They kept within the canals. The deep trenches carving through the western portions of the Imperial City provided a semblance of cover from above. There was hardly any moisture at all this far in, and walking down the center of the channels would leave visible tracks in the dry sand. Jade Empire airships passed overhead frequently, and each time shadows fell over Josy and Reyn, the two fugitives pressed flat against the sides of the canals while their pursuers moved on.

"How long before they land soldiers to start combing the ruins?" Josy asked after a smaller vessel passed. The airship maintained just enough altitude to crest the surrounding manors.

"I would be surprised if they have not already." Reyn swept her eyes along the ledges fifteen feet above them. "They are likely ahead of us. We should find shelter."

"Plenty of options for that," Josy said. "These old mansions are holding together well enough."

"Spellwrought, like most everything else here. I have not seen architecture this sophisticated before. Not outside the Spired City."

"The Aleesh knew their stuff. No denying. This city's blustering huge. Bigger than home."

"Shorter, however," Reyn added. "I would guess it was less crowded, also. Do you think if we entered one of the lord's manors, we could avoid drawing attention from the Jade Empire?"

"If you've got a better idea, I'd love to hear it."

Reyn scanned the morning sky and didn't spot any airships in the immediate vicinity. She could hear them, however. There were enough of them swarming the Imperial City that the drone and hiss of their steam engines was a constant.

Once satisfied that she wouldn't be spotted, Reyn stepped away from the side of the canal and tried to get a look over the ledge. It was too high to reach the lip of the channel, and the spellwrought stone was too smooth for climbing. Reyn chewed at the inside of her cheek as she considered how to even get out and up onto the city streets.

"They'd have to drain the canals now and again, wouldn't they?" Josy ventured. "Send the slaves to muck out all the garbage and, I don't know, the human sacrifices they dumped in the canals. So there must be a way up."

Reyn glanced in Josy's direction before looking back to the ledge. "I do not think even Shoen's Shan Alee practiced wanton human sacrifice, but I take your meaning. There would need to be a way in and out for maintenance." Reyn shook her head, feeling out of her depth. "What I would give for an Amber Knight about now. If ever I needed a civic engineer..."

"If we had any sort of dragon, we wouldn't be in this mess. Speaking of, is there any chance the Arcane Knights patrol around this way? You'd think Enfri would send someone to check out her ancestral stomping grounds."

Reyn shook her head. "It was discussed but was made a low priority. Building the new empire's capital near Sandharbor will require all our resources for the next few years."

Josy gave a disappointed grunt. "Yeah, I guess. Not like anyone in their right mind would want to try farming out here. This place gives me the willies."

"I believe the sand and the roving prides of scale lions are a larger barrier to agriculture than... the willies."

"True enough," Josy said. She ducked her head as she looked up into the sky, and she lowered her tone. "Willies sure don't help, though. I don't know if it's being chased or what, but I can't shake the itch between my shoulders. It's like every time I turn my head, I feel like I just missed catching someone watching us. Like they duck away right before I turn to look."

"I feel it, too," Reyn whispered, almost to herself.

If not for the searching airships, the city would be deathly silent. No wind blew at the moment, granting an eery stillness to the ruins. Reyn could only hope that the rise in temperature that was accompanying the sun's arrival would bring a few gusts of a breeze. She wouldn't even mind a hot wind, anything to help banish the sense of timeless darkness that hung over everything. It felt as if the very stones of the place were imbued with the old empire's malfeasance. Every step Reyn took, she felt as if she would look back at her footprints in the sand and see black vapor rising from them.

"Between you and me," Josy said, "I hope Enfri does the same to this place what she did to Marwin. Let it burn."

A part of Reyn was hesitant to let so much quality stone be lost when it could be repurposed for the new capital; the part of her that remained a scribe couldn't help but keep an eye on the bottom line. Nonetheless, she couldn't shake the feeling that Josy had the right idea. There was malice lurking these golden streets, corruption in the beautiful facades, and odium in every brick of shining sandstone. The Empire of Scales was an evil the world was better off leaving in the past.

"How are your ether stores?" Reyn asked, taking her mind off how the hairs on her neck were standing on end.

"Coming back to about half," Josy said after gauging herself for a moment. "You?"

"Nearing a fifth. I had almost forgotten what a relief replenishing ether could be." Reyn focused inward and took comfort from the sensation like golden light slowly rising throughout her chest. "We need not be as frugal with our spellcraft. Could you perhaps-" She made a walking gesture with her fingers towards the wall. "It would make this simpler."

"I don't like the idea of using any magic. Their arcanists have to be waiting for spell echoes."

"A small spell," Reyn assured her. "Your gravity magic might not echo so much if we keep it brief."

"You think so?"

Reyn nodded. "Jade arcanists are relatively unpracticed. Unless Ku Jun Seo was on hand to grant them ether whenever they trained, they would have needed days between castings. The executor was considered a strong arcanist among them, but she never exhibited much sensitivity to the Weave."

Josy gave it some consideration before agreeing. "Alright, as you say, but that reminds me. We can't count on them running out of ether anymore. They're drawing from ley lines just like we are."

"Noted, and they probably see that as a sign they have the Glorious Emperor's favor. I imagine their morale will be high."

Josy muttered something that wasn't intended for polite company, and it left little doubt of where she thought the Jade Empire could cram their morale. She stepped up to the wall and ushered Reyn to her side. "Let's do this quick. Not just to avoid having it felt. These gravity shenanigans make me nauseas."

Reyn got close and put her arms around Josy, ready to be carried.

"No need for that, you lush," Josy said with a wink.

Reyn felt a prickle in her cheeks. "I beg your pardon?"

"I'll do you one better." She reached out and held onto Reyn's arm while concentrating on the magic. "It carries through imprints. I can do both of us."

Reyn made an anxious sound as she felt her body start to pull towards the canal wall. As reported, her stomach flopped about like a waterskin. She followed Josy's example and placed a foot against the wall. She stumbled into taking another step, nearly pitching onto her face as her "down" took a ninety degree turn. Without Josy's hold on her, she would've ended up stuck to the side of the canal in an undignified sprawl.

"You get more used to it," Josy said, and she was kind enough to at least try hiding her amusement.

"I would rather not need to."

"Just wait until you try to orient to a wider angle."

Josy walked Reyn forward— rather, up— the side of the canal, released the spell to let it fade, and stepped over the ledge while pulling Reyn alongside her. The second transference was slightly easier now that Reyn knew what to expect, but she still wouldn't call it anything approaching graceful. That brief moment where she nearly fell parallel to the ground before being pulled by natural gravity again almost stopped her heart.

"See?" Josy said happily. "You get used to it."

"I will have to take your word on that," Reyn said while holding a hand to her chest. She was definitely feeling that nausea. After a quick look upward to reassure herself they hadn't been seen, Reyn scurried away from the canal.

She and Josy stood against a tall barrier between the walkways lining the canal and the grounds of a manor. The sandstone wall was ten feet high, and the intricate carvings that once adorned the spellwrought surface were worn smooth by the ages. As Reyn walked along the wall, she ran her hand across its surface, feeling the rise and fall of what appeared to have once been stylized representations of dragons in flight.

They came upon a crumbling gateway, the iron bars long corroded away to rust. Stepping through, they entered what may have once been a tended lawn of grass and rows of flowers. Nothing more than sand, now. Broken sections of a pathway led towards the manor's grand entrance. The shattered remnants of the path were opalescent, sparkling in the sunlight.

Neither said a word as they entered into the manor. The expansive interior was filled with shadows, and only a few sunbeams breaking in through cracks in the masonry lit their way. The ceiling rose high overhead, as tall as five stories in any other city of humanity.

Josy let out a low whistle. "Big."

"Large enough to accommodate a full-grown dragon. This may have been the home of a knight, or at least someone prepared to host the mighty."

"Even so... Big." Josy stepped over piles of loose sand that drifted around the entryway. She glanced to her sides where ivory statues of roaring dragons with huge tusks flanked the doorway. "A Moonstone Knight lived here. I'd put ten marks on it."

"I believe you are correct," Reyn said. She picked her way around a mosaic of faded tiles worked into the floor. It depicted an emblem, a skull from an ivory dragon surrounded by polished, white stones that glimmered with the same opalescence as the pathway outside. "The Moonstone Knights were the marshals and strategists of Shan Alee's legions. If we are lucky, this Moonstone built preparations in their home. A bunker or safe room, perhaps. If so, we can wait out the Jade Empire there. If you take the northern rooms, I will search the south."

As they crossed the foyer, Josy conjured minuscule gusts of wind to obscure the footprints they left behind. "Split up to look for a secret door? Don't know about you, Legs, but I've read a lot of printsheet serial dramas. That never goes well."

"This is hardly some tawdry work of fiction," Reyn scolded.

"As you say," Josy sighed. She headed through a doorway towards the north side of the manor with a shrug. "Just don't act surprised when I say 'I told you so'."

Reyn frowned at Josy's back before going her own direction. The first of the south rooms was what appeared to be an expansive dining room. It took a moment for Reyn to be struck by how Aleesh estates were laid out in similar fashion to modern Althandi manors, with the dining room to the immediate right of the foyer. If the pattern continued, Josy must've entered into the conservatory or library.

Regardless of the similarities, Reyn found little of interest in the dining room. What may have once been a finely crafted table had deteriorated. She surmised that when it was whole, the table had been no more than shin-height, and diners sat around it while seated upon cushions on the floor. Judging by the amount of faded cloth and tattered pillows around the table, the ancient Aleesh liked to lounge as they ate and practically nested themselves in bedding. There was a part of Reyn that imagined it would be wonderfully relaxing.

Unfortunately, there was a point where luxury pushed the boundaries into decadence. Reyn took note of the mosaics which decorated this room. They depicting Aleesh men and women in an awe-inspiring variety of improbable postures, and Reyn now had little doubt as to the hedonism of the former inhabitants. She squinted at the faded tiles and wondered if the artist had ever actually seen two women rendezvousing before. Reyn doubted it and moved on to the next room.

The new chamber sat at the corner of the estate, and it was bizarre. Reyn couldn't immediately ascertain what purpose it would've had when it was in use. The steel fixtures in the center of the room might have been braziers, except that they didn't hold bowls of burning coals but single crystals the size of a man's head. They must've been quartz, because a gemstone of most any other variety of that size would've been a treasure the likes of which the world had seldom seen.

In the midst of the crystal braziers was a standing mirror, perhaps ten feet tall and three across, and it was similarly adorned with crystal and fine metalwork. Unlike most other furnishings in the estate, it hadn't fallen to the centuries and remained almost as beautiful as the day it was crafted. The only outward sign of its antiquity was a film of fine dust over the glass.

She approached, stepping over what was probably the abandoned nest of some desert animal; the manor likely provided convenient shelter for the local wildlife. Her bare feet crushed the fragile shells of old eggs, but she gave them little notice while she was enthralled by the strange items in front of her.

Reyn ran her hand across the dust covering the mirror. The glass wiped clean easily enough, which came as something of a surprise. It occurred to Reyn that the mirror might not have been made from glass at all. It was cool to the touch and felt rather like a polished stone. Smooth. All but frictionless.

She gave her reflection a brief, critical look. Gods, but she looked a mess. Her hair was tangled and all over the place. There were dark circles under her eyes from the restless night, and she despaired of what the dry air would do to her skin. A selkie's talents with modifying her appearance could only go so far. After giving her image a disappointed harrumph, Reyn stepped back and decided to move on.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the image reflected within the mirror change.

It was brief, but it was definite. Rather than the dimly lit interior of the Aleesh manor, the mirror showed a frozen landscape under a late morning sun. Mountains dominated the background, and evergreens grew in an untamed forest. Reyn only needed that single brief moment to recognize the forests of Altier Nashal.

Reyn snapped her head back. The image returned to what it should've been, but Reyn couldn't shake the unease creeping up her spine. She hadn't imagined it. Reyn was certain it hadn't been a hallucination brought on by the wish for a colder environment. Even more dreadful, she was certain that for the moment the mirror showed another place, her own image had been that of someone other than herself. Approaching the mirror again, Reyn dared to touch the polished surface once more.

Do not run from Carinae, lost one.

Reyn recoiled from the mirror as soon as the foreign voice appeared in her mind, but she was held in place. Impossibly, her reflection's hand emerged from the mirror and gripped her wrist, restraining her. Reyn pried at the tangible reflection's fingers, struggling to pull away. She looked up into her reflection's eyes and felt her blood turn to ice. It wasn't her.

It was a man, but not a man. Tall and painfully thin, though his great height was obscured by his hunched posture. His face was unnatural, elongated and too angular to be mistaken for the face of a mortal. It was an alien face, fair-skinned with cold, blue eyes of a solid color without a hint of either pupil or sclera. The hand gripping Reyn's wrist bore just four fingers.

You gaze into windows once used by other defiant fools, his voice said, though his mouth didn't move. It felt as if it reverberated from within her, a craggy baritone that felt like it writhed. You will learn no more than they did. All you have accomplished is reveal yourself to me. Carinae now knows where you are. Submit, lost one, and your end may yet be merciful.

Reyn felt terrified sobs escape her as she beat her fist against the demon's hand. She pulled as hard as she could, but her struggles were meaningless. "Let me go!" she shouted.

Submit. Your era was doomed from the inception. It was designed to fall.

The horrible face faded, but before any semblance of relief could find Reyn, the image changed to a different one. The hand gripping her also took on a different form, one with five fingers and attached to a body that was far too familiar.

"You..." Reyn gasped in a horrified whisper. Her shock was so deep that it put an end to her struggles.

Well, hello there, pet. I simply cannot say enough how entertaining this is. We always seem to find each other in the most unexpected of places.

Reyn dropped to her knees and pulled against Garret's hold on her arm so desperately that she nearly dislocated her shoulder.

He wore a golden robe of the Jade Empire, and each of his fingers bore an elongated piece of silver jewelry like a claw. There was no sign of the wounds he'd taken during the escape from the emperor's palace. He seemed healthier than ever since his capture in Nadia. His hair was washed and trimmed, his chin was clean-shaven, and he appeared refreshed as if he had just stepped out from a long bath. But he wasn't the man who destroyed Reyn's life in Rosewater. The tinge of madness remained in his cruel, black eyes. There was something else within them, as well. A knowing lurked behind his vile smirk, as if he had received the final truth that would allow him all he ever wished for.

Garret exhaled in satisfaction. Like the demon before him, his mouth didn't move as he spoke directly into her mind. So bothersome to chase after you, dove, but thanks to my new friends, I hope we may be reunited before too terribly long a wait. Vega has his own trials to see to, but don't you think it was neighborly of him to point me in your direction? And we call them demons. Poppycock. They're absolute delights once you get to know them.

"I should've known," Reyn whimpered. "I should've known a beast like you would become a thrall given half the chance."

Thrall? Garret's image grinned in amusement. The nerve, dove. The utter nerve. I am no mere thrall. Do you really have no notion of what wonders came to me after you left me for dead?

Garret's expression changed. The malicious joviality vanished and was replaced. It became a stern and solemn expression, one Reyn had never seen on Garret's face before. Yet, it was familiar. She'd felt that sense of complete and total control before, though she had not seen the face wearing it. Only obscured, through a sheer curtain of silk.

With the change of expression came a change in Garret's voice. It was a voice of jade and glory.

You will be found, the Glorious Emperor said.

"That's... impossible," Reyn whispered.

For every moment of mine you waste with this defiance, I will repay by making you watch another of your loved ones suffer. This is my infallible word. You will weep for death before I allow it.

Reyn went still. She felt her eyes turn hard.

You face divine hatred, lost one.

Reyn's mouth twisted into a snarl. "Is that all?"

Garret's image within the mirror blinked.

"Hatred?" Reyn scoffed and tore her hand free. "Is that all you have to threaten me with? Do not make me laugh, demon. I have weathered hate all my life. Yours is nothing special."

Garret's arm receded back behind the glass. He glowered at her, and his mocking smile returned as the demon retreated to allow the truly monstrous creature to come forth. You're only making things harder on yourself. Do you think I don't know how to hurt you best? What was your princess' name again?

Reyn came forward and slammed her fists against the mirror. "One more word, filth, and I will finish what I started."

Oh, I would love to see you try it, pet. You see, there are a few trivialities of an inconsequential nature you neglected to learn about me. For instance, you obviously are unaware of how my grandmother came to Althandor from the Jade Empire.

"As if I should care!" Reyn snapped, beating her hand against the mirror again.

But you should, pet. You really should. Ku Ji Hyo wasn't a great loss to the Jade Empire, but it was a rather nasty insult when my grandfather seduced her to Althandor. Nasty enough that it led to our current diplomatic troubles, you could say. But then again, the current regime in your part of the world is unforgivably neglectful about matters of education where history is concerned. I suppose I can't fault you too much.

"Do you expect me to believe you are marked?" Reyn demanded. "As a font of glory? That is absurd!"

In your defense, it's a recent development. But I'll tell you what, pet, if you surrender yourself to my armada now, I'll forget about all this ugly business and let you come back to me. I know your good friend, the duchess, would enjoy being my plaything again. Why not you, also?

Reyn felt her hold on her human features fade. Her sharp, selkie teeth were bared.

And... why not sweet Pacifica? What say I take all three of you into my personal service? I promise you'll quickly realize it's what you've always wanted all along. And should I ever decide I'd rather you were dead, I'll only need to ask Pacifica to do it for me. She'll beg me to let her kill you, and as a reward, I'll have her bear me the next incarnation of the Glorious Emperor.

"I'm going to kill you," Reyn promised. "I will be the last thing you ever see."

If you say so. Garret chuckled. In that case, I'll just be certain to make you kill Pacifica. I did say I would, and that's my infallible word on the matter.

Reyn screamed with the full power of her Voice behind it. The spellwrought glass within the mirror cracked and shattered. She stood over the broken remnants of the theurallurgic artifice, her breaths leaving her in ragged pants. Fury boiled inside her, and it rose in accordance with something else and far deeper than mere anger. It was loathing, pure loathing, and she knew this hideous emotion within her wasn't directed towards Garret.

From outside this arcane study, Reyn heard frantic footsteps approaching the door. Before Reyn could do anything more than return to her human face, Josy burst into the room.

"My lady, it was..." Reyn couldn't get out more of an explanation than that before Josy seized her by the wrist and scrambled back towards the door.

"I blustering told you so!" Josy shouted as she hauled Reyn behind her.

"Garret knows," Reyn said, trying to get the important parts out. "He was in the mirror and..." She was only vaguely aware of how what she was saying wouldn't make any sense.

"Shut up and run!"

As they passed through the door and into the dining hall, Reyn's eyes dropped momentarily to the abandoned nest beside the doorway.

"I blustering hate these things!" Josy screamed.

As Reyn was pulled through the dining hall and into the kitchen, she looked to her side. The door into the foyer was wide open, and a pride of large, brown-scaled creatures on two legs and with rows of quills down their backs came bursting into the hall. Shrieking hunting cries filled the manor as a large male leapt onto the table and roared. Its beady, yellow eyes were wide open with primal anger, as was its fanged mouth. The predator's thick legs tensed, then it leapt after Josy and Reyn.

It could be said that Reyn felt as if she could face quite a lot. She'd just rattled sabres at demons and the worst example of humanity, even. Scale lions, however, were something entirely different. Reyn felt no shame as she hiked up the hem of her robe and screamed her head off as she followed Josy deeper into the manor.

Reyn upended rusted metal shelves as she passed by, spilling old pots and pans over the floor behind her. Josy followed suit and used her sorcery to rip a marble counter free from the wall to act as any sort of an obstacle. With a single kick, Josy broke open the next door in their way and ran through.

"Leave something for me to close behind us!" Reyn shouted.

"If doors can't stop a kick, you think it'd stop them?"

"Stairs? We can go upstairs!"

"Where do you think I came from?"

"Then just kill it!"

"Why in the embrace of hellfire didn't I think of that?" Josy snapped, somehow managing to masterfully combine both sarcasm and panic into a rapid string of syllables.

The big male ran into the kitchen with three females— marginally smaller but every bit as lethal— right behind him. That was a bad sign, because scale lions prides usually consisted of a single female with a harem of male suitors. If there were multiple females, that must've meant these were adolescents, and their father was in the midst of teaching them how to hunt. Papa wasn't about to lose face in front of his daughters by letting a pair of squealing dinners get away from him.

Josy led Reyn into a long hallway. She tossed spellfire behind them, but nothing caught alight on the stone walls to make a barrier.

Reyn pulled her amulet off from around her neck and dragged it along the walls as she ran. She lit Tarnak and Sucé, causing the masonry to burst apart in her wake. Reyn doubted it would do much more than force the scale lions to step a little more carefully, but she couldn't think of much more she could do on a moment's notice.

A barrier ward, but blocking off the entire hallway would drain what little ether she had in moments. More powerful evocation spellcraft on the surrounding masonry, but that was as likely to bring the manor down on top of her as hinder the scale lions. Reyn's mind raced, but all she could think to do was keep running.

"This way," Josy called, yanking Reyn by the wrist down a side passage.

The way was short, and it led towards a darkened stairway leading down. Reyn didn't bother protesting, because she was well aware of how any course of action was better than taking a moment they didn't have to debate it. She followed Josy down the stairs, and blessedly, she saw a thick, stone doorway ahead. And it was wide open.

Josy slowed her steps to let Reyn get ahead of her. They raced through the doorway into the pitch-black room on the other side. Once through, Josy skidded to a halt, turned, and took hold of the double doors with sorcery. Sweat poured down her face as she strained to move the massive doors, then after slamming them shut, she kept her ether focused on making sure they remained so.

As soon as the doors were closed, what sunlight entered into the manor was cut off. They were plunged into complete and absolute darkness, so Reyn lit a sigil on her amulet and locked it for its etherlight.

The door shuddered underneath a strong impact, then another. A scale lion's cry blared from the other side. Though his shrieks were muffled, Reyn could tell that Papa was undeniably pissed off.

"Allow me," Reyn said. She erected a barrier ward to hold the doors closed and take the strain off of Josy.

The duchess let out a tired breath, then went to the door. She passed her hand over the cracks while a dim glow came from her hands. "There," she said, out of breath. "Spellwrought it. It'll take them weeks of clawing at the stones to make it through."

Reyn sank to her backside. She sat there panting for a few moments before voicing her latest fears. "What are the chances the Jade Empire sensed our spell echoes?"

Josy's wince was hard to see in the dim etherlight, but it was there. "I'd say... somewhere between probable and definite."

"And how are we to get out of here?" Reyn asked.

"It's not like I came in with a plan."

"Of course not. Why start now?" Reyn forced herself to her feet and shone her amulet around at the walls. "But I saw no other option, either. Where are we? A wine cellar?"

They had to have been beneath the ground level. If it was a cellar, there was a lack of anything kept down here for storage. For that matter, there weren't any furnishings at all, and Reyn would've thought even wood should've survived the last few centuries if it was sheltered from the elements. There seemed to be nothing within the rough masonry chamber but dust, sand, and darkness.

"Might be it's unfinished," Josy suggested. "The Moonstone wanted to expand his house, ran out of property above ground, so he went beneath it. Death curse came before he got further than this."

Reyn wasn't satisfied by that hypothesis. She walked the periphery of the room, examining the stonework. "No... This is hastily done. It's not spellwrought. It is hardly mortared. This was built in a hurry."

Josy shrugged. "Sex dungeon?"

"My lady!"

"I don't know! Who can say what those creeps did in their spare time?" Josy crossed her arms and kicked her toe against the door and the sound of loud snuffling on the other side. Her eyes dropped to the floor, and she recoiled back a step. "Legs!"

Reyn went towards her at once. "What is it?"

"We're not the first ones to go poking around down here." Josy pointed at something lying on the ground.

Bending down, Reyn picked up a wide-brimmed hat. It was fine leather, oiled from the desert sun. Reyn recognized it at once, as she'd worn an almost identical hat on her way west.

"Espallans?" she whispered. She looked around and found more evidence. There were metal tools, chisels and hammers, lying strewn about the floor. Discarded but not broken. Perhaps dropped in haste.

"What in the king's name were Espallans doing in the Imperial City? This was recent." Josy let out a long exhale. "Oh. Oh no."

"When the Amak'talan and other tribes apprehended Darian," Reyn said, realizing what Josy's conclusion must've been. "This is where Darian and his mercenaries were... searching."

"Searching for what, exactly?" Josy asked.

Reyn shone the light of her amulet around the dark room once more. She paid extra attention to the stonework, looking for anything that might be out of place. "Nothing good. Darian may be a fool, but he is an idealistic fool. That is by far the most dangerous variety."

"Then maybe it's a good thing the executor and the Espallans snapped him up before he found anything. Lots of weird things in this city. I should tell you about the crazy doohickeys I saw upstairs before the scale lions showed up."

"I think I have you beat," Reyn murmured under her breath. She straightened to her feet when her etherlight fell on the wall opposite the stone doors. The bricks there were practically rubble, as if there had been a passage that collapsed. Reyn indicated the sealed passage for Josy.

"Alright," Josy muttered, approaching the collapse. "Yeah, you're on to something. This is a recent fall. The breaks aren't weathered."

"Begging the question, did it fall on Darian or on Espallans?"

Josy wrinkled her nose as she examined the debris. "Does it matter? Either way, there could be a way out on the other side of it."

"What if they did not seal it by accident?" Reyn asked pointedly.

Josy turned to look at her. "Think there's a laboratory filled with fiends cooked up by a mad Aleesh sorcerer behind this?"

Reyn rolled her eyes.

"No, I'm really asking. It wouldn't surprise me. I don't think anything could surprise me at this point."

"I will hold you to that, my lady." Reyn rolled up the sleeves of her robe and bent to move aside one of the larger stones.

Josy took her by the shoulder and moved her gently but firmly aside. "They probably know where we are already, Legs. Speed comes before subtlety."

Reyn wanted to argue but decided Josy had a fair point. She backed up and let Josy use spellcraft to clear aside the collapse.

As the stones shifted, more came tumbling down from the ceiling. Josy kept shunting the rubble aside, and it eventually subsided. Etherlight revealed the sandstone of the ground level's floor above, and it remained sturdy against further collapse as Josy moved the last of the debris out of the passage.

Once the way was cleared, Reyn unlocked her sigil. There was no more need for light. A sharp, blue luminescence shone through the revealed passageway. Reyn took a step forward and peered through, all the while feeling as if thousands of eyes were on her.

Seven objects, like stone sarcophagi, were arranged in a half-circle within the unsealed chamber. Each had a glowing sapphire, the sources of the eery light, fixed to an iron spindle at their heads.

"Alright," Josy said quietly. "Yeah, I definitely read this serial drama. Let's leave this one alone."

Reyn went further in. She spotted more tools lying on the floor. At some point, someone had made there way into this chamber, then they ordered it sealed. She doubted it was Darian. He wasn't the sort to stumble upon a mystery just to abandon it.

"Not kidding, Legs," Josy called after her. "Really, I can break through the ceiling now. Won't even take... Winds take you, fine!"

The discarded tools were of fine make. Nadian, most likely. Darian had been in here, but then the Espallans arrived. He left this place to see to his defenses, and he was taken before he had the chance to return.

"...I didn't find anything in the Imperial City..."

Reyn kept walking towards the sarcophagi as a fetid chill swept along the full length of her spine.

"...but that's not to say I wasn't close before the Espallans ruined everything. I was on the verge of a discovery."

"Oh, Darian," Reyn whispered as she came to the first of the coffins. "Please... Please tell me you were mistaken."

Josy came to her side, looking between Reyn's blank expression and the coffin. "What's wrong?"

Reyn had to swallow twice before she trusted her own voice. "Duchess, could you..." She shut her eyes and shook her head.

"Could I what? Open a stone coffin hidden beneath the capital of an ancient, evil empire? Sure thing, Legs. What could possibly go wrong?"

She was right. Josy was absolutely right. If Darian was in any way even remotely correct in his theories, the smartest thing for Reyn to do would be to turn around, reseal that passageway, and do everything within her power to make certain that no one in any era would ever set foot within this chamber again.

"Reyn," Josy said. "Reyn, let's go."

"You..." Reyn turned to face her. "You have never said my name before."

Josy pulled an anxious face and scratched the back of her head. "Sure I have. Just... not while you were around to hear it."

Reyn took in a breath and let it out. She smiled fondly at the duchess. Then, she shoved the sarcophagus' stone lid aside.

Josy squawked with dismay.

It slid off much easier than Reyn anticipated. She half-expected to grunt and struggle with it until Josy pulled her away with a scolding for acting like a lunatic. Unfortunately, the oren running in her bloodstream must've already begun working its magic on her muscles.

"What in the king's name are you..." Josy trailed off and peered into the open sarcophagus. "Oh. Empty. Guess all that was for nothing."

Reyn moved on to the second.

"Dammit, Legs!" Josy was unable to reach her before Reyn opened the next.

It was also empty, though there were fragments of something like crystal within. Reyn picked up one of the tiny shards and turned it over in her fingers before tossing it to Josy. She moved on to the next.

Josy caught the shard and gave it a cursory glance before throwing it aside. "Look, they're empty. Thank the winds, they're empty. I was half-expecting undead or something."

"Undead are a myth," Reyn said absently. "The Lord of Bones is said to be the preventative measure against necromancy."

"Sure, maybe, but my father is all religious about Hasanvor, so he can't be the most upstanding spirit in the Ethereum. What's got you being so stupid over these things?"

Reyn checked the third and the fourth. These had larger shards than the others, as if each housed the remains of an experiment that came closer to the desired result. "Check the last in the line."

Josy groused about it, but she complied. While Reyn found more shards in the fifth sarcophagus, Josy reported with an audible measure of relief that the seventh was completely empty.

"Because it wasn't returned here," Reyn said to herself. She approached the sixth sarcophagus. "Five failures, and one was taken to Shoen. One other, never used."

"I think it's about time you tell me what's going on," Josy said.

Reyn ignored her and pushed the lid off the remaining sarcophagus. She leaned over the side and looked in. The only thing she could hear was the pounding of her own heart.

It sat in the center of the sarcophagus, undamaged and unspoiled, as if it had never been touched by mortal hands. It was a cut gemstone, the size of a chicken egg, sparkling in the theurallurgic light coming from the sapphires, and every inch of its surface was etched with sigils. An Imperial Diamond.

Josy leaned her head over the side to look in and blew out her lips. "Well... guess I was wrong. That surprises me."