Chapter eleven: Bloodline
Chapter eleven
Warning bells were ringing over the city, leaving the streets deserted. Most Soldiers were already by the walls; after learning that armies of demons were congregating at Shadowed Citadel Demesne, the Ministry of Safety had stripped lawkeeping and security forces within the city down to a skeleton crew, in favour of strengthening the forces at the walls.
Even so, Dara was surprised that they had gotten into the National Archive so easily. A few people, including the Servants and Nobles who worked in the Archive, had gathered in the entry hall of the great stone building, sheltering from the rain and the bells under the protection of a mere pair of Soldiers. Dara had not thought that the Soldiers would appreciate anyone wandering around the building unsupervised, especially right now - but Aseena had talked to them for a moment, and now here she and Dara were, wandering through the long corridors of bookshelves, lit by oil lamps.
"So," Aseena said, "Jalon kept obsessing over all these bits and pieces of old songs. He filled whole notebooks with them, along with his thoughts and associations."
"I'm surprised you didn't take him to a Priest," Dara said.
"He took himself to a Priest, actually," Aseena said. "He got into therapy, got drugs to calm him down, everything. It just wouldn't stop. And then he started making predictions. Like that patrol that went out into the Wastelands four months ago, and came back as demons? The ones that got through the gates and killed a dozen people before they were driven off? Jalon knew it in advance - he said that there were all these passages about 'champions coming back as dark beings,' and that it had to be now, with this particular patrol, because..."
"... because that was the part that came next," Dara said. She winced. "Yes, he gave me the same not-very-illuminating explanation."
"Yeah, well," Aseena said. "That was when I stopped worrying that there was something wrong with him, and started worrying that there wasn't. And then he said he had found something in those notes of his - not something that was going to happen, but something that had happened... or had always been happening, perhaps. Something about bloodlines."
"I had this theory," Dara said slowly, "that some kind of metaphysical entity latched on to certain families, and grew stronger by shaping their history in their image..."
Aseena gave her a startled look.
"You know about the Unhallowed Sixty-Six?" she said.
"The what?" Dara said. "No. I just... Sometimes, when I can't deduce anything definite one way or the other in the course of an investigation, I make an assumption and see what follows naturally from it. So this morning, I made the assumption that there was not, in fact, a rational explanation for what was going on. The irrational explanation that followed naturally from that assumption was this one."
"Right. Okay." Aseena blinked. "I've spent three months running around trying to figure out what's going on, and just when I'm about to tell me, you tell me that you already know because it... 'followed naturally.'" She shook her head. "Talking to you about this is like talking to Jalon about it, that way. You both make me feel like I'm stumbling through a dark room."
"Well, I'd still rather have evidence than conjecture," Dara said gruffly. "So if you have any to provide, I'd be grateful."
"Okay." Aseena stopped in front of a bookshelf and pulled out a thick tome. Dara thought she would open it, but instead, she just dangled it by the spine over the floor. A large sheet of paper, folded many times, slipped out. Aseena replaced the book in the shelf and sat down on the floor, cross-legged, unfolding the sheet. Dara joined her. "Here are the notes I made last time I was here. I hid them before I went home."
"Impressive foresight," Dara said.
Aseena grinned.
"I think I just got off on the whole cloak-and-dagger aspect of it," she said. "That's not how I saw it at the time, of course - I thought I was taking it very seriously. But let me tell you, three months of dodging mysterious people wanting to kill you or lock you up because you know something you shouldn't teaches you to really take things seriously."
She finished unfolding the sheet. Dara surveyed it. It was a tangle of lines with scribbled-on names and notes, and it took her a few seconds to realise that she was looking at some kind of tangled family tree. She recognised a number of the names - important figures in the Demesne's history, powerful Nobles and influential Mystics and the occasional mad genius of an Artist.
"These are the... afflicted... bloodlines?" she said.
"Well, four of them, at least," Aseena said. "There are others that I suspect - they keep running in and out of each other. But see here and here and here..." She trailed her fingers over the chart. "Telroth of Stonegarden Park, caste of Nobles. He was discovered to have murdered five women in gruesome ways. They still cast him in plays and novels - he's one of our national bogeymen. Jikal of Silvertree Hall, caste of Priests. Managed to whip up a popular frenzy that led to a year of mandatory fasting. Several people died. She lost her position over that, but she's still an icon for some of the weirder Ascetic sects. Minaster of Gargoyles' Dance Abbey, caste of Mystics. Performed medical experiments on unwilling patients, trying to prove insane theories." She looked up at Dara. "There are more. All people and events that Jalon claims is part of that pattern of his. All horrific and disturbing in their own way. All part of these special family lines."
"Some families have a tendency towards... eccentric behaviour," Dara said. "Everyone knows that."
"Yes," Aseena said. "But these ones not only keep doing things that are so insane and horrific that they remain in the public consciousness for centuries. They also keep rising to positions where they can really act out those impulses. There is barely a Servant on these charts."
Dara nodded slowly.
"You mentioned the Unhallowed Sixty-Six..." she said.
"It's a superstition," Aseena said. "A dark fairytale that gets passed along these bloodlines. I managed to get that out of a few members, ones that I was reasonably sure weren't personally involved. They claimed not to believe the story themselves, but they said that when the darkness first fell over Shadowed Citadel Demesne, sixty-six men and women had a vision. Together, they prophesised that their bloodlines would shape the history of the Demesne, and that in its eventual destruction, they would ascend, elevated by desolation."
"Ascend how?" Dara said.
Aseena shook her head.
"They didn't say. I think it might even be possible that their 'ascension' is just supposed to be destroying themselves and taking the rest of the Demesne with them."
"That's their big goal?" Dara said. "They want to doom us all, just to... what? To show that they can? To feel important?"
"Your guess is as good as mine," Aseena said. "But either way, it's all tied up with the appearance of some kind of pivotal figure - the one who actually destroys the Demesne, not leaving stone on stone."
"He Who Comes," Dara said.
"Exactly." Aseena tapped her finger on the chart. "Look here, in the middle - the product of all four family lines, no less."
"Jalon." Dara frowned. "I wonder what kind of bedtime stories his mother told him when he was growing up?"
"He's citadel-raised, actually," Aseena said. "But yes. And over here, we have another familiar name."
"Mansuur." Dara glared at the name. "Who is apparently Jalon's third cousin. Well, you know what they say about your nose and your relatives..." She caught another name and flinched. "Holy shit. Is this true?"
"As far as I could tell from the birth records, yes," Aseena said. "What about it?"
"Kroll is Mansuur's mother?" Dara said. "Lord Minister Kroll?" She punched her palm. "So they are in it together!" Then she paused. "No, that still doesn't make sense. Those Soldiers back at the mansion weren't cooperating with Mansuur's men. They ended up fighting, in fact. And even aside from that, there's just something off about the whole thing..."
"Your guess is, once more, as good as mine," Aseena said. "It did occur to me that those Soldiers that keep coming after me could be sent by Kroll - it would explain why there were always so relatively few of them, since she's the Lord Minister of Mystery, not Safety; she would have to borrow the Soldiers from the Ministry of Safety, all while coming up with reasons for why they should be doing what she had them doing. But she just doesn't seem like the Unhallowed Sixty-Six type. They are inclined towards mad extremity. Kroll's politics have always been extremely moderate."
"Oh, she might be sacrificing babies to the demons in secret for all we know," Dara grumbled, but that didn't feel right either. She had had some dealings with Kroll. Much as she didn't much like the woman, she had also never gotten any sense of insanity from her.
"So that's all I know," Aseena said. "I'm sorry that it's not much."
"It's plenty," Dara said gruffly. "It gives me somewhere to look. You're going to take me to some of these Unhallowed Sixty-Six people, and I'm going to shake them until answers fall out. What Mansuur is planning. What he's going to do next."
"After we've rescued Jalon," Aseena reminded her.
"Right," Dara said, looking away. "After that."
"Those Soldiers that took him," Aseena said. "Whether they're working for Kroll or not - do you have any idea where they might have taken him?"
"Not as such," Dara said. "But I know someone who might know. Let's go."
She started getting up, but Aseena put one hand on her arm.
"I have one more question first," she said.
Dara shrugged.
"Ask," she said.
"Do you have feelings for Jalon?" Aseena said.
Dara sat dumbstruck. Aseena just looked calmly at her, waiting for an answer.
"No!" Dara said once she had regained the power of speech. "Why would you even...?"
"Because every time I say his name," Aseena said flatly, "you get the same look you got when you were watching us back at Sablecrest Manor. And that's one sad look, let me tell you. It's pure heart-broken it's not me, it will never be me-ness. I ask again - do you have feelings for Jalon? I won't be upset if you do. He's nice, he's cute, he flirts shamelessly with everyone - you wouldn't be the first woman I've met who really wished I could drop dead. But I need to know. Especially if we're going to be working together."
Dara struggled for words.
"I... no," she said. "Not in the way you mean, no."
"But?" Aseena prompted.
"But..." Dara shrugged. "For a while there, it was him and me, up against this whole insane mess. Watching each other's backs. Trying to make sense of it all. And..." She moistened her lips. "And he was... kind. People are not usually kind to me." She laughed miserably. "They don't usually put up with me for as long as he did, either, and God knows I can't blame them... But, anyway, it was nice. Being... being two."
"Dara..." Aseena smiled gently. "If you want Jalon as a friend, I'm not standing in the way of that. Jalon has many friends."
"Yeah. I guess." Dara smiled faintly. "It's just, seeing the two of you together... I think it just drove home how little it meant, the two of us just randomly ending up in this situation together. You and him together - that was just such a vivid demonstration of what it really means to be two."
"I guess we just click," Aseena said. She smiled fondly. "I can be myself with him. I don't have to be this super-devoted champion of the Demesne that everyone is supposed to aspire to be. I don't have to be a meek little Servant girl either, and worship the ground the higher castes walk on. I can just be me - as crazy and scatter-brained and all over the place as I want to be." She glanced at Dara. "But you know... the first time we met, it was because it was raining cats and dogs, neither one of us had an umbrella, and there was just this one gate to seek shelter in. It took thirty minutes for the worst of the rain to pass, and by that time we were having such a nice conversation that we decided he should walk me home. And by the time we got there, we already had our first date scheduled."
"I'm not sure I see the significance..." Dara said.
"The significance?" Aseena winced. "The significance is, 'randomly ending up in the same situation together' is kind of how it works. It's how you meet the people who are going to be important in your life. People talk about making friends, but no one does that, not really. We rarely get new friends when we're actively trying to forge new friendships. We just sort of bump into them."
"I don't," Dara said.
"First off, now you have," Aseena said. She made a face. "Second, it might just have something to do with the fact that you are so anxious to avoid having to interact with any other human beings that you live alone in a great big mansion. That doesn't entirely stop you from having chance meetings, but it certainly lowers the frequency of them."
"Point..." Dara mumbled.
They got up and headed back towards the exit.
"So what did you say to the guards to let us wander off?" Dara said.
"I said that my girlfriend was afraid and I needed to take her somewhere out of the way and... give her something else to think about," Aseena said.
Dara gave her a look of shock and horror.
"You never did!"
"Hey, second rule of lying," Aseena said, unflustered. "Tell people something they want to be true. And men always want hot girl-on-girl action to be true."
Dara stared at her for a moment.
"You know those women who really wish that you would drop dead?" she then said. "I just joined their ranks. And not because of Jalon."
"See, this is another reason why you don't make that many friends," Aseena said serenely. "You're so negative."
Warning bells were ringing over the city, leaving the streets deserted. Most Soldiers were already by the walls; after learning that armies of demons were congregating at Shadowed Citadel Demesne, the Ministry of Safety had stripped lawkeeping and security forces within the city down to a skeleton crew, in favour of strengthening the forces at the walls.
Even so, Dara was surprised that they had gotten into the National Archive so easily. A few people, including the Servants and Nobles who worked in the Archive, had gathered in the entry hall of the great stone building, sheltering from the rain and the bells under the protection of a mere pair of Soldiers. Dara had not thought that the Soldiers would appreciate anyone wandering around the building unsupervised, especially right now - but Aseena had talked to them for a moment, and now here she and Dara were, wandering through the long corridors of bookshelves, lit by oil lamps.
"So," Aseena said, "Jalon kept obsessing over all these bits and pieces of old songs. He filled whole notebooks with them, along with his thoughts and associations."
"I'm surprised you didn't take him to a Priest," Dara said.
"He took himself to a Priest, actually," Aseena said. "He got into therapy, got drugs to calm him down, everything. It just wouldn't stop. And then he started making predictions. Like that patrol that went out into the Wastelands four months ago, and came back as demons? The ones that got through the gates and killed a dozen people before they were driven off? Jalon knew it in advance - he said that there were all these passages about 'champions coming back as dark beings,' and that it had to be now, with this particular patrol, because..."
"... because that was the part that came next," Dara said. She winced. "Yes, he gave me the same not-very-illuminating explanation."
"Yeah, well," Aseena said. "That was when I stopped worrying that there was something wrong with him, and started worrying that there wasn't. And then he said he had found something in those notes of his - not something that was going to happen, but something that had happened... or had always been happening, perhaps. Something about bloodlines."
"I had this theory," Dara said slowly, "that some kind of metaphysical entity latched on to certain families, and grew stronger by shaping their history in their image..."
Aseena gave her a startled look.
"You know about the Unhallowed Sixty-Six?" she said.
"The what?" Dara said. "No. I just... Sometimes, when I can't deduce anything definite one way or the other in the course of an investigation, I make an assumption and see what follows naturally from it. So this morning, I made the assumption that there was not, in fact, a rational explanation for what was going on. The irrational explanation that followed naturally from that assumption was this one."
"Right. Okay." Aseena blinked. "I've spent three months running around trying to figure out what's going on, and just when I'm about to tell me, you tell me that you already know because it... 'followed naturally.'" She shook her head. "Talking to you about this is like talking to Jalon about it, that way. You both make me feel like I'm stumbling through a dark room."
"Well, I'd still rather have evidence than conjecture," Dara said gruffly. "So if you have any to provide, I'd be grateful."
"Okay." Aseena stopped in front of a bookshelf and pulled out a thick tome. Dara thought she would open it, but instead, she just dangled it by the spine over the floor. A large sheet of paper, folded many times, slipped out. Aseena replaced the book in the shelf and sat down on the floor, cross-legged, unfolding the sheet. Dara joined her. "Here are the notes I made last time I was here. I hid them before I went home."
"Impressive foresight," Dara said.
Aseena grinned.
"I think I just got off on the whole cloak-and-dagger aspect of it," she said. "That's not how I saw it at the time, of course - I thought I was taking it very seriously. But let me tell you, three months of dodging mysterious people wanting to kill you or lock you up because you know something you shouldn't teaches you to really take things seriously."
She finished unfolding the sheet. Dara surveyed it. It was a tangle of lines with scribbled-on names and notes, and it took her a few seconds to realise that she was looking at some kind of tangled family tree. She recognised a number of the names - important figures in the Demesne's history, powerful Nobles and influential Mystics and the occasional mad genius of an Artist.
"These are the... afflicted... bloodlines?" she said.
"Well, four of them, at least," Aseena said. "There are others that I suspect - they keep running in and out of each other. But see here and here and here..." She trailed her fingers over the chart. "Telroth of Stonegarden Park, caste of Nobles. He was discovered to have murdered five women in gruesome ways. They still cast him in plays and novels - he's one of our national bogeymen. Jikal of Silvertree Hall, caste of Priests. Managed to whip up a popular frenzy that led to a year of mandatory fasting. Several people died. She lost her position over that, but she's still an icon for some of the weirder Ascetic sects. Minaster of Gargoyles' Dance Abbey, caste of Mystics. Performed medical experiments on unwilling patients, trying to prove insane theories." She looked up at Dara. "There are more. All people and events that Jalon claims is part of that pattern of his. All horrific and disturbing in their own way. All part of these special family lines."
"Some families have a tendency towards... eccentric behaviour," Dara said. "Everyone knows that."
"Yes," Aseena said. "But these ones not only keep doing things that are so insane and horrific that they remain in the public consciousness for centuries. They also keep rising to positions where they can really act out those impulses. There is barely a Servant on these charts."
Dara nodded slowly.
"You mentioned the Unhallowed Sixty-Six..." she said.
"It's a superstition," Aseena said. "A dark fairytale that gets passed along these bloodlines. I managed to get that out of a few members, ones that I was reasonably sure weren't personally involved. They claimed not to believe the story themselves, but they said that when the darkness first fell over Shadowed Citadel Demesne, sixty-six men and women had a vision. Together, they prophesised that their bloodlines would shape the history of the Demesne, and that in its eventual destruction, they would ascend, elevated by desolation."
"Ascend how?" Dara said.
Aseena shook her head.
"They didn't say. I think it might even be possible that their 'ascension' is just supposed to be destroying themselves and taking the rest of the Demesne with them."
"That's their big goal?" Dara said. "They want to doom us all, just to... what? To show that they can? To feel important?"
"Your guess is as good as mine," Aseena said. "But either way, it's all tied up with the appearance of some kind of pivotal figure - the one who actually destroys the Demesne, not leaving stone on stone."
"He Who Comes," Dara said.
"Exactly." Aseena tapped her finger on the chart. "Look here, in the middle - the product of all four family lines, no less."
"Jalon." Dara frowned. "I wonder what kind of bedtime stories his mother told him when he was growing up?"
"He's citadel-raised, actually," Aseena said. "But yes. And over here, we have another familiar name."
"Mansuur." Dara glared at the name. "Who is apparently Jalon's third cousin. Well, you know what they say about your nose and your relatives..." She caught another name and flinched. "Holy shit. Is this true?"
"As far as I could tell from the birth records, yes," Aseena said. "What about it?"
"Kroll is Mansuur's mother?" Dara said. "Lord Minister Kroll?" She punched her palm. "So they are in it together!" Then she paused. "No, that still doesn't make sense. Those Soldiers back at the mansion weren't cooperating with Mansuur's men. They ended up fighting, in fact. And even aside from that, there's just something off about the whole thing..."
"Your guess is, once more, as good as mine," Aseena said. "It did occur to me that those Soldiers that keep coming after me could be sent by Kroll - it would explain why there were always so relatively few of them, since she's the Lord Minister of Mystery, not Safety; she would have to borrow the Soldiers from the Ministry of Safety, all while coming up with reasons for why they should be doing what she had them doing. But she just doesn't seem like the Unhallowed Sixty-Six type. They are inclined towards mad extremity. Kroll's politics have always been extremely moderate."
"Oh, she might be sacrificing babies to the demons in secret for all we know," Dara grumbled, but that didn't feel right either. She had had some dealings with Kroll. Much as she didn't much like the woman, she had also never gotten any sense of insanity from her.
"So that's all I know," Aseena said. "I'm sorry that it's not much."
"It's plenty," Dara said gruffly. "It gives me somewhere to look. You're going to take me to some of these Unhallowed Sixty-Six people, and I'm going to shake them until answers fall out. What Mansuur is planning. What he's going to do next."
"After we've rescued Jalon," Aseena reminded her.
"Right," Dara said, looking away. "After that."
"Those Soldiers that took him," Aseena said. "Whether they're working for Kroll or not - do you have any idea where they might have taken him?"
"Not as such," Dara said. "But I know someone who might know. Let's go."
She started getting up, but Aseena put one hand on her arm.
"I have one more question first," she said.
Dara shrugged.
"Ask," she said.
"Do you have feelings for Jalon?" Aseena said.
Dara sat dumbstruck. Aseena just looked calmly at her, waiting for an answer.
"No!" Dara said once she had regained the power of speech. "Why would you even...?"
"Because every time I say his name," Aseena said flatly, "you get the same look you got when you were watching us back at Sablecrest Manor. And that's one sad look, let me tell you. It's pure heart-broken it's not me, it will never be me-ness. I ask again - do you have feelings for Jalon? I won't be upset if you do. He's nice, he's cute, he flirts shamelessly with everyone - you wouldn't be the first woman I've met who really wished I could drop dead. But I need to know. Especially if we're going to be working together."
Dara struggled for words.
"I... no," she said. "Not in the way you mean, no."
"But?" Aseena prompted.
"But..." Dara shrugged. "For a while there, it was him and me, up against this whole insane mess. Watching each other's backs. Trying to make sense of it all. And..." She moistened her lips. "And he was... kind. People are not usually kind to me." She laughed miserably. "They don't usually put up with me for as long as he did, either, and God knows I can't blame them... But, anyway, it was nice. Being... being two."
"Dara..." Aseena smiled gently. "If you want Jalon as a friend, I'm not standing in the way of that. Jalon has many friends."
"Yeah. I guess." Dara smiled faintly. "It's just, seeing the two of you together... I think it just drove home how little it meant, the two of us just randomly ending up in this situation together. You and him together - that was just such a vivid demonstration of what it really means to be two."
"I guess we just click," Aseena said. She smiled fondly. "I can be myself with him. I don't have to be this super-devoted champion of the Demesne that everyone is supposed to aspire to be. I don't have to be a meek little Servant girl either, and worship the ground the higher castes walk on. I can just be me - as crazy and scatter-brained and all over the place as I want to be." She glanced at Dara. "But you know... the first time we met, it was because it was raining cats and dogs, neither one of us had an umbrella, and there was just this one gate to seek shelter in. It took thirty minutes for the worst of the rain to pass, and by that time we were having such a nice conversation that we decided he should walk me home. And by the time we got there, we already had our first date scheduled."
"I'm not sure I see the significance..." Dara said.
"The significance?" Aseena winced. "The significance is, 'randomly ending up in the same situation together' is kind of how it works. It's how you meet the people who are going to be important in your life. People talk about making friends, but no one does that, not really. We rarely get new friends when we're actively trying to forge new friendships. We just sort of bump into them."
"I don't," Dara said.
"First off, now you have," Aseena said. She made a face. "Second, it might just have something to do with the fact that you are so anxious to avoid having to interact with any other human beings that you live alone in a great big mansion. That doesn't entirely stop you from having chance meetings, but it certainly lowers the frequency of them."
"Point..." Dara mumbled.
They got up and headed back towards the exit.
"So what did you say to the guards to let us wander off?" Dara said.
"I said that my girlfriend was afraid and I needed to take her somewhere out of the way and... give her something else to think about," Aseena said.
Dara gave her a look of shock and horror.
"You never did!"
"Hey, second rule of lying," Aseena said, unflustered. "Tell people something they want to be true. And men always want hot girl-on-girl action to be true."
Dara stared at her for a moment.
"You know those women who really wish that you would drop dead?" she then said. "I just joined their ranks. And not because of Jalon."
"See, this is another reason why you don't make that many friends," Aseena said serenely. "You're so negative."