Ria nodded. “It is enough for now. The truth will come to you in time, as well, Rudolfo, and you will bare your heart to the mark of the Crimson Empress with joy.” She looked to her sister, then to Jin Li Tam and Jakob.
And then Winteria bat Mardic, Machtvolk Queen, turned and left with her escort of Blood Scouts.
Only then did Rudolfo look to his wife. She held Jakob close to herself, and the baby laughed and squealed, his face pink and animated with expression. He followed the line of her forearm, around the curve of her wrist, to the slender fingers that stroked the thin dark hair of Jakob’s tiny head. His eyes traveled the line of her neck and jaw, then settled upon her face. And when their eyes met, he saw despair and relief commingled there with surprise and with tears, and he knew in that moment that he loved the forty-second daughter of Vlad Li Tam and would spend his life on her behalf. That she truly was formidable and fierce and fair and that the child they had made would be the same, despite the price they had paid or the consequences that might follow after.
Weeping, Rudolfo raced to his family and gathered them into his trembling arms.
Neb
Neb looked across the canyon to the small cluster of tents and slowed to a walk. They were scout tents in the rainbow colors of the Ninefold Forest Houses, and there were horses tethered in a copse of stunted scrub-trees. But there were also other tents-a second, smaller camp erected in the midst of the forest tents. Spitting the last of the root onto the ground, he tugged his waterskin loose and took a long drink.
Every part of him felt alive, and it had since that first night he’d listened to the canticle within that ring of glass mountains. After locking and leaving Sanctorum Lux, he’d spent his first night alone in the Churning Wastes with his ear pressed to the iron cap that sealed away the source of the metal man’s dream. He’d awakened the next morning refreshed, found a small and hidden spring to refill his waterskin and bathe. Then, he’d set out at a run for D’Anjite’s Bridge and found the strength to run straight through.
Wind whipped up at the foot of the bridge when he approached it, and he felt the movement of magicked scouts around him. A small brown bird emerged from an invisible belt cage and shot across the chasm to the watch captain’s net before anyone spoke.
“Captain Aedric will want to see you,” a Gypsy Scout said.
Neb nodded. “I need to speak with him.” He watched the camp stir to life once the message was read, and he thought at one point he saw Aedric. “Are Renard and Isaak well?”
“They are. Our medico splinted the Waste Guide and he’s up on a crutch now. The Androfrancine is tending to Isaak’s leg.”
The Androfrancine? He wondered at this but did not ask.
A white bird shot out from the camp, swallowed into a sack that Neb could not see. But he remembered this part of his training very well. How to catch the bird and read the knots tied into its thread.
“Let’s go then,” the voice said, moving onto the bridge. “You scouts mind your post. I’ll bring him in.”
Neb followed. They crossed the bridge at a jog, and the guards at the other end, unmagicked, moved aside for them. Within the camp, Neb saw Gypsy Scouts intermingled with a handful of men and women dressed in the silk clothing of the Emerald Coast.
The Gypsy Scout must have read his face. “House Li Tam,” he said. “They brought Charles to us by sea at General Rudolfo’s request.”
Neb blinked. “Father Charles is here?” It made sense that he would be the Androfrancine fixing Isaak’s leg. He’d seen the old Arch-Engineer in the Great Library tinkering among his mechanical recreations, and he’d even heard the old man speak once on the nature of the light in regards to mechanical science.
“He came after the metal man and Sanctorum Lux,” another voice said. Neb looked up and saw Aedric approaching. “We happened upon them on our way to find you and Isaak.”
He put his arms around Neb and squeezed him. “Are you well, lad? Where’s your metal friend?”
Better than well. He heard the song again behind him and over his shoulder. “He’s. ” He searched for the word. Could a mechanical be dead? “He destroyed himself. I left him at Sanctorum Lux.”
Aedric’s eyes widened, and now Neb became aware of others gathering around them. He saw Charles approaching and behind him, Renard limping along upon a crutch. “You’ve found it then?”
He nodded and swallowed. He watched the light of hope spark in Aedric’s eyes and then gutter at the despair he no doubt saw upon Neb’s face. “It’s gone. They burned it all.”
Aedric flinched. “Who burned it all?”
Neb looked to Father Charles. “The mechoservitors did.”
The Androfrancine’s brow furrowed. “That’s not possible. It is completely outside of their scripting.”
Neb thought about the song and the dream it birthed. Should I tell them? If he told them, it would not stop there. He said nothing, though a part of him grieved at the lie of omission. He glanced up and saw Aedric’s eyes upon him. The First Captain nodded slightly as their eyes met and he frowned. “We’ll find out soon enough,” Aedric said. “We ride for Sanctorum Lux at dawn.”
He knows I’m not telling everything. Neb looked away, his cheeks hot.
It requires a response. A response given in secret to confound the enemies of the light-those who wished to snuff it out. Those who brought down Windwir. Those whose eyes and ears were upon the Named Lands now, though Neb was not certain how he knew it. He simply felt it and trusted that feeling.
This place has changed me.
And Neb suddenly knew that he would not be going with Aedric-that his time among the Gypsies was over as quickly as it had begun. Instead, he would return to the iron cap and learn the cipher and take the source of the dream to himself. He would learn the ways of the Waste from Renard and follow the dream until it took him Home. Nothing else mattered. Not Winters, not his adopted home among the Gypsies or his future as an officer of the Forest Library. He felt it in his feet where they stood upon this desolate landscape.
He lost himself within the calling and only brought himself up from it when the others began moving away, leaving him with Aedric and Renard. It was Aedric’s hand on his shoulder that finally jarred him into the present.
“Rest up,” the First Captain said. “There’s hot food in the Tam camp, and you can find a fresh uniform among the men. Tomorrow will be a long ride.”
Neb shook his head. “I can’t go with you.”
Aedric’s eyes narrowed. “You are an officer of the Gypsy Scouts, Lieutenant Nebios, and you will be riding with us tomorrow as such.”
I am Nebios ben Hebda, the Homeseeker, he thought. He shook his head again. “Tell Rudolfo that I’m sorry,” he said, “and that I’m grateful for all he’s done.” He let his eyes meet Aedric’s then, and this time he did not look away at the anger he saw there. “I’m grateful to you as well.”
With careful fingers, Neb reached beneath his arm and untied the tattered scarf of rank that hung there and extended it to Aedric.
The First Captain took it. “You are making a mistake, lad.”
“It would be a mistake for me to stay,” Neb said, and even he could hear the strength in his voice as he said it.
Aedric regarded him thoughtfully and finally nodded. “I will bear your message to the general personally.” His hard eyes softened. “And have you thought about the girl, your young queen?”
Neb swallowed. His own sacrifice to the dream. “Tell her I am called to find our Home.”
Aedric gave him one final look, nodded again, and walked away without another word.
Renard smiled at him. They were alone now. “You’ve heard it, then,” he told him.
Neb blinked. “You’ve heard it as well?”