Chapter IX - Lissium - Delphi

‘My beloved Delphi,’ she read, for the third time, through teary eyes. She had promised herself she wasn’t going to cry this time, but her tear ducts betrayed her. ‘In the next few days, you may hear people say things about me. I sincerely hope you don’t believe them. This does not mean that I have forgotten our pact. But the promise I made to you all those years ago, that wherever our paths may lead that we would stay at each others’ side, is a promise I can no longer keep, and for that I apologize from the very bottom of my heart. Circumstances have dictated that I must leave, and, with deep regret, I cannot tell you where I’m going. The journey ahead of me is to be long and arduous, a burden I could not ask you to bear.

‘I would urge you to leave as well, as soon as you can. Your life may be at risk if you linger in Lissium. I’ve left coin enough for you to book passage on a ship. You could return to the Free Realm, spend some time with your family. If you choose to do so, send them my regards. I know how long it’s been since you’ve seen them.

‘I don’t expect you to wait for me, but I hope you will, and I understand if you’re mad at me and want nothing to do with me anymore. I wish I didn’t have to embark on this journey alone, but I know that it is mine alone to take.

‘So, for what it’s worth, I have a new promise for you. Wherever we end up, no matter how long it takes, I’ll find you. I just hope that you’ll forgive me.’

“Forever yours…” Delphi choked out the final words of the letter, but couldn’t finish. She grasped the note to her chest and collapsed into tears. Anger, sadness, resentment, disappointment; all of the emotions she had become so good at suppressing all rushed at her at once.

She regained her composure quickly, however, drying her face with a sleeve and tucking the note into a pocket. If she let her mind linger on the pain, she would never be able to move forward. She couldn’t decide if she wanted to kick Jiro in the groin or embrace him tightly and kiss his face, but at that moment she could do neither, and that was what hurt the most.

As to where Jiro could be going, Delphi hadn’t the slightest clue. If one thing was for certain, he wouldn’t be traveling east, unless he’d taken a ship into the eisnor ocean, but that was unlikely. He certainly can’t return to Elowyr, and by extension, Sayiif is off limits too, she pondered. That left only the Free Realm, but if that was the case, there would be no reason why he would leave her behind. Unless he’s planning to break north, past the exalted reach. But what sort of journey could possibly lead him to such a barren and desolate land? The Thousand-and-One Kingdoms, the land was often called, was once a prosperous and diverse realm in an age long past. Their resources had begun to run thin centuries ago; their thoughtless squandering of krima had caused the mines to dry up. So they had dug deeper, robbing the earth of its life force in the process. The soil became unplowable and crops refused to take root. Great forests withered and died, and winter crept down from the far north, each year seeing more snowfall than the last. The only thing holding the kingdoms together now were their ancestors claims to the land; claims they held more dear than any kings, emperors or gods.

The only direction remaining was west. But if Jiro’s going west, he’s not just making a quick stop in Persus. He’s going to cross the Grand Barrier. Wherever he was going, his reason for leaving was plain. It had to do with the Church’s crusade, and after last night’s attack, nobody in Lissium was safe.

The chaos from the festival had been replaced with a very loud silence. Armored knights lined the streets, patrolling every corner and alley. A handful of denizens remained outside, cleaning up broken vendor’s stalls, mopping up pools of blood and hauling corpses onto carts. All the rest were either shuttered inside of their homes or dead. The Church of Thule had taken over the city in one fell swoop, their laws enforced by the Cardinal Blades. It made for a chilling sight.

When Delphi had seen Jiro last, as he melted into the panicking crowd, she had known the night would not end well, but one way or another they would be reunited. Instead, she had fallen asleep in the streets and woken up in her bed with only a note to serve as a poor goodbye. He could have seen her as far as Naeru before parting ways, but that would have made their goodbye even more bitter. He must have discovered something. As to what that something was, Delphi hadn’t the slightest notion. It must be pretty damn important for him to leave me to find it… The thought tugged at her heart, swelling with a mixture of sorrow and rage, and she found that was having difficulty holding her tears back. “That idiot…” she mumbled, burying her face in her scarf.

“Miss Delphi?” The boy called from where he sat at the kitchen counter. His legs dangled over his stool as he picked at a bowl of bran flakes. “Why are you crying?” He inquired innocently.

Delphi scrambled to dry her eyes. She had almost forgotten the boy was there. “It’s nothing, Mateo, don’t worry. I’m fine, I just…” She gave him an earnest smile. “Last night I lost somebody close to me too.”

Mateo just stared on, crunching away at his cereal. Delphi didn’t know his real name, the boy would not tell her. She had to call the boy something, she decided, so she had taken to calling him the first name that popped into her head. The name seemed to fit him, and he answered to it all the same. He didn’t seem to remember anything at all, not even the death of his own mother.

Delphi ruffled his dark hair and returned to her bed, opening the oaken trunk at its foot. She cleared it of all unnecessary contents, various odds and ends that had accumulated over the years, and began transferring as much of her wardrobe as would fit.

“Are you going on a trip?” Mateo asked as he got up from the table, placing his empty bowl in the sink. “I can stay and keep watch over your house while you’re away. It’s not very big, so it wont be very hard to keep clean, and I promise not to eat too much of your food, honest!”

Delphi laughed and asked playfully, “do you really want to stay in this dangerous city all by yourself?”

“I don’t have anywhere else to go.”

“Don’t you have any family in the city? An aunt, uncle, cousin, maybe a grandparent?”

Mateo shrugged.

“Are you even from Lissium?”

The boy remained silent.

Delphi sighed and shook her head. “I can’t just leave you alone in this city in good conscience…” She unhooked her sword from her belt and tossed it to the boy. Mateo fumbled to catch it but managed to grasp it with both hands. “You could come with me.”

“My very own sword…” Mateo whispered. His eyes went wide with wonder when he unsheathed it. The hand-and-half sword was the perfect size for him. “Where are we going?”

“To the Free Realm, the land I call home. Maybe along the way you’ll remember more about your family, and if not, there’s a place for everybody in Midden.” She grinned at him. “What do you say?”

Mateo nodded eagerly. “Okay.”

Delphi continued packing, wrapping her small wooden box of narcotics in a sheet and stuffing it deep into the oaken trunk. “I don’t doubt that the Cardinal Blades have shut down the ports, but I might have better luck at Fisher’s Bend than at Stone Harbor. I’m sure I could persuade a fisherman to grant me passage, but if not, it should be fairly easy to sneak aboard or even take one for ourselves. I’ll need the help of a strong swordsman to protect me.”

The boy smiled wide and whipped the sword about in a surprisingly well executed flourish. Delphi was taken aback.

“Who taught you that?” She inquired.

Mateo kept silent and just stared, like he wasn’t even trying to remember. Whatever horrors he had seen last night must have traumatized him beyond his breaking point, but he must have been trained well for his instinct with a blade to be so sharp. A thought did occur to him, however.

“If I have your sword, what weapon will you use?”

Delphi hadn’t considered that, but she suddenly knew exactly what her answer would be. On the wall above her bed, held up by wooden pegs, was a magnificent longbow of gleaming glass. When the light struck its many facets, it reflected a vibrant rainbow of many colors. It was the one memento of her father she had, if her mother could be believed. She said that her father had forged it himself from  a rare mineral called obsidian in the mountains of his homeland. When forged properly, it would take on the appearance of glass but be light as air, sturdier than any steel and more flexible than the most supple woods of any tree. It was truly a masterpiece. She reached up and retrieved it, snatching a quiver of obsidian-tipped arrows that hung from her bedpost.

“It’s been a while since I’ve had to pick my way through a den of bandits or assassinate a dignitary from a high window, but archery is a skill not easily forgotten.” She twanged at the bowstring, which she had strung with her own hair. “And I’m the best around.”

Before she could confirm her boast, she was interrupted by a harsh knocking at the door. Delphi tensed up, and Mateo must have sensed it, raising a shaky sword arm.

“Delphi Howland,” a gruff voice called to her. “Open this door, by the order of the High Prester of the Church of Thule. You’re wanted for questioning.”

She kept silent, and gestured at Mateo with a finger to her lips, indicating for him to do the same. They had no proof that she was even in her apartment, let alone still alive after the slaughter. What could they even want to question me about?

“Miss Howland, answer me,” the voice resounded once more, “or we’ll be forced to break down the door.”

So, there’s more than one of them out there, Delphi concluded. She had to play this one carefully. “Am I under arrest?” She called.

There was a low rumble of mumbling, then an answer. “We just want to talk, Miss Howland.”

“Am I under arrest,” she repeated more harshly, barely as a question.

Silence. Delphi thought as much.

“Do you have a warrant?” She offered. “I know my rights.”

There was laughter. “Rights?” A new voice answered her, one more sinister. “What rights? What little rights you had went out the window when the Duche was murdered.”

Delphi froze, thunderstruck. Suddenly she understood what was going on. Jiro, what have you done? She remembered his words from his letter and shook the thought from her head. I won’t believe them, Jiro. I promise.

A man gave the order, and in three heaves, the wooden door fell to splinters. Two men in flowing robes and tall hats stepped into her humble apartment, four armored knights marching in behind them. All six bore the same cardinal sigil.

“Seize her,” the man with the sinister voice commanded, and Delphi was quickly grasped at both arms by two helmed knights. Their commander was lanky with high cheek bones, olive skin and greasy slicked hair. Dark lines beneath his eyelids accented the sharp glare of his golden eyes. “Give the boy his confession.”

“Mateo!” Delphi screamed, no longer concerned for her own safety. She kicked and struggled, but the knights held her firmly. Their grip was so tight it was beginning to cut off blood circulation. The tips of her fingers tingled numbly.

A knight walked up to the boy, lifted his visor and drew his blade. Mateo was still holding his new sword at point but quaking with fear. “Confess your sins and swear your eternal soul to the Church of Thule,” the knight recited.

The boy growled, lashing out with his sword. The knight was taken by surprise, and didn’t have time to defend himself. Mateo slashed viciously under the knight’s breastplate, severing thinly-ringed chainmail and boiled leather. The knight stumbled backward and fell, aghast and bleeding.

With the ringing of steel scraping against its scabbard, the remaining knight advanced. Before he was even near his wounded brother-at-arms, Mateo whirled, pushed back the curtains behind him and ran onto the balcony. He scrambled over the ledge and dropped down, disappearing from sight. The knight rushed outside, desperately searching for the boy, then ran in the opposite direction, toward the door, to follow in pursuit.

“Wait,” the other robed man commanded gruffly, holding up a hand. “We will worry about the boy later. This comes first.” He was an older man, stout of stature with a thick white mustache lining his upper lip. It didn’t take long for Delphi to recognize him as the High Prester. He had been the one to declare Lissium a city of heretics atop the stage at the festival. The Thulogist who drew first blood.

“What charges are against me?” Delphi’s anger flared.

“Why, conspiracy to murder the Seventh Duche, of course. We already have Jiro in our custody, and he’s confessed to everything.”

“I want to see him.”

“I’m afraid that’s not possible,” the slender man admitted with false regret. “Jiro Von’faer is a convicted murderer. Once his trial is over, he will be put to death. But if you were to testify, we might be able to arrange something.”

“Then you’re lying,” Delphi spat. It was impossible. When she was packing, she noticed that some of his clothes were missing from the wardrobe. If Jiro had been arrested, he wouldn’t have had time to gather his things, let alone write a note.

The High Prester eyed her suspiciously. “Believe what you like, but he named you as his accomplice. You will speak for your crimes.” With the wave of a hand, the knights hauled her away, down the stairs and out of the apartment complex, into the streets. The slender man followed, after commanding the third knight to help his bleeding brother to his feet and see him to an Eldyr’s ward.

Delphi knew what game they were playing, and she would have none of it. The truth of the matter was that Jiro was missing, and they had reason to believe that the Seventh Duche’s murder was at his hand. They didn’t know where he had gone any better than she did, but they would get no answers by telling her that. It was better for them to convince her that they had Jiro in their custody, and that she could help herself by telling them what they wanted to hear. But whatever had happened, there was no way to tie her to it, and no proof against her.

All they wanted from her was information, but regardless of their plotting, she had none to give. It was an odd way to spin things, but under the right circumstances the technique might work on a more gullible person. Delphi was too smart for such child’s play.

They guided her up Cobble Street to the Church at the square, where the slaughter had started. A pile of corpses was burning in the yard, the wood of the disassembled stage serving as kindling. She was led inside to the office of the High Prester. He settled himself behind his desk while they sat her in a chair opposite of him, binding her hands behind her back. The slender man took a standing position next to the High Prester, absolutely gleaming with pride.

“I demand a Speaker,” Delphi protested, playing their game. “Before I tell you anything, I want somebody on my side. Somebody who knows the law and make sure that I’m within my rights.”

The slender man chuckled, even his words oozed out like slime. “There you go, speaking of rights again. My lady, the old way is dead. The Church of Thule rules Lissium, your judgment comes only from the Prophets now.”

Delphi scowled. “I know you…” she accused the greasy man, searching her thoughts. “You’re Tariik, the Lord of Saimon.” She smirked indignantly. “You sure didn’t waste much time climbing the political ladder after the death of your liege lord, did you? How do I know you didn’t kill the Seventh Duche yourselves, then peg the crime on an innocent to make yourselves look better?”

The Lord of Saimon straightened. “I am who you say, Miss Howland, but you wound me. I fled Phobos to be free of their heretic gods, and I have been devoted to the Church ever since. We may be resolute in our justice, but we are not cruel. No harm was ever meant to befall the Seventh Duche.”

“The evidence against Jiro is plain as day,” the gruff Thulogist interjected. “When we arrived at New Hope Keep this morning, we found Syr Gerod Corwyn slain and hacked to pieces. When we found the Seventh Duche’s body in the booktower, Jiro’s very own sword was thrust through the boy’s chest. Murder is an abomination in the eyes of the Prophets.”

“But it’s only murder if it’s not done in the name of your damnable Prophets,” Delphi spat. “Or am I wrong?”

The men had no response for that.

“We suspect foul play,” Lord Tariik ignored her question. “We believe he may have used magyk to put the city to sleep while he committed the crime and fled in the night. We believe he may also be responsible for the murder of Lord Robett of Sand Arbor. Magyk is a sin beyond salvation.”

“So, what you’re saying is, you don’t, in fact, have Jiro. Therefore, he never confessed to anything, and I’ve been falsely arrested.”

They had been caught, Delphi saw the realization in their faces. But they wouldn’t back down so easily.

“There is nothing false about your arrest, Miss Howland,” the High Prester rumbled. “I have it on good account that you’ve done some murdering of your own.”

“I seen her in the crowd at the festival,” one of the knights behind her spoke up. “She cut down my brothers mercilessly when she refused to repent.”

On this point, Delphi would not budge. “The men I killed were cut down in self defense. I answer to my own gods, and they’re more real than any of your Prophets could ever hope to be.”

The Lord of Saimon slammed his hands down on the desk and leaned in closer to Delphi, done with games. “Tell us where Jiro went, and I might find it in my heart to forgive that slight.”

Delphi spat in his face. “Even if I knew, I would never tell the likes of you.”

Tariik recoiled and squealed in disgust, frantically drying his face. The High Prester stood abruptly.

“I’ve had enough of this farce. Lock her in the catacombs,” he commanded. “Maybe a few days without food, warmth or light will change her mind.”

It didn't, Delphi came to find, but after a while, she began to lose count of the days. It was always cold, and no light penetrated the thick stone walls of the catacombs, so she had no way of telling. They brought her no meals or water, so she had to keep time by the increasing pain in the pit of her stomach. She hadn’t seen a person since they had locked her away.

They had afforded her nothing in the dank, dark, cramped cell but the clothes on her back, and that was of little comfort. The dampness of the dungeons soaked into her clothes, which made sleep difficult. When she wasn’t sleeping, she was crying, and when she wasn’t crying, she was shivering. Alone with nothing but her own thoughts, she was truly miserable.

She had managed to piece together most of the puzzle, but there were parts she was still lacking. Jiro had gone to save the Duche, but instead the opposite had happened. What could have driven him to kill the Seventh Duche? The gaps in the story tormented her endlessly. I can’t believe it, I wont believe it. Even if Jiro was responsible for Orville’s death, there had to be a good reason. A very, very good reason. The nature of that reason is what confounded her the most, until she remembered the slumber.

Amidst the chaos, the city had fallen asleep. Delphi remembered her eyeballs throbbing her vision red. When the city woke, the knights were still present, but the violence had stopped. Could it really be magyk…? She pondered, despite her own beliefs. After everything that had happened, it was the only thing that seemed to make sense.

It was then that Delphi resolved that she had to know the answer, whatever the cost. I will return home, but I have to find Jiro. Her mind wouldn't rest until she knew for sure, and patience wasn't her strong suit.

One night, or day, she couldn't tell, she saw a flickering of light reflected on the rusting iron bars of her cell. It was the warm glow of a torch. A guard would come down to patrol from time to time, but none would ever come down the corridor where her cell was. This time there was more than one. She heard hushed, incomprehensible voices. Delphi leaned out as far as she could, clutching the bars with a weakened grip, straining to hear, but she still couldn't pick out much.

"Someone... ...lurking... ...might be... ...trouble..." She couldn't make out more than a couple of words.

Somebody was talking again. The difference in the voices was faint, but she could tell it was the second guard. He laughed. "No one... ...impossible... ...vigilant... ...Prophets..."

The man suddenly stopped talking, trailing off like he hadn't finished his sentence. It sounded like he was choking. She heard the soft patter of blood falling to the stone floor, then the guard fell with a loud, reverberating crash.

The other guard yelped. Delphi could hear the scuffling of the rubber soles of his boots on the concrete, torchlight flickering about. No clash of steel followed; he was still searching for the mystery assailant. Soon he choked and fell the same as the other. 

There was a jingle of keys followed by soft footsteps, by their sound she could tell they were headed her way. Has Jiro come back to rescue me? Instead of her lover, she was met with a tiny shadow, only as tall as her chest. It proceeded to unlock her cell door, trying several keys on the ring before the lock responded. It abandoned the ring of keys and brandished steel, slowly walking inside the cell. Delphi was fearful for a moment before recognizing the blade as one of her own.

"Mateo?" She stammered, dumbfounded.

The boy threw back the hood of the dark cloak he was wearing and grinned. He shushed her, then walked behind her and began to cut her free from her bindings. "Follow me," he whispered when he was finished, taking her by the hand.

"How did you find me?" Delphi asked in hushed tones.

"I figured if you were being arrested by the Church, I would probably find you inside of one. It was just a matter of sneaking around the right places to find the right information. Ah, here." Around the corner from her cell, past the stairwell and the corpses of the two knights, the corridor dead ended. He swiped the torch from one of the dead guards and held it up to the wall; a series of decaying wooden boards lined its surface. Mateo peeled one back carefully, providing them just enough room to slip through. Delphi followed without question.

"There's a series of old tunnels that connect nearly the entire city," Mateo explained. "These are the abandoned mine shafts that were dug around the time that Lissium was founded. They were once used to transport krima throughout the city efficiently, before the copper pipe system was installed."

Delphi was astonished yet equally impressed. "How did you know all of this?"

The boy simply shrugged, as she knew he would. "I don't really know, to be honest. I think I read it in a book once."

That made Delphi smile. He's so much like Jiro.

"This tunnel will spit us out in a storehouse at the end of Fisher's Bend," Mateo went on. "I remembered what you said earlier about having better luck there, and I found a merchant vessel bound for Sand Arbor. Your trunk is already loaded up, but I needed to use the coin on your nightstand to book passage. I hope you don't mind."

"Not even a little bit," Delphi ruffled his hair and the boy beamed. "But it was dangerous to come here. You didn't have to rescue me, you could have just left."

The boy shrugged again. "You weren't going to leave me behind, so I figured I should at least return the favor. Besides, like I said before, I don't have anywhere else to go."

Delphi embraced him from behind, planting a kiss on his cheek. "Thank you, Mateo. I think we'll get along famously."

Mateo blushed, touching the spot where her lips had been. "I-I do too!" He stammered, obviously stunned. "But we should hurry. The captain of the ship was supposed to leave the morning after the festival, but the Church seized some of his product and he had to wait to get it back. The cargo should be arriving at his ship any minute, and if we're late he'll leave without us."

Delphi didn't need to be convinced. They quickened their pace as much as her weary legs would allow. They soon came upon a ladder, which Mateo climbed, pushing up the wooden slats at the top. The hinges of the trap door creaked, giving way to a bright beam of dust-clouded sunlight. Delphi squinted at it but eagerly accepted its warmth. As promised, the pair emerged in an abandoned warehouse stacked high with empty crates. The high glass windows shimmered with an orange glow; either a sunrise or a sunset. Could it really have only been a day? It felt as if she had been locked away for weeks.

"Is the sun rising or setting?" Delphi inquired, suddenly curious.

"They arrested you yesterday morning, it's nearly nightfall," Mateo answered, using a wooden crate as a stool so he could peer out the high windows. "There's a knight patrolling the harbor. Word of my break-in must have spread. She waited for him to give the signal, and once the knight turned to continue his inspection of the docks, Mateo swiftly ushered her out the back door. 

The merchant's vessel was anchored at the pier just outside the storehouse. Within a few moments, they were safely aboard the barge. Several pallets of cargo were being hauled aboard her deck. Her captain was a grizzly man with jewels weaved into his beard. He called his vessel The Gluttonous Lass. He greeted Delphi with a kind word and offered to show her to her quarters before being interrupted by his first mate.

"The Cardinals want to inspect the ship once more before they'll clear us to disembark," the man stammered nervously. "We'd best comply, captain. You seen what they did last night."

"Aye, I did, and half o' my crew is now dead because of 'em." The captain spat on the deck. "I got my cargo back now, and I ain't stickin' around just cause they says so. Secure the crates and get them lazy sons o' w****s we get for oarsmen below deck. We shove off before the sun sets."

The captain was true to his word, and for that, Delphi was duly grateful. Above all things right now, she needed to be home, and the sooner she was out of Lissium, the better. She had always felt out of place in that city, and now that Jiro was no longer there, any reason she would have had to call the place home had vanished. The only place left for her now was with her mother in Naeru. It was what she had wanted all along, she only wished that it could have been under more pleasant circumstances. She would stay there, for a time, but without Jiro, it still would not truly feel like home.

Her accommodations were pleasant enough, but the room was cramped, and she soon grew restless. Mateo lay snoring in the hammock above hers, quickly put to sleep by the rocking of the waves, and Delphi didn't blame him. With all he had been through in the past few days, and after all he had done to help her, he deserved a long rest. She decided that an evening stroll on the deck would help to calm her nerves.

As the Monolith of Lissium dipped below the horizon, swallowed up by the encroaching nightfall, the crest of the falling sun set its opposite. Delphi could not help but imagine that Jiro was gazing up at the same sunset, whether he be aboard another ship or trudging through the treacherous Kojan Desert. Wherever he was going, chances were in her favor that he would eventually pass through the Free Realm, but catching up to him would be a different story. Even if she managed to book passage out of Sand Arbor to Goldengate, to sail through the dam and into the crimson sea, Jiro still had a decent head start.

Once she was at the bow of the Gluttonous Lass, Delphi unfolded his note from her pocket and read it again, this time her only impediment being the crack in the left lens of her glasses. "I'll find you," she read aloud. This time it made her chuckle, but in an endearing way. He always wanted to be strong, if only for her, but he could only do so by turning her own words around. It was so very Jiro-like, in every way.

"I found you once, Jiro," Delphi resolved. "I can find you again."