Then the Mountain spoke in her mind: <Sancia! It’s…I feel something in me! Someone…Something different.>
<Mountain, not now! Goddamn it, they’re—>
<I feel…A person. No, I feel him! He is so big, so…so heavy. He is a thousand minds, all in one, all written into one form, into one being! Sancia, Sancia, he is here, HE IS HERE!>
* * *
—
Orso shut his eyes as the captain raised his rapier, bracing for him to bring it down and slash it through his neck.
But then a voice echoed through the atrium—a voice that was rich, and silky, and impossibly, impossibly deep.
“My, my. It seems like you boys are having quite a night.”
Orso felt a sudden, churning nausea in his belly.
He opened his eyes. Oh no.
He tried to look around, panicked. The Michiels were turning to face the main entryway, which was dark with shadows—and then a figure appeared in the darkness, clad in a three-cornered hat, a short dark cloak, and his mask, black and glinting.
“What on earth…” whispered a soldier nearby.
This…This might actually be worse, thought Orso.
18
“Who in the hell are you?” demanded the Michiel captain.
Crasedes slowly walked into the light and turned his blank, black eyes on the man. There was a long, long silence.
“I should ask the same of you,” he said finally. “Being as you’re trespassing on my property.” He looked down at all the bodies around them. “And getting blood and…bits everywhere. Is this what passes for civility in Tevanne?”
Crasedes walked forward with the casual air of a man returning to his home after work. The Michiel soldiers backed away from him. Orso found he couldn’t blame them: Even if you lacked Sancia’s scrived vision, something about him made your eyes water. Just from a glance, you somehow knew that this being’s very existence was torturing reality.
But the Michiel captain did not seem to care. “This enclave is the rightful property of Michiel Body Corporate!” he said. “It was ceded to Dandolo Chartered through an unlawful transaction, conducted unilaterally by a discredited agent acting in bad faith! The transaction is null and void, and the ownership of this enclave is now being negotiated by campo authorities!”
Crasedes stopped and studied the captain. He cocked his head. “Is that so?” he asked.
Orso struggled against his bonds, desperate to free himself and run. I…really don’t like how this seems to be going.
Crasedes resumed strolling among the Michiel soldiers. “You know, for people who do a lot of work to avoid having laws,” he told the captain, “you certainly do seem to invoke a lot of them when it’s to your benefit…”
“I see no colors on you,” said the captain. “Save black. But do you say you act on behalf of the Dandolos?”
Crasedes shrugged, bored. “I suppose.”
The captain brandished his rapier at him. “And do you see the many dead that litter this place now? Do you see the blood that fills these halls, and these many corridors?”
Another bored shrug. “Certainly.”
“These are the signs of our ownership of this place,” said the captain proudly. “We have bought this place with blood. All the tricks of the Dandolos are but nothing compared to the might and the will of the Michiels.” The soldiers murmured in agreement. “Know this—break our rules, and we shall break you!”
“Hm,” said Crasedes lightly. Then he spied Orso tied to the table, and stopped.
Crasedes paced over—the nausea in Orso’s belly quintupled until it was almost unbearable—and he bent low to stare into Orso’s face. Orso shut his eyes, but he could still hear his voice.
“I know you…” said Crasedes.
“Get away from him!” said the captain.
“Hello, Orso,” said Crasedes silkily.
“Oh God…” gasped Orso, his eyes shut tight.
“Where is Sancia?” whispered Crasedes. “Tell me. Now.”
Crasedes’s words seemed to sink into Orso’s mind, pulling all his other thoughts down with them, and suddenly it felt very hard to do anything besides tell him.
“I…I don’t know,” said Orso.
“But she’s here somewhere?”
“Y-Yes.” Orso felt like weeping, and he opened his eyes, filled with shame and despair.
“Mm,” whispered Crasedes. “I did tell you all…I’m on your side. Against the construct, yes, but…also against these men, you know. Powerful men, with powerful tools…I have seen that story play out so many times.” He stood, looked around, and saw Gregor. “Ah! And here is young Dandolo himself. How nice to see!”
“Stop!” said the captain, his face now bright red. “Remove yourself from this property before I have my men shoot you dead!”
But Crasedes ignored him and walked across the lamplit atrium to Gregor. “Oh, Gregor…” he said. “You seem to have fallen back into your old ways. I wonder what that’s like for you…”
Orso couldn’t see well from this angle, but Gregor was still sitting with his head bent, his face fixed in an expression of aching grief.
Crasedes squatted low, his black mask hovering close to his ear. He whispered something to him…and Gregor’s brow creased, ever so slightly.
“Get away from him!” screamed Orso. He strained against his bonds. “You…You leave him be, you scrumming monster!”
The captain pointed at Orso. “Shut up, you!” Then he pointed at Crasedes. “Get away from him! Men—prepare to fire, now!”
The soldiers all pointed their espringals at Crasedes.
Crasedes paused, glanced over his shoulder, and slowly stood. “Boys,” he said, “I don’t know how you think this is going to go. But let me just say—it’s not going to go how you think it’s going to go.”
“We gave your soldiers an honorable chance,” said the Michiel captain. “And they chose to fire on us. Why should we give you a chance now?”
“Orso,” said Crasedes, “did any of the Dandolo scrivers actually succeed in accessing the lexicons of this place?”
Again, Crasedes’s words seemed to swirl around in Orso’s brain until he could do nothing but respond. “No.”