Chapter 28
Field notes, the 22nd of Arasil, 1571.
The past week has been exhausting. Arico seems determined to reach out to as many patches as possible, and I’ve been conscripted to join him on many of these excursions. The process is usually the same: gaining trust with them with my information first, then answering questions, and finally demonstrating how he can help them and encouraging them to support him against the Sustained.
Jaas could feel the ache in her hand as she wrote, compounded by the number of times she’d demonstrated writing for her many audiences. Thankfully she hadn’t needed to copy her list of names (the dwarves had completed the metal plates and were now just waiting on paper to copy them), but all the writing she’d done in her ad hoc ‘classes’ had still taken a toll.
Each mission was a risk, as well. There was always the chance the magistrate or his guards would catch wind of what they were doing and get word out to the Council. If that happened, the Lord Ascendant’s wrath would come down on them like a bag of hammers.
At least it seemed like they were making progress. Word had spread, quietly of course, that the Harbinger and the heretic (the title given to Arico by the Sustained) were becoming champions of the stra’tchi.
Champions. She’d never championed any cause before, but it did feel good. Hesitating at first, Jaas dipped for more ink, and then put quill to paper again. With regards to the incident a few nights ago… I am feeling better. My ankle is stronger—though not fully healed yet—and I’ve had time to think back on what I learned.
She sighed as she kept scribbling. I’ve never had any real experience with sickness, either of the body or the mind. To meet someone like Codi, who seems so normal, and yet is so broken in his mind… was truly jarring to me. I don’t blame him anymore. I’ve had ample time to come to grips with how he came to be that way, so now I just feel sorry for him. But then, he might just have easily been a true monster. When he grabbed me like that, my thoughts immediately went to the worst possible place. How many others, I wonder, have similar stories? How many people, both here and on the Outside, have had their sanity rocked by tragedy? I never would have even thought about it, had I not touched upon someone like Codi.
Sabra touched her on the shoulder. “It’s time, pretty lady.”
Jaas looked up, and then out the window. Already the sun was getting low in the sky. She couldn’t tell time without a clock as easily as Arico or Durhu could, but Jaas guessed she’d been alone for more than an hour now. Reluctantly, she packed up her things and extended an arm up to Sabra.
He helped her stand, and then walked behind her on their way back to the sewer entrance. One of the dwarven navigators would be waiting for them at the underground threads; she hoped they’d be bringing her back to the Fishbowl for some rest. Jaas didn’t think she had the energy for more teaching at the moment. Arico was busy in another patch right now, and who could say what work Alzhi was doing for the Ascendants at the moment?
Most of the patches she’d visited so far had similar underground tunnels to the one underneath Gainos’ house, but this patch had been an exception because these tunnels had already been dug centuries ago. These sewers hadn’t been in use since the city had been called Vasiriah. Sanitation infrastructure hadn’t really been necessary since the Threading, with waste simply being thrown into the threads. Most farming patches repurposed waste as fertilizer for their fields, and apparently it worked quite well in some of the Sustained patches. Threading reduced all matter to parts even smaller than dust, so there was no threat of disease. As such, no one had thought about the sewers for such a long time that it was almost second nature to ignore them.
Of course it wouldn’t always be that way. Arico had told her he hoped by the time the Ascendants caught on, there would already be enough patches ready to oppose them that it would no longer matter. Until then, the movement would continue to use the sewers to get around—at least in patches that didn’t already have secret dwarven passageways.
Sabra lifted the metal disc up, and Jaas climbed down into the tunnels. The nearest threads should be just down one of the corridors. He climbed down after her, using the light from above as a guide. One of the locals had promised to put the disc back in place after they’d left, so that no one would notice.
As soon as Sabra reached the bottom of the ladder and was lifting his torch to look around, he froze in his tracks. Jaas stopped as well, wondering what was going on. Sabra reached for the side of his neck and turned to her with a small feathered dart in his hand. “What is-” his eyes suddenly rolled up in his head and he collapsed like a puppet with its strings cut.
“Sabra!” She cried out, trying to catch him as he fell. She only partially succeeded in rolling him to the ground; he was too heavy to keep standing. Jaas let go of him, frantically reaching into her pack to get her gun, but strong arms grabbed her from behind and lifted her off the ground. As she struggled a figure in the darkness reached down and picked up the torch, revealing four others including the one holding her.
Jaas’ breath caught in her throat. They were all wearing Ascendant uniforms, with varying house symbols. Two of them had shaved heads like Alzhi, and the rest had topknots.
“It’s all clear, sir,” one of them reported from down the hall. “Looks like it’s just the two of them.”
The closer bald man nodded. “Let’s go before more stra’tchi arrive. Bring the Monster too, if you can drag it that far,” he added with a thoughtful tone, glancing down at Sabra’s unconscious form. “It might be useful.”
-.-
Jaas tried to control her breathing as her captors walked her through what felt like a wooden floor hallway. They’d blindfolded her almost immediately, and taken her away from the point in the threads where she’d been expected. Then they’d navigated her here, though that hadn’t helped much. Inside the threads, she just saw their bodies as she had before. No animals, and no symbols like the dwarven navigators used.
Since their arrival at… wherever they were, she’d been nothing but baggage to them. At one point, she’d even been picked up and thrown over someone’s shoulder as they went up a set of stairs. She was actually grateful for that; she wouldn’t have wanted to climb stairs blindfolded. The dwarf navigator wouldn’t have seen her. He wouldn’t have any idea she’d been captured! She had no idea where they’d taken Sabra, either. Probably a different patch entirely.
The Sustained guards didn’t speak, but she could hear at least three of them moving around her. They’d taken her pack again, but this time she only had notes in it for her writing lessons. And her gun, of course. The rest of it was back in the Enclave, safe and sound. Unlike her. When they finally came to a stop, Jaas heard a door close behind her, and then rough hands were removing the blindfold.
It was a small room, perhaps thirty hands on a side, with a closed wooden window. She noticed a chair in the middle, and a desk and cot on one side. A bowl of fruit and a glass pitcher of water rested on the desk. Without a word, the guards left and closed the door behind them. She didn’t hear it lock, but she was sure it was guarded. Jaas’ heart was beating so fast she had to stop and take a deep breath. She’d been captured. Again. The last time had been bad enough, but this time they knew who she was!
Strangely though, this room didn’t look like a gaol cell. From what the Hauld and Arico had hinted, she was important to the Sustained. Possibly because of what she knew, but more likely it was because they thought she was the Harbinger. Whether it was true or not, she hoped it meant they wouldn’t hurt her.
The door opened again, and an older man wearing a light gray robe entered. He smiled at her as he approached. “Lady Senneco. I’m so pleased you’re all right.” Taking her hand in both of his, he examined her head and neck. “I don’t see any bruises. At least those barbarians didn’t dare hurt you. At any rate, you can relax. You’re safe now.”
It was hardly the greeting Jaas had expected. She opened her mouth in surprise for a moment. “How… who are you?”
He grimaced. “My apologies. I’m Helleco Thatcher. I’m the Lord Ascendant’s Chief Sifter, and I’ve been assigned as your evaluator.” He kept looking at her deferentially as he spoke. It was a little unnerving.
Almost as ominous as what he’d said. Jaas tried to collect her thoughts, looking around the room again before examining this Chief Sifter. Arico had told her about the Council’s sifters. About how they tortured people to get whatever story or confession they wanted. “And… what exactly are you evaluating me for?”
“Of course. You wouldn’t know what a sifter is, would you?” He gestured to the chair, and went over to the desk. “Please sit down. I’ll try to explain.”
Helleco poured a pair of drinks from the pitcher on the desk. “Do you want something to eat or drink? I don’t imagine you’ve had the best food where you’ve been.”
Jaas shook her head, but he handed a glass to her anyway. “In case you change your mind.” He pulled out another chair and sat nearby, still tentatively staring at her.
Apparently he became aware of that as well, because his face colored and he looked away. “Forgive me. It’s just I’ve heard so much about you, and I’ve really wanted to meet you for a long time now. The things you must have seen on the Outside…” he trailed off.
“Anyway,” his tone changed to a more businesslike cadence, “sifters are mostly arbitrators, in our day-to-day lives. We sort through stories told to us by two or more parties, and it’s our job to determine the truth. Then we’re asked to render a fair ruling for everyone involved, of course. Sometimes, such as right now, we’re also assigned to evaluate people and determine a threat level for our superiors.”
He chuckled as she thought that over. “Frankly though, I think your case might be the easiest one I’ve ever had.”
“Why is that?” She asked faintly.
“Because you’re from the Outside, of course,” he gave her a surprised look. “Clearly, you could have had no past association with the heretic Arico, nor with the fanatics who work for him. He kidnapped you weeks ago, and obviously forced you to work for him as well. I mean he had the Deathwatch Monster itself guarding you, for Aquun’s sake! No, I think I’ll be able to give the Lord Ascendant a glowing report about you.”
Jaas was tempted to ask about Sabra, but she knew she had to be careful. Whether they were trying to trick her or not, anything she told them could be disastrous. “I’m sorry, Lord Thatcher, but I don’t know anything about your justice system here. If I’m not under suspicion as you say, then why did your guards bring me here blindfolded? Where are we, anyway?”
A pained look flashed across his face. “Yes, I’m sorry about that. The Ascendant Guards believe in taking no chances. They were ordered to rescue you, which they did, but they tend to view everyone but their own people as a possible threat.”
Jaas nodded slowly. “I thought it was because they think I’m the Harbinger.”
“Ah, so the heretic told you about that, did he? Well you don’t need to worry,” Helleco waved a hand dismissively. “No one here believes in those old prophecies and portents! As for where we are,” he rose and headed over to the window, “you can see for yourself.”
He opened it for her, and Jaas could see the river itself, slowly winding its way south. Beautiful buildings lined both sides of it, lamps suspended in front of each of them to illuminate the river. Even this late in the evening, some people were still in the water, playing and splashing each other. Children’s laughter echoed up from the shore.
“Welcome to Barros patch, Lady Senneco,” Helleco said quietly.
Jaas took it in for a few seconds, before turning away and surveying the room again. She caught a glimpse of the guards outside. “You’re sure I’m safe here?”
Helleco followed her gaze. “Ah, of course. The guards are a necessary precaution, I’m afraid. It seems the heretic has followers inside the Ascendants themselves, and as a result we’ve had to keep your rescue a closely guarded secret. Only a handful of people know that you’re here, and we have to keep it that way until we find out who betrayed us. In fact, you could be very helpful in that regard. Any detail you remember, no matter how small, could be of use in tracking this traitor down.”
So that’s what they were after. She didn’t know if Alzhi was the only spy working against the Sustained, but she wasn’t about to turn him over to them. “I’ll tell you everything I know,” she said quietly.
Jaas doubted Alzhi would be able to find her, not if they were keeping her location secret. That meant it was up to her to find where they were holding Sabra and escape with him. She only hoped she could keep her lies straight until she found a way to do that.
-.-
Arico felt like his head was about to split open. It had only been a few hours now, but he was already about to tear his hair out from sheer concern. What had he been thinking, sending her in alone? Sure, Sabra was with her, but he wasn’t a navigator! She could be in terrible danger, wherever she was!
He was doing a bang-up job protecting her; that was for sure. First she had injured her ankle, then Codi’d attacked her, and now… this, whatever was going on here. Arico wasn’t sure she could survive much more of his benevolent protection!
The moment he exited the threads, he was approached by the Hauld and his guards. “Any luck, lad?”
Arico shook his head in frustration. “I spoke to Direk. He said he waited for more than half an hour, but they never showed up at the threads. He never saw any sign of them at all. I retraced their steps into the patch, and spoke to a few of the locals. None of them saw Jaas or Sabra after they left from her lesson.”
“D’ye believe ‘em?”
Arico’s chest tightened. Jaas and Sabra couldn’t have gone anywhere else, not without a navigator. Visions of her being tortured were racing through his head, and he tried not to think about that. “I don’t know, sir. It’s possible they turned her over to the Ascendants; remember, we both have a price on our heads. Even if they’d done so, wouldn’t the Ascendants have also been waiting for me to show up looking for her? And why would they take Sabra too? They have some idea how dangerous he is. It would have been safer for them to just kill him and leave his body there. I don’t think they did that, though. Sabra wouldn’t go down easy, and I didn’t find any blood or bodies down in those sewers.”
“Aye. It’s soundin’ more like some kinda power play in tha Sustained Houses. Ye think one o’ the Houses is actin’ alone here?”
“It’s possible, sir. Maybe Alzhi can confirm it for us. Have you had any word from him?”
The Hauld shook his head. “Nay, he’s workin’ surveillance in tha threads. Watchin’ tha Enclave, ironic’ly. Contactin’ him would put him in danger, an’ tha chances he knows anythin’ abou’ this’re pretty much nil.”
Arico turned around again. “Then I’ll keep looking. I’ll come back here in an hour. Could you leave someone here if there’s any news?” He barely waited for a response before he was back inside the threads.
