“Look at these journals; they’re ancient!” Lia mused, gingerly pulling the first book from the top shelf. The leather binding audibly creaked as she opened the front cover. “The first journal of Ergram Lax, Yorian Circle Shadebinder,” she dictated. She cocked an eyebrow and looked up from the book. “Never heard of him.”
Val stiffened and turned to address Lia. “Did you say...Shadebinder?” she asked in an ominous whisper.
“Umm...yeah. Shadebinder,” Lia answered. She spun the book in her hands and offered it out to Val. “That’s what it says.”
Val recoiled from the book as if it were aflame. “Lia, put that down, immediately.” She took another step back and looked around the room again, suddenly seeing the space in a new light. “We should not be here.”
“Val, what’s going on?” I asked. Alarm bells blared in my head as I watched her fearful reaction, and my stomach twisted as my imagination began to fill in the gaps. “Who was Ergram Lax?”
She shook her head. “I do not know of Ergram Lax, but I know of Shadebinders. They were a group of occult sorcerers who performed perverted experiments on the dead—dangerous heretics who were purged from the Unity Cathedral long ago, in the time of legends. There have been no Shadebinders in Kaldan for generations.”
“According to…?” I trailed off, already fearing the answer.
“The King, and his Council, and the Yorian Cathedral,” she answered. “According to everything I have ever known.” Her eyes bounced wildly around the room. “Lux, if there has been a new order of Shadebinders established with Kaldan, we are in far more danger than I could have feared. They hold powers greater than anything a normal human can ever hope to achieve.”
“Hold on, Val,” I said, placing a firm hand on her shoulder. “This all sounds like superstition to me. Whatever happened down here, we stopped it. Whether it was a Shadebinder, or something else, it doesn’t matter. We stopped it, and after we find who caused this mess, we’ll stop them, too. Permanently.”
A tear streamed down her face as she turned to look at me. “Virram,” she whispered. “It is Virram. There is no other way.”
My jaw fell open as I stood, at a loss for words. “I, uhm...Val, I believe you, but...are you sure?”
“Yes,” she answered firmly. “If a power as great as the Shadebinders had come to his notice, Virram would have chased it without end.” Her head shook back and forth, knocking fresh tears loose from her olive eyes. “It would explain...many things. Meetings which even I was unallowed to attend. Resources allocated to unnecessary projects. Undisclosed travels with undisclosed diplomats, attended by only Councilor Gullen.” Her hand shot up and gripped my arm, squeezing it painfully tight with her heavy gauntlet. “Lux, I have allowed this to happen. I followed his orders without question. I very well could have—”
“No!” Lia yelled, hugging Val from the side. “Stop it, Val! This isn’t your fault. If Virram really caused all of this, it’s his fault, not yours! You didn’t do any of this. You’ve always done what you thought was just, because you’re a good person.” Val seemed stunned by the gesture, staring down at Lia in awe. With painstaking slowness, she reached her arms down and returned the embrace, resting her chin on Lia’s head as tears continued to flow.
“You’re here, Valandra,” I said quietly. “After everything Virram put you through, you’re still right here, saving the world from his plans. You’re not at fault for this; you’re the hero.”
She sniffed loudly and straightened her posture, lifting Lia a few inches off the ground in the process. “Thank you, Lia, Lux.” She dropped Lia and looked away, taking a moment to wipe her face. When she turned back, her expression had returned to its natural blank slate. “We need to search this room for every piece of evidence tying King Yorrell to the Shadebinders. I will not allow that man to sit on the Golden Throne a moment longer, should this prove true.”
“Now, that’s the spirit!” I grinned, clapping her on the back. “That’s an effort I can get behind. I’m not sure if you’ve heard, but I fucking hate that guy.” Val let out a brief, delicate laugh, then graced me with a familiar smile. “Alright, evidence. We may want to split up for this: the room beyond here is some sort of trophy hall, which, depending on the contents, could be exactly what we’re looking for. If you start looking in there, I’ll help Lia with the books in here.” She nodded and crossed the study, carefully opening the door to the next room and scanning the empty space before entering.
Lia grabbed my hand and twined her fingers between mine. That went well.
Sure. We just told her some evil cult is coming back to ruin her country and shattered her entire worldview at the same time. I let out a heavy sigh and stared up at the ceiling. Though, I guess it really did go well, all things considered.
She laughed. You did a good thing, helping her like that.
I wish that wasn’t always so hard to do. Giving her hand a light squeeze, I walked to the bookshelves and pulled a volume out at random. “I’ll start over here.” I thumbed the journal open and flicked through the pages, looking for any particularly eye-catching passages or illustrations. Most of the images spread throughout the book were simple sketches of the Unity crest, though each had a minor alteration from the one I had become familiar with over the course of my travels: some had an eighth colored wedge around the outside of the circle, while others had intricate patterns drawn on the center white circle or were missing the central disc entirely. “This one just looks like boring religious studies.”
“Oh, Lux, look at this!” Lia called out, hefting the ponderous white tome from
