Page 110 of Of Empires and Dust
“How many drinks have you had?” Dann asked.
“Shut up.” Erik waved Dann away, then stared into Calen’s eyes, his gaze so intense Calen wasn’t sure what to make of it. One hand hovered between them, aimless at first until it sharpened into a finger jabbing towards Calen’s chest. “The riddle.”
“What riddle?”
“The one the old seer told you. What was his name? Rokka?”
“What about it?”
“How did it go?” Erik rolled his hand. “I think I have it right, but I need to be sure.”
“Ehm… I can’t remember. He wrote it down. ‘A city once lost’…”
“‘Found it needs to be’,” Dann continued. “‘A gem, a jewel, a trinket of sorts, but truly more a key. Not a door that it unlocks,a secret to be revealed. A trick, a mask, a painting over truth, thought forever sealed.’”
“Yes.” Erik nodded frantically. “That’s it, that’s it! Wait, you weren’t even there. How do you remember it?”
“Because you’ve been muttering it for days. You’re worse than I am.”
Tarmon rolled his eyes at them both. “‘There is a stone, a heart of?—’”
“A heart of blood!” Erik shouted, excited now, his hand waving frantically. “That’s what Kallinvar said! ‘There is a stone, a heart of blood, cast into the sea. The essence of life, drawn from birth, stolen, taken, seized. The moon of blood, of death and life, linked the two may be. For connections made will rise once more when the moon you can see.’ Right?”
“Right.” Tarmon shifted so he faced Erik face on. “What is it?”
Erik folded his legs beneath himself and then opened his hands wide. “I’ve not stopped thinking about this since the old man said it. But something was missing. There’s no way it’s a coincidence that what Kallinvar is looking for is called the ‘Heart of Blood’ and then that’s the same thing as in the riddle.”
“Well…” Vaeril shrugged, pulling a face that Calen knew meant he disagreed.
“All right, yes, it’s possible, but bear with me.”
Vaeril inclined his head.
“Let’sassumeit’s not a coincidence.”
“You know what they say about assuming,” Dann chimed in.
“Dann.” Erik gave Dann a flat stare. “If you don’t shut the fuck up, I’m going to kill you – slowly, with a spoon.”
Dann closed his mouth, turning his lips inwards and leaning back.
“Good. Now, can everyone please stop interrupting me?" Erik waited a moment before continuing. “I think I’ve figured itout – well, most of it. Like I said before, ‘A city once lost, found it needs to be’ must be either Vindakur or Ilnaen. One lost in time, the other lost both in battle and perhaps lost in a moral sense. So with that, we have a place we need to go. Either Vindakur or Ilnaen.”
“There were a lot of cities lost by those means during The Fall,” Vaeril noted.
“Vaeril, stop killing my ideas.”
“I’m not going anywhere near those fucking stone spiders from now until the day Heraya takes me.” Tarmon folded his arms. “Not a fucking chance. I would rather drag my stones across a mile of broken glass.”
“Nor me.” Vaeril rubbed at his calf where the kerathlin claw had torn through the flesh.
“What did I miss?” Dann asked.
“Honestly?” Erik said. “You don’t want to know. And with that, let’s just hope the riddle means Ilnaen and not Vindakur. I think the focus on the Blood Moon leans heavily towards Ilnaen anyway. ‘For connections made will rise once more when the moon you can see.’ Ithasto be Ilnaen. ‘There is a stone, a heart of blood, cast into the sea’,” Erik repeated. “What if the sea is not a sea?”
“You’re going to have to explain that one,” Calen said.
“What did we call the Burnt Lands? We said it was like an ocean of sand… or perhaps aseaof sand?”
