“Hello, Julius Heartstriker,” he said, flashing him a smile that didn’t touch his silvery eyes. “I was hoping we might have a word.”
“Okay,” Julius said, shooting a nervous look at Fredrick, who didn’t look any happier. “Now?”
“Now would be best,” the Black Reach said, stepping back into the hallway.
Julius stayed put. Technically, he supposed being singled out by the world’s oldest and greatest seer was an honor, but that didn’t change the fact that he didn’t want to speak with the Black Reach, and not because he was actually Dragon Sees Eternity, the construct tasked with overseeing the future of all dragons. That actually inclined Julius to like him since his brother, Dragon Sees the Beginning, had been so helpful to him and Marci. He didn’t want to talk because the Black Reach was the dragon Bob had claimed was destined to kill him, and as mad as he was at his brother right now, Julius would never want anything to do with that.
“I’m sorry,” he said, backing up. “But I don’t think I have time. I need to go talk to the emperor before—”
“This will only take a moment,” the Black Reach promised, folding his hands behind his back. “It’s about your brother.”
Julius had a lot of brothers, but he didn’t think the Black Reach was here to talk about Justin. “You know where Bob is?”
“I know where he will be,” the seer replied. “More than that I can’t say in company.”
He looked pointedly at Fredrick, and Julius ground his teeth. He didn’t want to play this game. Not only was this sudden visit almost certainly part of some long-running seer plot to close the trap around his brother, but he didn’t have time. The day of grace he’d connived to buy them was already half over. He couldn’t afford to waste more of it in the quagmire that was talking to a seer. That said, this might be his only shot at finding out where Bob was, maybe even what he was planning. After all, if anyone knew what Bob was up to, it would be the Black Reach. If that was true, though, why was he here? What information did the construct of the future need from Julius that he couldn’t see for himself?
He had no idea. As always, though, trying to think his way through all the angles of seer logic did nothing but give him a splitting headache. There were simply too many variables, too much he didn’t know to make the call on whether going along with this was a bad idea or a good one. But anxious as he was to get away from the seer and up to the emperor, the need to know outweighed everything else. Even knowing this was likely all part of a plot to trap his brother, Julius couldn’t pass up what might be his only chance to find out what Bob was doing. So, with a deep breath, he stepped out into the hall, motioning for the Black Reach to follow him down the corridor.
***
The storage complex in the basement of Heartstriker Mountain was a properly draconic warren. Most of the tunnels led to vaults like the one his mother had taken over for her gold, but there were also plenty of smaller, normal rooms for spare furniture, out-of-season linens, holiday supplies, and whatever else housekeeping needed stuffed into closets. Since he didn’t share his mother’s love of sleeping on piles of metal, no matter how shiny, Julius had claimed one of these as his temporary room, and that was where he took the Black Reach now.
“Sorry it’s so cramped,” he said, moving Amelia’s ashes and Marci’s bag off one of the sheet-covered couches so the eldest seer could sit. “We’ve had some unexpected guests.”
The construct arched an eyebrow at the understatement but didn’t comment. He just sat down on the sofa, folding his hands in his lap like a polite guest waiting for his tea.
“So,” Julius said nervously, grabbing a spare dining chair from the stack in the corner so he’d have a seat as well. “How may I help you?”
“Actually,” the seer said. “I’m here because I believe I can help you.”
That was enough to raise every hair on Julius’s body. Nice or not, there was nothing that got a dragon’s guard up like another dragon suddenly offering to help. “Why would you do that?” he asked, turning in his seat so he could bolt for the door if necessary. “You don’t know me.”
“But I know Brohomir very well,” the Black Reach replied. “I know he has invested a great deal in you, which makes you of great interest to me.” He tilted his head. “You know what I am.”
It wasn’t a question, but Julius answered anyway. “You’re Dragon Sees Eternity, an immortal construct built by the ancient dragons from our home plane to ensure what happened there never happens again.” He smiled nervously. “My friend and I had a long talk with your brother, Dragon Sees the Beginning.”
The Black Reach nodded as though being outed as a magical amalgam from another plane were perfectly routine. “And do you know how I do that? How I guard against the mistakes that must never be repeated?”
Julius began to sweat. “You kill seers.”
The Black Reach nodded. “It is a heavy duty, but a necessary one. If you’ve met my brother, you’ve seen your old plane, the tiny speck of wasteland that’s left of it, anyway. What happened there was a tragedy, the final result of an eons-long path of greed and short-sightedness. All were complicit, but seers were the driving force. They were the ones who sold the future to buy the present, dooming all dragons in the process. The only reason you exist is because a handful of your ancestors were fast enough to get through the portal ahead of the collapse and take refuge here, on this plane.” He put a hand on his chest. “I exist to make sure that never happens again.”
He said this with the utmost gravity, and Julius absolutely agreed. No one who’d seen the ashen waste of the dragons’ old home could ever claim what had happened there was anything but a disaster. But that still didn’t explain why the Black Reach was talking tohim.
“Because you are important to Brohomir,” the seer said before he could ask. “You are the key to his plans.”
“But I don’t know what those are!” Julius cried. “I have no idea what he’s doing or why he’s doing it. I don’t even know where he is!”
“That doesn’t matter,” the Black Reach said dismissively. “Wherever he is right now, it is certain he will come back to you.”
“Oh,” Julius said, not sure whether to be relieved or terrified. “Did you foresee that?”
“No,” the seer said, shaking his head. “You are Brohomir’s pawn, and he shrouds you well. But while I can’t see your future specifically, I’ve always known his. That’s why I’m here. I’ve watched your brother since before he hatched, which means I’ve observed his specific interest in you for a long time. It’s been quite fascinating. I’ve seen a lot of strategies for manipulating the future over the past ten thousand years, but I’ve never seen a seer pin everything so completely on one point.” He reached out to tap a long finger against Julius’s chest. “You.”
Julius swallowed.
“At this point, the word ‘linchpin’ is an utterly inadequate description for the role he’s put you in,” the Black Reach went on. “At this stage,everyplot Brohomir spins up leads back to you in some fashion. I can see them all, every string he pulls and line he casts, and yet I still don’t understand why.”
