Chapter: 207 - The End of the Night (Patreon)

<Contains content which may be considered grimdark>
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Tali didn’t have any specific duties during this part of the feast. This was a time for potential Pillars to talk with those whom they might hold sway over. It was a time to be seen, and a time to bury old grudges, so that whomever rose to the position, they would not feel a need to…remove any members below them.

It was not a time for Eskau, candidates or otherwise. Throughout the conversations, the candidates either stood silently behind and to the left of their masters or moved at their master’s bidding so that the other ranking members of the House of Blood could examine their physique and magics.

Tali had to fight to keep a smirk off her face when one lesser member tried to pinch her bicep to test for muscle density, and he had to use body strengthening magics to make more than the slightest impression.

True, she was flexing at the time, but it showed that the purple man was properly ranked within the House structure.

Too weak to ever amount to much. “Are you satisfied with my candidacy, Elder?”

He had nodded quickly, not meeting her gaze before he moved off.

Her Master had given her a smile for the display. That particular member of the House had been trying to undermine her Master for nearly a year, even before her Master had returned with her and announced his intentions.

There were several other attempts to test her suitability, but they all failed utterly.

The only one of true note came from a simple Mature member of the House, her orange aura announcing her low status.

Tali had several hue folk around her at the time, two were feeling her forearms, when she felt a slight prick.

Tali’s gaze immediately snapped to the green skinned woman who was on her left. A small pin had been pushed through Tali’s skin, which was actually fairly impressive, as far as feats go.

The poison on the needle was more so. Nonetheless, it proved utterly ineffective against her enhanced biology.

The woman had a triumphant look in her eyes until Tali smiled maliciously.

With quick motions, Tali trapped the hand holding the needle and forcibly pushed it further into her own arm.

Her voice was clear, even as the others who were around her stepped back in alarm at her quick movements. “You wouldn’t want to deliver too small of a dose, would you?”

Once the needle was mostly driven in, Tali pulled it back out, still trapped within the woman’s hand.

With a quick twist, Tali broke her attacker’s wrist. A laughably weak kick to the inside of the green woman’s right leg dropped her to her knees before Tali.

Her Master turned from his conversation with a raised eyebrow.

Everything’s a test. “Revered Pillar, I do not have the authority to issue judgment on this member of the House.”

+Wait. What’s she doing? The threat is neutralized. It wasn’t even a real threat to begin with.+

-You know what’s she’s going to do, Tala. Do you want to stop her?-

+…I…I don’t know.+

The Pillar turned from the group he had been talking with and took in the scene.

After a long moment, he nodded. “I give you the authority.”

+I can’t stop her…well, I can… but If we show weakness, here, it would be decidedly out of character for Tali. Even if it wasn’t, either Sanguis or Be-thric would kill me for showing weakness unbefitting of an Eskau.+

-Do you even want to stop her? These people are our enemies. We can stop her, if you want. Do you want control?-

+… No.+

As Revered Sanguis turned away from her, Tali looked to her Master. He simply nodded as well, though he didn’t turn away. Instead, he watched to see how she would proceed.

The woman was still kneeling before Tali, quietly whimpering as she clutched her distorted hand.

Tali’s voice was clear through the hall, even though most conversations didn’t stop entirely. “Will you reveal who put you up to this attack?”

It’s obviously the bird-woman, but such an accusation would be pointless. Even if this woman were her closest friend, that isn’t evidence of collaboration. Tali almost didn’t wait for the woman’s answer. Honestly, she probably shouldn’t have asked. If this had been well planned, the woman would now implicate some other enemy of her associates, and Tali would have just given them that opportunity.

Blessedly, the attacker just looked up with a glare. “I’d rather die.”

Tali gave a moment’s consideration. Crushing the woman would be both symbolic and demonstrative of her abilities, but by that same token, it would give away some of what she could do.

There were similar issues with using her morphic weapon. A simple solution would be best.

“Wish granted.”

Tali simply grabbed the woman’s chin and gave a quick, one-handed jerk sideways, snapping her neck.

The green woman collapsed to the side, her elegant dress falling in a rather artistic cascade around her unmoving form.

Two servants came forward stoically to remove the body, but Tali waved them away. “Leave her. The remains of the feast should not be removed until the celebration is complete.”

The servants withdrew, her Master nodded appreciatively, and the evening continued.

+…that was brutal.+

-Effective though. It should also be a deterrent to anyone else trying something similar.-

+Oh, there’s no doubt of that. I just…I don’t know if I could have done it like that. I don’t know if I could kill someone so casually, for such a little thing, and then leave their body out for all to see.+

-...You know, tomorrow you’re going to have to kill at least a few of the candidates.-

+Yes, but my life will be on the line, then.+

Once or twice during the feast, while glancing through the crowd, Tali saw odd motion from near some of the other candidates. The movements could have indicated attempts on the lives of her opponents, but she didn’t pay too much attention, regardless. If assassins succeeded, she’d have fewer competitors, but if they succeeded, those candidates would never have been real competition for her in any event. So, in the end, it was just meaningless posturing.

It was nearly midnight when Revered Sanguis called an end to the feast and made the pivotal announcement. “I have heard all the potential Pillar’s petitions,” he paused to grin at the alliteration, before he continued, his smile still in evidence, “And I am pleased to announce that I can honor them all.”

The Pillar paused, then glanced towards Tali and grimaced. “One thing, first: As one of the candidates is a collared, I must state that there will be absolutely no tampering, or interacting, with that collar under any circumstances. I will immediately kill anyone who even attempts it.”

A wave of mutters passed through the hall, and Tali fought the desire to hang her head in shame.

+Yes, be ashamed for being a slave. That makes sense.+

-I wish that was why she felt shame.-

+…yeah… She simply hates that the statement brought attention to Be-thric’s violation of custom.+

The Pillar continued his announcement, his voice gaining a celebratory tone once more, “That dealt with, for the first time I can remember, every single potential Pillar has asked for the same terms. Tomorrow, we will have a competition without restrictions, save those required. It will be until death or surrender, and the only magic you may bring with you is your own and that of your protian.”

Tali shook off her momentary shame and felt herself grin broadly. There would be no riddles, no games, no feats of strength. It would be a simple melee, and Tali would prove her Master right.

*      *      *

The door to Tali’s room closed with a click. Two servants had just left, after helping Tali apply her iron paint.

+Enough. My turn again.+

Tala swayed just slightly as she came back into command of her own body.

It was slightly disorienting, moving from the position of observer and commentator to that of personality in command.

-Hey, I kind of like that.-

Tala grimaced. I really don’t. It implies that we’ll be doing this often enough to need a term to help us differentiate…

She twisted, stretching and reveling in the feeling of being back within her own body.

She could already feel the power building up within her, compounding within her magics.

The feast had ended less than an hour earlier, though obviously without her getting any food. A bit unfair, that.

-Well, what can you do?-

I could have stolen food, or I could go do so now.

-Are you going to?-

Absolutely not. That would be foolish.

Alat chuckled within Tala’s head.

Tala looked down at her blackened hands, and had a moment of revulsion.

They looked like they could be Be-thric’s hands, the hands of her captor.

No, focus on the details, not the generalities. Hers were feminine, not delicate, but certainly not like Be-thric’s. They lacked his odd, gray spell-lines.

Tali had never learned what those were. Most arcanes didn’t have visible spell-lines, though a few did. Be-thric was not unique. She still didn’t know what his did. The material of the lines, and the arcane’s flesh, were such different mediums that she had no basis with which to compare to human spell-forms of gold, silver, or copper.

Even as she watched, the echoes of her own lined magics began to fade into existence, carving themselves into reality.

With a resigned sigh, Tala lay on her bed, contemplating the day that was to come.

As evidenced by the rapid formation of the echoes, her power density and through-put were both leagues beyond what they had been six months ago. From Tali’s memories, she’d spent less than half the time in captivity wearing the iron paint.

The increases had come, instead, from the literal wagon-loads of arcanous and magical harvests she’d been eating. Meats from powerful beasts, fruits, and vegetables grown in high magic areas and saturated with certain spell-forms. Honestly, it sounded like what Tala understood with regards to creating artifacts.

But these people use it to create food for their upper echelon to consume.

Be-thric had thrown every resource her way in his bid for power. He’d even taken her into a pocket dimension, filled to the brim with founts, save room for a few people to meditate.

Every inch, even under the compressed founts, had been carved with spell-forms designed to compact and distill power.

The aura of the space had been violet, and Be-thric had implied that they’d lowered the density of power so that the two of them could bear it.

It had been agonizing, but it had forced her body to acclimate to higher quantities of power, even if that power was…lesser, when compared to what came through her gate.

She’d been a container expanded to hold more. The particular fluid or gas used for the expansion was irrelevant, as her gate always refilled the new capacity with half-step Refined power.

-That’s not a thing.-

Are you sure? It seems like a good description.

-…I’m sure there’s an actual ranking and classification for it.-

Do you know it?

-…no…-

Then half-step Refined it is! Tala grinned triumphantly.

The more she considered it, the more it was obvious that Be-thric was betting everything on Tali. And it made sense too, now at least. He’d officially marked her as his target, but she’d slipped away from him, advancing faster than he could possibly have expected.

He cheated, too.

-Yeah, he clearly began the process the first time he saw you, rather than selecting you officially, before interfering.-

That’s probably what messed him over. I’d have been on a different path when he came back, and likely wouldn’t have advanced as quickly as I did.

-Could be. We can never really know what would have happened, though.-

Even with the uncertainty, it was good to understand what had occurred, and she even got some modicum of pleasure imagining how Be-thric’s plans had crumbled so horribly.

She glanced at her hands once more, regarding the paint. I actually have no idea if this is new paint or just some of the last of what I had with me, but I think it must be new? It seems like a lot of effort to reverse engineer this…

She brought her hand closer, trying to examine the now-dry material. It looked almost identical, if not identical. She had purchased around ten gallons from…someone in Marliweather in the months preceding her capture.

Tala’s smile faded, her thoughts turning inward as she took a deep breath and sighed. I know you know what I’m going to say.

-I do.-

I’m going to say it anyway.

-Yeah, I know that too.-

…It’s kind of irritating talking to someone who can know what I’m going to say before I say it.

-That’s why I pretend most of the time. What a polite fiction we maintain, eh?-

Tala glowered at the ceiling. Anyways. I know you haven’t restored some key parts of my memories.

-I wasn’t trying to hide that fact from you.-

Then why not give them back?

-Because worrying about certain things would distract you.-

So, I have people that I should be worried about? But you think I can’t afford the distractions?

-Yes, and companions.-

Wait… some of them aren’t people?

Alat was silent for a long moment. -I assume you are against me modifying your memory of this exchange?-

Not funny, Alat.

-Yeah…- Alat did sound remorseful. -That was a bit in bad taste.-

Even so, bad jokes will not distract me.

-Tomorrow will be difficult enough without you worrying about things you can’t affect. Let me return them to you, tomorrow night.-

But if I ask for the memories back now?

-Then, I will give them back, but I feel like that is not wise.-

Tala considered that for a moment before asking another question. So, you really think I shouldn’t remember?

-Repression is kind of our thing.-

Well, I’d say “look at how that’s worked out.” But I don’t actually know, now do I? I just feel like it hasn’t worked out well, with no memories supporting it. Do you know how infuriating that is? How terrifying? You are keeping me from being fully me, Alat. You’re acting more like Be-thric than you are acting like me.

-That’s not fair.- The alternate interface sounded genuinely hurt by the comparison.

Isn’t it, though? You’re manipulating my mind to get me to act in the way you want me to. It’s not to the same extent, obviously, but it is more like him than it is like me.

-…I…I did not think of it like that.- Alat’s voice was incredibly small within Tala’s head.

Yeah… I assumed you didn’t. You’ve never had any ill will towards me, nor malicious intent.

-I’m sorry…Here.-

Suddenly, Tala jerked, memories within her head unlocking.

She gasped. “Oh.”

Tears filled her eyes, and she felt a sob shudder through her. She couldn’t afford to be loud. There shouldn’t be anyone nearby, but there was always the chance.

My siblings. She felt tears start to pour from her eyes, down past her temples an onto the pillow behind her head. Nalac and Illie are at the Academy, they were asking for my input on their fundamental understandings. I never got a chance to reply. She had missives from some of her other siblings, but she hadn’t been talking with anyone as much as those two and Nalac more than Illie.

Mistress Odera. Will I come back to find her gone? Her Archon star finally complete and her mortal form shed in favor of a fount?

Lyn is probably just fine, though I’m sure she’s worried sick.

Rane was doing a loop of the cities on his own. I know I don’t have the right count of days, but that should be finishing up soon, if he continued after I went missing… He has to know I’m gone, right? Mistress Odera would have told him.

She sat up and blew her nose, her mind fixating on one friend in particular. Terry? He was near me when Be-thric…took me. Is he…did Terry die?

Alat had no response. Neither they, nor Tali, had memories of Tala’s capture. Alat had been keeping their mental map up to date in the Archive, but when they were taken, that was cut off. Alat, herself, was cut off.

The last thing they could recall was Be-thric saying ‘Found you.’

What’s happening with all of them?

-I don’t know, and we can’t know. But, Tali has seen a terror bird occasionally in the city. I don’t know if it’s Terry, after all Terror birds aren’t that uncommon either as pets or pests.-

Tala easily called up the memories from Tali’s experiences, seeing increases in the number of terror birds around the city every so often.

The coloring didn’t look quite right to be Terry, but that might have been her fear talking. After all, Tali had never really gotten a good look, she had only noticed it because on those days there seemed to be more terror birds about than usual.

Tala shuddered, wiping at her eyes.

-So?-

I…I think it’s better to remember. It’s better to know what I need to get back for.

-Huh. It seems I…misunderstood what your reaction would be.- Something in Alat’s tone caught Tala’s attention.

Alat? What’s wrong?

-I…I did not realize that I’d drifted so far from you already.-

We are a bit distinct. And not just because you were hiding bits of myself. She didn’t intend the words as an attack, so Alat didn’t take it that way.

-We are.-

Even with my own memories, you are a passenger. Watching through my eyes is not the same as taking the action. That difference shapes us differently.

Alat seemed to perk up a bit. -It is amazing how our experiences shape us, isn’t it.-

Indeed it is. Tala blew her nose one last time, feeling complete for the first time in… well, six months or so.

She needed rest. Her mind needed sleep to reorganize and process through all that had happened. It was time for the end of the night. I think I need to sleep.

-That is probably wise, yes. Good night, Tala.-

Good night, Alat.

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