The Shadowglass (The Bone Witch #3)(16)

“Ah. Unlike its popular version, the legend says little about Dancing Wind, for she had almost no agency in the story. Her role was simply that of Blade that Soars’ lover. A few colleagues have even gone so far as to theorize that her abrupt disappearance suggests she died long before Hollow Knife stole his brother’s heart—that her death may have triggered Blade that Soars’ war against the world.

“In the darashi oyun, which Vernasha penned, Dancing Wind takes on Hollow Knife’s role, and the latter is cast as its main villain. We scholars thought it was nothing more than a romanticized version of the legend. Scholars look down on embellishments, but we never thought Vernasha had another motive.”

“That Dancing Wind and Blade that Soars shared two halves of the same soul?” Rahim asked.

“I am afraid you are mistaken, Lord Arrakan.” The scholar took off his spectacles, wiping them vigorously. “Blade that Soars and Hollow Knife are two halves of the same whole. They are brothers. For Blade that Soars to gain power, he would have to take Hollow Knife’s heartsglass, not that of his lover.

“It was not Blade that Soars who formed the world. Older texts indicate a Great Creator shaped the world and begot a son for its stewardship. But then he split his child into two brothers, so their abilities were also halved. There are enough similarities between that ancient document and the Blade that Soars legend for us to say with certainty that this Great Creator was their father.

“Blade that Soars resented his father’s decision to make them two, however, for it greatly diminished his strength. He had wished for a perfect world, free from pain and suffering, and to do so, he strove to be his sire’s equal in power. It was he, not the Creator, who taught magic to his subjects. Hollow Knife criticized his brother’s actions, fearing the chaos that could come from the spells of imperfect creatures.”

“Aenah always said Hollow Knife was the true hero,” I murmured, remembering what Aenah had told me while she languished in the Odalian dungeons, pretending she had had no relationship with Telemaine. “It was why the Faceless worshipped him.”

“But isn’t that good?” Likh asked. “To want a perfect world?”

“To be perfect without suffering means no change. If you know neither hurt nor hardship, then you will not know the strength they can summon within a person. What is life’s meaning if you cannot distinguish between happiness and sorrow?”

“It would have been nice for the Great Creator to make the world with a little less suffering though,” Likh said sadly.

Garindor smiled briefly. “Blade that Soars certainly agreed with you. He believed that the world would be destroyed by its flaws. So he offered magic as a means to address those ills, for his people to forge a better life. But even he abused this power, giving the best of it to Dancing Wind and subjugating his dissidents.

“Hollow Knife determined the only way to stop his brother was to take his heartsglass and merge it with his own, to double his strength and restore the world in the image his father had originally intended—one without magic—even if it meant forfeiting his own life. And because Blade that Soars gave the core of his heartsglass to Dancing Wind, Hollow Knife had to take hers.”

He shifted some books off a heavy pile and selected one volume, opening it to reveal Drychta writing. “The unnamed book you referenced is only a piece of the puzzle. It is the oldest book written in the common tongue that talks of the legend, but this Drychta book—this precedes it by at least a year. Few people study Drychta, so it tends to be overlooked by even the best Isteran scholars. But I know this manuscript’s value; it was discovered twenty years ago, hidden within one of Drycht’s numerous mountains. It lay in a strange cave filled with unnatural flora, unearthed only because of a sudden rock slide. King Aadil decreed its contents heretical because it criticized the absolute rule of kings, and many of my colleagues were killed for defending the tome. This book is more important than my life, and I barely escaped with both intact. I came to Istera because they treasured and honored knowledge in all its forms—Aadil did not.”

“What does it say?” Althy asked. “I can speak a little Drychta, but not to read.”

“Let me translate. ‘Help me, Little Tears,’ Hollow Knife implored the other goddess. ‘Help me take Blade that Soars’ heart, so that I can make the world whole again.’”

He paused. “Until this point, the text is the same as in the other book, but there are passages in this Drychta book that the former did not have: And upon taking his brother’s heartsglass, still stained with his lover’s blood, did Hollow Knife turn to slaughter the seven creatures of Blade that Soars. From each, he drew a shining stone, a different color for each carcass. He took these gems into his own heartsglass with much suffering, but his will was true, and all seven beasts were revived under his bidding. No longer were they ravening beasts that terrorized the people. They became docile and obedient. And with them, his heartsglass shone as black as Blade that Soars’ shone bright. Then he reached for the First Harvest, to join dark and light to create shadowglass.

“The text here then follows the other book’s. But before he could use his brother’s—Lady Tea?”

I rose from my chair, hands clenched. I stared down at Sakmeet’s notes, the letters blurring together. “Dark into light,” I said hoarsely. “Shadowglass. Althy, this is all in Aenah’s book. To you, seeking Hollow Knife’s path: present yourself to the mountain for judgment. If proven worthy, arm yourself with a heartsglass of black, where love’s blood had shed over. Boil seven daeva’s bezoars separately, and drink a vial’s worth of their waters. Weave Compulsion in the air; its heart shall reveal itself to you. Take it into your heartsglass, and be born anew.”