Aldrin's Arc

Chapter 5 of 9

Aldrin held the cracked stone to the fading light. It stayed dead in his palm. Warwick's face was gone, but his voice still hunted Cedric now. Aldrin needed the tower, and he needed it fast. He remembered the stone behind Warwick's face, and one more thing: a girl's gold eye, half-seen at the edge of the dark. He had thought it a trick. He knew now it was not. He followed the stone's cold pull past the city wall. It grew colder as he walked. By dusk it burned like ice in his hand. Then he saw it. A black tower rose from bare ground, wrapped in iron chains. Runes crawled up its stones in green, purple, and red. The whole thing hummed like a struck wire. A figure stood in the arched doorway. Tall. A tail swayed behind her. One eye caught the last light and shone gold. The other was blue and empty. "Selara." Aldrin's breath stopped. He knew her face. He had sat up all night once while a fever shook her. She had laughed at his bad jokes. Now she stared at him like a stranger. "Turn back," she said. Flat. No warmth. "You came looking for me." He stepped closer. "You found me. I'm here." She drew a bloom from her belt. Its petals shed cold starlight over both their faces. "He told me to guard the door," she said. "He told me you'd lie." "Who told you?" "Warwick." She said the name and flinched, as if it hurt her mouth. "Some days I can't tell his thoughts from mine." Aldrin's chest ached. Warwick had bent her the way he bent everything. "Then hold one thought," Aldrin said. "The night you were sick. I stayed. I laughed. That was mine, not his." Her gold eye wavered. The glowing flower shook in her grip. "I remember laughing," she whispered. For a moment the emptiness cracked. Then her face closed again. She raised her free hand. Chains along the wall groaned and pulled tight. "Run," she said. "Before I can't warn you again." Aldrin did not run. He reached past her and pressed his palm to the tower's cold stone. Blue light spread from his fingers into the runes. The tower was real. It stood on solid ground. He knew where it was now, and he could bring the watch to its door. "I found it," he said. "This is my proof. And I found you." Selara's tail lashed. Inside the tower, the dry voice woke. "You brought yourself to me, boy," Warwick said. "And you cannot take her out." Aldrin backed away, hand still tingling. He had the tower's location at last. But Warwick sat inside it, waiting, and Selara stood chained to the door between them.