Purity of Mind

Chapter 22: The Tenth

"Yes and no," King said. "I'm only overthrowing the surface because that's where the people I want to hurt are: The enforcers of the E.I.S: my brother and sisters."

"Brother and sisters?" I said. It seemed like I was never going to escape that family, despite how dysfunctional it appeared. Still, given the Witchdoctor's hostile reaction to King, it made perfect sense they'd be related. "If your father was a Mind, how are you a Void, much less a Pure one?"

King just shrugged expansively. "How do two nobody weakbloods end up giving birth to a Pure? It is the will of the gods, that's how. I don't pretend to know why my patron element decided it needed to manifest in the son of a Mind. Seems Void could have done everyone a favor and not tainted me. Of course, then I wouldn't have rescued you from my siblings, which admittedly I did mostly out of spite. But still, you owe me for that."

I opened my mouth to ask another question, but he turned suddenly. One moment he was playing to the crowd, the next he was a foot away from me, staring me down like I'd direly insulted him. The words died in my mouth.

"That," he said, "is me taking your ability to speak, at least for now. You've said enough; do not presume to tell me what either of us is going to do. I am the boss here. I took the name King because I am the opposite of your Queen, but also because my word is law. If you remember two things from your initiation, let them be that I feel the Void that surrounds us and is within us as though it were a part of me, and that I can take anything and everything that you have." He paused, continuing to stare me down. Finally, he said, "You may leave now."

I couldn't object; the words formed in my mind but vanished somewhere between there and actually being voiced. Pawn Seven took my arm impassively, pulling gently to indicate that King's statement was more of a command. I left with her, speechless.

Once we were outside, she spoke. "Your voice will return," she said, though her tonelessness was far from reassuring. Compounding this impression, she added, "probably."

I didn't reply, mostly because I couldn't. It hadn't occurred to me that this might be permanent, and it should have. I knew that King was willing to maim in order to keep people loyal, I had only to look at Seven next to me for proof.

Ever since I'd started the process of leaving Opal, the possibility that I might not return had been in the back of my mind. The original Bishop Two had far more experience than I did, and he'd died in Chankota. How would I fare better? I'd told myself that so long as I planned ahead and worked hard, I could overcome any issues. While the doubt never really went away, it remained a theoretical thing. Something that might happen, but was not guaranteed.

Now, though, I began to picture my future underground. I could end up like Pawn Seven: a broken agent, struggling futilely against her bonds, unable to even remember the organization that had sent her. King could do this easily, without even considering it. For all I know, he'd already begun. The very real possibility that I'd never see my home again stayed at the forefront of my mind.

"You can do this." Pawn Seven said. "You will return home."

Surface thoughts! A wave of relief came over me. Even if I remained mute, I could still make myself understood. When I'd first come to Utijan I'd been afraid that my inability to speak the language would leave me grunting and thinking vividly of what I wanted to communicate, like an infant. That I was now comforted by this same thought was a reflection on just how bad things were.

Pawn Seven didn't take us back to her shack, which I insisted on thinking of as hers even though it was supposed to be mine now. Instead, she guided me through the tunnels once more, waiting until we were far from the government undercity. Then we went aboveground and walked another few blocks.