I nodded. “Yeah.”
Teft stood and joined the conversation. “Implying that whoever created the cells designed them for people taking the Judgment to open them.”
I frowned. “Or maybe they were just magic keys, designed to open any normal lock...?”
Teft scratched his chin. “Unlikely. I’ve been through the Climber’s Gates several times and I’ve seen many magic keys, but they’re always tied to specific types of locks. Did the keys vanish after you used them?”
I nodded. “Yes, otherwise I could have just opened all three with one key.”
“That indicates a deliberate puzzle-like design, then, where you’re forced to make a choice on who to free. I can see why you originally interpreted it as merely a part of the Judgment; no true jail cells would be designed to be opened by keys found by any random person in the tower.”
Sera turned to Teft. “What would the point of locks like that even be, then? It obviously wasn’t just part of the Judgment, if he set real people free.”
Teft leaned forward against his cane. “I can see a few main possibilities. One is that the prisoners were intended to be freed at a specific time, but in a way that would make it look — both to the person with the keys and the people in the cells — like they were being ‘rescued’. I consider this fairly likely.”
He raised two fingers. “Two, whichever visage was overseeing the test wanted Corin to free a real prisoner to see the consequences of his actions. Highly unlikely.”
Teft lifted a third finger. “Three. The prisoners were meant to be freed, but the time and person who freed them were irrelevant. Perhaps because they’re meant to distract from something more significant. I consider this about as likely as the first option.”
All of which implied that I’d simply played into some sort of larger plot. This was both unsettling, since I’d been duped, and a little comforting in that it took away some of my feeling of guilt for my actions.
Ah, the sweet power of deflecting responsibility.
Sera said one more thing while she was sitting down. “Could one of the prisoners have been the one who set up the whole thing?”
I considered that. “Possible, although they would have to be exceedingly patient. The prisoners said they were in their cells for days. Maybe weeks? I can’t quite remember. I don’t imagine them setting up a situation where they’d be stuck in a cell for that long.”
“Probably not,” Sera replied.
Teft gestured to me. “We can think about this part more later. Please, continue the story.”
I nodded. “Okay, so now the prisoners are out. The unconscious kid is in bad shape, so we feed him some water. Then we make our way through the next couple rooms. We end up in this huge antechamber with a stairway to a higher floor.”
“That shouldn’t happen in a Judgment,” Teft cut in.
“Clearly it did,” Lyras replied.
“Anyway,” I continued, “Katashi himself is at the top of the stairs and he’s not pleased. Vera and I run for cover. Katashi gets into a fight with the masked man — Keras — and somehow Keras manages to hold him at bay. I still don’t know how that ended, because Vera and I grabbed the kid and fled.”
Teft and Orden exchanged meaningful looks. I kept talking.
“We get into the next room, which has a spire guardian. I give Vera my weapon and she handles it. Then she points it at me, takes the kid, and tells me not to follow.” I sighed. “So, then I’m by myself.”
By this point, I’d decided not to tell them about the book. It was very clear that Professor Orden wasn’t supposed to find out about it for whatever reason. So, I continued with a minor simplification. “This cloaked figure appears, tells me it’s called the Voice of the Tower, and it ushers me into another room. There’s a fountain in there. I drink, I get an attunement. Then it tells me to carry a message to Lyras.”
I gestured at Professor Orden, “And to leave immediately. Oh, and it gave me a sword. The blue shiny one. There was an exit door in the room, so I took it.”
Definitely wasn’t going to tell them about the little flask of water I took, either.
Professor Orden stood up. “And Corin did meet his responsibility to the Voice and carried the message to me. Thank you, Corin.”
I was glad to be done with my explanation, but I had a question for her in return. “I’d really like to know who — or what — that Voice actually is.”
She nodded. “And I suppose you deserve an answer, after all this. A bit of context first. I am a member of an organization that serves as observers and messengers for the visages. We are colloquially referred to as ‘Whispers’.”
Jin tilted his head toward her a little more suddenly than I was used to see him moving. That clearly got his attention.
Teft looked startled, too. “A Whisper? You never told me—”
“You didn’t need to know, darling. Don’t make a fuss right now, I’m explaining.”
Teft let out a growl and folded his arms, looking more agitated than I’d seen him.
Was there a...thing going on between these two?
I didn’t want to think about that.
Orden paced around behind her chair before continuing. “Each visage has dedicated Whispers, of course, but we all work toward a collective goal. I’m a Whisper of Tenjin. Unfortunately, I can’t let you know about the identities of any of our other members. Even telling you this much is unusual.”
I understood the logic there, but it was exceedingly frustrating.
She continued talking. “The Voice that Corin spoke to in the tower was... well, let’s call him my associate. He was evaluating Corin for membership in our organization, but I suspect that route might be difficult now. The mark on your hand makes you a tad too obvious. We tend to try to blend in.”
I rubbed at my hand. Figures that I’d be disqualified for the amazing sounding secret society at the same time I found out about their existence.