With a sudden harsh click, the pick caught, held, and turned.
Thomas sat up straight, breaking off his recitation, as Jess pushed on the door. It slowly swung open.
"Mother of God," Dario breathed, and rushed to his own cell door to wrap his hands around the bars. "Well, come on, you beautiful criminal! Let us out!"
"Changed your tune, didn't you?" Santi said. "Jess. That's enough."
"Yes, sir." It was tempting to step out into the hall, very tempting to go try his luck on the outer door's lock, but he knew Santi was right. He grabbed the loose door and swung it closed, held it there with his boot jammed through the bars while he plied the pick again to refasten it. That was easier.
"No, no, no!" Dario hammered the heel of his hand on the bars, a racket Jess could have well done without. "You fool, what are you doing?"
"He's biding his time, which you'll also do, quietly," Santi said. "We need time to recover and regain our strength. We need to win their trust, scout the city, and make a decent plan of escape. That's going to take time, and some measure of trust from our captors. We earn none making a useless attempt now."
Dario must have known that was true, but his frustration was sharp enough to cut the air, and he hit the bars one last time and flung himself onto his bunk. No arguments, though. Not even Dario was foolish enough to rush out without a plan.
Santi made it sound easy, Jess thought, but it wouldn't be. None of it. And he had the unpleasant thought that after escape, if they made it out of this city, then they were still in America, far from help.
Still, having the small length of metal in his hand, and a bit of control, quieted the storm inside his head from a hurricane to a grumble of thunder. The thunder was muttering, It's useless; the metal won't last; the picks will break. What then?
Out of nowhere, he remembered something his father had told him when he was just a child. When all the world is a lock, boy, you don't make a key. You become a key.
Brightwell wisdom. Sharp, unsentimental, and right now, something that settled the last of his worry. For the time being.
EPHEMERA
Text from the volume Liber de Potentia, addressing the dangers of unregulated Obscurists. For full reading only by the Curia and Archivist Magister. Certain sections available to the Medica division.
. . . the toxic effect of the overuse of Obscurist abilities. This is most clearly and dreadfully illustrated by the case of French Obscurist Gilles de Rais. While trained in the Iron Tower, he left of his own accord to return to his family lands (n.b., for this reason we recommend no further releases, even for compassionate reasons, be allowed from the Iron Tower). He then used his great talents not in the service of the Library, as he was sworn to do, but in raising up a French warrior to do battle against the English for purely partisan reasons.
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De Rais used his God-granted quintessence to reckless and extravagant excess in keeping Jeanne d'Arc alive and well protected; while there is no doubt the woman was a born fighter who would have done the High Garda great credit had she been drawn to its service, his constant use of power to strengthen her armor and heal her wounds took the inevitable toll upon them both.
De Rais's power increased, as is typical for an Obscurist allowed to hone his skills without restriction, but as Aristotle himself observed, that which comes in contact with contaminants is never again clean. His healings began well enough, but as the rot inside him took hold, his touch brought madness, fevers, and, ultimately, the downfall of his own sworn champion.
Retreating to his castle, he swore to resurrect the fallen Jeanne. Corrupted from within, and maddened with it, he enacted a resulting horror within those walls that is a thing of terrible legend. That he was eventually purged by fire by his own people can only be seen as justice.
His case is, therefore, a stark warning to those who believe that Obscurists may be left on their own to manage their power and duties unchecked. Inside the Iron Tower, Obscurists use their powers in a careful and constructed way; the very metal of the Tower itself acts to limit their ability. To this end, and with the dark example of Gilles de Rais before us, we must recommend that all Obscurists be forever confined to the Iron Tower, save for specific missions that lead them beyond its protection, and on those rare occasions, that they be carefully watched. Should any signs of danger emerge, the Obscurist must be immediately and decisively prevented from any further use of power until natural healing, if possible, might occur.