Darksong

by Isobelle Carmody

  There was a buzz of scandalised muttering and Coralyn rose. ‘Lord Holder, this is a large thing to decide without consultation.’

  ‘But I did consult, Mother. I consulted with myself and with Fulig, who has agreed with my condition. Why do you object? Had you thought to take the child for your own?’

  ‘Lord Holder. Forgive me, I spoke without thought,’ Coralyn said, and suddenly she was all grace. Ember was certain that she had indeed spoken without thought, and now remembered that if her plans went as they were supposed to, Fulig would very soon be at her mercy.

  Tarsin waved her contemptuously back to her seat and returned his attention to Kerd and Unys. ‘Do you accept the condition?’

  ‘A hard thing to ask a mother to give up that which is the very fruit of her union with its father,’ Kerd said softly, and his eyes were on his own father. ‘I think to myself how it would have been if I had been taken from you and my mother. How she would have grieved. Even to imagine it pains me. And to imagine that I would be taken from you does not bear thinking of. Given the choice as a child, I would have refused this condition. But it is not the right of a child to dictate to its father.’

  He looked at Unys but she said not a word.

  ‘You speak well, Kerd,’ Tarsin said. He looked at Fulig and now there was a glint in his eye. ‘What say you?’

  ‘I say this, Kerd. I lived in the house of my father’s father, and if this condition had been put upon my parents, then I should never have known of it for my parents were glad to live with him, and I as well,’ Fulig responded.

  Kerd frowned. ‘You would wish us to dwell with you, Father?’

  ‘I do wish it,’ Fulig said.

  Kerd’s face creased in a smile. ‘Then I accept this condition with a glad heart, if Unys does not object. Unys, will you agree? You have heard my father. We will dwell with him on Vespi. Our child need not be apart from us and you can visit your home from time to time.’

  There was a long silence, then Unys said in the same suffocated voice, ‘I would be betrothed.’

  ‘Then it is done,’ Tarsin said, clapping his hands together. There was perspiration on his brow and his eyes had begun to flicker. He waved the betrothed pair away, scratching ferociously at his head. It seemed to Ember that he had begun to lose the lucidity that had carried him this far through the betrothal formalities. He now looked about morosely, his mouth open. By the expectant silence, it was obvious that there was more to be said, but perhaps none of it mattered, for suddenly Fulig rose and went down the steps to embrace his son. There was a murmur from the crowd and Ember saw that there were tears in the eyes of both men, as if something had been affirmed between them. Then Kerd handed his bride to his father, and it was Fulig who lifted her veil. Unys was as heavily painted as ever, her prettiness entirely obscured, and the look she offered Fulig was unattractive, her eyes being both furtive and miserable above a painted smile.

  Disappointment flashed in his eyes, but when he spoke, Fulig’s voice was graceful and unexpectedly kind. ‘Welcome, Unys, once of Iridom, now of Vespi. Your mother was known to my father, and she was kind to me when I was a young man. I hope that you favour her.’

  Unys’s eyes widened in bewilderment. ‘My … my mother?’ she faltered.

  ‘Arawen,’ Fulig said. ‘I remember that she had a way with beasts like to no other. It was said that she had Shenavyre’s own gift and, although that may not be so, she had a charm that all about her felt.’

  ‘Father,’ Kerd said, and there was gentle reproach in his voice. ‘Unys scarcely remembers her blood mother. Maybe you could …’

  ‘Of course, I will help her to remember her blood mother, Arawen, and I have stories also of her father, as he was back when they were first betrothed,’ Fulig enthused, ‘But these stories can wait for cold nights by our hearth. I believe all that remains of the required formalities is for us to drink to the union.’ Fulig steered Unys masterfully to a seat draped in yellow flowers and Kerd followed. The Chieftain of Vespi accepted a golden goblet filled with cirul from a servitor, which he offered first to Unys, who drank a sip or at least let the liquid touch her lip. Fulig then gave the cup to his son, and lastly he expressed his regret that Kerd’s own mother and Unys’s blood mother and father had not lived to see their children joined. ‘Therefore,’ he concluded, ‘I shall represent all of those absent parents, and he drained the dregs, ignoring Coralyn who had risen and stretched out her hand.

  Coralyn returned to her seat with stony eyes and Ember shivered, thinking that Fulig might live to regret what he had done.

  Music began and Kerd took Unys in his arms as if she were an infinitely precious treasure. Her expression was once again obscured by the enigmatic curtain of beads. The steps of the dance were very slow and stately, nevertheless Ember was reminded of Greek dancing or perhaps a sort of slow-motion flamenco.

  Glancing back to the throne, Ember noticed that a servitor was whispering into Tarsin’s ear, and she saw his expression go from confusion to white hot fury. Brushing the servitor aside, he rose, his expression thunderous. The music came to a ragged and slightly discordant halt and all eyes turned to him.

  ‘Mother, come forth and bring my brother with you, since this concerns him,’ he commanded.

  The betrothed couple were forgotten as Coralyn obeyed, Kalide stalking in her wake, his face tight with a fury that he could not quite conceal. His mother’s expression was merely one of mild curiosity. Until you looked into her eyes.

  ‘What is it, Lord Holder, that you should so roughly interrupt the celebration of this joyous betrothal?’ Coralyn’s tone was mildly reproachful, and indulgent.

  ‘Did you not inform me that your honorary legionnaires were searching for the draakan servitor who disappeared after invoking a darklin for me?’

  Comprehension flickered in the vivid blue eyes, like a shark glimpsed through a dark wave. But her voice when she spoke was smooth and reasonable. ‘It seems that palace gossip has marred my surprise.’

  ‘Surprise? What do you mean?’

  ‘I wished to gift to you the servitor that we were seeking and have found, my son. She is within the palace as I suspect you know. You would have had her before now, but she was injured in a carriage accident …’

  ‘Tortured by Kalide you mean,’ Tarsin snapped.

  ‘It is true that your brother interrogated the servitor and in his zeal to learn what she had done he … damaged her.’

  ‘You mean he has rendered her as mindless as Asa?’ Tarsin snarled. There was a buzz of talk which died instantly when Tarsin glared at the assembled guests.

  ‘She is not permanently damaged by the accident or your brother,’ Coralyn said swiftly. ‘But I wanted her healed before I presented her to you. Indeed, her capture is so recent that I have not even informed the Draaka that we have found her servitor yet. In all courtesy, I must gain her approval of the gifting of the servitor, for this girl is of some value to her, having gifts that fitted her particularly for her duties …’

  ‘Tell the Draaka what you like. My spies have informed me that the servitor was carried from the cells to your apartment. Have her brought here at once.’

  ‘Of course, my son. Only let the occasion continue and I will go and have her prepared. It will take some little time for at this moment she lies abed and she may well be deeply asleep.’

  ‘I want her brought here within the hour and if anything befalls her, then you will answer for it. You and my brother. And you may inform the Draaka that I have taken her servitor as my own. See that she is recompensed in coin for the disadvantage.’ He turned to the music makers and gestured impatiently and the tune faltered back to life as Coralyn and Kalide departed.

  Only after they had gone, did Kerd lead Unys back into the dance and, in a few moments, he waved his hand and other couples joined them on the floor. But there was no gaiety in any face. People smiled but the smiles were stiff and formal. The hall now had the look of a play being badly performed by actors who
were uncertain of their roles. Ember willed herself to Alene again.

  ‘… have Anyi as well …’ Tareed was saying urgently.

  ‘I believe that I would know if Anyi had been hurt or killed,’ Alene said softly. ‘I think it more likely that the girl was taken after Feyt had dropped Anyi. Perhaps even as they went to the piers. Indeed, given Feyt’s absence it seems likely they have her as well. If they interrogated Feyt, she might very well have been in a coma for some time.’

  ‘What do we do?’

  ‘You will go to the citadel and see, as we have discussed. I will make as much of a fuss as I can about Feyt. Even if I am unable to have her released, I can waken her. And I must warn Fulig of what ferments here.’

  ‘But in the hut you said he must not be warned.’

  ‘I said that he could not be warned until after the betrothal. I will send a chit asking that he join me in the morning for food.’

  ‘What about …’

  ‘Nothing can be done for her at the moment. But she is better off in Tarsin’s hands than in the Draaka’s or Coralyn’s. Yet from what Coralyn said, she has already suffered Kalide’s attentions.’

  ‘What was he trying to find out?’

  ‘I do not know, but I doubt anyone could resist Kalide. On the other hand, we speak of a woman who linked minds with a feinna, and who cannot be seen by the wise. You had better tell the Shadowman’s people about her. Tell them everything. Go now.’

  The myrmidon hesitated. ‘Feyt would …’ she said.

  ‘You must think for yourself now, Protector, and what transpires is greater than any single soulweaver or all soulweavers, for the Unraveller has come and all must be done to get her safe to Darkfall. Saving the other girl is secondary, though there may be some purpose in her crossing that we cannot fathom.’

  ‘Maybe she came to be what the Draaka believes her to be. A trakkerbeast who will betray the Unraveller.’

  ‘She can not betray what she does not know. Now go,’ Alene said. ‘Return as soon as you can.’

  Some time after Tareed had vanished in the crowd, Coralyn entered the room leading a tall, veiled woman who was limping badly. Again the music fell silent and there was a hush in the talk as the strange pair moved through the room with Kalide in tow. Ember had a strange sense of deja vu because wasn’t this a mirroring of her own veiled appearance before the Holder? Tarsin must have had the same thought for he announced that he was weary to death of hidden faces, and commanded the veil be removed.

  Coralyn drew the veil away, and there stood Glynn clad in a simple moss-green gown that fell from beneath her chin to her feet and to below her wrists. Her face had been heavily powdered and painted and her pale hair coiled and decorated with a rope of glittering stones. But there was no hiding the swollen eyes and cracked and bruised lips and nose, and the scratches on her cheek and forehead that revealed how badly she had been battered.

  32

  And so did Lanalor cast his soul into the Void

  saying: I fall to the Void, I drown …

  LEGENDSONG OF THE UNYKORN

  Soonkar was shaking her shoulder and telling her it was time and Ember stared up at him blankly, for a moment unable to think where she was or what was happening. Her mind whirled with what she had seen. Glynn was the servitor to the Draaka who invoked the darklin for Tarsin to find her? And if what she had seen was true, then Glynn had also seen Alene and then had returned to the citadel with Anyi. Though how Anyi could be with her when he was supposed to be ill, she could not imagine. And then something had gone wrong and she had fallen into the hands of the infamous Kalide. It hardly seemed possible that she could have become so enmeshed in the politics of Keltor. But hadn’t it been the same with her? Maybe it was so with all strangers that they were drawn to the heart of things when they arrived on Keltor.

  ‘You must concentrate,’ Soonkar said urgently. ‘You can fight the side effects of lirium.’

  ‘Why does the Draaka believe that she will betray the Unraveller?’ Ember asked in a slurred voice. ‘Glynn would never betray anyone.’

  Bleyd, who was buckling on a small sword, gave the dwarf a puzzled look and Ember saw Soonkar shrug and shake his head.

  ‘Visionweaver, it is time for us to leave this place,’ he said firmly.

  ‘Ember pushed Glynn to the back of her mind and focused on the strong, steady hand gripping her elbow as they all passed through the trapdoor.

  ‘You have a plan, I hope,’ Soonkar said to Duran. ‘It was one thing to contemplate creeping aboard unseen when there were only two of us, but this is a whole other matter.’

  ‘Indeed it is, my friend,’ Duran answered, giving him a rakish grin. Moments later, the amazon leader crossed to a window in the warehouse wall covered by a swatch of grubby cloth and jerked it aside, so that Ember and everyone else could see the masts of a ship silvered by moonlight.

  ‘The Wildwind is our target. It is on pier fifteen, which is not far back from here. While I was keeping watch, I noted the frequency of the patrols. There is a troop of green legionnaires passing every fifty counts, which means at least five separate groups patrolling, probably more. In addition, there will be hidden watchers covering each ship, with runners waiting to send a signal if anything untoward is seen. We cannot count on getting to the ship without being seen. Therefore we will need a diversion.’

  ‘Leave the diversion to me,’ the spy mistress said, drawing her tattered grey cloak about her shoulders and pulling up the hood. ‘We will leave you now. I will begin counting as soon as we leave this building. Take better care of yourself than you did upon Iridom, Chieftain. I do not think we will meet again for some time.’

  ‘The way things are beginning to shape themselves, it might be less time than we think. I will send word of what transpires elsewhere upon Iridom as soon as I can.’

  ‘Audra can bring it when she returns from Myrmidor,’ Fridja said, nodding to the woman with filthy, rather feline features and tangled red hair who stood beside her. Then she turned to Ember. ‘Visionweaver, we have said farewell before, so I say now that I pray that we will all live long enough to hear what song you will make of all this.’ The spy mistress looked at Bleyd and smiled wickedly. ‘Perhaps you will be pretty again, next time we meet.’

  Bleyd made her a smiling bow. It seemed to Ember that he smiled too much when he was so pale, and she wondered if he was still using drugs to keep him going. If what he was taking was as potent as the lirium, she thought he had better be careful he did not end up an addict.

  Fridja faced Soonkar. ‘Farewell again to you, Halfman. I am honoured to have met you.’ The halfman bowed without appearing to wonder at what had been said, then he made a general farewell to the rest of the myrmidons before they slipped from the rear door of the warehouse as silently as shadows.

  ‘What will she do for a diversion?’ Bleyd asked Duran.

  ‘A fire or some sort of explosion in one of the far warehouses, I suppose,’ Duran said with a carelessness that revealed the confidence she reposed in the unkempt spy mistress. She turned abruptly and bade each of them cast about and take a box or package from those piled in the warehouse. They would come openly from the front door of the warehouse and walk in an orderly procession to where the Wildwind was tethered. If questioned, they were bringing non perishables to replace a perishable cargo that had been paid for and which had already been removed from the ship. Duran said that there would have been enough changes of personnel on shore that no one would know this for a lie. Once aboard the ship, they were to say that their master was coming along behind them. They were to pretend confusion that no one was expecting the delivery. The shipfolk would try to make them take the boxes ashore to wait, but they must refuse, claiming that they must be paid double to take the boxes elsewhere.

  ‘It is the sort of idiotic muddle that happens often enough on ships that it will not cause profound alarm,’ Soonkar approved. ‘But you women will have to keep your faces hidden behind the boxes, for if it is s
een that most of our group is female, the alarm will be raised.’ He looked back at Duran. ‘And if there are legionnaires aboard as there were last time I was on the ship?’

  ‘No shipmaster would allow the continued occupation of his deck by legionnaires. Once aboard, Gorick, you and Virat will find the tether ropes and station yourself by them. There may be more than two, in which case, make sure one person is stationed at each of the ropes. Audra will place herself near the wavespeaker’s platform. I will hopefully hold the attention of any crew on deck until you are all in place, then at my signal, the ropes will be thrown free. This should happen before the shipmaster appears, so that he will not be compromised in any way. At all costs, do not strike a blow against any shipfolk unless you must and then be sure it is light-handed. No Vespian must be harmed permanently.’

  ‘What happens if we are spotted and recognised before we reach the ship?’ Bleyd asked.

  ‘We fight,’ Duran said.

  Soonkar emptied a box and told Ember that they would pretend to be carrying it between them. ‘They will not worry to see a slight woman and a halfman carrying boxes, for they will take us for bonded servitors.’

  Ember blinked at him, and for the first time, a cold finger of fear traced her spine. Let me get free of all this tangle of politics and all of these plots and plans before the pain comes, she thought. She mouthed the words like a mantra, but they seemed to float from her like smoke. Glynn’s battered face drifted into her mind, but she told herself that it might easily be a false vision brought on by a combination of pain and lirium. After all, how on earth could Glynn have become a servitor to the Draaka when she was a stranger?

  A coward has no escape from fear, whispered dark Ember, as Duran unlocked the front entrance to the warehouse in the chill grey light of the very early morning. The sky along the horizon was growing pinker as they formed into a single file and began to make their way along the shore. No one shouted at them to stop and, for a wonder, there were no legionnaires marching by. Maybe Duran had timed it deliberately to let them get underway before they were stopped. Ember was walking directly behind the myrmidon chieftain, with Soonkar, and behind them, Hella was being carried rolled up inside a carpet like Cleopatra, by the stolid Virat, for she could not walk without help. After them came two myrmidons and then Bleyd and the rest of the myrmidons. They were just approaching the Wildwind when a muted thump shook the ground.