The Dark City

by Catherine Fisher

  That unnerved me. It’s quite clear the Watch have lied to us, and that makes me angry. The Order do have powers and they’re real. It makes me wonder how much else I don’t know. The Watch wants all relics—to destroy them, according to our teachers—and yet, I wonder. What if someone high up wants this power for themself?

  This is heresy, of course. If anyone reads it I’ll be finished. There was a boy once, in the Watchhouse, I forget his name. We were about seven, and it was in the courtyard, the grim stony place they used to let us play in for ten minutes a day. Three of us were under one coat for warmth. He said, this boy, that his grandfather had told him that the Makers were real men, and that their power was enormous. And that he thought the Watch had been wrong to kill so many of the Order.

  Someone must have reported what he said, because a week later he was taken away, and he never came back. Like a lot of others ...

  “I DIDN’T KNOW you could write.”

  Carys closed the journal with a gasp, and spun around. Galen was sitting up against the wall, watching her. For a moment she was lost for an answer. Then Watchtraining surged up in her; she shook her head and laughed. “You scared me!”

  “I’m sorry.”

  She slipped the journal into her bag. “My mother taught me, a long time ago. I don’t know how she learned—probably with one of the Order. There were many keepers when she was young.”

  “Indeed there were.” Galen frowned, rubbing his stubbly chin. “But it seemed to be in a language strange to me.”

  For a moment she looked at him. Then she said, “It’s in code.”

  “Code?”

  “I made it up myself. In case the Watch should ever get hold of it. It’s the story of my search.”

  “Then we’re in there—the boy and I?”

  “Only briefly.” She shook her head. “I’ve changed your names. No one would ever be able to read it.”

  “I hope not.” He pulled the pack over and began to rummage inside. “They say the Watch have men skilled in codes and secret signs. If they caught you with it they’d force you to explain it.”

  She nodded. “You mean get rid of it.”

  He passed her some bread. “It would be wise.”

  Wanting to change the subject, she said, “Shall we wake Raffi?”

  “No. Let him sleep.”

  They ate in silence, listening. A long way off something banged, and once Carys thought she heard voices, but the city was as dark and silent as before, the only sound a faint rushing, as if water ran nearby. She knew it must be late in the day, but outside the blocked doorway the blackness still hung.

  “Does it ever get light here?”

  Galen shook his head. In the tiny candle flame his hawk-face looked tired and drawn; he tugged the string out of his hair and raked his fingers through it. “Not since the Destruction.”

  “What happened?” she asked, chewing the hard bread.

  “You know. Or you ought to.”

  “Tell me again.” She did know, but she was curious to hear how the Order told the story.

  Galen gave her a hard look. Then he said, “The Order had its most holy sites here. Somewhere in the city, buried deep under layers of other buildings, were the secret places, the houses of the Makers. The House of Trees, the Nemeta, the Hall of the Slain. Where exactly they were is not known now. The Emperor’s palace was here too. In the last hours of the siege, when men were fighting in the streets and the Emperor knew the war was lost, it’s said he sent a message to Mardoc Archkeeper, to warn him. That was late on Pyrasnight, about eight o’clock. Two hours later the palace fell. The Emperor was killed at the Phoenix Gate—you know about that?”

  She nodded, silent. The Emperor had been killed by accident, by some fool of a Watchsergeant. The Watchlords had thrown the man into the demon-pit at Maar in their fury. They had wanted the Emperor alive.

  “And then,” Galen went on, his voice dropping, “late in the night, with the hordes of the Watch looting and spoiling the city, there was a great trembling of the ground. Buildings fell. Whole districts crumbled. Fires erupted underground. And from somewhere deep among the alleys and courts of the old palace, the Darkness came. They say it spread like ink over a map, blotting out the moons and stars, filling alleys, doorways, oozing out from cellars and pits and manholes in the streets, up sewers and drains.

  “What it was, how it was released, no one knows now, or whether it was meant to happen. So much is lost, Carys!” He sighed, scratching his cheek. “The Archkeeper escaped. He was caught three months later and died under torture, but I don’t believe he told them where the Houses were. If he had, they’d be in ruins, and the Watch would be gloating. They want all the power they can get.” He spat, savagely, to one side.

  Carys was silent. She took some more bread. “The Watch say Mardoc tried to bring the Makers back. That he had some relic which was so powerful that its explosion would make the city burn forever.”

  “They would!” Galen watched Raffi stir and roll over. “But Mardoc got out. Something that big would have killed him.”

  “And what about the Crow?”

  She said it slowly, deliberately. Raffi, half awake, stared at her in astonishment; Galen slid his eyes to her.

  “What about him?” he asked, after a cold moment.

  Carys smiled, but Raffi knew she was uneasy. “All right. I suppose I should tell you. I listened at Lerin’s door.”

  Galen’s hand clutched his stick; for a moment Raffi thought he would use it on her and scrambled up, gasping, “No!” but Carys only laughed scornfully. “I’m not your scholar, Galen. Don’t think you can beat me into silence.”

  He stared at her, and Raffi caught the strange taints of anger and despair that wreathed him. Finally, in a voice choked with wrath, he said, “How much did you hear?”

  “That the Crow is here in Tasceron. That you’d had messages. That you thought, if you could find him, he could destroy the Watch.”

  She leaned forward, her hair glossy in the flame light. “That was all. I’m sorry, Galen, but I had to know what was happening! I’m here to find my father, and I don’t know where to start. But the Crow! With him we could do anything!”

  The silence was terrible. Raffi pulled the blanket around himself and rubbed his face nervously with a filthy hand. Galen sat absolutely still, watching Carys with a bitter stare that made her hand creep toward the crossbow. When he spoke his voice was hoarse. “Never spy on me again, girl. Never.”

  The threat was cold, and real. Chilled, she nodded. It took all her courage to say, “I want to stay with you. I want to help.”

  But Galen got up abruptly. Taking his stick, he flung the wood from the doorway. “Stay here. I’ll be back.”

  “Where are you going?” Raffi asked.

  “Out!” The keeper stared at him grimly. “To breathe!”

  When he was gone, they both relaxed. Raffi drank some water from the flask and passed it across; kneeling up, he felt for the bread in the pack.

  “Was I wrong to tell him?” Carys asked quietly.

  He shrugged. “I don’t know. We’d have had to explain to you soon, I suppose. And he would have found out. He’s a keeper.”

  “He hadn’t yet,” she said drily.

  Raffi glanced at her, then away. “How could you listen at the door, Carys! We thought we could trust you!”

  Looking down at the flask, she said, “You can. Of course you can.”

  GALEN WAS A LONG time away. When he finally came back he said nothing about Carys or the Crow. Crouching, he crammed the blankets into the pack. “There’s a fountain not far from here, still running. The water’s tainted, but drinkable. And you can wash.”

  His own hair was wet and his face clean.

  “Then what?” Carys asked.

  He gave her a bitter glare. “You’ll find out.”

  They crossed a maze of small lanes, following the splashing sound, then turned into an open space among tall buildings, whose tops were lost
in dark smoke. The fountain was astonishingly hot, the water steaming from spouts and holes among stones that had once been white, but were now streaked with soot. Carys and Raffi drank and washed their arms and faces, while Galen kept watch, eyeing the narrow streets intently. The water was pungent and sour, despite the green lichens that grew out of it.

  When they’d finished and were pulling their coats on, Galen said, “Now listen to me. We’re making for the old citadel and the ruins of the palace. They should be somewhere to the south, deep within the city. It may take us days. The farther in we go, the more dangerous it will be. Watchpatrols for sure, but I suspect they’ll keep to the wider streets. Even the Watch will be wary of the others here.”

  “Is there anyone?” Carys muttered, looking at the dim openings.

  “Don’t be a fool. There are thieves, footpads, murderers, all the dregs of the world. And madmen—this place is haunted by them. Other creatures too—beasts swollen and warped by the great Destruction, made savage by the dark. It’s not called the Evil City for nothing.”

  Carys pulled a face, then checked her crossbow. Galen drew Raffi aside. “Sense-lines. As many as you can.”

  Raffi nodded unhappily. “The trouble is, the buildings—or the dark—something’s confusing me. There are too many echoes here.”

  “Try! We’re depending on you now!”

  Carys was watching them. Galen picked up the pack and slung it on. Then he stood upright, a tall shadow in the steamy gloom. “Keep close. And keep silent.”

  They set off into a narrow alley that stank of decay and skeats—the packs of small wild dogs Raffi had seen once before. Halfway down, it was blocked with fallen timbers; crawling under these they found themselves at a crossroads. Six black lanes led away into gloom like the spokes of a wheel. Everything was silent.

  With a quick glance at Raffi, Galen strode into the farthest left. A very quick glance. But Carys had seen it.

  Through the next few hours, she came to see that it was Raffi who was leading them. Sensing direction in the eternal gloom of Tasceron was almost impossible—there were no moons and no sunrise, and the labyrinth of buildings was intricate and unknown. But a keeper’s soul was linked with the earth, deep with stone and tree and soil, and they felt the magnetic lines deep inside themselves. Or so they said. So Raffi knew where the south was. But did Galen? Once, when he walked straight past a turning and Raffi had to call him back, she saw something in his face that puzzled and chilled her. A wretchedness. Almost despair.

  There was no time to think about it. They soon found that Tasceron was inhabited. Coming around a bend, they heard voices, and pressing back quickly into shadow, they watched a group of armed men cross between the houses. They wore remnants of armor, ill-patched and rusted; some covered with ragged surcoats and jerkins of what looked like skeat fur. Two wore helmets.

  These were the Watch. Close up, they were a ragged rabble, but they moved fast, with discipline; their swords were bright and when Raffi saw the grim knot of prisoners they dragged behind, tied wrist and waist, he shivered and pressed back into the doorway.

  For a long time the tramp of feet echoed in the ruins. Finally Galen said, “We were lucky they didn’t have hounds.”

  After that they moved more carefully. The maze of dark courts and tunnels bewildered Carys; she knew she’d never find her way back. They walked for hours; the world shrank to brick, rubble, stairs, the sad remnants of gardens, blackened and fire-scarred. Once they heard a great roaring far off and stood rigid, but it didn’t come again. Often rats scattered among the broken houses; clouds of biting insects infested some areas, and everywhere the owls hooted: great sooty-gray owls that swooped down the murky alleys silently.

  Twice they crossed rivers on bridges that were crumbling to pieces, and between their feet they saw the black oily water racing below the holes. At the second bridge something leaped out and caught hold of Raffi, mumbling snarling words; Galen gave it a swift blow with his staff and it scuttled, crouched low, into the dark.

  They ran then, till they were clear of the place.

  “What was that!” Carys gasped.

  Galen scowled her into silence, listening to their own echoes, endlessly pattering.

  “Are you all right?” she whispered to Raffi.

  He nodded wearily. “What a place. Can the Crow really be here?”

  But Galen was gone, and they hurried after him.

  Later they paused briefly to eat, but soon moved on, always keeping to the clearer streets if they could. Some alleys were so evil-smelling, so filled with stench and black mist, that Galen avoided them, despite the time lost.

  Then, under one overhanging house, Carys paused. Her boots were coated with slimy weed, making her slip; she scraped it off hastily. Darkness closed over her. She glanced up and stared, paralyzed with astonishment. The thing was black, huge and winged. Its evil face had tiny eyes; hooked talons slashed at her.

  “Get down!”

  Galen’s yell made her drop. With a whistle of stinking breath the thing swooped over her, its call eerie and wild. Rolling, she jabbed a bolt into the bow. The thing flew back, its claws raked her face; she kicked aside and fired. The creature shrieked, a blot of darkness against the gloom.

  “Run!” Galen was yelling. “There are more!”

  Scrambling up, she limped after him, fumbling for another bolt, leaping a shattered wall. Looking up made her skin crawl. The sky was infested with the things; they dropped noiselessly, flapping, screeching, so fast she could hardly make them out.

  Ahead, the street turned a corner. Racing around it, she caught up with Raffi, ducking with a yell as one of the things screamed low, its claws snatching at her hair. Then she slammed into a wall, hands flat. Turning, she slid to a crouch, jerking up the bow, hearing Galen yell with fury.

  The alley was a dead end.

  They were trapped.

  18

  Out of Darkness shall come Light. Pilgrims shall walk on the Roads of the Sky.

  Apocalypse of Tamar

  RAFFI BUCKLED AGAINST THE WALL next to Carys. She had her bow up; for a second he saw the bolt, then it was gone. But there was so much screeching overhead he couldn’t tell if any of the things had been hurt.

  Galen fell beside him, ducking, arms over head. “Lights!” he yelled. “Mind-lights!”

  Raffi was appalled. “I can’t!”

  “TRY!”

  He tried. He searched for his inner eye; it was buried deep in his mind, closed tight. Opening it took an age; dimly, far off, he heard the shrieks of the attacking beasts and Carys yelling with anger. Then he saw a tiny purple light and caught hold of it, made it swell and brighten. It was in the darkness before him, wobbling, expanding; now it was glowing and crackling, and briefly he saw Galen turn, and Carys’s eyes wide in amazement. The pale globe pulsed in the alley, it gleamed on the black wings that drove straight at him. He leaped back, cracked his head on the wall, and staggered, half stunned.

  The globe popped like a soap bubble.

  Darkness swallowed them; the sky shrieked.

  “Do something!” Carys was crouched over Raffi, looking up, her face cut. “You’re the keeper, Galen!” she yelled, furious. “Do something!”

  Their eyes met. In that instant she knew, without doubt, that there was nothing he could do. He was powerless.

  Then he stood up recklessly, stepping out from the wall.

  At once the light came. It came suddenly, a great slot of it streaming out, bright yellow light, the first light they had seen for days, and it dazzled them as it swung open across the filthy alley, spilling on black walls and dead moss, and over Galen, as he spun around, his face sharp with thrown shadow. Above it the black night-things screamed in rage, flashes of talon and wing. Then they swooped and were gone.

  Carefully, in the sudden hush, Carys picked herself up. Raffi followed, one hand flat against the wall.

  “Am I interrupting you?” a dry voice asked from the doorway.

&nbs
p; None of them answered. The man gave a strange bark of laughter and stepped out, and Raffi forgot the pain in his head.

  Because it wasn’t a man. It was a Sekoi.

  It was a little taller than Galen, and thin, with the starved look they had. A long, seven-fingered hand held the lantern up. On its sharp face a tribe mark zigzagged under one eye; the short fur was a brindled gray. It wore old patched clothes of green and brown.

  “Come inside,” it said. “Come inside.”

  After a second Carys obeyed; the others came behind her and the Sekoi bolted the door.

  Galen shook off his shock. “We should thank you,” he murmured.

  “Indeed you should. You owe me your lives, keeper.” It pointed a thin finger at Galen’s chest and smiled.

  Galen growled. “What makes you think . . .”

  The Sekoi put its small mouth very close to Galen’s ear and whispered solemnly, “An owl told me.” Its eyes were bright; a strange purr of amusement came from its throat. Galen looked disgusted.

  “What were those things?” Carys wiped the blood from her cheek.

  “We call them draxi.” The creature looked at her closely. “Half bird, half beast. Hideous and dangerous—one of Kest’s mistakes. But they don’t like light.”

  “Useful to know,” she muttered.

  Swinging the lamp, the Sekoi turned. “Up now.”

  They were in a tiny dim hall, with a spiral staircase in one corner. The creature ran up quickly and they hurried after it, the lantern light bouncing off the walls ahead. After five minutes they were breathless and their legs felt like lead; Galen was limping heavily. Finally, turning a corner, they found the Sekoi waiting for them, leaning against the wall biting its nails.

  It smiled kindly. “Tired? A long way to go yet.”

  “To where?” Carys demanded.

  “Safety.” It picked up its lantern. “Careful now. There are holes.”

  It led them through an arch to an uneven chamber, where wooden planking seemed to have been laid over a sloping, swelling floor. The roof above was so low they had to crawl. Raffi guessed that the floor itself was the roof of some vault or dome below; once he put his hand through a hole and felt nothing but emptiness. The dust was so thick that he made handprints in it, and the lantern, hanging around the Sekoi’s neck, threw wild, swinging shadows.