Will Wight - Of Dawn and Darkness

And with the typical logic of frightened people, these good Capital citizens were stopping the few who could actually protect them. General Teach was wading grimly through the sea of men and women, constantly asking people to stand aside, and Cheska drifted along in her wake. Her grip on her cutlass was tight, as though she wished she could draw and cut her way through.

“Join the General, Bliss,” Calder said. “Andel, Foster, and I will walk ahead of you and try to keep the streets clear. Don’t hurt anyone, please.”

Bliss treated him to the same suspicious scrutiny she had given the leaf, but just when he was planning on retracting his suggestion and throwing himself on her mercy, she nodded. “Very well. We should walk quickly.”

With that, she moved over to Jarelys Teach. For two or three seconds, the crowd didn’t recognize that Bliss wasn’t one of them, but each person who finally noticed the girl in the long black coat staggered backward. In less than a minute, a space had cleared around Teach. The General placed a hand on Bliss’ shoulder in thanks, and then ordered the crew of The Eternal to fall in behind her. The noise hadn’t lessened—the people were shouting louder now, hungry for a reasonable explanation—but at least they had some space.

Calder muttered orders to Foster and Andel. Foster immediately agreed, drawing his pistol and ordering people away from Teach. He managed to clear his way up the street a little faster, and the speed of their tiny procession increased.

Andel didn’t obey immediately. He adjusted his sleeves as he walked beside Calder, buying time to talk. At last, he said, “You’re focusing on the wrong details.”

Not a joke. Not a complaint. Not even a criticism, really, though it could be taken as one. Andel was serious.

“What do you mean?”

“Have you seen how desperate they are?”

The faces around them proved Andel right. The people around him weren’t just pushy or demanding, they were terrified . They begged as though they were starving and only the Guild Heads had bread. But the street hadn’t been this chaotic when he’d seen it from the ship; only the sight of Cheska and Teach, people who might have answers, had incited this kind of panic.

It didn’t mean that they weren’t afraid before, but that they’d pushed the fear down. There was nothing they could do about it, so they’d tried to live their lives as normal. Only, at the slightest hint of something they could do to save themselves, they snatched at it like wild dogs fighting over a scrap of meat.

“They didn’t get this way because the Imperial Palace shut its doors,” Calder said aloud.

“These people have seen something. If we don’t know what it is, we risk running straight into it.”

Andel joined Foster after that, moving people aside physically when necessary, but Calder fell back. This crowd didn’t care about him; they only even noticed him when he blocked the way to Teach or Cheska.

He let himself drown in the mob.

It would have been a simple matter to open himself to their Intent, but Reading a situation rather than an object was risky. For one thing, the impression was more fleeting, and he often came up with nothing of use. For another, if the Intent of a crowd was focused enough, they could sweep him along with them. Instead of understanding the mob, he might join it.

Besides, his head was already lightly pounding from the previous days’ exertions. He’d hardly had a chance to recover from the fight on the Gray Island before The Eternal was ripped to shreds, and since then he’d been Reading constantly: to communicate with the Lyathatan, to hold The Testament together, to rig up the net that dragged half a ship back home. He’d kept himself within his limits, but he was approaching them nonetheless. If he wanted to be of any use to anyone in the next few days, he needed to keep himself from Reader’s burn now.

So he had to try more mundane methods of investigation.

Calder spoke to a shouting man beside him. “The Guild Heads came in on my ship,” he yelled into the man’s ear. “I’m with the Guild Heads.”

Several people turned to him eagerly, babbling their questions one at a time. He held up a hand. “We’ve been at sea. What’s happened here?”

Explanations came one on top of the other.

“The Luminians, they won’t heal my son—”

“…doors of the palace shut! The last time they did that was when the Emperor died, may his soul fly free.”

“…Greenwardens closed up their chapter house. I had an appointment, and now they’re telling me you Imperialists drove them out of town!”

“…Magisters gathering together. They’ve sensed something coming, they know the end is here.”

“…men in black, jumping from rooftop to rooftop.”

“…these Independents want to tear the Empire down! You’ll put them in their place for us, I know you will.”

To each person, Calder responded as neutrally as he could, but the crowd wouldn’t have let him leave if Cheska hadn’t reached in and hauled him out by the elbow.

“Learn anything useful?” she asked him.

“ Something is definitely happening in the Capital,” he said. “It’s not just the palace closing. Everyone has personally seen something that worries them.”

“Uh-huh. And what do they say is happening?”

“Best I can tell, they’ve noticed the Guilds at each others throats.”

Cheska clapped her hat to her head at a sudden gust of wind. “Yeah, I’d put that together too. Everybody wants me to take care of the other Guilds, like I can tell the Consultants how to do their jobs.”

However long it actually took them to reach the Imperial Palace, it felt like all day, and the sun was beginning to sink as they arrived at the gate. The Guards crossed spears out of habit and training when they saw the party approach, but when they saw Jarelys Teach’s scowling face and the hilt of her sword sticking out over the crowd, they hurried out to clear the way for their Guild Head.

It took a kind of slow-motion brawl to sort out everyone who was supposed to be inside the palace from the people who had to stay outside. Petal was trembling and clutching her bag to her chest, looking around wide-eyed like a mouse who had just survived a lightning strike. Calder made a mental note not to ask too much of her in the coming days.

Not that anyone else was in much better condition. Even Jarelys Teach, pillar of Imperial strength, had dark circles under her eyes, and she walked as though her armor had been weighted down with anvils. But as the gates crashed shut behind her, she issued an order.

“Report,” she demanded. A woman in the uniform of an Imperial Guard, a blonde with orange cat eyes, saluted. She looked familiar enough that she sparked a memory in Calder.

Where’s Meia?

He hadn’t seen the Consultant for virtually the entire voyage to the Capital, nor on the longboat to shore, nor on the long hike up to the palace. If he believed in kind Fates, he would have thought she’d been lost at sea, swallowed up by one of the million hazards of the Aion.

But his luck wasn’t that good, and he knew it. She would show up when she wanted, and likely at the worst possible time.

“We’ve engaged the enemy around the Emperor’s quarters, ma’am,” the orange-eyed Guard said. “Conventional arms seem ineffective, so we mobilized all Soulbound and combat-capable modifications. Each time we inflict enough damage, it grows back instantly.”

“What is it?” Teach asked, marching down the hall as though she meant to plow straight through a brick wall. Calder and the others had no choice but to let themselves be dragged behind.