There was another thud that traveled up through Peer's feet and set her teeth ringing. Somewhere far away, something fell, heavy stones tumbling and crushing. The flow of humanity paused for a moment, then continued on its way, voices a little quieter than before, a little more afraid.
"There's another one," the woman whispered. "If you've got your heads on right, you'll come with us."
"But who told you?"
"Who? People just… know. The terror is rising; go south to Skulk."
"We can't," Peer said. The woman looked at Nophel properly then, a spark of interest in her eyes. Then she turned and went on her way.
"Right, well, that's got me crapping in my trousers," Alexia said.
"Easy… for you to say," Nophel mumbled. "So are we going or not?"
As they set off for Crescent, across the flow of people, it felt as if Nophel was leading the way.
Beside the street at a major crossroads lay the bodies of three Scarlet Blades. They had been dragged to one side and left there, food for rockzards and other carrion creatures. People poured past, heading south for the Tharin. Though Peer could not see that far, she knew that the river crossings would be thronged, and beyond there would be streets filled with panicked, desperate refugees. Nothing like this had ever happened in her lifetime. The whole city was moving.
The terror is rising; go south to Skulk, the woman said, and it had echoed with the sound of something repeated.
The ground shook. The impact was so great that the air before her seemed to vibrate, and the shape and color of the city changed. What is that? she thought, stumbling into a wall to one side. She blinked, took in a deep breath, and realized that, in all the streets she could see, people had fallen down. They recovered quickly, and soon the flow of humanity was moving once again. But for just that moment the city had been still and prostrate.
A cloud of dust rose in the distance where a building had collapsed.
"Won't the Marcellans be doing something?" Alexia asked, staring back and up the long hillside to the spires of Hanharan Heights.
"You tell me," Peer said. "You worked for them."
"They'll be debating a course of action," Nophel said, laughing, then coughing.
"They'll be doing something," Alexia said. But she did not sound convinced.
"We have to go against the flow," Peer said. She looked out across the northern parts of Course at the splash of green in the distance. Crescent. That was their destination, but between here and there were rivers of people flowing south. Escaping something, she thought. We should be going with them. But they had something important to do. These people could flee to Skulk, but that place was still a part of Echo City. If what was rising was as terrible as she feared-as terrible as it felt-they had to go farther. And the only person who might help them do that was the Baker.
"We could go down through the Echoes," Alexia said.
"You know the way from here?"
"From a long time ago," she said. "There was a time… With the Blades, we used the First Echo to bring people back to Hanharan Heights."
"People?"
"Dissidents." She glanced away, because there was a lie in her voice. Peer no longer cared. Perhaps none of that really mattered anymore.
"The city's going to change," she said, but at the back of her mind the change was greater than she could voice. The city is going to die.
"This way," Alexia said.
As they worked their way along the street, there was another terrible tremor. Tiles slipped from rooftops, injuring dozens in the streets below, and weaker buildings slumped in their foundations. The dead Scarlet Blades were already covered in a film of dust, and Peer noticed that Alexia averted her eyes as they passed them by. Maybe she knows them.
They pushed across the surge of people and made their way back up to the Marcellan Canton wall. Go south to Skulk, someone kept whispering, and though Peer looked, she could not see who the whisperer was.
"It's history exploding," a man's voice said. Peer glanced around, and a short fat man was staring directly at her. He was well dressed, his skin was smooth, his hands soft and hair well cut. A lawyer, perhaps, or someone who worked in the upper echelons of the Marcellans' widespread governing network.
"What do you mean?" she asked.
"History. Down there." He nodded at the ground, whispering in case the Echoes heard. "Exploding. There's so much of it, see? We've been building on it forever, letting the old times sink down and fade away without saying a proper goodbye. There are phantoms down there that don't know they're dead, and they say there are whole civilizations, whole cities, just going along like they're the here and now. And the Garthans!" He waved one hand and gazed about surreptitiously, though they were surrounded by a hundred other people. "They're the players of the past. Explorers, they call them. But, no. Players. Manipulators!"
"You really think-"
"Hush, girl. I don't think; I know. It's history exploding. It's been under pressure for so long, and now it's all coming back." His face paled, and suddenly he did not seem to be enjoying his rumor-mongering anymore. "Coming back to haunt us." Then he was gone, pushing away from her as though he had contaminated Peer by telling her his ideas.
"Come on," Alexia said. "Through the gate, along the wall, next alleyway." They forced their way against the flow, passing into Marcellan without seeing any sign of the Scarlet Blades that should be guarding it. As they worked their way along the base of the wall, it was not long before they realized why.
The four Blades had been battered and crushed to death. Around them in the street lay the bodies of those they had taken with them-maybe ten people, around whom the crowds parted in silent respect. At least one of the bodies was that of a child.
"I don't want to see any more," Peer said.
"One thing you learn in the Blades: Civilization balances on a knife edge." Alexia tugged Nophel onward, and Peer went with them. "It's the alley behind those poor bastards."
"You won't escape them there." The short fat woman was sitting ten steps from the dead Blades, a slashed red tunic around her shoulders. She bore a terrible wound across her stomach. Peer thought she must be bleeding to death.
"Escape who?"
"The outsiders. Haven't you heard? Dragarians-invading from the north. Garthans-from below." She rocked slowly back and forth, panting, and Peer wondered which corpse she mourned.
"Peer," Alexia said, and Peer was happy to be led away.
"Outsiders!" The woman's voice carried to them, and there were others shouting at her to Shut the fuck up, and Keep it to yourself, and You're scaring my children.
"Here," Alexia said, indicating a half-open door.
The ground shook, people screamed, and a building fell close by. Whatever it is, it's really big. Alexia steered Nophel inside first, and Peer followed, glad to be free of the crowd.
The Scarlet Blade house had been ransacked. Any spare weapons were gone, and someone had defecated on the dead Blades' table. Peer was amazed that, while fleeing for their life, someone would take the time to do that.
"Over here," Alexia said. "I remember using this one a couple of times before." Against the stone wall stood a huge wooden storage unit, shelves now swept clean of whatever they might have held. They waded through piles of smashed plates, torn sheets, and shattered storage jars shining amid spilled food, and Alexia pried with her sword behind the unit.
"Help me… pull!"
Peer and the Unseen heaved and pulled, propping their feet against the wall to give added leverage, and, without warning, the unit suddenly tipped and fell. Behind it was an old door, bolted into the wall five times. It took several smashes from Alexia's sword handle on each bolt to get them sliding.
Behind the door was a spiral staircase heading down and, piled in a nook in the wall, several oil torches.
"We'll see daylight again soon," Alexia said. But hers was a forced hope, and Peer could see that. Darkness had never seemed so forbidding. The three of them stared down the stairwell, listening for the sounds of things rising below, sniffing the air, and wondering just how mad they must be.