“McGinty, tell me what happened.”
“The first fleshling happened. He came into the underdark and took the memory. I tried to stop him, but I couldn’t-his magic was beyond me, beyond the defenses. When he left with the memory, the Linkershim stopped building, stopped moving … just stopped. I’ve been alone ever since.”
“What’s the memory? I don’t understand.”
“It was there,” McGinty said, pointing at the crystal bowl without looking. “I was made to protect it, to preserve the memory of the world, and I failed.”
Alexander stared at the altar while the implications swirled around in his mind. The blood of the earth was the memory of the world, and he had a drop-just one, but Balthazar had said that a single drop was enough, that the blood of the earth was all one thing, one entity, separated by distance yet connected completely.
One of the paths to Isabel’s salvation depended on the blood of the earth.
“Who took it?”
“He told me his name, told me he needed the memory more than I did, told me it would win a war. I tried to stop him.”
“And his name?”
“Siavrax Karth.”
“Siavrax Karth was the first fleshling?”
“Yes,” McGinty said, nodding. “After the fay left, the Linkershim lived here, building, always building, but never venturing above. And then the first fleshling came and took the memory and they stopped building.”
“How did they build? They’re just crystals.”
McGinty stared at him, his head slowly tilting this way and that until he very deliberately shrugged.
“They told the earth and stone what to become,” he said, finally.
“And the earth and stone obeyed?”
“Yes,” McGinty said, standing up, raising his hands and head, looking around at the underdark as if it were the whole of creation.
His hands and head fell like he’d suddenly run out of energy. “But now the earth and stone are silent and still.”
Alexander went to the crystal bowl. “Is this where the memory of the world was kept?”
McGinty frowned, seeming to process the question. “That is where it resided,” he said.
A whole race of intelligent beings subjected to forced hibernation for millennia.
“What would happen to the Linkershim if the memory of the world returned?”
McGinty looked up at Alexander, his clay face struggling to produce a coherent expression.
“The Linkershim would awaken.”
One fewer chance for Isabel.
“What would the Linkershim do after they woke?”
“They would build.”
“What about the fleshlings?”
McGinty hesitated again, shaking his head slowly. “They are very angry with the fleshlings for killing them.”
“How could you know that if they haven’t moved for so long?”
“I can hear their song, beautiful and complex, infinitely varied, yet unique. When one Linkershim dies, the song changes, forever adding death and loss where once there was life and creation.”
“They’re mourning their dead,” Alexander whispered.
“Why do you take the Linkershim?”
“Some of the fleshlings use the Linkershim to create weapons,” Alexander said. “But fleshlings are not all the same.”
“All fleshlings I’ve seen are the same,” McGinty said. “There are differences in appearance, but you are all made the same, except you, since you aren’t really here.”
“You can tell I’m an illusion,” Alexander said. “Huh …”
“I would not have allowed a fleshling to get this close to the well of memory, not again … never again.”
“When I say that all fleshlings aren’t the same, I mean they don’t all want the same things. Some fleshlings are good and others are evil … most of us are just trying to survive.”
McGinty didn’t answer, his head cocked to one side and a semblance of a frown creasing his unfinished face.
“There are only a few fleshlings who’ve hurt the Linkershim,” Alexander said. “Most of us are innocent. If the Linkershim woke, would they hurt the innocent?”
“What is innocent?”
“Fleshlings who’ve done nothing wrong.”
“Fleshlings killed Linkershim.”
“Some did … most didn’t.”
“But you are all fleshlings.”
“Let’s try this a different way,” Alexander said. “If I returned the memory of the world to the well, would the Linkershim go to war against the fleshlings?”
“No,” he said, after a long pause as if he were listening to something only he could hear. “They would build.”
“After that, what would happen when the fleshlings tried to take a Linkershim?”
“The Linkershim would stop them.”
“What would they do to the city above us?”
McGinty paused again, listening.
“Unbuild it,” he said.
“Would they let the fleshlings leave first?”
“Yes …”
What would Isabel counsel him to do if he could tell her about the blood of the earth? If he could explain everything, what would she tell him to do?
A whole race of intelligent beings capable of building on a grand scale, but also capable of art and beauty like nothing he’d ever seen before.
What would she say if he saved her with the blood of the earth and then told her about the Linkershim?
“McGinty, I want to help you, and I think I can, but you’ll have to help me get here with my body. I don’t know the way through the underdark.”
“You are a fleshling.”
“I know, and I want to help you. I have a drop of the memory of the world. I’ll bring it here if you’ll help me navigate the underdark.”
“Why would you help us?”
“Because the Linkershim are alive,” Alexander said with a shrug. “And because I want to see Mithel Dour be unbuilt.”
McGinty tried to frown, tilting his head to one side. “Bring the memory of the world to where the fleshlings entered and I will help you, but only after I’m sure you have the memory.”
“I will,” Alexander said, vanishing and returning to his body.
His list had gotten long, and as with all such lists, some tasks would be easier to accomplish before others.
Chapter 13
Jack slipped into the room and barred the door before tossing his hood back.
“It’s good to see you both,” he said, taking a seat in the circle with Alexander and Anja.
“You too, Jack,” Alexander said. “Before we get started, I have Chloe watching the door. If anyone comes, she’ll let us know so you can hide. I don’t want anyone to know we’re allied.”
“So what’s the plan?”
“The short version: we’re going into the palace to kill the king tonight.”
“Ambitious,” Jack said. “I’ve already secured an invitation to the banquet. I figured I might learn something useful … that and the invitation read more like a summons, so I thought it best to attend.”
“Good. Make sure you maintain your cover,” Alexander said. “If things go badly, I want you to escape and look for Jataan; he’ll be coming to the city if I don’t make contact by tomorrow night.”
“Understood,” Jack said. “There’s something else. I received this letter today. It was on the table in my residence with a dried nightshade blossom on top of it.”
“What’s it say?”
“It offers to pay me quite well if I will report that I saw suspicious activity at a particular house.”
“I wonder what he’s up to,” Alexander said.
“Probably a number of things,” Jack said. “First, he’s is trying to determine if I can be useful to him. Second, he’s trying to eliminate a rival. Third, he’s trying to get dirt on me to use as leverage in later negotiations.”
“Sounds like you’ve given this some thought.”
“A bit, yes.”
“I don’t see an upside,” Alexander said.
“On the contrary. I should absolutely do as he asks. I’ve been looking for a way to reach out to him, and what better way than letting him reach out to me?”
“I don’t trust him.”
“Nor should you,” Jack said. “But he clearly has resources and knowledge we lack. Whatever his motivations are, he could be an extremely useful ally.”