Dreadgod (Cradle Book 11) (74)

She knew where he was, but the only thing she had to do was wait for him to come back.

So Yerin spent her time trying to comfort Little Blue.

The spirit trembled in her arms. She wanted to go back into the soulspace, for fear that Red Faith would come back, but she had emerged to comfort Yerin.

It wasn’t necessary, since Yerin wasn’t afraid, but Little Blue was so adorable it was hard to complain.

“You can stay out when he gets here,” Yerin assured her. “I’ll keep you locked-up safe, that’s a promise.”

Little Blue froze with her hand on Yerin’s collar and trembled. She had been just as afraid of Yerin’s Blood Shadow—which had hurt Ruby more than she wanted to admit—but Little Blue had stood up to it when necessary.

The Sage of Red Faith just terrified her.

Yerin supposed that was a sane reaction, but it wasn’t a helpful one. Little Blue was supposed to be getting stronger from this too.

Then again, Yerin wasn’t going to push her too hard.

“They don’t have a knife to your neck,” Yerin assured the spirit. “Strong enough yourself these days, true?”

Little Blue spread her hands out and gave an uncertain warbling whistle.

“Hey now, you can’t compare yourself to Lindon. That’s a tilted scale if there ever was one. You’ve got to keep your eyes on your own Path.”

Blue hung her head in shame and kicked at the ground. Which, from her perspective, was Yerin’s lap. Yerin felt a tingle in her leg as the pure madra passed through.

Yerin sensed someone coming—the scripts only blocked spiritual perception from one direction—and looked up. The Riverseed saw that and froze.

Sure enough, Red Faith was returning with an Archlady in tow. The woman’s spirit felt like blood and poison, and more than that, it felt familiar.

Quietly, Little Blue chimed her concern for Yerin.

“I’m packed so full of backup plans and hidden weapons that if I hop, fifteen swords will fall out,” Yerin assured her. “You can stop worrying about me.”

Little Blue clasped shivering hands together and looked up as though bracing herself to face the Sage, but she flinched back before he even appeared.

Yerin patted her back with two fingers. “Tuck yourself away and hide. You won’t hear a judgment from me.”

Blue hesitated another moment, but when the two members of Redmoon Hall got close enough for her own spiritual sense to pick them up, she melted back into Yerin’s soulspace.

Yerin’s smile finally popped back out from its hiding place. She hadn’t wanted Little Blue to think she was laughing at her, because she wasn’t. She was just glad the Riverseed finally trusted her.

It was about time, in her estimation. Yerin had known Blue just as long as Lindon, after all. Ought to be some trust by this point.

Yerin stood and loosened up her shoulders to await the arrival of the Sage and the Archlady. Technically, by allowing them to join her down here, she was cornering herself.

But she’d already tested it out, and her Moonlight Bridge still worked from inside these scripts. The Sage hadn’t snuck anything nasty in there to keep her trapped. Even if he had, she still had her gatestone and a few other surprises.

Plus Little Blue, if it came to that. The spirit couldn’t fight a Sage, but she shared a lot of the power from Lindon’s pure core. And Blue would fight, even against Red Faith, if she had to. She counted as a hidden card.

Just not one Yerin wanted to play.

The Sage of Red Faith and Kahn Mala—the Archlady with her Shadow in the shape of a cobra—fell to the floor of the shaft. Kahn Mala’s lips twisted in distaste when she saw the dirt floor, but she glanced at the Sage and didn’t say anything. Even the snake wrapped around her neck gave Red Faith a wary glance.

“Bright-and-warm welcome to my dirt circle,” Yerin said. “You can help yourself to some dirt.”

Kahn Mala dipped her head to Yerin, then a doorway-sized rift opened next to her. She manipulated force aura so a chair leaped out from her void key and into her hand. “Would you like a seat?”

Yerin plopped herself back down onto the dirt, leaning her back against the stone wall of the shaft.

“…of course,” the Archlady muttered. She sat on the chair.

The Sage was talking to himself as he ran fingers along the scripts he himself had carved. When he was finally satisfied, he activated them.

Some were passive defensive scripts that would only light up when somebody tried to push their way in, but the other rings all up and down the side of the shaft lit red. Yerin felt warm power against her back, power that sang to the blood aspects in her spirit, but it wasn’t uncomfortable, so she didn’t move.

“How many of our people remain loyal to the work?” Red Faith demanded, once the scripts were lit. “How many of them were weak enough to be swayed by shallow deceptions?”

Kahn Mala nodded seriously, as though he’d asked a wise question, and Yerin imagined the woman was used to humoring the Sage. “There is great distress in the Hall over your absence. Most know how much weaker we are without you, and they do not trust Redmoon to rule alone. However…enough were disturbed by your comments about the Phoenix. Those who are not believers are uncertain about your stance, so they are going along with the Herald for now.”

“So we do not have enough support to stage an uprising from within,” Red Faith said. His eyes narrowed. “As has always been our destiny, it must come down to a duel between myself and my Shadow. Are you capable of luring him outside? The circumstances of fighting aboard the Hall do not suit me.”