glanced over my shoulder and saw that the terminal was built into the side of a jagged rock wall that shot up to dizzying heights.
I approached the railing, surprised at the vastness of the city. Homes made from mud and brick and stone. All gray, all linear and grid-like with small, straight lanes and wide main roads separating areas. The buildings clung to the floor, the walls, the ledges, and even atop the massive rocks that jutted up from the cavern floor. Telmath was spread out over several acres.
To my right and far into the distance was a gaping, oval-shaped opening at ground level leading to the outside world, and the wilds of Charbydon lay beyond.
By my estimation, we had to be four stories up on the ledge, yet the cavern’s ceiling rose another ten stories at least. Raw typanum ran in thick, jagged veins through the rock ceiling and down through the walls and outcroppings, casting a strange violet glow over everything.
“Telmath,” Rex breathed, grabbing the railing. “Much bigger than I remember, but the landscape is the same …”
My gaze travelled over some beautifully crafted gray stone buildings, walls, squares, bridges over a black river below—so many bridges, spanning the sides of the cavern, linking one massive rock to the next, and the entire thing lit by the veins of typanum above us. It was breathtaking.
Moving in and out of the terminal were beings I was quite familiar with—ghouls, goblins, darkling fae, a few humans, nobles, jinn …
So far Hank was the only Elysian to be found. The two worlds rarely mixed. Seeing a blond-headed, angel-like being walking around in what basically amounted to hell would’ve been downright astonishing and not the kind of exposure we needed. The deep hood of the cloak hid him well, and he was smart enough to put a secure lock on his aura. But despite this, I was pretty sure some here could
Two roads led from the terminal, one winding down toward the city below and the other wrapping around the terminal and going up the rock in a zigzag fashion. The air was humid and warm, much like the deep southern states, but heavy with the scents of tar, damp rock, and muddy water. Sweat was already forming at the small of my back.
“Well,” Rex said in a clipped voice, “there’s our destination.”
I followed his gaze upward and far across the cavern to a gargantuan spear of a rock that jutted at a slight angle from the floor below. It rose several stories into the air. The top of the rock was flat and several acres in size from the look of it. Palaces with thick columns and straight sides and balconies populated the space and clung to the very edges of the rock.
The small city was lit by open fires in massive stone basins and by the glow of violet typanum in the cavern ceiling above. The entire plateau seemed to shine. A winding road had been cut into the rock, appearing and then disappearing on the other side or hidden within the clumping of dwellings, like tiny villages clinging and cut into the massive gray stone. Bridges spanned where the road couldn’t be supported.
“The City of wo Houses.” Hank’s voice broke the awestruck reaction I was having. I cleared my throat, narrowed my gaze, and looked at the city from an invader’s perspective instead of a tourist’s.
The Abaddon Father was within those thick walls. Now we just had to get to him before Bryn/ Solomon did.
Rex snorted. “It’s like some dark-ass version of Mount Olympus, isn’t it?”
A reluctant sigh blew through my lips as I noted the steep, winding stairs that wound up the rock toward the city. “And I’m
“Looks like that road of steps is the only way in,” I said.
“Unless you’re escorted by one of the nobles,” Rex said. “And we all know who we’re thinking of, don’t we?”
My hands flexed on the warm railing as I weighed our options. The only person we knew who lived in that city was Carreg. A royal. A Lord Lieutenant from the House of Astarot. Two and a half months ago, I’d met him in the back of Mynogan’s limousine. He’d given me aid when I needed it most, helped take my daughter to safety while I faced Mynogan, but he’d been very clear—his assistance hadn’t been out of kindness or honor or anything of the sort. He helped me because it suited his own agenda, whatever that was.
Question was, would aiding me now suit the Char-bydon noble?
Hank shifted. I glanced up to see him gazing down at me, his face lost in the dark shadow of the hood. “Carreg is our only way in,” he said, echoing my thoughts.
“He could stall us in our tracks, though.”
“I think he’ll listen. He might be the only one who will.”
“Well, I say you go for it,” Rex said, turning to rest his back against the railing. “Beats walking and then being turned away at the gate. Might as well save some time and get our answer right here.”
I swallowed and made my decision. “Okay, so how do we get in touch with him?”
Rex shrugged, eyes on the terminal doors. “We can always ask at the Info Desk.”
“State your business.”
We stood at the Info Desk as the receptionist, a lithe darkling fae female, returned from an Employees Only hallway with a dark-haired noble dressed in a robe of deep black lined with gold embroidery. He paused at the corner of the long counter and regarded us imperiously, taking in our strange group and the hellhound standing between me and Rex.
Nobles had meddled in Earth’s affairs in ancient times, their presence inspiring the Sumerian pantheon, along with some early Egyptian and Greek mythologies. They had predominantly olive skin and dark hair, and were tall and very powerful. The one before us certainly fit the mold.
Brim growled. Rex made a soft command and the beast relaxed.
“You are aware training or housing a hellhound is not permittin Charbydon? They are creatures for the wilds.”
“Under the Bounty Hunter Act, we have the right to search for our suspect while being armed.” An eyebrow shot up and he opened his mouth to argue. I cut him off. “As long as we have a permit for our weapons of choice, you have no grounds to detain him.” I pulled out my permit.
He took it and read. “Humans are training hell-hounds now? I should think the Federation will have something to say about that.”
I leaned forward and snatched my permit back. “We’d like to request an audience with Carreg, Lord Lieutenant of the House of—”
“I know who he is.”
And apparently this particular noble wasn’t a fan. My heart pounded, though, and fear that we wouldn’t even get past the terminal had a firm grip on me. “This is federal business and part of a criminal investigation,” Hank spoke up in a clear, commanding tone. “We must speak with him immediately.”
The noble’s eyes went blacker than they already were, and his lips pursed together, making dark shadows beneath his sharp cheekbones. “A siren in Telmath. How … original.” He paused for a long moment. “Stay here. I will return shortly with an answer.”
We waited. And waited. And waited …
I leaned my side against the counter and drummed my fingers on the hard surface. Rex sat on the floor, back propped against the wall. Brim was lying next to him, his head resting on Rex’s thigh. Hank stood, arms crossed over his chest, one shoulder holding up the wall.
Finally the noble returned. I straightened, holding my breath.
“Come with me.”
Rex and Brim scrambled up as Hank pushed off the wall. We followed the noble down the hallway, out an exit, and onto the ledge overlooking Telmath.
“Step into the circle,” the noble said.
I glanced down to see the shape of a large circle had been carved deeply into the smooth gray stone and within it were intricate symbols placed in a circular pattern. I recognized a few Charbydon symbols, but not enough to decipher what they meant. Crafting and symbology weren’t exactly my fortes …
