The Chosen - Stone Dance of the Chameleon 01

by Ricardo Pinto

  The moment they felt shadow come, they left the cave and teetered on the edge of the sky in a wind that came scorching up from the land. Above them, the Pillar's head still showed the halo of the sun passing behind it. They resumed the climb. The rock that at first had been almost too hot to touch cooled slowly. The wind grew turbulent. As they struggled on, Carnelian nursed his resentment, ignoring the little voice reminding him that Osidian had warned him how terrible the climb would be.

  Even as the sky was darkening, they dragged themselves up into the throat of the Windmoat ravine. Once they had rested a while, they put on their robes, their shoes, their masks, covered themselves with the purple cloaks and climbed up to the ledge. Only a breeze ruffled their cloaks. The heart-stone screens of the ammonites were sieving light along the whole length of the ledge. In contrast, on the opposite side, only a handful of lit windows pricked the gloomy face of the forbidden house. Osidian went ahead, his shape defined by the light freckling through the screen. Through its holes, Carnelian glimpsed the long crowded galleries. Their hive mutter was more insistent than it had been those few days before.

  The library swallowed them into its black silence. It seemed a refuge and Carnelian's heart sank as they reached the moon-eyed door and removed their masks. 'So we part here?' he said, wanting to make it a joint decision.

  'No,' said Osidian. 'I will come with you at least some of the way.'

  Carnelian was more cheered than he would admit to himself. He led Osidian off along the familiar path back to the Sunhold. After the perfumes of the Yden and the rushing air of the sky, the air was oppressively stale and lifeless. 'Like a tomb,' Carnelian muttered.

  Osidian grabbed his shoulder and yanked him round. 'What do you mean by that, my Lord?'

  Carnelian blinked at him. Osidian's eyes held bladed light. Carnelian felt rage building up inside him. 'I meant nothing at all. Do you not find this place grim in comparison with the Forbidden Garden?'

  Without answering him, Osidian launched off into the blackness. Carnelian felt as if a knife point had been taken away from his throat. It made him feel violent.

  They walked in silence until at last they reached the stair that led up to the Sunhold. They were more than halfway up when Osidian stopped. The narrow space was filled with their breathing.

  'What are we waiting for?' Carnelian asked, exasperated.

  'Hush!' hissed Osidian. 'Listen.'

  'I hear nothing,' Carnelian whispered.

  Osidian nodded vaguely, his eyes looking far off through the stone.

  The feeling of being shut out made Carnelian's anger flare. 'Please let me pass. My Lord evidently has a need to be by himself.'

  Osidian frowned and his eyes came back to focus on Carnelian. 'What?'

  Now that Osidian was looking at him, Carnelian felt he was behaving like a petulant child. He was incapable of apology so he gave way to coldness. 'Let me pass.'

  'Come on,' said Osidian, urging him to go down the stairs.

  Carnelian stood his ground. 'Why?' Osidian's porcelain perfect face looked down at him. 'What are you waiting for?' 'Explanations.'

  Osidian jerked his finger upwards. 'Your father is up there and the trapdoor is closed. Do you want to go and knock on it and then appear before him and whoever else might be there, dressed as you are?'

  Carnelian thought about it. Why would his father have returned to the Sunhold? 'How do you know this?'

  Osidian's head dropped as if he were dealing with a stupid child. He looked up again. The pulse of the Emperor's heart has stopped.'

  Carnelian listened for it. Osidian was right. The pulse was gone. His hand came up to his head. The God Emperor was dead. His father was no longer Regent. The God Emperor was dead.

  'Will you go down now?'

  Carnelian let Osidian squeeze past and stood for some moments, dazed, as the light receded down the stairs. When he caught up with Osidian, he touched his shoulder. 'You knew before we came here?'

  'Did you not know when you saw the processions of the Chosen moving along the Ydenrim?'

  The election,' said Carnelian in sudden realization.

  'Of course the election,' snapped Osidian.

  They reached the bottom of the stairs.

  'But how will I get back?' said Carnelian.

  Follow, commanded Osidian's hand. He walked them to the edge of the nave and into the column forest beyond. As they walked along the back wall, Carnelian could hear Osidian sniffing the air. He lifted his nose and detected the tang of urine.

  When the smell had grown very strong, Osidian lifted the lantern and showed Carnelian a narrow staircase. 'Up there. Sometimes, guardsmen of the Lesser Lords use this old construction stair when they have need to make water. It comes up into the Encampment.'

  'Where there are tyadra, surely there will be Chosen.'

  They will be in the nave observing the Great selling their votes. You should be able to slip through unnoticed to one of the Sunhold's postern gates.'

  'We part here, then?'

  Osidian jerked a nod. Their eyes locked. Each could see that there were words the other wished to say.

  'Goodbye then,' Carnelian managed at last.

  'Goodbye,' said Osidian. He handed Carnelian the lantern and disappeared into the darkness.

  In spite of covering his mask's nostrils with the edges of his cowl, Carnelian found the urine stench grew overpowering as he climbed the steps. He reached a landing whose walls were arched with stains. He hitched up the skirt of his cloak in disgust and walked towards a dim doorway. He stared. Pavilions had been put up everywhere. Perfect rows of them, each made by stretching jewelled cloths between columns. Some were dark but others were lit from within like paper lanterns and glowed the colours of their heraldry. A path narrowed off across to the faraway wall of the Sunhold. But this was no easy route. Along its length it was lit by many filtering pavilions and glimmering along it were Masters with their guardsmen. To left and right were the beginnings of many more such paths. He would have to trust to luck to find his way to the other side unseen.

  As he came out from the shelter of the archway, he heard the muttering and looked over to where the column forest opened into the nave of the Encampment and a brilliant river streamed like a pouring of stars: the thronging Masters in their court robes.

  He shook his eyes free of the wonder and crept into the shadow pooling round a dark pavilion. In the breeze, its cloth walls trembled off a lily scent. He touched its jewelled brocade and bumped his finger along the tail tip of the serpent that doubled back and forth upon itself until its jaws spat out its tongue high above his head. As he came to the column that was the corner of the pavilion he heard voices. He looked round the column and saw guardsmen huddling round a brazier. Their faces carried the same cypher as the wall of the pavilion they guarded. He chanced it. As he walked out, they fell silent watching him. Carnelian ignored the seductive glimmer of the nave in the corner of his eye and breathed more easily once he was between the next pair of pavilions.

  Gradually he made his way across the Encampment, taking a route that avoided the brighter pavilions. He could not avoid them all. Quya came from one whose cloth wall was showing a gigantic shadow play. Others were more sinister, filled with subtle movement, as if they were chrysalises in which vast butterflies were dreaming.

  He was passing near some tyadra when they surged suddenly to their feet. They opened a flap, allowing Carnelian to see an interior like a jewel casket. Two Masters came out, crowned with subdued fire, in massive court robes. Their guardsmen's heads hardly reached their waists. Carnelian drew back, ducking his head so that the cowl would fall to hide the betraying mirror of his mask, pulling his hands up into his sleeves. He heard the lilt and exquisite enunciation of Quya syllables sounding among the footfalls of their men. He saw the golden dapples around his feet and dared to look up enough to see the Masters slipping past like smouldering trees. He waited some moments. He looked to see them framed by the shimmering nave, then c
ontinued on.

  When at last he reached the Sunhold's wall, he walked along it keeping in the shadows. Recessed into its barbican, the first postern gate had its portcullis down. Through it he could see another gate and a passage curving off. When he struck the bronze some Ichorians came from a side door. Their half-black faces peered out at him.

  'Ammonite?' said one.

  Carnelian opened his cowl so that their light could reflect off his mask.

  They bowed. 'Master.'

  'Open this,' Carnelian said.

  'We can't, Master.'

  'I'm the son of He-who-goes-before.'

  'We can't open this gate under any circumstance, Master,' they said and shook their heads as they retreated.

  He was in a cold sweat. What if all the doors should be closed against him? How could he appear in the nave before his father's door dressed as he was? He would humiliate his father and his House before the majesty of all the gathered Great. He leaned back against the Sunhold's wall cursing softly. His gaze wandered among the pavilions wondering if, with the election upon them, the Chosen ever slept.

  The commander of the Ichorians,' he muttered. The man might have the authority to let him in. If not, he would have to be coerced into going to get permission from He-who-goes-before. Carnelian grimaced imagining the consequent confrontation with his father.

  He skirted the next postern gate and came to a region where crowds of tyadra had gathered to stare into the nave.

  Carnelian kept as close as he could to the wall where there were some shadows. The wall swelled to form the bastion of the last gate. He slipped round it, had a glaring impression of the nave and then ducked in towards the gate. The Ichorians there would also not let him in. Putting as much authority as he could into his voice, Carnelian demanded that they go and fetch their commander.

  As he waited he looked out and saw the gapes on the tattooed faces. The guardsmen could have been staring at a city burning. Patches of glimmer slid everywhere, stretching and contracting, finding their faces in the gloom. There was such wonder in their eyes that Carnelian could not resist edging out to see what they were seeing. He was forced to squint against the dazzle. The nave was hung with suns beneath whose showering rays slipped vast shapes, angels sheathed in starlight. Some were jewelled sculptures. Others opened like exquisite mechanisms, spreading their arms to display sleeves like falls of sunlit water. White hands fluttered everywhere like doves. He searched and found their masks, faces carved high into the golden towers where each swelled into a huge crown.

  The grate of the portcullis lifting drew him back into its shadows.

  'You're the Master, Suth Carnelian?'

  It took a breath or two for Carnelian's eyes to adjust to see the grand-cohort commander standing there. Carnelian removed his blood-ring and offered it.

  Eagerly, the commander took it in his tattooed hand and held it up to the light. His whole frame visibly relaxed. He gave Carnelian back his ring. The Twins be thanked, Master. The Sun, our father's been searching for you.'

  Carnelian almost groaned. 'When ... how long ago?'

  'He found my Master gone when he took up residence in this place, yesterday, when the sun still shone through the Amber Window.'

  'I must go immediately to my chambers.'

  'I'll escort you, Master.'

  'Master. Oh, Master.'

  The desperate relief in his guardsmen's voices alarmed him. He was dirty, standing there in an ammonite robe, and he had to face his father. The commander was watching him.

  Thank you for your escort,' Carnelian said to him.

  The man bowed but seemed reluctant to go. 'Your father, Master.'

  Carnelian opened his arms so that the commander might clearly see his purple robe. 'Shall I go like this?'

  The man's eyes blinked brightly in his half-black face.

  'Once I'm properly attired I'll go to him.' He made a sign of dismissal. 'Now go, Ichorian.'

  Carnelian turned his back on the commander, waiting to hear him walk away before unmasking and surveying his guardsmen. 'What is it?' he said, not managing to control the irritation in his voice.

  They thumped to their knees in ones and twos, like fruit falling from a tree.

  ‘Stop grovelling,' he said dangerously. 'I'm in no mood for it.'

  His anger only caused them to fall flat on their faces. 'Gods' blood!' he spat, throwing his hands up in exasperation. 'I know the Master's been here. What did you tell him?'

  When none of them spoke up, he jabbed one of them with his toe. 'Get up, man. Tell me.'

  The guardsman looked up, his face twitching. 'Craving your pardon, Master, but... we had to tell him ... he is the Master.' 'And...?'

  'He demanded to know where you were, Master. We told him we didn't rightly know ... we had to tell how long you'd been away ... that you'd gone away before.' The man cowered.

  'And he was very angry?' Carnelian asked.

  The man looked up, tearful. 'He's going to crucify us all.'

  Carnelian felt the blood draining from his face.

  The man must have seen this because his eyes darted out of sight like a snail's.

  Carnelian squatted down. Touched their heads, saying gently, 'Now look at me.' He waited until he had their eyes. 'I won't allow even one of you to be put upon a cross.' He nodded into each face. 'Not one of you.' He stood up. 'Now get me some people. I need to be dressed, and quickly.'

  They stood up, and one of them ran off.

  'Master?'

  He looked at the man expectantly.

  'Master, the other Masters of our House ... ?'

  Carnelian frowned. The other lineages?'

  The man nodded. They've sent word that they're here and want to meet you, my Master.'

  'I've no time for them,' said Carnelian as he moved towards his chamber. Once inside, he let the ammonite cloak slip off his shoulders and hung his head. Now his father.

  The Master wishes to be formally attired?'

  Carnelian whisked round to see a servant, head bowed, others kneeling behind him. He was sure that they were not part of the household he had left behind.

  'You've just come from the coomb?'

  That's so, my Master.'

  'Why?'

  'We were sent to bring the Master a court robe.' The servant indicated the golden suit standing against a wall. Carnelian walked over to it. It was similar to the suit he had worn before but it had different heraldry in the panel running down its front. He touched the chameleons writhing on a field of jades, emeralds and other green stones. Under his fingers their skins were a mottle of pearls. Their black opal eyes blinked. They looked more alive than geckos on a wall. It occurred to him that Fey had talked about sending him such a suit with the first household. He wondered why it had been so long in coming.

  'If the Master'll allow, I'll co-ordinate his dressing?'

  Carnelian turned to the new servant. 'As fast as you can.' He lifted his arms from his sides and they ran in to disrobe him. 'What news, co-ordinator’

  The return of the Master and his son is longed for,' said the man without the slightest movement of his chameleon tattoo.

  'Has the servant Tain arrived from the gates?' 'An unchameleoned boy, Master?' Carnelian grabbed the man's shoulders. 'You've seen him?'

  The co-ordinator went waxy soft in his hands, melting away as Carnelian released him. 'Y-yes, Master. He was there yesterday, being prepared to come here.'

  Carnelian smiled, longing to see his brother's face. He hardly noticed the cleaning, the putting on of the belt of hooks. He climbed onto the ranga and then they locked the court robe round him. They masked him. They built a crown upon his head. When they knotted a scarlet sash

  around his left wrist he remembered that all the Chosen were in mourning for the God Emperor. He allowed a few more adjustments then, feeling as large as a house, he strode from his chamber to face his father.

  YKORIANA

  Often I heard her speak

  With a voic
e of angels

  Words barbed and dripping poison

  (extract from 'The Voyage of the Suncutter')

  The grand-cohort commander was standing with other Ichorians at the entrance to the Sun in Splendour. He looked at the heraldry on Carnelian's court robe and let him pass. The hall was smouldering gold, its walls and pillars catching their light from somewhere round the dais. The pillars did not allow Carnelian to see the dais itself. He stopped, closed his eyes to find composure, then opened them and left the shelter of the columns. He moved in to the centre of the hall and turned to face the dais. On it and beside it were two Masters; three more faced them like frozen flames. These three rose slowly, pivoting round, the skirts of their robes slightly rising. Each face seemed transfused by a beam of light. They could have been angels caught in the act of forming from fire.

  Carnelian walked towards them, timing the placing of each ranga to the robe's heavy swing. He could feel their eyes watching him and was aware of the shining ovals of their faces, but his eyes were focused on the enthroned being rising behind them, haloed by a corona of flickering flames. The halo's hub was a Chosen face, his father's, alarmingly gaunt. The eyes were as sunk under the brows as if they were the heads of nails hammered deep into the skull. A hand, drifting up, lifted a sleeve that was a slab of mosaiced gold. Is that you?

  The question brought Carnelian to a halt. He watched the hand fall. His father glanced at the other Lords. Carnelian saw it was Aurum beside him and that Imago Jaspar was one of the three, standing with two Masters Carnelian did not know. Each nodded to him and he responded vaguely, his eyes already returning to his father's wary hope.

  'I am come, my Lord, at your summons,' his own voice said and almost choked on the words when he saw the bright relief fill his father's face.

  'Your father is glad to see you, my Lord son.'

  Carnelian remembered to unmask, and when the metal face was off they exchanged tiny smiles.

  Please wait for me there, his father's hand signed and pointed to a place near Aurum. Carnelian paced to the spot, turned to face the dais and sank to his knees as he saw the other Masters doing.