by Ian Irvine
Had Yalkara also said that? At the time, Maelys had been so shocked at being told that she was pregnant that she hadn’t taken it in. ‘It can’t be. Emberr is the father, and he was a full-blood Charon.’
‘I’ve been studying the mating business for more than two hundred years,’ said Maigraith wearily, ‘and there’s no doubt. But how can it be?’
She thought for a minute or two, while all the people gathered around stared at her. ‘I think I understand – when you and Emberr lay together in the Nightland, the chthonic fire that killed him must have stripped his seed back to its essence – and the essence of all four human species is the one they sprang from in the deeps of time, old human. The child was worth nothing to Yalkara. That’s why she gave up, and it’s no use to me, either. You’re free, Maelys … and I must start again, from the beginning.’
‘Surely it’s time to abandon this fruitless obsession, Grandmother?’ said Tulitine.
‘I never give up,’ Maigraith repeated. She double-clapped her hands and vanished from Morrelune.
That afternoon, after the last of the soldiers’ bodies had been interred in the sump of Mazurhize, the allies gathered at the tables by the Sacred Lake for a final meal. The palace had collapsed and the army was making ready to go down to the garrison at Fadd, under Flangers’s command.
‘Well, Nish,’ said Flydd, when everyone had settled at the table, ‘you swore that oath ten years ago, you fought the God-Emperor all the way, and you’ve prevailed. No one could argue that this is your hour, so what are you going to do about the empire, and your people?’
‘You were right all along,’ said Nish, who had given the matter much thought. ‘The empire can’t be torn down, for civil war would surely follow. But neither am I going to become God-Emperor, or merely a humble emperor.’ He gave Maelys a twisted smile, and went on.
‘For most of my life I’ve yearned for power, authority, and the respect of all who knew me. Yet now I have all those things, what I want most of all is peace and an ordered world, where ordinary people can live their lives as freely as possible. Unfortunately, peace isn’t so easily maintained, and I know nothing about maintaining it.’
‘Nish,’ said Flydd warningly.
Nish held up his hand. ‘I’ve spent most of my life either in the manufactory, in warfare or in prison. I wouldn’t know how to run a household, much less rule an empire. Any of you would do a better job.’
‘Your father was an able administrator, if nothing else,’ said Yulla. ‘He might have been an evil scoundrel, but he knew how to control his empire. You could learn –’
Her words were gall in Nish’s mouth, but she was right. ‘Anything that was good about Father’s empire must be maintained; and all that was evil will be torn down and remade. But not by me.’
‘Nish!’ snapped Flydd.
‘No, Flydd. I’ve had enough of war, empires, dictators and universal rule. The hundred nations of Santhenar should be free to live according to their own laws and customs, rather than having them imposed from above.’
‘You can’t tear down the empire, and you can’t walk away,’ said Yggur.
‘I wasn’t planning to,’ Nish said mildly. ‘I’m going to replace it with something better.’
‘Better!’ cried Flydd. ‘What are you talking about?’
‘I plan to use my authority, as the heir of the God-Emperor and a hero of the wars, to set up a parliamentary council to advise, and constrain, the elected leader of the confederated nations of Santhenar, when Santhenar is ready for such a leader – and it won’t be me. I swore that I would not become my father, and I will not, but neither will I leave Santhenar to anarchy. Yulla, you will advise me as to the permanent members of the council, and what its statutes should be. You’ll be a member, of course – at least for the first term.’
Yulla was playing with another of her crystal specimens, a mass of intergrown golden cubes as shiny as metal. ‘Thank you,’ she said, staring into the distance, and a greedy gleam came and went in her small eyes.
‘Don’t get any ideas about having your monopolies back,’ Nish added, then smiled. ‘At least, not all of them.’ One had to be realistic – it wouldn’t do to try and change the world too quickly. ‘Flydd, you’ll be on the council, of course, so you’ll have to postpone your holiday. I’ll be its head at first, since the people must have continuity of leadership, but my vote will be worth no more than anyone else’s, unless the issue is tied.’
‘Very well,’ said Flydd. ‘I suppose it’s the best I could hope for. It’s good enough, for the moment. But don’t think I’ve given up on you,’ he said darkly.
Nish shrugged. ‘I didn’t expect you would.’
‘You’ll need an interim council,’ said Yggur, ‘to maintain order and authority until the parliamentary council can be established.’
‘And I propose that everyone at this table be on it,’ said Nish. ‘At least, all those who care to.’
‘Thank you,’ said Ryll, who had been sitting silently, head bowed. ‘But this is not our affair and we have our own world to look after. I will see you again before we depart.’
He bowed and turned away, his shoulders hunched. Lyrinx rarely partnered more than once and his grief for Liett might take the rest of his lifetime to fade.
The members of the council were agreed upon: Flydd and Yggur, Yulla and M’lainte, Lilis and Malien, Tulitine and Nish, Chissmoul and Flangers.
‘Maelys?’ said Nish.
She had that faraway look in her eyes again. Maelys shook her head, and he understood that she could think of nothing save going home, and all the work it would take to raise Nifferlin Manor from the ruins. Not even her unused gift for the Art, nor the fact that she was too old to begin learning it, mattered any more.
‘That’s enough,’ said Nish. ‘I’ll take your oaths now. And once the council’s statutes have been agreed, I’ll have them carved into the largest fragment of Morrelune, as a perpetual reminder of what the new realm stands for. Smaller stones will be taken from the palace and also engraved with the statutes. They will be set up in every city, town and village, at the places where the God-Emperor’s wisp-watchers once stood, so the people may know who rules them, and the principles by which they are ruled.
‘And now,’ he added, ‘since I can’t remember when I last had a good night’s sleep, I’m going to bed.’
Maelys was exhausted but, zigzagging back and forth between the anticipation of finally going home and her dread of tomorrow’s farewells, she slept badly and woke late, feeling more tired than when she’d lain down in her blankets.
‘There’s one last thing we must do before we separate,’ said Yggur as Maelys joined everyone at the long table for the last time, for breakfast. ‘A great injustice has been done to two dear friends of mine, Karan and Llian, and it must be righted.’
Maelys’s weariness vanished, for she had often thought about them, and particularly Karan. Maigraith had pursued Karan, too, but relentlessly, and Maelys would forever feel linked to that unknown woman whose life had ended so tragically two hundred years ago.
And why had Yggur, Lilis and Malien, the only people here who had actually known Karan and Llian, grown so angry when their names were mentioned?
‘Dear friends of ours,’ said Malien. ‘I never believed those lies, either. I can’t believe that the scrutators were taken in by them, Flydd.’
‘We obeyed the Chief Scrutator, who took his orders from the Numinator,’ said Flydd. ‘And as I may have mentioned previously,’ he rubbed his scarred and twisted hands, from which most of the flesh had been gouged off decades ago, ‘asking questions was strongly discouraged.’
‘The Numinator decreed that my friends be called Karan Kin-Slayer and Llian the Liar,’ said Yggur, ‘and I believe that to be a vile slur on their names; a terrible injustice. It would please me greatly, Nish, if the first decision of your council was to right that wrong.’
‘The council will be happy to review the matter,’ s
aid Nish, ‘once it has heard all the facts.’
To Maelys, sitting beside him, he sounded overly formal, even a trifle pompous. But then, she reasoned, Nish had never wanted this position, nor had he done anything like it before. What mattered was that he had a good heart; he was bound to grow as leader of the council, in time.
Yggur looked at Flydd. ‘Will you do it, or shall I?’
‘As the only former scrutator here, I believe it’s my responsibility,’ said Flydd. ‘Let’s begin with Llian’s case, since it’s the clearer. The scrutators called him Llian the Liar, the man who corrupted the Histories. His Great Tale was banned, withdrawn and all known copies burned, and a new version was subsequently written. To clear his name, strong evidence will be required that the charges were false.’
‘Llian was a Master Chronicler of the Histories, an honour awarded to few people,’ said Malien, ‘and I knew him as well as anyone still alive. He was an honourable man and a brilliant Teller of the Great Tales, though,’ she added wryly, ‘he was pretty useless at practical matters. He had a head full of stories.’
‘He got better in the end,’ said Yggur. ‘He was willing to learn, unlike some others.’
‘And Llian loved the Histories for their truth,’ Malien went on. ‘When it came to writing the chronicles of the times, or crafting the tale that he hoped would become a Great Tale, he was scrupulous – Llian would permit no relevant omission, no exaggeration and, absolutely, not the least hint of falsehood. Besides,’ Malien said, fixing Flydd with a cold eye, ‘his tale was read by everyone who survived the Time of the Mirror, including myself and Yggur, and no one found any fault with it.’
‘Do you agree with these statements, Yggur?’ said Flydd.
‘I do.’
‘In that case, we must accept them as truth,’ said Flydd.
‘You weren’t so accepting when the matter was first raised,’ Maelys said mildly. ‘I recall you getting angry with Colm and pompously standing on your scrutatorly dignity.’
‘So I did,’ grinned Flydd, ‘but the renewed me wasn’t as clear-headed as I am –’
‘What does Colm have to do with them?’ said Persia. ‘Wasn’t he the fellow who went over to the enemy?’
‘He was,’ said Maelys, remembering the good times and the bad with him, ‘and he drowned in the flood on the Range of Ruin. Poor Colm. He was a descendant of Karan’s cousin,’ she said to Malien, ‘and heir to her estate, or would have been, had it not been for the war. He was bitter about his loss, and about the stains on Karan’s and Llian’s names.’
‘As I was saying,’ said Flydd, ‘Maigraith – when she was the Numinator – ordered that Llian be called “the Liar” so as to take revenge on Karan, though this was long after her death.’
‘Where did you hear that?’ said Malien.
‘It was in the Tower of a Thousand Steps,’ said Maelys, ‘though Maigraith didn’t actually admit it.’
‘She didn’t bother to deny the accusation,’ said Yggur. ‘And she definitely gave the order to Chief Scrutator Ghorr, didn’t she?’
‘No question about it,’ said Flydd. ‘And that’s all I know about the matter.’
‘The case seems perfectly clear,’ said Nish. ‘Does the interim council agree to clear Llian’s name?’
‘And have his original Great Tale restored,’ said Yggur.
The council agreed to both.
‘Now, to the matter of Karan Kin-Slayer,’ said Nish, ‘which, from what I know of it, is rather more complicated. I don’t see how we can get at the truth after all this time. What are the facts, Yggur?’
‘After Maigraith’s lover, Rulke, was slain,’ said Yggur, ‘and she found that she was with child, she became obsessed with creating an eternal monument to him, by breeding her triune children and Karan’s to create quartines: that is, children with the blood of all four human species. She hoped that these quartines would have all the strengths and none of the weakness of their progenitors, particularly the Charon, whom she believed to be extinct.’
‘Karan, rightly, would have none of this terrible scheme,’ said Malien, ‘but Maigraith pursued her relentlessly. She kidnapped Karan’s firstborn daughter, Sulien, when she was just thirteen, and gave her to her thuggish son, Rulken, the twin who most resembled his father – in looks, if not in nobility.’
‘Karan managed to steal Sulien back,’ said Yggur, ‘and the family fled Gothryme in secret; they spent more than a year on the run, pursued by Maigraith all that time. They were penniless and hungry, while she was wealthy and powerful by then. She made sure that Llian could never tell again, then destroyed his reputation, and finally Karan could take no more; she was driven out of her mind.’
‘They were hiding in Shazmak at the time,’ said Malien. ‘She hurled her children, then Llian and herself, off the top of a tower into the River Garr, where they all drowned.’
FIFTY-SIX
‘At least, that is the tale,’ said Yggur meaningfully.
‘But is it true?’ said Nish. ‘Or is it falsehood?’
‘Everything is true up to the point of Karan’s madness,’ said Yggur. ‘We all knew it at the time; it was no secret. And Maigraith did not bother to deny it, either. Indeed, at the Tower of a Thousand Steps, she attempted to justify her wickedness on the grounds that Karan had three children and Maigraith only wanted one.’
‘Madness is the curse of blendings and triunes,’ said Flydd thoughtfully. ‘Perhaps Maigraith also lost her wits.’
‘It was an evil, cunning madness if she did,’ said Yggur.
Someone let out a pained grunt from the jumble of rocks behind the table. Maelys jumped, then saw that it was the dwarf, who was covered in dust. He limped towards them, slowly and exhaustedly, as if it had taken him hours to struggle free of the ruins.
‘What are you doing here, Klarm?’ she said.
‘Coming back to my own,’ he said, tentatively.
‘You assume too much, little man,’ snapped Flydd. ‘Treachery is not easily erased –’
‘It wasn’t treachery, since there was nothing left of our alliance to betray. Swearing to Jal-Nish was a mistake, and I’ve paid dearly for it.’
‘Not dearly enough!’
‘Would you think better of me if, after swearing that sacred oath to Jal-Nish, I chose to break it?’
‘Ahem!’ said Nish. ‘That’ll do, Flydd. Since I’ve been pressed into service as leader of this council, I hereby declare my first amnesty. Klarm, your past is wiped clean – under sufferance!’
Klarm bowed a trifle awkwardly, and Maelys saw that his stump was causing him great pain.
‘Thank you, Nish,’ he said. ‘I always knew you were a man of honour.’
‘Don’t push your luck! Getting back to the matter we were debating,’ said Nish, ‘there must have been justification for Karan’s crime, in her own mind at least. Driven beyond endurance and with nowhere else to turn, she may have seen this terrible act as the only way out. We may feel sympathy for her, even understanding but, on this evidence, the council cannot clear her name. If she killed her family, Karan Kin-Slayer she must remain.’
‘How do we know she did?’ said Maelys, feeling for that poor, tormented woman, harassed far more unrelentingly than she, Maelys, had been.
‘It was about fifteen years after the Time of the Mirror, as I recall,’ said Malien. ‘Karan and Llian were still famous, and the news of their deaths even reached me at my lonely eyrie inside Mount Tirthrax, the highest peak in the Three Worlds.’
‘Who witnessed the deaths?’ said Nish.
‘I don’t remember,’ said Yggur.
‘The witnesses weren’t Aachim,’ said Malien. ‘Few of my people had returned to Shazmak by that time.’ She turned to the other end of the table. ‘But Lilis might know.’
‘It was one of the first important matters that dear old Nadiril entrusted to me after I became a fully fledged librarian,’ said Lilis, ‘because I had known Karan and Llian.’
‘And th
e names of the witnesses were?’ asked Nish.
‘Two Whelm, called Idlis and Yetchah.’
‘I remember them,’ said Malien. ‘It’s almost unheard of for Whelm to form friendships outside their own kind, but there was a deep bond between Karan and Idlis, despite their differences. He was the healer who put her shattered bones together after the Way between the Worlds was opened, and I was there when he left to go home.
‘I will come to Gothryme on this day once a year, in case you need the drug hrux, he said to Karan, because nothing else could relieve her pain. There is no other way of getting it, for no one else knows how it is made.
‘And Karan told him and Yetchah to come to Gothryme, if ever they needed help,’ Malien added.
‘Extraordinary,’ said Yggur. ‘But Karan was extraordinary, and if anyone could befriend the friendless Whelm, it would have been her.’
‘Are Whelm long-lived?’ said Nish.
‘They can be, though not so long that they would still be alive two centuries later. The Whelm keep their own Histories, of course, but I very much doubt that they would allow us access to them. They are a secretive people at the best of times.’
‘Then we can’t take the matter any further,’ said Nish, rising.
‘Wait a minute,’ said Maelys, who had been thinking through all she’d ever heard about Karan. ‘There’s something else, isn’t there, Xervish?’
‘I don’t know what you mean.’
‘I mean Karan’s heritage, left to her as reparation by her enemy, Faelamor. It had once been hidden in that cave we visited in Elludore.’
‘Elludore!’ cried Yggur, clinging to Tulitine for a moment.
Maelys eyed him curiously, but he said no more.
‘Colm said that Karan had spurned that gift,’ Flydd reminded her.
‘Yet years later, in desperate need, she might have gone back for it. Remember that the mimemule had been dug up and replaced – and it had been used, twice.’
‘Why would anyone use it, then replace it?’ said Nish, frowning. ‘Why not keep it?’