Chapter 231: Third Anchor

The third anchor waited below them, wanting to know what Austin Veyron would sacrifice to keep it from working, when the underground door opened with the live relay slate touching the mark reflected on its surface, and it didn’t accept Austin Veyron alone, because it had to accept the entire boundary field that came with him, Veyra’s blade light, Sable’s broken crown shard, Nyra’s heart mark, Tessa’s and Calder’s relay records, Kethra’s and Rovan’s knowledge of the tunnels, Tamsin’s spear, and Lessa’s broken tag ledger, so that a chamber designed to take one key was given many that could all witness each other.

The tunnels under Ash Spine had been there long before the Black Tithe was established, with iron roots running through the walls and red fire burning within them, and at each junction a reflection of Austin Veyron’s wrist mark appeared in the stone, only to disappear once they all moved through together.

Nyra studied the marks through the heart shard. "It isn’t a reflection of his power. It’s reflecting the part that knows what it can consume, and the third anchor wants the crown to decide that instead."

Austin Veyron could feel the reflections tugging at DEVOUR, and each time he stared too long, the tunnels offered him a solution, to take the mark and devour the reflection, making himself the only key before Maelor could claim it.

Veyra was walking next to him. "Name it."

"Consuming the reflection."

"And what would it make?"

"The one who proves the chamber right by being its only key."

"Then smaller," Sable said, touching her shard to one of the wall reflections. "Take the claim that says a reflection can own a choice."

The first chamber guard rounded the corner ahead of them, a demon in black and red armor with a mask over his face shaped like a crown, and three more guards followed behind him with hook blades and chain shields.

THE SEED COPY BELONGS TO THE CROWN.

They launched themselves at the group without warning, and with Rin outside securing the camp’s exits, it was Rovan who knew how the tunnels were laid out and pulled Lessa behind a stone root, while Kethra engaged the first guard with a blade once carried by the Black Tithe watch, and Veyra deflected a hook blade as Tamsin guarded her bandaged left side and struck the second guard’s crown mask with the butt of her spear.

Austin Veyron looked at the words on the closest chain shield and realized that the reflected mark wasn’t something the crown had made, but a dangerous replica the chamber had created, and the crown wanted to claim it as property before anyone could challenge that.

"Target," Austin Veyron said. "The seed-copy ownership claim. Not the reflection, the boundary field, or the guards."

"Witnessed," Veyra said.

"Witnessed," Sable answered.

Austin Veyron pressed his white root chain to the shield.

DEVOUR opened, and the claim tasted like a mirror that wanted to take the place of whoever stood in front of it.

THE SEED COPY BELONGS TO THE CROWN.

He consumed copy.

The guards’ crown masks shattered, and they stumbled as their chain shields lost the reflections of the wrist mark that had been controlling them, so that two ran deeper into the tunnels while one dropped his hook blade and pressed himself against the wall, looking at his hands.

Rovan looked at the guard. "Do you wish to leave the crown chamber?"

The guard looked at the path that would lead him to the exit and nodded. "I wish to leave."

Rin came over the relay shortly after. "I’ve got one crown mask coming up the north ravine, and he looks ashamed of himself. All exits are clear, so don’t make me come down there and grab you."

Veyra’s ears turned red in the darkness, and Austin Veyron chose to say nothing this time.

When they reached the last chamber, the third anchor was waiting for them under a ceiling of black stone, a ring-shaped socket filled with red and black fire, with the reflection of Austin Veyron’s wrist mark floating at its center and chains leading from the socket into the ground and further down to the Ash Spine source buried beneath them, while Maelor stood on the opposite side of the ring holding the crown flame over a lever in the middle.

"You brought witnesses," he said. "Good. They can witness why one will must decide. The source is becoming unstable, and the roads above are hungry for fire. You can debate this until sunrise, or you can give me your seed and everything will be controlled."

Lessa opened a section of her broken tag ledger to show them. "The chains aren’t only around the source. They’re also attached to every tag trace we have at camp, and when this anchor activates, the ones who escaped will feel it through their tags."

Tessa used the live relay to warn the others.

THIRD ANCHOR CONNECTED TO SOURCE, SEED COPY, AND TAG TRACES. SUNRISE IN TWO HOURS. CAPTURED TAGS ARE ACTIVE.

A response came from West Rift.

PREVENT ACTIVATION OF THIRD ANCHOR. KEEP EXIT COUNTS. RELEASE OF SOURCE WILL NEED MANY BOUNDARY FIELDS.

Maelor laughed. "Your council members can’t feel the ground moving."

The ground cracked open, and from far below the source spoke to all of them. "I was once a source that made roads for those who traveled them. The crown put me in chains because I could make roads without a tithe, and now I am forced by the crown’s flame to push my breath through its anchors."

Nyra used the heart shard to follow the chains. "There are three chains on the source, the crown flame, the seed copy, and the tag traces. If we break them all at once, the source could explode. If we don’t, Maelor will activate the roads at sunrise."

Austin Veyron looked at the reflection of his mark in the anchor and wanted to devour it, because the claim was gone but the reflection was still there, and he could end it quickly, though it might pull every tag chain through his seed and put the people above at risk as well.

Veyra watched him battle with the thought. "Name it."

"Ending the reflection."

"And what would it make?"

"A place for every chain to be consumed."

"Then smaller," Sable said, pointing her shard at the three chains. "We separate them first."

Maelor pulled the lever, and the third anchor lit up with power, the reflection of Austin Veyron’s wrist mark spinning within the red and black fire as the source below them roared and the chains around the chamber began to break, while red fire erupted through the ceiling and the tag traces at camp lit up on ropes, slips, and unused hook points as the anchor tried to claim all of its marks for its roads.

Lessa laid her broken tag ledger panel on the chamber floor. "The tag traces can be separated by name and route, but not erased all at once. Each chain will need to be witnessed."

Tessa and Calder opened the relay, and on the surface Domas counted the water they had left, while Kethra called out exit groups from below, Rovan counted the dropped chain staffs, and the scout who had left the crown confirmed that the north ravine was clear, so that every piece of information created a small white boundary across the ledger panel.

Nyra pointed to the source. "The crown flame is the chain of command, the seed copy is the chain of decision, and the tag traces are the chain of fear. We can’t destroy the source, so we have to take away each chain from a different direction."

Veyra drew her blade and faced Maelor. "I’ll take the chain of command."

Sable lifted her shard toward the seed copy. "I’ll hold the boundary of decision."

Tessa, Calder, Lessa, and Nyra knelt around the ledger panel. "We’ll separate the chain of fear," Tessa said.

Austin Veyron looked at the spinning reflection of his mark and made sure DEVOUR didn’t treat all of the lives connected to it as one meal, and Sable took his hand with her free one and gave it a quick squeeze before letting go, while across the ring Veyra caught his eye for one heartbeat over her raised blade, a look that said she would hold her side as long as he held his.

Maelor smiled as he saw what they were doing. "You think spreading out your will makes you stronger? It only makes you slower."

He sent the crown flame at Veyra, and their blades collided in a burst of black and white fire, Veyra fighting with her good right arm while Tamsin’s spear kept the crown flame away from her injured side, until she pushed Maelor back from the lever, though he kept reaching for the source chains.

Sable placed her shard on top of the ring, and the reflection of his wrist mark fought back, showing Austin Veyron visions of every time a route council had taken too long and people had died because he refused to take enough power to decide for them, and of everyone who had ever blamed him for waiting while others burned.

Then Elena’s voice came through the relay at his collar. "I’m here. All of our counts are still coming in. You are not doing this alone." The visions didn’t stop, but they thinned around her voice, and beside him Sable’s shard hand trembled once against the ring until he set his palm over her knuckles and held it steady with her.

Veyra spoke to him through the visions. "Name it."

"Ending it."

"And what would it make?"

"The decision everyone expects from a crown."

"Then smaller," Sable said. "Take the claim inside the reflection, not all the lives attached to it."

Austin Veyron looked deeper into the reflection and saw words spinning with the red and black fire.

THE SEED DECIDES FOR ALL.

That was the last chain holding the source captive, not the will itself, but the claim that the seed had the right to decide for everyone.

"Target," Austin Veyron said. "The seed-decides-for-all claim. Not the source, the tags, or the reflection."

"Witnessed," Veyra said through clenched teeth.

"Witnessed," Sable answered.

Austin Veyron placed his white root chain on top of the reflection.

DEVOUR opened, and the claim tasted like a world waiting for one person to decide who lived and who died.

THE SEED DECIDES FOR ALL.

He consumed sole.

The reflection broke, and the source chains didn’t all break but began to loosen, while the tag traces started to separate from the ledger panel as people called out names and exit routes over the relay, and Veyra pushed the crown flame away from the source as the ground below them let out another groan, no longer forced to push its breath through one anchor.

But the floor around them cracked open wider, because the source was waking up too quickly.

"We need more boundaries," Nyra said. "If it reaches the surface before we separate all of the chains, Ash Spine will break through the camp."