Chapter 506: People of Alacrya (1/2)

Chapter 506: People of Alacrya

Caera Denoir

I gave the young rateful but weary, andWhen he stepped up to the teidan’s central library, the e as to conduct this last trans o ho—to be the very last of the refugees to return to his people No one would be waiting for him The war had taken them all

Our volunteer attendant, ablood, flinched as she activated the te and inconsistent Within its tug, though, the teof space and e and wiped her brow

“Thank you,” I said, forcingof hlord that his assistance will not be forgotten”

The Kaenig ood it’ll do Still, I suppose these folk deserve to die in the comfort of their own howith purpose toward the library exit The truth was, the purpose was a facade, not for the benefit of the other ered in the library but for myself I didn’t quite knohat to do now I had spent entirely too much time in the small office I’d claimed upstairs, and I was loath to intrude on Seris; she already knew the last of the refugees were scheduled to go hoidan itself offered little for h home, such as it asn’t that far away, I’d chosen to stay at the library itself up until now It was our base of operations, where Seris and Cylrit had so far chosen to remain, and I had been needed nearly every hour of the day

Outside, I stopped and turned ers went tointo my skin Beneath flesh and muscle and bone, my core ached

The first wave of mana had been bad Like a tsunami from a distant sea, it had washed over us, and when it rolled away again, it had taken our e was affected, but the stronger suffered more

The second had been far worse

I started walking again, my purpose unclear for the first time in weeks After the first pulse, Corbett and Lenora had retreated into the Relictohbloods Now the first two levels of the Relicto ascenders involved in Seris’s rebellion, their organization had quickly collapsed, and the ranking bloods in each city were li access to the Relicto

As I pondered the last couple of weeks and tried to turn an to carry uards and servants hadn’t already fled the city were still there, but I had made a point to check in every few days It would also be pleasant to sleep somewhere more comfortable than the cot in my office

Already weak frorona’s defeat, and the first mana pulse, the second one drove like a spear into the core of every ht had allowed us to prepare a nuer froest and weakest of us—which provided Seris and Cylrit a way to counter the worst of the effects At the very least, it kept theer of per out

I’d petitioned multiple times for Seris to take shelter in Relictoh to travel, I’ll return to my estate in Sehz-Clar What’s left of it anyway,” she’d said with a distant smile “Besides, I need to be here when Alaric returns We’re still working out the details of broadcasting whatever proof he finds Agrona’s broadcasting networks are in shambles”

Quietly, I knew that Seris’s estate wouldn’t be far enough Early reports after the second pulse indicated it reached almost the entire continent Only the southernmost reaches of Sehz-Clar had been safe

Which le ht

Still,south The rivers were clogged with sailing vessels, the roads with carts, and it was ales sick and exhausted

Seris knew this as well as I did, so this talk about returning to her estate was an obfuscation I had experienced on many occasions just how prideful she could be The rest of Alacrya’s leadershi+p was dead or in hiding She herself could have gone to the Relictoround zero for whatever these attacks were

Soe, focused expression would coh rock or a scholar absorbed in a difficult text She was thinking, theorizing, planning To her, plotting from the safety of the Relictombs while those less fortunate continue to suffer here eakness, not wisdom

I kicked a stone off the ay It bounced into an alley and startled a srily and bolted away

The streets were nearly euard or unadorned servant running es or errands for their bed-ridden idan’s usual bustle

That will be a problee as I passed by an eround to a halt The distant far Alacryans couldn’t reach us, or were hoarding their resources for their own sh industry on the first level to support its nor the pulses there, their resources would soon run thin as well, and they’d be forced to return to Alacrya or brave the deeper zones in search of resources

My thoughts continued to churn, cycling through the same worn channels, until I reached the Denoir estate It was still standing, unchanged—well, perhaps a bit overgrown and unke since their last haircut As I stood at the unguarded front gate looking at it, though, I realized the truth: I didn’t want to be there

Corbett and Lenora had left Lauden was gone The blood was divided, shattered, at ith itself “Just like the rest of Alacrya,” Ias I’d intended, I continued down the street, deciding to hts

My legs and brain were both tired when I finally ended up right back at the library, three hours later

After the chaos of organizing all the refugees and soldiers who returned from Dicathen, the handful of attendants and operatives under Seris’s command made the library feel even less alive than if it’d been eh the library to the second-floor office I’d taken over

I unlocked the door, did a quick scan to ensure nothing was out of order, and then fell into the worn leather chair behindat nothing My thoughts were finally, blessedly quiet

But the stillness didn’t last long Anxiety—a subtle but invasive urge to do so my desk, I reached for a certain scroll I checked it several tied to show es

My pulse spiked as I saords scrawled across the surface

Excitee Lyra Dreide had penned, which was then transmitted from her tay scroll to my own across the vast distance between continents Still no response from Arthur in Epheotus It see any tie, which had gone with the half-asura, Chul

That itself was an unnecessary, borderline foolish risk that I wouldn’t have taken, I caught

According to the note, tentative approval had been given for a small number of Alacryans to return to Dicathen, if we so wished This was, Lyra made very clear, thanks to the work of Tessia Eralith The Beast Corps, Dicathen’s new arsenal ofrelocated to Elenoir to set up additional long-ranged teleportation artifacts and oversee the process

I set down the scroll, letting it roll back up partially This neas unexpected, and the ti to return to the villages established between Dicathen’s Beast Glades and Elenoir, but we’d only just finished helping people leave Cargidan For the moment, I was uncertain where to even start with this offer to relocate people yet again

“A lottery, perhaps It sounds like we have some time to think about it, at least…” My voice was hollow and tired even to my own ears

My door suddenly opened, no knock proceeding it

“Talking to yourself now, girl?” a gruff voice said “Not hearing voices in your head, I hope”

Alaric slu as if he’d been blown in on the wind Seris, holding the door, drifted into the office behind him My mentor wore a simple, co the impression that she herself hovered over the polished floorboards No sign of her fatigue or distress showed in her mannerisms or features

I stood “Alaric You’re back” My eyes jumped to Seris’s “Were you successful?”

“In ainto a chair across the desk

Seris eased herself into a chair as well, perhaps the only sign of weakness she showed “We have the key to the recording” She slid the small piece of carved crystal across the desk to aze went pointedly toward a projection artifact sitting on e crystal and activated the projection Alaric reached out and let his nized as a mana key

As aited for the projection to display, I asked, “And what about the Instiller?”

“Dead Heart failure, poor bastard” Alaric’s accorunt didn’t exactly express a deep sense of sorrow “At least he ive me the mana key sequence before he bit it”

I frowned but said nothing