Part 37 (1/2)

Leah would have risen to meet them, but she more than suspected that Lysander was involved in whatever madness had occurred under Talos' watch. She sat where she was, waiting for them to come to her.

Idly, she wished that Indirial were there, rather than putting out fires*both literal and metaphorical*all around camp. It seemed that, while the bulk of the Enosh forces were focused on the Valinhall Travelers under Talos' command, they had sent other Travelers to strike elsewhere at camp, popping out of Gates and causing as much havoc as possible before slipping back into their Territories.

They would all be caught and slaughtered if they tried this tactic for too long; Damasca had too many Travelers, and they knew their Territories too well. Eventually, Leah's Travelers would catch and overwhelm their enemies.

But for now, Indirial had to run to each corner of the camp, trying to catch Travelers as they literally popped out of the air.

Still, she could have used the support of a Valinhall Traveler*even Simon, if he was still alive*to back her up. She could be sure Lysander wouldn't try anything if she had one of them behind her.

”Your Highness,” Lysander panted, gritting his teeth at his evident pain. ”The Valinhall Travelersathey've turned on us. They've joined with their Incarnation.”

Deliberately, Leah arched one eyebrow. ”That's odd, since I have been watching the battle. Not two minutes ago, Master Kai was personally engaged in combat with the Incarnation. I didn't see you on the battlefield, strangely enough.”

”Because they struck me down too early!” Lysander insisted. ”The boy, Simon, led the way. I think he's been working for Enosh all along.”

Lysander was intelligent enough, in his way, but if he had paid any attention to Leah's history, he would have known that she would never fall for such an obvious lie. She simply knew Simon too well.

Not that Simon wouldn't oppose Damasca; that would be entirely in character for him. Leah still couldn't help but feel a little shaky about Simon's loyalties. But he would have attacked directly, charging at the Damascan troops with his sword out. He would most certainly not have pretended to be an ally, and then waited until the perfect time to execute an ambush.

That was a tactic she would have expected from Lysander.

He would have known all of that if he had paid attention to Leah's past in Myria, followed the connection to Simon, and made the proper a.s.sumptions. Anyone with a shrewd political mind would have done so, and come up with a more convincing lie.

But Lysander Torannus, whatever his strengths in Traveling and in academia, took to politics like a child took to brightly colored wooden blocks. He was enthusiastic enough, but hardly an inspiration of skill and creativity.

Leah nodded as though the Overlord's lie had inspired serious thought. ”That's alarming news,” she said. ”I should check it out for myself.”

And, very obviously, she lowered her head to look at the scrying lens on her desk.

Like an oblivious fish, Lysander took the bait.

He stood on his own legs, suddenly not quite as crippled as before, and threw both hands out in front of him. A flock of Sarin sparrows, from Avernus, erupted into the air in front of her, filling her mind with their incessant cries.

She was familiar with the Sarin tribe. Avernus Travelers with contacts among the Sarin made excellent spies, and they were quite useful in combat. The sparrows were in constant psychic contact, and their cries could cause panic and excruciating mental pain in their enemies. The birds themselves possessed blade-sharp beaks and talons that could reduce opponents to b.l.o.o.d.y sc.r.a.ps in a minute.

But for all that, they were of very little use against a prepared foe.

Leah simply flipped her wrist over, letting her crystal bracelet touch the light, and she tapped into her Source.

Thin spikes of crystal erupted from the earth, piercing the hearts of each bird as it burst from thin air. She wasn't using her crystal ball, so her accuracy was somewhat lacking, but fortunately accuracy wasn't a requirement this time. Not every needle of crystal punctured a sparrow's breast; sometimes they took the birds in the wing, or the beak. Many needles missed entirely, jabbing up into nowhere.

But she was capable of summoning any number of crystals*at least, so long as her dwindling Source held out*while the average flock of sparrows didn't reach one hundred individuals. She barely had to concentrate. She just had to keep calling crystal.

”No!” Lysander shouted, pulling his hands back. The sparrows stopped flying from their tiny Gate, frozen in prisons of crystal. Lirial crystal, as always, didn't pierce or stab; it simply locked its targets in solid rock.

Of course, that was no less lethal for most of the birds. If their entire bodies had been trapped, they would have been fine, but when their hearts were locked in stasis with the rest of their body outsideawell, they didn't last long.

Lysander practically screamed, grasping at the crystal cages of his sparrows.

Apparently the bond between an Avernus Traveler and his flock went deeper than Leah had imagined.

She summoned her crown, feeling its weight as it materialized from Ragnarus. With it, she could deal with Lysander's two Traveler lackeys.

But, to her surprise, they were both staring between her and the Overlord in stunned disbelief. Apparently they had never expected to follow Lysander into the attempted a.s.sa.s.sination of a royal Heir.

”Your Highnessa” one of them said uncertainly.

”Help me!” Lysander snapped.

”I'm sorry, sir,” the other Traveler said, and then the two of them bowed to Leah.

”Stay where you are,” Leah said. She grabbed a sword from a nearby mundane guard, who*according to his training*had run to fetch the nearest Traveler when he noticed Travelers interfering. The tent was quickly filling up with loyal Tartarus Travelers, who all had their keys out and pointing in Lysander's general direction.

Taking the sword from the guard, she walked over to the Overlord. With the point of the sword, she pushed him down to his knees. Then she planted a foot in his shoulder and kicked him over onto his back.

Crown heavy on her head, Leah knelt over Lysander, who squirmed on the gra.s.s like a worm trying to inch itself away from a bird. In her right hand she held the sword, blade poised over his throat.

”Overlord Lysander Torannus. By my authority as the Successor to the Damascan throne, I declare you a traitor, the penalty for which is death by public execution.”

”No, wait! I've seen the future! I can show you what is to come!”

Leah leaned on the sword, driving it into the soft earth beside Lysander's head. He flinched and craned his neck, trying to get his face as far from the blade as possible.

”This sentence will be carried outa”

She intentionally let her words hang in the air, watching his panicked reaction. Then she reached through her crystal bracelet, into Lirial, and summoned crystal.

Milky white crystal erupted from the ground, encasing Overlord Lysander in a solid, translucent coffin.

”awhen I have more time,” Leah finished. Then she stood up, pulling the sword from the gra.s.s. The crystal would preserve him until such time as she decided to render judgment, whether that was days or weeks.

Or years. She had her duty after, all.

A duty that started with finding her brother, and getting some answers out of him. There was no way Lysander had come up with the initiative to start a rebellion on his own, and from what she'd seen, he was firmly in her brother's pocket.

It was about time she went looking for Talos.

Simon ran through the halls of the House, relying on nothing more than his normal strength. More than anything else, he wanted to call steel and run as fast as possible, dip into the pool, withdraw some water, and make it back to Kai as soon as possible.

But he had another plan in mind, and for that, he would need his powers to last for as long as possible.

As he ran through the hall, Andra stuck a peek out of her bedroom. He actually had to dodge around her to avoid running into her long blond hair.

”Why the rush?” she called after him.

”Get the workshop open!” Simon yelled back, wrenching open the doork.n.o.b to the seventh bedroom. ”And hurry!”

As soon as Simon pulled the door open, he heard Otoku's impatient voice in his mind.