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It was strange, to read such softness directed toward a man I’d only ever known as cruel. Jocelyn had clearly loved him, and Razak.
He’d died brokenhearted, and alone, on a fool’s errand for a power that probably didn’t exist. He’d abandoned his son, blamed him for his wife’s death, and left Razak behind, passing his hatred and spite on to him. All because of love.
I gently refolded the letter and tucked it back out of sight.
The crown drew my gaze.
Its barbs gleamed. I touched a fingertip to a spike’s thin edge and felt its bite. The part of the crown designed to hug the head bristled with vicious points. However it was held or worn, it would cut its host.
I eyed Umair’s coat. “Apologies, but that is a very fine coat and frankly, I deserve it more than you.” I tugged and pulled it from his desiccated limbs. His body slumped to one side, and something brittle clattered down the steps, echoing all around like a ringing bell. I raised the coat in candlelight, lamented its beauty, and tossed it over the crown. “At least you gave me one good thing, Father.” After bundling the coat and crown under my left arm, I picked up the lamp.
Whatever this place was, whatever truth Justice had hidden here, it had cost Umair everything, and Razak was on his way to joining our father on what was very likely a pointless quest.
My lamp shone over giant steps leading higher, into more darkness above. If I climbed them, what awaited at the top? Another painted wall or the real reason Umair had come all this way only to die on these steps?
My lamp’s reservoir was half full. I had enough oil to last the return journey.
There were secrets here. Secrets Justice didn’t want told. If I could discover them, I’d have the same power as Razak, perhaps more.
Razak knew why Umair had died on these steps, he knew why our father had forsaken everything for a power he’d tried to find. If I was going to stop Razak, I had to know what he knew.
I began to climb.
With the crown and lamp to maneuver, I struggled after making it up five of the gigantic risers. On the sixth, the lamplight washed over the base of a huge pillar—one of many holding up a vast portico decorated with molded flowers. War’s stone, and now flowers? Was it a coincidence these courtly elements decorated a hidden temple beneath Justice, or deliberate? It was said, long ago, Dallin brought the courts together to give them their crowns, and harmony reigned. I’d never believed it. How could Pain and Love find harmony? How could War and Justice set aside their differences? Yet, this strange place had echoes of such a balance.
Balance is all.
I ventured beneath the arch, using the lamp’s halo of light to guide me, and entered a huge, arena-like space, so large the lamp’s light didn’t touch any sides. I’d walked onto a stage. The deeper I ventured, the more peculiar this place became. Was it enough just to know it was here? Would Justice free Arin if I revealed I’d been here?
Only if I knew what it all meant, and I didn’t. Not yet.
Grit scuffed under my boot. I glanced down and kicked more sand aside, revealing swirling patterns beneath. Kneeling, I swept more away, chasing the swirls in a far larger design, until coming to a point at the circle’s center and the words:Balance is all.
The crowns, balance, the shatterlands’ people on their knees… The pieces were all here, but why?
I stood and eyed my boot prints in the dust. Razak knew, like Umair had known. I had the crown. It would have to be enough.
“You’ll have to keep your secrets,” I told the quiet.
A blast of wind surged. Sand whipped around me, blasting my boot prints away. My lamp spluttered, the flame clung on. “Wait!” The flame died, plunging me into darkness. The other candles must have snuffed out too. The wind vanished as suddenly as it had arrived, leaving me alone, panting in the silent dark.
I’d have to find my way back in the dark?
No, no… perhaps some of the candles below, near where I’d crawled in, still flickered.
Something skittered to my right, pebbles falling…
If I just walked ahead, I’d come to an edge, eventually. I had to.
This was… fine. Get to the top of the giant steps, and there would probably be light below.
More pebbles trickled, this time from my left. Something was out there, moving around me.
“The fire has gone out,”I sang softly, wincing at the prophetic words.“The night is cold, and my heart is heavy with sorrow, but I know that someday we’ll be together, and I’ll wait for that”—the ground jolted—"tomorrow.”
A thunderous rumble trembled below. A roar grew louder, like the roar of the waves near Arin’s secret beach. But there was no beach here, and no waves to roar. The ground gave a sudden jerk, almost spilling me to my knees. I swayed, clinging to the crown and unlit lamp. Stone grated on stone, tilting, slanting. I staggered, stumbled.
“The night is cold.”
