But I didn’t. Because the world was too big and complex for that simple word. Even the best people, pushed too far, for too long, might look for the easy way out, no matter the ultimate cost.
“If Inquisitor Rhône came to you with a way to solve the heretics problem,” I said, keeping my black eyes focused on Sanrin, “how closely would you look at the cost of that solution?”
The elder wrestled with his own thoughts for a moment. He pursed his lips, shook his head, and threw up his hands.
“Do you have any proof of this?” Sanrin asked.
“Yes,” Trulissinangoth said. “I do.”
The elders stared at the dragon who’d intruded on our conversation. Trulissinangoth stood her ground, though she quickly lowered her head when the weight of their attention fell on her.
“You’ve made some very powerful enemies by winning this,” Sanrin said as he rested his hand on my shoulder. “Please know that your clan is here to support you in any way we can.”
“Thank you,” I said. “I just wish the Flame had given me the prize I wanted after what it put me through.”
“And what is that?” Sanrin asked.
“My mother,” I sighed.
Hirani and Sanrin glanced at one another and smiles spread across their faces.
“It did, Jace.” Hirani chuckled. “Come on, let’s get out of here.”
The Assault
HAGAR NUDGED ME WITH an elbow, then pulled the corners of her mouth up into a ridiculous smile with the tips of her index fingers.
“Just because they won’t let you go down there doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy the show,” my handler said.
We were perched on top of the corpse of an apartment building on the outskirts of St. Louis. Our location was surrounded by more empty buildings and abandoned warehouses left behind when the Midwestern urban sprawl had retreated as the tide of business flooded toward the coasts. The remnants of an amusement park crouched like decaying giants in the distance, and I wondered how many unfortunate souls had taken refuge there when they’d lost their homes.
“I should be down there,” I said. “There’s no one more qualified for it than me.”
“She’s your mother, Jace. Do you really want to arrest her?” Hagar handed me the binoculars and clapped me on the shoulder. “Be glad we’re the ones bringing her in, and not the Church. We’ll make sure she gets a fair hearing, and that’s a lot more than they would do.”
“Maybe,” I said. “Maybe not.”
The truth of the matter was I didn’t know what would happen to my mother. She was a heretic and the mad scientist who’d created me and nearly brought the world to ruin at the hands of the Lost. She’d created the Machina for the sole purpose of destroying the Grand Design and turning Empyreal society into a madhouse. And, while my mother’s plan hadn’t worked exactly as she’d hoped, the end result was the same: the Empyrean Flame was gone.
The Adjudicators wouldn’t have much sympathy for the woman who’d caused all that.
I wasn’t even sure I would.
Members of my clan crouched on top of the other buildings that surrounded our target. The long, low warehouse was a solid brick structure with windows high up on its walls, a flat tar-paper roof, and heavy steel doors along its sides. It was also laced with so much jinsei it practically glowed. We couldn’t see any of the scrivenings from the outside, but the power that radiated from that structure told us whatever was inside was very dangerous.
That was the only reason the assault teams from my clan hadn’t already blasted through those doors and dragged everyone off to a holding cell. They didn’t know what would happen once the defenses were breached, and no one wanted to take responsibility for setting off a scrivened bomb, even in a mostly abandoned neighborhood.
“What happens now?” I asked. “Everyone’s in position, but nobody’s moving. They should let me go down there. You know she’d come outside for me.”
“Or,” Hagar said sarcastically, “somebody inside the building would put a bullet through the front of your forehead and your brains would exit out the back of your skull. You know better, Jace. Let the experts do their jobs.”
We had six assault teams on site, all of them strapped into combat plate and wielding a combination of firearms and jinsei tech weaponry. I spotted a banelance on the shoulders of one team, and another lurked behind the arc shield of a force projector. Those heavy weapons were designed to deal with armored monsters or military-grade armored vehicles. The fact that we’d brought them here meant they suspected the heretics were a very serious threat.
And that was the real reason that Sanrin didn’t want me down there. He’d made it very clear he suspected I was more important than I knew, especially now that the oracles had gone very, very quiet about what had actually happened during the Gauntlet.
We all knew the truth, though.
The Flame wasn’t talking to the oracles anymore.
It wasn’t talking to anyone.
I’d wanted to tell Sanrin that I was supposed to find the next Empyrean Flame. After what had happened, though, I didn’t trust anyone in power. The elder was one of the five sacred sages. I doubted he’d really want to hear that he would be replaced by someone else if I succeeded.
“Something’s happening,” Hagar said. “We’ve got a team on the roof moving into position with a shadow harpoon.”
The jinsei-powered weapon looked like a cross between a ballista and a mortar. The bow portion was held in place by a long strand of jinsei shrouded in aspects of darkness. The mortar side contained a massive shell filled with force aspects and was tipped by a golden spike scrivened with powerful explosive charms.
“They’re breaching,” I said. “Do they know it’s safe?”
“I don’t think they care at this point,” Hagar said. “The heretics know we’re here. We need to finish this, grab what we can, and get out of here before the rest of their forces arrive. We
