Rebellion: Tainted Realm: Book 2

by Ian Irvine

  That could not be allowed.

  Wil was going to make the Engine take charge.

  Sobbing with terror, he lurched down the Hellish Conduit, going further than he had ever been before. He was carrying a platina bucket full of the purest form of alkoyl, a substance so rare and valuable that he could have bought half of Hightspall with it.

  Wil went further than anyone had ever been. Right to the terror of the Engine he went, until his skin blistered like a roast chicken from the heat and the infernal radiance. But he felt no pain, only ecstasy.

  He climbed up on top, his feet charring, and poured alkoyl in the one place where it should never go. Right into the works of the Engine at the heart of the world.

  CHAPTER 113

  The dreadful hour had come. Before Rix led his army out to an impossible battle, he had to do his tragic duty to a friend.

  Tali and Rix slipped out of the chaos of the war tent and went up the hill, then down the other side to the outbuilding where Tobry was chained. Rix dismissed the guards, who were glad to go – even to bloody war.

  Tali took hold of the left-hand set of chains, and Rix the right, and they led the hopelessly mad shifter that had once been Tobry Lagger out for a last look at the land he had loved.

  They took him further down the hill, heading away from the battle plain to a chuckling, pebbly-bottomed stream. Despite the season there was a scattering of wildflowers across the meadow by the water and, in the distance, a view of snowy mountains. By the big trees and the sweet water, they stopped and chained Tobry to the trunk of the largest tree.

  “He was a dreadful cynic,” said Rix. “He mocked every convention, and everything I ever believed in. But it was just an expression of his pain at losing the house and the family that had been everything to him. I know that now.”

  “He took me to the Honouring Ball,” said Tali, “and though I couldn’t dance a step, in his arms I was the queen of the ball.”

  They bowed to their ruined friend. Momentarily, the shifter’s eyes – Tobry’s eyes – shone with love and regret. For a few seconds he was a noble man again, not a rabid beast.

  Tali’s own eyes burned, but she could not weep, and the moment passed. He was a beast again, snarling and slavering. And she was just meat that he could not reach.

  She opened Tobry’s shirt down the front, baring his chest and belly. Rix prepared the brazier and laid the packet of powdered lead beside it. Burning the twin livers on a fire fuelled with powdered lead was the one sure way to kill a caitsthe.

  “Now?” said Rix.

  “Now,” said Tali.

  He embraced her. She clung desperately to him, as old friends do. In her right hand she held the disembowelling knife. Her eyes drifted to the brazier. Burning Tobry’s livers would rob her of her life’s greatest joy and worst pain in the same moment.

  Rix shook his head in grief, then raised his sword and prepared to strike. Only now did he realise the truth of the mural he had painted in the vault below Palace Ricinus, eleven weeks and a full lifetime ago.

  CHAPTER 113

  The dreadful hour had come. Before Rix led his army out to an impossible battle, he had to do his tragic duty to a friend.

  Tali and Rix slipped out of the chaos of the war tent and went up the hill, then down the other side to the outbuilding where Tobry was chained. Rix dismissed the guards, who were glad to go – even to bloody war.

  Tali took hold of the left-hand set of chains, and Rix the right, and they led the hopelessly mad shifter that had once been Tobry Lagger out for a last look at the land he had loved.

  They took him further down the hill, heading away from the battle plain to a chuckling, pebbly-bottomed stream. Despite the season there was a scattering of wildflowers across the meadow by the water and, in the distance, a view of snowy mountains. By the big trees and the sweet water, they stopped and chained Tobry to the trunk of the largest tree.

  “He was a dreadful cynic,” said Rix. “He mocked every convention, and everything I ever believed in. But it was just an expression of his pain at losing the house and the family that had been everything to him. I know that now.”

  “He took me to the Honouring Ball,” said Tali, “and though I couldn’t dance a step, in his arms I was the queen of the ball.”

  They bowed to their ruined friend. Momentarily, the shifter’s eyes – Tobry’s eyes – shone with love and regret. For a few seconds he was a noble man again, not a rabid beast.

  Tali’s own eyes burned, but she could not weep, and the moment passed. He was a beast again, snarling and slavering. And she was just meat that he could not reach.

  She opened Tobry’s shirt down the front, baring his chest and belly. Rix prepared the brazier and laid the packet of powdered lead beside it. Burning the twin livers on a fire fuelled with powdered lead was the one sure way to kill a caitsthe.

  “Now?” said Rix.

  “Now,” said Tali.

  He embraced her. She clung desperately to him, as old friends do. In her right hand she held the disembowelling knife. Her eyes drifted to the brazier. Burning Tobry’s livers would rob her of her life’s greatest joy and worst pain in the same moment.

  Rix shook his head in grief, then raised his sword and prepared to strike. Only now did he realise the truth of the mural he had painted in the vault below Palace Ricinus, eleven weeks and a full lifetime ago.

  GLOSSARY

  Abysm: The conduit down which Cythonian souls are believed to pass after death. It exists in several places at once in Hightspall.

  Acidulator: A perilous piece of alchymical equipment in which powerful acids are boiled.

  Aditty: A little old miner.

  Alkoyl: A deadly alchymical fluid used for a myriad of purposes by the Cythonians. It will dissolve anything, even stone and flesh. Said to be wept by the Engine.

  Ancestor Gallery: Spirit versions of the 106 most important kings and ruling queens of old Cythe, recreated by Lyf as advisors, though they’re more prone to lecture and hector him.

  Arkyz Leatherhead: A gigantic, murderous bandit whose gang of thugs has been terrorising the Nandeloch Mountains for a decade. After the war begins, he seizes Garramide.

  Astatin: A witch-woman in Garramide.

  Banj: Tali’s overseer when she was a slave in Cython. She killed him during her escape, with an uncontrollable blast of magery.

  Bedderlees: A local lord who agrees to help Rix in the raid on Jadgery.

  Benn: Glynnie’s little brother, aged ten.

  Blathy: Leatherhead’s mistress, a bold and dominating woman who is willing to risk all on a bluff. Blathy is also vengeful and malicious.

  Bledd: The capital of Bleddimire.

  Bleddimire: The wealthy north-western peninsula of Hightspall.

  Bloody Herrie: An angry shade, one of Lyf’s ancestor gallery.

  Bombast: A barrel-shaped explosive weapon hurled by a catapult.

  Bondy, Lord: The lord of Castle Swire.

  Caitsthe: The most powerful and savage of all shifters, a cat or cat-man, seven feet tall, which can heal wounds quickly by partial shifting. The one sure way to kill a caitsthe is by burning its twin livers on a fire fuelled with powdered lead.

  Carr of Caldees: A provincial leader at the peace conference.

  Castle Rebroff: The strongest fortress north of Lake Fumerous, held by Lyf’s greatest general, Rochlis.

  Caulderon: The capital city of Hightspall, on the south-eastern shore of Lake Fumerous. Caulderon was built on the site of the Cythian city of Lucidand, which the Hightspallers largely tore down.

  Caverns, the: The uncanny chambers deep below Precipitous Crag where Lyf’s wrythen dwelt and plotted for almost two thousand years after his death.

  Cellar/Murder Cellar: A skull-shaped chamber deep beneath Palace Ricinus where Tali’s ancestors were killed for their ebony pearls. In ancient times it had been the Cythian kings’ private temple but it was defiled by Grandys’ treachery there, and his assault and abduction of King L
yf.

  Chancellor, the: The leader of Hightspall, a small, twisted, cunning man. After ordering Tobry hurled off the tower to his death, and Rix’s right hand severed, the chancellor fled Caulderon when it fell to the enemy, with a small band of retainers. He took Tali and Rannilt with them, for their healing blood.

  Chuck-lash: A chymical device like a thick bootlace. When thrown at someone, it explodes against the skin leaving a burned wound like a whip lash. Heavier versions, such as death-lashes, can blast a limb off, or kill outright.

  Chymical or Alchymical Art: An art practised with considerable mastery by the Cythonians, lately used to create many new kinds of weapons of war.

  Chymical Level: The secret level below the main level of Cython, where the enemy practise alchymical arts and build weapons of war.

  Clangours: A sound-based alarm system in Cython, in which bell tones are carried throughout the underground city by a series of pipes.

  Command: A powerful compulsion spell.

  Crebb: A black-bearded thug who attacks Tali and Holm on the south coast.

  Cythe: The name of the Cythians’ island realm in ancient times.

  Cythian: Pertaining to Cythe, the name of the land and the kingdom in ancient times.

  Cython: The underground city of the Cythonians. After losing the Two Hundred and Fifty Years War, some of the surviving Cythians went into the mines of Cythe fifteen hundred years ago and built a great city there. Cython lies under part of the Seethings, a thermal wasteland.

  Cythonian: Pertaining to Cython; also, the people of Cython.

  Deadhand: Rixium Ricinus.

  Degradoes: The Cythians who survived the Two Hundred and Fifty Years War were herded into filthy camps, and became known as degradoes. Several hundred years later Hightspall burned the camps and the degradoes were killed, save for a group of innocent children who disappeared underground, led by three matriarchs, who founded Cython following the instructions set down by Lyf in the Books of the Solaces.

  Deroe: A magian possessed by Lyf’s wrythen over a hundred years ago and used by him to cut out the first ebony pearl. Deroe subsequently rebelled and stole the next three pearls. He was killed by Lyf in Vengeance.

  Dibly, Madam: An aged healer, tasked with drawing Tali’s healing blood.

  Droag: A lazy guard at Garramide.

  Elbrot: A focus used by magians, an elbrot is often in the form of a swirling pattern cut from wood or cast in metal.

  Empound: The Pale’s living quarters in Cython.

  Engine, the: At the lower end of the Hellish Conduit, in the deep heart of the land, Cythonians believe that a great subterranean Engine powers the workings of the land itself, causing volcanic eruptions, earthquakes and other phenomena. The Engine has to be kept in balance by the king’s healing magery, but since king-magery was lost on Lyf’s death two thousand years ago, the land has not been healed and the Engine is increasingly out of balance.

  Errek First-King: The first known king of Cythe; the legendary inventor of king-magery. Lyf has recreated a spirit version of Errek, to advise him.

  Facinore: A vicious shifter-beast created by Lyf, and subsequently cannibalised to give him a body again, so he would be able to leave his caverns and take charge of the war.

  First Fleet: The original fleet that came from ancestral Thanneron to Cythe, two thousand years ago, bearing the Hightspallers (and some Herovians, including those later known as the Five Heroes). Three more fleets came, though the Third or Herovian Fleet was wrecked by a storm and only one person out of seven thousand survived, a girl said to be Grandys’ daughter, but actually adopted by him.

  Five Heroes, the: The Five Herovians – Grandys, Syrten, Rufuss, Lirriam and Yulia (later called the Five Heroes) began the war that led to Cythe falling to the Hightspallers, and are credited with founding Hightspall. They all disappeared mysteriously, however. In fact they were hunted down by Lyf’s wrythen, turned to opal, agonisingly, and hurled into the Abysm.

  Floatillery, the: An underground canal running from Cython to the Merchantery Exit, where heatstones and other things were traded with Hightspall.

  Fortress Rutherin: A grim old fortress on the cliff-top above Rutherin, where the chancellor takes refuge after fleeing from Caulderon.

  Garramide: A vast, strong fortress on a high plateau in the Nandeloch Mountains, built by Grandys for his daughter nearly two thousand years ago. Rix’s great-aunt left it to him on her death.

  Gauntlings: Humanoid, winged shifters created by Lyf for spying and for carrying his human spies. Gauntlings are prone to insubordination, vengeful malice and madness.

  Gift, the: Magery.

  Gift, Healing: The ability to heal by the laying on of hands. It’s related to magery, though many people consider it separate from magery. This kind of healing is unrelated to the kind of healing that the kings of Cythe could do, which was a form of magery.

  Glimmering-by-the-Water: An ancient temple site on the southern tip of the Nusidand Peninsula in Lake Fumerous; site of the peace conference.

  Glowstone: A kind of rock, mined in Cython, which emits a feeble bluish glow. Used for lighting in Cython, and elsewhere.

  Glynnie: A young maidservant from Palace Ricinus, aged seventeen. Glynnie begged Rix to allow her and her little brother, Benn, to stay after House Ricinus fell and the chancellor cast out all the house’s servants.

  Grandys, Axil: A great warrior and leader; a brutal and treacherous man who was the first of the Five Heroes and the legendary founder of Hightspall. He betrayed the young King Lyf in his own temple, hacked his feet off then walled him up in the catacombs to die, in an attempt to seize Lyf’s powerful king-magery when he died. Grandys failed and the king-magery was lost, but at the point of death Lyf managed to form himself into a wrythen which existed for two thousand years.

  Grenado: A hand-thrown exploding weapon.

  Grizel: Ugly name the chancellor gives to Tali while she is disguised by his chief magian’s magery.

  Healing blood: Tali’s blood, and perhaps the blood of some other Pale slaves, has the virtue of healing. It can even heal some people who have been turned to shifters, if given soon enough. This virtue may be due to exposure to emanations from heatstone.

  Heatstone: A kind of rock, mined in Cython, which can be used for a myriad of heating purposes. Rebellious male slaves in Cython are condemned to work in the heatstone mine, which soon bakes them to death. Breaking a heatstone can be fatal because of the vast power released. The heatstone deposit is surrounded by a halo of sunstone, and that by a halo of glowstone.

  Hellish Conduit: A winding, exotic passage that leads down from Cython towards the subterranean Engine.

  Herovians, the: A persecuted minority who came to Hightspall on the first fleets, seeking their Promised Realm, two thousand years ago. Due to their fanaticism and brutal excess they fell from power and many now conceal their true heritage.

  Hightspall: The nation founded by the people who came on the First Fleet, after taking Cythe from the Cythians.

  Hillish: One of Lyf’s generals.

  Holm: An oldish man, very clever with his hands, who helps Tali. He uses the alias Kroni.

  Hox: Twin brothers in Garramide; mutineers.

  Hramm: One of Lyf’s generals.

  Ice, the: Ice sheets spreading up from the southern pole, and down from the north, are steadily cutting Hightspall off from the rest of the world. The ice is thought due to the Engine at the heart of the land getting out of balance. Many Hightspallers also believe that the land is rising up against them because of the evil way they took it from the Cythians two thousand years ago.

  Immortal Text, the: The sacred book of the Herovians. It sets out the guiding beliefs of their faith, tells them where to seek the Promised Realm, and how to take it. Other people believe the Immortal Text to be a pernicious, racist tract which should be destroyed.

  Iron Book, the: A book, The Consolation of Vengeance, written by Lyf for his people; the final book thus far of the Sola
ces. He etched the words of the book onto sheet iron pages, using alkoyl. The book’s appearance in Cython was a call to war, though the iron book was not yet complete when Tali stole it from Lyf. It was subsequently stolen by Mad Wil, a blind Cythonian seer and killer who is obsessed by completing the story in the book.

  Iusia (vi Torgrist): Tali’s mother, murdered in front of Tali by Lord and Lady Ricinus for her ebony pearl, at the beginning of Vengeance. They on-sold the pearl to Deroe.

  Jadgery: A town in the lower Nandelochs; the enemy have a garrison there.

  King-Magery: Magery used by the king or ruling queen of Cythe to heal the land or the people. No one else in Cythe was permitted to use magery. King-magery was only passed on to the new king on the death of the old king. But because Lyf died alone and his body was never found, the death rituals could not be enacted, his king-magery was never passed on, and it was lost. King-magery is different from, and far more powerful than, other forms of magery.

  Kroni: An old clock attendant in Fortress Rutherin. Also known as Holm.

  Lady Ricinus: Rix’s late mother, a cold, manipulative woman, obsessed with raising the social position of House Ricinus at any cost. She was executed at the end of Vengeance for high treason, and the murder of Tali’s mother and grandmother for their ebony pearls.

  Lirriam: One of the Five Heroes, a cold, buxom temptress.

  Lizue: A beautiful prisoner in Fortress Rutherin.

  Lord Ricinus: Rix’s father, and lord of House Ricinus, formerly one of the wealthiest and most powerful Houses in Hightspall. A foul drunkard, sick with guilt at the crimes his wife forced him to commit. Executed at the end of Vengeance for high treason and murder.

  Lucidand: The capital city of Cythe, in ancient times.

  Lyf, King Lyf: The eighteen-year-old king of Cythe at the time the first war began. He was betrayed in his own temple by Grandys and the other Heroes, maimed and walled up to die in the catacombs. But after death Lyf’s soul could not pass on, and he used the last of his king-magery to become a wrythen, so as to protect his people and take revenge on the enemy. Later Lyf wrote the Solaces, a series of books which showed his people how to live underground. As a wrythen, he spent the next two thousand years harrying Hightspall, and trying to get his king-magery, and a body, back. He eventually did, partly by using ebony pearls. Then he ordered war against Hightspall.