A Chime for these Hallowed Bones (Chapter 9)
Rajeev waited downstairs in the workshop, leaning against the doorway to the catacombs. There were deep shadows under his eyes. When Yadleen entered, he straightened up and barred her path.
“Well?” he demanded.
Yadleen put a hand on Rajeev’s chest. He was solid muscle under his kameez; when she pushed, he didn’t budge. With a heavy sigh, Yadleen put a finger to her lips, gestured at the cadre of wights that still filled the workshop, and jabbed her finger towards the dark passageway behind Rajeev. Only then did he relent and back down the stairs.
The catacombs under the ossuary were cool and dry. Lamp-wights lit the passageways. Yadleen guided Rajeev to the summoning chamber. There were no wights within, only candelabras in the corners. She brought a single candle into the hall, ignited it with the help of a lamp-wight and a command tapped out on her finger cymbals, and then shut herself and Rajeev into the summoning chamber.
“Did you tell him what that bhūta said?” Rajeev asked.
Yadleen lit one of the candelabras. The shimmering flames revealed the bones inlaid into the walls and ceilings, making the vaultlike room appear to be a cage holding back the marble around it. A chain of fingerbones and copper wire dangled from the center of the ceiling, terminating above a pedestal with a single gold-dipped skull atop it. Yadleen took the candelabra over to the pedestal and pretended to double-check that the chain wasn’t connected to the loop at the top of the skull. It gave her an excuse to put the pedestal between herself and Rajeev.
Finally, she announced, “No, because there’s no need. Master Baig won't be the one to fabricate your grandmother’s bones into a wight. I will.”
Rajeev stiffened. “Dadiji wished that your master do the work.”
“In a way, he is. Everything I know came from him.” For a moment, it struck Yadleen that this very fact could be twisted against Master Baig if she were caught, but she couldn’t back down now, not when she’d finally managed to get him to see sense. “He has other responsibilities than just to your grandmother. I’m sure she understands.”
Rajeev scowled. In the flickering light, he seemed to be literally chewing his next words, seeking something to leverage against her. What he eventually spat out was, “Seems like an excuse to brush me off.”
“I wish he would,” she retorted, “but that’s not the man my master is. This isn’t a brush-off, Rajeev. I’m offering myself in his place.” You know why, she nearly added, but she bit her tongue.
The alchemist seemed to pick up on it, anyway. His scowl faded. After a terse silence, he asked, “Can you do it without him?”
“I wouldn’t be a journeyman if I couldn’t fabricate a wight. And if Oracle was telling the truth, then your grandmother being Unnamed won’t introduce any complications that I can’t handle.”
“I mean, can you do it alone?” Rajeev took a step towards the pedestal. “I don’t know much about necromancy, but I know it’s not a one-woman job.”
“Then it’s a good thing you’re going to help me, isn’t it?” Yadleen said.
“You did just hear me say how little I understand about this process, didn’t you?”
“I don’t need you to do anything complicated. It takes a lot of time and unskilled labor to prepare a skeleton. I’d rather use you than hire someone off the street who asks too many questions.” Yadleen stepped out from behind the pedestal. “I’ve walked plenty of apprentices through these tasks. If you’re not a fool, you should be able to do just as well.”
A smile crept across Rajeev’s face. “Then when can we start?”
“After we acquire paperwork for your grandmother’s bones. Otherwise, we could be ruined by a random inspection.”
“That same paperwork you asked for yesterday? What was it – the ‘certificate of custodianship’ and the ‘writ of sanctification’?”
Yadleen’s body ached with exhaustion. “Yes. The writ is easy enough – we just need to take the bones to a priest – but of the certificate, we’ll need to track down a forger.”
An odd expression flashed across Rajeev’s face, tugging at the corners of his mouth and narrowing his eyes. It was gone in an instant. “Do you know any forgers?”
“No.” She collected the candelabra and walked back to the door. “The best place to start asking is among the flensers. One of them will know someone who knows someone.”
Before she could let them out, Rajeev grasped the candelabra. She jumped and let go. Rajeev was left standing there awkwardly, holding up the light.
“Thank you,” he murmured.
Yadleen took a deep breath. “There’s nothing to thank me for. You know why I’m doing this.”
“Yes. And you should know, it’s never been my goal to get your master to get in trouble.”
“Oh really?” She couldn’t help but laugh at that.
“No more than you want my dadiji to languish while her bones are unused. If we can do right by them both …” Rather than finish the thought, he offered her the candelabra.
There was something irritating about how unguarded and earnest he was. It was like he didn’t have the slightest of concerns about the dishonor they were risking. Given that he was an alchemist, that shouldn’t have shocked her, yet it still irked her.
As if provoked by this honesty, doubt wormed its way through her mind, reminding her of something she’d allowed to slip past her in the stress of the past night. “Last night, you said you saw one of my memories,” she began.
“I did.” He frowned. “Is that normal? Seeing memories, but not from the perspective of whoever’s memory it is?”
“No, it’s not normal, but neither are group possessions. That’s not what I wanted to ask about. You saw my memory from Master Baig’s perspective. Whose perspective was I seeing your memory from?”
Rajeev lowered the candelabra. At this angle, the light illuminated his mouth but shadowed his eyes. His lips thinned. “Some Chorus priest came to my grandmother as she was dying. He refused to give his name, no matter how much I pressured him.”
“It sounded like he knows Master Baig. It also sounded like you bringing your grandmother’s bones here was his idea. And he said that he would be here, in Kabarāhira, to help you.”
“Oh, he did say all of that,” Rajeev huffed. “I think last night conclusively proves that him helping out, at the very least, was a lie.”
“Are you certain of that? People can’t just push bhūtas out the way you did. That’s why staff-bearers are so important. Someone helped you,” Yadleen countered.
Rajeev shook his head. “I pushed them out because I’ve been mentally conditioned to resist magical influences on my mind.”
“Because you’re in the …” Yadleen tried to recall his mantra. “… Ranger Corps?”
He grimaced. “‘Was.’ I’m absent without leave. Depending on how long it takes to see this through, the Empire will likely mark me as a deserter before I can return.”
There was more Rajeev wanted to say. Yadleen could see that in his eyes. However, he knew he didn’t have to speak. He knew she understood.
We do what we must for family.
Rajeev added, “I haven’t seen the priest since that day. The moment I agreed to bring Dadaji’s bones here, he vanished. If I do see him, I’ll happily point him out. I won’t delay Dadiji’s afterlife for some mystic’s convoluted plan.”
“I believe you.”
And Yadleen did. Nothing he’d said was enough for her to trust him unconditionally, but his honesty lightened her heart. She extended a hand for the candelabra.
“Come,” she told him. “Let’s gather your grandmother’s bones and find ourselves a forger.”
That odd expression flickered across Rajeev’s expression again. This time, it set in. His mouth twisted into a pensive, almost anxious scowl, and his eyes stared into the candelabra’s flames.
Finally, he surrendered it to her and confessed, “We don’t need to search for a forger. I know exactly where we can find one.”
Thank you for joining me for Volume I! I hope that you enjoyed it.
Volume II is currently in progress. How soon I finish it (and whether we continue to Volume III) will depend on how Volume I is received, as I want to tailor Tales of the Five Worlds to audience demand. So if you enjoy what you read here and want to read more, please share these chapters with others. That way I’ll know that people want more!
In the interim, please consider checking out my stories set in the Kimian Empire. If you’re curious about what Rajeev was referring to when he mentioned the Tamseszén Front, you can also look out for my next short story, “Moral Support”, coming this April.
Thank you all again for the support. I hope you have a wonderful week.