Dreadgod (Cradle Book 11) (39)







6





Lindon wished Yerin would open her void key so that he could take a look inside. “So you have both messenger constructs? And the gatestones?”

Yerin was visibly struggling to keep a smile from her face, but she responded gravely. “I’m all packed up.”

“You have your backup weapons...” Lindon had made sure of that himself; he and Dross had projected that the Herald and Sage in charge of Redmoon Hall might have countermeasures for an Archlord weapon that largely functioned on blood madra, so Yerin was bringing a few other swords along. They weren’t quite as good, but they should do if Netherclaw was disabled.

With Dross’ reminders, Lindon went down his mental list. “You should have plenty of scales. The Enforcer construct I made for the Silent King will work against other mental attacks as well.”

The shadow of an enormous cloudship passed over them.

An Archlady with her Blood Shadow in the form of a snake landed on a nearby cliff and shouted down to them. “Yerin Arelius, you are expected! Reveal your weapons and drop your veils for a security inspection!”

“Worst thing that’ll happen is I won’t be able to stop myself from cutting somebody’s nose off,” Yerin said.

Her tone said she wasn’t worried about it, but that was the worst thing that could happen. No matter how well-prepared they were, she was putting herself in the hands of two people who could overpower her.

She and Dross—and even Eithan—had told him about the Blood Sage. The man wasn’t trustworthy exactly, but he was predictable. If she cooperated and handed over the process by which Ruby had been created, the Blood Sage would be her greatest ally.

It was only if he thought he could get more out of her by dissecting her that he would cause a problem. The soul oath that bound Yerin also bound Red Faith…though not the Herald that had once been his Blood Shadow.

Lindon had been the one to suggest this course of action, which Dross expected had a “reasonable” chance of going well. And now that he was standing in front of it, this seemed like too terrible of a risk.

Little Blue was veiled and curled up inside Yerin’s soulspace, but Lindon could feel that she was only holding onto her courage thanks to his own confidence. If he doubted the plan too much, she might panic.

There were more Emissaries of Redmoon Hall surrounding them now, their Blood Shadows in various forms, but Lindon wasn’t listening to them. As far as he gathered, they were panicking at the lack of response and trying to get some reassurances that Lindon and Yerin weren’t about to murder them.

They could wait.

Lindon pretended they didn’t exist and kissed Yerin goodbye, which he thought would help him accept the situation. It didn’t work. He leaned over her and muttered, “There has to be a less risky way to do this. How would you feel about replacing your arm?”

Yerin looked to his Remnant hand. “That’s a thought. Maybe we’ll call that a backup. Still got the Bridge as my ticket away; he can’t stop me from zipping out whenever I want.”

“Yes, he can,” Lindon said. “It’s called a spatial lock, and that’s why you have the gatestones. If he locks down space, you should be able to stress the field by throwing the stone, then use the Moonlight Bridge while the lock is disrupted. You know, now that I think of it, one gatestone and one extra probably isn’t—”

The voice of the next Redmoon Emissary shook the canyon in which they stood like thunder. Sand danced like fat popping in a pan. “Void Sage! Overlady Yerin Arelius! We require acknowledgement of your intentions!”

Irritated, Lindon looked at the man without removing his veil. He spoke quietly. “Pardon, but who requires it?”

The man, an Overlord, didn’t flinch. “The Sage of Red Faith!”

“Then bring him out.”

“The Sage will arrive soon! He instructed us to keep you here and determine your intentions!”

“Our intentions are peaceful, so why don’t we all wait here for the Sage? Quietly.”

“We have to determine—”

“Quiet,” Lindon commanded.

The man’s mouth moved and his throat worked, but no sound came out. Yerin gave a low whistle. “That was a fun one!”

“I’ve been practicing. There’s a trick to that. If I ordered him not to speak, he could break the working. So I remove the sound as it leaves his mouth.”

The Overlord looked horrified, and the other members of Redmoon Hall had not said another word.

“That will fade in a minute or two,” Lindon went on. “I was planning to use it on Eithan.”

Yerin sighed. “Probably wouldn’t have worked.”

“I think he was looking forward to me trying it. I found several constructs in his outer robe before he veiled them. He had recorded responses ahead of time.”

“Sometimes I—” Yerin began, but she was cut off by the Sage of Red Faith’s arrival. His spirit appeared on the cloudship over their heads, which he must have used to anchor the coordinates of his transportation.

A moment later, he dropped from the sky.

Lindon had only seen the Blood Sage on a few occasions, and the man looked like a skeleton with the bare minimum of skin and flesh to qualify as “alive.” He was thin to the point of starvation, with long white hair and scarlet lines running down from his eyes like tears of blood.

Will Wight's Books