SSS Talent: From Trash to Tyrant

Varek walked well ahead of them, far enough down the passage that the sound of his boots came back off the stone before he did. Whether that was courtesy or an order from Darian, Trafalgar didn’t much care. It gave the three of them room to talk, and that was all he wanted out of it.

The tunnel ran on ahead of them, wide and level, mana lamps set into the black stone at even distances so that the light never fully dropped away between them. Their own footsteps carried further than they should have down here.

”That’s really not good news,” Cynthia said, ”considering what we already know. It’s bad, no question about it. I don’t like the attacks at all, and I like it even less that there are more of them than there should be.”

”It certainly isn’t good,” Rhosyn agreed.

”No.” Trafalgar kept his eyes on the passage ahead. ”Think about what it used to mean. As far as anyone knew, Void Creatures turned up when something in the world went wrong. Irregularities. A place bent out of true, or a wound nobody closed properly. That was the rule, and everyone built around it.” He turned his hand over as he walked. ”Now they can come through a rift whenever they feel like it and cause as much havoc as they want on the other side. That puts every one of the Great Families on alert. It puts the whole world on alert, if you follow it far enough.”

Cynthia was quiet for a few paces, taking that in. They passed one of the branching routes Trafalgar had noticed on the way down, its mouth marked with Thal’zar symbols and shut behind a gate of heavy iron bars. Two soldiers stood on the far side of it. Neither of them so much as looked up as the group went by, which told Trafalgar they’d been given instructions about exactly how much attention to pay to whoever came through here today.

”Is there anything we can do about it?” Cynthia asked. ”Anything at all to stop it happening?”

Trafalgar glanced at her and gave her the truth, because she’d never once thanked him for anything else. ”Right now, nothing. All we can do is get ready for what’s coming.” He kept his voice low and even. ”We can’t move on this without thinking about what every step would cost us, and beyond that, none of us is ready. Not me, not any of us. That’s why we have to reach the Primordials first and talk to them. And I’ll have to bring this in front of the Council at some point, one way or another. I don’t know how I’ll do that yet, and it won’t be simple.”

”But you’ve got the Thal’zar behind you now,” Cynthia said.

”I’ve got the Thal’zar behind me, and that’s all I’ve got.” He let a wry note into it. ”I’d need at least half the other houses of the Eight backing me before anything I said in that room carried real weight. I don’t know if you knew this, but the Eight vote on everything. Whatever comes out of the vote is what happens, and nobody cares how right you were afterward.” He shook his head. ”So I need more support than one family, and I need allies inside the others.”

Cynthia let out a breath. ”That’s a lot of doors to knock on.”

”It is.”

The passage widened where two tunnels met, opening into a low chamber with a vaulted ceiling and a well of fresh water set into one wall. A supply station sat off to the side, crates stacked in neat rows under sheets, everything labelled and squared away. Somebody had built this to be found in the dark by people who were in a hurry.

Trafalgar took it in as they crossed. Darian really had thought about the next war rather than the last one, which was more than most people managed.

”Then there’s nothing to do for now except keep going the way we are,” Cynthia said. ”But take care of yourself, Trafalgar. We work hard too, all three of us, but none of it is anything next to what you’re carrying around. You should be looking after yourself.”

”I am.” He glanced sideways at her. ”I’ve got Rhosyn keeping an eye on me. Believe it or not, I’d rather not lose my mind either.”

”You say that like it’s a joke.”

”Only half of one.”

Rhosyn spoke without turning her head. ”He’s telling the truth about the eye, at least. He tried to keep training after I told him to stop, and he lasted a morning.”

Cynthia looked past him at her. ”How much of a morning?”

”Less than an hour, honestly.”

”That sounds about right.”

Trafalgar decided he had nothing useful to add to that and kept walking. The road began to climb, gently at first, the black stone giving way to a wider ramp cut into the rock. Somewhere far above them the fortress was still running, and every now and then a sound reached down through the ground, the dull thud of something heavy being dropped, the faint rhythm of soldiers moving in step. It came through the stone as a vibration more than a noise.

Trafalgar turned the meeting over in his head while they walked. The rifts. The intelligent Void Creature nobody had seen since. The barrier none of them here knew about except Rhosyn. All of it going the same direction and none of it going anywhere good, and every path he could see out of it ran through people who hadn’t decided yet whether they liked him. He’d have to change that, and he had no idea how, beyond knowing there was no version of it that happened quickly.

Ahead of them, Varek reached a junction, glanced back to make sure they were following, and turned left without waiting. Rhosyn matched Trafalgar’s pace, and her voice came quietly from beside him.

”And Maeron. What do you make of him?”