How long will that keep him? Lindon asked Dross.
[Will he batter down our defenses, or will he slip away in shame?] Dross giggled in a way that sent shivers down Lindon’s spine. [I can’t wait to see. If he does break down our seals, it will not be soon. He will be locked outside, in the cold and hostile world, for at least a few hours.]
“Plenty of time,” Lindon said.
Then he tore off Subject One’s arm.
23
Yerin walked up to the slowly opening Nethergate with Eithan at her side. She couldn’t sense anything outside, but she’d left a little madra in reserve just in case she had to fight.
“You left Lindon on his own?” she asked Eithan. He had caught up suspiciously quickly.
“We became separated, but he has the key. I have every confidence in him.”
Yerin chewed on her lip. “Can we get back down there?”
“I suspect not,” Eithan said. “I only escaped because my opponent was a very reasonable man.”
“Only left because I thought you’d be with him,” Yerin muttered. “Shame we don’t have a key. Maybe we can—"
She was cut off when the Nethergate swung open enough to reveal a man in black-and-red robes, carrying a sword covered by a Blood Shadow. She almost attacked instantly. A moment later, she saw a second man, carrying a Shadow-wrapped chain.
And the third, a woman, stood over a trio of captives. Mercy, Orthos, and Little Blue.
Not a scratch on them, Yerin thought. That’s a bright spot.
Of course, the thought only occurred to her after she had leaped out of the Nethergate with her blade raised. Her madra was already forming the Flowing Sword around her weapon, and just because she now sensed that the enemy was an Archlady didn’t mean she was about to stop.
The Archlady’s Blood Shadow, in the form of a cobra, let out a hiss like a tunnel full of snakes all hissing at once. But it was the Redmoon Emissary herself who raised a weapon to stop Yerin. A crystal hand-axe flashed out of her soulspace and into her hand as Yerin’s attack landed.
The small weapon stopped Yerin’s blow, but it had her full strength behind it.
The Archlady’s knees half-buckled and the ground beneath her cracked before she managed to turn the sword aside.
Yerin allowed it and let herself fall to the ground, since neither of the Overlords had attacked or even threatened the captives.
“You’ve got about a breath and a half before I stop being friendly.”
“She’s not lying,” Eithan observed. “That was friendly.”
Mercy affected a shocked look. “Oh look, it’s Yerin and Eithan! What are the odds?”
The Archlady straightened herself up. “I am Emissary Kahn Mala of Redmoon Hall. I come on behalf of the Sage of Red Faith and the Redmoon Herald to protect you.”
Yerin had eyes, and her perception wasn’t restricted anymore. She could feel the powers clashing all around Sacred Valley, and could see the four Dreadgod cults positioned over the four peaks. There was a massive battle here, and it looked like the enemy controlled this territory.
Yerin tapped her Goldsigns together, striking up sparks of madra. “Just wants to protect me, does he? That’s more kindness than I’d have bet could fit into his dried-up heart.”
Kahn Mala flinched and her eyes flicked up, so Yerin immediately assumed they were being watched. “The Sage told us that you would attack when you saw us, so he sent enough people to stop you from killing us but not so many as to threaten you. He asked me to tell you that he knows exactly what you saw in the labyrinth, and to remind you that he was a researcher there himself. He requests an audience with you, and said that you have a chance to affect this entire battlefield. Even withdrawing Redmoon Hall is not off the table.”
Yerin considered it a triumph of great personal patience that she let a Redmoon Emissary finish that entire speech, and an even greater victory that she considered the message instead of dismissing it out of hand.
“I’ll match that bet and raise it a step,” Yerin said at last. “I’ll meet him in whatever hole he crawls back into at night, but only after you take us back to our people. Can’t relax until I make sure nobody’s missing.”
Kahn Mala looked hesitantly over her shoulder, and then the air buzzed as the Blood Sage’s voice was transmitted through aura.
“We need an assurance of your sincerity,” Red Faith said.
“Swear on my soul,” Yerin responded casually.
The oath tightened, and then snapped into place as the Sage of Red Faith agreed wherever he was. His voice crawled through the air to them again.