"Very well. If you have any suggestions about what to do, I'll listen."
"I have more than suggestions, Mistress. I have a gift for you. Something you will need almost as much as Eymunder."
Nyori's voice dropped to a whisper. "You cannot mean the Tome."
Leilavin smiled again. "Yes, Mistress. I know exactly where it is hidden, and I will take you there. Follow me."
Leilavin's lithe strides were catlike as she padded on her bare soles. Nyori hurried after her, grateful to leave the chamber of beauty and torment. Leilavin pressed against a decorative section of the wall. A hidden doorway opened, leading to a narrow hall lit by hovering globes.
Nyori followed her inside. "You seem to know this place well."
"I should. I was here when it was constructed by the Aelon long ago. I have intimate knowledge of every niche and hidden cranny." Further down, Leilavin pressed a flagstone on the wall, opening a doorway that led to a spacious room. The chandelier bloomed upon their entrance, highlighting motes of disturbed powder. Faded fabric lined with a thin layer of dust covered the furniture and hangings. It looked as though the room had sat undisturbed for ages.
"This was one of my private chambers." Leilavin opened a wardrobe in the corner. "I have not seen it in centuries."
Nyori looked around while Leilavin dressed. The room was depressingly adorned with dark furniture and carvings of bizarre creatures and figures. Archaic weapons hung from the wall instead of paintings. The ebony bed was ceremoniously adorned, lacquered in gold and shimmering jewels. It was more of a temple than a room, a shrine dedicated to darkness.
"I am ready. We must go."
Leilavin wore shades of black and mauve; trousers with legs so wide that they looked like a dress, and a multi-layered, wide sleeved robe. It was patterned with what looked like tiny flowers until Nyori drew closer and realized they were skulls. Leilavin had also wound her hair and fastened it with long pins that looked suspiciously like daggers. She thrust additional daggers into the wide sash at her waist.
"This way."
She led Nyori along a bewildering path of twists and turns along the narrow passageway. They felt tremors as they walked, and heard muted sounds of movement and voices.
"Your army attacks." Leilavin's face was placid and undisturbed. "Brave fools."
"You don't think they have a chance to win?"
"There is a reason this place has never fallen." Leilavin paused. They had stopped at the bare face of a wall. There was no door or any visible way of entrance.
Nyori placed a hand on the cool stone. "I know you said you knew this place, but this looks like a dead end."
"That is because you are looking with your physical eyes, Mistress. Look again."
Nyori focused and Shifted to her Inner Mind. With her Other eye open, she saw the doorway in the middle of the wall. A complicated cycle of Glyphs pulsed softly in its center.
Leilavin stepped to the Glyphs, tapping them in sequence. When she finished, the doorway silently opened.
It was not the treasure room Nyori expected. No piles of gold and jewels were heaped across the floor. She supposed the Aelon put no such value on metals and stones hacked from the earth.
Books lined the walls. More than anyone could ever read in a lifetime, placed in seemingly endless shelves that stood nearly as high as the ceiling. Ladders were erected and fixed to the shelves for the ease of the borrower. On the floor, artifacts were encased in glass and labeled with embossed gold. Unfamiliar weapons, strange machinery, and collected bones of bizarre creatures were erected for display.
Nyori barely glanced at the various exhibitions. Her eyes were drawn to the stand in the center of the room, highlighted by an aperture in the ceiling. The leather bound book was open, its pages lined with Glyphs glimmering in gold. She knew it as surely as she knew her own mind. It was the book she saw when the memories of the Theurgist melded with her own.
The Tome of Apokrypy.
A crash interrupted her approach. Her heart pounded when she whirled around.
Leilavin had carelessly pushed over one of the display stands, shattering the glass encasement. She bent down and retrieved what looked like a crude stone dagger.
"Be careful," Nyori said. "We don't want anyone to catch us here."
"The palace is under attack," Leilavin said pointedly. "This is the perfect time to be here. And I would be wary of seizing the Tome just yet. I remind you to look with your Other eye."
Nyori did so, Shifting once again. The threads of intertwined Crafts immediately became visible. Scintilla threaded with Tropos. Whoever tried to take the Tome would be immediately engulfed in a searing explosion of flame.
Leilavin stepped forward and slashed the threads with the makeshift dagger in her hand. They dissipated before Nyori's eyes.
"What did you…?"
"Banestone." Leilavin showed Nyori the simple weapon. "There is a reason the akhkharu fear it. The Aelon gifted it to mankind to defend against the Crafts of the Elious. Out of their fear, humanity used it to nearly eradicate the Elious from existence during the Age of Chaos. The Elious destroyed and hid as much as they could before they perished. What remained was used to adorn holy places and kept in treasure houses. In time its use has been all but forgotten."
She hesitated, eyes distant as she gazed at the Banestone. "But for the Aelon, it is the severest of poisons. I could never have touched it in my former condition. I was just as fearful as they were."
Nyori set trembling hands on the Tome. The Glyphs on her arms and hands materialized, glimmering softly. She lifted it from the stand with reverent care.
"I've seen what Banestone can do. It protected me when the akhkharu first tried to kill me." It seemed so long ago, those perilous moments in the Dragonspine. Ironhide, who bravely sacrificed himself so that she could live…
"You haven't seen everything Banestone can do." Leilavin's eyes gleamed. "You haven't seen it kill."
The room seemed to drop in temperature. Nyori paused from staring at the Tome to look at Leilavin. "Kill?"
"There is a reason this was carved into a weapon. The akhkharu are particularly vulnerable if Banestone enters their bloodstream. The Co'nane especially so. It acts as the swiftest, most deadly of poisons to their system."
"And you would go up against Alaric with that?" Nyori felt uneasy, reminded of exactly who Leilavin was.
"I would walk across fire and dance on the blades of newly sharpened razors if it meant a chance to slay Alaric." Leilavin's jaw trembled as she tucked the dagger inside of her robes. "You are my Mistress and I will serve you faithfully, but you cannot deny me my vengeance."
"I don't want you to throw away your life, Leilavin. I tried to convince Marcellus of the same." Nyori felt her eyes moisten at the thought. Marcellus had lost his battle, and the chances of her seeing him again grew slimmer with each passing minute. "Vengeance isn't all there is to life, nor is death a reason to live."
Leilavin's face hardened. "You seek Eymunder, do you not? You will not leave without it?"
Nyori sighed. "No. I cannot."
"Nor shall I leave with Alaric still living. Fortunately, both of our wants can be satisfied at the same time." Leilavin pulled a leather satchel down from one of the stands and handed it to Nyori. "For the Tome. You cannot expect to carry it in the midst of the battle with your hands."
In the midst of battle. Nyori tried not to think about it as she carefully placed the Tome inside.