Epilogue
Julius 1808
THE RIVER FERRY CHURNED UP THE WINDING river, reaching the final bend and revealing Paladia to those aboard. The audible gasps gave away those who had never seen the famous city before.
It gleamed like a giant crown laid in the river, framed by towering mountains.
At the front of the ship, a young woman with large silver-grey eyes watched the city draw near, barely able to tear her eyes away as the ferry made port and passengers began to disembark.
She paused at the top of the gangplank, searching the crowd for a familiar
face.
“Enid!” called a voice.
Several people turned to see former paladin Lila Bayard running towards the ship, her son Apollo behind her, and a few guards all trying to keep up.
Lila reached Enid first and crushed her into a hug before stepping back.
“Look at you. It’s been too long.” Lila dropped her voice down. “I was afraid I wouldn’t recognise you, but you look so much like your mum.”
Enid smiled. “Yes,” she said in a faint Etrasian accent. “Father always says that.”
Lila shook her head. “I can’t believe they finally let you come. I thought they’d want you to keep studying in Khem, but I’m so excited that we’re going to have you in the program.”
Enid gave a sly smile. “Well, they knew I always wanted to study at the Institute. The apprenticeships in Khem are done differently—it’s primarily metallurgical there.”
Lila reached back and dragged Pol, who’d been awkwardly hanging behind, into the conversation. Enid’s and Pol’s eyes met for only an instant before darting away.
“Well, I wish they’d let you come sooner.” Lila sighed. “Your academic qualities would have been extremely helpful here. Pol has unfortunately inherited the poor study habits of his father and me, and that’s why he had to take a pyromancy certification exam twice.”
Pol turned bright red. “That was only on the written portion and that was years ago,” he muttered. “I passed it.”
“You’re supposed to run the Alchemy Institute someday. How is anyone going to take you seriously with transcripts like yours?” Lila said. “We’re lucky to have Enid here now. She’ll give us some proper academic legitimacy.”
Lila looked over to one of the guards. “Send her bags to Solis Splendour.
We’re going to take the scenic route back to the Institute.”
A motorcar wound through the city, spiralling slowly up from the ports into the upper levels, headed north. It stopped at a plaza with a large open area. There were several tall columns encircling a statue.
Lila hesitated a moment and then began to open the door. “You should see this,” she said, stepping out. “It’s new, only finished a few weeks ago.”
There was a small crowd present, and most people drew back for the approaching party as Lila led the way to the centre.
The statue was of a Resistance soldier in combat armour and rappelling harness. At his feet were the words GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN.
The columns were smooth marble, filled with names. APOLLO HOLDFAST, LUCIEN HOLDFAST, SOREN BAYARD, SEBASTIAN BAYARD, EDDARD ALTHORNE, JAN CROWTHER, TITUS BAYARD … they went on and on.
Lila stood looking around them. “This was where the nullium bomb went off. One of the last places rebuilt, because it was so difficult to protect from the contamination. I wanted a memorial for everyone who died during the r always says war, and this is where they put it. I think I like it, but … maybe nothing ever feels like it’s enough. What do you think?”
Enid shrugged, but her sharp eyes were rapidly scanning the columns.
“I’ve never seen a war memorial before. I don’t know exactly how they’re supposed to make you feel.”
Lila inhaled. “I don’t know, either, I just hoped it would be more—”
Before Lila could finish her thought, a woman grasped hold of Enid’s arm, pulling her towards her. “Helena?”
Enid turned to stare at the stranger, a woman with long scars sliced across her face.
The woman cut herself off, snatching her hand back. There was a small puncture straight through her wrist. “No. No, of course not. I’m sorry. I thought you were someone I knew.”
Lila turned, and her lips trembled briefly before she spoke. “Penny, this is Enid Romano; she’s come here to join the undergraduate vivimancy program.
Pol and I were giving her a tour.”
Penny stared at Enid for a moment longer, her eyebrows knitting together.
“Oh.” Her voice was strained. “I’m sorry, I probably scared you, grabbing you like that. From behind you looked just like someone I knew. Lila, doesn’t she look like Helena?”
Enid’s expression was blank, and she glanced questioningly at Lila.
Lila squinted as if trying to see what Penny was referring to. “It’s the hair, I think.” Lila looked at Enid. “Helena Marino, she was part of the Resistance, but she died before the Liberation.”
Enid looked back at Penny. “I’m sorry for your loss.”
Penny stood staring at Enid as if she were a ghost for another moment before she turned away.
They were scarcely alone for a moment before another voice interrupted.
“Lila, there you are, I haven’t seen you here since the memorial opened.”
A grimace flashed across Lila’s face before she forced a smile and turned.
“Mrs. Forrester, what an unexpected pleasure.”
The woman was middle-aged and breathing heavily. “What’s this I hear about the Holdfasts being back at their old antics of importing foreign students?”
The smile on Lila’s face vanished. She straightened, taking full advantage of her height. “Enid was a celebrated student in Khem, and she’s submitted a promising proposal on the use of vivimancy arrays for treating lung damage.
The Institute invited her here to support her research because several of the illnesses associated with the nullium bombing still lack effective treatment.”
Mrs. Forrester’s face turned red, and she coughed several times, pressing a handkerchief over her mouth. “Oh, lung treatment, you say? That is interesting.”
Enid stepped away, leaving Lila to accept the weak apology. She went Enid’s arm,over to the columns, scanning the names, but there were so many, crammed together, name after name.
Within minutes, Lila and Pol both had crowds gathering around them. The Principate might be no more, but the allure of the Holdfasts endured.
Across the plaza, one of the buildings had a row of shops. Enid walked towards them, casting a look back and meeting Pol’s woebegone eyes before disappearing into a bookstore.
Just inside there was a large display of thick books. ncy program.
A Comprehensive History of the Paladian Necromancy War by William Dover
Enid paused, staring at the books for a moment before picking up a copy.Lila, doesn’t “Just released this week,” said a clerk, standing nearby and eyeing the book in her hands.
“I didn’t recognise the title, so I figured it must have been,” Enid said, flipping the book open to peruse the chapter index, finger pausing brieflye Resistance, along the way.
“Well, if you’re wanting to understand Paladia and the war, this is definitively the best one there is. I mean, your dialect seems pretty good, but if you really want to know all the details and explanations for everything that went on—this is it.”
Enid arched an eyebrow. The clerk seemed to take it as a sign of encouragement and stepped closer. “Dover spent more than ten years on it.
Got special permission from the Assembly and the Liberation Front to access all the records, even trial transcripts that weren’t public yet. It’s shocking stuff. Some chapters—I don’t recommend reading if your stomach isn’t strong. But if you want to know what happened, this is the book that’ll tell you. It’s all there. Everything people should know.”
“Do you?” Enid asked.
The clerk looked uncertain.
“Know everything that people should know about the war?” Enid clarified.
The clerk cleared his throat. “Well—for me it’s hard not to. I was one of the ones born in the Tower. If you know what that means. There were trials.
We kept getting moved around while they were arguing about what to do
with us.”
“I’m so sorry.”
He cleared his throat. “Anyway. Reading that—helped put it all in perspective for me.”
Enid looked down at the cover again. “I’ll have to check it out, then. I’m from Etras, but even there, people still talk about the Paladian War.”
Still holding the book, Enid stepped past the clerk, wandering farther into the shop. Once she found an empty aisle, she quickly flipped the book open to its index and ran her finger through until she found the chapter title she
wanted.
She flicked to the page.
Kaine Ferron, known to the world as the High Reeve, is the most infamous mass murderer in history. By all estimates, he was the youngest to join Morrough’s Undying, only sixteen when he assassinated Principate Apollo Holdfast, plunging the city-state of Paladia into one of the most devastating wars in history. Ferron devoted himself to climbing rank among the Undying. Not only was he the youngest to “ascend,” but he went on to become the youngest individual to achieve the rank of general during the war.
Ferron’s proficiency as an alchemist and a vivimancer was widely regarded as unnatural and the result of the horrific human experimentation that came to define the Undying’s regime, but unlike most of Artemon Bennet’s subjects, Ferron’s participation was
voluntary. ont to access Many of the Undying retired from service post-war. However, Ferron’s ascent was only beginning. He led the efforts to capture and interrogate all remaining Resistance members, killing them for use in the lumithium mines. His predilection for slaughter was key in achieving his status as High Reeve and his eventual acknowledgement
as Morrough’s successor. nid clarified.
It is the belief of many that if the Ferron family had not been murdered by Ivy Purnell, the Undying regime could have lasted decades longer. Morrough’s condition was so deteriorated that many believe he would have handed control of Paladia to Ferron before the year’s end.
Necromancy scholar Eustace Sederis wrote in his book Ferron: A Biography of the High Reeve: “Kaine Ferron was a monster long before Morrough ever reached Paladia. Joining the Undying simply enabled a born psychopath to indulge in his cruelty, and when even
immortality and immutability could not sate his sadistic impulses, he submitted himself to brutal experimentation to achieve his ends.”
EARLY LIFE Kaine Ferron was born the only child of …
There was a sound behind Enid, and she snapped the book closed and turned. Pol was standing at the end of the aisle, a crookedly triumphant grin on his face.
Apollo Holdfast was an even mix of his parents. While many of his features were traditional Holdfast—sky-blue eyes, golden hair, and a smile warm as sunshine—he had Bayard bones, which made him taller than even
his mother.
“Hello,” he said.
A smirk played at the corner of Enid’s mouth, and she arched an eyebrow, silver eyes studying him coolly. “Hello.”
Pol rested his hand on the shelf above Enid’s head so that he loomed over
her. Enid simply raised her chin.
“Hiding from us already?” he asked.
The smirk on Enid’s lips faded, and she looked down at the book in her hands. “No. There was a new book about the war, and I thought I’d look up the section on the High Reeve.”
The grin on Pol’s face vanished. “Don’t. They’re never going to tell it how it was.”
Enid shrugged, nodding. “I know. I just—I feel like I have to know what they say. It’s always the same thing, though. And I know it will be, but I can’t help it. This one even had that Sederis quote included.”
She gave another shrug that was almost convincingly indifferent. “What do you think the odds are that Mum’s even in the index?”
Pol rested a hand on her wrist. “Don’t.”
But Enid didn’t listen. She turned, resting the book on the edge of the shelf, and opened to the rear index, running her finger along until it stopped.
She released a slow breath. “Look …”
She flipped rapidly through the book, finally stopping at a glossy photo page in the chapter on Lucien Holdfast.
Enid and Pol both stared at the photograph.
Soren Bayard, Helena Marino, and Luc Holdfast sat together on a sofa, Luc’s arm slung around Helena’s shoulders, as they all stared at the camera.
Helena was in the centre, painfully thin in a medical uniform too big for her and a knitted pullover. Her hair was drawn back into two taut braids, pinned into a thick knot at the base of her head. Her face set with large, devastated eyes that betrayed the attempted smile on her face.
Enid stared at the photo for several minutes before reaching out and gently touching it. “I’ve never seen a picture of her from the war. Your mum sent her student photos from the Institute, but there weren’t any others.”
Pol didn’t say anything, but when Enid wouldn’t stop staring at the photo, he rested a hesitant hand on her shoulder. She looked up and met his eyes before giving a sad smile, reminiscent of the girl in the photograph.
She looked down again, and her fingers ran along the words captioning the photograph as if she wanted to rub them away.
“Someday … someone should set the record straight,” she said quietly.
Pol cleared his throat. “You know Mum offered to. She wanted to tell what really happened to them, just up to the fire. Your mum and dad didn’t want her to.”
Enid nodded slowly, eyes still glued to the photo. “I know. I know they don’t. I get it. If I lived through everything they did—I’d just want to leave it all behind. There’s no point in trying to explain something like that; no one’s ever going to even want to understand. to tell it how“But—” Enid’s jaw trembled. “—she doesn’t deserve to be forgotten like this. She shouldn’t be a footnote. This shouldn’t be the only entry she even has. She deserves her own chapter. She deserves a whole damned book of her own.” Her voice quavered. “And the things they say about Dad—like he wanted it all, that he asked to have it done to him—” She scrubbed her eyes nt. “What dowith the back of her hand and drew a deep breath. “Sorry. I always think I can handle this, and then I get so mad I feel like I’m going to be sick.”
She blinked rapidly. “I’m glad I came here, though. I needed to see it. The city, where it all happened. It’s so hard not to have anyone to talk to about this. Mum says I can always talk to her or Dad, but she always has to take pills if I do and then she’ll start pressing her fingers near her heart when she thinks I won’t notice. I don’t want to put her through that just because I want to talk. And Dad, every time any of it comes up, I can tell he thinks I’m never going to speak to him again.”
Her knuckles were turning white as she gripped the book. She finally set it down and exhaled. “I don’t know what I’d do without you and Aunt Lila. I think you’re the only person who knows me.”
Pol smiled at her, his eyes bright and earnest. “You’ll always have me.”
Enid nodded, lips pressed together, but then she slowly smiled back.
There was a pause as they stood together, both seeming suddenly aware that they were alone in an empty aisle.
Enid’s cheeks flushed. Pol’s eyes darkened and he shifted forward, closing the space between them.
The bell at the door rang out sharply. Pol straightened, drawing his hand back and running it through his hair several times as he cleared his throat.
“Mum’ll probably show up any second. Or the guards. But once we get to aptioning thethe house … we should talk—more”—his head bobbed—“about—” He cleared his throat again. “Well, only if you want to—talk about—anything.”
Enid blinked and then nodded jerkily. “Yes! We should. At the house, d to tell whatthough. It’s better to—talk there.”
She nodded again and shuffled quickly past him and out of the aisle.
They hurried together towards the front of the bookstore, leaving the history book behind, still open to the page with the photograph. The photo caption read:
HIBERNAL SOLSTICE, SOLAR YEAR 1786 PD. Principate Lucien Holdfast with Paladin Soren Bayard (See: Bayard, Soren; chapter 12, “A Life of Legacy”) and foreign-born alchemist Helena Marino. Marino left the city at the start of the Paladian Civil War to study healing. Shed book of her survived the war but died during imprisonment prior to Liberation.
She was a non-active member of the Order of the Eternal Flame and did not fight.
nks I’m never
ward, closing