A Hero's throne tae-2

by Ross Lawhead

  “You’re the right length,” Daniel said, trying to clarify. That might be misunderstood, he reflected, but. . well, he knew what he meant. Do I have a concussion? Daniel wondered. Well, what could be done about it if I do?

  Argument nodded. “Then come. We will take you east and east by northeast, through an untravelled and unwatched route out of the city and into the wild caves beyond.”

  “What then?” Daniel asked.

  “Then we look for Godmund and the other resisters,” a leafleas behind Argument said.

  Daniel laughed. “Of course.”

  “Shh! More quiet, please. It is funny?”

  “No, not really. I think I’ve just worked it out.”

  “You know where Godmund and his band are?”

  “Hah, no. That’s still. . sort of. . purple. No, I just-never mind. Go ahead and get me out of here.”

  Daniel followed them, a smile tugging at the right side of his face. They wound through dark corridors, and he was amazed at how calm and relaxed he felt, despite the situation. He felt he had a secret weapon, an advantage-the knowledge of what was really going on.

  They came out through a cavern near a wide pool of water. Daniel wondered if there were fish in it, and if those fish had eyes. Maybe, maybe not, he thought and then stumbled slightly.

  “Try to be quiet. Each sound we make may draw suspicion.”

  Annoyed, Daniel was going to tell the yfelgop-leafleas, whatever-that he should worry about his own feet and not his, but had trouble framing the sentence, and then the moment passed. It’s still the right length, he told himself, and anyway, he had his pocket-his secret in his pocket-and that put him at ease again. But there was another thought floating around his head: Length, sticky, pocket? Who talks like that? There was something going on in him that didn’t make objective sense. Well, there was nothing to do for it now-he just had to stay the course. Push through, even if it was only by sheer bloody-mindedness.

  After another fifteen minutes of walking, they came to a group of yfelgopes seated around five Ni?ergeard lamps with shutters on them, letting out only the dimmest light.

  “Who approaches, and from what direction?” one of the yfelgopes from the other group challenged.

  “It is Argument. I approach from the south: one hundred and twenty-nine steps north, one hundred and thirty-three steps east. How long have you waited?”

  “We have stayed this ground one hundred and thirty-nine minutes. How long did your journey take?”

  Argument began a response. “What’re they doing?” Daniel asked the leafleas next to him.

  “It is our way of identifying members of our group. Those numbers hold significance.”

  “Doesn’t he recognise him? Like, by his face or length?”

  “Yes, but it is well to make sure.”

  Daniel nodded and listened to a few more exchanges.

  “Is this he?” asked the interrogative yfelgop, finally satisfied with the responses.

  “Indeed,” said Argument, with a good measure of selfsatisfaction.

  “Hi, Daniel Tully. Pleased to meetcha!” Daniel said, extending a hand and grinning carelessly.

  The yfelgop standing in front of Daniel looked at his hand expressionlessly.

  “This is Certain Doubt,” said Argument, behind him. “He is the most senior of us.”

  “I used to be called Eddik,” Certain Doubt said peevishly. “It is time we left. We should not have stayed so long.”

  “I don’t suppose anyone managed to pocket my things?” Daniel asked.

  “We did not,” said Certain Doubt. “Your items would have been noticed missing before you were. We did, however, bring you this sword.” He signalled to one of the other yfelgopes, who stepped forward, carrying a large bundle. Daniel took the sword that was resting on top of it. “It is not yours, but it is of the nearest dimensions we could find at the time. Also, here are clothes, to keep you as warm and dry as possible.”

  Daniel had been counting, and there looked to be about twenty-five of them altogether. He pulled the sword partway out of its scabbard to inspect it and then pushed it back in with a snap.

  “Are you tired? Do you need rest?”

  Daniel’s head bobbed upward. “What? Sorry, what?”

  “Sleep! Are you tired-do you need rest? It is of the utmost importance that we move swiftly, but if you need to rest, then we will stop here for a moment.”

  “No, no, I should be fine,” Daniel said, fitting the sword belt around his waist and shaking out the travelling cloak he’d been given. It didn’t seem to have a pocket. “Ready when you are, captain. Stretch on.”

  “I am ready. We all are ready. I am no captain.”

  Daniel nodded, with an apologetic expression that he then wished no one had seen. He had to be careful. He couldn’t stretch it, or they’d tumble that he was on to them. He couldn’t stretch it. It had to stay the right length. Otherwise it wouldn’t stick.

  Stick. Sticky. Stretch. Stick.

  “Well, come if you’re coming,” Certain Doubt growled.

  Daniel shook himself. He had to stay awake. Stay focused. He had to figure out this new situation he was in. He had to find the answer.

  “You must be understanding of him and allow some exception if you are able. There is much in these events that press on him,” Argument said as he tugged Daniel along by his arm.

  “I’ll just bet there is,” said Daniel.

  They carried on, northward, Daniel was told, but he had no bearings. Ni?ergeard was more or less behind him, that’s all he knew. The yfelgopes-the leafleas-were apparently orienting themselves by the alignment and distance between certain lights they could make out, but Daniel was not familiar enough with the city to know which side of it they were viewing. He didn’t know where they were taking him.

  He found the leafleas strange. He had never accredited the yfelgopes with much intelligence-he had almost always known them to be half-crazed, animalistic savages. But here, he was surprised to find they actually had a human-like intelligence. They loved to argue and debate over any little thing that could be found. Where they were, which direction they were walking, how much more in weight one was carrying than the other and for how long, and-more than anything-how far they had walked.

  “I’ve got two thousand and five hundred,” one of them-Daniel had picked up that he was called Judicious Speculation-announced. “How about the rest of you?”

  There came a cascading report of numbers from the others: two thousand three hundred and seventy-one, two thousand four hundred and eight, two thousand two hundred and ten, one thousand nine hundred and eighty-three. .

  “Your knee’s deformed, Informed Dissent; that’s why your steps are so close.”

  “There’s nothing wrong with my knees, you insipid old fool. It’s your gangly bowlegs that are irregular.”

  “Is there an accord for an average?”

  There was an accord, and then a silence as arithmetic was applied to the situation.

  “I make it two thousand three hundred and seventeen.”

  “I concur.”

  “I also agree.”

  “Very well. Replace your original estimate with the agreed total and add that to the number of steps that have been taken since the estimate was last called into question.”

  There were grunts of assent and another moment’s silence as this was done, and then they continued as before.

  Daniel suddenly felt a lurching forward, like he was falling. His eyes snapped open and his legs locked. He had actually started to fall asleep while walking. He pinched the side of his thigh to wake himself up. He had to keep it together. “So where do you guys come from?”

  “Where?” asked one of the yfelgopes walking next to him.

  “Yeah, there are so many of you. What’s. . uh, what’s the story?”

  “Our kind enjoys debate and disagreement, but some of us came to realise that our courses of dispute ran in unique channels. Approaches were made-at great c
ost-and then names were shared. More were-”

  “No, I mean, where were you born? Where did you grow up? Why are there so stretching many of you?”

  “We are born as you are-we live our lives in the blinding light, and thus it is that we cannot see until we come underground.”

  “How does that make sense?” Daniel asked.

  “The world-the universe is so big, no man can keep it all in his mind. Blinded by the light, blinded by fact. We seek a life in the dark under our own terms.”

  “Better to stand up in the dark than lie down in the light,” said an yfelgop on the other side of Daniel.

  “One day we will emerge, once we have quantified the very foundation of the world, of knowledge.”

  “But. . really?” Daniel asked. “You want to know everything? Aren’t there some things you just can’t know?”

  “Yes. Yes. Life is a mystery.”

  “A mystery unknown, but not unknowable. Undefined, but not undefinable.”

  “That is how the leafleas are different from our brothers. It is their contention that all that can be known is known-all the edges of life have been found and measured. Whereas we are doubtful.”

  There were exclamations of pride and support following this declaration. “The Doubtful! The leafleas!”

  “We doubt that the world is all that is seen. We doubt that all experience has been quantified. We doubt that all distances have been measured.”

  “And we doubt even those doubts. But what is undoubted is that there is more.”

  “More! Yes, more. And that is what defines us-the others, the hopeless, the slaves to Gad, they believe that the walls of the world have been found, and they are angry. They have built a prison for their own senses and are angry at it.”

  “They have killed their own spirits and are mortally jealous of anyone who still possess joy and wonder.”

  The exposition continued, but Daniel’s attention was already drifting. He was having trouble following the words and found that his feet were starting to drag.

  II

  After much debate about distance and steps taken, they all negotiated a halt in order to rest and take stock. They hadn’t yet crossed the ni?erplane yet, but the ceiling was getting closer to their heads. They couldn’t see it, exactly, but they could hear the difference in the echoes and feel it in the air.

  “Oh dear. We must make our decision about which direction, exactly, to strike for,” a leafleas named Consistent Uncertainty said. “We must decide which direction is the most probable that Godmund and his forces lie in. I fear this will be most difficult.”

  He brought out a map from his pack and Daniel joined the huddle around the rolled sheet of parchment. The lamps were placed around it and the shutters lifted. It was a map of the whole of the land beneath England. He noticed many similarities to the ones that Alex and Ecgbryt had shown him, but there were also differences. Either routes that the others didn’t know about, or else errors, Daniel didn’t know. The locations of knights’ chambers, or their suspected locations, were marked with a reddishbrown fingerprint. It might be worth keeping if he could get his hands on it.

  “What makes you think that Godmund is still underground?” Daniel asked. “Why not go above?”

  “It is possible that he is not underground.”

  “But not probable. Probabilities suggest that he would stay beneath. It is what he knows. It is where his resources are. He would be lost aboveground.”

  “Further, he has not made contact with you, an overworlder with knowledge of the lower realms.”

  That made sense, Daniel thought. Also, he knew that Godmund hadn’t contacted Ecgbryt or Alex. So he really must be down here, somewhere. But did the yfelgopes really not know where he was, or was it all part of the ruse?

  “So where do you think he’ll be?” Daniel asked.

  “We were hoping you might be able to direct us. All yfelgop searches for him have turned up nothing.”

  “As far as we know.”

  “Yes. As far as we know. Those that have returned have returned empty-handed.”

  “But there are some that did not return.”

  “Yes. Those are still unknown factors. Those may be worth investigating.”

  “That is predicated on the assumption that he stays only in one place.”

  “To leave not one member of a hunting party alive to report back would indicate an ambush site. Which would indicate a fixed location.”

  “Or more than one.”

  “That is possible as well.”

  “So, one location or several,” Daniel said, jumping into the flow of conversation once again. “Where is the, uh, area of greatest unknown. . the area of the most unknown factors? Because that’s where he’d be, right?”

  “Yes, that logic follows,” said Certain Doubt. “And that area would be here.” He pointed to the top of the map.

  “Right, then. Let’s head for that. . see? That junction right there? It’s not far from there to these two chambers, and then this one as well. We can check to see what the deal is there, at a stretch.”

  “These places would already have been rendered. . inert.”

  “You mean that the knights sleeping there have been murdered already.”

  “Yes,” said Consistent Uncertainty. “You should prepare yourself for a sight that might be unpleasant to you.”

  Daniel just stared at him, wondering what he meant, then wondering why he couldn’t seem to make sense of his words. He shook his head to clear it.

  “Are you well?” asked Judicious Speculation. Or Argument. Daniel was becoming unsure of all of their names. “Do you need to rest?”

  “No. I’ll stick,” Daniel said. “I am all correct,” he said. “My systems are go. It’s good. It’s good.”

  The leafleas squinted at him, trying to figure him out. Daniel was aware that other eyes were on him as well. He had to play it cool-not raise suspicion.

  “Seriously, I’m folded down and good to go, my little captain. It’s good. It’s good. We need to cover ground anyway. When we get to the next chamber, then we’ll rest. I’ll hold till then. It’s good. It’s good.”

  “That sounds like the best course,” Certain Doubt said. He rolled up the map and handed it off to be secured in its tube. “Let’s keep moving.”

  The leafleas moved away and Daniel shuffled after them. He had to really concentrate on moving his legs, he was so tired. He could feel his heart-every beat a cold, weak thump. He had to keep it together, to stay normal. To help him in this he recited a short mantra that made him calmer, gave him a feeling of continuity, of comfort.

  “It’s good. It’s good. It’s good,” he said under his breath. “It’s sticky, it’s sticky. Sticky. Stretch. Sticky. It’s good. It’s good. It’s in a pocket. It’s good.”

  III

  They reached a parting of paths. To their right was a carved tunnel, bored by the inhabitants of Ni?ergeard however many centuries ago, while the natural path they walked continued down a fissure.

  “Let’s rest here,” Daniel said. He sat down on a rock and broke out his water, taking a mouthful and swirling it around in his mouth.

  “We are still a ways from the first chamber,” said Certain Doubt. “That was where we agreed to make our first camp.”

  “I know. I just-I just can’t move another step.” That much was completely true, Daniel thought. “I just. . it’s. .” He was about to use one of his lucky words, but he had to watch it with those. He would have plenty of opportunity to say whatever he liked soon enough.

  Certain Doubt had pulled the map out. “We are here,” he said, pointing a finger at a spot Daniel could not see. “It would be better for us to be here.” His finger shifted. “This place is too open. Lookouts would have to be spread too far.”

  Even better for me, Daniel thought. “Look, I’ve been through a lot-a lot’s happened to me, not least of which was being hit by a troll. A troll. A troll. I’m very tired, and we’ve gone a long way, a
nd I’m very tired. I could have asked to stop earlier. I could have. But I’m asking now. Please. My pocket. . I’m about to collapse.”

  “I believe he is,” Judicious Speculation said. “He gives every appearance of acute fatigue to me.”

  “Very well,” Certain Doubt said. “I shall arrange the watch. This is how it will be. .”

  It wasn’t exactly as he said it would be-there was much arguing over the exact times, placing, and identity of the watch, but it was all sorted out eventually. Daniel slumped against the boulder, hunching into himself. It was just a short time now-he would rest up, but he wouldn’t sleep. He had done the calculations while they argued. He rubbed his eyes, gave his leg three hard pinches, and then fixed his eyes on the luminous dial of his watch.

  IV

  Freya awoke and rolled away from the cold wall she was pressed against. Sitting up, she found Vivienne still sitting at the table, making notes and comparing Ealdstan’s and Freya’s texts.

  “Did I miss anything?”

  Leaning back in her chair, Vivienne took the glasses off her nose and rubbed her eyes. “Not unless I did as well. Do you want to have something to eat?” She pushed a power bar toward her.

  “Thanks,” Freya said, opening it and taking a nibble.

  “So. Are we going to talk about Gad now?”

  “Sounds like it. What do you want to know?”

  “Start with telling me what really occurred when you met him. In your own words. What happened?”

  “What happened? Well, I was a little girl, and Gad was much more powerful than I was. When I first saw him, Swi?gar was with me, and he attacked him, on sight. I would have stopped him, but he just leapt forward. And Gad defended himself. Swi?gar died, but not right away, I think. But he was badly wounded. Gad started to talk to me, and I didn’t agree with everything he said, but then. . I don’t agree with a lot that most people have told me over the years. But right then, there? He made the most sense. So. .” Freya swallowed, which was difficult, around the lump in her throat. This was harder than she’d thought it would be. “So he told me a way that I would be able to get home. He told me what to tell the others, about him and about Swi?gar, and I did, and. . we escaped. Daniel and I. So say what you will about him; he got me home.”