Darksong

by Isobelle Carmody

  ‘I did not mean that you had to go at once,’ Gopan protested.

  ‘I know, my friend. But for our own sakes we must.’ Soonkar set down his mug and reached into his pocket, but Gopan shook his head and waved the offer of coin away.

  ‘I owe you.’

  ‘No,’ Soonkar said, but he removed his hand and took the twists of powder that Gopan was now handing to him. He grimaced at them and then passed one back to Ember.

  ‘It is the lirium and it might be as well to take it now. About half of that will do it,’ Soonkar said. Gopan looked horrified but Ember opened the paper and poured the bitter dust onto her tongue, then washed it away with more of the fiery cirul. She handed the remainder of the drug in its twist of paper to the halfman, who thrust it into his pocket.

  On the street, Ember turned to the dwarf. ‘Who are you that Gopan is so subservient and nervous of you, and Faylian knew you, and Duran knew of you. And those words you said in the cellar to Fridja. They were some sort of myrmidon password, weren’t they?’

  ‘Once I owned Gopan’s business. When I decided to leave Iridom, I gave it to him. He regards himself as beholden to me for that and I used his gratitude, but he owes me nothing. The rest of your questions will have to wait.’ Soonkar’s eyes glimmered in the grey pre-dawn, and Ember realised that some part of him was thriving on the danger and desperation of their position. Did all men have a part of them that was brought to life by the prospect of battle?

  They were making their way along a back lane from the nightshelter, which Soonkar said ran parallel to the street running along the shore. They could reach the warehouses in this way, without running the gauntlet of legionnaires and other officials. Ember was calculating, rather light-headedly, that they had gone two kilometres when Soonkar stopped, announced that they had arrived, and began unceremoniously picking a lock.

  It swung open a moment later and Ember stared dreamily over Soonkar’s broad shoulders into the cavernous darkness of the warehouse. She could feel pain, but somehow it did not seem to be hurting her. In fact, she felt as if her head were floating several metres above her body.

  ‘Something is amiss,’ Soonkar muttered.

  ‘You have that right,’ a voice said, and out from between two crates stepped Duran. ‘My wits were amiss to allow myself to be trapped and dragged around like a trussed yinna by that idiot Bukanic. Of course I would have handled things differently had I known that Famaki was involved.

  ‘Gods woman! It is good to see you, but you almost made my heart stop!’ Soonkar growled. He glanced around, caught Ember by the arm and drew her into the warehouse, shutting the door behind them.

  ‘It has been a long time, Halfman. Fridja explained why you were on Iridom. A strange tale. I would not have taken you for the mystical type.’

  ‘I never used to be,’ Soonkar said. ‘But how did you get free? Fridja?’

  ‘She and her miraculous urchins. I must remind Gorick to reward them substantially after all of this is over, though I suspect they would not appreciate the restrictions that wealth and legitimacy would impose. Food perhaps.’

  ‘What happened, then?’ Soonkar asked with a touch of irritation.

  ‘Fortunately I was conscious because Famaki had decided to offer the pleasure of interrogating me to Coralyn.’ Her expression grew cold. ‘When Famaki tries to explain how he let me escape, Coralyn will more than even the balance of pain.’

  ‘Where are the others?’ Soonkar asked.

  ‘In the cellar. We will go down in a little. I assume you heard the bell just before?’

  ‘I did. I had to change my plans.’

  ‘Oh?’ Duran asked, and Soonkar swiftly outlined the planned theft of a ship.

  ‘A bold plan, even for you,’ Duran said, her eyes glinting in the light shining down through a skylight. ‘Any particular ship?’

  ‘The Stormsong,’ Soonkar said. ‘You see, Revel –’

  ‘– will betray you,’ Duran finished the sentence flatly.

  ‘Never,’ Soonkar snapped.

  ‘Not you in particular, but she has betrayed Bleyd and the visionweaver to the Iridomi authorities.’

  ‘I do not believe this!’

  ‘She came here specifically to betray them,’ Duran continued relentlessly. ‘There never was an order for the Stormsong to divert here. She lied, which was why there was no notification from Vespi. She counted on being taken up to the palace by the officials to explain herself, so that she could inform about her fugitive passengers. Fortunately, there was a delay before anyone would see her, and because Bleyd had spotted you following them, he contacted Fridja and went off sightseeing instead of immediately sending word back to the ship about where they were staying. He meant to do it when they returned to the nightshelter, but then Fridja sent Virat to intercept them because she had not yet figured out who you were and so again no message was sent. It is very likely that it is you who saved the visionweaver and Bleyd from being taken prisoner only hours after the Stormsong tethered here. Revel was kept in the palace waiting for word from the ship. She had left instructions for a runner to be sent after her when Bleyd contacted the ship.’

  ‘She is aboard the Stormsong now,’ Soonkar said.

  ‘She is, but she was in the palace when Coralyn called to respond to Famaki’s message about capturing me. None of the other officials knew anything about it so Famaki was sent for and that was when she would have heard about the raid on the myrmidon group here, and Hella’s capture. There was a lot of shouting and arguing, then finally someone mentioned Revel and her passengers. Revel was to be sent back to her ship in case the two fugitives were waiting to see her before they made contact. Can you imagine how Coralyn must have slavered at the thought of having all of us in her talons?’

  ‘How do you know what happened up at the palace if you were freed by Fridja?’

  ‘Revel’s second in command told me. Mysel.’

  ‘Did he tell you why the beloved daughter of a shipmaster who had always cleaved to Darkfall would sell us to the enemies of the misty isle?’

  Jogged by the dwarf’s baffled words into remembering the grave look on the face of the white-cloak novice on Vespi who had urged Revel to go and see her father, Ember suddenly understood. ‘Because of her father,’ she murmured. Her voice seemed to come through her pores and float about the room.

  ‘Precisely,’ Duran confirmed, giving her a sharp look. ‘He died the night before you left Vespi and Mysel said that she was strange and distant from that moment.’

  ‘Revenge,’ Soonkar sighed. ‘She blamed the soulweavers for her father’s illness, I know, because of Tarsin’s abuse of the Vespian shipfolk. She felt that Darkfall had betrayed those who were loyal by allowing him to continue as Holder. She was grimmer than I have even known her when her shipfolk brought me out of hiding. Yet she was adamant that I could not make the round trip with her and pay her at the end. I suppose I should be pleased that she was trying to keep me out of it. But to betray a friendbinding …’

  ‘Mysel said that at first he and the crew had put her black mood down to grief and exhaustion, but she grew ever more moody and haughty and refused to let him see the journey chart, although normally it is the specific task of the second to navigate. When she did not return after some time in the Iridomi palace, he looked at the journey chart and discovered there was no mention of any diversion to Iridom. Fearing what she might have done, he tried to contact Vespi, but the callstone had been disabled. When Revel finally returned to the ship yesterday, he kept a watch on her and, last night, in desperation, he pretended to be drunk when they were alone, and admitted that he was disaffected with Darkfall and blamed the soulweavers for the death of his old shipmaster. Revel wept and told him everything.’

  ‘By the Horn, how did Mysel get to you?’

  ‘He was aware that urchins on many of the septs work for the Shadowman, so he took the risk of going for a stroll late last night and whispering into the ear of a ragged girl that he had desperate
ly important news for Darkfall. He was wrong about who pays them on Iridom, but the message got to us. We signalled the ship as he had instructed and we met. After hearing what he had to say, our main concern was to find you before you tried to board the Stormsong.’

  ‘What an irony,’ Soonkar murmured. ‘We had actually decided not to use the Stormsong in case it was being watched, but when the Edict bell sounded, it seemed the better choice. How did you know we’d come here?’

  ‘It is the closest safe place to the Stormsong, but there are urchins stationed in every place it was thought that you might go.’

  Soonkar shook his head and said heavily, ‘I pity the girl, for this will not bring her father back, and if it could do so, he would turn her away for this treachery.’

  ‘Grief is a sickness and the fifth gate to madness. And madness is one of the faces of chaos,’ Duran said. ‘Mysel hopes that the Vespians will see Revel’s behavior in this light when she is judged.’ Ember saw that there was pity in the myrmidon’s face, and she was reminded vividly of Glynn, who had seemed to feel compassion in so many situations where other people would have felt anger or resentment.

  Ember realised that this was the perfect moment to reveal that she was a stranger, but the lirium she had taken made it hard to connect the thought to action or words. Then the myrmidon began speaking again and the moment passed. The drug had begun by making her feel pleasantly light headed, but the effect had been growing stronger as they walked, and she realised it was growing still.

  ‘I was lying there cursing my stupidity,’ Duran was saying. ‘Then a boy comes hurrying in and Famaki rushes off with him, all pale and ashen faced, and not more than half an hour later, there is a short commotion and in walks Fridja, cool as an icicle, with Gorick behind her breathing fire. Never did I imagine that I would be rescued like some languishing maiden in a ballad, but I was glad enough to see them. Fortunately legionnaires are no match for dedicated and desperate myrmidons.’

  ‘The Edict bell rang because of your escape!’ Soonkar said.

  ‘I fear so. But it is all the same thing because they see us all as enemies to be apprehended. The problem now is how we get away from Iridom. I must say that my ideas align with yours. What was the name of the vessel that you had thought to cross with, before the Edict bell rang?’

  Soonkar told her and the myrmidon leader rolled her eyes. ‘The Wildwind’s master is Barat wavespeaker, who is even more inflexible than Fulig. Still, Wildwind it is.’

  ‘If Shipmaster Barat will not wavespeak the ship, we had better try another ship because no one will come to the aid of a vessel that has broken Edict, without a specific rescue order from Fulig. Besides which, given the shortage of callstones, the ship might not even have one.’

  ‘I had not thought to cozen the shipmaster, or persuade him. Sitting below is one of Fridja’s folk, Audra, who was Vespian and the indulged daughter of a fine wavespeaker before she became a myrmidon. If Barat refuses to help us, Audra will be able to control the ship well enough to get us to Myrmidor so long as we do not stint the culva, though she does not promise a smooth ride. Come below now and I will introduce you to her. We will leave here just before the tide turns, go straight aboard and untether immediately,’ Duran said. They had been following her slowly into the depths of the warehouse as they talked, and now they came to a doorway where a lantern was hung, its wick trimmed very low. Duran now turned to give Ember a long considering look.

  ‘Lirium,’ Soonkar said.

  Duran frowned but she only said, ‘Have you eaten recently? When I came up for my turn on watch they were preparing something.’

  ‘I would not say no to a bite,’ Soonkar said ponderously.

  Ember felt as if she was in a glass bottle; although able to hear them talking, she was removed utterly from the possibility of communication. But suddenly, she was struck by the way Soonkar expressed himself. It was what had been nagging at her all along whenever the halfman had spoken. His speech was too much like that of her own world. Which meant that he had experienced extended contact with strangers. Or with one stranger.

  Ember wanted to ask him, but the effort of formulating words was beyond her. She could not hold onto her revelations. Duran was leading them down a set of steps now, into a small cellar which turned out to have a false wall on one side, hiding another doorway leading to a secret room. It was here that they found the others.

  ‘I am glad that you have kept the a’luwtha safe,’ Duran said, as she waited to close the wall back up.

  ‘The soulweavers have powers of which they do not speak, and I think the bond between songmaker-soulweaver and a’luwtha is such a power.’

  Ember could not think how to respond to that, but Duran had gone ahead again, to where Fridja and the other myrmidons were greeting Soonkar warmly. Bleyd half started to his feet when he saw Ember, his face pale with delight, but there was no sign of Hella.

  Fridja urged them to sit and then Soonkar told their story again. Ember was silent. It was as if she sat in the corner of a great hall, and everyone else was at the other end. Suddenly Bleyd was beside her, telling her that Hella had been hurt by Famaki’s ruffians.

  ‘Does she blame us?’ she managed to ask.

  ‘I do not know. Duran says she is only concussed and will wake eventually with no more than a sore head. I hope she is right. She is over there by the wall in a roll bed. Duran told you about Revel?’

  Ember nodded, surprised to discover that although the effect of the lirium was strong, she could oppose the way it disturbed her mind. ‘We should have listened when you said that Hella could not have known there was to be a delay on Iridom.’

  ‘I am to blame because I did not follow that thought to its proper conclusion. My instructors always said that I lacked the sagacity of patience.’ His expression became troubled. ‘I have heard that Anyi is seriously ill. It is said that someone tried to poison him and an announcement was made yesterday to say that he would not attend the betrothal festivities, nor will he attend the formal betrothal union later today.’

  ‘The betrothal is today?’

  ‘It started yesterday but the formal betrothal ceremony will begin at Kalinda set. Are you … how is your illness?’

  Ember frowned. Without the pain clawing at her, it would be easy to believe that she had imagined she was close to death. Maybe the pains were only the result of stress and exhaustion and lack of proper food.

  Coward, laughed dark Ember. Look how you hide from the stark beauty of truth in weak delusions and excuses. When the pain will not be denied, this frail bulwark of lies and hope and pathetic imaginings will be like match sticks in a dark flood. And then will I come, fearless and accepting, to take us to the end.

  ‘Ember?’

  Ember blinked. ‘I am well enough,’ she murmured.

  ‘What of these chits Ember mentioned, carried here by Hella of Acantha?’ Fridja was asking.

  ‘They were lost in the raid on the old refuge,’ Duran answered. ‘But once we get aboard the ship, if there is an untuned callstone, I will contact the Shadowman to see what has been happening.’

  ‘I doubt Alene would approve of you having anything to do with him,’ Soonkar said.

  Duran shrugged. ‘We myrmidons have long made use of the Shadowman, despite the soulweavers’ prohibition. We are protectors, not servitors.’

  Everyone looked up to see Hella coming towards them, pale and ill-looking, but not otherwise marked. Several of the myrmidons rose to go to her aid, but it was Bleyd who reached her first and helped her to sit on the couch next to Ember’s. She was given a short version of how she had been rescued and of the situation they now faced. ‘You need not come with us,’ Duran said gently. ‘Fridja can take you somewhere safe here, where you can recover in comfort and calmness. You can take a ship to Myrmidor once all of this is over.’

  ‘You should, Hella,’ Bleyd urged. ‘You have suffered enough in a matter that …’

  ‘Does not concern me?’ Hella aske
d. ‘But it does concern me. Why does no one ever see that. I do not want to be left behind again as if I were a bothersome parcel. I wish to travel to Myrmidor with you and to be of use, if I can.’ This was said with touching and tremulous dignity. Then Hella looked at Ember and smiled wanly. ‘Do not look so stricken. I feel awful but I will not die …’ Then her face fell. ‘Oh, I am sorry, Ember. I did not mean …’

  ‘It’s all right,’ Ember found the words and managed to say them. ‘I have lived with the knowledge that I am dying for a long time.’

  Hella fell into abashed silence for a time, and Ember drifted far away.

  Ember dreamed of Tarsin.

  He wore the same stained gold suit as when she had last seen him on Ramidan, though he seemed thinner now, and older. His eyes had a dazed look. A servitor in white brought him a robe trimmed with spangles of gold and draped it around his shoulders.

  ‘I do not look as I once did,’ Tarsin muttered, seeming to wake from a dream. The gold spangles tinkled and clinked together when he moved.

  The servitor met his master’s eyes in the mirror. ‘We all grow older, Lord.’

  ‘I wonder why my mother has been so well served by time; she who never served anyone but herself. Are you listening Mother?’ he suddenly bellowed at the walls. The servitor did not react and Ember thought he was probably accustomed to sudden shouts and mood changes from his master, for the Holder’s body servitors were appointed for life. ‘She always listens, Saloum,’ Tarsin added craftily. Then his expression darkened. ‘She does not seem to realise that I, too, have listeners and watchers loyal to me.’

  ‘Shall I comb your hair, Lord?’ the servitor asked, although it was obvious at a glance that Tarsin’s hair had not been touched for a very long time.