“They’re fairly uncommon. Any number lower than five is military grade, I should think. There might be a few in important buildings or very large factories.” She had learned as much in school early on. It felt odd to think this was extraordinary knowledge to ordinary people.
“Is there a place one can be used without the help of a sorcerer-engineer?”
“Even the weakest Power generator requires the skill of a sorcerer-engineer. They need one to forge the control chains, distribute the Power output, and design the machines that would use it. The generators are useless on their own. Worse than useless. They’re dangerous.”
“Dangerous how?”
“With a Class Four, even a relatively stable one, you could blow up a large house if you aren’t careful.”
She could recite the precise Power output range of each class, but she doubted Cain would understand what they implied.
Cain was silent for a while, seemingly lost in thought.
Arienne became curious. “Why do you ask?”
“This is a secret. Perhaps an even more dangerous secret than your flight.”
“Are you going to share it?”
“That’s why I’m here.” Cain looked very serious.
“Why with me?”
“Because someone other than myself should know this. Preferably someone who knows about such things better than I do.” Cain bent closer to her and whispered, “In an empty house near the docks, someone has stashed away a stolen Class Four Power generator.”
Arienne gasped. “A military Power generator? Who would do that?How?”
It occurred to her in a flash that she herself was, in fact, doing what she was so surprised at, as she was stealing Eldred, a Power generator, and herself, a future generator, from the Empire. She understood why Cain would share this with her, even if he didn’t know the full extent of Arienne’s actions. He needed to tell someone who would never go to the Office of Truth with this.
“It must be the rebels in Arland or Kamori… You know Dehan Forest, yes? The woods on the border of Kamori and Arland? The generator seems to have been stolen during a rebel ambush there. I found it, but I don’t know how it would be used.”
“Why were you looking for such a thing in the first place?”
“I wasn’t.”
Arienne thought quickly. Hiding a Power generator itself was easy; hiding a facility that used a Class Four Power generator would be like hiding a windmill. Maybe in a remote mountain it would be possible, but not in the Imperial Capital, where therewere millions of eyes and ears. The best one could do with a stolen Power generator would be to lock it away from prying eyes.
“There isoneuse for it.”
Arienne was startled by Eldred’s voice suddenly speaking in her head.
“There is one very good use for a Power generator within the Capital. Unravel these bandages.”
Arienne peered into the room of her mind. The withered lips that had been exposed were smiling. A smile that seemed to say,I will give you what you want, if you do this one thing.
She wanted to help Cain. But to do so, she needed to share a secret of her own.
“I also have something I want to show you. But you must prepare yourself.”
She spoke calmly, but she couldn’t help the beating of her heart.
Cain looked at her. “What is it?”
Arienne unraveled the bandage until Eldred’s desiccated head was revealed in the room of her mind. His eyebrows were missing, and his eyes had deflated and were sunk deep in their sockets. He had no nose to speak of anymore. Eldred’s mouth was little more than a ripped gash that revealed two rows of yellowed, sparse teeth.
Using the bandage, Arienne made a circle in the air that was large enough for a person to step through. Violet fragments of light kaleidoscoped inside. At the same time, in the room on the third floor of Lucretia’s house, an identical ring appeared, the inside of it swirling with the same deep violet patterns. Cain looked surprised and bewildered.
“Step inside.”
