AN OCCASIONAL BLAST OF WIND rips up the hillside as Aequa and I crouch, examining the maze of crumbling walls in the distance where the Heart of Jovan seems to be hidden.
“There,” says Aequa, stabbing her finger toward dual towers overlooking the deep, fast-moving river that flows through the valley. The ruins appear to be of an ancient fortified town. Not pre-Cataclysm, like those around the dome or near the Academy, but at least a century old judging from their disrepair. Aequa indicates the way the golden stone on the tracking slate is lined up with the barbican. “It’s probably in one of those towers.”
“Difficult to get to without being seen.” Aside from the river protecting the western edge of the fortress, the forest is cleared for a good few hundred feet around the broken walls. We’re north-west of the Heart. Indol is camped across the valley almost directly south of it, if our assumptions are correct, and the only other remaining coloured stone—which I’m quietly hoping is Emissa—is off to the east. All within a few miles of one another now. “We should move south a little more. Confirm it with a different angle.”
“Alright.”
We start off again, keeping low. Nobody’s able to track us, but we’re exposed up here.
I check the tracking plate from time to time over the next fifteen minutes. As the ground begins to level out again, and the trees become thicker, I frown at it. Then again, a few seconds later.
“What is it?” Aequa’s noticed my hesitancy.
“We’re going to pass fairly close to whoever got eliminated.”
Aequa frowns. “No.” She sees my expression. “No. That’s what the safety teams are here for.”
I think back to the blood on the cloak I took. As easily as Callidus and Aequa dismissed my concern, it hasn’t been sitting well with me. “We don’t have to make contact. Just scout.” I rub the back of my neck when she glares at me. “It’s been hours since it started spinning, and the other two eliminations had both halves fall off the plate. I’ve spent a lot of time with these people, Aequa. We may not all be friends, but I don’t want any of them to die.” Any more of them.
“You’re in charge,” Aequa says, in a way that indicates she thinks perhaps I shouldn’t be.
We adjust our course slightly to the west, increasingly careful. The small square stone representing the plate’s position gets closer and closer to the gradually rotating semi-circle, until they’re almost touching.
Eventually, I stop. “It says we just passed them,” I mutter, showing Aequa.
Aequa peers at the plate, then back into the clearing we’ve just traversed. “You want to look?”
“We’re here now.”
We retrace our steps. It’s late afternoon, plenty of light. I stand in the centre of the open patch of grass and study the tree line, frowning. There’s a buzzing coming from some shrubs. Flies, I think. I walk over.
It’s the smell I notice first. Sickly-sweet. I grab a branch from the ground and apprehensively push aside the nearest bushes. I half suspect what I’m going to see before I do it, but the sight still makes me reel backward.
“What? What is…” Aequa’s behind me; she’s smelled it too, but I’m blocking her view. My stomach churns but I steady myself with the branch as a crutch, then use it to properly sweep aside the covering of leaves, other hand over my mouth.
Behind me, there’s a gasp, and then Aequa retches. I don’t even think to take my eyes off what’s in front of me to help her.
I don’t know how many bodies are in the open grave. A dozen? More? All lying in a terrible, tangled pile of limbs and torsos and torn clothing. It’s their heads that arrest my attention, though. Each one of them is split open, bashed and shattered, flaking black-red blood infused with chunks of grey across blobs that are unrecognisable as faces. Flies swarm, feasting.
“Ahhh.” Aequa lets out a great, shaky breath, wiping her mouth and reluctantly coming to stand beside me.
I nod absently, still in shock as I try to dissociate myself sufficiently from the sight to make sense of it. I recover enough to turn in a slow circle, examining the surrounding hillside. There’s nothing. As far as I can tell, whoever or whatever did this is long gone.
“It’s the safety teams,” whispers Aequa.
She’s right; impossible to recognise the faces, but some are still wearing the distinctive dark green cloaks. The one I’m wearing, thoroughly washed though it is, suddenly feels foul against my back.
“And Sianus,” I add softly. I point. An arm protrudes from the bottom of the pile. It’s bloodied, but the serpentine tattoos are unmistakeable.
This time, I retch.
“This… this was done using Will.” Aequa’s repossessed herself more quickly than me; she’s still shaky but her tone has turned analytical. She points to holes in the ground past the mass grave. “There were trees here. It wouldn’t have been hard to hit them before they knew what was happening.”
I take a breath through the cloth of my tunic. Light-headed, but after last night, also somewhat inoculated to horror. She’s right. “This was a trap.” I look around again, even though I know that if the killers were still here, we’d already be dead. “They knew the safety teams would come. They wanted to exterminate them.”
“Why?”
“It’s an attack.” I feel a chill as pieces fall into place. “The safety team we stole the tracker from were talking about something happening tonight. We have to warn the others.”
“They won’t believe us.”
“They’ll have to.” I run a hand through my hair. “One of us should go for Callidus—”
“No.” Aequa lays a hand on my good arm. At first I think she’s going to object—I can see the fear in her expression—but instead she just takes a breath. “We’ll warn him, but there’s a chance nobody’s even following him. He might be the safest out of all of us at the moment.” She motions to the plate in my hand.
I reluctantly take her meaning. “Right.” I check the stone circle again. “Indol’s closest, then whoever else is left.” Emissa. Let it be Emissa. I feel sick as I wonder what we actually brought down on Iro. Then I glance at the sky. The sun’s already dipping below the tree line. “Should we split up?”
“Not yet. We’ll pass right by Indol on our way to the second team, anyway. Once we reach him, one of us stays to convince him. The other can take the plate and head for the last team. After they’ve both been warned, we join Callidus, he throws away the trackers, and we all get back to the Academy.”
I concur, grateful for her clearheadedness. We start to move, then I delay. Glance back at the crawling mess of bodies. My stomach roils as I play out what’s about to happen.
“We have to do one more thing,” I say grimly.
WE START TOWARD INDOL, WHO is less than a half hour away, judging from the tracking plate. For the first few minutes we keep silent, scanning the woods around us, flinching at every imagined motion or misinterpreted sound.
“Why is this happening?” Aequa’s voice is small as it reaches my ears.
I don’t answer straight away. Through the shock and revulsion of our discovery, I’ve been trying to decide the same thing. It didn’t take long for me to wonder whether this could be Relucia’s Military-sponsored Anguis undertaking, that one I overheard discussed at Suus. I dismissed the idea out of hand, at first. But the more I consider it, the more it makes sense.
“Who benefits from the consequences?” I can’t just tell her what I know.
“The Anguis. It has to be the Anguis again.”
I can see it now. Can see why the Dimidius thought the naumachia was such a triumph. The Anguis being able to infiltrate Solivagus, kill Sextii and some of the Hierarchy’s most prized students, would have been unthinkable a year ago. Now the question doesn’t even cross Aequa’s mind.
“Maybe.” I push a branch from my path, wincing as it snaps. “But why would they attack the Academy?”
“We’re an easy target. None of us wield Will, but we’re the sons and daughters of the most important people in the country. And they may not be aiming to kill us all,” she realises bleakly. “Ransom would be easy.”
“And how would they know exactly how the Iudicium works?”
She opens her mouth, then changes her mind about whatever she was going to say. “They must have informants.” She frowns. “You don’t think it’s them?”
“I don’t know. It probably is. But it seems so obvious, I just wonder…” I hesitate. “Who else benefits? What actually happens in the Senate if we all die out here?”
Aequa glares at me for reminding her of the possibility, but I can see her considering the question. “I don’t know. Everybody loses. All three pyramids are represented out here, so they all lose potentially strong leaders.”
I say nothing. Wait.
“But I suppose… Religion would be blamed,” she adds slowly. “They’re the ones who are supposed to be keeping us safe.”
“They’d lose their hold over the Academy,” I agree. “Military would be asked to step in.”
“That’s not reason enough to do something like this, though.” Aequa’s voice is low but vehement. “Gods’ graves, we’re about to warn Indol. He’s the Military Dimidius’s son.”
We all have to make sacrifices, Quiscil said.
“What if I told you he was going to defect to Religion, once the Iudicium was finished?”
Aequa stops. “You’re sure?”
“As sure as I can be.”
She doesn’t ask how I know. “That would be embarrassing. A big blow for Military. But it proves nothing.” Still confident, but the absolute certainty is gone.
It will have to do. I can’t risk telling her more. “I know. But if you get out of this and not me, don’t just assume. Whoever’s doing this, we can’t let them get away with it.”
We lapse into tense silence again as we near Indol’s position, the woods thinning, progress becoming easier.
“If we assume this is Indol”—I share the tracking plate with Aequa, pointing to the white stone our square marker is approaching—“then he must be on the high ground up there.” I indicate a rise up ahead.
“He’s set up to watch the Heart. And sitting between it and the Academy,” Aequa says with a nod.
“We should circle around and come from behind him. From a direction his team aren’t watching.” I point to the grey stones clustered around the white one. “It looks like he’s only got one Fourth actually with him, and the rest are spread out. Keeping guard, I imagine. Makes sense for him, seeing as no one’s supposed to be able to track him. But there’s a chance he’ll move if he’s alerted we’re coming.”
We adjust our course, walking for almost twenty minutes as we slip behind Indol’s position. He’s taken some of the highest ground available: a small distance from the Heart, but with enough of a view to track anyone who approaches it. It’s the smart strategy for him. Patient and effective.
Finally we hear the mutter of voices, and I signal to Aequa. We crouch low, creeping forward until there’s a splash of colour through the trees. Indol has made his camp well, high up but hidden from below, no easy approach.
“So. Options? He’s going to think we’re attacking him,” I whisper.
“We could still just leave him to fend for himself.” I fix her with a stare. “I said could, not should.”
“Hm.” I grunt, then shake my head at the angle of the sun. It’s getting low, and the need to press on is burning in me. “Nothing for it. We can’t waste time.” I press the tracking plate into Aequa’s hand. “Indol’s not going to believe just you, and I don’t know how long it will take me to convince him. Get to the other team. Show them what we took. And if that doesn’t work… if it’s Emissa, tell her what I told you about Indol. She’s the one who told me. She’ll know I would never have said anything unless this was about more than just the Iudicium.” I take a breath. “I’ll join you as soon as I can. Then we’ll go and find Callidus.”
Before she can protest, I stand. Walk forward, not bothering to conceal myself or stay quiet. “Indol!” I yell, raising my arms. “It’s Vis! We need to talk! I swear on my ancestors I’m not here to fight!”
There’s scrambling ahead of me, followed by a heavy silence.
Then Indol’s voice cuts through the trees. “Talk, Vis.” He sounds angry. I imagine I would be too, if moments ago I’d been comfortable with the locations of everyone else in the contest. “Try anything, though, and—”
“There are Anguis out here, Indol.” My voice is lower this time; I keep walking, into the clearing where Indol has made camp. I can’t see him, but I’m guessing he’s close enough to see me. “They’ve replaced our safety teams and can track us. I overheard one of them say that they’re going to make their move tonight.” I stop in the middle of the clearing, arms still raised. “I think they’re here to kill us, Indol. All of us. We need to run.”
“This is a ploy.” Indol’s voice comes from a different direction this time. Muffled by thick foliage, impossible to pinpoint. “Not even a very good one.”
I unsling my satchel. Take out the bloodied green cloak—the cleanest one I could find in that pile of bodies—and lay it on the ground. Unwrap it.
I pick up the hand by a finger and hold it up, stomach clenching at both sight and smell. I turn slowly, making sure that wherever he is, he’ll be able to see it. “This is from one of the safety teams. I don’t know whose, because they were all in a pile.” I falter. “Along with Sianus.”
“Rotting gods.” There’s a delay, then rustling ahead of me. Indol steps into the clearing, horror pasted across his face in the waning light. Beside him, Axien emerges wearing a similar expression. “Toss it on the ground over here.”
I do as he asks. Indol crouches beside it, looking up and around, still expecting some sort of trap. Once his gaze fixes on the hand, though, it doesn’t move.
“You don’t have your tracker?”
“Threw it up as soon as we started.”
Indol grunts. “Thought about that. Didn’t seem like it was worth it.” His regret is thick. “How did you find me?”
“Stole a tracking plate.”
His eyebrows raise, though his eyes still don’t leave the bloodied hand. “Clever.” The compliment’s hollow, though. Quiet. He’s as shocked as I was. “Still got it?”
“Aequa does. She’s gone to warn the one team that’s left. Callidus doesn’t know yet; he went ahead with our trackers before we found out. We’ll find him next. I don’t know where the others are.”
“I eliminated Sianus. He and Ava wandered too close to the camp.” Indol’s voice is soft. “Gods’ graves. I left them there for the safety team to find this morning.”
I wince. Ava’s probably dead, too, but saying it aloud won’t help. “Let the rest of your team know, then split up. These Anguis are Sextii, maybe higher. There’s no safety in numbers. We need to just scatter and run.”
“Alright.” Indol sucks in a deep breath. He’s calm, taking this with more poise than I could have hoped for. “I’ll get the others to attach their medallions to logs and float them down the river, when they can. Or tie them to wild animals. Or leave them in place after a few hours, if they can’t do any of those.”
“Good idea.” We both know Indol’s going to be the target, but this will give the others the best chance of getting away. “You should head west. Get over the river. I don’t think the tracking extends that far.”
Indol acknowledges the statement. “Go and get the others,” he instructs Axien quietly. “Tell them what to do, then go yourself. No point in any of you coming back here.”
Axien gives us a worried glance, but ducks his head and vanishes into the trees.
Indol waits until he’s gone, then turns back to me. There’s a heaviness to his bearing. He knows his odds. “What happened to your arm?”
I glance down. Grimace. There’s a black bruise travelling along it, visible through the tears in my tunic. Almost touching my wrist. “Alupi bite.”
“It looks bad. Make sure Ulnius sees it as soon as you get back.” He turns to leave.
“Wait.” I have to let him know. It may be my only chance. “Once all this is over, be careful of your father, Indol.”
“What?” Indol’s expression hardens, but he catches sight of the hand on the ground again. Swallows whatever angry retort he was planning. “Why would you say that?”
“I overheard something. At Suus.” I keep my gaze locked with his. “It sounded like he was assisting the Anguis with something. And if he’s heard that you’re planning to defect to Religion…”
Indol blanches. “How did you know about that?”
“Emissa told me.” I thought he’d already figured that out.
“How did she know?”
My heart skips a beat as I process the question. “She said you told her.”
“She lied.” He watches my expression, then sighs. “You’re going to find her, aren’t you.” He shakes his head, then digs into his pocket and tosses me something. A sack that clinks. “She’s the green one. Last one left, other than us. Luck, Vis. If I don’t make it out of this… thank you for trying.”
He gives me a tight, weary smile, then slings his satchel over his shoulder and disappears into the underbrush.
