Chapter 45: Enclave XV

Chapter 45: Enclave XV

Everything I had seen, everything that could happenwould happen if I did nothingweighed heavy on my shoulders. It was always there, lurking above me, threatening to crush me if I stopped and really considered it.

Emotions could only hurt me here. So, I pushed them down. I withdrew within myself, still keeping up the pleasant face for Nethtari and Kilvius. When we entered the house, it was all I could do not to stare at the floor on where they died.

Hungry, Cairn? Kilvius asked.

More tired than hungry.

Have it your way. Kilvius shrugged. As I walked around the spot where Jorra had fallen, I felt Nethtaris eyes on me as I climbed the stairs.

Id talk to them, eventually. But not yet. The way I started this would be crucial. At the moment, I was the only one who knew what would happen to the city at the end of the month, other than the people involved. The moment I spoke of it to anyoneeven Nethtari and Kilviusthe bottle would be uncorked.

And Id long since learned the lesson of how hard it was to keep critical information from spreading, let alone information as vital as this.

I sequestered myself in Mayas room, locking the door behind me. Experimentally, I held out my hand and reached for the wind. Nothing happened. At first, I was frightened that whatever had triggered the awakening had been undone by the reset, but thinking about logically, that made no sense. If it was the case that I received the demon-flame from Maya in the first place, and that carried over somehow, it only made sense that my second element would function similarly.

Slowly, I walked through the process of what Id done in the Everwood. Isolating the feeling. I no longer needed to feel despair to summon the demon-flame, but it helped. The solution for air was much easier to isolate, though harder to reproduce: Rage. I didnt have to reach for it. It was there, boiling under the surface.

The slightest breeze extended from my fingertips, barely stirring the curtains. Pretty anemic, compared to what Id done with it in the short time before I died, but at least that proved it was still there.Read latest chapters at nov(e)lbin.com Only

I unrolled the length of butcher paper Id acquired from the market and knelt over it. The piece of charcoal in my hand snapped in two almost immediately. I swore, fighting a sudden urge to hit something.

Not productive, Cairn.

I took in deep breaths. The ticking of the clock in Mayas room needled at me. I had more time than ever before, but the problem was exponentially larger.

Slowly, I began to draw out a diagram.

There were three major problems. Firstly, of course, was the attack on the enclave. The demons involved looked similar to how the Asmodial legion had been described to me: Uniformly dark in color with an aura of smoke. Major variations on their shape and size, but the same was true of all legions. They were clearly strong and had torn through the poorer districts like they were nothing, but I had no idea how their strength measured up to the Enclave military.

I underlined Asmodial Legion, and moved on, writing the word Ambush, in all caps.

That was the second problem. There were a lot of issues and complications brought on by the ambush in the Twilight Chambers. Granted, the fight was chaotic and Id spent a large chunk of it underwater, but I was relatively certain there were no demons among the attacking force. I wrote No Sigil, in a subheading beneath ambush.

No one used men like that unless they were doing something off-books. So it was unlikely the council was aligned against meeven if they had been, there were easier ways to kill me. The timing was more than suspect. There was no way the attack on the enclave and the ambush in the tunnel were unrelated. It was simply too improbable.

Which meant the demons werent acting on their own. But what would it take to incite an entire demonic legion to attack the very people capable of causing them serious long-term issues? I tabled that question for now.

I looked up at him, blinking.

He added another blue-gold plant to the clothe-enclosed bundle in his arms. You were making a scary face.

Just wasted a plant. I held the ruined stalk out to him.

Sure, but youve looked like that pretty much the whole time weve been topside.

Ah. The war face.

Its nothing, I said. It suddenly occurred to me how much I missed Maya. Nothing was going to make this easy, but if she was here it would have at least been easier. I could ask her questions that would be too conspicuous to ask anyone else, bounce ideas back and forth. We worked well together.

Jorra, I said, chewing on my lip. How hard would it be to get Maya out of the Sanctum?

Jorra smirked. Missing my sister that much already?

Hush. Just speaking hypothetically. Is it doable?

Not really. Youre really not supposed to leave in the first three months, unless you dont plan on coming back.

What would it look like if you tried?

Mom and dad would have to send someone in to get her, and even then, theres no guarantee how long it would take that person to find her. The sanctums a big place.

A dead-end, then. I tossed the ruined stem aside. I figured.

Guess youll just have to rely on me. He grinned. I gave him a playful shove.

Only in the worst case scenario, I said.

----

Later that evening, after I smoked enough vurseng to keep me up for the rest of the night, I returned to Mayas room. I found what I was looking for in her closet: the simple black and white mask she had worn in Kholis.

The brutal truth was, I didnt know the enclave well enough. Id spent so much time practicing magic and learning demonic that Id neglected the city itself, only gleaning the most basic information on how it functioned. And if it was like Whitefall, I wasnt going to learn much of anything walking around in the middle of the day. You learned the most about what made a city what it was by exploring when most civilized folk had long since gone to sleep. The transformation a city underwent after midnight tended to be a much more honest reflection what it actually was, as opposed to what it pretended to be.

I wrapped my arms in bandages and slid on my cloak. My field of view narrowed as I put the mask on my face. There was so much to do I could barely keep track of it all.

But for now, it was time to get to know the other side of the enclave.