those that this Iscivius captured in Erenthrall. Return them to us and we'll leave.”

Ty's gaze shifted toward the burn scar Allan had received when the Kormanley priest had set himself on fire at the sowing of the Flyers' Tower.

“Allan,” he said, as if testing the name out. Then his arms dropped, hand falling to the hilt of his sword. “Allan Garrett. You were a Dog. You ran, abandoned your brothers. Commander Daedallen had the entire pack searching for you, until we were distracted by the Purge. He even sent a Hound after you.”

“No one leaves the Dogs.”

“No one dared. Yet you did. And you survived. How did you escape the Hound?”

“I didn't. He found me at the edge of the city. He could have killed me easily, but he let me go.”

“Strange bastards, those Hounds. I could never stand being near them.” He paused in thought, staring first at Allan, then up at the black tower behind them, then back down at Marcus.

“I have a problem. I don't much like Father Dalton. I don't trust him, or his visions.”

“His most recent vision appears to have come true.”

“Did it? He predicted that a fire would destroy the Gorrani snakes, but only after Lecrucius revealed he could use the ley as a weapon. Did he have a vision, or did he make that up after he found out the Gorrani were coming and that Lecrucius could destroy them with the ley?”

“What would your second, Darius, say about that theory?”

“Darius is overseeing the main gates. What would your lover, Dierdre, think?”

“She'd flay me for doubting Father.”

“And yet you don't believe him either.”

Marcus hesitated. “Not his visions, no. But I do believe in some of what he preaches, in his hatred of how the ley was being abused before the Shattering, and his conviction that it needs to be returned to its natural state.”

“And yet you've created a new Nexus.”

“Nothing like what Prime Augustus constructed. And we're using this Nexus to repair the ley system. Once that's finished, we intend to destroy it.”

“I don't think that was Lecrucius' intention,” Ty said.

“Lecrucius is dead.”

“Convenient.”

Allan cleared his throat, both Ty and Marcus looking toward him. “What are you suggesting, commander?”

“A truce. I control the enforcers. I could kill Father Dalton and seize control, except he has a strong hold over the people. I'm not certain, even with the enforcers, that I'd survive long after Dalton's death. And I have no desire to rule. I'm content as commander of the guard. It's a higher position than I had before, as a Dog in Erenthrall, and it doesn't have half the responsibilities of a Baron. Even with the people on my side, as unlikely as that would be, I'd still have to contend with the White Cloaks. Based on what I saw today, none of us could survive if they took exception to us. The White Cloaks need to be controlled. I feared what would happen if Lecrucius seized power, and yet I saw no way of stopping it. I'm glad he's dead.”

“A truce. Between you, Marcus, and Dalton?”

“Yes. I control the enforcers. Marcus, you control the White Cloaks. And both of us control Dalton. Let him continue with his preaching and his visions. Let him assuage the people's fears. But don't let him rule. He's gained too much power since we found the Needle. He needs to be curtailed.”

“And what of my men and those we came to get back?”

“Take them. Go back to where you came from. We won't follow you, or seek you out.” An edge came into his voice. “And you agree not to come back with whatever—or whoever—you have that can break our walls so easily.”

Allan suspected Ty already knew how they'd managed to crack the walls. “Agreed. We have no reason to return here.”

But Marcus shook his head. “It won't work.”

“Why not?”

“Because the White Cloaks will never accept me as their leader, declared Son of the Father or not. I lost that role to Lecrucius before the Gorrani laid siege to the Needle. They won't take me back now.” He faced Allan. “But I know who could take control.”

Allan stared at him for a long moment. “Kara.”

“She proved herself to them today. None of them could have held the Nexus together and then healed Erenthrall. None of them could have controlled that much ley. I doubt even Lecrucius could have done that.”

“Not all of the White Cloaks will back her.”

“Iscivius and Irmona are likely already plotting how they'll seize control themselves. But I can guarantee that nearly every other White Cloak will rally behind her. Definitely Okata, myself, Hartman, and Jenner. Others based on what happened today.”

“I came here to rescue her, to take her back to the Hollow.”

“We need her here.”

Commander Ty shifted, breaking the argument before it could heat up. “Perhaps you should ask this Kara what she would like to do.” He turned his back on them both, heading toward the open double doors of the temple.

“Where are you going?”

He paused, looked back over his shoulder. “I'm going to protect our good Father Dalton with a proper escort and see him safely back to his rooms after he's finished appeasing the fears of the populace.” He started walking again. “You can find me in the orrery afterward.”

“Orrery?” Allan had no idea what an orrery was.

“You'll see.”

They watched as Commander Ty stalked past the enforcers on guard at the door, his men pulling back.

“Even if we can get Kara to agree to stay, it won't be as easy as Ty makes it sound. He'll have to contend with Darius, his second. And I'll have to deal with Dierdre.” Allan didn't understand why Marcus grimaced, but the White Cloak shrugged whatever the issue was aside and
faced Allan. “We should return Kara to her rooms, make certain a healer sees her, and let her know about Ty's proposal.”

“I'll want my own men guarding her door.” Allan intended to do that himself. “And the rest of the Hollowers in the rooms around her.”

“Of course.” He glanced back toward the node. “Your men should also stay here at the node and hold the tower. Not necessarily to keep the enforcers out, but to keep the White Cloaks in. Until this is settled, I think we should all stay here, at the Nexus. It's the base of our power.”

“I'll leave Bryce here. We'll take care of Kara and anyone else who was wounded, and then we'll see what she has to say.”