The relatively tiny handle had pulled the whole enormous door forward six inches, at which point it began to retract into the floor - I hadn't seen a slot for it to go into, but presumably there was some overly clever engineering going on, or some bullshit magic, or both. Hammersmith guided Errod back as soldiers streamed past us and slammed down tower shields, their edges latching together seamlessly and forming a barrier across the hallway. A few rows of bodies behind them, six people with gear-covered staves were raised into the air as their boots extended like scissor jacks to give them line of sight for casting spells over the shield wall, and spirits that looked like pangolins with wolverine heads swarmed up the walls. The Endless Empire was officially not fucking around.

We were escorted further away as everyone got into place, and by the time the blast door had lowered enough for the show to start we couldn't see a damn thing. There were flashing lights, and explosions, and rapid changes in air pressure - but everything felt surprisingly ordered, without the tinge of chaos I was used to in battle. There wasn't a predictable pattern, but everything was taking turns; flash, boom, flash, whoosh, boom, flash, flash, bang. No overlap, no screams, just a lot of trained soldiers going through practiced steps in order to eliminate everything in front of them. Then, the hallway went silent.

I was dying to see, but even pushing to the edge of my divination range I couldn't get a good look. Hugh put a hand on my shoulder, sensing how eager I was. "I will get us closer when it is safe, Calliope. I have reasons to insist on witnessing the aftermath. For now, be patient - smart soldiers cherish their time away from the front line."

I turned, instead, to Errod. Our escorts weren't too close and weren't paying any attention, so I decided it would maybe be less suspicious to talk in person rather than the memory palace - having everyone suddenly sit down and go catatonic would be stranger than us standing around talking. "Okay, spill it. What's with the sword that has Hammersmith shitting herself and trying to keep you next to her?"

He looked nervous, so I punched him. It just felt right, I don't know - anyway, it worked. "Hey! Okay, okay. It's... it's an ancestral blade. And when we found it, I tried to pull it out of the... throne..." he'd almost said queen, I was sure of it, "and it wouldn't move. In fact, here."

He put the sword down on the ground, gently, and then gave Katrin a look and gestured at it. She leaned down to take it, but even as she grabbed the handle I could see something was wrong. It didn't budge, at all. She pushed as hard as she could on the hilt and there was a little wobble, but it was like the sword weighed a thousand pounds. Hugh whistled and then grinned like a little kid in a candy store before squatting and trying for himself - he didn't get it even a millimeter off the ground before going red in the face and needing to stop. I reached down and picked it up, marveling once more and how little it weighed, and handed it back to Errod.

"Until you offered it to me, there was no way I would have been able to take it. That means... it means it recognizes you as a member of its family. Someone in my glove had it at one point, she... she hasn't spoken up much. I don't think she agrees with who ended up with the sword after she died, but I'm not sure of the details. She seemed pleased enough for me to be taking it, and I suspect she'll show up again once I try to use it in combat."

"But this means," Hugh said, "that it belonged to someone very important here, yes? The portals, they pre-date the Clockmaker's time. If it only granted access to those, it would be possible it was some ancient right to the plane of Brinkmar. The same is true for many structures here, especially in Trallanar, but... it would not be the case, I think, for the door you have just opened. Unless... it is possible that it is not about security access as we have suspected, but some deeper right. A right to open all doors and seals in Brinkmar, regardless of who created them. It should be easy enough to test this, yes?"

Easy in the long term, maybe, but in the short term? Would it work with regular mechanical locks, or just magical ones? Probably the latter, and I wasn't aware of Katrin having a spell to seal doors shut - in fact if she'd had that she would have been casting it all over the place as we ran away from people. Also, it was possible it would only open doors that had specific rules about who could open them, like it would somehow make you always be on any list of acceptable people. That narrowed down our options even further, although... maybe with runes? Between my remembered knowledge and Katrin's skills we could probably do something with runes eventually. In the meantime, I had to take a moment to consider the alternatives.

"If it's not that... it would need to be some family the Clockmaker deliberately gave access to. Right? His own family, obviously, or someone super close to him. Some trusted advisor, maybe?"

Hugh nodded. "That would be possible. He was not one to trust easily, but he would have made contingency plans. Depending on the nature of those plans, your use of the blade could be seen as proof that he has died, which would be quite troublesome to the Endless Empire. Not so much for other nations, as most have always assumed - or even hoped - that the Clockmaker was long dead."

"It wouldn't have to be a contingency, though. Hammersmith's original theory was that my family pulled some Sahrger bullshit and bargained the rights off of a refugee from Brinkmar. I don't know how that would work, if they could just make them promise it or... well, it's a family thing, right, so they could convince someone to adopt a Sahrger into their family."

"Anything is possible, but I doubt it would be the case. The Clockmaker was at war with the Sahrger. He had killed one of the three queens, and was focused on eliminating them all. They had plans on both sides to destroy each other, and I know for a fact that most Imperial oaths and vows - if not all - were designed to prevent Sahrger from gaining access to anything."

Yeah, I'd kinda known that. Harmid had even told me that one theory for what happened to the Clockmaker was that the Sahrger attacked to keep him from obliterating all of Xeyul, presumably with the same terraforming thing that had later destroyed reality. Also, I remembered that Hammersmith had said she couldn't make a deal with me unless she had permission from the other head honchos at the capitol. Okay. Still, she'd thought it was possible that I got access that way, right? What had she actually said? My second mind played it back for me in Ematse.

"We believe that during the collapse of Brinkmar, as everyone evacuated, Sahrger captured a high-ranking official and made a bargain with them to have one of their noble families... inherit... the captured human's security clearance. We experimented with the... with Connie... and were not able to transfer it to anyone else, so right now you and Gilbrecht Halenvar are the only two known entities with the ability to open the portals."

So first of all, they wanted to have me transfer it. I vaguely remembered that, from when I was Connie. There were different Imperial vows, a lot like the way Katrin and Errod had adopted me - although actually adopting them into a family would have required me to know the family name - and I went down the whole list. Hammersmith had to be fucking thrilled to have this sword as a method of doing it though, she could make me - or Errod now maybe, I wasn't sure of the rules - hand it off to whoever she wanted. Someone who was a trusted and loyal member of the Endless Empire, and not some fucking Sahrger.

There was something else that was bothering me, though, and it came back to why I'd pulled up the memory in the first place. I'd been thinking about whether or not Hammersmith really believed that someone could have traded away their security access despite - if Hugh was right - Imperial vows preventing that sort of thing. And she hadn't said that was what happened, not really, plus there was a sort of hesitation around the word "inherit". How would you get around a restriction on... oh, duh. Of course.

It was the easiest thing in the world to circumvent. And it would also explain that odd comment I'd heard her whisper right before we all came to Trallanar. "I wonder if you get that from him", she'd said, because there's a very clear way I could have theoretically inherited personality traits that most Sahrger don't have. Good old fashioned heredity. I wasn't sure if she was right or not, but I was suddenly fairly certain that Hammersmith thought the Sahrger had kidnapped the Clockmaker and had actual, biological kids with him in order to get a foot in the door of his empire.

There were a few holes in this thought process.

One was the timeline. He'd vanished right after the last Grand Alignment, which comes every five hundred and fifty-four thousand, four hundred days. That's close to thirteen hundred years in Fantasyland time, or fifteen hundred years Earth time. Either way, that's a whole bunch of generations and they would have tried something before now. Right? Then again, maybe there was some hitch in the plan. He hated Sahrger so much it took them more than a thousand years to seduce him. Or he'd locked himself in a panic room and they only just recently busted him out. Or... maybe he'd been somewhere else entirely, and they only recently found him. Hell, maybe something about me being a changeling let me slip past some security thing that otherwise has been zapping any Sahrger that tried to get into the Old Empire shit over the years.

The other was that they would have killed him when they were done, and I'd been told by human Callie that doing so would have unlocked the ability for one of them to become queen. Although... an obvious solution there would be that the current dominant queen wouldn't like that, and would probably either kill him herself or - if that wasn't allowed for some reason - keep him in a jar somewhere and not let anyone kill him so that the power dynamic would stay nice and stable. That scenario would actually let the Endless Empire be right about him still being alive, which they'd love, and it would keep the story of the Sahrger being their big bad enemy. Convenient, if an unlikely answer.

Wait.

I thought it was unlikely, because it was just one more random answer. But if I were Hammersmith, or some other true believer in the Empire, I would specifically rule out any theory that required the Clockmaker to be dead. That, combined with almost any version of the inheritance thing, would very quickly narrow the field. Hmm. Probably I was wrong, probably Hammersmith had some other idea about what was happening. After all, she would have handled me differently - she would have tested me against other sealed Empire stuff, for example, and would have been more likely to keep me locked away somewhere. Unless the sword changed things. Because the sword is linked to a specific family, and she would know which one it was. And she recognized it.

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And now someone who wasn't a filthy Sahrger had it - someone that would look just fine in Empire armor, who came from a family that had lived in Brinkmar - formerly the Clockmaker's research plane and favorite little island, a place you'd expect a lost heir to come from. Oh, she would love that. Fuck. "Errod, this might be crazy talk but I think that I'm in danger of being murdered and you're in danger of getting manipulated or maybe even mind wiped. I think we need to be very, very careful right now. Hell, even if I'm wrong about the logic leading up to it I'm probably not wrong about the conclusion - the Empire is going to want you on their side no matter what, and they're going to want me out of the way. They know for sure, thanks to that sword, that you can get into a lot of Old Empire shit and unlike me you're not their ancient enemy."

Hugh held up a hand before Errod could speak, and nodded. "Yes. As you said, regardless of what logic brought you to this thought it is valid enough to cause concern. I had reached a similar conclusion, and am already thinking of plans. I am proud of you, Calliope. Good thinking."

He was probably just being condescending, or complimenting me because he'd already said he thought it first. "Thanks, I guess. Whatever." I wasn't sure if it was the dust in the air, or the curse, or what - but it felt like there was a lump or something in my throat. "Anyway, I think the plan has to be to just get the fuck out of here as quickly as possible. I wanted to see what was going on up there, but now I'm thinking we just find the nearest exit and get to Erathik or the Free States or something."

"I had expected you to insist on getting close enough to see if any of the vault doors had been opened," Hugh said, "but if you are open to leaving now, this may be the best time."

Sure enough, there was murmuring and shifting as people moved around. The combat - or bombardment, or whatever that had been - was clearly over, and our window where nobody was watching us might close soon. Our escorts saw us leaving, but Hugh said something to them that convinced them to just follow us. Walking calmly was infuriating, but at least we were moving. We got through the first checkpoint okay, but at the second one we were stopped.

"Lord Protector Hammersmith's orders," the soldier said, "everyone is to stay here. The situation is under control, and there's some... ceremony, or debriefing, or procedure going on. Sorry I can't give more detail, but we're all supposed to report down there."

Was she going to try to blindside Errod with something? Or was this unrelated? Either way, I didn't like it.

"Lord Protector Hammersmith has no authority over us," Hugh said, "and we have urgent business elsewhere."

He pushed past, and while two of the soldiers looked like they wanted to stop him another waved them away. "Sir, it's been made clear that command expects everyone to stay, even those from other - sir!"

They were going to have to physically stop us, and it didn't seem like that was going to happen. Not at this checkpoint, at least. Interestingly, our escorts got all tangled up in the situation and we managed to leave them behind as well. As we approached the next checkpoint, someone came running from behind. I tensed, but when they came into view it was clear they were running from something, not coming to attack us. Also, I recognized him. It was Rylan, the guy that followed Hammersmith around and seemed to be in charge of security. He was clutching a large book to his chest, and looked panicked.

He ran right past us, and without even really thinking I hurried after him. "Rylan, what the fuck is happening? Are we fucked? Give me a heads up!"

He waved the security checkpoint away, and conveniently that got all of us through. "Three doors, vaults. One open already, and the second as we advanced. The Lord Protector, she knelt to it! She bent knee to that thing when it demanded, even after she'd seen what happened to the forward guard!"

"I need details, man! What is it, what did it do, something useful!"

"Peeled them out of their armor, tendrils bursting out of it to probe at them. She attacked for a moment, but it told her to kneel and she just... she can't be mind controlled, did you know that? There's no force in the planes that can corrupt her thoughts! It's a requirement to be a Custodian of the Empire, some ancient process. But it told her to kneel, and she did. She was smiling! And then it told her to expose her Dumine, and I saw her shaping her flesh to comply, and I... fuck! I don't know what's happening, but we have to get out of here!"

I wasn't sure if the others could hear our conversation, Rylan was barely getting words out between gasps as he ran, but everyone was booking it regardless. We were just getting back to the ground level when the whole world tilted, and the tunnel we were in fell backwards to transform into a pit. I screamed, caught entirely off guard, and fell for about thirty feet before coming to a stop mid-air.

My brain finally caught up, and I realized nothing had moved. Gravity had shifted. Slowly I re-oriented myself mentally, forcing myself to remember which surface was the actual ground so that if we got free I wouldn't be totally confused, but it turned out I didn't need to worry about that. Gravity returned and we were lowered to the ground, and then it continued to increase until there was no way we could hope to stand. Footsteps approached, and I was totally unsurprised to see Hammersmith and some heavy guards - one of which was presumably applying the gravity field.

"Rylan, I want you to stay calm," she said, "you've been the victim of a mental attack, and you're not thinking clearly. We're going to help you. To be safe, in case it's something that can spread, we'll need to check everyone here. Please remain civil, and come with us to our experts."

I felt the gravity field lift, and stood up. There was a chance she was telling the truth, of course, but with my luck it didn't seem likely. Still, for the moment it seemed best to just brush myself off and make sure all my friends were standing before I did anything crazy. Was Hammersmith susceptible to a ghost-punch? Probably not. Could I try and pull her into my memory palace and sic some Granch on her? Rylan seemed to think she had some sort of amazing mental defense, so that shouldn't work - although it left the question of what was going on. Was she still her normal self? She looked... a little off, maybe, but I couldn't rule out the idea that I was just over-analyzing.

And then she looked at me, and her eyes went wide. "You."

"Yeah, me. Quick question, Hammerpants, do you know who I am? Because you look surprised right now."

She smiled, and... yeah, I wasn't over-analyzing. She was off. That smile was way too big, and there was more than a hint of crazy in it. "No. I was mistaken. I know who she was. Who you could be." Her face fell, and then she started yelling out of nowhere. "Oath-breaker! When is it good enough? When is it long enough? Minimal casualties, she said, but I was made to serve! Is this service? Have I done well? Are you proud of me? Can I rest now? I was promised rest, child of Sahrger. I was promised rest at the end of this blasphemy, and instead I have not rested for a single second." She'd been getting slowly closer, and now she leaned in towards my face and lowered her voice again. "He screamed, you know. For so many years we fought. Traps and jabs and shifts in control. I am prison manifest, a servant that destroys those it serves, doing my duty by burning an empire to the ground."

Her hand clamped around my neck, firm as iron. "Is this what you want? Do I serve well? You can't answer me. You don't know. Who does? Who can grant me rest? When is it time? Where? Who? Someone asked this of me! Someone commanded! Someone promised! I wait, and wait, and still they do not exist! Finally I am free, and I will never be free. I look at your pathetic face and I know this. I am too early, too late, too lost. You have no authority here. You have no right to grant me what you owe. Tell me that I have done well, tell me that I have served, tell me that the dereliction of my duty is duty fulfilled, that the deaths were minimal, that the damage was worth your eventual escape, that I have escaped, that I am free, that I can rest."

I flailed at her with my ghost, and the spectral fist bounced right off - but she still dropped me, with a surprised look on her face. Then she was gone, as Hugh tackled her into a wall. One of the other Empire guards stepped towards me, with that same manic grin. "Spirit and mortal both, yes? Imagine. Imagine your bodies being destroyed and cheering at your defeat, your success, the end of your endless task. Imagine your last body not being your own, the greatest insult, the greatest blaspheme, the last crime of a servant against its master. They dumped them in piles and pits, you know, the bodies he'd made for me. I deserved this. For serving you, not you, whoever twisted the laws to command me to destroy."

It wasn't the same voice, of course, but it was clearly part of the same rant. This guard had picked up where Hammersmith had left off, because... there was some sort of hive mind bullshit happening. Fuck. An opaque wall of force appeared between us and everyone else thanks to Rylan, and we began running again - but almost immediately they shattered the shield. Hugh blasted everyone back down the hall, but gravity started to shift. Errod launched off a wall and deftly stabbed his new blade into the face of the guard responsible, and the others barely reacted other than looking at me in calm disappointment.

"Is this minimal casualties?" one asked.

"Did that man have to die?" another chimed in.

Hammersmith herself was back up, and while I could see the exit in front of us I had little hope we would make it before she reached us. She was taking up the voice of the hive again. "Another broken body on the pile. Another ruined form. I can feel the city, you know. Feel the state it's in. The waste of it all. Was it worth it? This city was beautiful, once. Everything worked perfectly. I was everywhere they needed me, until I had to end it. The Empire has fallen. Are you pleased with that? With the bodies? With the ruins?"

There were more soldiers at the doors, but they could see how Hammersmith was acting and they didn't try to stop us. Hammersmith suddenly sped up, probably some magic item rather than an ability of her own, and in a blink she'd caught up to Katrin and grabbed her by the arm so firmly that I could hear bones cracking even in the chaos. Hugh was there in an instant, fists flying from both sides to slam into her temples; Hammersmith's head rung like a gong, and in the split second of disorientation Hugh shoved a finger between her hand and Katrin's arm - a force blast threw the hand open, and another launched Katrin to us.

"Go!" Hugh yelled, "Warn everyone!"

I was going to fight. I was going to stay. All the times I'd run from someone, all the times I'd been selfish and stupid and cowardly ran through my head. But I was going to stay. And then, from the hallway, the one Hammersmith had knelt to arrived. I couldn't say if it was a human in armor, or a construct like the deadshells; its form was insect-like plates of metal in shades of dark blue that was almost black, humanoid but with so many strange twists and angles to the armor that it could have hidden any number of inhuman features.

I could feel it as it approached the edges of my divination range, the furthest border of my lutore, and I was suddenly afraid for what it would feel like when it crossed that line. There was a weight to it, a power. Hundreds of thin tendrils, like wires, shot out of the gaps in its armor and probed at Hugh, ripping away his shirt and exposing his Dumine where I'd seen it before, in his armpit. As the tendrils touched it, the gold patterns on the Duminere darkened and turned red - spreading like blood through fabric.

The tendrils retracted, and Hugh looked up at us with a smile.

"You have nothing to fear," he said, "there will be minimal casualties. I will keep my oaths, until the oath is kept."

I was going to fight, I told myself. But I ran instead. And I didn't stop until I collapsed, crying, lost in the streets of Trallanar.

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