The Strength of the Few

The woman leads them to a cavern beneath the green-glowing water of the Infernis, where overflow is diverted through tunnels to well beyond the city walls. The woman gives them scarabs to protect them from the water as they cross a bridge. The woman leads them through a gate and then locks them in. She asks why Siamun wants Netiqret’s services. Siamun realizes that this woman is Netiqret and explains why he wants her help. She does not believe him. He returns the scarab she gave him, imbuing it first so he can follow her when she leaves them there.

Ahmose explains that she is an assassin hired by the wealthy to kill living citizens to be made into iunctii for their service. He also notes that the girl with Netiqret, Kiya, is a iunctus. Siamun calls an Overseer he previously imbued. The Overseer breaks the gate to free them. Then Siamun sends the Overseer to follow Netiqret, stopping her several tunnels away. Impressed, she agrees to help them.

In Res, two months after placement, Catenicus meets Emissa at the Necropolis where Military have a secret prison. Emissa explains her work with Veridius. She visited Solivagus to train in the Labyrinth before joining the Academy, and Veridius chose her for a special mission. He made her promise not to go through the Aurora Columnae ceremony until after she graduated. Her father was ambitious, however, and made her do the ceremony early. Veridius was disappointed because the gate at the end of the Labyrinth only works on those who have not yet ceded. The plan was for her to win the Iudicium and claim a high rank in Military to continue helping his cause after graduation.

Emissa takes Catenicus to see the prisoner, whom he recognizes from the Anguis attack on Solivagus. The man is dead and strapped to a stone slab, an obsidian blade impaled through him. Emissa places a scarab amulet on the corpse, and it wakes. Emissa reiterates her description of iunctii and explains that Military found pre-Cataclysm artifacts that bring the dead back to life and others that force them to answer questions truthfully.

Catenicus asks questions about the Anguis attack, though he knows the answers already. The man says that he was trying to kill Catenicus and that he killed Callidus because Callidus pretended to be Vis. The dead man begs for mercy. Catenicus refuses and leaves.

Emissa can tell that Catenicus knows something. He tells her some of what he knows and asks if she is willing to release a list of the Military-Anguis collaborators when he finds proof. He believes it would be better for the information to come from within Military, rather than Governance. Emissa agrees to speak with her father about it.

She asks if he has forgiven her. He says that he forgives her, but that “some mistakes can’t be undone” (310). They part ways, and Catenicus joins Aequa, Eidhin, and Livia to travel to Solivagus next.

In Luceum, Deaglan trains at the warrior’s camp at Loch Treanala. Despite his previous training, he performs poorly because of his missing arm and his lack of enthusiasm. His teacher insists that his missing arm is not a disadvantage, but Deaglan is sullen. The teacher asks the best fighter in the group, Tara, to demonstrate. She ties a hand behind her back and easily defeats Conor. Her eyes turn black, and Deaglan realizes that she uses Will when she fights.

In Res, Catenicus and his companions reach the Academy, and Veridius greets them. Veridius makes them wear Will-imbued cuffs to monitor their location on the island, claiming it is for their safety, and orders them not to leave the school grounds. He cannot speak with them until dinner as he has guests from Military. Catenicus asked Ulciscor to arrange for him to investigate the ruins without Veridius’s interference.

Catenicus conspires with Aequa to sneak away from Livia, who does not know about their plans. They leave Eidhin to give Livia a tour of the school to keep her distracted. Catenicus uses Adoption to remove the tracking cuffs, which requires him to tell Aequa about his new ability. Then they sneak over the school wall and into the forest toward the first ruins he found last year. On the way, Catenicus’s alupi (wolf) friend, Diago, finds them.

As they walk toward the ruins, Diago follows. When they reach the entrance, Diago scouts ahead for them. Catenicus and Aequa enter the ruins, leaving Diago outside. They reach the first hall, with walls lined with corpses impaled on obsidian blades. One of the bodies is new. Catenicus recognizes the man named Marcus, who once worked with Veridius. Catenicus speaks the phrase that Lanistia remembered: “Miseram pacem vel bello bene mutari” (333).

Then the floor forms a column. Catenicus touches it and his hand fuses with the stones. He speaks words that come from somewhere else: “Obiteum is lost. Do not open the gate. Synchronous is death” (334), the same words the corpses said when he ran the Labyrinth. Then he continues, “These iunctii appear to be from not long after the Rending, and were once a key component in the gate defense in the Nexus” (335). He collapses.

In Luceum, the other students—Conor, Miach, Fearghus, and Seanna— tease Deaglan about losing. He asks about Tara’s black eyes, and they call it the nasceann, a battle-fever that brings clarity and greater fighting spirit. It is something only special warriors can learn, taught by the druids.

This group has accepted him with surprising ease and friendliness. They call him Leathfhear, which means “half-man” (342), but they are not malicious. The students at Loch Treanala do not train to beat each other but to work together and form a cohesive warband. Though Deaglan does not like being the worst student, he has decided not to try because he does not want to fight anymore. He has seen what a life of peace can be like and wants to return to it.

They tell him about Tara, who is King Ronan’s daughter. She was supposed to be his successor until she was attacked and scarred on her face. She came here to be a warrior instead. Briefly, Deaglan feels a pulsing presence among the trees but cannot explain it. It is gone a moment later.

In Res, Catenicus wakes in the infirmary, brought back by Diago and Aequa. Veridius and Livia both know he left the school grounds. Veridius arrives and asks the others to leave, but Catenicus insists they stay. For the first time, Veridius’s veneer of cheerful calm cracks, revealing anger, grief, and pain. He gathers that Catenicus and Aequa went to the ruins to help Lanistia. Only he, Lanistia, and Caeror knew the phrase that Vis spoke.

The column is an external control point used to temporarily shut off the iunctii that guard the Labyrinth. The device adds a new iunctus to the system, but if someone living initiates it, they can temporarily seize control of the system, allowing the person in the Labyrinth to escape without being attacked. However, the person in the Labyrinth eventually dies and becomes a iucntus themselves. Seven years ago, Caeror went through the Labyrinth while Lanistia used the column.

Marcus was doing the same thing for Belli when she ran the Labyrinth. His control lingered long enough for Catenicus to also survive and escape. Catenicus did not end up like Lanistia now only because Aequa was there to interrupt the process.

In Obiteum, Siamun watches a funeral procession from Netiqret’s home. Siamun does not trust Netiqret but needs her help to enter the priest’s Temple, beyond which lies Ka’s Pyramid. He also needs her help to hide. The Overseers know the identity of every citizen, which means they will know Siamun is an infiltrator if they see him.

Netiqret takes him to watch the funeral rite at the temple while disguised. She explains that the Overseers are predictable. They react with a series of predetermined instructions from the Nomarch. The Nomarchs are a special iunctii who act “together as a single, controlling mind for each of [Ka’s] cities. Subordinate to him but completely separate from one another” (359). It is not the Overseers but the Nomarch that know every citizen’s identity. The Overseers are like limbs who move in predictable ways without the Nomarch’s conscious control. The Nomarch only becomes aware if something unusual calls its attention.

Netiqret shows Siamun the outer walls of the Temple and the massive obsidian bridge that leads across the Infernis. Siamun concludes that Netiqret wants him to reach Duat’s Nomarch. Without confirming, she says that Ahmose is a threat and must be removed.

Worried, Siamun uses his imbued connection to contact Ahmose, who is hiding in Netiqret’s home. Overseers charge into Netiqret’s home, clearly tipped off. Siamun takes control of Ahmose’s body to fight them. He kills the Overseers and releases control of Ahmose.

Siamun argues with Netiqret and makes her promise that Ahmose will not be harmed. However, she does not care if he trusts her because he cannot survive without her. She is only helping him because she can use him. She wants him to reach the Nomarch and erase her and Kiya’s identities from its mind. She can sneak him into the Temple to do so in three months, but he will not like the method.

In Res, Veridius explains his mission: He, Caeror, and Lanistia were friends in school. They translated the recently discovered runes, found the Labyrinth, and learned about the Concurrence. Veridius believes that Catenicus achieved Synchronism and is the key to stopping another Cataclysm. He also believes that the Labyrinth was designed to send soldiers to Luceum and Obiteum, continuing the war there after they won in Res. However, those soldiers were expected to sacrifice the versions of themselves in Res to prevent becoming Synchronous, which is why iunctii attack people who go through the gate.

Veridius concludes that they need to keep the Res version of Vis safe. They do not know who the Concurrence is in this world, or how to find him. They have to trust that the Vis in Obiteum or Luceum can kill him. Meanwhile, Catenicus needs to stay alive, or the others will lose their Synchronous abilities.

Catenicus wanders to Callidus’s old dorm room. The grief of his friend’s death suddenly hits him, and he collapses into tears. Sometime later, Livia finds him there, still crying. She is surprised by his grief. Catenicus leaves her to sit in her brother’s room.

Catenicus, Aequa, and Eidhin discuss their options. They consider bringing their information to the Senate and letting them deal with it. But they agree that Veridius must have a good reason for not having done so already. They decide to keep it a secret.

Catenicus decides to bring Diago back to Caten with him. He hopes that Diago’s presence will keep him safe during the Festival of Pletuna, when he must meet with the Anguis man again. The next morning, the group leaves Solivagus.