Роберт Беннет - Foundryside

She opened the door. Within was a small, blank room. Ofelia shut her eyes, pressed her hand against the back wall, and waited.

The wall melted away as if it were made of smoke. Behind it was a tiny, cramped spiral staircase, leading down.

Ofelia lit a scrived light and walked down the stairs. It took a long time, for there were many, many steps.

Finally she came to a small wooden door. She waited for a moment, took a breath, and opened the door.

Beyond was a huge stone cellar, with a vaulted ceiling and many, many columns. There was no light within, but she did not need one, and a light would not work here, anyway — for the room was full of moths.

Ofelia carefully walked through the whispering, fluttering storm of moths. She came to the small stone seat in the middle of the room. She sat, and waited. She waited for a very long time.

Finally she saw him, glimpsed him — just a shred of his form, lost amidst the swirl of wings.

She swallowed and took a breath. “I assume,” she said softly, “that…that you are aware of how things have progressed, my prophet.”

He did not move or speak. He just stood there, a figure concealed by the flurry.

“I don’t…I don’t know what happened with my son,” she said. “We spent so much time preparing Gregor…And he’s done so much for us in the wars, arranging your designs…But now, to have him fail…”

Still he did not speak.

“The construct is free,” said Ofelia. “Is…is it possible to withstand this blow? It seems like this is the worst of all possibilities.”

There was a long silence. Then he finally spoke, and as always, he spoke in her mind, loudly and clearly:

“N-No?”

“So…What shall we do, my prophet?”

There was a long silence.

he said,

It is difficult to think of any work of mine that’s changed more during its development than this one. Thank you to my editor, Julian Pavia, and my agent, Cameron McClure, for helping me through the process. And thank you to Ashlee for tolerating many nights where I sat in bed typing away for hours, ignorant of nearly everything around me, and the many times when I did a botched job on the laundry while preoccupied with ideas.

Robert Jackson Bennett is the author, most recently, of the Divine Cities trilogy, which was a 2018 Hugo Awards finalist in the Best Series category. The first book in the series, City of Stairs, was also a finalist for the World Fantasy and Locus Awards, and the second, City of Blades, was a finalist for the World Fantasy, Locus, and British Fantasy Awards. His previous novels, which include American Elsewhere and Mr. Shivers, have received the Edgar Award, the Shirley Jackson Award, and the Philip K. Dick Citation of Excellence. He lives in Austin with his family.

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