“Why do you think the water monsters attacked the city, Your Majesty?” I asked. “So many at once strikes me as a coordinated attack.”
Beqai stared into his tea for a full minute. I almost thought that I had lost him to meditation again, but he raised his eyes to mine. A sad smile of resignation crossed his face, as if the old squid was a parent who’d caught their child in mischief and now had to deal with the consequences.
“Some shirk their responsibilities,” he said. “A guard may simply have forgotten to close a gate.”
I stared at him in bafflement. How could a king overlook the safety of his people? It was the responsibility of the guard to protect their city from an attack, particularly if their people lived on the edge of a Vigorous Zone. Was the old king so disconnected from reality that he couldn’t see the monsters as a serious threat?
“Isn’t it unusual though?” I asked. “So many monsters descending on the city at once? Surely a single gate left open couldn’t bring such a multitude?”
Beqai held out the plate of biscuits for me while he considered the question. I took one to calm my snarling stomach. Their salty taste was growing on me.
“Unusual, yes,” Beqai said. “Perhaps, just perhaps, an intention lies behind it.”
“Could someone have led the monsters into the city?” I asked quickly.
“Perhaps. But why would anyone do that?”
I’d hoped he would answer that question and not ask me a question in return. I considered the events that had unfolded in this hall, and an answer sprang to mind. The most dangerous of the water monsters—the vampiric anglers—had made a line straight for this place, despite the easier targets in the city below.
“The best question to ask,” I said, “is the question of who has the most to profit from your death and the fate of Qihin City.”
“Death comes to all, young disciple. It is simply a matter of time and place. I welcome my time when it comes as a time to dwell within the depths. But, to answer your question with another, who could possibly wish for my early demise?”
The open innocence of the question was staggering given everything we’d discussed and what Kumi had said before. The Resplendent Tears had the most to gain from chaos and destruction in Qihin City if they truly saw the Wilds as dangerous. But if I’d learned one thing from our conversation so far, it was that directness wasn’t the best way to handle King Beqai.
“I’ll leave that for you to consider, your Majesty,” I said. “If I may offer a suggestion, ensure that your gates are firmly closed and routinely inspected from this day forth. I believe trouble is brewing.”
“I’ll be sure to think on it,” Beqai chuckled. “I enjoyed our chat, Ethan Murphy lo Pashat. Be sure to return.”
I sheathed the Sundered Heart Sword, bowed to the king, and walked out of the hall. I needed to get away from him and clear my head.
I had found a place in this world, and that place was very different from the one I’d had back on Earth. I’d been a covert operative, snuck in and out of places, and fixed problems through discreet action behind the scenes. Now, I was the man front and center in a series of crises, trying to talk a faltering king into tending to his kingdom and investigating the reason behind a battle against a monstrous army as it invaded a city.
“I’ve seen your world,” Nydarth said inside my head. “It’s not all that different from this one.”
“You mean apart from the technology, the lack of magic, and the absence of monsters?” I replied.
“People are people, whatever is going on around them,” she said. “Fighting for power and ideals, looking for someone to show them the way.”
“Perhaps you can help me find my way now,” I said. “What can you tell me about this city and the Vigorous Zones here?”
“Qihin City is very rich in Vigor,” Nydarth said. “Vigor is harvested from the lands all around. The impressive power of the Resplendent Tears Guild is sourced from the same nexus of energy.”
“So, they should be equal in power.”
“Only if they are accessing as much of that power as each other and using it in the same way. Different methods require different resources. From what you’ve seen of the factions, do you think that is true?”
I pictured the proud Guildmaster Horix and the calmly reflective King Beqai. No, they weren’t using the region’s resources in the same way.
“Humor me for a minute. Supposing the guild is actually behind the attack, how do you turn an army of monsters to carrying out your goals?” ” I asked.
“Labu was right in one thing,” she said. “If they farm the Vigorous Zones heavily, Augmenters are likely to unbalance the scales.”
“And that would cause the attack?”
“It would encourage the aggression of the sea beasts. A gate left open to a city would cause territorial beasts to range out further in order to expand their hunting grounds.”
An idea struck me. “And lures could help. I didn’t see any around the city, but if they had lures like we used to draw monsters out from the Ember Cavern. . .”
“Ah, so you aren’t simply a man of good looks. There appears to be a brain inside that skull of yours.”
I chuckled at Nydarth’s teasing as I stepped off the last of the stairs and emerged into the courtyard of the royal palace.
The bodies had been removed and the water cleared of blood. The statue Vesma had toppled leaned against a wall while the concrete of its new base dried in the afternoon sun. But that
