The two Pserans moved quickly, checking frequently to make sure he was keeping pace. They seemed unafraid but sad, and he guessed it was because this was the last task they would perform for the Baker. They passed a small group of Garthans, but the subterranean dwellers pulled back at the sight of the Pserans. Other things large and small approached in the darkness, fleeing the sounds reverberating through the Echoes rather than stalking prey, and the Pserans were always there to ensure his safety. At last they watched him up into daylight, holding back in the shadows, and retreating without a sound when he turned to give them thanks.
Nophel, Scope keeper for the Marcellans, bastard son of the Baker and Dane Marcellan, rose from the shaking Echoes of the past into a chaotic present.
Four people walked quickly through the Echo. Peer, feeling more fragile with every step they took, remained close to Gorham. Gorham, the leader of an organization whose worst fears were coming true, felt more lost than ever. Alexia, raised a Hanharan but whose beliefs had been taken advantage of, was now bitter and adrift. And Rose, who was mere days in this world but nonetheless possessed a mind almost as old as Echo City itself. They walked in silence because there was little left to be said. They walked with purpose. And, in all of them, doubt worried and bit, closing gentle fingers around their hearts and threatening to crush.
Peer had never been afraid of feeling insignificant. Even when she worked with the Watchers' political arm, she'd believed that most of what she did was trivial. It had implications, she knew, but hers was not a name that would ever be remembered. Then, in Skulk, banished and in pain, she had existed day by day on her own. Penler had been there, and his guidance, help, and support had seen her through many lonely times. But she had been one of many sent to that ruined place.
Now she was afraid, and some of that stemmed from loss of control. She had spent days doing everything she could to help a city unaware of its impending doom, but whatever might happen was out of her hands. She walked toward the culmination not only of the last few days but of everything. The city had been here for longer than anyone knew, and it was all about to change.
The ground shook. The air vibrated with potential. Something roared. Rose gave nothing away, and in that Peer recognized their true danger.
All she wanted to do was sit with Gorham and talk about old times, because events were far outpacing the differences between them. Though she still felt the physical pains of his betrayal, he was the last solid rock she thought she could hold on to, a love from her past who was so much more now. There was desire, but that was a gentle feeling compared to the depth of connection she felt to him. And it was in the intensity of his obvious guilt that she found her own capacity for forgiveness.
This has always been way beyond the two of us, she thought, and that made them so much more important to each other.
"What are you thinking?" Gorham asked.
"That we're close to the end," she said.
"Or a new beginning."
"You really believe that?" They were approaching the route up out of the Echo now, and Rose was walking faster. This girl's never even seen the daylight, Peer realized.
"I hope that," he said. "This is everything the Watchers have waited for."
"Feared."
"That too, but it's been a practical fear. We've fought our concerns by trying to discover a way to move past them. The Marcellans, the Hanharans-they surround their fear with more fear, hoping to smother it. Those bastard priests think up more ways to make people feel crap about themselves, and we're persecuted for realism."
"All religions are real to someone."
Gorham scoffed.
"Really," she said. "You should have seen the Dragarians with Rufus."
"Let's see which one saves us from the Vex," he said.
"I don't want to see it," Peer replied. Gorham had described his and Nadielle's journey down, what had happened at the Falls, and how that had changed Nadielle. The Baker had not been able to truly convey what she had seen, but her fear had been enough. That and the guilt that bound generations of Bakers together.
Now Rose was feeling it too. That was why she fought against whatever weakness was trying to strike her down.
"Maybe we won't have to," he said. "By the end of today we'll be away from the city."
"And by tomorrow we might be dead."
"It's all just possibilities." Gorham reached out to take her hand. He squeezed, she squeezed back, and she saw the gratitude in his eyes.
"Isn't that all the future can be?" she asked. Gorham did not reply, and as they climbed up through the ruins of the old farmhouse, she wondered what possibilities were about to be realized.
At first she thought the Vex had risen and they were too late. Crescent was deserted, but to the east and south, smoke hung above the slopes and hillsides of Echo City. It drifted toward the west, blown by the familiar easterly breezes of late summer, and she could see a dozen flaming sources on the high slopes of Marcellan. She and Alexia had left fires behind, but now it looked as if the whole city was ablaze.
"Are we too late?" Alexia asked.
"No," Rose said, but she was not looking at the fires. Her eyes were aimed at the pale-blue sky, streaked here and there with wisps of white cloud. The sun was above the city, barely obscured by the smoke this far out. To the northeast, the pale ghost of the moon hung low to the horizon, biding its time. Red sparrows flitted here and there just above the grass, plucking insects from the air. A family of rathawks rode the thermals high above. "It's beautiful," she said, and for the first time Peer heard something human in the girl's voice.
"It's burning," Alexia said.
"Anarchy," Gorham said. "From what you described, the Marcellans will be doing their best to halt the migration. At times like this, there are always those who'll take the opportunity to…" He drifted off, shrugged.
"Settle scores?" Alexia asked.
"Maybe. Some just have chaos in their hearts."
"Peer and I saw plenty on our way here," Alexia said.
"Can we release them yet?" Peer asked. The bags strung over her shoulders were bulging and shifting more as the sunlight warmed them. The bloodflies were excited. Peer was revolted, and yet she knew that each insect contained the essence of Rufus's chopped blood. He was as close to her now as he ever had been.
"No," Rose said. "Closer to the people. When we reach Skulk."
"That's almost ten miles," Alexia said.
"Then we should walk quickly," Rose said. "And we'll soon have help." She looked at Hanharan Heights through the drifting smoke, and for a moment she closed her eyes.
The smell of smoke hung in the air, and the farther south they went, the worse it would become. Then there was Course Canton to negotiate, the Border Spites, the Levels… and all the while, the city would shake with terror at the thing rising beneath it.
"How long until this Vex arrives?" Peer asked. "Where will it rise? What will it do?"
Rose turned to her, then glanced at Gorham and Alexia to include them in her reply. "I'm no god," she said. "There's plenty I don't know."
"But you made it," Gorham said, his voice cool with accusation.
"A Baker long before me-" Rose stopped when she saw Gorham's growing anger. In that instant, Peer loved him a little more. "But, yes. She made it, and then she threw it away, because it was imperfect and dangerous. She just didn't throw it far enough. Please, we need to hurry. We'll know when it arrives, and we must reach Skulk before then."
They started walking, Rose in the lead, the others strung out behind. It surprised none of them that a girl whose skin the sunlight had never touched knew exactly which direction to take.