Adrail
The lightline waystation near Adrail was in far better repair than the ones near the Golden Hold or Algaran.
The odd, patterned sandstone that made up the building itself was far more intact than the others. The structure was solid enough that Adelaide wondered how it had not been discovered by the Magisterium or Radiance, especially so close to the Magisterial Cathedral.
When she stepped out of the building behind Theoderic, she saw why. The building was plunged into the eternal gloom of the Darklands.
In spite of herself, Adelaide felt a chill. She knew that the Darklands themselves were of little danger, as long as one did not wander too far into them. This close to the realm, Radiance’s light was still strong enough to suffuse people with light, even if it didn’t reach the sky. Adelaide glanced around at the sky, where she instinctually felt the Nova should have been. After a moment, she remembered that it wouldn’t be visible. Radiance’s light faltered here—that was what made it the Darklands.
Adelaide felt… unwelcome here. The absence of light still gave her pause. Light was not just illumination, after all: it was life itself.
She cast her gaze farther into the Darklands. It was eerie to gaze into that darkness, because it didn’t behave like normal gloom. Adelaide could still see far into the distance, long after her eyes should have failed from the lack of light. The landscape rolled away beneath the starless, black sky like a furled carpet, stretching ever onwards. On the other side… Well, no one had any idea what, if anything, was beyond. The land itself was barren dirt and rock, completely devoid of even plant life. In the far distance, Adelaide thought she might be able to see a windstorm blowing the desolate soil into a billowing cloud of dust.
“Well,” Caliburn’s voice chimed in from behind her. “This is unexpected.” His voice sounded strangely muted, as if Adelaide were hearing him through a wall.
Adelaide nodded. “‘Tis… unnerving.” She glanced at Caliburn. His expression was flat, betraying no emotion except the minor irritation that he always seemed to show. Adelaide knew him well enough by now, though, to note the small signs of discomfort: the slight turn downwards at the corner of his mouth, the way his shoulder blades squeezed together just a bit more tightly.
Adelaide reached out and gently touched his shoulder.
“Are you alright?” she asked, quietly enough that she was sure Liana and Theoderic wouldn’t be able to hear.
Caliburn scoffed and looked away, wrenching his shoulder away from Adelaide’s hand.
“Of course,” he said dismissively. “‘Tis not as though I have never been in the Darklands.”
“I have too,” Adelaide said, nodding. “But it is still an unsettling experience.”
Caliburn didn’t reply.
Adelaide shivered again and turned back towards the realm, and light. Theoderic had already made his way across the edge of the Darklands. Adelaide followed, eager to be out as well. She felt cold, in spite of the fact that the temperature of the air seemed to be no different than that of a normal day. She remembered the presence she’d felt in the bath a few weeks ago: the physical pressure she felt here reminded her of the mental pressure she’d felt then.
Adelaide walked towards the edge of the line that marked the border between the Realm and the Darklands, glancing backwards to make sure Caliburn was following her. Crossing it was like stepping into a beam of sunlight that filtered through castle windows, but somehow more total. It felt as though the air grew warmer, the colors of the realm more vibrant, as she stepped through. A glance up at the sky told her that the Nova was still out of sight, but the glowing halo on the horizon told her where it hid.
Caliburn and Liana stepped over the line behind her, and both looked just as unnerved as Adelaide felt.
“I suspect I shall never get used to that,” Liana commented dryly.
“The city is a few hours walk away,” Theoderic called from a few dozen yards ahead. “We should get moving.”
“Right,” Adelaide responded, more to herself than to Theoderic, and prepared to begin the long walk.
It was a much more pleasant journey than Adelaide would have expected. The weather was warm and pleasant, and it didn’t take long for Adelaide to work up a sweat. After thirty minutes or so, she was getting too warm, and so she stripped off her tunic. Underneath, she wore a plain white tight-fitting camisole and her black and blue trousers. It felt liberating to wear what she wanted with no worry of her secret being discovered.
Caliburn walked beside Adelaide. She had no idea how he wasn’t overheating, with the thick, dark clothing and ostentatious shoulder cape he wore.
Out of the corner of her eye, Adelaide noticed Caliburn’s gaze wandering to her more than once. At one point, she looked back at him and met his eyes. He looked away quickly, and Adelaide thought she could see the barest hint of color in his cheeks.
She glanced down at herself. She’d tied her tunic around her waist by the sleeves, and the camisole she wore left most of her upper chest and arms exposed. She realized with a start how different her body looked. Weeks of training and sparring with Theoderic and Caliburn had left her lean, and her camisole was tight enough that her breasts, small as they were, were noticeable, even with the undergarments she wore. The tunic tied around her waist even gave her body a subtle hourglass shape.
Adelaide felt a rush at the realization. This was her body: a woman’s body, one that she’d been striving for for years. All of her morning dawn magic rituals, all of the work she’d done, had been to feel comfortable in her own body, and she realized all of a sudden that she was.
And Caliburn, it seemed, enjoyed what he saw.
Adelaide felt a grin leap across her face as she came to that conclusion. It wasn’t that she had done all of this to be attractive to men, but to realize that she was, at least to some, made her feel confident in herself in a way she didn’t think she ever had.
If Caliburn likes what he sees, she thought. Perhaps I shall give him a show.
Adelaide raised one arm above her head and stretched, as deep as she could. Her camisole inched upwards just a touch, exposing a sliver of her midriff. She saw Caliburn’s eyes flit downwards towards the exposed strip of skin, and she let her arms fall. With a tug at the hem of her camisole, she pulled it back down, but just a touch farther than she had before, to expose a shade more of her chest.
She thought she could see Caliburn’s eyes literally widen as he stared. When he noticed her looking, his wide-eyed gaze darted back and forth from her. He opened and closed his mouth a few times, as if stopping himself from saying something. He was suddenly intensely focused on the back of Theoderic’s head.
Cute, Adelaide thought, smirking. What next? What would Plum-
Her thoughts stopped all at once as though they’d hit a wall. The smirk fell from her face as quickly as her heart hit the ground. She would hate that I am doing this, she thought. She would never be alright with sharing me, even like this.
Adelaide shifted, adjusting her camisole to a more normal—less revealing—position. She stared at her feet, suddenly ashamed, both of her actions and of her body. She considered donning her tunic again, but the heat made her decide against it. Plus, it would be awkward to suddenly put it back on in front of everyone.
She continued walking in sullen silence. Caliburn seemed content not to speak, and Theoderic and Liana were discussing something that Adelaide had long lost track of.
Adelaide forced her thoughts to focus on something else. Plum was too… difficult to think about at the moment, so she considered the mission ahead of them instead.
A part of her was still conflicted. She saw the strategy in Laszlo’s plan, but it still didn’t sit right with her. She and Caliburn had been more than willing—eager, even—to escape their families and fall in with the Law. Princess Eleanora, though, seemed to be a much less willing participant. Kidnapping a young girl, holding her hostage, and plotting to overthrow Radiance… Adelaide had to admit, she felt like this was perhaps going too far. She still firmly believed that something in the realm had to change, for the good of everyone, but this seemed a bit too… ambitious, perhaps?
No, Adelaide thought. Not ambitious. Dangerous.
And not dangerous in the sense that it endangered her, or even Plum or her friends. They all took on this danger willingly, embraced it, even. The danger posed here was far greater than bodily harm or death to a few foolhardy magicians. Radiance’s light powered the very Nova, and without it, would the world not be cast into the darkness of the Lightless? Adelaide was sure that Laszlo had considered that and had a plan, but what could it involve? Had the First Radiance truly been a triadic magician, and if so, would they need one to maintain the Nova?
And what of the Sundering? Laszlo’s assurances that the capture of Eleanora would hold that threat at bay didn’t seem hollow, but what if they failed? What if Eleanora used it herself? The risks seemed far greater than Laszlo implied.
Adelaide continued walking, troubled. She realized she hadn’t had much time to think lately. She’d been so consumed by the flight from home, and then her secret, and then on Plum, that these questions had been pushed to the wayside for weeks. She still was woken most nights by nightmares, visions of the ruined skull of her mother’s knights, and Plum showed no interest in discussing the matter. And Plum…
Adelaide sighed, and kicked at a loose stone in the path with a grunt. It clattered and bounced away down the road and into the grass with a soft thunk. Caliburn glanced at her sidelong.
“Now what did that stone ever do to you?” he asked, his voice positively dripping with sarcasm.
Adelaide snorted. “No, no, ‘tis not that,” she said, and sighed again. “‘Tis just…” She trailed off, unsure how to voice her concerns.
Caliburn nodded. “I know,” he said quietly, his gaze upwards at the Nova as he walked. “So much is changing.” Adelaide glanced at him, and saw the stark lines of his face outlined sharply by the light of the Nova above and behind him. His hair fluttered gently in the soft breeze, and his golden eyes looked unfocused.
“Aught like that,” Adelaide said softly.
They walked in silence for a while. Adelaide’s head still spun with unanswered questions and roiling anxieties, but she forced herself to keep moving forward.
“Adelaide,” Caliburn said suddenly.
“What is it, Cal?” Adelaide asked. She looked at him again. Those signs of discomfort she’d noticed earlier were still there: the creases of his mouth, the tension in his shoulders. He opened and closed his mouth a few times before speaking, as if struggling to find the words. Not for the first time, Adelaide wondered how it was that she could understand him so well.
“What are we doing here?” he asked eventually. “Truly, what is the purpose of all of this?”
“Capturing the princess?” Adelaide asked, surprised at the similarity of his thoughts to her own. “Laszlo said-”
“No,” Caliburn cut her off. “No, I mean…” he trailed off, and waved his hand around vaguely. “All of this. The realm, the Law, Radiance, all of it. What is the point? To cling so tightly to this meagre existence and hope that the Lightless remained imprisoned for eternity? That it ne’er breaks free to devour the Nova, just as it devoured the Lost Sun?” He scoffed, but it might have been closer to a sigh. “We all know it will, eventually. It all just seems so… futile.” His eyes still tracked the motionless Nova in the distance.
Adelaide frowned. “So, what,” she said. “We ought to all just give it up? Lose ourselves to despair or hedonism until the remnants of this dying world finally end?”
“That is not what I am saying,” Caliburn insisted.
“Just because we will all die some day does not mean that our lives are worthless.”
“I did not say worthless, either, and ‘tis not what I meant.”
“Then what did you mean?”
Caliburn sighed. “Do you find value in what the Law strives for? Building a better world and whatnot?”
Adelaide nodded. “I do,” she said, hoping the hesitation in her voice wasn’t audible. Even when I disagree with the methods.
“How can you?” Caliburn asked. “‘Twill all be for naught, in the end.”
Adelaide’s frown deepened. “How can you say that?” she asked. “We’ve the chance to improve the lives of thousands, millions of people!”
“And in one hundred years, if this world even still exists, will any of that matter? In a thousand?”
“What could possibly matter more?” Adelaide felt like she was on the verge of shouting at him.
Caliburn shrugged. “Power, fame, legacy, love…” he waved his hand vaguely. “Any number of things.”
“And in one thousand years, do you think any of that will still matter?”
“No,” Caliburn replied. “Though perhaps it could make this wretched world a touch more tolerable for the short time I occupy it.”
“You selfish, arrogant-”
“Hey!” Theoderic suddenly snapped from ahead of them. Adelaide flinched and looked at him, wide-eyed. He’d stopped and turned to look at them, his arms folded sternly across his chest.
“Now’s not the time,” Theoderic said sharply. “Knock it off.”
“Lovers’ quarrel?” Liana asked from beside him, arching a sardonic eyebrow. She shut her mouth at a sharp glare from Theoderic.
“That’s enough. From all three of you.”
“Sorry,” Adelaide muttered, shooting a dirty look at Caliburn.
This conversation is not over, she thought. The lines on Caliburn’s face had deepened ever so slightly.
Theoderic turned wordlessly and continued walking. Adelaide sighed and made to follow.
This is going to be a long walk.
If she’d thought Algaran had been overwhelming, Adrail threatened Adelaide with total mental collapse.
The city was a marvelous sight, to be sure. She’d never been, but she’d heard and read much of the Magisterial seat. The city was situated at the center of a crater, the rocky rim of it providing natural walls for the city to build inside. The crater, called the Wardwall, averaged about three stories, but it was both higher and lower in certain places. In the west, the Wardwall petered out to ground level, allowing the light of the Nova to pour in from where it floated above Damenna. Artificial walls had been built in the gap to keep the city fully enclosed.
The Wardwall wasn’t even the most awe-inspiring sight that Adrail had to offer. The city itself was all high towers and soaring buttresses, carved alternately of white marble or black granite, all polished to an even shine. The Magisterial Cathedral rose high near the center of the city, towering over even the tallest spires.
What Adelaide had always wanted to see, though, were the canals.
Just over the southern ridge of the Wardwall was a lake, and she knew that there were elaborate mechanisms climbing the outside of the wall. Those mechanisms pulled water to the top of the wall and poured it into an elaborate series of canals that ringed the city and flowed through it. The canals were at once transportation through the city and irrigation, serving as the source for an elaborate series of plumbing systems. The entire city had running water for drinking, industry, and large public baths.
The only way into the city was the road coming in from the west, where the Wardwall was lowest. From here, Adelaide watched in awe as the water flowed in huge waterfalls and wide channels around and down through the city. Gondolas dotted the channels like so many ants, and the waterfalls left a permanent misty haze over the entire city. The canals all terminated at the foot of the southern wall, where another series of mechanisms cleaned it and then raised it back up over the wall and into the lake.
Adelaide was struck by how elegant it all seemed. An entire city was built around this system of canals and mechanisms. What would happen, she wondered, if the mana powering the mechanisms ran dry?
From this far, Adelaide could almost convince herself that there weren’t that many people. She knew, intellectually, that Adrail dwarfed Algaran in population. Seeing it from here, though, made it seem so small. They were at least half an hour’s walk away still, having just rounded the bend in the road that let them see past the northern edge of the Wardwall, and the people streaming into and around the city were mere specks.
Adelaide knew that when they drew closer, she would have to fight off that unfortunately familiar wave of terror that she felt every time she arrived at a city. Almost as if her body was anticipating it, she felt her heartbeat quicken and her breath grow shorter.
Caliburn noticed the change in her demeanor, glancing at her and raising an eyebrow. He said nothing, though, and Adelaide desperately wished Plum’s hand were within reach.
They came on the city gates quicker than Adelaide had anticipated. She fought hard against the panic that threatened to rise in her throat, focusing instead on keeping her breathing as steady as she could. She was dimly aware as they passed through the gate and into the city proper, and she swallowed bile in her throat as Theoderic led the group into the press of the crowd streaming down the streets.
From inside the walls, Adrail felt even more oppressive than it had from the outside. Adelaide was put in mind of a lidded pot, threatening to spill or erupt as the boiling water roiled and bubbled inside.
She swallowed again, hard. She followed Caliburn through the masses of people, and stumbled as someone bumped into her. She half-turned to apologize, and when she turned back she’d lost sight of Caliburn. A wordless noise of terror escaped her throat.
Adelaide’s breath came short. She could feel each rapid pulse of her heartbeat, hammering against her ribcage. She could practically feel the adrenaline rush through her veins like icewater.
Adelaide spun in place, her eyes darting back and forth across the crowd for any sign of Caliburn or Theoderic or Liana. Each second that passed found her breath coming shorter, her heart pounding harder.
Hyperventilating, Adelaide staggered her way out of the press of bodies and found the wall of an alley. She threw her hands over her head and sank to the ground, her body shaking with each violent breath. Every inch of her body seemed convinced that she was in mortal terror, and that she needed to run away, or maybe fight someone, or maybe curl up into a ball in a dark room for the next several eons.
It felt like an eternity had passed by the time Adelaide felt a hand gently touch her shoulder. Still hyperventilating, she jolted, and her head shot upwards. The rush of relief that shot through her body at the sight of Caliburn’s familiar golden curls was almost tangible.
Without thinking about it, she threw her arms around his neck and buried her face in his shoulder. Her body shook as she cried, trying desperately to calm her breathing.
After a few moments, Caliburn’s arms hesitantly reached around her and held her back, albeit far less desperately. Adelaide let herself focus on the physical contact—the pressure of his arms around her shoulders, the warmth of his breath on the top of her head.
Eventually, Adelaide managed to slow her breathing. As she regained composure, she realized what she’d done, and she felt her face grow hot.
“Um,” she said, unsure what to do. She released her grip on Caliburn’s neck and pulled away. He followed suit, looking almost as embarrassed as Adelaide felt.
“I- sorry,” she said, looking away. “I- um, sorry.”
“It-” Caliburn paused, and cleared his throat. “‘Tis alright,” he said eventually, straightening his jacket and capelet. “No harm done.”
“Right,” Adelaide replied, wiping her cheeks of the remnants of her tears. “Where are the others?” she asked, desperate to talk about anything other than what had just happened.
“We split up,” Caliburn answered, gesturing vaguely with his free hand. “To search for you.”
Adelaide felt her embarrassment grow, somehow. She’d caused a problem for the others, on top of everything else.
“Come,” Caliburn said, already spinning on his heel. “We set a meeting point.” He turned his head to glance at Adelaide for a few heartbeats, and then looked away.
“I am glad you are safe,” he added quietly, and then started off down the alleyway. Adelaide opened her mouth as if to reply, but then closed it. She hurried after Caliburn, scrambling to not be left behind again.
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