Grey Kings Gambit 2

As the bright leaf fluttered down like the burning ash of a bonfire, I imbued aether into my new godrune. A soft warmth radiated from my spine, keeping me grounded as I felt my cognitive abilities speed up several times over. The information I’d received and problems I now had to solve were laid out like a deck of cards, clear in my consciousness even as my mind split into several threads of thought at once.

Chul had faced off against Cecilia—nearly paying for that encounter with his life—but I had been able to heal him. Not only that, with the mourning pearl, he wouldn’t just recover but his underpowered core would likely become stronger than before.

I had two remaining mourning pearls. I didn’t know why Lord Eccleiah had given them to me, but as all the events and conversations of Avhilasha’s returning ceremony connected to each other, I grew certain that he had anticipated the events of the ceremony itself, with his interest and “innocent old uncle” act just that. He knew more than he was letting on—perhaps even had some hint of future-sight about him. After all, Kezess had said specifically that dragons rarely experienced the kind of visions Sylvie was now having.

Which meant I had been given three mourning pearls for a very specific reason, and it would be up to me to decide when and why to use them, knowing that to save a life, I potentially condemned another in the future.

With the crown of violet light burning from atop my head, out of sight but still very much visible in my mind’s eye, I understood exactly why such a thing was so valuable and rarely used in asuran culture.

Parallel to these thoughts, I held another line for Cecilia.

Her presence in Dicathen was a larger problem than I’d at first considered. Perhaps, with the assassination of Charon having failed, they’d sent her to finish the job, but if that was the case, I didn’t see why she would be lingering around the Beast Glades. It was just as likely that Agrona had decided to target Mordain, so Cecilia may have actively been searching for any sign of phoenixes when Chul stumbled right into her.

Despite Mordain’s pacifism, the phoenix presence was both a wildcard and a potential threat to Agrona’s plans. It had worked in Agrona’s benefit for some time, as Kezess had indicated that the number or strength of the asura present in this world had—for a reason I didn’t yet understand—been a barrier to his attacking Agrona. Now, however, Agrona may have decided the risk was no longer worth the benefit.

But the most likely scenario was that Cecilia was searching for the way to Epheotus on Agrona’s behalf. I lacked the information to devise a solid theory about exactly why, although, under the effects of King’s Gambit, my mind immediately speculated on several different possible reasons, each equally likely. Even still, I couldn’t be sure of anything except the fact that Cecilia was the most dangerous piece on the board, and her presence was a disruption and a danger to everyone on the continent, even the dragons.

But Cecilia had been trying to cover her tracks, even staying out of the fight against Chul, which meant they didn’t want us to know she was here. Either they were afraid of placing her on the front lines—because she would become a target or, maybe, Agrona didn’t have full faith in her—or there was a chance that what she was doing could be interrupted. Having been caught by Mordain, it was plausible she had already retreated out of the Beast Glades, or from Dicathen entirely. Even if she was still in Dicathen, I couldn’t pursue her without potentially sacrificing days or even weeks to hunt her through the Beast Glades, and there was a significant probability even then that she could evade me. She had a clear advantage: she knew what she was doing, while I did not.

Still, I couldn’t let her potentially roam free throughout the continent. Charon would need to be warned and a patrol of dragons set to scouring the Beast Glades.

As more and more new threads appeared, each new thought weaving into the tapestry of congruent ideas, I sensed a subtle itch—the uncomfortable sensation from my core left by the wound Cecilia had given me with my own aetheric sword. I focused on it, and like insects scattering under a light, the itch seemed to shiver along each of the individual threads of my thoughts.