by Peter David
They turned the corner with the howling of the Piri right behind them. Eutok had finished jamming the hotstars into place on the cart and was trying to shove it back into place on the tracks. “Keep them back!” Karsen said as he ran to Eutok’s side, and together they shoved the Truller onto the grooves in the ground. It dropped in with a “click” and Karsen could hear an abrupt build up of energy.
“Get in! Get in!” he bellowed. Gant, still inside the Piri’s body, was the first to scramble into the car, dragging Rafe Kestor behind him. Kestor was still swinging his sword at the air, apparently unaware that he wasn’t actually coming into contact with anything. With no time to waste, Eutok grabbed the Mandraque from behind and tossed him headfirst into the Truller.
The car was beginning to tremble with suppressed power. Eutok clamped a hand down on the outside to hold it in place. “Now or never, Karsen!”
Zerena Foux grabbed Mingo by the arm as Mingo gored another of the Piri. Mingo whirled, his eyes wild, and for a moment Zerena’s own life was in danger. “Mingo! We are leaving!”
It took her words a moment to penetrate his blind fury, and then he nodded in understanding. His eyes seemed to clear and then he managed to say, his voice thick, “Go.” She did and he followed behind her, backing up, glaring at the Piri who tried to follow him. They were right behind, never letting up, waiting for him to let down his guard for even a split instant so that they could overwhelm him.
Karsen had still not entered the Truller car, instead standing there brandishing the Minosaur horn. Zerena backed up until she was by his side. “I can’t believe—” he started to say.
“Get in the car,” she said.
“You first, Mother.”
She looked at him in angry astonishment. “Oh my gods. When are you going to learn that—ahhhh!!” That last came because Karsen had dropped the horn, grabbed his mother bodily, and heaved her in. She landed with a heavy thud, startling Rafe Kestor who was still a bit vague on how he had wound up in the vehicle in the first place. Karsen leaped in right after her and then shouted, “Mingo! Come on!”
The car lurched, and Eutok staggered. “I’m losing my grip on it!” His huge feet skidded once, twice, and suddenly the Truller yanked clear of him. It started to roll, building up speed with every second.
Eutok fell backwards and suddenly he was lifted in the air. Mingo had him, having slung him under his arm, and he was now in full charge. The Truller was speeding up, and so was Mingo, but the car was quicker.
Mingo leaped.
He slammed into the back of the Truller car and Eutok fell head first into the vehicle. Mingo tried to hold on, but his massive hand slipped off, and he started to fall.
Karsen lunged and grabbed the nearest thing he could get a grip on: Mingo’s left horn. Then Zerena was beside him and she snared the right one. The car was speeding up and Mingo was being dragged along behind it.
“This…isn’t…helping…” Mingo said, his voice strangled, in imminent danger of being decapitated. Behind them, the Piri were charging, screaming in fury, their hands outstretched.
Then Eutok reached over, grabbing Mingo under the right arm and pulling as hard as he could. It was just enough leverage for the Minosaur to get purchase, and just before the car accelerated to the point of no return, the three of them hauled him into the Truller.
“Were you trying to tear my head off?” he said, still rasping as he touched his throat. He pulled down on his skull as if he needed to shove it back into position.
“At least you’re here,” said Karsen and suddenly he yelped as a hand cuffed him in the side of the head. “Mother!”
“I warned you,” began Zerena. “I warned you that—”
Karsen punched her. He did so with no hesitation and full strength. It caught Zerena completely by surprise. There was a loud crack and blood began to pour from her nose and upper lip as she fell to the floor of the Truller, which was continuing to build up speed. Eutok had scrambled forward and seized control of the vehicle lest its velocity overtake it and the Truller go hurtling clear off its track.
Zerena’s eyes were wide as she sat there, her hand over the lower part of her face. She started to speak but instead choked on some of her own blood.
“It’s not going to go back to the way it was, Mother,” he said heatedly. “You made your opinion on Jepp, on me, on all of it, very clear. And I’m not going to listen to it anymore. I don’t know why you’re here—”
“Neither do I!” Zerena managed to say.
He shook his head, not understanding. “What do you—?” He looked to Mingo, who still seemed somewhat disgruntled over nearly being decapitated. “What is she talking about?”
“Gods as our witness, Karsen, I am not quite certain how we came to be here,” said Mingo.
“How can you not be certain?”
“I…” He paused, trying to pull his thoughts together. “I remember that we tried to follow you. I remember that the jumpcar gave out. Then I remember it starting up again, and we tracked you all the way to Porto.”
“But how is that possible?”
“It’s not,” said Gant, speaking with the voice of the Piri. “It is not possible.”
“But if you remember—?”
“I did not say we did it,” said Mingo. “I said I remember it. I remember it as if from…”
“From what?”
“As if from someone’s mind other than my own.”
“That makes no sense.”
“Yes,” Zerena now said, sitting up in the Truller. “It makes no sense. But the way he describes it is exactly the way it is in my own head.”
“No specifics,” said Mingo. “No recollections of details. I don’t recall stopping along the way, eating, sleeping, anything. Like a waking dream, we started in one place and wound up in another, and the rest is a blur.”
“But that makes—”
“No sense, yes, we’ve established that,” said Mingo.
The Truller car lurched, causing everyone within to tumble to the floor, except for Eutok at the controls and Rafe who was keeping himself upright with his tail. The howls of the infuriated Piri were receding to nothing but faint echoes.
“You don’t understand anything,” said Zerena. Using a cloth from her bag, she was stanching the bleeding. “We are being used. You. Me. All of us.”
“Used?”
“By her. By that…Jepp. And try to strike me for saying that when I’m actually on my guard this time, it will turn out very differently, I assure you.”
“So!” said Rafe Kestor in his typical stentorian fashion, which was actually necessary in this instance since the roar of Truller car made it difficult for anything else to be heard. “Where are we going?”
“The Spires,” said Karsen.
“The Spires.” Zerena looked at the others. “Where the Travelers and the Overseer roam, and certain death awaits us? Because that’s where the Mort has been taken?”
“That’s right.”
“Certain death!” Rafe looked positively transcendent in his joy. “It does not get more exciting than that!”
“The way things have been going,” said Eutok, “I wouldn’t bet on that.”
firedraque hall, Perriz
“I miss them,” said Kerda. “Why did you let them go?”
Clarinda was in her quarters, which was where she typically was during daylight hours. Cloaked and hooded, she had learned to adapt to and survive the harsh sun, but she still far preferred to remain indoors while the irritating orb hung in the sky. She had been paging slowly through a Mort book, wishing that there was some way for her to decode the odd little scribbles across the pages. Now she looked up from it as Kerda stood in the doorway, or more accurately bent nearly in half so that she could be visible through it.
“Them?” Clarinda said blankly. Then she realized. “Oh. Of course. Berola and Turkin.”
“Why did you let them go?”
“I did not ‘let them.’ I presented them w
ith an opportunity to follow their hearts, and they made their own choices.”
“They could very well be in danger.”
“They very well could be. On the other hand, danger can present itself anywhere you go, so—”
Suddenly they heard the pounding of feet coming toward them. Reacting instantly, Kerda practically bent herself in half in order to shove her way completely into Clarinda’s chambers. “Get back!” she ordered, and even though she was young, there was unmistakable authority in her voice. Clarinda instantly obeyed her, positioning herself so that the Ocular was between her and whoever was heading their way. She could take an educated guess who it was.
As it turned out, she was correct.
Evanna appeared at the doorway, and there were several Mandraques backing her up. Clarinda recognized one of the Mandraques as having been there with Arren the night that they had first tried to enter Perriz. “Where is he?” Evanna said without preamble.
“Get out of here,” said Kerda. She had her arms spread to either side, blocking any possible avenue of access to Clarinda.
“Where is he!”
“Get out of here!”
“Where is he?!”
“Get out of here!”
“I beg the pardons of all concerned,” said Clarinda. “But I think we can all agree that this conversation is getting us nowhere. Perhaps matters can progress if you’d be more specific as to the ‘he’ you seem to have misplaced.”
Evanna pointed at her accusingly. “You,” she said, “have abused the laws of hospitality.”
“I already apologized for breaking that glass the other day. In my defense, it was already cracked.”
“Not that! You know it’s not that!”
“If I do, it’s certainly no thanks to you,” said Clarinda.
“Arren Kinklash.”
Clarinda tilted her head. “Are you introducing yourself? Because I could have sworn you had a different name.”
“Do not play games with me. Where is Arren Kinklash?”
“How would I know that?”
“Because Xeri told me that you and two other Ocular led him away into the sewers.”
“Oh.” Clarinda’s jaw twitched. “Yes, well…that would be one way. Why, may I ask, did he tell you that?”
“Because I’m not stupid,” said Evanna. “Because I saw the Ocular walking around with these…” She gestured toward her own face. “These visors, which I very much suspect that only Xeri could have fashioned! And suddenly I receive word that Kinklash has vanished, apparently right out from under our very noses! And the two oldest Ocular appear to be missing. So I confronted Xeri about it. He managed to hold up under questioning a whole two minutes before he told me exactly what happened.”
“Xeri, if I remember correctly, is your intended mate. I can see the attraction. Easily controlled and pushed around. Someone who is as controlling as you—”
Evanna had heard all she cared to. “How dare you interfere in Firedraque policies and Firedraque internal business!”
“I don’t give a damn about your internal business,” Clarinda said, allowing a tint of anger to creep into her voice. “The laws of hospitality don’t require me to help you keep order in your own house. Kinklash came to me and sought release from someone who was holding him in an oppressive grip. That is something with which I have some familiarity. He came to me with an offer and two of my Ocular decided to take him up on it. I lent him my assistance.”
“You had no right—”
“To what? To help a dedicated brother endeavor to aid his sister? You, who haven’t the slightest interest in helping your own father, dare to lecture me?”
“Do you think I don’t want to help my father? Is that what you truly think?”
“You haven’t done a damned thing to prove it.”
“I don’t have to prove it. Not to you, not to anyone.” Evanna took a step toward her and Kerda struck an even more defensive posture, if that was possible. “If there is one thing my father taught me, it’s that there is an order to the world. And that order flows from the Overseer, and the Travelers are the symbol of the Overseer’s authority! The Zeffer no doubt was acting on the Travelers’ behalf, and I have no right to question it.”
“You are wrong,” Clarinda said. “You have a brain. You have intelligence. The fact that you possess those means that you have not only the right, but the responsibility. If you’ve decided to abrogate that responsibility, that is none of my concern. You cannot control the world, Evanna.”
“I’m not trying to control the world! Just my own little piece of it!”
“Evanna!”
It was Xeri. His voice echoed down the hallway and they could hear the sound of his running feet.“Evanna!” he shouted again.
She looked momentarily chagrined and then rallied. “Xeri!” she yelled. “I ordered you to remain in your chambers until I—”
Guided by her voice, Xeri was at the doorway. The Mandraques barred his progress, but he didn’t appear to notice them. “Evanna—”
She put up a hand preemptive hand. “There is plenty of time for apologies later, Xeri. Now we must attend to—”
“We are under attack!”
Evanna stood there, stunned. She could scarcely process what he was saying. “What?”
“We are under attack! We—”
That was when she heard it. From outside there were sounds that at first could have been mistaken for thunder, but then she realized was a building toppling. The windows in the small chamber rattled. “Who—?”
“Mandraques! Mandraques under the command of Thulsa of the Odomo House! And he has…he has…”
“He has what? Large weapons? A limited amount of time to live once I get my hands on him?”
Another thunderous noise shook the hall to its very foundations. Barely able to speak above a whisper, Xeri said, “Zeffers.”
“Zeffers? Are you sure?”
“Who could possibly mistake Zeffers for anything else?”
“They’ve taken over Zeffers?”
He shook his head. “The Serabim are fighting alongside them.”
Evanna had no idea what to say, no idea what to do. It was only at that moment that she remembered that the three Mandraques who had accompanied her were of the Odomo house. They were looking at each other uncertainly, and then—without having to say a word—they came to a mutual decision. They yanked their swords from their belts and shouted as one, “For Odomo!” One swung his sword straight at Xeri, who avoided the thrust by the simple expedient of falling backwards, startled.
Evanna stood there, paralyzed. She could have spit fire at them, but every muscle in her body had locked up. The Mandraques turned their attention from Xeri to Evanna and came right at her.
They did not get within five feet of her. That was because Kerda’s arm reach was six feet.
Without hesitation she drove a fist forward, and it struck with such impact that it caved in the chest of the nearest Mandraque. He went down, gasping, his lungs filling with blood. Realizing their jeopardy, the remaining two Mandraques approached her with greater caution, trying to figure the best way to come at her.
With a roar, Clarinda came straight at the one on the right. His attention distracted, the Mandraque only noticed her at the last moment. He brought his sword around but she ducked under it and an instant later was upon him.
It was a joyous moment. Clarinda had resigned herself to the fact that, for as long as she resided in Perriz—which might well be forever—she would never again be able to know the joy of savoring the blood of anything other than animals. Now, though, she was under attack, and she was quite certain she wouldn’t have to worry about Evanna gainsaying her. She didn’t just sink her fangs into the Mandraque’s throat; instead she clamped down and tore it out. Blood gushed from the gaping wound. The Mandraque tried to shriek but his vocal cords were already gone; Clarinda was spitting them out onto the floor. He tried to bring his sword up, but it was already slipping f
rom his numb fingers. With a cry of undiluted joy, Clarinda drank deeply from the Mandraque as if she were a parched person coming upon a geyser in the middle of the desert.
The entire attack took scant seconds. Usually when Clarinda drank, it was from something small and pathetic, some rodent that she drained slowly because food was not always plentiful and she had to make it last. Here, in the heat of combat, fighting for her own life and caught up in the blood lust, Clarinda drained him in no time. He tumbled to the floor and she rode him all the way down, finishing the last of him while on her knees. Then she looked up, her eyes blazing, her lips drawn back, blood dripping from her lips.
“And you…?” she said to the remaining Mandraque.
He needed no urging. The Mandraque turned and ran.
Slowly she got to her feet, new strength flowing through her veins. Then she saw the appalled look on Evanna’s face, on Kerda’s face. For a moment the look she was receiving from the latter was enough to make her feel ashamed. But then she drew herself up, squared her shoulders. “This is what I am. This is who I am. If you have a problem with it, then now is the time to say something.”
Kerda, with effort, shook her head.
She turned to Evanna. “So…controlling your own little piece of the world. How is that working out for you, Evanna?”
For once in her life, Evanna had nothing to say.
the lower reaches of suislan
I.
The castle in which Pavan was being held had been fairly quiet of late. The majority of the Mandraques had departed, including the officious Thulsa Odomo. The Mandraques who had been assigned to guard him were still present: the one outside the door, and those who were outside the window of his imprisonment. There was always the chance that he could leap down upon them, overwhelm them, go running off. But he remained a pacifist at heart. It was the aspect of his personality that made him fit to be a Keeper, and useless in a combat situation.
He suspected he knew the reason for their departure. They were embarking on their mad quest against the Firedraques.
On the one hand, he was appalled by their actions. Their willingness to take such an insane risk against the status quo of the world as they knew it to be.