Flux Wanderrift's Arc

Chapter 14 of 18

The door of light closed at Flux's back. No seam. No handle. Just wall. The chamber was vast. A domed ceiling burned with painted stars. Radiant symbols ringed the walls, each a locked dimension the council had sorted and shelved. Flux stood on cold stone and found the room empty. No councilors. No guards. Only twelve high seats around a dark table, all of them bare. Flux had planned to reach the council here. But the council was not here. Pembroke had sold them a door into an empty room, and the room had swallowed them. They pressed the pendant again. Dead metal. It would not open twice. A voice cut the quiet. "You're early." Mirabel Cordwin stepped from behind a pillar. She wore her red and gold robe, unhurried, as if she had waited here for hours. Flux had recruited her days ago, after she burned Pembroke's crimes into the open to save Flux's cover. She was the counsel master who advised leaders and was cast aside once she stopped being useful. Now she stood inside the room that had refused her a seat. "You knew this door," Flux said. "I know all their doors." She looked at the empty seats. "They convene at dawn. Not before. You've broken in before the meeting." Another seam split near the table. Perrin Graves came through, a leather book under his arm. He served Aldric and did no council work of his own. He had once uncovered Flux's disguise and kept it quiet. Now his face was tight. "They're coming," Perrin said. "Aldric's vote passed. Pembroke's out. But your name's on every copy. They'll gather here to hunt you, and you're standing in the trap." Flux turned in place. Twelve seats. One sealed door. No exit. "Then I don't hide," Flux said. "I sit." Mirabel raised a brow. "In their chairs." "In their room, before they own it." Flux crossed to the tall central seat and sat. The stone fit them badly. That was the point. "They convene to try me. Let them arrive and find me already at the head of their table." Perrin stared. "That's not a plan. That's suicide with a view." "It's the only ground I have." Flux gripped the armrests. "I can't leave. So I make them come to me, on my terms, in the open, where every dimension is already reading their crimes." Mirabel considered it. Then she moved to a lower seat and lowered herself into it. "If I'm barred from the room," she said, "I'll be sitting when they open it." Perrin looked at the closed door, then at Flux in the high chair. He set his book on the table and did not run. Stone shifted overhead. The painted stars dimmed. Along the far wall, twelve symbols began to glow, one after another. The councilors were opening their doors. Flux sat still and waited for the room to fill.