Chapter 54: Descent (Patreon)

They traveled deep into the ground. If the first cavern had been impressively far down, this was staggeringly so. There was no shaft to fall through, just a wooden lift, the entrance to which was sequestered behind a heavily guarded barricade.

It descended slowly, and silently, leaving plenty of time for contemplation.

With every breath he took, Elliot imagined he could feel the capsule pressed against his heart. In reality he was fairly sure he couldn't feel it at all, but it was like knowing a spider had crawled into your ear. Even if it held perfectly still, your mind would create the sensation of tiny legs on flesh.

"I hope you're not too upset with me, Elliot," Speaker said from the other side of the lift. He had both arms draped over the edge behind him. There were two gray-cloaked Talessi guards standing a few feet away, stiff and silent.

Elliot looked at him flatly.

"Well, I can't blame you if you are,” the man said with a smile. “Please know that I would only activate it if absolutely necessary."

The thought of drop-kicking him over the edge and letting him fall down the narrow gap to land who-knows-how-far below was tempting, incredibly tempting. But also impractical.

"To whom do you owe your allegiance?" Speaker continued.

A snort was Elliot's only reply.

"Not in the sense you're thinking. I don't need your secrets, not at this exact moment. I mean in general terms. The Broken March? Quintara? Rhodea?" Another few moments of silence passed, and Speaker tapped his chin with a finger. "If you’ll indulge me, I'll tell you more about my plans for your compatriots."

"The Broken March, if anyone."

"Understandable, in this part of the world. How much do you know of the March's history?"

Elliot shrugged. Functionally nothing, if he was being honest. Not that he was inclined to share that with Speaker.

"When Ashantar fell, it was rabid chaos. Their empire spanned the entire northern third of Condyn, and despite their depravities, no one could deny they brought a certain stability to the region. The Broken March survived the purges by joining the revolution early, and by framing their existence as a tale of seven poor, oppressed barons fighting back against an evil marquis. In reality, the barons were no different from their master, who was in turn no different from his emperor. It still astounds me they managed to shed the pall of the old empire so thoroughly and emerge as one of the leading lights of the free north. A masterful stroke of political acrobatics. Only the Talessi truly remember."

Ashantar was a new name. Elliot knew there’d been an empire that ruled an immense stretch of northern territory up until a century or two ago, but it was one of those things that was never really discussed, because everyone took for granted that you already knew.

"Now I'll grant you, the March hasn't been particularly depraved since the transition. And I have no personal enmity towards them. But they were born in blood, and they bathe in it still. Do you know the eketi?”

“I’ve heard of the Silverfur,” Elliot said guardedly. They’d been the alternate rumour for what was behind all the Gerrwood attacks.

“The elites of their people. War against them is a valid necessity. But what of the other tribes? More eketi by far are foragers, healers, farmers, and crafters than join the Silverfur, but the March kills them all the same. Every year the Greenguard raid to cull as many of their number as possible before they can become a larger threat."

Elliot's lips twisted. That sounded awful, but Speaker wasn't exactly a reliable source. Not that it was hard for him to imagine it. This world had already proven to be a brutal place in more ways than one.

"Remmir recently had cause to put down a peasant rebellion. Rather than investigate and find the instigators, they simply put the entire valley's population to the sword," Speaker continued, frowning. "Andaluse guards its image closely, but the Bloodflame Queen didn't reach the eighth circle through acts of peace and charity. She rules with an iron boot pressed to the throat of all around her, demanding obedience or destruction. The Sunsguard are among the best of the Orders, truly, but the next time you meet one of their knights you should ask about the burnings of Iltay Horuz. At least they'll tell you of their sins without deception, say that for them."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"You have this image of me in your mind as an evil man, a man without principles. That isn't the case. There is no person in this world who gains power without their fair share of horrors. My horrors just so happen to affect you personally. It is your right to be angry, to seek vengeance, but don’t lose sight of the bigger picture. I am just one of many seeking my own justice, my own vengeance. As you have been wronged, so have I, and far more extensively. Just as I imagine you will not bid me farewell with a smile and forget we ever met, do not imagine it so easy for me to lay down my own quest.”

What was his game? Surely he didn’t think Elliot would roll over and join him.

“What about the other prisoners?” Elliot asked. “You said you’d say more.”

“And I will. In due time.”

The lift made a groaning squeal and slowed to a halt. They had arrived in a pitch black entryway, the only illumination a set of soft white glowstones hammered into the wood of the platform in front of them. Every sound they made echoed. He could smell damp earth, sulfur, and something else, something noxious. What—

Elliot tensed. That was corruption. The same corruption that oozed from the black spear in his dream.

“So you do know the Dark Spear,” Speaker said. “Fascinating. Your level of understanding continues to elude me. I would have sworn you were ignorant when I mentioned it yesterday, and yet here we are.”

No. Surely not. Surely this wasn’t possible.

“Come along now. It’s time to put our cards on the table.” Speaker strode forward.

Elliot was frozen in place. This couldn’t be the physical location of the Titan. If the Talessi already had their base right over it, why wouldn’t they have woken it up? How could the spear be here?

A hand jabbed him sharply in the back and he jumped, looking back to see one of the Talessi guards staring at him with narrowed eyes. The gray-cloaked figure made a shooing gesture. “Cor, bak en.”

“Sout,” snapped the other Talessi, cuffing the first guard on the back of his head. Then he, too, gestured forward.

Slowly, Elliot began to walk. Surely, at the very least, Speaker wasn’t suicidal. He wouldn’t draw them toward the physical manifestation of corrosion that Elliot could only imagine the real form of the spear would embody.

As they moved deeper into the blackness, Speaker produced a small glowstone lantern and hung it at his waist. The sphere of light it produced stretched at least a hundred feet, but despite the illumination, no walls or ceiling came into view. It had to be another giant cavern like the one above, but far larger.

Then the first pillar came into view. Dozens of feet tall, and wide, made of silver-white metal that shone even in the poor lighting. It was surrounded by a halo of stone like it had erupted from below. Actually, there was something about the stone…

He almost tripped, catching himself after a small flail. The rock at the base of the pillar was shale, not limestone like the rest of the floor. And he’d seen that pattern before. In the dream, the small mounds had looked like tiny versions of these, just missing the central pillar.

“Do you know where we are now, I wonder?” Speaker asked without turning.

Their approach was measured, Speaker setting an unhurried pace. Elliot felt an uneasy sinking sensation that grew stronger the closer they drew. As they neared the column, he used [Eye of Niamh].

It bounced off like wind against a mountain. There was no strange failure to activate. It felt like trying to use [Combative Bartering] when Breka was blocking him with everything she had. Like he’d lit a match deep underwater, or kicked the side of a castle wall. 

He didn’t even consider using the skill again.

“There are four of them,” Speaker said, turning around. “Spaced around it like a square.”

“It?” Elliot asked softly, already knowing the answer.

“The Titan That Sleeps. Bound to an endless slumber by some ancient power beyond our modern ken.” He laughed softly. “Or, more likely, bound by a rival Titan from the south. But that sounds less romantic.”

“How are we all still alive?” Elliot whispered. “I can feel the energy from the spear in the air.”

“The Dark Spear is also bound, although as you said, it has more of a tendency to leak. I can only imagine it’s due to the prison being calibrated to the Titan, with the spear coming along for the ride.”

“What do you want from this? Surely you can’t imagine waking up something this powerful will go well for you? You’re going to unleash a natural disaster and then, what, run?”

“You may take heart in the fact that yours is the dominant position on the matter,” Speaker said. “Every power, scholar, and overbearing drunk in possession of the rough facts of the matter seems to think that waking the Titan would lead to a cataclysmic event. I disagree.”

“What do you think will happen, then?”

“This part of the world has forgotten what it means to be at the peak.” Speaker looked up at the pillar. “In the south, it isn’t so. Here the Bloodflame Queen reigns supreme in all but name, but if you travel far enough you will find Titans who would crush her from the sky like an ant. The Selkans keep them at bay, for now, but they exist. Beings of the ninth circle, like this one. They are not beasts, though some began that way. They are not mindless. If I wake the Titan, I believe it will either reward me, or simply claim sovereignty over all it desires. The only deaths would be those foolish enough to oppose it.”

“And you want that?” Elliot asked. “You hate the rulers here so much you’d rather an ancient, unknown being take over?”

“It’s as I said before. All my life, I have been haunted by a beast. I wish to pit the Titan against it.” Speaker turned back. “I told you I would explain my plans for your friends. These bonds were set centuries ago, and by something powerful enough no ordinary intervention could possibly succeed in rupturing them. The Talessi are quite excellent at working with such spells, however. The large, static ones. They feel their way around the edges until a crack is found, or a back door. It requires time, and blood sacrifices to power the scrying. A very old art, with commensurately antique methodology.”

Elliot hissed.

“Yes, you see the implication. Allow me to present an alternative, though.” Speaker looked down at the mark on Elliot’s hand. “You have something I want. Something I need. Work with me, help me identify a way to free the Titan, and as long as I feel your efforts are in good faith I will spare the lives of every prisoner we have above.”

“Hon nash va kaelin tu’ata. Achvin larash.” 

Elliot turned in surprise to look at the lead gray-cloak who’d spoken. That was the first time the Talessi had interjected in a conversation between him and Speaker.

“Severin du acteun, carash if I wish to,” Speaker responded in the same tongue. “I hold your contract. I decide the methods.”

Elliot tried to control his expression. Somehow, in the mess of everything, he hadn’t been thinking of his language ability.

“Within reason, Rhodean. The Elders are invested in the results of this project.”

“Never call me that again,” Speaker replied, a flash of rage crossing his face. “And do not pretend you are a person of enough value to insert yourself into the discourse of your betters. Or have the Elders rescinded my remit?”

“Not yet.”

Speaker snorted. “My apologies for the interruption. The Talessi are a complex people to engage with. I had to learn the bones of an entirely new language to start making real progress. And it’s one they reserve for their outer circle of trust. There’s at least one other that’s reserved for them alone. It’s the hill tribe origins, I think. Their ancestors had as many languages as clans, all of which have now been lost to time, except within the Talessi hierarchy.”

Multiple languages. Elliot had to learn the hidden one. That was one advantage he had which Speaker would have no way of guessing.

“But I digress. Come. Let us observe the subject of your bond.”