The Unmaking (The Last Days of Tian Di, #2)(4)

“He should be put in the dungeons with a barrier,” said Eliza. “I’ll show you what he’s been doing, aye. Then the Emmisariae can take care of things.”

Foss sighed. “If you want to put a human in the dungeons, Eliza Tok, you will have to speak with Kyreth. He is expecting you, by the way.”

“I know,” said Eliza. “Will you keep an eye on him, Charlie?”

“Aye aye, Cap’n,” said Charlie, settling down in the grass next to Abimbola.

“Dinnay call me that,” said Eliza, and then smiled at him involuntarily. “Nice flight, nay?”

“Wet,” Charlie came back flatly.

“Perhaps you should change into something dry first,” said Foss to Eliza, only just managing to refrain from saying before you catch your death of cold.

“I’m almost dry. But aye, you’re right, I should get cleaned up anyway. Come on, walk with me. Have you nay missed me at all, Foss? I’ve been gone for weeks!” She looked up at his brilliant face, his eyes much brighter than when she had last seen him, and she remembered that they were approaching winter, his strongest season.

“I would have missed you more and worried less if I’d had any idea what you were doing. Although, as it turns out you were terrorizing and kidnapping a human, I think I would have worried even if I had known.”

“He’s been in league with the Cra, Foss,” said Eliza as they made their way into the south wing and up the marble stairs, in the direction of Eliza’s bedroom. “He’s been planning their attacks and making sure they didnay get reported!”

“The Cra.” Foss’s shoulders slumped noticeably. “I have mentioned, I believe, that none of us are terribly happy about you going into battle alone with so little training. And I am understating the case quite dramatically.” He looked as if he was about to say more but decided against it.

“It’s just the Cra,” protested Eliza. “It’s hardly dangerous. And lah, besides, I always have Charlie with me.”

Foss shook his head. “Kyreth will not be pleased,” he said.





Chapter


2



Foss was right. Eliza spent the morning rehashing the same argument she always had with the Supreme Mancer Kyreth, which, as usual, left them both even angrier than when they had started.

“It is beyond irresponsible! You are a fool, Eliza, a foolish girl. When you are sufficiently trained and you have a daughter, that is the time to fulfill your duty as the Shang Sorceress. But to put yourself in danger so deliberately – you are too much like your mother, and will meet her fate or worse if you do not learn to obey those who hold your interests at heart!” Kyreth paced back and forth behind his heavy marble desk, hands locked behind his back, his eyes blazing so white-hot that Eliza could not look him in the face. The room hummed with his anger. Behind him one of the blank Scrolls hanging from the wall wrote out swiftly too much like your mother, and another Scroll wrote her fate or worse.

“I was not...in...danger,” Eliza ground out between her teeth for what felt like the twentieth time. “Charlie was with me the whole time, aye. Anyway, I can handle the Cra. I can handle a man. Lah, if the Mancers had ever bothered to deal with the Cra then I wouldnay have had to do it in the first place!”

“Do not be insolent!” Kyreth flashed with rage, making Eliza wince. “Is it your belief, Eliza, that the Mancers spend their days in idleness? Answer me!”

“Of course nay,” she protested. “But –”

“Then is it your belief that to separate the two worlds is an easy task, requiring little of our power?”

“No.” She became sulky now.

“And do you think it is effortless to maintain and build upon the barriers that hold our enemy, that Arctic fiend, a task made infinitely more strenuous since you delivered to her the Book of Barriers?”

This was a sore point. Eliza fell into furious silence. Infinitely more strenuous, wrote one of the Scrolls, as if to rub it in.

“Eliza?” he demanded again.

She could barely get the word out, “No.”

His voice softened. “I know that you mean well. You wish to rid Di Shang of the evil of the Cra and this is most commendable. But there is no end to evil, Eliza. Evil will keep coming. And if you were to perish now, the line of the Shang Sorceress would end. The world would be bereft forever, the power of the Mancers stretched beyond what we can achieve alone. For the time being, the military is responsible for beings that cross over from Tian Xia. The Mancers are responsible for separating the worlds and keeping our terrible enemy imprisoned. You, Eliza, are responsible for learning what you can of Magic, for studying in diligence and obedience. When you are ready, and when you have produced an heir, you will perform your duty and guard the Crossing. But now is not that time.”

“How can I wait until I grow up, while the Cra –”

“Now is not that time,” thundered Kyreth.

Eliza leaped to her feet and found herself slammed back into her chair hard by Kyreth’s Magic, which only angered her further. “Tell that to the mother of some child the Cra have stolen!” she shouted at him. “And dinnay try to tell me you’re just too busy to take care of it. That’s the worst excuse I’ve ever heard in my entire life!”