The Mechanical Crown

Tumblers falling into place

"Yes, but you didn't know that when you took her from the spire, or when you kept her safe from everyone else before I woke up."

They walked on in silence, until the path forked in two directions. A gentle movement on the air blew down from one of the tunnels.

"Another way out?" Fenris suggested.

"Perhaps. I think we're close."

"Close to what?"

Tarn looked over his shoulder. "I don't know yet. I'm feeling instinctive suggestions, as if I'm remembering something, but I can't recall all of the specifics."

"Aera's memories."

"They're leaking into me, but they're blurred and broken up."

"Your vocabulary and speech patterns have changed again," Fenris said. "Have you noticed? It is similar to when you used to go to sleep and would wake up with a new word; except this time the leap has been unprecedented."

"It's like the memories," Tarn said as they trudged along, the ground rough and apparently untrodden for a long time. "I know things, but don't know how I know them. With context I can figure out what to do with them, but until then it's hard to understand."

"Context is everything," said Fenris, smiling.

"'Context' is a new one, I think?" Tarn paused and ran his hand along the damp, undulating wall. "Before, I absorbed information accidentally, I think. Aera had established a link with me much like Kraisa had with Kirya, but it wasn't as strong. Aera used my eyes and ears, to see what was happening in the machine rooms, but some of her leaked back along the thread to me."

Fenris sighed. "The rules are changing faster than I can comprehend."

"when I was in Kraisa's mind I saw something. I think she did, too. It was my proximity to the mines which enabled Aera to establish a connection from such a distance."

"Exposure to source appears to act as a conduit," Fenris said.

Tarn tilted his head to one side, as if considering the word for the first time, reminding Fenris of the many guests of the court who would roll a glass of wine to release its aroma before drinking. "Yes, that sounds right."

"I wonder why Kraisa has not taken advantage of this previously," Fenris said. The thought sent a shudder down the back of his neck.

"Aera did something to her, back in the war. Hurt her, somehow. I think it stops her from being able to do everything she wants. Kirya was her daughter; perhaps that made it easier to form a connection, but she's unable to do it otherwise?"

"If only we could do something with this information," Fenris said, "rather than being trapped underground on the wrong side of the mountains."

Continuing, they turned a corner and came abruptly to a halt at a solid wall of rock. A lamp set into the tunnel wall several feet back illuminated the wall only dimly: it was of a different texture and colour to the rest of the tunnel, less clay-like and wet and more like a tight stack of distinct rocks, as if the ceiling had been brought down deliberately.

"We appear to have taken the wrong path," Fenris said, pressing at the wall with his fingers. It was firm and solid to the touch. A layer of brownish dust came away on his fingers.

"Perhaps," Tarn said. He raised an arm, pointing it back down the tunnel, and clenched his fist. The lights flickered and extinguished, dropping them into complete darkness. Fenris blinked at the sudden nothingness, his eyes trying and failing to adjust. He could hear Tarn moving next to him, against the wall.