The Spirit War by Rachel Aaron

Author:Rachel Aaron [Aaron, Rachel]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780316192927
Publisher: Orbit
Published: 2012-06-04T21:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER

15

It was full dark when Gin pushed through the last crowd of soldiers and under the gate that separated the Spirit Court’s district from the rest of Zarin. Miranda clung to his back, staring bleakly at the wide, suddenly empty streets. The colored lamps were lit and swinging gently in the night air, but no one was around to enjoy the light. From the moment they entered the Spirit Court’s district until Miranda slid off Gin at the foot of the Tower, they didn’t see a single soul.

Stomach sinking, Miranda started up the stairs. She’d always known that the Rector Spiritualis controlled the Tower, but it was an academic, abstract sort of knowledge. She’d seen it in action only once, at her trial. Even so, she never would have imagined something like this.

The Tower was completely sealed. Its enormous red doors lay abandoned on the ground, shed like outgrown scales. In their place, a wall of white stone rose smooth as river rock from the ground. It was as though the entire Tower had become a solid stone pillar, and though she walked all the way around the base, Miranda could find no way in.

“Try knocking?” Gin suggested.

Feeling more than a little foolish, Miranda reached out and rapped her knuckles on the stone. Nothing happened. She pulled her hand back, frowning, and then she reached out again, with her left hand this time, knocking with the heavy gold band on her ring finger, the one set with the Spirit Court’s perfect circle. The gold made a lovely ringing sound when it touched the Tower, and the stone began to twist. The Tower wall rumbled softly, opening like a flower to reveal a tunnel just large enough for Gin to squeeze through.

With one final glance at the empty street, Miranda stepped inside. Gin followed on her heels. The moment his tail was clear, the Tower closed behind them.

They came out in the Spirit Court’s grand entry hall, which looked exactly as it always had except that the grand doors were now grown over with stone and the center of the room was full of huddled people. Spiritualists sat in circles on furniture pilfered from other parts of the Tower. Several had their fire spirits out, and the warm, flickering light filled the void left by the missing windows, giving the room a primal, cave-like feel.

She was scarcely inside when someone shouted, “Miranda!”

She looked up to see a young man break away from the main group and run toward her, waving.

“Jason!” she cried, recognizing him at once.

He stopped in front of her, grinning wide in the light of the will-o’-the-wisp that floated in his wake. Miranda smiled back. She and Jason had been in the academy together and taken their oaths on the same day. He’d gone on to apprentice for some distant Tower Keeper after that, and they saw each other only rarely. Still, they’d always been friends.

“I’m happy to see you,” she said.

“Not as happy as we are to see you,” he said.

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