Soulwoven: Exile

Chapter Ten

~10~ 

Ninety-four days before the destruction of Eldan City 

Quay felt, for the first time in a long time, utterly inferior. 

And he couldn’t put his finger on why. 

“There is only one option,” Tsu’min said. He spoke in Aleani, but an interpreter repeated his words for Quay’s benefit. 

The prince stood next to Tsu’min on the stage of an amphitheater, under the sun and the wind and the earthy scent of a mountain morning. The three hundred and twelve Aleani who possessed seats in the General Assembly sat on stone benches before him. Old flagstones, slick with moss and the footsteps of a thousand years of history, lay under his feet. Behind him, King Alphaestus and Queen Ereldite each sat on one of the backless stools the Aleani favored, robed and crowned, watching the community of their peers react to the plans presented. 

Behind them,a long, steep path wound dizzyingly into Du Fenlan. 

Quay sweated. 

“You must leave your cities,” Tsu’min said. His hair flashed in the morning sun, and a deep blue shoulder wrap hung elegantly from his torso. He stood calmly, as though it didn’t unnerve him in the least to speak to the most powerful Aleani in the world at the seat of their power. As though to him that seat was nothing of the sort. “The dragon will destroy all life, starting in the places in which life is most concentrated. If you wish to survive, you must dilute yourselves.” 

Tsu’min went on, his voice swelling in the mountain air. 

His plan didn’t sit well with Quay. It would allow Sherduan to rampage until the Sh’ma could find a way to summon its opposite—a white dragon that no one but them clearly remembered. 

Let the world burn, Tsu’min seemed to say, until we are ready to save it. 

But it was in the cities that the people of the world were strongest, and the cities might be defended. Eldan had the underground labyrinth of the Catacombs to fall back on, and fortresses had been built into its three hills over the centuries. Du Fenlan, he was certain, would have underground fortifications as well. Maybe partial evacuations would prove necessary, but complete abandonment? 

These were their homes. 

And where would they go? A hundred thousand people couldn’t just descend on the villages of Eldan in a wave. It would be chaos. 

The Aleani assemblors didn’t seem to like Tsu’min’s plan either. Light-skinned or dark-skinned, blond or black-haired, faces tattooed or bearded or bare, they looked uncomfortable, displeased, sometimes angry. Quay studied their robes—pure white, red-gold, sky blue, rich purple. Lena had explained the politics of the assembly to him: four colors, four clans. In times of crisis, each assemblor would vote by clan. 

They let Tsu’min speak. Their body language grew darker. The sun rose higher. 

Quay did his best not to fidget. Dig in, dig deep. His plan was simple, and it was more likely to win the assembly’s support. 

Something about it gnawed at him nonetheless. 

Tsu’min finished speaking. 

King Alphaestus’s voice boomed behind him. 

The words were in Aleani, but the interpreter repeated them in Eldanian, just loud enough for Quay to hear. 

“The thrones recognize the right of Ereus, Speaker for Phaeon, to address the Assembly.”