Chapter 231 - Round Table

Gera

Month 9, Day 4, Saturday 8:00 a.m.

Gera’s constantly running divination took in the others sitting at the round table they had set up in the center of the Undreaming Order’s second floor. Deidre, Anders with his dog lying by the foot of his chair, Jackal, Martha, Sharon, Enforcer Turner, the artificer Liza, and Healer Nidson were all in attendance.

Most, like Gera, were there representing the most dedicated members of the Undreaming Order, though the latter two were only adjacently involved in their efforts, and had been called to this meeting for their outside perspectives and their particular areas of expertise. Gera could not see them, but she could sense each contour and movement of their bodies, along with everything else in a moderate radius around her. 

She cleared her throat gently, pressing her fingers gently against the newspaper lying on the table in front of her. “We are here today to discuss what I believe might be the latest move by the Raven Queen. Sebastien Siverling dueled and defeated Frederick Pendragon, heir to the High Crown, yesterday afternoon.” 

Several of those around the table nodded, but Liza narrowed her eyes, and Nidson yawned and pinched the bridge of his nose. The man had been up late working on a particularly tricky injury to one of the flock—a woman who had been half-flayed by her husband. Nidson was not a true member of the Undreaming Order, but he was happy to work for gold when they encountered an injury that their simple stock of potions and bandages couldn’t heal. Deidre especially appreciated that he tended to undercut his prices whenever he felt moved by the more pitiful patients, but the man obviously had little time for rest. “Pardon me, but I fail to see how the latest gossip is relevant? Do you believe the Raven Queen somehow sabotaged the match?” he asked. 

“Those who do not follow news of the Raven Queen closely might not be aware,” Gera said, “But she places special importance on Sebastien Siverling. We…” She shared a look with Deidre. “Well, we do not know why. However, she has bestowed upon him a boon of anti-divination, and she admitted before the Red Guard that they have some sort of special connection.” 

Liza looked down and raised her fingertips to her mouth, but it didn’t completely cover the secret, amused twitching of her lips. 

Gera didn’t need to be a prognos to know the other woman thought she knew something the rest of them didn’t. She turned her head so that it seemed she was staring pointedly. 

Liza looked up and noticed. She calmed her expression quickly. “Yes, I do think I heard somewhere that they have a special connection. But I don’t have any extra details. I wasn’t even aware of the duel. What happened to make a meeting like this necessary?”

Deidre eagerly volunteered to read the story in the newspaper. The account was somewhat less sensationalized than usual, considering the people involved and the power they wielded. Neither the High Crown nor Frederick Pendragon had been available for comment, but the Ambassador to the Public had been quoted. “A friendly duel between two young men is meant to be a learning experience, and young Lord Pendragon was very gracious in allowing a serious handicap and holding back so that Mr. Siverling could display all of his skills, despite his relatively much weaker power.” 

“I was there,” Martha, Millennium’s personal caretaker, said. “The fight was quite exciting, but I didn’t even know the half of what Mr. Siverling was actually doing until I saw an analysis of it in the paper. A lot of it was invisible.” 

Young Enforcer Turner grinned giddily and clenched a victorious fist. “And he punched Pendragon in the face! That was the absolute best part of the whole thing.” 

Anders reached into his satchel, pulled out a bowl and a canteen, and set some water on the floor for his dog. “It’s relevant because of the fact that Frederick Pendragon was completely outclassed in skill levels, if not power, and by the end of the day, the whole city will be gossiping about it, if they aren’t already. Am I right?”

“Yes,” Gera said. 

“Politics is warfare by other means,” he said sagely. “Undermining the High Crown’s authority by throwing their competence into doubt and delegitimizing the worthiness of his heir.” 

“It fits her methodology,” Deidre agreed. “She loves to make her enemies look foolish.” 

Sharon, their cook, pursed her lips with mild disapproval, but said nothing. The woman was much more interested in caring for and feeding the needy, and opposing the kidnapping and torture of children, than reveling in the Raven Queen’s more vicious exploits. 

“I do have a few contacts within Pendragon Palace, and some skill in divination,” Gera said. “There is no evidence that Frederick Pendragon actually challenged Sebastien Siverling to a duel at any point before their meeting at the exhibitions. I believe it is highly likely that Thaddeus Lacer acted on behalf of the Raven Queen to challenge Pendragon.” 

Martha leaned forward. “I saw Siverling’s face when the duel was announced. He seemed totally shocked. Do you think…he didn’t know about it ahead of time?” 

“The Raven Queen must have been very confident in his skills,” Enforcer Turner said. “As expected, from someone the Raven Queen found worthy enough to bestow a boon on. I wish I could fight like that.” 

“Why the High Crown accepted the duel, I do not know,” Gera said. 

“Perhaps he thought there was little danger of losing,” Anders offered. “That would be the obvious reaction. In truth, Siverling does seem to have gotten quite lucky. He took advantage of being underestimated. But that doesn’t matter, since all most people will really consider is the headline. Sebastien Siverling bested Frederick Pendragon in a duel.” 

“And punched him in the face,” Enforcer Turner repeated, grinning. “Just from hearing that, I feel he’s fifteen percent more likable. We could definitely be friends.” 

Jackal had taken out a tiny dagger from somewhere and was giving himself a manicure with its razor-sharp edge. “So, what is her plan with all this? To be honest, after what happened, I expected something more…dramatic.” 

“It’s only step one of her plan!” Deidre said, glaring at him. “Well, probably.” 

Gera pressed out her palms, motioning for them to be calm. “The Raven Queen has put herself in opposition to the established powers from the time she came to Gilbratha. However, not many know that several months ago, she sent a letter to the High Crown requesting a meeting to discuss peace, and he turned her down and promised to apprehend her. That part was in the papers. After what happened later, I doubt there is any chance for him to escape unscathed. So, I wonder, was it a sense of fairness that led her to make that overture, or was it a trap, leading him to make himself more firmly her enemy so that she could feel justified in taking him out? Or maybe she was just taunting him. After all, if she really wanted to meet, there’s no chance his security could stop her. However, I agree. After what he did, the man is lucky to still be alive.” 

Anders shuddered and reached down to pet Bear’s head for comfort. 

Deidre absently rubbed her burn-scarred ear. “I think we might be able to guess at some of her plans by examining the things she’s stated publicly. The letter to the Edictum Council, for one. At first, I thought it was just a poetic promise of retribution, but…doesn’t it sound kind of like a prophecy?” 

Liza scoffed. “Please don’t tell me you believe in prophecy.” 

Deidre ran a hand through her hair and pulled it to the side, defiantly showing off the burn scars covering the other side of her scalp. “Even if you don’t want to call it a prophecy, do you think it is wise to discount a possible warning by the Raven Queen? I’m not saying she can see into the future, but I would be entirely unsurprised if she has ways of knowing things the rest of us don’t. I have been compiling and re-reading the Book of the Raven Queen, and as I begin to understand her better…I’ve become increasingly troubled by the contents of her letter.” 

Deidre reached into the satchel at her side and pulled out the binder with the latest version of her work. “Listen.” 

‘On a cold wind blew strife.

The thief of fire,

Will be a light in the darkness,

A candle against the night,

And will laugh as she feasts.

Save your tears for yesterday.

As you dream of cracked roads,

And tend your garden of sticks.

For madness makes no plans,

And there is but one cure for the living.

A scream into the void echoes.

Black eyes see nothing,

But a fortune of dust,

Empty bellies and sharp teeth,

And payment in bone.’”

Enforcer Turner shuddered. “Okay, you’ve convinced me. Creepy. But what does it mean?”

“She is the thief of fire,” Healer Nidson said. “I think it’s an allusion to one of the old myths, where humans stole knowledge of fire from the Titans. And the fire would be—”

“The book the University brought back from their expedition,” Sharon interrupted. 

Healer Nidson nodded at her. “Yes, ma’am. Knowledge, essentially.” 

“So she will be a light in the darkness, a candle against the night?” Martha asked. “What is the night?”

Anders rubbed the stubble forming on his chin. “If we continue with the theme, then the night would be ignorance, right? But I feel like the second verse is a lot more interesting. Cracked roads and a garden of sticks seems like a prediction that everything that her enemies have built, both industry and personal wealth, will be destroyed.” 

“What about, ‘Save your tears for yesterday?’” Martha asked. 

Enforcer Turner shrugged. “Because once it happens, it’s already too late to cry about it.” 

Sharon leaned over to read from the binder in front of Deidre. “Madness makes no plans? Is she calling herself mad?” 

“That’s not about her,” Deidre said confidently. “She’s a chess-mistress with plans within plans. Every domino she knocks over hits two or three different objectives at once.” 

Martha hesitated. “Perhaps she is mocking her enemies for being ‘mad’ and not properly preparing for what’s to come? Reacting improperly to the danger she represents?”

“Or to an external threat,” Anders said, his mouth growing grim. “‘But one cure for the living…’ I can’t think of anything other than ‘death’ that would complete that riddle. If we assume that she’s talking about something that will be severe enough that people will either wish or need to die to escape it… A Blight-type? A Nightmare-type? Or an illness curse?”

Healer Nidson’s gaze sharpened. “Biological warfare?”

Sharon pressed her lips together and shook her head. “It could simply mean that things will be so hopeless that people will wish to die to escape. ‘A scream into the void echoes.’ That obviously hints that there will be no salvation, no one who can help. And the black eyes, are those hers?”

Enforcer Turner nodded sharply. “Definitely. You remember what she said when we were escaping from the Pendragon Corps, right, Anders?” 

“Yes. She said a few lines from the letter, but clarified. ‘Your screams will echo into the void,’ and, ‘my eyes see nothing but a fortune of dust.’ She screamed it in her eldritch-horror voice, the one that echoed and warbled.” Anders reached for Bear’s head again and took a calming breath as the dog pressed itself against his chair, the creature’s sheer weight causing it to scrape a few centimeters across the floor. “I can’t forget it even if I wanted to.” 

Jackal, Turner, and Deidre echoed his shudder. 

Jackal shared an uneasy look with the others. “Okay, I admit, this is starting to seem quite unsettling. I feel like maybe we should have put more importance on this from the beginning. Because the last verse is predicting poverty, famine, and violence. I mean, hopefully it’s…exaggerated?” 

Deidre snorted. “If anything, the Raven Queen is prone to understating things. She prefers to impress people with action, not words. If she feels the need to exaggerate, then the reality would probably be cataclysmic.” 

Gera’s back prickled with a sudden wave of cold at the other woman’s word choice. “Let us turn our attention back to the beginning. After reading the whole thing, that part seems to take on new meaning. Would she say that if she were going to be the one to bring about this ruin? Why would she need to be a light in the darkness or a candle against the night if she were in control of what’s coming?” 

“She’s—” Deidre’s voice broke, and she cleared her throat before continuing. “The Raven Queen is not all-powerful. But if she considers herself merely a candle compared to a world of night, then things must be very, very bad.” 

Sharon tapped the binder. “You have the tenets she handed to the Undreaming Order, right? I respected her quite a bit more when I heard them. I don’t believe that young woman—or incredibly ancient sorceress, whatever you want to call her—would willingly place innocents at risk if there were any way to get around it. It’s why I’m willing to be a part of her organization. But if we consider that the letter was only meant as a threat to her enemies, then the first verse doesn’t make sense.” 

Healer Nidson tapped his fingers rhythmically against the table top. “So we must conclude that it was meant as a more general warning.” 

Martha looked to Gera. “Millennium has had some unpleasant episodes recently. Do you think…he might be hearing hints of what’s to come?”

Gera grimaced. “I hope not. If he is, then it means things are not far off. But if it is as serious as we suspect, and something the wind could bring rumors of, I imagine his reaction to the whispers would be much worse.” She was again grateful that her son no longer dreamed, and only rarely needed to sleep, even if it did mean that he got up to a huge amount of mischief while most of the household was asleep. 

“We should begin to stockpile food,” Sharon said firmly. 

“Do you think she’s already doing that?” Turner asked. “She said she would ‘laugh as she feasts.’” 

“She’s a powerful thaumaturge. She’ll never go hungry. But do you think she can feed the entire city?” Sharon asked. “I think that’s a little too unreasonable.” 

The young man shrugged. “Why not? She just needs to go out and kill a whale or a kraken once every few weeks. I work so hard on her behalf, I don’t believe she would let me starve.” 

Deidre slammed her hand onto the table and pointed an accusing at Turner. “You have a fundamental misunderstanding of the situation and your position!” she declared. “True, the Raven Queen protects her own. But do you think she’ll accept people into her flock who refuse to prepare or better themselves, who just want to do barely enough and then shelter under her wings and suck off her tit? She has standards!” 

Bear let out a deep, rumbling growl, staring over the edge of the table at Turner, who shrank back, chastened. 

Anders patted the side of Bear’s neck. “If we had no idea, that would be one thing. But she’s warned the entire city so blatantly already. Being completely unprepared for disaster would be due only to willful ignorance at this point. Especially after she literally handed us the resources to prepare.” 

“The celerium,” Deidre agreed. “It was much more than needed to hire a few extra teachers to come give lessons to the flock.” 

“What kind of medical supplies will we end up needing? Can we speak to her? I need details to properly stock the infirmary,” Nidson said. 

Liza cleared her throat. “How, exactly, do you all believe that the Raven Queen knows these things? Are you sure her predictions are accurate?”

A moment of silence followed. Finally, Deidre spoke up. “I’m not sure about her exact capabilities, but she told me directly that she was a seeker of mysteries, and that she wanted the flock to be, too. It seems reasonable that she has some methods to learn things the rest of us can’t.” 

“What about Lord Stag?” Anders asked. “They’ve collaborated in the past. Is he doing anything in particular? Something we could emulate?” 

Gera frowned. After hesitating for a moment, she said, “I sense that man has his own agenda. He collaborates with the Raven Queen, true, but he is not her follower. Still, he has been preparing local food production facilities. Not nearly enough to make a difference in a famine, however. But it’s undeniable that several powerful factions, including the Thirteen Crowns, have been stockpiling celerium and powerful components. People are still disappearing off the street, and an unusual number of long-distance caravans and fleets of ships have been going missing. The army is recruiting. Prices for food, basic potions, and clothing are rising, and with the ice storms in the northern islands and the drought in Kuth…” 

Liza nodded slowly. “That’s all true. But if she wanted you to do something about it, why hasn’t she given you more detail or specific instruction?” 

Gera could write to the Raven Queen in the linked journal the woman had given her and schedule a meeting. “We should ask her for clarification,” she agreed. 

“Wait,” Deidre said. “She did already give instructions. I just, well, I took them at face value.” 

Jackal scowled at her. “What exactly did she say?”

Deidre swallowed and looked at the ceiling as she tried to remember. “She wanted us to continue our current efforts, obviously. Feeding, clothing, and healing the flock. But in addition to that, she said that she wanted us to seek after mysteries, like her. And, um, specifically, she wanted every single member to learn to read, do basic math, and learn some basic meditations.” 

“Meditations?” Turner asked. 

“They can help to settle the mind, but most use them as a way to stabilize and prepare the Will,” Gera said. “She prescribed some mental exercises for my son, but he mostly keeps up with them in preparation to—” She stopped, her blind eye widening. “In preparation to learn magic. She told him she would teach him some magic one day.”

Enforcer Turner leaned forward so hard and fast he almost fell from his chair. “Wait, are you serious?” 

Deidre’s eyes had gone wide, and she was staring into the mid-distance as if watching the descent of the Radiant Maiden into their midst. “She said for those that complete those lessons, there would be more to come. Is that what she meant?” Her voice went high and squeaky with feverish intensity. “Do you think that’s what she meant!?” 

Liza raised her eyebrows. “Several of you are already thaumaturges. Would you need to complete the meditations, as well? Setting aside the illegality of teaching magic to others without, at minimum, a Master’s certification, how would she even afford to outfit every single member of the Undreaming Order with basic components and a Conduit? And beyond that, it takes so long to become a competent sorcerer. If the majority of the flock were to be of any use, she would need to wait years.” 

Deidre laughed somewhat maniacally. “She can just hand out celerium worth thirty thousand gold without twitching an eyebrow. I don’t think we need to worry about her resources.” She turned a feverishly intense gaze on Gera. “What are these meditation exercises, exactly? I need a list. We should buy reference books. Or maybe some meditation tutors. Monks are good at that, right? We need to hire some monks, real ones, like from the Isles of Coldpine.” 

“I don’t think they’re the kind of monks you think, unless you plan to sprint bare-chested into battle,” Anders muttered, but Deidre wasn’t listening. 

Liza’s lips twitched again. The woman crossed her arms and leaned back in her chair. “I did hear some rumors that what the Raven Queen stole was a method to create celerium. But are you sure that’s what she’s planning? Could she have had some other reason for her instructions?” 

“The lucid dreaming,” Enforcer Turner piped up immediately, only slightly less excited than Deidre. “The exercises to prepare for that can be a little like meditation.” Of them all, the young man was perhaps the most enthusiastic about the practice, though Gera had heard several of the other members of the flock complain that it was just an excuse for him to take a midday nap. 

Deidre flipped frantically through her binder. “Gera, you heard her sing that song to the Red Guard, right?” 

“Yes,” Gera said. The atmosphere among the others was getting to her, and her fingers twitched and trembled. She clasped her hands together in her lap. “She sang it in the eldritch-horror voice, as you called it. But like a lullaby.” 

Deidre found the page where she had recorded her interview with Gera and recited the song quickly. 

“Hush now, child, do not weep.

Close your eyes and sink to sleep.

In slumber’s realm, you may roam,

But heed me, child, stay close to home.

For should you wander far and wide,

Your soul may find a place to hide.

In the realm of dreams, beware,

Dark creatures roam with wicked stare.

For if you stray too far, too deep,

In the land where nightmares sleep,

Your soul may wander, lost and torn,

And those you’ve left behind, forlorn.

Secrets in the darkness keep,

For with the dawn, all shadows flee.

Sleep now, child, do not fear.

Morning comes soon, bright and clear.”

Spoken this way, it was much less disturbing than the original rendition. 

Anders and Jackal shared a knowing look. “It’s obviously a warning,” Ander said. 

Jackal pointed his small dagger at the other man. “Yes. A threat to them about the kind of power she controls. I mean, we already know that dreams—and nightmares—are part of her domain. If she were going to teach me any magic related to that song, I would definitely want to stabilize my Will as much as possible.” He turned to Diedre. “There has got to be information about the best ways to grow the other facets of the Will besides capacity, right? I agree, we need that.” 

“I can source some mind-healing potions and supplies if you allocate me some of that thirty thousand gold budget,” Nidson said. “But I would like to return our attention to the coming danger. Is it possible that the Undreaming Order is meant to be a stabilizing influence during the coming disaster? It would be a good reason for her to go to all the trouble to create an altruistic organization. After all, this doesn’t serve her personally in any way.” 

“We exist to keep more people alive?” Sharon murmured, staring at the table.

Anders pressed a fist to his mouth, absentmindedly petting Bear as the dog whined and placed its drooling head in his lap. “It would have been a good reason to reach out to the Verdant Stags, too, since they’ll surely serve a similar purpose.” There was a moment of silence as the weight of this possibility settled over all of them. 

“We won’t let her down,” Deidre declared solemnly, meeting each of their gazes individually. 

Jackal slipped and winced as he cut the side of his finger with the tiny dagger. “Should we try to help with the High Crown, too?” 

“But she never asked you to prepare for any of this,” Liza said. 

Deidre rolled her eyes. “Do we need the Raven Queen to explicitly say to prepare when she’s already warned of the coming danger? We’d be stupid not to listen to her. And otherwise, she’s literally told us what to do already. If she really needed our help with the High Crown, she would have said something. And in exchange, she would have given us something big. It’s probably less hassle for her to just handle it herself. What can we do that she can’t?”

Enforcer Turner pinched his chin thoughtfully. “But that doesn’t mean we can’t still build up small amounts of favor by assisting, just like we do with helping to run the Undreaming Order and helping people in her name, right?” 

“But we don’t know her plan,” Martha said. “If we start trying to embarrass and undermine the High Crown, is there any danger in doing it…too well?” 

Surprisingly, Sharon was the one to let out a dark chuckle. “How could a little embarrassment ever make up for his crimes? I don’t have any special capabilities, but if you need my limited skills for that, I would be delighted to assist.” 

“I don’t see the harm in it,” Deidre agreed. “But the focus of our efforts and resources should definitely be on carrying out her actual orders as well as possible. This is going to be a huge undertaking, if we do it right. We might need to buy up some of the surrounding buildings. I’ll start working on a plan. We need to expand and improve our efficiency, and figure out how to manage a much larger flock without letting people slip through the cracks. Maybe some kind of rewards and recognition program meant to increase our members’ sense of loyalty and belonging. I don’t want to tell everyone that the Raven Queen plans to teach them magic. We want people who are here for the right reasons, not a sense of greed.” 

“Maybe a ranking or badge system for various contributions and achievements?” Sharon offered. “We can all collaborate on the plan. I’m going to need a bigger kitchen, and some helpers. And…we should keep an eye on Sebastien. He’s a wonderful, sweet young man, and I worry he might run into danger, caught up between these powerful forces.”

Author Note: Happy Reading!