[Message and portal functionality is disabled for all nodes within the Zenith Control Zone until City Control is determined]

[Zenith Node information available]

Serenity groaned. He’d forgotten that City Node features were often disabled during the attempted takeover of a city; while it was most common for it to be done by the defenders to prevent outside infiltrators, the attackers could do it if they captured the city’s Core Node, preventing reinforcements that might support the city from outside.

The lack of message capability meant that whoever did it was trying to prevent reinforcements from coming overland. While that didn’t directly tell him which side had control of the city’s Core Node, only one side had known the attack was coming. The attackers almost certainly had control of the city’s Core Node.

Serenity needed to get Andarit out of the city as quickly as possible for her own safety. In fact, he needed to get her as far away from the city as possible, at a minimum out of its Control Zone. If portals were open, he’d take her offworld; he needed to get to either Lyka or Aeon anyway.

A large percentage of the kidnap victims were taken to Lyka; at least, that was the destination the Voice saw in the transit logs. Djen’s secret records indicated that they were sold to a priest of the Eternal Church, so it was possible that Lyka was only a transit stop on their way to Aeon. It all depended on why they were being kidnapped, and Serenity still didn’t know that. Djen’s motive was obvious - they were easy money - but the priests’ goal was unclear.

Unfortunately, that wouldn’t be possible with the portals down. Which meant overland travel to another Control Area or maybe a portal from a dungeon. It made him wish they’d explored father in the Palace dungeon, but they hadn’t known easy travel would be blocked once they were out.

He also needed to free the rest of the Earthlings enslaved on Zon. That was his original next goal after Rissa arrived; it looked like he’d simply need to reverse the order and head to one of those locations, then tell Rissa to redirect her travel there. Hopefully he could get there in time; they’d have left Earth at about when he entered the dungeon, which meant he didn’t have much time.

Serenity tried to push his worries off as he got ready for bed. The house was secure and there wasn’t anything he could do about any of the outstanding issues. He needed to sleep. Sure, he could go without if he had to, but it had already been a long enough day.

He was on the edge of falling asleep when he remembered the note about Zenith Node information being available. He tried to tell himself to check it in the morning, but it kept him awake until he decided he’d sleep better if he knew what it was.

[Zenith Node Capture in progress]

[Zenith Node Succession Rules active:

Previous City Lord Status: Deceased (Confirmed)

Under the established Succession Rules for Zenith, City Capture cannot be completed until all accredited Heirs within the City Control Zone at the beginning of the Capture attempt are deceased or have abdicated their claim to the Lordship.

Accredited Heirs Confirmed Deceased: 27

Accredited Heirs Abdicated: 11

Accredited Heirs Remaining: 4

Zenith Succession Rules will be active for another 1 year, 0 days, 14 hours, 27 minutes]

Serenity sat upright in his bed. He was suddenly no longer tired at all. “A year and a day. They set their succession rules for a year and a day. Now I know why the attackers wanted Andarit dead or gone. Whether or not she’s on that list, they think she might be. Fucking hell.”

And he’d let Arrin go. Double fucking hell.

It was too late to do anything about that; he could only hope that Arrin wouldn’t let on that Andarit was both alive and inside the city.

Serenity started to get up to tell Andarit, but there was no reason to wake her. The bad news could wait until morning; he should let her get some sleep.

It was a long time before Serenity was able to fall asleep.

“If they find you, they will kill you. We are not going to stay in the city and try to stop what’s happening here. This is not a task for two people.” Serenity glared at Andarit. “I don’t care what the hero tales say. If you want to take Zenith back, you need to be prepared to take it back, not to get yourself killed. Which means you need allies. Allies you can’t even contact from here. Starting with your father.”

Serenity could only hope her father would talk some sense into the girl. Setting out on a quixotic quest to save her country from a coup on her own was noble, certainly, but stupid. It wasn’t like he could really help; he was only one person and while he could probably kill everyone in the area if he tried, that wouldn’t help. He couldn’t discriminate enough to kill the attackers; destroying the city was not better than letting it be taken.

“But the Royals-”

“The King is dead. Chances are good most of the others are as well.” Serenity talked right over Andarit. “I told you; there are four left. Probably counting you.”

Andarit folded her arms and pouted. “I still don’t think it’s me. I don’t know what an accredited heir is.”

At least she was off the topic of trying to rescue the city. “It doesn’t matter; we need to get you out of here as soon as possible. Where should we head? Lowpeak, or is there a better place that’s close where we could catch a portal?”

“Overland? There’s no good route overland to Lowpeak. That’s why we always portal. There isn’t even a direct portal connection. You said the Zenith portals are down?” Andarit frowned. “I’ve never heard of the portals not working as long as you can pay.”

Serenity shrugged. “That’s what the message said. Even if they are working, it’s probably not a good idea to try to use them. They’ll be guarded.”

“So will the city gates. They’re always guarded.” Andarit glowered at Serenity. “Are you sure we have to leave? Maybe I could gather some of the other nobles and do something. If we can take back the Palace, we’ve won.”

Serenity sighed. “It all depends on how many people they have, and we simply don’t have that answer. We don’t even know who’s doing it. I know I’ve said it looks like a coup, but that could be wrong. A City Capture … usually that’s an invasion, not a coup. With a coup, there’s usually a viable figurehead they can put into place. Not always, but usually. If it weren’t for the involvement of the Courts, I’d be guessing an invasion, and that could be very large.”

Andarit opened her mouth as though she were going to speak, then closed it again. She looked down, seeming to stare at her hands. “We should head to Celestials’ Rest. That’s where the food for Zenith comes from. The other exits lead to mines and the aqueduct. I’ve never traveled those routes, but Father did take me to Celestials’ Rest on the way to Zenith once.”

Serenity nodded. “The others sound like they’re probably in the Zenith Control Zone anyway. I’m surprised there’s only one region directly connected to Zenith; I know there were more nobles than that at the parties.”

Andarit’s face whipped up and Serenity could see a slight blush on her cheeks. “That’s because those were City nobles. Not country nobles. I’m a country noble. City nobles don’t have land outside Zenith, they have grants inside the city. It’s more prestigious and supposedly more lucrative. There are only about a dozen country nobles, and they’re all higher ranking than Father anyway.”

Serenity vaguely remembered something about Lowpeak being the only duchy, but he was somehow surprised it was the lowest rank; either he had translated the word wrong or he was incorrect about Duke actually being a fairly high noble title on Earth. “Why is that? Shouldn’t Duke be a fairly high noble title?”

Andarit looked at him like he was crazy. “It’s not a Zenith title at all, but Great-Grandfather insisted on it after Collier fell. It’s the title the Lowpeak land has always held, back to the day it was first founded at the end of the Night.”

A formerly foreign noble family being treated as the lowest-ranking of nobility made some sense, but it didn’t explain why Andarit was on the kill list. Perhaps there was something else in her family’s history that would explain it, but Serenity didn’t see the need to find out. The important thing wasn’t whether or not she should be on the kill list or even why; it was the fact that she’d be killed if she were caught. “Good to know. Probably something to talk to your father about when we get to Lowpeak; I don’t know how this mess will affect things. For now, do you think you can get us out the gate without being seen?”

“Under normal circumstances it’d be easy. Right now, I’m not sure.” Andarit bit her lip. “We could fly over the wall using the flyer? That’s how Father usually leaves if we’re not going by portal. Nobles don’t have to use the gates, that’s for people on the ground. Other flyers, even Court flyers, can’t go over the wall.”

He’d gone past the wall with the Guildmaster, hadn’t he? Serenity was fairly confident they had. Well, that was a matter for another time; Guildmaster Tirmanak was both Tier Six and clearly had connections to Zenith. It was entirely likely that he knew what the limits were better than Andarit. If she was right, he clearly had a way around them. “That’s a good idea, but let’s keep it in reserve. It all depends on where the wall is being watched, and we’re going to have to go and find out. Is there any secret or underground way out of the city?”

Serenity would be surprised if there wasn’t, whether it was maintenance access ways or a smuggler’s tunnel. Finding it would be difficult and Serenity wasn’t confident Andarit would know of it.

Andarit shook her head. “Wouldn’t that defeat the point of the wall?”

Serenity grinned. “That’s one of the reasons it might exist, but if you don’t know of it, it’s not worth spending time trying to find it unless we can’t get out another way.How far is the main gate? If it’s open and they’re letting people leave, maybe we can blend into a crowd.”

Serenity didn’t expect that to work, but if it did he would be very happy.

“It’s to the east. Well, southeast really. We just have to leave the Nobles’ Residence Area through the south exit, then head east.” Andarit frowned. “It’s not too far from the market, but I don’t think I’ve taken you to the gate.”

Serenity was glad he didn’t have to try to follow Andarit’s directions without Andarit herself. He’d been in the city long enough to know that nothing was as simple as “and then turn left once”.

Serenity started to suggest that they should leave, then took another look at Andarit. “Do you have anything simpler to wear? We need to look like we’re not nobles. I’m pretty sure they’re going to be killing or capturing anyone they think is a noble. If they think we’re just servants, we might be able to get away.”

Serenity was already dressed in the plainest clothing he could find, and he’d altered his armor to look like warm underclothing instead of armor. It wasn’t a perfect disguise, since none of the servants had left any clothing behind, but it would do.

Hopefully.