The Blood Sigil (The Sigilord Chronicles Book 2) (34 page)

"Ah, that explains it, then," said Autar. "As to your questions, I am here on this island trying to survive and stay unnoticed. I have only been here for a few weeks. Unfortunately I had to resort to using my power to dispatch some terribly large rats."

Using sigils to kill rats?
That makes no sense, especially sigils big enough to alert the arbiters.

Autar addressed Lu with a sadness in his one remaining eye. "I remember the greatness of our people, the things we could do. I remember the days when there were thousands of us, and we didn't have to steal discarded food in the dark of night to survive. This stew was prepared with scraps I purloined from a baker and a butcher."

"There is no shame in survival, my lord," said Plith.

"Agreed," said Tol. "We do what we must to endure, so that we may live another day."

"I suppose you all would know that lesson better than any," Autar said.

"There will be another great age of power," said Luse. "You'll see."

"Well," Autar said, standing up. "There will not be another great age of anything if the arbiters manage to wipe out all remaining sigilords and a dozen radixes in one place. We must prepare for their arrival."

Urus followed the group out into the street, lingering a moment to examine the sitting room and its contents, most of which had seemed suspicious since he first sat down.
We're on an island
.
Has he really been rowing back and forth to the city every day for food?
It could be nothing, or it could be everything, but Autar's living conditions seemed entirely too comfortable for someone hiding out, trying to avoid notice.
 

He's a sigilord
, Urus told himself.
He could've just used a travel sigil to get in and out of the storeroom, no boat needed
. While there were perfectly reasonable explanations for most things he had seen, it still felt as though Autar was lying and holding something back.

Urus stepped out into the cold street, where he found Lu waiting for him, that perfectly unique smile of hers spread wide over her olive skin. Even her green eyes seemed to smile.

"What's up?" she signed.

"Nothing," he replied with a dismissive gesture. "Maybe something. I don't know."

Lu took a step closer and signed, "You still don't trust him?"

Urus shook his head
no
and they caught up to the group as they followed Autar to wherever it was he was taking them.

"None of this feels right," Urus signed. "I wish Goodwyn were here. He could see what was going to happen next and tell me that I'm being a fool for not trusting another sigilord."

"What doesn't feel right?" Lu asked, still signing. It felt good to be able to sign with someone and not have to speak. It didn't hurt that it made it possible for them to talk without Autar overhearing them.

Urus stopped and stared at the ground. He had seen a few spots of stone like the one that now caught his eye, but hadn't looked closely until then. Underneath the snow dusting lay a winding trail of some kind of black and purple ooze.
 

"That." Urus pointed, then signed, "That doesn't feel right."

Lu bent and touched the substance then recoiled, wincing in pain. "It stings!"

"The stone underneath it is damaged," Urus signed. "This stuff is eating the stone, and Autar has stepped right over marks like this without a second glance."

"Come on, little bull," said Lu, wiping her hand on Urus's shirt. "They're going to notice we're lagging behind."

"You couldn't use your own shirt?" Urus asked.

"That wouldn't be very ladylike, now would it?" Lu signed, then skipped to catch up to the group again.
 

Urus shook his head. Luse was full of contradictions.

When they caught up to the group, Autar had stopped and was in the middle of a conversation with Choein and the other radixes.

"…arbiters will want to take me here, while they think I am alone and no one will see," said Autar. "But with you all here, not only will they not take me, but we can have vengeance for those who fell in the war, payback for the atrocities they have committed."

"My lord," said Choein, raising his sword. "So long as we are alive, no arbiter will live long enough to reach you."

The radixes agreed to the oath, which unnerved Urus even more.
So quick to hand out their loyalty,
he thought.
Everyone except Tol gave it to Lu and me instantly when we rescued them, and now they give it to this man. Is being a sigilord really worthy of such blind, automatic loyalty? No one should garner this kind of loyalty without first earning it.

Before Urus had a chance to sign his reservations to Lu, Autar spoke again.

"The arbiters have arrived," he said. "I can feel their presence. They are nearby."

"How can you tell?" Urus asked. Lu had never demonstrated any ability to detect arbiters, nor had any of the radixes.
 

"No time to explain, young man. We must attack them before we lose the element of surprise," Autar said. "Follow me!"

Autar led them down more decayed, vine-choked streets, heading away from the island's central tower. Urus pointed out more of the acidic slime tracks as they passed them. Lu pulled Choein aside and explained their trepidations about their newfound companion.

"He is a sigilord, my lady," said Choein, as if that explained everything. "It is my duty to protect and serve him."

"We're not saying you have to betray him," Urus whispered. "Just be alert. Things here are not as they seem."

Choein nodded. "You are more qualified to make that judgment than I, my lord. My men and I will remain vigilant, and open to anything out of place."

The fact that he thinks I'm qualified is exactly what's wrong with their loyalty
, Urus thought.
 

"Here," Autar said. "We will make our stand here. We have only moments." He pointed out positions behind buildings and a pile of debris in the middle of the street, and the radixes settled in, readying for an attack.

Urus and Lu hid behind a rubble mound on the side of the street. He turned to sign something to her when she interrupted him.

"I know," she signed. "You don't like this. Neither do I. If the arbiters were here, their radixes should have struck by now, and struck hard."

They waited as the first dim light of dawn struggled to pierce of the veil of fog rising from the nearby water. It was cold and damp, both terrible conditions for fighting. Breathing, moving, doing anything in combat became much more difficult.

"Have your avatar knight do all the fast work," Urus signed. "If you get out of breath on a morning like this, you won't survive the melee."

Luse nodded, then signed, "You're just a big bucket of happiness, aren't you?"

Autar dashed out of the road and ran back past him and beyond the other radix hiding spot, taking up a position at the end of the street where he could see everything. He moved extremely fast for a man who was supposedly a few thousand years old. The concept of such long lifetimes was beyond Urus's comprehension.

That's a commander's tactic
, he thought.
He'll be able to direct the radixes from there and see the whole fight.

A moment later the shadowy silhouettes appeared. They popped in and out of adjacent alleys and streets, moving from cover position to cover position. They walked slowly and deliberately. Each of the shadows had counterparts covering flank and rear positions.

Those are definitely soldiers
.

Through the fog, he couldn't make out any colors or banners, let alone faces or weapons. He couldn't tell which ones were arbiters and which ones were radixes.
 

"We can't kill any radixes," Urus signed to Luse.

"I don't think we have a choice," she replied, taking a moment to peek up over their makeshift bulwark. "They'll kill us if we don't stop them."

Possibly in response to a charge signal that Urus did not hear, the first group of radixes, led by Choein, and the second, led by Plith, emerged from behind their defenses and raced toward the enemy shadows.

As they ran, glowing green soldiers appeared beside their masters, matching their pace, brandishing their own weapons made of pure sigil energy. Urus couldn't imagine an enemy that wouldn't want to turn and run when faced with that sight.

Urus and Lu charged out from behind their wall, Luse summoning her avatar knight. Urus was thankful he hadn't revealed the nature of his cerulean power in front of Autar by calling Hugo.
 

The mist-shrouded enemy took note of the charge, and responded in kind, revealing even more silhouettes—archers drawing back their bows.

A feeling—a familiar, yet alien presence—ran down the back of his spine, a combination of fear and premonition. He turned to Lu, expecting to have to force her to stop, but she too had skidded to a halt, a look of shock and surprise on her face.

They turned to each other and both signed, "It's not arbiters!"

A dark volley of arrows soared through the air, aimed straight at the first group of radixes. Urus didn't know much about the avatar knights, but he knew arrows, and he knew there were far too many for the radixes to evade them all.

He reached for his power and sent it flying from his fingertips. As quickly as he could without making a mistake, he etched a sigil that he had seen in the book in Vultara, a symbol that looked similar to the net sigil, but with an entirely different purpose.

"Stop!" he shouted as loudly as he could and slammed his right fist into the sigil. It exploded in a brilliant blue burst. The gleaming azure light, surrounded by swirling tendrils of smoke, spread wide and raced across the ground, surging under and then ahead of the radixes.
 

Once ahead of the vanguard, the sigil energy flew upward and disappeared into the clouds above. The radixes slammed into an invisible barrier and bounced back as if they had run into a stone wall. The flight of arrows bounced harmlessly off the other side.

It worked
, he thought.
I can't believe it actually worked!

Urus turned to Lu, whose jaw hung low in surprise, and signed, "We need light. Lots of it."

A wave of fatigue hit him and he stumbled. Foolishly, he tried to steady himself with his left knee. The pain radiated outward, surging up and down his leg. He dropped to the ground, clutching his knee.

Luse etched the now-familiar sigil for illumination, and the street was suddenly covered in bright green light, banishing the fog.

"Your sigils really sap your strength," Luse said. "But given how powerful they are, I can see why."

She gave Urus a hand up, and as the radixes helped each other up and regained their wits, Urus hobbled over to the sigil wall and waited for the soldiers on the other side to approach. The silhouette of the man leading that group held up his hand, and the soldiers lowered their weapons.

In response, Urus reached out and touched the invisible sigil barrier and it evaporated in a puff of blue smoke that quickly departed on the cold morning breeze. The light from Lu's sigil rushed forward and lit up the street beyond, and the soldiers standing on it.

As Urus had expected, Murin stepped out of the shadows and into the green glow.

"Murin!" he shouted, waving.

Lu stood next to him, tugging on his sleeve to get his attention. "How did you know it wasn't arbiters?" she signed.

"That's my familiar," Urus signed with a wide grin. "How did
you
know it wasn't arbiters?"

Luse pointed into the crowd as Mist, her silver fox, emerged from between the legs of a soldier. "Because that's
my
familiar."

Before he could react to that statement, someone tackled him and sent him sprawling to the ground. He looked up to see Goodwyn standing over him, laughing. The blow sent fresh pain searing out of his knee.

"That's not how you guys normally greet each other, is it?" Lu asked.

Wyn helped him up and gave him a bone-crushing bear hug, a grip he happily returned.
 

"Urus! You're alive!"

"Not if you give me another one of those hugs."

Urus took a step back and surveyed the group. Murin and Timoc stood next to a man who appeared to be some sort of commander. Behind them, a full battalion of soldiers stood at the ready for battle. Therren stood next to his Uncle Aegaz, both of whom could not contain their smiles. Three younger-looking children stood next to them, eyes wide and mouths agape.

Despite the joy at seeing his friends and his uncle, panic filled him. He spun, looking around for any sign of Autar. The sigilord had led them into this battle, had told them they were going to fight arbiters, and then vanished. To what end? he wondered.

Another crushing bearhug threatened to re-injure his ribs, this one from his uncle.

"Uncle Aegaz!" Urus shouted, hiding his pain. The two shared a brief Kestian warrior embrace and parted again.

"Where is Autar?" Urus signed to Luse, ignoring the crowd beginning to mill about him.

"You have clearly been busy in your absence," said Murin.

"I've only been gone a few days," Urus said, barely paying attention to the tall man. He scanned every building, every horizon, looking for signs of Autar.

"Murin and Timoc have been trying to find you for six months, Urus," Aegaz signed. It really was refreshing to be around people who knew tradesign.

"Six months?" Urus replied, shocked.
 

"Are you going to introduce us to your beautiful companion and your team?" Aegaz asked.

Urus blinked, suddenly realizing that the street was filled with people who had never met, people who had almost tried to kill each other.

More panic rose within him. The combination of the crowd pushing in on him, so many people talking at once, and the missing sigilord was too much.

"This is Luse Lingxiu," Urus said. "She's a sigilord, like me. Her sigilcraft is green."
 

Urus then broke away from the crowd and shambled to the nearest bulwark, clambering up onto the pile of the rubble to get a better view of the area. The pain in his knee was almost unbearable.