The Deathless

by Peter Newman

  She was going to say ‘can go after him’ but Varg had already straddled the hole. Chandni turned her back, trying not to feel too annoyed. However, Varg’s groan of relief was so earnest, she couldn’t help but smile.

  When she and Satyendra were done, Varg opened the bag he’d been given by Fiya. Inside were dried out leaves, brown and broken into tiny pieces. He tipped the bag at an angle, giving it a generous shake. Glider then covered the hole over.

  Chandni kept an eye out while he did this. The usual rustles and chirps of the forest could be heard, but nothing was close. I’m not scared here any more, she realized, and then wondered if that was good or bad.

  As promised, Fiya was waiting for them outside the tree.

  ‘Thank you,’ said Chandni. ‘You know so much about the Wild. Would you be willing to help us learn? I have many questions.’

  ‘I have a few myself,’ replied Fiya. ‘Tell me more about how you came to be here.’

  ‘Of course.’ She wondered how much she should tell this strange old woman but quickly decided she would deal with the situation as she always did, with honesty and dignity. Any other way was beneath a child of the Sapphire. ‘Assassins came for my baby, Satyendra, so we fled to Sagan. When they followed us to Sagan, we fled here.’

  Fiya glanced at Satyendra, who was far too busy staring at the darkening tree to notice. ‘Why were they after him?’

  ‘We still don’t fully understand, but enemies of my lord—’

  Varg made a cutting gesture with his hand. ‘Come on, we might as well tell her the truth.’ He looked Fiya straight in the eye. ‘The baby is ours, which is a problem given that she’s an Honoured Mother. As you can see, I’m no descendant of a Sapphire Deathless.’

  Chandni opened her mouth to speak but Varg shot her a glare and she closed it again.

  Why is he lying about Satyendra? Surely Fiya will know.

  But the old woman just nodded, as if she’d suspected what Varg was saying all along.

  ‘So, found out about you did they?’

  ‘We thought we’d been careful.’ He shrugged. ‘Guess we weren’t.’

  ‘Mmm. Why send assassins though? Why not put you both on trial?’

  ‘They wanted to avoid a scandal.’

  ‘Ah yes,’ said Fiya bitterly, ‘House Sapphire’s secrets have long been protected with blood.’

  ‘And with me and the baby out of the way, they could still pair Chandni with a true Sapphire.’

  She hated it when Varg lied. It demeaned them both somehow. She wasn’t sure what to do. If she said nothing, she would betray her own principles, but to speak now would betray Varg and it might provoke Fiya. Lies breed until they fill you, that’s what Lord Rochant told me. The moment for her to say something, to stop this falsehood becoming the bedrock of her relationship with Fiya came and went, and a little of her pride went with it. What would my lord think of me now?

  Fiya pondered Varg’s words for some time. ‘Well, you don’t need to worry about sky business no more. They’ll soon forget all about you, just like they forgot about us.’

  ‘That was going to be one of my questions,’ said Chandni, glad to be able to change the subject. ‘How did you come to live here? I was taught that nobody could survive in the Wild.’

  ‘We’ve been surviving here for generations.’

  ‘We? There are more of you?’

  ‘Oh yes,’ said Fiya. ‘More than a few strung out through the trees. We live separate, to stop from becoming too much of a lure, but we meet from time to time to share stories and knowledge.’

  Varg folded his arms. ‘You all got bad history with the Sapphire too?’

  ‘Aye. It’s their fault we’re here.’

  ‘You were exiled?’

  ‘Not me. I was born and bred in these woods. But my grandparents were sent away when they weren’t much older than your baby there.’

  ‘I still don’t see how they survived,’ said Chandni.

  ‘They learned the ways.’

  Varg coughed. ‘As simple as that?’

  Fiya’s bony hand came to land on Varg’s arm. ‘Nothing simple about it. When my ancestors first came here the Wild reached out every night to take some of them. In the day they scrabbled about, but for all their efforts, they couldn’t find any way to make the forest give up its bounty. My ancestors starved and suffered and died. They were dark times. Then, one day, this stranger came, dressed in leaves and mud. Didn’t come close, just watched them.

  ‘My ancestors were scared of him, kept their distance. There was talk about driving him off, even talk about catching him and eating him. They were desperate, see? Fear and their bellies thinking for them.

  ‘Only one voice spoke any sense, and that belonged to my grandmother, Rayen. She said seeing as the stranger was the first thing that hadn’t attacked them, that maybe they should go talk to him.

  ‘The others told her that if she wanted to go running towards her death, then they wouldn’t stop her. So, the next time the stranger appeared, Rayen did just that.

  ‘For three days, they talked. And for three nights, the Wild didn’t take anyone. But while Rayen was away, the others began to doubt. They thought Rayen had been seduced by the stranger. Some said they should act before the stranger’s plan could be completed.’ Fiya shook her head in disgust.

  ‘On the fourth day, a group of them followed Rayen and set up an ambush.’

  There was a pause. Fiya looked to be lost in memories.

  ‘What happened to them?’ asked Chandni.

  ‘Nobody knows. None of them that attacked were ever seen again, and that night, Rayen didn’t come back to the others. The Wild came though, picking at them one by one. The cold came too, hard winds and harder earth, making food impossible to come by.

  ‘Three nights passed like that, and I know my ancestors thought that was it, but then, the next morning, Rayen came back. The last time they’d seen her she’d had grey hair like mine, but now it was as white as the snow on the canopy, as white as the frost on their faces.’ She glanced at Glider. ‘As white as the fur of your Dogkin.’

  Chandni felt a shiver go down her spine.

  ‘Rayen brought the ways with her. She taught my ancestors how to treat with the trees, how to make their traps soft, and how to take the blood from a kill without bringing the hungry ones out of the dark. Thing with the ways though, is that there’s always a price.

  ‘One day, the stranger came again to watch them. Rayen went to talk to him like she always did but this time, when he left, she went with him. And that was it. Nobody ever saw her again after that. She’d paid the price for them, and they never forgot.’ She let go of Varg’s arm. ‘So no, nothing simple about it.’

  She looked from them to the tree and back again. ‘Time for you to make a decision.’

  ‘What do you mean?’ asked Chandni.

  ‘Can’t be having that nonsense every time you need to empty your bladders,’ she said. ‘I’ve treated with the roots for you to come and go. Now you need to give a gift.’

  Varg gave Chandni an unhappy look. ‘What do you mean?’ she asked.

  ‘So it can know you. If you want to survive in the Wild you have to give before you can take. I fed and sheltered you out of kindness, but if you’re going to stay longer you’ve got to learn to trade.’

  ‘What would the tree want from us?’ asked Chandni, though she had the horrible feeling she already knew.

  ‘Some hair from you both.’

  She could have almost cried with relief. Just a bit of hair! That’s not so bad. But Varg was shaking his head. He leaned in close and lowered his voice, though Chandni was sure Fiya could still hear him.

  ‘Don’t do it.’

  ‘Why not?’

  ‘You know what they say, once the Wild has a piece of you, you’ll never escape.’

  ‘Varg. I’ve been to the Hunger Tree. If the Wild only needs a piece, then I’m already doomed.’

  He looked down. ‘I’m sorry, Cha
nd. I didn’t …’

  ‘It’s all right.’ She reached out with her right hand to touch him, watching as her fingers brushed his sleeve but not feeling anything. I wonder if I’ll ever get used to that. ‘Really, Varg, it’s all right. I knew what I was doing and I’ve made my peace with it. There’s so much Fiya can teach us, and this is Satyendra’s best chance to survive. I’ll understand if you don’t want to take part.’

  ‘Why not leave now, with me? We’ve made it this far on our own.’

  She gave him a sad smile. ‘We have.’

  ‘You’re going to stay here, aren’t you?’

  ‘For a little while, yes. We don’t know how long we’re going to be here. There’s too much riding on Satyendra’s shoulders for me to take chances. I need to know how to live in the Wild.’

  ‘We could still try Sorn.’

  ‘We don’t know what we’ll find in Sorn.’ She paused, then added gently, ‘We aren’t even sure how to get there.’

  He looked for a moment as if he were going to argue but then hung his head, defeated. Chandni turned back to Fiya. ‘I’m ready.’

  The old woman nodded and pulled out a bone-bladed knife. A thick bunch of her hair was separated out, then wound and measured on Fiya’s forearm.

  Chandni watched wistfully as it was cut off. It was the first time her hair had been cut. At least I have plenty left to trade with.

  Fiya took the hair and held it taut above her head, as if displaying it to the tree. She then tied it between a couple of the dangling branches, muttering to herself as she did so.

  ‘Done,’ said Fiya.

  ‘No,’ said Varg. ‘You need to do me as well.’

  Mixed feelings rose in Chandni then. Happiness that he was willing to stay, admiration that he would risk his soul for her, and the desire to protect him, to send him away. ‘You don’t have to, you know? You’ve done enough.’

  ‘I was told to look after you, and that’s what I’m going to do.’

  ‘Lady Pari would understand. It might even be useful if you went back. You could help her to find us.’

  He looked pained. ‘Maybe I could. But … but I can’t leave you, Chand, I just can’t. It’s not about Pari, not any more. It’s like you wanted: I said I’d do this for you and I meant it. I still mean it. And if I try and think about walking away, I feel sick. So please, don’t ask me to go.’

  It took her a moment to get her right hand to grip his sleeve tight enough, but then she pulled him down so that she could kiss him. ‘I will never ask you to leave, I promise.’

  He was still blushing as he spoke to Fiya. ‘All right, do what you have to.’

  Fiya came over and tugged at his hair, her lips pressed together in thought. Then she pulled at his beard, hard enough to make him gasp. ‘Hold out your hands, make a cup.’ Varg did as he was told and, nodding to herself, she began hacking, taking little chunks here and there, until Varg had acquired an untidy pile.

  A pinch at a time, Fiya took the hair and pressed it into gaps between the roots, babbling away as she did so, an insensible sing-song that reminded Chandni of the way she talked to Satyendra sometimes.

  ‘Come in,’ said Fiya as she ducked through the hole.

  When she and Varg went to follow, it felt different somehow, as if a tension she’d been carrying had broken at last. The curtain of branches parted as they approached, making it easier to push through.

  Soon, they were all sat together inside the trunk, elbows touching, Glider’s bulk filling the gaps between. More food was offered, and gratefully accepted.

  There was more Chandni wanted to ask but Fiya had turned away from them, hugging her knees close as if she were a little girl. No, Chandni decided, Fiya had given them enough for one day.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  His entire staff had assembled in the feast hall, badges bright on their chests. The tables had been pushed to the back to make room for them. Though people were doing their best to hide it, there was a tension in the air. A gathering of the staff could only mean change of some dire kind.

  Vasin stepped into the hall. He could taste the fear, sharing some of it himself. They all felt how unusual this was. For the younger staff, this would be their first formal address from him outside of a hunt. How he wished this was a hunt! That was the kind of public speaking he excelled at, full of thrill and spectacle. It woke the blood, as his cousin Yadva was fond of saying.

  Well, my blood is certainly awake now.

  Elsewhere, Yi would be moving Lord Rochant, smuggling him from the castle to wait at a secret location in the woods. If all went to plan, he would meet them there and take Rochant to his mother who would sort out the mess they had landed in.

  And if it does not go to plan, I shall know soon enough.

  He held up his hands for attention already given and cleared his throat. ‘You are my people. I am your lord. We are one. When I fly out to protect our settlements below, you are the spears at my back, the arms at my side, it is your voice, your love that bears my weight and wings.

  ‘But the truth is I have not flown much of late, nor have I walked the halls as often as I should.’

  A few of the staff looked awkward, sensing the apologetic nature of his speech.

  ‘Still, you have carried me. Your service, your loyalty, like a balm for my soul throughout this time of grief and distraction. Now I open my eyes to find that much has changed. Old friends have moved on without my saying goodbye, their work not properly honoured. New faces have appeared –’ he paused to make eye contact with those appointed by his brother ‘– that I must get to know.

  ‘There is much to be done here in the castle and as much that needs doing beyond its walls – we must be cunning if we are to keep ahead of the creatures of the Wild.’

  One of the Gardener-smiths could not help but speak out. ‘My lord, has there been an attack?’

  ‘Not on us. They know House Sapphire would be quick to answer such a direct assault. No, they attack our fringes, making changes there that impact on other lands, like those of our eternal allies in House Ruby. As I said, we are one. Not just you and I, but all of the Crystal Houses, each of us helps the others.

  ‘We have work to do. While the High Lord searches for Lord Rochant, our lands go unwatched and our enemies are free to act. But above all, while Lord Rochant is missing, we must protect his land as if it were our own. To this end I will be sending skilled people from my settlements to help secure the waterways.

  ‘Leading them will be two of my senior staff, Vis and Mal.’

  Mal’s eyes went so wide with fear, he wondered if they were about to pop out. However, when Vis bowed, he managed to copy the gesture.

  ‘My lord,’ began Vis. ‘You honour us. But I am a man of the sky. I know nothing about the woods or the Wild.’

  ‘You protest my order?’

  ‘No, no, I would not dream of such a thing. I fear that we are not worthy of this task you set before us.’

  ‘Fear not, noble Vis. There will be Cutter-crafters and hunters with the necessary skills to navigate and survive the Wild. The problem is scale. There are so many people to manage and coordinate. And I can think of no other I’d rather send to manage such a complicated project, you’ve done such a fine job organizing my staff.’

  He was pleased to see the man flinch before he crumpled into another bow. ‘Thank you, my lord.’

  ‘And Mal, your communication skills will be missed, make good use of them out there.’

  He held his arms out to the two of them, inviting them close. ‘We are one,’ he said, embracing Mal and Vis together. Beneath his fingers, their shoulders shook. He squeezed, leaning forward to whisper. ‘Tread carefully, my friends, I see you now.’

  A gentle push sent them on their way.

  Raising his voice, he addressed the room again. ‘I have good news. As cover for Vis and Mal, I have asked Old Sen to come out of retirement: she will be performing both their inhouse roles. Not all of you will remember her, but trus
t me, you soon will.’ A few of the longer term staff exchanged grim smiles.

  Later, when he had dismissed the staff and returned to his quarters, Gada came to find him. Though there were no creases on his brother’s brow or clothing, Vasin could feel his stress. A hunter’s smile bloomed.

  ‘Brother, welcome. We have much to discuss.’

  Gada’s answering smile was weak as ever. ‘So I gather.’

  After a firm embrace, Vasin offered refreshments which Gada declined. Nerves always killed his appetite, thought Vasin.

  ‘You’re looking well,’ said Gada.

  ‘Yes, I feel better than I have for a long time. More myself.’

  ‘What’s this I hear about a foray into the Wild?’

  ‘I’m glad you asked. It would be good if we could combine our efforts on this.’

  Vasin outlined his plans to patrol the Whitesnake river, before making sure Gada was up to speed on the mysterious dam-building going on there, in order to talk about building his own dam. ‘If anything tries to disrupt the river’s flow a second time,’ he explained, ‘we can control it at the source.’

  Gada listened closely, holding his questions to the end. His brother was a good ear when he wanted to be, and while Vasin was absorbed in his talk, it was easy to forget his suspicions, to wish that things between them were, if not warm, easy again.

  When he was finished, Gada made a face as if he’d just eaten something mildly disagreeable. ‘This is a noble undertaking, brother. Do you not think we should seek the High Lord’s permission first?’

  ‘When he came here last, he was bemoaning our lack of initiative. I assumed he’d be pleased.’

  Gada raised an eyebrow. ‘I do not think it wise for us to make assumptions.’

  ‘That’s why I think you should go and explain it to him.’

  ‘Me?’

  ‘Yes, you’re better at that sort of thing than I am.’ While Gada struggled between wanting to accept the compliment and argue the point, Vasin added: ‘You will help though, won’t you?’

  ‘Yes, yes, of course. I will have some of my people sent to aid yours. Do you think castle staff are the best suited to go?’