by Ben Chandler
And the twins knew that he meant the Totem and the Jinn, and that he was using their True Names, the names given to them by the gods in the language of the gods.
But Kanu hadn’t finished, And the Kidal and the Shigal and the Marduk were but buds on the World Tree.
He was speaking of the Bestia and the Lilim and of humanity.
And Mashu was but a promise of the gods.
The Clemens twins pulled free of Kanu’s hold. He let them go. They floated above the cavern filled with beings like Kanu. Some were swimming, others reclining on the rock shelves that lined the giant atrium. Some few were weaving together the seaweed their fellows pulled up from the ocean floor. There was calmness all around them, but something inside the twins was frightened. Already they had felt something had changed. They knew that if they followed Kanu any further, something even greater would shift inside them. Maybe it was already too late. The connection between them had grown much stronger. When they returned to their separate bodies something would be lost. They wouldn’t feel whole any more.
But neither Lenis nor Missy could resist the desire to know. To know who they were and what they were. Kanu was the key. He could show them. Hesitantly, they reached out and took a hold of his spirit-self and were whisked through the mountain again.
They passed through solid rock and winding passageways, through chambers and caverns, until finally they reached a door identical to the one that marked the entrance to the temple, though this one was much smaller. Leading up to it was a large hall that Lenis half-remembered. There! He saw a crack in the wall and knew that if they went through there they would come out on a narrow rock shelf you could dock an airship alongside. This was the same place he had come to with Atrum. Only now the hall was not dark. The torches that lined the walls gave off more light than their small flames had a right to. The floor was covered in kneeling forms and each of them held a candle so that there were no shadows in the vestibule.
Kanu didn’t stop. He dragged them straight through the door and into the darkened chamber beyond.
And there was Kanu, standing alone, holding a candle that cast a small ring of illumination, the only source of light in the chamber, making it impossible to see how large it was, or what may be hidden in the darkness. Their spirit-self shivered again.
Then something spoke, and even through the filter of Kanu’s memory, the twins knew that it was a god.
DO YOU UNDERSTAND YOUR TASK, YOUNG SERVANT?
The Kanu in the memory replied, ‘Yes, Great Apsu, God of the Sea. I will wait for Mashu to appear and I will serve him when he comes.’
LONG AFTER YOUR PARENTS HAVE DIED, YOU WILL WAIT. LONG AFTER THE TITANS HAVE PERISHED, YOU WILL WAIT. LONG AFTER THESE HALLS STAND EMPTY, YOU WILL WAIT. PERHAPS EVEN LONG AFTER I HAVE CEASED TO BE, YOU MAY HAVE TO WAIT. DO YOU UNDERSTAND?
The Kanu from long ago held aloft his torch. ‘I understand and obey.’
Something stirred at the edge of the candlelight. As it passed into the circle of light it glinted. The twins saw it was a claw and knew that it belonged to a dragon, though one much older and larger than Apsilla had ever been. This was Apsu, who was also known as Rinjin and Njord and many other names besides. This was one of the Firstborn, a True Dragon, a Caelestia, the God of the Sea, and that made him Ishullanu’s brother.
But who are the Titans? Lenis demanded. What is Mashu? What is it you have waited for all these years?
You are Mashu, Kanu replied calmly. I have waited for you.
But why? the twins asked together.
To serve you.
Lenis blinked and was back in his own body. He felt dizzy. His head was still blocked up from his cold, which only made things worse. Kanu was standing in front of them, smiling as only the truly content can smile. Missy was still holding Lenis’s hand. He pulled his own away. Something between them snapped, but he didn’t want to think about that. He had so quickly adjusted to feeling and thinking things with her, to being joined with her. Now he was alone again. They were separate. It left him with the vague impression that a part of him was missing. He didn’t like it at all.
‘I still don’t understand,’ Missy mumbled. She sounded miserable. A moment later Lenis realised that she was miserable. Whatever he felt at their disconnection, she felt it too.
‘I don’t either.’ Lenis found their gloves by his feet and bent to retrieve them. ‘I was convinced he’d have some answers. I thought he would know.’
‘Know what?’ Kanu asked in flawless common tongue.
Lenis and Missy stared at him.
‘You can speak the common tongue?’ Missy asked.
‘You taught me.’ He didn’t even have an accent.
‘Do you know anything else about us?’ Lenis asked slowly. At any moment he half expected Kanu to vanish right in front of their eyes. He seemed unreal, like a phantom conjured up by the fog of the Wastelands.
‘You are Mashu,’ Kanu said.
Lenis fought back his anger. ‘But what does that mean?’
Kanu cocked his head to one side. ‘Mean?’
Missy grabbed her brother’s arm. ‘Lenis, calm down.’
He let out a long breath. ‘Sorry. It’s just frustrating.’
‘I know,’ she said.
‘What are we going to do?’
Missy looked into his eyes, but he couldn’t tell what she was looking for. Perhaps she was trying to see some evidence of their recent connection, or she was trying to confirm to herself that they really were two different people. ‘He says he wants to … help us.’
Lenis knew she was about to say ‘serve us’ but had stopped herself. ‘Help us do what?’
Missy squeezed his arm and then let go. ‘Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten about Ishullanu?’ She knew he hadn’t, of course. She also knew that he didn’t want to think about the Demon King right now. ‘We still need the stones of ebb and flow if we’re going to unlock Suiteki’s power.’
‘So, what? We use Kanu as bait, or did you just want to trade him to Karasu for the stone and be done with it?’
‘No, of course not! I didn’t mean –’
‘Whatever.’ Lenis turned and strode off down the jetty, back towards the artificial shore. ‘I need to be alone.’
He increased his pace until he was almost jogging. Anger roiled inside of him, mixed with an overwhelming frustration. Kanu had been no help at all. He’d only made things even more complicated than they already were. That, and he’d somehow brought the twins together. Thinking about it made Lenis’s skin crawl. They had fused so totally that Lenis hadn’t been Lenis any more. He became a part of whatever it was they were, whatever Mashu was supposed to be. He had thought things with his sister, felt things with her, and he didn’t like it. People weren’t supposed to get that close to one another. It wasn’t natural.
I’m not natural.
He pushed the thought away. He was gifted, that was all. Special. He wasn’t a freak. It was bad enough he’d had to listen to the Demon King’s madness, as if Lenis could trust him anyway! Whatever the gods thought the Clemens twins were, or were supposed to be, they weren’t. It was as simple as that. Maybe they were going to be this Mashu thing, whatever it was, but that wasn’t how things had turned out. Lenis was Lenis, Missy was Missy, and that was that.
Lenis stalked back down the stone road towards the wall of Fronge, glad he had left Suiteki behind when he went to fetch his winter coat. He needed to be alone, to be himself for a while. He wasn’t angry with Missy. That wasn’t it. After all, this wasn’t her fault, but being with her at the moment was the last thing he wanted. He needed to put as much distance between them as possible. Lenis had never feared the connection between them before, never even thought about it really, but now it loomed up like some terrible fate, waiting to dissolve who he was and make him into something the gods wanted him to be.
Lenis liked being himself. He liked the way his mind worked, the way a part of it was always calm and rational, able to mull over complicated problems on its
own. He liked the way he could sense the feelings of others. He didn’t want to give that up and, he suddenly realised, he didn’t want to share it, either. It was what made him unique.
The wall came and went, and Lenis didn’t even notice the guards that let him through. As he emerged on the other side his feet took him to the north, away from the remains of the town, away from the Hiryū. A stiff wind had come up. Lenis bent his head as he walked into it. He entered a stand of trees. The breeze cut off abruptly. He kept walking, head still down, avoiding trees by watching for their roots.
So it was that he nearly ran right into Anastasis.
Lenis jumped back. He hadn’t even felt her presence, which meant Disma wasn’t with her, and that was odd. ‘Oh, sorry,’ he stammered. ‘I didn’t see you there.’
The princess said nothing. She just looked at him. Her stare as blank as always, with eyes that never seemed to reflect any light. Her hair lay flat against her skull and may once have been almost yellow but was now so dull it just looked like dirty straw. She was wearing the same dress she always wore, the crimson one with the fancy cuffs, but it was little more than a rag now. It had once been pristine, but Ostian court attire could not long withstand the harsh conditions of airship travel. Lenis had never seen her in anything else. He wondered if she ever washed her clothes. He had been on airships for so long that the smell of unwashed bodies was too familiar to be repulsive, but Anastasis didn’t seem to have a scent. Perhaps she had given that part of herself to her Lilim as well as everything else.
Well, almost everything else.
‘There is now no reason to return directly to Asheim, the captain has said.’ The princess’s grasp of the common tongue was almost perfect, but sometimes her phrasing was a little odd, as if she was trying to make what she said fit into the rhythms of her native language.
Her abruptness was a bit of a shock. Lenis had been so wrapped up in his own worries that he had forgotten Anastasis only cared about one thing – killing Lord Butin. It was the one aspect of herself she had not given to Disma in exchange for the Lilim’s power.
‘We were only going there to pick up Karasu’s trail,’ Lenis told her, his desire to be alone greater than ever. Talking with the princess always made him uncomfortable. He could feel just how empty she was, and she only ever said things that related to her single-minded desire. It was even worse when Disma was near, and he could feel the connection between them. It reminded him too keenly of the strange connection he had just shared with his sister, each half having to give something up in order to form the bond. ‘We know where Karasu is now, and we know what he wants … sort of.’
‘Butin is in Asheim.’
Lenis sighed. ‘Yes.’ He lowered his head again and tried to walk past her.
She barred his way. ‘The captain promised me he would help me kill Butin if I gave you the dragon’s egg.’ There was no accusation in her voice, no emotion of any kind, but underlying it all was the single, pure desire for vengeance.
‘Where’s Disma?’ Lenis asked. As unnerving as it was to have the Lilim around, she could usually keep Anastasis quiet.
‘She is with the captain. They are talking about going north. Asheim is to the –’
Lenis’s impatience gave way to his anger. ‘Look, I don’t care about Butin. Nobody does! We’ve got more important things to worry about. Listen to yourself! “I want to kill Butin. I want to kill Butin.” We get it, okay? Just shut up! You’re not even a real person any more. You’re no better than a Demon!’
The princess flinched, ever so slightly. It was the barest tensing of muscles, so faint Lenis almost missed it. If Anastasis had been normal, had been filled with the usual whirling of human emotions, Lenis probably wouldn’t have noticed the slight spark that ignited somewhere deep inside her. It lasted only briefly, to be drowned out by the strident chord of hatred she kept curled within, but it had been there, he was sure of it. Even in its brevity it had been intense, some profound fury so innate it had flared up when Lenis had snapped at her. She was a princess, after all, used to getting her own way, and here was an airship’s boy, a former slave, trying to tell her what to do.
‘Just leave me alone,’ Lenis muttered, the vehemence gone from his voice. As extreme as Anastasis’s response had been, it was short-lived and buried far too deep. Lenis had troubles enough of his own without worrying about a spoilt Ostian princess, one who had willingly given up so much of herself in the pursuit of power. He pushed past her and continued on his way.
Missy watched her brother go, stung by his rejection. Kanu remained silent. His presence unnerved Missy. He had witnessed what had happened between the twins, had perhaps even caused it and its aftermath. Lenis had spurned their connection. Missy became aware of the cold biting her hand. She slipped her glove back on and flexed her fingers. As her brother disappeared from view she was left all but alone to contemplate what had just happened.
It had felt so natural at the time, just like when they had joined to take control of Raikō, but now that she was back in her own body she felt wretched, raw, as if her spirit-self had been wrung out, stretched thin, pulled apart. She didn’t seem to sit right in her own body. She had to get her mind off it, so she focused instead on the strange boy standing beside her.
‘Kanu.’ Her voice sounded strange to her own ears. ‘Do you know what that man, Karasu, was doing in the temple?’
‘No,’ he replied. ‘He tried to hurt Mashu.’
Missy sighed. ‘He did. You stopped him.’
Kanu grinned as he nodded. His mouth extended a little wider than a normal human’s. ‘I will protect Mashu. I will serve Mashu.’
‘Thank you for helping Lenis, but you don’t have to serve anybody.’ Missy wondered again what Kanu was. He wasn’t human, or Totem, or Jinn, or Bestia, or Lilim, or anything else she knew about. He had once served the sea god, Apsu, and now he served the Clemens twins. The thought made her head spin. For some reason the god of the sea had charged Kanu with serving the Clemens twins. There was no way to know how long ago that was or how long Kanu had been trapped in that pillar of ice. What did Karasu want with him? More disturbing, how had the mercenary known he was there?
Kanu drew his heavy brows together. ‘I am a Titan. I will serve Mashu.’
Missy sighed. How was she supposed to respond to that? ‘Come on, Kanu. The captain will probably want to speak with you now that you can … um … talk back.’
Kanu nodded and fell into step behind Missy as she made her way back down the jetty. It felt odd, having him follow along behind her. She kept craning her neck to look at him.
Eventually, she snapped, ‘Why don’t you walk next to me?’
‘I will.’ Kanu obeyed as though Missy had given him a direct order, which only made her feel worse. It was the town square all over again. She didn’t want to tell people what to do. What right did she have to order anyone around? The fact that Kanu seemed perfectly happy to follow her commands made her feel no better. She had seen slaves like that back in Pure Land. She had been a slave too, eager to please, to prove she was worth something. No, not just something. To show them all that she was worth more than they had paid for her. She didn’t like being reminded of that, and she hated that someone was acting that way towards her, as if she were no better than a slave owner. Nothing had gone right since she had seen that smoke!
As they approached the gate Missy saw Heidi leaning against the stone wall, clearly waiting for her. She didn’t want to deal with the Heiliglander just now, but she knew she couldn’t put it off. Missy needed to make sure she hadn’t harmed Heidi when she helped bolster her mental defences, and there was also the question of whether or not Heidi would want her assistance taking them down. Missy had promised to help her however she could. Maybe this was all she could do for her.
The guards averted their eyes as Missy walked through and Heidi fell into step beside her. At least the girl hadn’t told everyone the truth about Missy not being Magni yet. That was somethin
g else Missy would have to deal with eventually, but the longer that was put off the better.
For a long time the three walked in silence. Kanu seemed perfectly content with it, but Missy grew increasingly agitated. How was she going to explain to Heidi what she’d done inside the girl’s mind? Would she understand what Missy had done to her? Missy didn’t even really know herself. She’d always considered her telepathy to be a tool for communication, but hadn’t she used it to coerce those people in the square? Maybe that had nothing to do with the Quillblade after all. Perhaps it was a part of her gift to make people do things. Missy shuddered inside her thick clothing. That wasn’t the sort of power she wanted.
‘You can’t keep moping around like that,’ Heidi suddenly whispered.
Missy stopped in her tracks. ‘What?’
‘You don’t look or act anything like a god, much less the great Magni. If you’re going to convince anyone you’re the Lightning-Wielder you’re going to have to do a better job of it. I was able to figure it out fairly quickly. The others will too if you aren’t careful.’
Missy was stunned. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Heidi was actually encouraging her to trick her own people into believing Missy’s lie! But why?
‘I said stop that!’ Heidi chided. ‘You think Magni would stand around in the middle of the road with her mouth gaping open like that? You’re supposed to be a goddess of war!’ Missy clamped her mouth shut. ‘That’s a bit better.’
‘What are you talking about?’ Missy whispered, fearful someone would come by and overhear them.
Heidi looked at her for a long moment. ‘There’s this war coming with the Demons, right?’
Missy wracked her memory. Had she told Heidi that? Yes, she’d told her all about Ishullanu and his plans for the Demons. ‘That’s right.’
‘And Karasu is working for the Demon King? That’s what you said.’
Now Missy was really confused. Had she really? She couldn’t recall. All she knew was that she had tried to tell Heidi about the Hiryū’s voyage, and that she had been too tired to really pay attention to her own story. Had she somehow implied that Karasu and Ishullanu were connected?