Luminous forms

  appeared in Aj's sight

  imploring it

  to cease its hunt.

  Politely but firmly,

  Aj demurred.

  Aj spoke:

  'For the good of all,

  even for you,

  who created me

  to do your will

  must I do this.

  To restore all that is wrong

  to rightness.

  A door opened

  to show the way

  and I will do

  what must be done

  to take us through it.'

  In the subsequent days Hassani spent with Goboro digging through records, the beautiful man she'd encountered by the statue rarely traveled far from her thoughts. She hadn't caught a single glimpse again and not for lack of trying.

  Goboro made happy company, at least. The fat, baby-faced eternal novice melded joviality, competence, humor, and an absolute lack of ambition. This proved a perfect combination to endear him to everyone and threaten no one. Everywhere they traveled through the Annalis' labyrinth, catcalls, jokes, hails, waves, and smiles greeted them.

  Deep in the bowls of the bureaucratic beast, they sifted through its digests. Without warning, he burst into song:

  "The blind Verser Lord visited his hairy harem horde.

  Finding every delight to be had with women overnight.

  Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

  When the Lord's adviser found him blissful but none the wiser,

  the horrified vizier bent his ear..."

  A supervisor approached to admonish Goboro for distracting nearby acolytes from their important work recopying ancient copies of older documents, but the man veered away trying to control his laughter as Goboro reached the punchline.

  "This way does not the harem lay,' the Vizier bent to say.

  'These three nights of female delights

  transpired not in your harem with women ready and able,

  but in hay with the horses of my Lord's stable."

  Goboro's expressions as he mimed the blind Verser Lord's subsequent journey from happiness to horror to shrugging acceptance and back to happiness reduced the room to tears.

  The scribe's antics tuned out as her brain caught up with her fingers. Her pulse pounded and she retraced the brailled sheet before her three times. "Goboro! This's what I've been looking for."

  "So said the Lord ever after at the touch of a horse's tail." Goboro stuffed a faded scroll back into its nook as he bandied over to her.

  "Can you be serious for one moment?" She handed it to him and watched his fingers glide across it.

  "I've been serious that long once or twice before, but no promises." He looked up, shrugged, and shook his head. "That's it? An order for a ConMach convoy of weapons from Ziggurat?"

  "With a Legion escorting them. This proves that we're chasing something real, not off hunting ghosts."

  "That reminds me of my great-grandmother's horny ghost and the time-"

  "Enough stories." She swiped the braille from him and shook it in his face. "This request came in to the Skeinry in Ziggurat several days ago. Urgent."

  He scratched his butt and blew a raspberry. "Urgent? For what? Hasn't been a major uprising since the Sixth Tier Rebellion over a hundred years ago and that was in Ziggurat besides. With all the legions based there, weapons come and go all the time."

  "Enough to arm three legions? And did you feel where they went?"

  "I would have if you hadn't stolen it back from me before-"

  "Sunset."

  He frowned. "The Verse of Vaults? Why would Inro the Impossible need that many weapons in a verse hoarding only useless old artifacts and decrepit prisons for mythical creatures? Did the Vault Legions all get drunk and lose fifteen-thousand spears, shields, and helmets? Doesn't seem likely what with them always having three Chapters staring each other down in the armories arguing over every misplaced arrow."

  "Why indeed? We haven't found the record of the convoy getting there yet, right? Why was this buried in Archives when it should have been in Arrivals?"

  Goboro shook his head, the silver hoop in his left ear swinging. "If you want to fit in, call Archives 'the Dust' and Arrivals 'the Dirt.'"

  She smiled and patted him on the arm. "I don't need to fit in, that's what I have you for."

  He took the braille again and rubbed a finger across slowly. "Good thing my old friend Wannibae saw this come down here and commented on it. We'd never have found it otherwise. Should I track down whether the weapons actually went out? The receipt confirmation from Sunset?"

  "Yes. And while you're doing that, see if your friend knows who filed this down here." Hassani stood. "I'll head to Paths and Ways to see if I can't commandeer a 'nail."

  "A 'nail for where? Ziggurat?"

  "No. Well yes, there too. I was thinking Sunset."

  More scratching at his back and arm. "Do Inviolates have liberty to go to Sunset? I'm not sure how it works, but I wouldn't think they'd let just anyone wander into the Prison of Prisons."

  "I guess we'll find out. Meet at the food cart at dinner to see what we've found?" she said, already halfway to the door.

  "Hai!" He slapped his belly. "You're buying for all this extra walking. Have to keep up my strength."

  "I think you've strength stored for a hundred times this much walking. Maybe you should be thanking me instead." She rolled her eyes. At the door she paused and turned. "If you have a moment free, something else you might check on for me."

  "Oh?" He grinned. "For you or for your husband and his fishing business again? Something damning about his competitors?"

  She frowned at mention of Denault and shoved all thoughts of him Avani away before it swept her away. "Not fishing, dipping. And no, not that. Earth mean anything to you?"

  "Earth?" He stared at his foot, then the cobwebbed ceiling. "They should get someone to clean up there. And no, never heard of them. Who is it?"

  "It's a where, I think. See if you can find anyone who has heard. Quietly."

  "This tied to the weapons?"

  "Maybe. Not sure."

  He threw up his hands. "Whatever you say, you're the Inviolate. I'm just the stumbling ox following you around."

  "Okay. Keep your ears out and fingers fresh."

  Once in the hallway, they turned opposite directions. She sifted through what little information she had. A huge weapon allotment sent to a verse with no reason to ever need them... or did it? She couldn't imagine what might justify such a huge transfer. Sure, rumors always swirled around Sunset's great guarded treasures and dangerous artifacts, mad, imprisoned Dynasts, and sealed-away demons, but when had anything ever proved substantial?

  If the transfer completed as planned, why had the Black Court sent her on this errand? If convoy was real and legitimate, who buried the request in Archives and why? Why not just destroy it?

  A thundering explosion of movement snapped her out of it. Her hand darted to her sword hilt.

  Just startled nesting birds panicking in a small space.

  Heart thudding, she looked around.

  Lost in her musing, she'd taken a wrong turn or three, placing herself in an abandoned hallway featuring a caved-in roof, moss-covered fallen beams, and crawling vines. A nearby door askew in its frame revealed a sunny, rubble-strewn courtyard half-reclaimed by the marsh.

  Another realization put her on alert.

  All thoughts cleared from her mind. Senses sharpened. She subtly shifted her feet to a solid stance and loosened her sword slightly in its scabbard.

  She'd managed to isolate herself in a remote, abandoned section of the Annalis... and she wasn't alone.

  Next chapter: Aida has an adverse reaction to her first god

  Characters and terms

  Characters (alphabetical)

  Aida: MC.

  Aj: a long-slumbering, powerful being which annihilated Inro's Sunset Legions. Also "almost destroyed the Dynasty single-handedly six-and-some centuries ago"

  Avani: Hassani's daughter, an albino

  "Braid"; a thug who accosted Aida in Jadeye

  Deai: Hassani's swordmaster, renowned for killing a Paragon

  Denault: Hassani's husband. Shipwright, Kin.

  Ghillie: a 3rd Feral who wears a primitive Ghillie suit. Carries cross between kunai and acupuncture needles

  Goboro: a fat scribe friend of Hassani's in Libriam

  Fallon: Aida's Seneschal

  Hassani: Inviolate agent of the Black Court

  Inro: Dynast formerly ruling Sunset

  Jaxe: Dynast of Stacks. "Young", wealthy. Also has "the Pale" (an Albino)

  Ocyl: Dynast of Heaven's Tread, powerful and unpredictable

  Parathas: Aida's skinscribe. Also a mountaineer.

  Venner: Grandmaster of Optimimes in Jadeye, "best in the entire Book"

  Rega: Inro's sister

  The Fallen

  Feral: a bone-masked woman of violence (Feral) in Aida's service. Knife wielder. Killed by Ghillie in Jadeye.

  "Toothy": leader of a group of thugs who accosted Aida in Heaven's Tread. Killed by Feral in Jadeye

  Valeer: a mentally challenged, unkempt individual able to manipulate Thorns. Died in Jadeye to "Braid".

  White Spiral: an older Feral in Aida's service. Archer. Died protecting Aida in Jadeye

  Terms (alphabetical)

  All, The: ?

  Anchorites: individuals capable of creating anchor points affixed to nothing.

  Annalis compound: sprawling complex in Libriam, heart of The Book's bureaucracy. Arrivals 'Dirt' home to new dispatches, Archives 'Dust' storage for old material. Paths and Ways storage for 'nails.

  Ascen, The/The Ascendant: divinities "watching over every verse"?

  Assessor: census-taker

  Aze: swordmaker?

  Black Court: a realm of pure darkness. Also, those who rule there. Where Partaking happens.

  Blood, The: imbibed at Partaking, transforms one into a Dynast if they survive

  Book of Verses, The: the 1,000 verses ruled by the Dynasty. "Kiloverse"

  Broadcliff, Tallmarket: cities in Stacks

  Century Thread: additional threads appearing elsewhere on the body every century a Dynast lives

  Cerebrist: creator of slavants

  Chant, The: some sort of law in the Dynasty?

  Chant of Innoculation: chant supposed to protect against disease

  Chapters: ?

  ConMach: convoy?

  Crowmen: buy corpses to return them to life and service as rotters

  Cupola Thorn: the main Thorn in the city Jadeye in Heaven's Tread, a stone dome built over it

  Currence: something valuable inside old coins?

  Current: some form of energy that powers "artifices"?

  Dynast: individual given rule of a verse if they survive Partaking. Ageless and hard to kill. Regenerative. Sustained by "the Blood"; no food or water necessary.

  Dynasty: the Dynasts who rule the Book

  Ebon: founder of the Dynasty and Black Court

  Ebonese: the language of the Book

  Echoseer shells: devices to allow one to "see" in the Black Court

  Feral: bone-masked bodyguards who require the essence of their master to survive. "Damned to Ferals" as a form of capital punishment. "the damned", "damned to a Feral"

  First Thread/Primus: a fresh Dynast/the first luminescent silver thread etched into their foreheads.

  Gates, The: ?

  God, A: ?

  Gonist: organ dealers and traders

  Heaven's Tread: a verse "inside a hollow rolling pin", host to Jadeye, the largest city in the Book

  Ink: home verse of the Skeinry and Keens

  Innoculist: doctors?

  Inviolate: agents of the black court who "serve the Black Court, protect the Dynasty, uphold the Chant, root out corruption."

  Inviolate Vial: carried by Inviolates as badge of office

  Iode: substance that ignites when crushed

  Iris: the giant portals leading between one cylinder of Heaven's Tread to the next

  Jade Eye, The: the "giant emerald" at the middle of Ocyl's Spire in Jadeye

  Jadeye: the largest city in the Book and major trade hub, in Heaven's Trade

  Jaxeday: holiday in Stacks with boat carvings, feasts, games of Fishhead, dances, and storytelling

  Jaxestack: a whitewashed stack on Stacks home to Jaxekin

  Keen: Ink warriors wearing impossibly-heavy iron armor whose power source drains color from the area about it.

  Kin: descendants of a Dynast

  Kiss, The: ?

  Letch: sect bred leech-like creature designed to stop bleeding on wounds

  Libriam: a swampy verse home to the Annalis, heart of The Book's bureaucracy

  Lineage: ?

  Linemen: workers on the Stacks trolleys who pull the cars along the lines

  Logos: ?

  Mancers: ?

  Menial: common folk

  Molt: person able to shed skins (see skins)

  Mon, The: ?

  Mourne, The: something dangerous that lurks in the Vale, "the why we do not tarry"

  Nameday: when children are named

  Ocyl's Spire: the tower home to the court of Ocyl, Dyanst of Heaven's Tread

  One-Eighth Shithole: Aida's verse. Unfortunately. A desolate place home to volcanoes and a giant dead turtle

  Optomime: gadgeteer?

  Pale, The: light-skinned people, conquered by Ebon during the founding of the Dynasty

  Paragon: warrior who can see the future

  Partaking: the ritual that creates Dynasts (or kills those who try). Performed by some unknown, large creature in the Black Court.

  'pillar: fuzzy Sect-bred giant caterpillar pet

  Reachers: massive, Sect-bred creatures that direct traffic and rescue unfortunates in the Sighted Path in Jadeye

  Rotters: sack-clothed, crudely-masked 'zombies' uses as pack-beasts and simple laborers. Created/sold by Crowmen.

  Royal Strider: giant striders which carry carriages of the wealthy slung underneath them

  Sect, The: breeders of useful insectoid- and/or sauroid-like creatures

  Seneschal: chief servant of a Dynast, bear permanent strings allowing them to speak and understand any language

  Sighted Path: the zero-g road down the center of Heaven's Tread

  Sixth Tier Rebellion: last major uprising, in Ziggurat a century ago

  Skeinry: iron-plated communication centers where Skeiners translate vibrations sent by wyre from other verses

  Skin/Hollow: animate skin of a molt able to move, talk, and share snatches of its experience with its molt

  Skinscribe: individuals brailled with lore, walking libraries

  Slavant: an individual who "loses much" to be implanted with an ability

  Soresearer: ?

  Stacks: An ocean verse comprised of tall pillars jutting up from the seas. Trolleys run on long ropes between them "affixed by Anchorites to airy nothing"

  Striders: "stilt-legged gray-skinned insect-lizard"s used as fast mounts, large enough to carry several riders

  Strings: worn or implanted wire devices that translate speech

  Subterrane, The: ?

  Sunset: the verse where Aj was 'contained', formerly protected by Dynast Inro. The "Prison of Prisons"

  Sunset Legions/Vault Legions: Inro's Legions, wiped out by Aj in Sunset

  Surgon: person able to remove organs

  Terminus:a verse?

  Thorn: huge, curling thorns which Valeers can use as gateways to the Vale, doorways between verses. Grow into verses over centuries

  Thrum: guide in the Black Court

  Unkillable Swordsman: a Paragon killed by Deia long ago

  Vale: "The Place Between". A realm of high-contrast black and white full of thorns and Thorns.

  Valeer: people capable of activating Thorns, barely functional of anything else

  Valeer's 'nail: crystals containing wafers that allow travel within the Vale to specific verses without a Valeer

  Verse: a pocket universe or world

  Verser Lord/Lady: agents of an individual Dynast who rule part of a verse at the whim of their Dynast

  Watter: an energetic liquid

  Wicker Way: towers of stone, wood, and rope that connect opposite far sides of Jadeye

  World Spear: an immense stack on Stacks

  Wretch: untouchables forced to walk on all fours, "the human refuse that cleans up the literal waste piles"

  Wyres: lines run through the Vale between verses that allow communication between

  Ziggurat: the verse basing the Legions