Eli glanced at the bone metal coffin with an enormous sigh. “That’s all well and good,” he said. “But aren’t you overlooking the part where your box is a little occupied at the moment? Unless you have a second one hidden away somewhere, we’re in a tight spot.”
Slorn shook his head. “It took all the bone metal known in the world to make that one.”
Eli cursed under his breath. He didn’t like where this was going.
This is why we told you the truth, Eli Monpress, the Weaver said gently. You now understand the desperation of what we are about to attempt and how vital it is that we succeed. It was a lucky stroke that we had the box ready when your demon was born, but we cannot keep her there. Once my brother and I overpower our sister, we will have to move the demon to a new cell.
Eli brightened. “You have a new cell?”
Slorn and Weaver frowned in unison. We have a vessel that will suffice, the Weaver said. But you must understand. When the first demon was discovered within the shell, it took all three Powers to seal it away with the Shepherdess taking the lead. This time, however, our sister will almost certainly not help. As such, down a third of our power, it will be a very delicate operation. There will be absolutely no room for outside forces, especially those who would seek to aid the demon.
At that, the Weaver’s eyes moved pointedly to Josef.
“You must control your swordsman when the time comes, Monpress,” Slorn said, laying a large, heavy hand on Eli’s shoulder. “Nico must be bound, but with only two Powers to seal the prison, one swing from the Heart would be enough to tip the balance. I wish we could give him more time to come to terms with his loss, but the Hunter is coming very soon. We must move now.”
The timing is both fortunate and unfortunate, the Weaver said. The Hunter is allowed to leave his duties for only one hour of rest every hundred years. That hour falls today. Had Benehime decided to turn traitor at any other point, we couldn’t have dealt with it. But my sister and the Hunter were always the closest of us three. I can only guess she still loves her brother enough that she could not abandon him without saying good-bye. That sentimentality may be the only thing that saves us.
That explanation didn’t sit well with Eli, but the Weaver didn’t give him a chance to comment. The Power leaned forward, his white presence overwhelming Eli.
That is why we must move now, he said, his deep voice thrumming in the air. If we miss this chance, the timing won’t line up again for another hundred years, and the Shepherdess will be free to make her escape. Even if we could somehow get her back, the world cannot live so long without its Shepherdess or the stars she’s taken with her.
“The demon has already pushed our timetable to its limits,” Slorn said. “Once the Hunter enters the sphere, we’ll have one hour to work. We must move the girl the moment he arrives so the box will be empty in time for the Shepherdess’s imprisonment.”
“I understand that,” Eli said. “But—”
Your swordsman is now a true master of the sword he carries, the Weaver said right over him. The Heart of War is very particular about its loyalties. An outburst from them could ruin everything. You must restrain your swordsman when the time comes.
“Why are you so worried about me going crazy?”
Everyone jumped, even the Weaver. Across the room, Josef was sitting beside the coffin, glaring daggers at them. “I have pretty good ears, you know.”
So it seems, the Weaver said.
Josef stood up, settling the Heart on his back as he walked with a dangerous grace that made even Eli uncomfortable. When he reached them, he crossed his arms, glaring at each of the men in turn. “How bad is it going to be?”
The Weaver answered truthfully. If you care about the demon at all, it will be unbearable. She will fight tooth and nail every step of the way, and we will have to crush her. If she is anything like her master, it will be very painful indeed.
“Nico has no master but herself,” Josef snapped. “She’ll take any prison you put her in and come out on top, just like always.”
“She won’t be coming out of this one,” Slorn said, his voice gentle and sad. “This isn’t a holding cell like Nivel lived in. Nico will be bound as the first demon was, crushed beneath the Weaver’s seal as well as the Hunter’s, and she will never rise again.”
Josef hissed, backing away, but Eli raised his hand. “Wait,” he said. “The first demon was bound under the corpse of the greatest mountain in the world whose soul went on to become the Heart of War. With all the stars gone, do you even have a spirit large enough to do that sort of thing?”
Slorn and the Weaver looked helplessly at each other. Behind them, the Shaper Guildmaster lowered his head in pain. When the silence had stretched on long enough, Eli scowled and opened his mouth to ask again, but before he could get the words out, a great rumble cut him off.
“There is one.”
Eli shrank back in surprise. The deep, rumbling voice came from everywhere, echoing off the walls and vibrating through the stone under his feet.
“I will be the prison,” the Shaper Mountain said, his words as proud and solid as the stone they came from. “I have lived a half-life in this twilight world long enough. It is my honor to give my body to save those spirits whose stars have abandoned them for the Shepherdess’s paradise.”
The Guildmaster of the Shapers bit back a sob as the mountain spoke. Slorn’s head was bowed as well, his eyes hidden behind his hand. Even the Weaver looked stricken, but it wasn’t any of them who spoke next. The Shaper Mountain’s rumbling words had barely faded when another voice filled the room. It was a voice Eli had heard only once before, but had never forgotten. You did not forget the iron fury of the Heart of War.
“No, brother!” the sword shouted. It fell from Josef’s back, landing on the white floor with a deafening crash. “I gave my stone so that you could live. Would you throw my sacrifice away?”
“We always knew it would come to this, brother,” the Shaper Mountain answered, its deep vibrations resigned.
“This is different!” the sword roared. “The Shepherdess will not be here to save your essence as she saved mine. You were always the Teacher, the one who did good for the world, the one who spoke the truth. You are the one who must go on. I will not allow you to do this. I will not let you die.”
“This is what must be done,” the Shaper Mountain said. “And you cannot stop it. The favorite and my children will restrain your swordsman, and he will restrain you. We are all bound by the inevitable, my brother. Fate has dealt us two horrors that must be contained and only one prison. As a spirit and a star, I cannot hold the Shepherdess, but I can hold the demon just as you did. This is my choice to make, and I will make it no matter how much you rage. This isn’t a battle you can win.”
The Heart of War shook against the stone, and then, in a voice so low Eli felt the words more than he heard them, it said, “Take my hilt, Josef Liechten. We cannot allow this to happen.”
Eli almost laughed then. Was the sword so angry it had forgotten Josef was spirit deaf? But the laughter died in his throat as Josef’s arm shot out, his hand wrapping around the Heart’s leather-bound hilt.
“There we agree,” the swordsman said. “I’m through listening to this nonsense. Nico will be leaving that box, but she’s not going under any mountain. She’s coming with me, and we will stop anyone who says otherwise.”
The Heart of War hummed in agreement, its hilt fitting into Josef’s palm as though it had grown there.
Eli slapped his hand over his face. Even his imagination couldn’t come up with a way this situation could possibly get worse. But as he was searching frantically for the magical combination of flattery and reason that might be enough to calm Josef down, the Weaver and Slorn stepped into line in front of him.
We must restrain them quickly, the Weaver said. The Hunter arrives any minute.
“I’m not joking around,” Josef said, taking up position in front of Nico’s coffin, the Heart steady in his hands. “Stand down before you get hurt, Eli.”
“You must stand with us, Monpress,” Slorn whispered. “We cannot risk the whole world on a mountain’s love for his brother and a swordsman’s love for a demonseed.”
Eli didn’t move.
Favorite? the Weaver said, staring at him with those white eyes. We have no time. Are you with us?
