She Awakened the leggings, commanding them to strengthen her legs. The leg tassels began to twist, and she raised each foot in turn, letting the tassels wrap around the bottoms. Her stance felt firmer, the leggings pulled tight against her skin.
Finally, she tied on the sword Vasher had given her. She still didn’t know how to use it, though she could hold it properly. It felt right to bring it.
Then she left.
* * *
LIGHTSONG HAD RARELY SEEN a goddess cry.
“It wasn’t supposed to go this way,” Blushweaver said, heedless of the tears streaming down her cheeks. “I had things under control.”
The dungeon beneath the God King’s palace was a cramped room. Cages—like the kind that might be used for animals—lined both walls. They were large enough to hold a god. Lightsong couldn’t decide if that was just a coincidence.
Blushweaver sniffled. “I thought I had the God King’s priesthood on my side. We were working together.”
Something’s wrong about this, Lightsong thought, glancing at the group of priests chatting anxiously at the side of the room. Llarimar sat in his own cage—the one next to Lightsong’s—head bowed.
Lightsong looked back at Blushweaver. “How long?” he asked. “How long were you working with them?”
“From the beginning,” Blushweaver said. “I was supposed to get the Command phrases. We came up with the plan together!”
“Why did they turn on you?”
She shook her head, glancing down. “They claimed I didn’t do my part. That I was withholding things from them.”
“Were you?”
She looked away, eyes tearstained. She looked very odd, sitting in her cell. A beautiful woman of deific proportions, wearing a delicate silk gown, sitting on the ground, surrounded by bars. Crying.
We have to get out of here, Lightsong thought. He crawled over to the bars separating his cage from Llarimar’s ignoring the pain of his thigh. “Scoot,” he hissed. “Scoot!”
Llarimar glanced up. He looked haggard.
“What does one use to pick a lock?” Lightsong asked.
Llarimar blinked. “What?”
“Pick a lock,” Lightsong said, pointing. “Maybe I’ll discover that I know how to do it, if I get my hands into the right position. I still haven’t figured out why my swordsmanship skills were so poor. But surely I can do this. If I can only remember what to use.”
Llarimar stared at him.
“Maybe I—” Lightsong began.
“What is wrong with you?” Llarimar whispered.
Lightsong paused.
“What is wrong with you!” Llarimar bellowed, standing. “You were a scribe, Lightsong. A Colors-cursed scribe. Not a soldier. Not a detective. Not a thief. You were an accountant for a local moneylender!”
What? Lightsong thought.
“You were as much an idiot then as you are now!” Llarimar shouted. “Don’t you ever think about what you’re going to do before you just saunter off and do it! Why can’t you just stop, occasionally, and ask yourself if you’re being a complete fool or not? I’ll give you a hint! The answer is usually yes!”
Lightsong stumbled back from the bars, shocked. Llarimar. Llarimar was yelling.
“And every time,” Llarimar said, turning away, “I get in trouble with you. Nothing has changed. You become a god, and I still end up in prison!”
The heavy priest slumped down, breathing in deep gasps, shaking his head in obvious frustration. Blushweaver was staring at them. And so were the priests.
What is it I find odd about them? Lightsong thought, trying to sort out his thoughts and emotions as the group of priests approached.
“Lightsong,” one of them said, stooping down beside his cage. “We need your Command phrases.”
He snorted. “I’m sorry to say that I’ve forgotten them. You probably know my reputation for being weak-minded. I mean, what kind of fool would come charging in here and get himself captured so easily?”
He smiled at them.
The priest by his cage sighed, then waved a hand at the others. They unlocked Blushweaver’s cage and pulled her out. She yelled and fought, and Lightsong smiled at the trouble she gave them. Yet there were six priests, and they finally managed to get her out.
Then one got out a knife and slit her throat.
The shock of the moment hit Lightsong like a physical force. He froze, eyes wide, watching in horror as the red blood spilled out the front of Blushweaver’s throat, staining her beautiful nightgown.
Far more disturbing was the look of panicked terror in her eyes. Such beautiful eyes.
“No!” Lightsong screamed, slamming against the bars, reaching helplessly toward her. He strained his godly muscles, pressing himself against the steel as he felt his body begin to shake. It was useless. Even a perfect body couldn’t push its way through steel.
“You bastards!” he yelled. “You Colors-cursed bastards!” He struggled, pounding the bars with one hand as Blushweaver’s eyes began to dim.
And then her BioChroma faded. Like a blazing bonfire dimming down to a single candle. It puffed out.
“No . . .” Lightsong said, sliding down to his knees, numb.
The priest regarded him. “So you did care for her,” he said. “I’m sorry that we had to do that.” He knelt down, solemn. “However, Lightsong, we decided that we had to kill her so that you would understand that we’re serious. I do know your reputation, and I know that you usually take things lightheartedly. That is a fine attribute to have in many situations. Right now, you must realize how dangerous things are. We have shown you that we will kill. If you don’t do as we ask, others will die.”
“Bastard . . .” Lightsong whispered.
“I need your Command phrases,” the priest said. “This is important. More important than you can understand.”
“You can beat them out of me,” Lightsong growled, feeling rage slowly overwhelm his shock.
“No,” the priest said, shaking his head. “We’re actually new to all of this. We don’t know how to torture very well, and it would take too much time to force you to talk that way. Those who are skilled at torture aren’t being very cooperative right now. Never pay a mercenary before the job is done.”
The priest waved, and the others left Blushweaver’s corpse on the ground. Then they moved to Llarimar’s cage.
“No!” Lightsong screamed.
“We are serious, Lightsong,” the man said. “Very, very, serious. We know how much you care for your high priest. You now know that we will kill him if you don’t do as we say.”
“Why?” Lightsong said. “What is this even about? The God King you serve could order us to move the armies if he wanted to! We’d listen to him. Why do you care so much about those Command phrases?”
The priests forced Llarimar from his cage, then pushed him to his knees. One put a knife to his throat.
“Red panther!” Lightsong yelled, weeping. “That’s the Command phrase. Please. Leave him be.”
The priest nodded to the others, and they put Llarimar back in his cell. They left Blushweaver’s corpse on the ground, facedown in the blood.
“I hope that you haven’t lied to us, Lightsong,” the main priest said. “We’re not playing games. It would be unfortunate if we discovered that you still are.” He shook his head. “We are not cruel men. But we are working for something very important. Do not test us.”
With that, he left. Lightsong barely noticed. He was still staring at Blushweaver, trying to convince himself that he was hallucinating, or that she was faking, or that something would change to make him realize that it was all just an elaborate scam.
“Please,” he whispered. “Please, no. . . .”
54
What’s the word on the street, Tuft?” Vivenna asked, sidling up to a beggar.
He snorted, holding out his cup to those few who passed in the early light. Tuft was always one of the first to arrive in the mornings. “Why do I care?” he said.
“Come on,” Vivenna said. “You kicked me out of this spot on three different occasions. I figure you owe me something.”
“I don’t owe nobody nothing,” he said, squinting at the passers by with his one eye. The other eye was simply an empty hole. He didn’t wear a patch. “Particularly don’t owe you nothing,” he said. “You were a plant all the time. Not a real beggar.”
“I . . .” Vivenna paused. “I wasn’t a plant, Tuft. I just thought I should know what it was like.”
“Huh?”
“Living among you,” she said. “I figured your life couldn’t be easy. But I couldn’t know—not really know—until I tried it for myself. So I came to the streets. Determined to live here for a time.”
“Foolish thing to do.”
“No,” she said. “The fools are those who pass, without even thinking about what it must be like to live like you. Maybe if they knew, they’d give you something.”
She reached into her pocket, pulling out one of the bright handkerchiefs. She placed one in the cup. “I don’t have any coins, but I know you can sell that.”
He grunted, eyeing it. “What do you mean by word on the street?”
“Disturbances,” Vivenna said. “Ones that are out of the ordinary. Perhaps involving Awakeners.”
“Go to the Third Dock slums,” Tuft said. “Look around the buildings near the wharf. Maybe you’ll find what you’re looking for there.”
* * *
LIGHT PEEKED THROUGH THE WINDOW.
Morning already? Vasher thought, head down, still hanging by his wrists.
He knew what to expect from torture. He was not new to it. He knew how to scream, how to give the torturer what he wanted. He knew how to not expend his strength in resisting too much.
He also knew that none of that was likely to do any good. How would he be after a week of torture? Blood dripped down his chest, staining his undershorts. A dozen small pains nagged at his skin, cuts that had been drenched in lemon juice.
Denth stood with his back facing Vasher, bloodied knives on the ground around him.
Vasher looked up, forcing a smile. “Not as much fun as you thought it would be, is it, Denth?”
Denth didn’t turn.
There’s still a good man in there, Vasher thought. Even after all these years.
He’s just been beaten down. Bloodied. Cut up worse than I have been.
“Torturing me won’t bring her back,” Vasher said.
Denth turned, eyes dark. “No. It won’t.” He picked up another knife.
* * *
THE PRIESTS PUSHED SIRI through the passageways of the palace. They occasionally passed corpses in the dark black hallways, and she could still hear fighting in places.
What is going on? Someone was attacking the palace. But who? For a moment, she hoped it was her people—her father’s soldiers, coming to save her. She discarded that immediately. The men opposing the priests were using Lifeless soldiers; that ruled out Idris.
It was someone else. A third force. And they wanted to free her from the grip of the priests. Hopefully, her calls for help would not go unheeded. Treledees and his men led her quickly through the palace, passing through the colorful inner rooms in their rush to get to wherever they were going.