Chương 98: Inspection

Róise waited nervously in the Heart's Grotto. They had nothing to do but wait - they should be safe from the Crockern, and the Séarlaits should be dealing with a frenzy of killer Iron Dead in the tunnels, so… she supposed that they had won? It didn't feel much like winning though.

"And the stones won't work anymore?" Sol paced just inside the sealed tunnel entrance - seemingly as far from the Heart as he could get, asking for the third time.

"Why is that?"

"It took me a while to understand how to control the Iron Dead," Ferris rumbled.

"It's as you said, they are like enchanted objects. They prioritize instructions. The last instruction I had given them was simply 'Mine the iron ore.' Their bodies remembered how to do it and they did. However, if they were in any way prevented from completing their instruction, they become violent until they could resume their task.

"My guess is that the Séarlait Consortium has done something to prevent them from mining. That unmoored them from their task. I am no gem master, but my bet would be that these stones have a simple instruction in them: 'go away.' It's not from the Heart, so it should be overridden by a clear, achievable instruction."

"Like 'Kill,'" Róise suggested.

"Just so."

"And there's no one else down here?" Sol said, drumming his fingers against the wall.

"Only the Séarlait Consortium?" Ferris shrugged, pointing at Róise.

"I did not know she was down here, so all bets are off. But there shouldn't be anyone else. I keep the tunnels locked down so only I and a handful of others know the true horror of what happened to Teilgcheárta."

"How will we know when it's safe to leave?" Sol asked. There was a tension to his voice that Róise had never heard before.

"A good question," Ferris said.

"I don't really know. I'm kind of just making it up as I go." As he said that, a heavy thud shook the artificial wall of the sealed off tunnel.

"They're here," Róise said, and she thought it was forgivable if a hint of glee made its way into her voice.

"That's impossible," Ferris said, gaping.

"There's no way they could have found their way here so fast. Not with all the Iron Dead out there."

"And yet they're here," Róise said, summoning her knives.

"Should we shore up the tunnel?" One of the Earth Nature Crockern asked. Ferris hesitated, then shook his head.

"They don't have an Earth Nature with them, or the tunnel wall would have just melted. It makes me think they're not here in force. If we can deal with them one patrol at a time, we'll have an advantage. Let them break through." Róise bit her lip, practically vibrating with anticipation. A hole erupted from the tunnel wall. Róise sprinted, knives ready to strike. A head popped through.

"See? Told you it was fake. Oh my gods! Róise!" Róise skidded to a halt, moving too fast to really stop as she collided with the head. Eyes blurry, she wrapped it in a hug.

"Cormac, you idiot." ✧✧✧ Miriam emerged into the Heart's Grotto in a bit of a daze. They had fought another two groups of Crockern, and this time she and Cormac had been forced to actually help as Eoin was running a bit out of steam. The cloud rides, the invisibility, the lights and the fighting had finally drained enough of Eoin's fórsa that he couldn't just plow through them all. Maybe Miriam should try to kill him now while he was weakened. She shook her head. That was an unworthy thought.

Also, a stupid one - even low on fórsa Eoin would demolish her. She had embraced Róise and Sol, thrilled to see them both alive. She was introduced to Ferris Einion, the Regent-Elect, who seemed to Miriam like a giant mountain made of worry. Ferris seemed to have eyes only for Eoin.

"Mr. Daithi," Ferris said, bowing.

"It is good to see you again. And this time in better company." Eoin doffed his hat gracefully.

"Well met, Regent-Elect. Yes, the Séarlaits are not always the best of companions. Present company excepted of course," he said nodding politely to Róise. Ferris's eyes widened as he looked at Róise.

"Shit," Róise said, crossing her arms.

"Oh my," Eoin said, grimacing.

"Have I let a cat out of a bag?"

"You're a Séarlait?" Ferris roared, chainmail climbing his ruined arm. Róise snarled and then she was at his neck, her blue blade pressed against his skin, holding on his robe.

"Fifty years ago Caolán Séarlait murdered my entire family," she said between clenched teeth.

"Well… almost my entire family. My aim today is to finish the job for him." A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation. Ferris grunted and chainmail encased Róise's arm. It seemed to weigh more than it possibly could, as it bent her whole body towards the floor in spite of her straining to lift her arm. She clattered to the ground, completely encased. Miriam put one hand on Cormac's shoulder to stop him from rushing over. Ferris knelt down.

"Róise Séarlait. I don't know your story. But you cannot blame me for that. You cannot blame me for painting all the Séarlaits with the only brush I know - Caolán. It seems that were you in my shoes, you would react very similarly." Róise glared up at him, but turned her eyes away.

"I'm sorry," she said.

"It's difficult knowing he's so close and I can't take action. I'm… very wound up." Ferris grunted again and the chainmail flew back to his arm.

"Then let us begin again. And perhaps we both can figure out how to get what we want from Caolán Séarlait." He turned back to Eoin.

"Mr. Daithi. If you truly are also not on the side of the Séarlait Consortium, it may be that only you hold the salvation of Teilgcheárta in your hands. Behind us is the Heart of Iron. I see from your face that its reputation is familiar to you. It was declining in performance in the last few years, and a year ago great damage was wrought upon it. If you have the means to repair it, you may well have saved this country." Eoin stared at the gem with a level of desire Miriam found a little disquieting.

"I would be thrilled to do so, Regent-Elect."

"And…" Ferris's eyes darkened.

"If there is any way to undo the damage the Heart has wrought here…" Eoin winced sympathetically.

"I must be true with you, Regent-Elect. After examining the ones we encountered in the tunnels I do not hold much hope of that." Ferris nodded.

"Even so. Do what you can." Eoin's eyes disappeared in a riot of lenses and he inspected the gem rapturously. He went completely silent for nearly an hour, almost unmoving, as he stared at it, his lenses whirring around his head in a dance only he understood. Miriam walked over to Sol, who was looking more disturbed and nervous than she'd ever seen him, even after being chased by a giant flaming wolf in Cianán's Walk. His right hand couldn't stop moving, jerking and tapping with almost random abandon.

"Sol?" He jumped, so lost in his own head that he hadn't even noticed Miriam approach.

"Miriam. I'm glad you made it through the tunnels safely."

"Sol… are you ok? You look terrible." He looked on the verge of tears.

"I have been keeping something from you, Miriam, because I didn't want you to hate me again." Miriam put a hand on his arm.

"Sol! I never hated you."

"You did," he said, flinching away from her touch.

"When I first walked into Lathair Maol. You knew what I was made of, and I was made of something you hated."

"That's… yes, I suppose that's true. But I learned differently. You're different. You're not Solas." He turned his glistening eyes to hers.

"But he is in here now, Miriam. That's what the Eternal King did to me on the beach. He reached into my head and he pulled Solas and Ultán back in. They're in here with me." He held out his shaking hand.

"Miriam, they're trying to win the game Cianán set for us. Who gets to be alive? The Wisp, the ship, or the bounty hunter?" Miriam recoiled instinctively, hating the hurt she saw on Sol's face as she did.

"They're… really in there with you? Sol… Sol, I'm so sorry. That must be… very disturbing." He nodded.

"I know why you hate Solas now. He is insufferable. Worst though… is what he's figured out." Sol held up his hand.

"When all is said and done I'm just a marionette for a Mind, and his is learning how to pull the strings.

"Sol…" Miriam fought hard against the revulsion she felt that Solas, the foul little gremlin she had rotted to death the first time she'd claimed Blight as one of her Natures, might be looking back at her behind those eyes.

"Sol, I'm glad you told me. We have Eoin here now. I think he could help." Sol shook his head.

"That would be wonderful Miriam, but here's the thing. That's not really why I told you about Solas. I told you because it's taking everything in my power not to rush over to the Heart of Iron and take it as my own. This hand is pulling me to do nothing else, and one of the voices in my head is shouting so loudly about it I can't even think. Miriam… I don't want to imagine what would happen if Solas got his hands on the Heart." She shook her head, sharing his horror.

"What can I do?" Sol closed his eyes wearily.

"I need you to find some way to bind me. Or, if that fails… kill me before I reach the Heart." ✧✧✧ Eoin was having the time of his life. He desperately wished he hadn't burned through so much fórsa on the trip here - even his analysis techniques seemed sloppily inefficient when all he had were the dregs at the bottom of the cup. The Heart of Iron was like nothing he had ever seen before. The fórsa it was made from - if you could even call it fórsa at all - was alien to a degree he couldn't even fathom.

There was a purity to the power trapped in this gem that reminded him of Miriam's overwhelming wellspring of fórsa when she had just arrived to the Tír. He suspected its origins might also have been the Realms Above… but perhaps not the same realm that Miriam hailed from. It was difficult to compare, because her life force had been transformed into something that worked with the Tír. This, he suspected had not. It might be why iron was so anathema to the Tír's fórsa. It truly didn't belong here. His nose itched.

Eoin frowned. There was something amiss here, beyond the hideous crack in the gem's surface. The Heart had been tampered with, even before the Overseer had taken a chisel to it.

"Regent-Elect," he called. Ferris ambled over quickly.

"Am I the first gemsmith to inspect this marvel?" Ferris shook his head.

"Unfortunately not. It was a contractor the Overseer hired to fix the output problem. She gave us the catastrophic advice to crack the gem."

"She?" Eoin's mouth went dry.

"For the love of the gods, tell me you didn't hire -" A wave of force sent Ferris and Eoin flying away from the gem, sliding roughly across the grotto floor. Eoin wrenched himself back to his feet, grimacing at the form which flickered into visibility standing next to the Heart of Iron.

"Onóra."

"Hello, teacher!" Onóra Síle sang, draping herself over the altar.

"It's been centuries! You look awful."

"How long have you been here?" Ferris demanded.

"Oh, hours and hours. I knew exactly how to get here, but Séarlait was being a bit of a cheapskate on my rate, so he only gets maps. He can figure the rest out on his own." Onóra was a Banshee, with the same floating underwater hair Luíseach had, but hers was bright red. She looked like a flame on a navy-blue candle, as her pale face was the only part of her skin visible. The rest was wrapped in skin-tight navy fabric, a long, flowing belt her only loose accessory.

"I knew you were working for Séarlait!" Ferris roared.

"You murdered an entire city!"

"Me?" Onóra asked innocently.

"I didn't crack the gem. You can't go around believing everything some back alley gemsmith tells you, Ferris. That's just irresponsible."

"We have to stop her!" Eoin called, needles of mist forming around him.

"Before she -" Onóra laughed loudly and wrapped one hand around the Heart of Iron. Her eyes glowed purple as she spoke one word.

"Frenzy!"