Darksong

by Isobelle Carmody

  ‘I am ill,’ he whispered.

  ‘The wounds on your back are infected. But shipmistress Revel says you will be able to get treatment from the white cloaks on Vespi.’

  ‘Must … not leave the ship. What if there are Iridomi watchers …’ Bleyd muttered, pushing a sweat-damp strand of hair from his forehead.

  ‘I don’t think anyone even knows that we have left Ramidan yet. Revel said legionnaires are searching the citadel for us.’

  ‘I do not … think we should be leaving … the ship. Especially not on Vespi which … must remain neutral.’ He caught at Ember’s hand and although her instinct was to pull away, she let her fingers lie in his weak, hot grasp. ‘My dreams are full of fears, Visionweaver; for you and me and for Alene and the myrmidons, but most of all for my brother.’ His voice was full of anguish and Ember did not know what to say. His fears were perfectly reasonable given Tarsin’s insanity and Coralyn’s ruthless ambition.

  Pulling her hand gently free, she took up a stone beaker of water and gave it to him in sips. ‘The whip was fouled,’ Bleyd murmured, after a time.

  ‘Pardon?’ Ember asked, thinking that he had drifted into delirium again.

  ‘The whip Kalide used on me … strands smelled like rotted meat.’

  Ember had a brief horrifying image of the dank and shadowy cliff cells, Kalide laying on the whip, smiling, and his eyes glittering with the madness she had seen in him fleetingly the night of the escape from Ramidan.

  ‘There is a storming?’ Bleyd asked when the ship gave a lurch hard enough to rouse him from his pain-filled stupor again.

  Ember nodded. ‘Revel says it will go on most of the night. But apparently now it is pushing us roughly where we want to go, so we will arrive on Vespi tomorrow some time.’

  He groaned. ‘Even if we can get off the ship without being seen, the white cloaks will talk once they know who I am. Word will travel quickly to the ears of Coralyn’s spies, and thence to Ramidan. Tarsin will command Fulig to capture me and send me back to the citadel. If it is known that you are with me, then you will be forced to return as well.’

  ‘Wouldn’t the white cloaks keep silent out of loyalty to Darkfall?’ Ember asked, remembering that the main white-cloak academy was on Myrmidor.

  ‘What strange things you sometimes ask,’ Bleyd said. ‘A white cloak’s loyalty is to their healing oath and nothing else.’

  Ember decided to change the subject. ‘Maybe you could pretend that you came to Vespi on business for your father, and were beaten up in a drunken brawl and left for dead.’

  ‘A white cloak would ask why I did not come for treatment sooner and they would ask why I had been whipped and by whom.’

  ‘Unknown ruffians whipped you. Maybe you angered them when they were trying to rob you. And you did not come to the healers sooner because you were too embarrassed. Or better still, you couldn’t. The ruffians left you for dead and it took you a while to reach help. That would explain why your wounds are in such an awful state. As I must come with you, it might as well be me who found you. I’ll pretend to be your sister.’

  For a moment the misery in his features cleared and he looked amused. ‘What of the legionnaires? Ordinarily they would be summoned so that I could describe my attackers.’

  Ember thought for a moment. ‘We will say that you don’t want to call the legionnaires because you don’t want to delay our return to our home sept. We can even claim to have a passage booked on a ship already.’

  ‘Booked to go where?’

  ‘It doesn’t matter. Or wait, Iridom!’

  Bleyd smiled wanly. ‘It will be better if we say that my attackers were known to me, and that I prefer to deal with them in my own way. I might have recognised one of my attackers as the son of a friend. And what of you? A veiled sister travelling with her badly injured brother is dangerously similar to a badly injured Fomhikan travelling with a veiled visionweaver. It would be better if you could dispense with the veil and paint your face heavily enough to hide your resemblance to Shenavyre.’ He broke into a coughing fit and Ember stared at him helplessly, unable to tell him that concealing her silverblinded eye was far more important than hiding her resemblance to Shenavyre. He went on before she could speak. ‘I keep wondering what Coralyn is up to. Kalide made no secret of the fact that the plan was for me to die, and then Anyi, to clear the way for Kalide to take the Holder’s throne. But Coralyn must know that Fulig would never, under any circumstances, accept her son even as a proxy Holder without Darkfall’s endorsement.’

  Ember said firmly, ‘I’m sure Alene will find proof of your innocence and you’ll soon be able to return to the citadel and thwart whatever plans that pair have devised.’

  ‘I wish it would be so, but in order to prove me innocent, Alene and the myrmidons would have to produce the real poisoner,’ Bleyd rejoined bleakly. ‘Since no one will dare to accuse Coralyn of filicide, Anyi is on his own. Our father believes that Coralyn would not dare to hurt the boy, but I think she would dare anything to feed her lust for power. Did she not invite the foul Draaka cult into the palace, though all know that Tarsin regards the woman’s chits as treasonous?’

  ‘Why hasn’t Tarsin done anything about the cult?’ Ember wondered.

  ‘At first, I suppose it seemed to him, as to all of us, that this Draaka was no more than another leader in the long turgid history of the cult. But none has risen so high, nor gained so much public support for the cult. And look at her supporters. In the past it was the ignorant and superstitious who were drawn to the cult, but this Draaka has modified the violent aspects of the cult, to introduce a scholarly discourse that intrigues intelligent people and involves them. They are on the verge of treason and blasphemy over their cirul, and are not even aware of it. She has capitalised brilliantly on the disquiet over Tarsin’s state of mind and, in doing so, she has fanned the flames of discontent with Darkfall. It is no wonder that Coralyn admires her. But why has she brought the woman to the citadel, and why would the Draaka come when she must know that Tarsin could have her imprisoned?’ He moved restlessly. ‘I am so hot. My brain is afire.’

  Ember gave him more water. ‘If you are right and Coralyn wants to kill Anyi and put Kalide on the Holder’s throne, what does she propose to do about Tarsin?’

  ‘Let us say that I do not think the attempt to poison Tarsin was aimed only at framing me. Were I the Holder I would be wary of every step at my back and every drop of food and water I lifted to my mouth, and I would send Coralyn and Kalide away from Ramidan at once. But Tarsin is too unstable to see the danger of treachery within his family.’

  ‘Maybe not,’ Ember murmured, remembering how the Holder had sneered openly at his mother’s plots and ambitions.

  ‘If only Anyi were safe, I truly would not care what was happening in the citadel,’ Bleyd admitted wearily. ‘Right now I wish with all my heart that he had never been Chosen.’

  ‘Yet he was Chosen and he is no puppet. In fact, he was desperate to have you out of harm’s way, and I bet he is glad that you have got away from Ramidan.’

  Bleyd gave a ghost of a smile. ‘I remember when Anyi was Chosen there was great consternation. Many, even amongst our own sept, muttered that it was a mistake since no one of a chieftain’s bloodline had ever before been named mermod. Of course my brother, Gedron, immediately began speaking against it.’

  ‘Your brother does not cleave to Darkfall?’ Ember asked.

  Bleyd gave a snorting laugh. ‘Gedron believes it is his destiny to be revered rather than revere. I think the Choosing of clumsy, oft-overlooked Anyi as mermod outraged his pride. It would not surprise me if, under his talk of fitness, Gedron secretly felt himself to be the right choice.’

  ‘Anyi said your father thought you should have been Chosen.’

  Bleyd frowned. ‘My little brother has a gift for learning things he was not intended to hear. It will serve him well if ever he becomes a Holder but it saddens me to learn that he knows of Poverin’s doubts, for they we
re told to me in secret.’

  ‘Perhaps Anyi did not eavesdrop. He told me that one had to look at people’s faces and hear what they did not say rather than listen to their words, if one wanted to know the truth of their thoughts,’ Ember said.

  ‘You cheer me, Visionweaver, by showing me depths in my little brother that I and my father had failed to notice. It is hard for me to stop seeing him as an ungainly lad with no sense of the demands on the position of Poverin’s son. And he has shown little regard for the role of mermod.’

  ‘His refusal to be constrained by the role might mean he will become a Holder of great original insight, with the courage to do what should be done, rather than what is seen to be fitting.’

  Bleyd stared at her with wry admiration. ‘It seems to me that women have all along seen Anyi most truly. It was soulweavers that made him mermod and my mother and my sister, Rilka, who alone of his family applauded the choice. Your words remind me that my mother, too, said childish traits can lead to greatness in their proper setting. My mother is very wise. She supplies what my father lacks in the rule of Fomhika; integrity and courage to give his wit substance. With Maeve by his side, Poverin has not been a bad chieftain. It is said that my mother went to the Darkfall landing when he asked her to handfast. She never said what was told to her, but they wed upon her return.’

  ‘She must have asked if she should handfast with your father,’ Ember said, fascinated by the idea of asking an oracle whether one should marry. It was like something out of a fairytale.

  But Bleyd said, ‘My mother was ever deep and I doubt her question would have been so simple. And even if it were, the answer would not be simple coming from the misty isle. There is a saying that Darkfall’s answers contain twenty questions far more difficult than the question you brought to them, and that the answers you make to those questions are the answers you seek.’ Another violent lurch of the ship drew a groan of pain from Bleyd. ‘They say the storming cycle grows worse because we approach the coming of the Unraveller,’ he muttered.

  His words reminded Ember again of Tareed’s speculations. ‘Do you think the Unykorn is chained somewhere under the great water?’

  ‘The Legendsong speaks of Shenavyre’s voice luring the Firstmade under the waves. But perhaps it was lured through the waves to the Void. So thought the tutor who schooled me and my brothers. Certainly Lanalor’s portal is said to pass from the Unraveller’s world, through the Void to our great water.’

  ‘Water …’ Ember echoed.

  ‘It is said that the unfixed nature of water emulates the movement of the Void. It was long ago predicted that stormings would mirror the disturbance that the coming of the Unraveller would cause in the Void. Some scholars believe that no world will be unaffected by that crossing, and maybe it is true. Vespians call the particular part of the sea that touches on the Void the Sea of Dreams. They claim that there are three islands within it which can be located by no map for they have no fixed position; floating islands with no roots of stone to hold them to the core of Keltor.’

  Ember hardly heard him. ‘If the Unraveller does come, how will he know how to find the Unykorn?’

  ‘A question oft-asked,’ Bleyd said. ‘It may be that those of the misty isle know and say naught. Or maybe they do not speak of what is unknown even to them. Yet again maybe the Unraveller will need no instruction to do what he was born to do.’

  ‘Then he would not need the soulweavers to watch out for him,’ Ember murmured.

  ‘True. But Alyda wrote that although the soulweavers’ duties and the Unraveller’s needs may not match, each will play their part in the freeing of the Firstmade.’ He smiled fondly. ‘Alyda is the heroine of my little sister. Rilka claims outrageously that Alyda was greater than her famous brother because she was not morally flawed. Rilka would have made a fine soulweaver for she combines what is sternest in my mother’s character with my father’s sense of humour and a compassion that is all her own.’

  ‘Anyi told me once that his sister would have made the best Holder of you all.’

  ‘It seems to me the best are seldom chosen for the roles they would fit and maybe that is because the truest fitness is learned. And Rilka has her flaws, too. She is very romantic and can not always separate truth from fancy. She insists she was once saved from drowning by a Vesper.’

  Ember had to fight to betray nothing of her sudden turmoil. ‘What … what did she say happened?’ she managed to ask, not daring to ask outright what a Vesper was.

  ‘Simply that she had swum too far out into Mountain Lake and could not get back. Then a Vesper came and rescued her. She is no liar, so I would say she swam far enough to exhaust and terrify herself into delirium, which gave her strength enough to propel herself back to shore.’

  ‘How did she describe the Vesper?’ Ember asked carefully.

  ‘She claimed that it was part man and part black-pelted beast. She did not see its face, but the arm around her neck was furred and its claws dug into her. But it spoke as a man and commanded her to be still in a voice she calls strange though she could not say how it differed from other voices.’

  ‘No one believed her?’

  ‘Of course not. The Vesper is a mythical animal. But Rilka was very young when it happened.’

  Ember was silent a moment, then she changed the subject. ‘What do you think your father did when he heard you had vanished?’

  Bleyd sighed. ‘He would delay as long as possible in doing anything, then he will send an official demand that I be found. He will word it carefully so as not to suggest whether he wants me found to clear my name or to be judged and executed. He will not want to send anyone to watch over Anyi because it would be as good as an accusation that the Holder is not capable of his duty of caring for his successor. I was only able to be with Anyi because he was so young when he was Chosen and Alene wove that I should. In those days, her visions were cherished and by the time she fell out with Tarsin, people had become so used to my presence that no one questioned it. But to offer another protector now would be an act weighted with political significance. If only my father had not written that wretched chit to Darkfall suggesting Tarsin be retired, he would not need to be so circumspect now! He should have known that Tarsin would come to hear of it!’

  Ember saw that he was becoming agitated. ‘How many brothers and sisters do you have?’ As she had hoped, the question calmed him. ‘I am the eldest, and then comes Gedron. He should have been next in line for the chieftain’s seat, but my father has left him from the named line of succession. It is not common knowledge and it will not become so for my father did not wish to publicly humiliate him.’

  ‘Why did he disinherit him?’ Ember asked curiously.

  ‘It was my mother’s suggestion,’ Bleyd said. ‘She told my father in front of Gedron, that there was a desire for power in him which would lead him all too easily to tyranny. She said that he was incapable of understanding that to lead is to serve. I do not think she should have said this before him as she did, whatever his faults, for he had truly idolised her. Heartbreak as much as anger drove him to join the Draaka cult, for little else he could do would be so offensive to her. I think my father allowed the cult there when Gedron asked it, out of pity that he had been so hurt. He has always seen the cult as a cathartic rallying point for the disaffected, and he has never regarded it with my mother’s horror or fear. Even now, he does not seem aware of how much power it wields these days …’ His voice trailed off and his eyes were distant, his thoughts momentarily elsewhere.

  Hearing how Bleyd’s mother had so coldly denounced her son’s character, Ember thought of her own mother and her coldness towards Glynn. Ember had never understood it, but neither had she questioned it.

  Bleyd continued. ‘My brother Donard is now next in line for the chieftain’s seat.’ He smiled wearily. ‘Donard will not relish the notion that he will be chieftain for he has a wandering soul. If anything happened to him, Torrid would have to rule. He is a fine and dedicated son
gmaker who will be positively horrified that my activities have brought him closer to the chieftain’s seat. Rilka is last in line of succession, because of course Anyi is officially no longer Fomhikan.’

  ‘It must have been hard for you to leave your sept when you were supposed to become the next chieftain,’ Ember murmured.

  Bleyd looked at her. ‘It felt hard at the time. But it gave me a freedom that I had not been permitted within the formalities that a chieftains heir has to preserve on his home sept. And I fancy that it has given me a humbler view of myself than many chieftains have, for on Ramidan I was only my brother’s keeper and small in the scheme of things. When she announced it, I thought Alene’s vision meant that I would remain with Anyi until he was to become Holder. But given what has happened I must have misunderstood.’

  ‘Unless this is the time for Anyi to become Holder,’ Ember murmured. Then she shook her head. ‘Alene would have foreseen it if that was to come, I guess.’

  But Bleyd shook his head. ‘Not necessarily. Soulweavers do not tell all that they see because their own predictions have an adjusting effect on what they have seen. The future is like a flickering candle flame. It shifts constantly. Maybe telling us that Anyi was to become Holder would have brought about some disaster …’ He gave Ember a puzzled look. ‘Why am I always telling you what you must know as well as I?’ He sighed and lay back against his pillows. The animation faded from his expression, and although his eyes followed her movements as she pressed a wet cloth to his temples, she noticed that his pupils had dilated and his breathing had become shallow and laboured. ‘Will you sing for me?’ he muttered, and repeated his question when she did not answer.

  Out of pity, Ember sang a Welsh lullaby that she had learned from a nurse who had cared for her while she was ill at one point. Bleyd’s lips curved slightly and his eyelids fluttered closed.

  The sea became calm as dawn was breaking, and the ship began to move smoothly and purposefully through the water, propelled by Revel’s wavespeaking. Ember opened a porthole to freshen the stale air of the cabin and felt the fresh chilly bite of it on her bare skin with pleasure. Craning her neck, she was able to watch Kalinda rise, splendidly red and transforming the sky into a sheet of gold patterned with purple and indigo feathers of cloud that were the aftermath of the storming. It had doubled back on itself in the late hours of the night, bringing them unexpectedly to their original course. Revel told her the good news when she had brought breakfast. Then she nodded at Bleyd. ‘How is he?’