Prometheor

Monk and Tiger

Tet was there when Leo woke up. Again. And he still smelled like hot garbage. If there was anything worse than losing everything, it was gaining a friend like Tet.

He was aggressively helpful. It was irritating.

For instance, when Leo overcame the shock of seeing him outside a dumpster, Tet was there for him with a glass of clean, cold water. Leo forgot to ask where and how he'd gotten it.

He suddenly remembered that Tet mentioned Fabian's name, Fabian's real name, and was still calculating how dumb to play it.

"Y'alright?" the stranger asked.

"You were in the garbage."

"Hey, that's right! And now I'm on the roof. What a world, huh?!"

Leo was afraid that no matter how dumb he played it, Tet would play it just a little dumber and two things became apparent: 1) Tet would drive him to suicide and 2) immediately.

Leo stood at the edge of the building and dropped off.

#

Dusk was approaching and Fabian couldn't find a moment alone. Everywhere he went, someone was asking him for something. Tonk the gorilla wanted to show him how many ships were still being prepped for the Lockguard family's royal evacuation. Tonk seemed agitated; she wasn't sure there would be enough vessels to go around.

"Everyone worth kidnapping is already gone! What if they decide those are also the only people worth evacuating?" Her voice sounded like words being ground from stone.

"Relax, I've been monitoring the chatter," he lied. "If they'd decided to cut their losses, they wouldn't still be prepping ships. As long as we get to the hangar, we'll have transport. Now don't let anyone in here."

He slammed a door shut in her face and found a seat in the office.

Nini could barely contain her rumbling laughter.

It seems you need to adjust your endgame, Fabian. Your whole plan is aimed at Blackdawn; How will you deal with Grandmore?

Fabian took a deep breath. They say he is descended from the Titan line of Grandmores. What do you know about the family?

The Wu dynasty kept its distance from the Grandmores, politically speaking. All I know is what's already known: that Titus Grandmore's children were the most powerful lucid dreamers of the old gods, that the Grandmores were excommunicated after being implicated in an assassination attempt.

What about lucid insanity?

Is your hope that Elliot will grow old and forget when he's awake or dreaming? That's not exactly dealing with him, is it? That's waiting for him to deal with himself.

Fabian stared at his hands on the table. He's just a man. He bleeds.

How will you get close enough to strike a man like the Worldwalker? As soon as he is aware of you, he is in control of you. If he ever gets control of you, he'll send you to another world in a different galactic age as soon as you touch a weapon in his presence.

Nini could see Fabian's plan evolving as a series of half-formed concepts and ideas.

The Grandmores were excommunicated from the House of Gods generations ago; if the Worldwalker has any living relatives, they're very good at hiding by now.

But the dead ones can't hide, he thought.

And you won't be the only one looking, you can be sure of that.