IGS #4, Chapter 39 (Bonus!)

Jova

Jova narrowed her eyes and poured her wrath into the stone before her. It was pliant, but sweat soaked her hair, her robes, and her Heart was pushed to the point of exhaustion. Any moment now it would gutter. Reason said she could just rest. Reason said there was no longer urgency.

But damn reason to hell. She wanted out.

So she continued striding forward, step by inexorable step, tearing the rock before her into fragments and shuttling it back and around her along the walls of the tunnel she was carving. Behind her, Xandera liquefied the rock, plastering it to the walls where it rapidly cooled, darkened, and formed a hyper compact and glass smooth surface on which the others, a ways behind, could walk.

The air was baking hot, dusty, and barely breathable. That alone was reason enough to keep excavating. But it wasn’t that.

It was fury, plain and simple. The Silver Unfathom had turned upon them. Braxofitz had turned traitor. The sight of him ascending with Scorio in his arms filled her with white hot rage. Scorio, slack limbed, wreathed in those pallid vines.

And she’d been unable to do anything about it.

Leaning forward, she forced her will upon the dumb rock with greater intensity. It cracked, shattered, flew up and away around her in an infinite stream of dust, particles, and sharp fragments. The destruction helped, but she wanted to rent the very world around her into chasms.

Braxofitz. Was he cunning enough to have marshalled the horde of Philosophers that had swarmed them? To have planned such a perfidious betrayal so neatly?

No.

The name was obvious.

Dameon.

That’s where he’d fled. To make some kind of deal with the Silverines. Only he, silver-tongued as he was, could have pulled something like this off.

And that had been hours ago now.

Scorio was long gone, could be anywhere, could be—

Jova clamped down on that thought. First they had to get back outside.

She angled the tunnel upward and continued blasting. Up they climbed, step by steady step, until abruptly the ceiling above ruptured to reveal the Silver Unfathom skies and allow sweet, cool, chill air to flow down.

Jova let out a bark of triumph, tore a fragment of rock free beneath her feet, and shot upward, bursting out of the hole into the air. Immediately she sent forth her twin vortices and willed the plate of rock to spun in a circle. Let there be Philosophers present. Let there be a target for her wrath.

But they were alone.

Grimacing, she allowed the rocky plate to settle on the ground and stepped off. Allowed her Heart to Gutter, and dropped into a crouch to pant, gaze stony, heart thudding as the others emerged one by one.

They spread into a rough circle, gasping and wiping the dust from their faces. Druanna immediately summoned her eidolon, so that it loomed over them, arms outstretched, curved blades at the ready.

But there was nothing to fight.

Nobody spoke.

They were all looking to her.

Summoning her reserves, she straightened. Turned to take in their expressions. “Anybody see what happened to Myla? She'd been on watch, right?”

The others exchanged glances and shook their heads.

It was Druanna who responded. “I saw her break and run. She must have been torn down.”

Kuragin grimaced and stared away. Nyrix stepped in close, raised his hand as if to touch the other man’s arm, then dropped it.

“Fine.” Jova dismissed the Dread Blaze as a casualty. “It’s been—what? An hour since the attack?”

“Hard to say.” Leonis voice was rough, low, flinty. “Something like that.”

Jova bit her lower lip and studied the landscape. “The ambush was back there.” She pointed. “We traveled perhaps half a mile. But I saw Braxofitz carrying Scorio away. He’d covered him with those paralysis inducing vines.”

“He’s got an hour head start, then.” Nyrix shook his head. “And we don’t know where he might have flown.”

“We look for Scorio,” said Leonis, tone steadfast. “That’s all we can do.”

“Look where?” Kuragin’s rasp was harsh. “Braxofitz could fly as fast as Jova, as Scorio in dragon form. An hour? He could have gone ten, fifteen miles in any direction.”

“Toward the Silverine Sun,” said Xandera quietly. She’d drooped down to sit cross-legged on the rocks. “That’s where he’d have gone. To take him to an Abstraction.”

Everyone nodded slowly.

Jova put her hands on her hips and stared at the ground. “If that’s right, then there will be thousands of Philosophers around them.”

Leonis raised his chin. “So we find a way through them.”

Kuragin rounded on him. “Scorio’s dead.”

Leonis remained mild. “You don’t know that.”

“As good as a fact. Look, I admired the man as much as anyone else, but the Silverines eat Great Souls. Someone with Scorio’s Heart? It makes sense they did all this to grab him. He must be…” Kuragin cut himself off, grimaced, and looked away.

Leonis nodded, as if everything Kuragin had said was reasonable. “Still. He wouldn’t give up on us.”

Kelona sank into a crouch and covered her mouth and nose with both hands.

Jova frowned and glanced toward Druanna. The other woman stood with her hands on her hips, her expression hard, her dark hair dusted to gray by their travel underground.

Nobody spoke.

“It happened so fast,” said Kelona quietly.

“It must have been Dameon’s doing,” said Jova. “He left the Keep before we did.”

“He came to speak with Myla.” Kuragin’s tone was reluctant. “I left them to talk, but she said he’d spouted a bunch of nonsense, plans about making Imperator, and she laughed him off.”

Leonis eyed him. “Yet she’s the only other one who went missing.”

Kuragin rounded on him. “I’ve known Myla for years. She swore a Heart Oath to help.”

“A Heart Oath that she wasn’t a Herdsmen,” said Druanna dryly. “Nothing about betraying him to the Silverines.”

Kuragin went to retort, but this time Nyrix did touch his arm. Kuragin bit back his words, then shrugged off Nyrix’s touch angrily and stalked off a few paces to stare out over the desert.

“We have a decision before us.” Druanna continued in the same quiet tone. “Loyalty versus common sense. We pursue Braxofitz to the Silverine Sun, or we continue to the Tomb of Sadness.”

“No choice as far as I’m concerned,” said Leonis.

“Agreed,” said Xandera quietly.

“There’s a problem.” Jova raked her fingers through her matted hair, flipping it all back to one side. “Without Scorio we can’t travel quickly and carry all our supplies.”

“My eidolon can carry a couple more people,” Druanna allowed. “But if we add the packs, it will start to slow down.”

“I can carry another person on my plinth.” Jova considered. “But that will also slow me down.”

Nyrix scratched pensively at his stubble. “Just when we need the most speed. If Scorio’s to be fed to an Abstraction, we can’t go slow.”

“Then we send our fastest after him,” said Leonis. “Jova, you and Druanna go ahead, both on your plinth. You can be an hour behind them, maybe even catch up.”

“An hour.” Jova turned the unit of time over in her mind. “What are the odds that they’ll take more than an hour to feed him to the Abstraction?”

“Doesn’t matter what the odds are.” Leonis’ certainty was without end. “We still have to try.”

“That would mean leaving the others behind,” said Druanna. “At least a couple of people will have to fend for themselves.”

“If that’s a concern, I’ll be left behind,” said Leonis.

“I say we search the immediate area for Myla,” said Kuragin. “If we don’t find her, we press on to the Tomb.”

“I’m obviously for chasing Scorio,” said Leonis. “Xandera?”

Her voice was small. “Of course.”

“I’m for going after him,” said Kelona.

“Three to one,” said Leonis. “Nyrix?”

Nyrix met Kuragin’s burning stare, then sighed and looked away. “We have to go after him. I don’t think there’s a chance he’s alive, but… even so.”

Leonis raised a brow. “Druanna?”

The Pyre Lady sighed. “I think Nyrix has the right of it.”

Leonis looked to Jova.

“Fuck.” Everyone watched her. “Scorio is dead. And if he isn’t dead, then he will be, soon. Going after him is a waste of energy, and endangers all of us needlessly. He’d not want us to throw our lives away by chasing after him into the heart of a Silverine Sun. Much better that we execute his goal of uncovering the Herdsmen. Much better that we use our time and energy and lives to further his war.”

Leonis crossed his arms, brow furrowing. Went to speak, but then stopped as Jova raised her hand.

“That being said.” She grimaced. “I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I also think we have to go after him.”

“Why?” Kuragin’s shock was almost innocent.

“Because…” She blew out her cheeks and stared up at the heavens. “Because he’s our friend. Because it’s the right thing to do. Because…” She struggled with the alien concept. Thought of that stone tower she’d raised over a millennium and a half ago, of the grief, the pain, the loneliness she’d craved. The fear of a moment exactly like this one. “Because I want to.”

“Pah.” Kuragin threw up his hands. “Fine. I hope you’re all right. I’d be overjoyed if he’s still alive. Like most of you, I know he isn’t, but I understand. Let’s get after him.”

“To the Silverine Sun, then?” asked Druanna.

“Let’s return to camp and salvage our packs. I may have destroyed most of our equipment when I took us below. Let’s see if we can find the map.”

“And then navigate across the remaining several hundred miles to the Sun?” asked Nyrix hesitantly.

“Precisely,” said Jova.

Kuragin snorted, and shook his head.

Jova was too tired to immediately re-Ignite, so instead they jogged across the stone scree back to their camp. It was little under a mile away, and in complete ruin. Lips pursed, she stopped and let the other scavenge for their equipment. Most of it was destroyed. Her lip curled into a sneer. Perhaps she should have been more precise and careful about flinging a dome of solid rock over their heads just before they were overwhelmed, then pulling it down after them as she detonated a tunnel right beneath their feet.

If so, too bad.

But a few of the packs had survived. They gathered around them and watched as Leonis and Kelona laid out all that remained. A good amount of food, some water, half their bedrolls.

No map.

“Damn it,” said Leonis. “Jova. Maybe you can do some digging, see what you can uncover?”

She nodded reluctantly, Ignited, and set to hauling the ground apart. The stone was loosely compacted under the shell she’d left behind to ward off the Silverines, and in short order she uncovered a few more pack remnants. Ruptured water skins, smooshed rations, a few cloaks and changes of robes that they were able to salvage.

And the map.

Torn, smudged, and partially ruined by sand and water.

Kelona very carefully unfolded what remained. Laid it out on a blanket, and bit her lip as she tried to undo some of the damage.

“Best…” Nyrix winced. “Maybe we if let it dry?”

They all stared down at it. A good half was illegible, smudged, or simply gone.

“We’ll need a new guide,” said Leonis. “That’s what we have to do. Find a new Philosopher to take us to the Sun.”

Nobody spoke.

Jova crouched down. She’d been marking their progress each day with an ‘x’, and could see where they’d camped. By looking at the direction they’d come, and orienting on the mountains to the west, she could extrapolate which direction to continue going in order to hit the Tomb, which had been only two days away.

The Silverine Sun should be almost directly to the East. They’d already passed it, which meant if they went… She stood, extended her arm, and pointed off across the desert. “Roughly that way.”

“Roughly,” grunted Kuragin.

“We’ll need a guide,” said Druanna. “Leonis is right. Even the map was going to be hard to follow. Without it…”

Nobody spoke.

The air was heavy.

Jova looked north, toward the Tomb. Looked east, toward the Sun.

She bit her lower lip.

What was the right call?

[Probably going to ease up on bonus chapters for a bit - but wanted to catch you guys up to this one instead of leaving you hanging.]