Successor's Promise

by Trudi Canavan

No.

  “This way, if you change your mind, you could destroy the hand. Then there’d be no danger of the Raen ever returning.”

  Yes, but only after I access the information in it I need to restore you. Valhan might have seen a way to combat the war insectoids, too. He recognised that they would be a problem in the future, so perhaps he saw a solution as well.

  “Perhaps you can use that reasoning to convince Dahli to show you the hand.”

  No. Dahli isn’t going to let me near it until I’ve proven I can resurrect someone, and have a vessel ready for Valhan.

  The next arrival place was a frozen pool within a ruin—an odd location, but perhaps the former occupants planned to deal with unwanted visitors by shattering the ice and plunging them into the water below. Tyen moved on.

  If there is any chance Valhan had a solution to the insectoid problem, I have to try to access his memories. It is my fault they exist.

  “You couldn’t have known that the knowledge you exchanged for training at Liftre would lead to people making war insectoids,” Vella said.

  No, but I should have seen it coming. The Leratian empire used mechanical magic for war too. Their war aircarts and cannons enabled them to conquer most of my world.

  “That only proves that humans will turn whatever they can into weapons, wherever they are. It is not your fault that the worlds did the same with mechanical magic.”

  Even so, if there’s a solution, I must try to find it. I can’t do that with no funds and no home.

  A part of him was drawn to the safety of Dahli’s protection. It would be a relief to not be constantly on guard. A darker part of him that he didn’t like to consider too closely feared what would happen to him if he refused to help Dahli, and the man then succeeded in resurrecting the Raen. The Raen would consider me too powerful to allow to live. I’d have to flee to the edges of the worlds, as Rielle has. Valhan might kill Tyen anyway, once he read his mind and learned how he had helped Rielle and the Restorers. When considering that possibility, Tyen wondered if his hope to ask for Rielle’s life as a reward was an overly optimistic delusion. After all, the Raen had planned to kill Rielle, even as he expected her to resurrect him.

  At other times, Tyen wondered if the Raen would find it so easy to become the sole ruler of the worlds again. Most of the man’s allies and friends were dead and the Restorers were well established now. If the Raen had been in such straits that he was driven to an act as risky as killing himself and trusting others to resurrect him, he clearly had a limit to his power and influence. What if the Restorers, Tyen and Rielle joined together to fight him? Could they kill him? Could they make a truce? Would Valhan agree to rule only some of the worlds?

  There might be other ways to ensure a resurrected Raen wasn’t as great a power in the worlds, but for the moment they were incomplete ideas hovering at the edges of Tyen’s mind.

  The world sharpening around him was his destination. As he arrived, he breathed in the scents of a garden, marvelling again at his body’s new ability to survive the lack of air between worlds. Walking out of the circle of plants, he entered a grand labyrinth. It spread over a vast area, maintained by hundreds of residents living in little houses hidden within the walls. Visitors strolled along the pathways. Tyen could hear children laughing and calling out. He passed rooms containing a fountain, statues and even a pond with a tree-covered island at the centre, a boat tied up invitingly at the shore.

  He had taken the opportunity to stop in Doum and Murai because they were on his route to this place. Somewhere to the east, in a cave, he would find Baluka. The land rose ahead of Tyen, revealing the top of a decorative stone archway set into the slope. Tyen made his way towards it.

  Sure enough, the arch was the entrance to a tunnel. Exploring within, Tyen was disappointed when he emerged on the other side of the hill. It was a passage, not a cave. But as he scanned the maze below, he noted a circular hole in the centre of one clearing. Perhaps this was the cave Baluka meant. He made his way down.

  Reaching it, he found there was a stairway spiralling into the darkness. He created a light and descended. At the bottom was a single seat, carved roughly into a boulder. A man was sitting in it. Baluka. He was talking to a sorcerer standing before him.

  Baluka’s voice drifted up to him. “You may go.”

  The sorcerer faded out of sight.

  “You took your time.” Baluka looked up and grinned. “Did you get lost?”

  Tyen shrugged as he descended the last steps. “No. I made a quick detour.”

  “How are you?”

  “Well enough. You?”

  “The same as usual.”

  Tyen paused. He knew that Dahli had managed to get a spy near Baluka, but he didn’t know how. One of Dahli’s friends was arranging it and had been given strict instructions not to tell Dahli the details. So far Tyen had resisted telling Baluka, since it might make Dahli wonder how the man had come by the information.

  Tyen looked around, as if searching for the other man. “Are you taking all the security precautions you can?”

  “Of course.”

  Tyen nodded. “You should be extra careful.”

  Baluka’s eyebrows rose. “Any particular reason?”

  Tyen shrugged. “Nothing I can specify.”

  “I see.” Baluka nodded to a large sack at the foot of the chair. “That’s for you.”

  Tyen lifted it. The weight caused him to stagger a little. It made a metallic crunch as he set it down again. Opening the top, Tyen caught a glimpse of polished metal and hinged claws.

  “Insectoids?”

  “Yes.”

  Tyen squatted and opened the bag further, scanning the tangle of metallic limbs gleaming inside. “Thanks. There’s a few here I haven’t seen before.”

  “Would you like more?”

  “Yes. Different kinds. And if you can, keep them alive.”

  “That won’t be easy.”

  Tyen nodded. “Not if they’re the exploding kind.”

  Baluka’s eyebrows rose. “Exploding?”

  “Designed to blow up when they reach their target.”

  “That will make them hard to catch.” Baluka paused. “Any progress?”

  Tyen rose. “Only research so far. It took some time to find a safe place to work.”

  “I could have helped you there.”

  “I know.” Tyen waited, knowing from Baluka’s thoughts that his friend had something else to tell him but was not sure how to begin. The silence stretched out between them. Tyen lifted his eyebrows. “What is it?”

  Baluka smiled crookedly. “It is nice of you to pretend not to have read it from me already.” His expression became serious. “Rielle has adopted a child—now a young man—that she took from the Raen’s allies soon after he died. Their intentions were to bring Valhan back by replacing the boy’s memories with his. She objected to them using an innocent child this way, stole him away and gave him to my family to raise.”

  Tyen nodded. “Yes. I know. Well, not where she took the boy, but all of the rest.”

  Baluka’s jaw dropped, then snapped closed again. “Why didn’t you tell me?” He sucked in a breath. “No. You don’t have to defend yourself. I know why. My mind is too easily read. If I know the Raen can be brought back to life, others could find out.” He sighed. “Well, I guess the secret’s out now. Though I can only assume by the lack of Raens roaming the worlds that this particular boy was essential to the process.”

  “Perhaps.” Tyen shrugged.

  “Fortunately, Rielle has taken him far away,” Baluka continued.

  Tyen raised his eyebrows. “She will be a formidable protector.”

  Baluka nodded. “And a kind one.” He smiled as old memories played out in his mind. Which roused newer ones in Tyen’s—and an uncomfortable mix of guilt and desire. Would he hate me if he knew Rielle and I have been lovers?

  According to Tarran, she’d been annoyed by Tyen’s hurried message, left at the exit to the desert wor
ld. After he’d evaded the ex-rebels who had discovered him using up the magic of the desert world, he’d sent a few messages to Tarran. He’d been worried the rebels were still following him, so he’d made his instructions obscure and used unfamiliar message-bearing methods. Too obscure and unfamiliar. None had arrived.

  Then he’d had to find a new world to learn pattern shifting in. In one of the moments his mind had wandered during his first attempt, he’d remembered the ice world where the Raen’s resurrection had been attempted. It had been unpopulated and rich with magic, and because Rielle had never finished the task, there was plenty of magic left. He’d resumed his task and achieved agelessness a quarter cycle later.

  He’d been looking forward to celebrating with Rielle and Tarran when he got back. Doum’s invasion of Murai wasn’t the only disappointment awaiting him on his return.

  I doubt we’ll see her again, Baluka was thinking.

  Tyen nodded. I have to hope she won’t come back, but I also hope that she will. I suppose what I hope is that one day it will be safe for her to.

  “The best thing we can do for her is ensure the threat at this end is dealt with,” Baluka said, pushing sadness aside and replacing it with resolve. “Dahli and his supporters.” His chin rose a little. “You could join us. You could help us restore order to the worlds too. The more worlds at peace, fewer will have reason to make insectoids.”

  Tyen shuddered and shook his head. “No.” He wouldn’t offer me that if he’d seen how badly things worked out in Doum and Murai.

  “I’m not offering you the leadership,” Baluka reminded him, adding a ghost of a smile.

  “I know,” Tyen replied. “I appreciate the offer, but my time is better spent on what I know best—mechanical magic.”

  Baluka nodded. “Well, then. Good luck. I will see if I can get you some more specimens—and some live ones.”

  “Thanks.” Tyen hoisted the bag over one shoulder, grimacing at the weight. “Take care, Baluka.”

  “You too.”

  Baluka smiled, but as Tyen pushed out of the world the smile faded. The leader of the Restorers looked grim and tired, but as determined as ever. Tyen’s resolve to warn his friend of the Raen’s return hardened. I may not be any good at negotiating peace, but I am good at spying. I may as well put that skill to good use: keeping an eye on Dahli.

  CHAPTER 12

  Setting the disappointingly small stack of paper aside, Tyen sighed. He’d read the Raen’s notes three times since Dahli had produced them, but each reread produced no new insights. Looking around the large room—a basement under a crumbling old city mansion in a world that had once thrived under the Raen’s rule—he listed the objects surrounding him. A table large enough for a man to lie down on. Medical instruments. Medicines. Water filter. Burner. Bandages. His gaze moved to the other side of the room. Table. Shelving. Insectoids. Tools. Metal to forge into parts. Chemicals. Oil.

  He considered whether he needed anything else. Had he forgotten anything? He knew he was looking for an excuse to avoid starting work, and yet he looked anyway.

  Perhaps I can replicate everything we gathered for the Raen’s resurrection in another area, for when I restore Vella. He straightened. Vella, he thought. I knew there was something I hadn’t done yet—check with you.

  Lifting her pouch out from under his shirt, he removed her and opened her covers. Her elegant script appeared on the page.

  What should I do next, Vella?

  Stop procrastinating? appeared on her page. You know you’ve reached the point where Dahli will grow suspicious if you keep delaying.

  He nodded. You’re right. And yet I’m honestly not sure where to start.

  So what is holding you back?

  Where to begin? I wish the Raen had written down how to resurrect a person in logical steps. There are so many gaps in his notes. Sometimes he is very clear and detailed, and makes no effort to conceal important results; other times he refers to information rather than includes it.

  He probably did not expect others to read them, and he was a busy man.

  That is true. It’s also possible Dahli left information out when translating the Raen’s writing, then blocked his memory of having done so.

  It would not make sense, if there’s a chance the information he omitted would lead you to fail or refuse to continue, or produce an unsatisfactory result. But he did admit that the translation of the notes might not be accurate.

  Because the translators’ knowledge was incomplete. We’re lucky that people still exist who speak the obscure language he used. Dahli had wondered if it was the language of the Raen’s home. He had found the speaker by sending his followers out to the great markets and stores of knowledge in the worlds, and even to the Travellers, with a random phrase to translate. It was a scholar at Liftre who had discovered the source.

  Fortunately, the phrase hadn’t revealed anything Dahli wanted to remain secret. When he’d found the people who spoke the language, he had chosen three translators who did not know anything of magic, and given them pages out of order in the hope they would understand so little of what they were translating that he wouldn’t have to kill them when they were done.

  He wouldn’t have gone to the trouble had he been working with someone less scrupulous as Tyen. Yet he was not annoyed by the inconvenience. He was strangely gladdened by it. He was pleased to discover he did not like to kill, even after hundreds of cycles of doing so for the Raen.

  Dahli is a conflicted, contradictory man, Tyen mused. Though with him blocking memories he doesn’t want me to see, I can’t be entirely sure that the person I see is truly his natural, whole self.

  If he held me, I might be able to access those memories.

  He’s never going to fall for any trick meant to achieve that. Tyen sighed. Or allow me to delay for ever. I must proceed with something soon, but what? It was a question for himself, not Vella, so she did not reply. He chewed on the inside of his cheek. There are three parts to this. The challenge is to discover how Valhan had copied his memories into his hand, and replicate the process. It would help if I had the Raen’s hand to study, but Dahli isn’t going to produce that until I’ve proved I can successfully resurrect someone.

  You have me to study. I am a more complex object, but I do contain memories. Knowing how to pattern-shift will help you understand my structure.

  He nodded. I will do that. But I also need to find someone who doesn’t mind having their memories copied into an object. I’m not going to volunteer, and I doubt Dahli will, so we’ll have to bring in somebody. His best idea had been to imprint the memories of a dying person into an acceptable vessel. The idea that he would be effectively saving them from death made the whole exercise much more palatable.

  Except that he could heal them instead. He could now heal anyone, and extend their life. He could be doing so now, but he wasn’t.

  Rielle hadn’t mentioned that moral dilemma of learning pattern shifting. When he thought of how he could be curing all the illness and disease in the worlds, he could see the mess it could result in. He couldn’t heal everyone, so how would he choose who to help? How far should he go when he could make a human physically perfect and even reverse their age? Once it was known what he was capable of and willing to do, would the demand for healing create competition and chaos among the needy, leading to those with wealth and power pushing aside ordinary people?

  He did not yet have the courage to face those questions. Fortunately he had a deal, a promise and a mistake to attend to first.

  The second challenge is preparing a vessel. I’ll need a body for that. Valhan wrote that he needed an untrained sorcerer as close to him in strength as he could find, in case his magical ability didn’t transfer to the vessel.

  Reading that, Tyen had felt a chill. Rielle would have qualified as Valhan’s vessel. As would Tyen. But he didn’t know I was so powerful, and I had already been trained in using magic. Next to the notation had been the word “male” underlined. Perhaps tha
t was all that had disqualified Rielle.

  It would be useful to know whether Qall had acquired the Raen’s full strength. If so, then magical ability was entirely physical, and it was possible to make anyone that powerful. It also would mean Tyen would have to abandon his ideas of ensuring the newly restored Raen was weaker, and therefore less of a threat to the Restorers and Rielle.

  What if Qall had been nearly as strong as the Raen? It seemed a strange coincidence that two sorcerers nearly as powerful as the Raen had been born around the same time, but the idea of a third was astounding. Was this Millennium’s Rule in action, producing more potential rivals every thousand cycles? He doubted a supernatural force was shaping the future, so either a natural variation in sorcerous strength occurred roughly every thousand cycles, or there had been no rivals to the Raen before his twenty-cycle absence because he had killed them. The latter was disturbing because it meant sorcerers of great strength were being born all the time and the worlds would soon be full of them. It also meant the Raen was not extraordinary in his magical strength, but for his success in maintaining power and order.

  It would be a great irony if Qall became the Successor after Valhan created him in an attempt to stay in power. Especially if he fights a resurrected Raen and wins.

  You’re getting distracted again, Vella told him.

  Tyen brought his thoughts back to the present.

  I don’t need a vessel of similar strength to the Raen. All I require is the body of someone who has recently died, or at least whose mind has. Both options still made Tyen uneasy. A person’s corpse ought to be treated respectfully, and even someone whose memories had been lost would lose the chance to live a new life if their mind was replaced.

  Valhan had tried beginning with a newborn and using pattern shifting to speed its growth into an adult, but its mind and body did not develop properly, lacking the life experiences needed to learn and adapt. Memories had failed to imprint correctly. Limbs had failed to respond to unfamiliar commands from the mind. An adult mind needed an adult vessel. Tyen wondered if this also meant that a male mind needed a male body for the male organs to function properly, and female for female. He wasn’t going to test that theory in his experiments, however. What he was doing already involved enough ethical dilemmas.