Jin nodded. “It is as Patrick says. And Katashi has marked you; I am bound to see this through.”
Marissa scratched the back of her head. “Suppose I’m curious ‘bout all this, too.”
I turned to look at Sera.
She just tilted her head at me. “Don’t even ask, Corin. Of course I want to know what’s going on. Vanniv is staying, too.”
Somehow I’d forgotten about the six-foot tall stone man with wings and impressively chiseled — possibly literally chiseled — abs.
Vanniv put a hand over his chest. “Ooh, yes. I love secrets! Tell me all your secrets.”
Professor Orden rolled her eyes. “Sera, don’t be absurd. Put that thing away?”
She shrugged. “I could, but I’m not going to. Vanniv is not a thing. He’s an intelligent entity and he doesn’t like ceasing to exist, even temporarily.”
Interesting. Seems like Sera is thinking along similar lines to my own, even if she isn’t quite as firmly against violence.
Vanniv turned his head toward Sera, then back to Orden. “This pleases me. Let the revealing of secrets commence!”
Orden glowered at Vanniv. “Ugh. I’m tired of this discussion. If she wants a monster like you to bring information back to the tower, so be it.”
Professor Orden paused for another moment before continuing, “We need to move somewhere more secure before we have this particular talk. Corin, I will accept your ‘trade’, given the circumstances. We’ll walk a few more minutes while I regain my mana, then I’ll teleport us somewhere secure to talk.”
I nodded. “Very well.”
I hoped that a few minutes would give Teft enough time to recover some of his strength, just in case this went as badly as I imagined it could. I didn’t think anyone else had a splinter of a chance against Orden if she did decide to do us harm.
We walked in relative silence until Orden paused, deeming it time, and instructed us to join hands. We formed a large circle before, and then she spoke.
“Spirit of wind and air, I command you!
By the pact sealed between us, I invoke your power.
Rise around us and within us;
Carry us upon your ethereal wings to the place of greatest safety.
Veiled Teleport!”
And once again, we moved.
***
Fortunately, I didn’t throw up this time.
Apparently the ring had done its job. I’d almost forgotten about the headache I’d been suffering, and the pain from my nose had faded to a dull throb.
I remembered the whole incident with our last teleport as we arrived, and it occurred to me that Jin still had the ring, but that was probably for the best for now. Katashi had healed him, but I wasn’t sure how thorough that spell was. If he’d really had a lung punctured by a rib like I suspected, he probably needed the ring vastly more than I did.
Our surroundings were at least reasonably familiar, if only for their lack of décor. We were standing in a vast space of blackness, with no obvious floor or walls, and only a single floating torch shedding light.
It was the same place that Orden had taken me the first time we’d had a private talk, or at least one that was visually identical to it. I couldn’t assume it was the same one; I didn’t know enough about this space to know if there could be several of them.
Once we managed to get our bearings, Orden waved a hand toward the floor. “You may all sit.”
Patrick frowned. “What, on the darkness? Where even are we?”
“A safe place,” Orden replied. “And worry not, I will be hospitable.” She sat down, a chair appearing beneath her as she made the motion.
Dubiously, I attempted to sit as well, finding a chair beneath me a moment later. The others followed suit, save Jin, who remained standing.
Orden waved a hand at me. “I suggest you offer some context to everyone before we get into the more recent details.”
I sighed, rubbing my temples. “I suppose I should.”
Sera shot me a frustrated look. “Yes, I’m sure some of us would very much like to hear what you have to say.”
I glanced back at Sera. “I’m sorry, Sera. Professor Orden made it clear that this information could be dangerous. I was planning to tell you after I did some more research.”
She sighed. “Fine. Just don’t make more decisions about what I should know without consulting me?”
“I can’t promise that. Even implying the existence of a secret can cause problems. And I’m sure you understand the necessity for discretion on some things. You made a contract not to tell anyone about your summoned monster, for example.”
She drew in a breath. “You have a point, I suppose I haven’t told you everything either. Fine. I’m not going to make a big deal out of this. But try to be more considerate?”
I nodded. “I will. In the meantime, let me get this story out of the way.”
She waved for me to go ahead and I felt a hint of relief.
I turned so that I could face as many of our group as possible. They arranged their chairs in a circle, facing inward, so that everyone could see me while I was talking.
“Okay. So, I was in the tower for my Judgment when I found an unusual room. It had three jail cells in it, each of which contained a person. Two of them were conscious, the third was a young boy who was out cold.”
“The two people who were awake both asked for me to free them. I had a key from an earlier part of the Judgment, and I found a body on the floor of the room that was carrying a second key. We talked a bit, the young woman — Vera — tried to tell me that the masked man in the cell next to her was a criminal. Long story short, I opened the cells for Vera and the unconscious kid, then the other guy broke out on his own.”
Sera stood up, indicating she had a question, so I paused. “Yeah?”
Sera folded her arms. “Let me get this straight. You had two jail cell keys that worked on the cell doors?”
I shook my head. I’d considered this irregularity before, too. “No, ordinary keys that seemed to be designed for rooms in the Judgment process.”
“And they worked on the cell doors, just like that?”