The Unmaking (The Last Days of Tian Di, #2)(23)

“What are the ravens to me?” she asked shakily.

“That which you seek,” said the Oracle with a disappointed scowl. “That which you fear.”

It was a pointless riddle of an answer. Eliza pressed on, “Are the ravens my Guide?”

“Only if you follow them,” said the Oracle.

“What are the ravens trying to tell me?”

“A warning,” said the Oracle.

“What is the warning?”

“She is coming,” cawed the Oracle in the voice of a raven. “Making.” She looked confused by this and annoyed with Eliza for bringing forth so baffling an answer.

“Who is she?” asked Eliza, her heart tightening in her chest as she neared the point of it all. “Is it Nia?”

“Yes,” said the Oracle, her expression darkening. She fixed her eyes intently on Eliza, waiting for more, for this concerned her also.

“When is she coming?” asked Eliza.

The Oracle’s eyes widened with fear. She whispered, “Now.”

~~~

The Mancers stood dumbfounded in the Inner Sanctum, uncertain of what had happened. They had all felt the gap in the barriers. Now it was gone, the barriers continuing in their new and uncontrolled movement.

Kyreth spoke in a terrible voice. “Emmisariae, go now to the Great Sand Sea. Find Eliza and bring her here. The rest of you must do your utmost to strengthen the barriers around the Citadel and prepare some defense. I will consult the Scrolls.”

They all obeyed him and he went quickly to his study. Now there was much to do. Getting Eliza here was the most important thing. Why had he let her leave? He would also need to call upon the Triumvira of Tian Xia for assistance, and he would need to do it immediately. There was no time to waste.

In his study he did not sit down but said to the Scrolls, “Is the Sorceress Nia free of the barriers?”

A single gold character appeared on each of the Scrolls: Yes.

“Where is she now?” he demanded.

Here. It was written over and over again.

His heart froze. “In the Citadel?”

Yes.

“How?” It came out a shallow gasp.

Magic.

He would need to convey this to the Emmisariae without delay. They must not bring Eliza here. They must take her to Tian Xia and put her under the protection of the Triumvira. But so transfixed was he by the horror of the moment that he did not act immediately and found himself asking instead, “What does she intend?”

The golden characters wrote themselves in a graceful sweeping row down one of the Scrolls: No more than you deserve.

This shocked him so deeply that for a moment he could not formulate a thought, let alone a question. Golden characters spilled down the next Scroll in a great hurry.

You were a fool to think you could hold me bound and disempowered forever.

He took a step back and his blood ran cold. The Scrolls filled with words, one after the other.

Do the Mancers know what you did?

Do they understand the war I have with them?

Or do they follow you without question?

“How?” he said again. It didn’t matter. He began to murmur a spell to create a barrier between himself and his enemy but the words came out quite wrong, jumbled in his mouth, nonsensical. Somehow, without his realizing it, a Confusion had taken hold of him. He could not move to tear his eyes away from the characters on the centre Scroll, which began to flow rather differently, in long sweeping lines, outlining the form of a woman in gold ink. The ink became flesh and the Sorceress Nia stepped out of the Scroll into the study. Kyreth’s tongue was stilled, his hands frozen.

“Hello, Papa,” she said, planting a kiss on his cheek.





Chapter


6

Eliza hammered on the walls, shouting, but no one came. She turned back towards the Oracle, seated on her eight legs in the middle of the room, eyes glassy and vacant.

“Get somebody to come and let me out of here,” she begged. “I have to go!”

“She will come for me,” said the Oracle faintly. “She will come for me here.”

Eliza’s mind was hurtling along a trajectory of worst fears and nightmare scenarios. She needed to get out and she needed her dagger and she needed Charlie.

“Rhianu!” she screamed, pounding the wall again.

“The Chamber shall not be entered or left while I am here,” said the Oracle in a faraway voice. “They cannot open it.”

“Then leave,” said Eliza furiously. “I need to get out!”

“She is coming for me. I will remain here. We cannot flee our destinies,” said the Oracle.

“I have to warn the Mancers,” pleaded Eliza.

“They will fall before her,” said the Oracle. “I have seen it. I have seen my death today.”

Eliza stared at the spot where she thought the opening should be. She felt her way up the walls with her Deep Knowing to the ceiling and the flagstone that had opened before. She pushed at it with all her will but the presence of the Oracle was like a magnet holding the room tight together. Eliza was not strong enough to break it.

Around her neck she wore the shard of crystal Kyreth had given her long ago. He had told her she could use it to summon the Mancers if ever she needed them. For all her battles with Kyreth, now, when her greatest fear was materializing, she wished desperately that he were here. Nothing terrible could happen if only the powerful Supreme Mancer were watching over her. Why had she left the safety of the Citadel? She closed her fist over the crystal around her neck and squeezed it, begging, “Help me, please.” The crystal gave a sudden, dramatic flash. Light poured out between her fingers but the light struck the walls and bounced back without penetrating them.