Difficult to estimate, his oracle codex replied. Assuming he begins in the western Blackflame Empire, and assuming flight based on aura control, he could arrive here in six hours.
Northstrider could have sent out his spiritual sense to see exactly where Lindon was starting from, but Lindon could have shut down such a scan effortlessly. Northstrider hadn’t bothered to try.
Lindon, on the other hand, knew exactly where to find him. If he didn’t, he wouldn’t have been able to send the portal in the first place.
The codex continued. If he travels from the nearest branch of the labyrinth, then of course he will arrive much sooner.
Northstrider wasn’t concerned about that. He knew where the labyrinth entrance was, and he’d put measures on it that even Lindon couldn’t ignore.
“Set the evacuation alarm,” Northstrider commanded the construct in charge of the Sunken Tower. “In six hours, we need all critical projects gone.”
Six hours wasn’t much time, but it would be enough.
New possibility, his codex said. Northstrider’s blood chilled at the words. Information on the Weeping Dragon is limited, but it is theoretically possible to create a method of transportation from its madra. In such a case, the time is reduced to only two hours.
What are the odds that Lindon has been able to create a vehicle so quickly?
Unlikely. Estimated thirty percent.
After further consideration, Northstrider decided not to move up the timeline of his alarm. That wasn’t enough of a possibility to act on, considering that the most important pieces of the Sunken Tower would be prioritized and moved out within two hours anyway.
New possibility, the codex said again.
Don’t tell me that, Northstrider snapped back.
Acknowledged. I will not consider this possibility.
No, tell me.
There are other possible meanings behind the words ‘I’ll see you soon.’ It could be that he will contact you again, or that he will lure you to come to him. Perhaps he is aware of something that will inevitably bring you two face-to-face.
Northstrider’s eyes narrowed. Or it could be a bluff.
Lindon’s words might have been a ploy to make Northstrider panic. Emriss had to have an escort, after all. He couldn’t leave her to his automated evacuation process. And prisoners were always less secure in transit.
Not enough information to be sure of his intentions, the oracle codex relayed. It is possible the Destroyer left him resources beyond our comprehension.
This whole process grated on Northstrider. Having to treat a child like a serious threat and being unable to see through his words. Monarchs were used to making others react to them.
Then again, he wasn’t in such an easy situation that he could afford to coddle his pride.
He strode down the hallway and met the doorframe of scripted jade at the end. After he left instructions with the facility construct and his subordinates, he commanded the doorframe into his void space.
It disappeared, along with the entrance to this prison world.
Now, if Lindon wanted to take Emriss back, he would have to meet Northstrider face-to-face. He couldn’t send Yerin or his other flunkies to do it for him. And while no one Monarch could take on the Empty Ghost alone, he could at least run.
By killing the Dreadgods, Lindon had put himself on a timer.
Once Northstrider had grabbed the doorframe, he hopped through space quickly and reappeared over an endless expanse of ocean. There were a few nearby buildings hanging from solidified clouds and a few peeking up from the waves, but for the most part, this was an unremarkable stretch of the Trackless Sea.
It was only a hundred miles or so from where he started, but it was even farther from the labyrinth entrance. Covering distance quickly was important.
Now he could make longer jumps. See if Lindon could catch him if he was on the other side of the—
“Come here.”
Lindon’s voice echoed through the world.
Northstrider felt himself being pulled through space, as though he’d been hooked on an invisible fishing line.
Spiritual perception exploded from him and enveloped the entire world for hundreds of miles. He could even sense the Sunken Tower from which he’d started.
Lindon was nowhere to be found.
He is attempting to summon you, his oracle codex informed him. It is unlikely that he has left his original position.
That was absurd.
Lindon had enough links to Northstrider to establish some connection, certainly. The Path of the Hungry Deep incorporated hunger, over which Lindon now had more authority than anyone. And Lindon himself used Consume, had grown under Northstrider’s tutelage, and carried around Dross, who had been born in Ghostwater. Even Ziel’s Broken Crown could theoretically be used to create a link, given that Ziel had fought in Northstrider’s name.
But there was a good reason the oracle codex had not considered this as a possibility.
It would never work. If greater hunger authority was enough to summon him, the Dreadgods could have pulled him to them centuries ago.
The only people to have forcibly summoned Northstrider since his advancement to Monarch were the Abidan.
He pitted his will against the working, but that took far more of his concentration than it should have. Wrestling Lindon’s willpower felt like a Copper wrestling a tiger.
He ultimately managed it, but another command pulled at his soul.
“Come to me,” Lindon ordered him.
Weight pulled at him, greater than Lindon should have. It was as though he was being supported by a circle of Heralds and Sages.
So, his friends had advanced. Between that fact and Lindon’s Dreadgod weapons, the oracle codex painted a grim picture of the near future.
At this rate, Lindon’s attempt was going to work.
In that case, Northstrider would ruin it for him.
He withdrew the doorframe from his void space and hurled it into the distant ocean. Even he didn’t know where it was. Now, when Lindon summoned him, the child would not get what he wanted. Emriss would remain imprisoned until Northstrider himself returned to dredge the ocean.
He still fought the summons, of course. But the more he fought, the more he saw a white hand, reaching out for him.
Eventually, that vision became reality.
Northstrider was forcibly pulled through rushing currents of blue only to land in the grip of Lindon’s Dreadgod arm.
Black-and-white eyes burned.
“Nice to see you again,” Lindon said.
23
Lindon was prepared for Northstrider to fight him. That was why he had performed the summoning in the labyrinth, and why he’d sent the others away.
This place couldn’t be destroyed.
Lindon was prepared to Consume the Monarch the moment he arrived, but there was no intention to fight. Only a defiant amusement in Northstrider’s eyes.
“Emriss is gone,” Northstrider said. “I locked away the entrance to her prison.”
He had a tone of triumph, as though he’d seen through Lindon’s plan and was a step ahead.
Lindon got the impression that the Monarch had given this too much thought. “I see. That’s disappointing.”
He held Northstrider by the throat but released him, despite the pleas of his hunger arm. Northstrider stood with a smug expression and brushed off his ragged clothes.
“Good. Now we can begin this negotiation. We will start by addressing the disrespect you have shown me.”
Lindon had cleared everything important from this room of the labyrinth, but it had once been a workshop of some nameless researcher. Lindon pulled up an ancient chair and sat with his back to the wall.