The sun reached its zenith over Mortressa. The shadows of winged boats, airborne art-children, and flying abei-gern flitted across the streets, each in pursuit of different prey. The streets were empty of ordinary makers. The stench of Apahar’s descendants wafted upward into the cloudless sky.

  Saul and Olivia stuck to the shadows of buildings as they sneaked towards the precinct houses Tori had pointed out. Hopefully, someone or something in there would be able to tell them where Luther had arrived in Mortressa, and if he was still in the city, where he was now. Saul stopped across the street from the building Tori had located for them.

  The place was built like an old-fashioned Illatonian courthouse, with high walls and only arrow slit-sized windows on the first floor. Three stories tall, with a tower over the front that went up another whole level. A clock made of transparent crystal ticked away on the front of the tower. The street in front was vacant, but Saul guessed it was covered by some kind surveillance.

  Once he would have cursed the situation that had forced him to help the gang. An outlaw himself, he still doubted their motives. Apart from, that he had no love for the city lord of Mortressa, but fighting here would not stop Luther, Irene, and Rufus from using the world seed in the hilt of Seffuin’s sword. He guessed Tori knew even more about him than she had let on. That made him uneasy. And on top of that, he didn’t know if he could trust Olivia anymore.

  She had pointedly ignored him when he tried to talk to her while he bandaged his arm back at Tori’s ruined castle. She took his previous omissions personally, it would seem, despite the amount of truth he had shared. He glanced back at her. She stood behind him, unlimbering her cattle prod from her belt.

  “See a way in?” she asked.

  “If they were paying attention they would have already spotted us.” Saul gazed at the building across the street. “The art-children in that place aren’t like Nat. He can only detect shadows as far a short distance from any linked children when he compares. Witnesses are made for observing whole districts at once.”

  Olivia shook her head. “Then what are we doing here?”

  “Waiting to see if someone comes out to get us.” Saul nudged Nat with his chin. “Are there shadows in there?”

  “A closet in the basement is unoccupied. Completely dark.”

  “So what?” Olivia asked.

  “I guess I never told you,” said Saul. “Nat can teleport between shadows, and he can bring people with him. Nat, you think you can take both of us at once?”

  “It’ll be a strain. But yes.” Nat stiffened, flat against Saul’s shoulder except for his spiny fur. “Saul, someone in the city is trying to compare with me.”

  “Is it Sirrush?”

  “No its—it’s Hush.”

  Saul’s stomach twisted. He swallowed. “That’s a surprise.”

  Olivia leaned closer to him and Nat. “What’s Hush?”

  “Hush is Irene’s bird comparator,” said Saul. “She must suspect we’re in the city. But that means she is still here too.”

  “Do you want me to connect to him?” Nat asked.

  Saul took a deep breath. “Do it.”

  Nat’s furs poked against Saul’s neck, but he barely noticed them. Irene was reaching out to him. Could that mean she saw how disastrous it would be to let Luther use the hilt for his own purposes?

  “Saul.” The sound of Irene’s low voice came from Nat’s mouth. “Are you there?”

  “Yeah, I’m here.”

  “You shouldn’t have followed us.”

  “Like I had a choice.”

  “You always have a choice, Saul.”

  Evidently she had not seen the error of her ways. Saul closed his eyes and focused to keep his hands from their trembles. “I’m here now. What else is there to say?”

  “You can go back to Earth. I’ll become a worldmaker soon enough, and I’ll try my best to pardon you.”

  “Before the guardians cut me down, you mean?” Saul’s eyes met Olivia’s. He saw the traces of questions forming in her expression. “I don’t like my chances there.”

  “You could turn yourself in right now. You won’t be killed.”

  Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

  “And I won’t be able to stop you and Luther either.”

  “You can’t stop us even if you don’t turn yourself in, Saul. We won’t even be in Mortressa much longer. Do the right thing.”

  “I suppose I could turn that around on you, for what little good it would do. That hilt isn’t a clean world seed. It’s part of an Aleph-Gern.”

  “Evidently so, judging by the number of gern in this city right now. You’d think after thousands of years they would forget the presence of their progenitor. Saul, I’m not going to give up this chance.”

  Saul glanced at the surveillance building. “Irene, we used to get along so well.”

  “We used to be children.”

  “Yeah, and when we were children I thought you were perfect.”

  “It’s not my fault you put me on a pedestal, Saul.” Irene’s voice caught for a moment on his name. “Goodbye.”

  Saul squeezed his eyes shut. His hands shook. He searched for a retort.

  “Saul,” Nat said in his own voice. “They disconnected.” Nat’s body relaxed.

  He nodded. Olivia put a hand on his shoulder. “Did you mean what you said about the hilt being too dangerous to use?”

  “Partially. Irene doesn’t know how to control that power. I have an idea, but I don’t know if it will work.” He opened his eyes. “Olivia, I know you’re still angry with me. Thanks.”

  She patted the shoulder of his torn jacket. “It’s fine. I may just be an ‘earth born exile’, but I know when someone is hurting.”

  “Yeah.” He looked into her eyes as he fought the first hints of tears. “We’re both exiles.”

  She withdrew her hand gently. “So, how do we find them?”

  “Nat, can you trace Hush’s location?”

  “He masked his signature.”

  Saul took a few deep breaths. His hands stilled. “We still need to go in this place.” He turned toward the old courthouse across the street. “Looks vacant. We can use the front door.”

  “You sure about that?” Olivia asked.

  “If there’s a problem we break a light and teleport out.” Hisses came from down the street behind them, the sound of gern tearing their way into the world. “Be ready to take down anyone who fights back.”

  Olivia’s grip on her cattle prod tightened. Saul reached down for one of the oven rods in his belt loops. They started across the street.

  * * *

  The jolt of electricity knocked the man guarding the door to the ground before he could fully draw his sword. He fell to the floor, spasming, but silent. His weapon slipped out of the sheath and clattered down beside him. Saul slipped past Olivia and stepped over the man. Olivia followed him, looking back and forth warily.

  On the inside, the surveillance station looked more like a white collar office from Earth than a place where art-children monitored a vast portion of a city’s comings and goings. White-walled cubicles low enough for Saul to see over filled the first floor behind a front desk. The desk was occupied by a blond woman, who looked up in surprise from a notebook, as Saul approached. He held his sword in one hand, and an oven rod in the other.

  “Afternoon.” He twirled the oven rod in his fingers. “We’re looking for some information.”

  The woman squeaked and pushed back her chair so it fell to the floor as she stood up. “You’re—You’re the exiles who brought the gern.”

  Saul grimaced. “Don’t believe everything you see. Now.” He raised his sword. “About that information.”

  Her eyes widened and she stared at him.

  Olivia walked to Saul’s side. “Chill.”

  “Look, we can do this nice, or we can do this fast.”

  “Or both.” Olivia tapped the end of her cattle prod on the desk. She looked at the clerk. “We’re not going to hurt you. Look, the guy by the door is gonna be fine.”

  “He doesn’t look fine.”

  “Well, it’ll be a while.”

  Saul glanced at Olivia. “What I believe she’s trying to say, is that if you act now you won’t have to feel what he’s feeling. We’re looking for signs of a peculiar electrical discharge.” He remembered the view of Mortressa through the portal Luther had made out of Pete back on Earth. The city had stretched out below. “Especially on a high level of a tall building.”

  The clerk’s eyes flicked from Olivia to Saul. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. What kind of electrical discharge?”

  Olivia sighed. “It’d probably resemble a lightning bolt or a small lightning storm.”

  “Right,” said Saul.

  “There hasn’t been a lightning storm here for a month.”

  “Good. That should make it easier to find then.”

  The clerk looked down at the ledger she had been working on when they came in. Her gaze moved over the desk.

  “Saul, she’s scared.”

  “I’m not happy either.” He sheathed his sword. “But my friend is right. I’m not going to hurt you. So calm down, and think.”

  The clerk’s eyes moved to Saul’s face. “Alright. I’ll—I’ll help. I’m just not sure.”

  “Not sure about what?” he asked, trying to sound as gentle as possible.

  She shook her head. “The only thing I can think of that matches what you’re talking about was in the Lord’s Tower last night. I remember because my supervisor complained about being asked to take it out of the records.”

  Saul’s heart sank at the thought of the Lord’s Tower, a massive fortress with probably the fiercest defenses in the city.

  “Do you know who asked for the records to be altered?”

  “Someone from the Tower.”

  Another sign that Irene, Luther, and the rest were right by the damned world gate. They could leave anytime, and go anywhere in the known universes. Of course, with Luther’s powers, it was possible they could do that from anywhere.

  “Looks like the Lord has guests,” said Olivia.

  Saul kept his eyes on the clerk. “Thanks for the help.”

  She shook her head. “You just made me into a traitor.”

  “Tell them we threatened you.” Saul smiled. “Because we did.”

  A creak and footsteps behind him made him turn, grip tensing on the oven rod. Tori stood in the doorway behind them in her scarf and bizarre currently-long-sleeved black coat. “Did I hear what I just thought I heard? You threatened this little girl?”

  The clerk gave a squeal and stepped back from the desk. “Tori Hemmire.” Her eyes went wide. Then she bolted around the desk toward a corridor between the cubicles. Tori’s sleeve lashed out and tripped her. She fell to her hands and knees. “Please. Please don’t kill me.”

  Tori grinned at Saul. She walked toward the clerk. “The Queen of Mortressa doesn’t kill her people. I’m not like City Lord Dao.”

  “What do you want with this girl?” Saul asked.

  Tori glanced at him, then turned back to the clerk. “Don’t tell anyone we were here for a bit. Got that?”

  The clerk nodded. Tori’s sleeve withdrew from her leg and shrank back to normal length. Olivia frowned at Saul. He shook his head.

  “What are you two waiting for?” Tori asked. “We’re moving out.”

  “Where too?” Olivia asked.

  “I did my part. Looks like the things we want are both in the Lord’s Tower.”