James Wyatt - In the Claws of the Tiger

So what about this evil spirit? Janik turned his thoughts to his years of research into the history of Mel-Aqat. He himself had argued that a passing mention in the Serpentes Fragments to a “place of imprisonment” referred to Mel-Aqat, and that one of the great princes of the ancient demons was imprisoned deep beneath the ruins. But if they had released something like that when they were in Mel-Aqat, Janik was sure he would have noticed-and the world would have felt the impact by now.

Thinking this through felt like entering ruins that had lain abandoned for years. Janik had been writing, publishing articles about Mel-Aqat, but he realized now that he’d been coasting, letting the momentum of his discovery carry him through article after article, that all of them really argued little of substance. He had not thought this deeply in years, and he was a little surprised at how good it felt.

I need my books, he thought. I don’t remember half of what matters.

With that thought, he got up from his chair and stumbled in to bed.

It was not Tierese but the other knight from the previous day who came after breakfast to escort Janik to the Cathedral.

“Janik,” Mathas called as Janik started out the door behind the knight.

“Yes?”

“Hear her out.”

“I’ll try.”

“Thank you.”

Janik followed the knight out of the palace and into the Cathedral. They walked to the same sitting room, but the knight did not ask Janik to wait. He walked to the door leading to the audience chamber and held it open for Janik to walk through.

No attendants flanked the throne this time. The Keeper of the Flame sat on her ornate chair, and Dania stood in front of her, to Janik’s right. Both smiled as Janik entered.

“Welcome, Janik Martell,” Jaela Daran said again. “Thank you for returning.”

“I am grateful for your hospitality,” Janik said with a bow. He caught Dania’s gaze as he straightened, and held it for a long moment before Dania looked back to the Keeper of the Flame.

The girl spoke again. “Dania tells me that you uncovered a spy among the Knights of Thrane who serve our Cathedral. I am grateful for this information, and deeply sorry for the trouble she caused you. This woman, Tierese, has fled Thrane, but we will continue in our efforts to bring her to justice.”

“Thank you,” Janik said.

“We think she’s heading for Sharn, Janik,” Dania said. “Which suggests that Krael is there.”

Janik started to respond, but the Keeper cut him off. “Dania tells me that you are still reluctant to return to Mel-Aqat, Janik.”

“Reluctant is putting it rather mildly,” Janik said.

“Janik, listen,” Dania said. “Maybe you don’t care about this evil spirit we released, or fixing the harm we’ve done. I find that hard to believe. But think about what we left there.”

“Half those ancient passages still lie unexplored,” Jaela said, “untouched by any human hand. You found the Ramethene Sword in the ruins, and it might have changed the course of the Last War. What else might still be in there?”

“It would be unusual to discover more than one artifact of power at a single site,” Janik said. “And we explored more than half the ruins. At least, I think we did. No telling how much is left, really.”

“Should we leave it to Krael to find out?” Dania said. “Will you let him pillage the ruins? He’s got the Ramethene Sword already, thanks to Maija. What if there are other relics there? Do you want more artifacts in his hands?”

“And what makes you think he’s going there?” Janik was starting to feel the solid ground shift beneath his feet.

“If he’s in Sharn, you know what that means,” Dania said. “He’s heading to Xen’drik. He’s going back there.”

“Which is why he has sent assassins after you,” Jaela said. “He wants you out of the way so his path is clear.”

Janik looked at the Keeper of the Flame, surprised at the poise and authority this child brought to her position. He had to admit that she was impressive, and he no longer suspected her of delivering lines that had been scripted for her.

“We don’t know whether Krael’s interest has anything to do with the spirit we released there,” Dania said. “Maybe the two events are completely unrelated, though I doubt it. But that makes two good reasons for us to return to Mel-Aqat.”

Something stirred in Janik’s heart. It had started with the merest trickle the night before, a sense that he wanted to plunge deeper into his research, think harder about the issues his visit to Mel-Aqat had raised. Now that trickle was building to a flood. For three years, the name of Mel-Aqat had conjured a single thought, like a dagger in his mind. Now other images were reawakening. He recalled the sight of the ruins looming before them for the first time as they crossed the desert. He felt the thrill of moving through the ancient halls, shining his lantern on inscriptions that verified all his theories and speculations. He remembered fighting shoulder to shoulder with Dania, keeping a pack of insectlike waste-dwellers away from Mathas and Maija. I’ve missed this, he thought. Maybe I could go back …

“For us to return?” he asked Dania. “You would come?”

Dania smiled. “Of course I’ll come, Janik. You think I’d miss it?”

Janik knew exactly what she meant. Another image forced itself into his mind: Krael’s superior smirk as Maija handed him the sword.

“All right,” he said. “I’ll go.”

The three companions boarded an airship the next morning, destined for Sharn. Janik spent the bulk of the first day pacing the deck, casting a wary eye at the skies all around the ship. He slept fitfully, Krael’s warforged assassin featuring prominently in his dreams and usually living up to his name-Sever, Tierese had called him.

He rose early the next day and resumed his pacing. Dania approached as he stood at the stern, following his gaze out at a speck in the distant sky.

“It’s a dragonhawk,” she said.

“Too far east,” Janik replied.

“I don’t know anything about their range,” Dania said, “but I know a dragonhawk when I see one.”

“You’re just saying that because you know it’ll never come close enough for us to be sure.”

“It is close enough for me to be sure.” Dania smiled. “The fact that your inferior human eyes can’t make it out doesn’t make it false.”

Janik grinned. They had shared this argument many times, playing endless variations on essentially the same lines of dialogue. “So if it’s a dragonhawk, and it’s flying over southern Thrane, does that mean someone’s riding it?”

“No,” Dania replied. “No one is on its back.”

“I hope your superior half-elf eyes are right.” He turned around and leaned back on the railing. “It’s good to see you again.”

“It is good,” she replied, still watching the circling dragonhawk. “And good not to be arguing.”

“Dania,” Janik said seriously, “I never apologized.”

“No, you never did.”

“I am sorry for everything.”

She gave him a sideways glance. “I already told you it’s all forgiven.” She smiled, then looked outward. “Look, it’s diving!”

Janik saw the distant speck plummet earthward, pulling up an instant before colliding with the ground. He imagined he could see the beating of powerful wings as it climbed back into the sky, but it was like seeing the twinkling of a star.

“It caught a sheep,” Dania said. “That will be one unhappy farmer.”

“You’re making this up.”

She turned to him and smiled. “Hey, Mathas is down there having breakfast. Let’s join him. We can talk about what we need to do in Sharn.”