Heights of the Depths (40 page)

“Overseer.”

“The Overseer told you to do this?”

Ayrburn didn’t respond. He just tilted his head slightly.

Eutok was finding the entire business just a bit surreal. To him the Travelers had always been these mysterious, unknowable creatures. Yet here was one of the Bottom Feeders having what amounted to a casual conversation with one of these harbingers of death and destruction.

“Well, that is…unfortunate,” said Gant. “So…” He clapped his hands and rubbed them together briskly. “I see that you have been…busy. And we have things to attend to. So we will just get out of your way…”

“Overseer,” said Ayrburn.

“Yes, I’m sure the Overseer has many serious matters that he wants you to see to. So certainly we—”

“You,” said Ayrburn, and he pointed, “and them. Now.”

The other Travelers slowly spread into a half circle, ringing them. Eutok definitely did not like the way this was shaping up. He tightened his grip on his battle axe and brought it up in a defensive position.

Gant’s Piri head immediately snapped around and he looked with great urgency at Eutok. “Don’t do it. Don’t even think it. None of you,” and he addressed all the Bottom Feeders, “even think about it. They want to bring us to the Overseer, and if we resist, they’re going to kill us. They will do it quickly and efficiently and without the slightest hesitation.”

“Why are they bringing us to him?” said Karsen.

“Because this is his city,” said Gant. “Because if you’re coming to the Spires, then you’re going to have to deal with him. That’s the way the world works, and if you were not prepared for that, then you should not have come here in the first place.”

“All right,” said Karsen. “But I’m going to make it clear to the Overseer that this was entirely my doing. So if he has any complaints with our being here, then I’m the one who should answer for it.”

“Yes, I’m sure he’ll take that very much to heart before he slaughters all of us,” said Mingo.

Rafe Kestor raised his fist defiantly. “I would like to see him try!”

“You may very well get your wish, Rafe,” said Zerena.

Perriz

I.

Evanna would not stop screaming
 
and it was beginning to get on Kerda’s nerves.

“Oh my gods,” Evanna screamed. “Oh my gods, Xeri, oh my gods, he’s dead!”

Kerda pulled the hysterical Firedraque over into an alleyway, looking apprehensively toward the Zeffers. “We don’t know that! We don’t know for sure that he’s dead!”

“Oh, yes, he’s dead.”

It was the amused voice of a Mandraque who had spoken. Kerda looked up and saw that two Mandraques were approaching. They were heavily armed, and they were grinning mirthlessly. Kerda placed herself between the oncoming Mandraques and Evanna, who was still sobbing and screeching. The Mandraque further back had a crossbow with the arrow already in place and ready to fly.

“Thulsa Odomo,” said the nearest Mandraque, “cut off his whining head, and then we kicked it around a bit for our amusement. And that is very similar to what is going to happen to you. As for your mighty defender, I’m reasonably sure that a crossbolt in the eye will dispatch her as readily as anyone else.”

Evanna had stopped sobbing very suddenly. “You…bastards,” she said, her voice trembling with fury. “Oh you…you heartless bastards. You will be destroyed for this. You will suffer. Oh, how you will suffer.”

“Ah yes,” said the Mandraque. “The power of the Firedraques. Why not simply ask the gods, with whom you are so close, to simply strike me down from on high…?”

That was the moment that the sword of Arren Kinklash, knocked out of his hand and sent tumbling off a Zeffer, landed with remarkable precision squarely in the skull of the Mandraque holding the crossbow. The Mandraque literally never even knew what hit him. The sword bisected his brain. He staggered and, as his legs collapsed, his finger spasmodically pulled on the trigger of the crossbow. The bolt went wide of its target and landed squarely in the back of the other Mandraque, who let out a high, outraged shriek of pain. He reached around, trying to claw at it, howling a string of profanities.

That was the moment Evanna pushed Kerda to one side. She took a deep breath and let out a jet of flame so bright, so searing, that Kerda had to shield her eye lest she be blinded by it even though she had the lens covering it.

If the Mandraque had been in pain before, Evanna’s attack took it to an entirely new level. He went up in flames, screaming, batting at his body, trying in futility to extinguish it. He stumbled, tripping over his own feet and fell. He continued to flail about as the fire eagerly consumed him. Kerda took a step forward to bring her foot down on his head, but Evanna stopped her. “No,” she said tersely. “Don’t end his suffering. Let him burn.”

Kerda did as she was told. They stood there and watched as the Mandraque twisted and flopped around while the fire devoured him. Before long he stopped moving as a plume of black smoke filled the air.

And that was when all hell broke loose from on high.

ii.

Demali felt chills running down
 her spine as Pavan stood in the middle of the Zeffer and sang. She had never heard him sing before. It was so beautiful that her eyes were tearing up. All the Zeffers were attending to him now. They didn’t seem to be responding to their Riders at all.

They began to sing back. The air was filled with beautiful notes, cascading all around, and Demali felt as she was a child again, sprinting through the dizzying paths of the Upper Reaches, her father running behind her and laughing and calling out that he was going to catch her, and when he did he would raise her high and speak her name with such love that she knew she would always be his, and he hers, and the memory caused her to sob all the more.

Then Pavan’s voice began to slide up and down the scales. It was a dazzling array of notes, but it sounded like something more to Demali. It almost sounded like…

…instructions.

That was when the Zeffers began to turn.

They did so in almost leisurely fashion. All the Zeffers, save for the one that Pavan was upon and the one where Arren, the two Ocular and her father were situated, responded in the exact same manner. They started rotating, slowly turning sideways.

Which proved catastrophic for their Riders and the Mandraques who were upon them.

They scrambled around trying to find purchase, but there was nothing for them to hold onto on the surface. Some managed to grab onto the upper edges of the Zeffers as they ponderously, even majestically turned completely sideways. The rest of them skidded, tumbled, and slid right off the huge creatures. The air was discordant, filled with the sounds of Pavan’s and the Zeffers’ beautiful songs overlayed with the howls and screams of terror as the Riders and the Mandraques tumbled to their deaths hundreds of feet below.

Some were still managing to cling on, batlike, and then the Zeffers continued to turn until they were completely upside down. Their edges fluttered as they did so, and that was sufficient to loosen the holds of the remaining passengers. They lost their grips as well, and the last of the Riders and Mandraques, who had sought to leave a lasting impression on Perriz, managed to achieve their goal. Perriz’s streets were awash with blood that would never fully come out, and a number of the plummeting bodies left huge dents and shattered pavement in the streets far below.

Pavan eased down on the notes and slowly the Zeffers righted themselves. Finally the singing subsided and Pavan simply stood there, his face impassive.

“You killed them,” she said in wonderment. “You killed all of them. Why…why didn’t you do that earlier?”

“I was hoping I would not have to. But it seemed…unavoidable.”

The Zeffer that they were upon was still moving. It was rising through the air, and the other Zeffers were making room for it, as if according it newly acquired respect. Within moments they had drifted to within range of Arren and the others. Seramali was looking at them with wide-eyed wonderment. “You…you are alive. The Mandraque was telling the truth. He…” Then his voice trailed off as he realized the seriousness of his situation.

“Yes. I am alive. No thanks to you.”

“And you want me dead.”

“Yes.”

“But you could not bring yourself to kill me, and so you sent this Mandraque to do the deed for you.”

“Yes. But…”

The catch in her voice got Arren’s attention. “But what? What do you want, Demali? I honestly have no strong preferences one way or the other.”

“I think,” said Demali, “that it would be far worse punishment for him to live. To live knowing that all his plans came to naught. That his beloved Riders are dead. That his daughter whom he once loved doesn’t care enough about him to kill him. I think those would all be…good things.”

“So do I,” said Pavan.

And then he hummed.

One of the Zeffer’s tentacles reached down and casually slapped Seramali across the chest. The impact knocked him off the Zeffer. He screamed Demali’s name as he plummeted to the ground, and only the abrupt impact ended his screech.

“But I think that was a better thing,” said Pavan.

“You…you killed him,” said Turkin.

“He killed my parents.”

“And you said earlier that, even though you knew that, you could not bring yourself to kill him.”

“Yes. I know. Odd thing, though,” he said distantly. “After you kill the first hundred or so, it becomes much easier.” He looked to Demali. “I hope you do not hate me for what I’ve done.”

Her face was still wet as she shook her head. “No. No, I…I don’t. I could never hate you.”

But she wasn’t sure she believed it.

iii.

Evanna was unaware of the
 passage of time. All she knew was that she had been watching the one Mandraque burn, and the next thing she was aware of, she was seeing Arren Kinklash pulling his sword out of the head of the fallen Mandraque. Kerda was hurriedly explaining to him what had happened, and he was nodding and listening as he wiped the blood from his blade. Turkin and Berola were there as well, Berola with a comforting arm around Kerda’s shoulder, rubbing the top of her head in a calming manner.

Then he walked over to Evanna and crouched in front of her. “Evanna,” he said gently. “Evanna, perhaps he was lying about Xeri…”

Evanna shook her head. “No. He was…not. I heard Xeri’s screams and the awful way they just…stopped. He’s gone.” She paused and then said, “And what of you? Are you gone?”

He nodded. “At least for the time being. The Serabim are going to bring me to Norda. With any luck, Nicrominus will be with her and I’ll be able to bring him back to you as well.”

Arren then waited for her to give him a whole speech about how he was needed here, especially considering the damage that had been done to the city. “Everything is going to be fine here,” he said, anticipating it. “The few surviving Serabim and members of House Odomo are being hunted down, rounded up. They—”

“I want to go with you.”

Her response surprised him. “Ex…excuse me?”

“There is nothing for me here. Xeri dead. My father gone.”

“But your responsibilities—”

“To hell with them. To hell with treaties. If I don’t get away from all this death and destruction, I am simply going to go out of my mind. Take me away from this, Arren. Please.” She hesitated. “Do not make me beg.”

“No. No, not at all,” he said gently. He helped her to her feet. “It’s going to be fine. We will find your father. And everything is going to be all right.”

“Promise?” she said.

“May I die if I am wrong,” he said with as much sincerity as he could muster.

iv.

Clarinda sat on the floor
 of the sewer, staring at nothing.

She tried not to listen to the steady slurping sounds that were coming from nearby. The screams of the Mandraques as they had been drank alive by the Piri had faded away. Thulsa Odomo had lasted the longest, give him credit for that. He had kept on struggling until Bartolemayne had decided to simplify matters by snapping his neck. A familiar pair of legs stepped into her immediate field of vision. Slowly she looked up. Sunara smiled down at her.

“How?” It took all Clarinda’s energy to form the question. “How—?”

“Did I come to be here?” She chuckled at that. “My love…what did you think we were going to do if not find a new home? The Ocular are dead. We could not feed on them anymore, and our people deserve so much better than living the rest of their lives feasting on animals. Oh, make no mistake. When you left, at first I was furious that you had disobeyed me and was taking steps to return you. But soon I realized that I could take advantage of the situation. Especially because you did not understand just how close I was to you in your heart and mind. Even after all this time, you don’t quite comprehend the scope of my abilities.”

“Scope? I don’t…none of this…”

Then she realized.

Sunara smiled.

“You made me come here,” said Clarinda. “You were in my mind. You made me come to Perriz.”

“I cannot ‘make’ you do anything. I could only suggest. But you are my daughter, and so you embraced the suggestion. Because I knew of the sewer system. I knew that, sooner or later, you would wind up here. It is your nature. It was unavoidable. We followed you, my dear. We did not have to stay especially close because I had no trouble keeping track of you,” and she tapped the side of her head, “here. And when you found your way through the sewer and emerged, I saw through your eyes, and thus you showed us the way in. Thank you for that. Thank you for,” and she indicated their environment, “all of this. We owe this all to you.”

“You’re going to…to stay here?”

“Of course we are, my dear.” She took Clarinda’s hand in hers. “And no one is going to know we’re here. We are going to be very, very careful about that. We are going to emerge at night, at will, find stray Mandraques or Firedraques or Ocular…and we will bring them down here, and we will make them last. I allowed my people to devour these,” and she indicated the fallen bodies of the Mandraques, “because it has been a good long while since we truly feasted. We will live here forever. And you will have a home here so that you will have a nice, safe environment to come to term with your child. And once he has been brought into the world, we will kill him, and then we will kill you. Or, as an alternative, leave you begging for death and then not giving it to you. If you’re a good girl,” and she kissed Clarinda on the forehead, “I may leave it up to you.”