Darksong

by Isobelle Carmody

‘Amnesia was a common way for strangers to conceal their ignorance,’ Soonkar said. ‘But even if she did have amnesia, she would have known that she was a stranger.’

  ‘She was taken to Eron isle,’ Hella went on. ‘That was the closest land where a white cloak could be found. The exile, Argon white cloak, had foreseen their coming, and demanded to be taken aboard in payment for his services. He claimed to have experienced a dream which required him to travel to Myrmidor.’

  ‘Argon travelled to Myrmidor?’ Soonkar marvelled, and something in his tone made Ember wonder if he knew the man.

  ‘I asked him how he dared go so near to Darkfall, but he brushed my questions aside,’ Duran said. ‘But go on, Hella.’

  ‘Glynn and my brother left the ship at Acantha and she stayed with him in his fell, and worked in the minescrape. I did not meet her at first, for my brother told me that she was recovering from her immersion. He told me and everyone else that she was Fomhikan. She remained with my brother until he was charged with treason and fled from his judging with the Acanthan legionnaires after him. That very same night, after we had grieved, for we thought Solen dead, Glynn disappeared. I later discovered that she had joined the Acanthan Haven. I thought she had betrayed my brother and me. I left Acantha and went to Fomhika on the same ship as the draakan entourage which was bound for Ramidan. I did not know Glynn was part of it until I saw her on Fomhika.’

  ‘It was upon Fomhika that I, also, met her,’ Duran took up the story. She stopped. ‘I hope that we do not overtire you, Lady?’

  ‘No! No,’ Ember said, hardly able to believe what she was hearing. ‘Please, go on.’

  ‘Very well. I was on Fomhika isle on myrmidon business when, one evening, I and some of the other myrmidons were walking and espied three ruffians attacking a young woman. She fought so beautifully that it fairly took my breath away. To be honest she might have been my own novice. She was outnumbered and we intervened. After, we brought her back to our nightshelter. Later I realised that she was actually horrified to realise that we were myrmidons and at one point she actually refused to be told any secrets. She was trying to leave when Hella entered …’

  ‘I accused her of betraying us,’ Hella broke in. ‘At that time I still did not know that my brother lived, nor that Glynn had gone to the haven only to sell a stone, and had been drugged and kept there against her will. I only knew that she travelled to Ramidan serving the enemy of Darkfall and the woman who had been instrumental in killing my brother. Glynn said that she was merely a servitor for the Draaka, and not a follower of the cult. She told us all that she wanted to get to Ramidan to find her sister who was desperately ill and needed her. Of course we thought she meant that she had a sister upon Ramidan. I … did not believe her …’ A tear ran down Hella’s pale face.

  Duran laid a hand on the Acanthan girl’s shoulder, but when she spoke, it was to Ember. ‘Hella was not alone in her suspicions of Glynn, but there was no falseness or bluster in your sister. No slyness or cowardice. It was not just that she looked myrmidonish, nor that she had such grace in battle, it was that her words and thoughts seemed myrmidon to me, by which I mean honorable. In the end I allowed her to go. That was the last I saw of her, and I have to admit that I have not thought of her since. Now that I say it, I wonder at this, for she was not the sort of person I would forget. I must say, too, that not once did it occur to me that she was a stranger.’

  Hella had regained control. ‘Later that day, after Glynn left us, I found out that Solen lived. He admitted to me that he was a Shadowman agent, just as our father had been, and he told me that it had been his idea for Glynn to pretend to be Fomhikan to stop anyone wondering if she was myrmidon. At that time, I felt only bitterness that she had not confided in me, and I spoke coldly of her to him. The last news I had of her was in a chit from Solen. He scribed that he had spoken to her on the journey to Ramidan, for he had contrived to cross on the same ship. He had taken it so that he could speak to her, I believe. He swore that there was no harm in her, though he said she had gone up to the palace. He said that she sought her sister within the palace.’ She stopped and flushed.

  ‘Somehow she must have learned or guessed that you were the visionweaver. How else would she had known to seek you at the palace?’ Duran said.

  ‘But I wasn’t there,’ Ember protested. ‘I left Ramidan on the day that the ship carrying the Draaka was due …’

  ‘She might not have realised you were gone until she was already inside the palace,’ Soonkar pointed out.

  ‘Then why stay once she discovered that Ember had gone?’ Hella asked.

  ‘Maybe … she wasn’t allowed to leave,’ Ember said, thinking of her vision.

  ‘What I want to know is why she did not tell me the truth.’

  The dwarf shrugged. ‘Maybe that was not a choice available to her. Remember she had no coin for any crossing and the Draaka received an invitation to the citadel palace on Ramidan, where there is a powerful soulweaver in residence. Maybe she saw her chance and took it.’

  ‘But why did she not tell me the truth?’ Duran said again. ‘She must have known that we would have protected her if she had told us that she was a stranger, that, as myrmidons, we were bound to it.’

  ‘I have one thought,’ Soonkar said. ‘Hella’s brother believed that Glynn went to the palace to look for Ember, though there is no way that I can see for her to have known her sister was upon Keltor as well, let alone that she was the visionweaver. Therefore it may be that she was not looking for Ember in the palace, but for a way back to her own world, where she believed her sister to be.’

  Ember’s desire to tell the others about her vision faded in a kind of sick certainty, for of course this would be exactly what Glynn would try to do. She regarded her care of her twin as a sacred trust, and she would kill herself trying to get back to their world.

  ‘But … strangers cannot go back,’ Duran said.

  ‘No, but she would not know that, my friend.’

  Hella said timidly, ‘But … even if you are right, Soonkar, why wouldn’t Glynn still have confided in Duran on Fomhika?’

  ‘I would have thought she would,’ he admitted. ‘I think we must ask that young woman herself to find the truth of it. At least we know where she is.’

  ‘There … there is something I need to tell you,’ Ember said, and all eyes turned to her. ‘When we were in the warehouse waiting, I had a vision of Kerd’s betrothal ceremony to Unys. Alene was there, and Tareed, and I heard them talking about Glynn, though at first I didn’t realise it was her they were speaking of. They knew she had been with the Draaka and they knew who and what she was because she escaped from the Draaka and went to the soulweaver’s hut. She, Feyt and Anyi came back into the citadel together. I think Feyt was meant to put Glynn on a ship for Myrmidor, but something went wrong, and Glynn was taken prisoner by green legionnaires. Tarsin had found out that they had her and he was furious.’ She told them about the gift darklin and of Glynn being forced to invoke it to seek her whereabouts in it. ‘I don’t know what she saw but she fainted at the end of the vision and he sent her back to the Draaka. That was when she escaped. When Tarsin realised Glynn was in the palace, he ordered Coralyn and Kalide to go and get her. They went away and came back with her … I didn’t know it was Glynn they were talking about until I saw her … She looked …’ Ember realised that tears were rolling down her face and she wiped absently at her chin and running nose. ‘Kalide had tortured her and she was dreadfully battered and limping, though they had covered most of it up with paint and jewels and fancy … fancy clothes. I wish I could have heard her speak, but the vision ended there. Maybe she couldn’t have spoken anyway, because Coralyn said she had been sedated.’

  Ember broke off, and only then saw that everyone looked aghast. Hella was weeping and Soonkar’s face was twisted with pity.

  ‘So Tarsin has her then,’ Duran concluded.

  ‘Thank the Horn for that at least. She will be far safer with them than Kali
de and his mother. Was there aught else you saw that we should know?’

  ‘In the vision, Alene sent Tareed off to see the Shadowman, but she didn’t seem sure whether or not she and Tareed were some sort of prisoners. But there were other things too. Fulig was at the hall and he gave his permission for the betrothing, but he asked Tarsin to order Kerd and Unys to foster their first child to him on Vespi.’

  ‘The sly cleverness of him,’ Duran half laughed. ‘I wager that was a nasty shock to Coralyn. Did …’

  There was a cry from above and Duran frowned and hurried away. When she did not return after a little, Soonkar went too, saying that land might have been sighted. He hesitated at the door, suggesting that Hella prepare some clothes for Ember to wear ashore. Hella began to open trunks and Ember lay back and let pain wash through her, and wished for more lirium. Whatever the yellow powder was, it was fighting a losing battle.

  To keep her mind from terror, Ember thought again of her vision, and wondered again if Alene had believed her to be the Unraveller and, if so, why she would not simply have said so? Why keep it a secret from her? The answer came like a drop of iced water into the heat of her thoughts. Alene had feared that she would be unable to cope with it.

  Then she remembered something else. She had forgotten to tell them what Alene had said about the Draaka believing Glynn would betray the Unraveller. But it was not important because Glynn would never betray anyone, and she, no matter what everyone believed, was not the Unraveller.

  ‘Unraveller!’

  ‘Please, do not call me that,’ Ember said sharply.

  ‘I just wanted to say that I have laid out fresh clothes for you.’ Hella pointed to a pale primrose dress and a lavender over-dress. But before she could ask, Hella’s eyes suddenly filled with tears. ‘I … I am sorry, Lady,’ she said, brushing them away. ‘I was just thinking that I … I once helped your sister to dress for a hall where we both had to attend Jurass’s mother, Nema. Glynn wore a golden dress and she was so very beautiful. Like a pale flame.’

  Ember was startled at this description. She swung her legs out of bed, meaning to rise, but the room spun and darkened for a moment, and she remained frozen on the side of the bed, heart thumping with fright as she tried to decide if she had suffered another fleeting moment of full blindness, or merely a moment of faintness.

  ‘Your sister …’ Hella began. Ember looked at her, still shaken. ‘When she went to the Draaka I felt that I hated her. I urged the myrmidons to kill her when she was on Fomhika.’ She shook her head. ‘The awful thing is that although I learned later from Solen that she had not betrayed us, my heart was still cold to her. The truth is that somehow I still felt that my changed circumstances were her fault. I told myself that she had brought the blackwind with her when Solen pulled her from the waves. I was so unfair …’ She shook her head and swept away a scatter of tears with her sleeve.

  Send her away that I need only endure your stupidity, dark Ember snarled, and this made Ember quash her own weary wish that the girl would go.

  Hella took her lack of response for encouragement, ‘Lady, I do not know if it is my business to speak of such things to you, and I know my brother would not thank me for it, but I want to tell you a little more about him and your sister. On Acantha he was … cold and cruel to her because he had long played the part of a wastrel and a drunkard, as it allowed him to speak harsh words against Jurass and the Draaka, and openly cleave to Darkfall. It was a ruse which hid a Shadowman agent. On Fomhika, he told me that he had been horrified when Carick wavespeaker insisted he take Glynn ashore since he had saved her. Yet I think, even then, he was fighting against what he had begun to feel for her. On Fomhika the night before he left for Ramidan, I heard him call her name in his sleep. Glynna-vyre, he said.’ She looked at Ember and saw her incomprehension. ‘Vyre means mine. My Glynna, would be a proper translation. Like Sheanna-vyre.’ Again she hesitated. ‘I am trying to say that if there was anything he could do for your sister, I am sure he will do it. Once he knows that she is in trouble, he will find a way to help her.’

  Ember thought of Glynn as she had just seen her, with swollen eyes and battered and split lips, and wondered where Hella’s brother had been when Glynn needed him. Then suddenly it came to her in a flash what Hella was trying to tell her. ‘Are you saying you think Glynn cares for your brother?’

  She must have said this incredulously, for Hella’s chin lifted. ‘I saw her face when my brother named her a mere chance met, during his judging by Jurass. It was a way of protecting her of course and he spoke slightingly of me as well, for the same reason. But she did not know it then, and she could not hide how it cut her.’

  Suddenly, they heard the hammering of the signal that land had been sighted, and Ember’s heart gave a great wild leap of hope and terror. She groped for the yellow dress and was grateful when Hella took it from her and helped her into it. She then laced on the over-dress and combed her hair out. Hella was searching absurdly for boots to match the dress when Soonkar came thundering back down the stairs.

  ‘I was signalling them on land about your sister,’ he said. ‘Even now, they will be contacting the Shadowman on Ramidan. We will soon know what is happening to her. And as for you, there is a carriage waiting on the shore to carry us to the Darkfall landing.’

  Hella brought the boots and slipped away before Ember could gather her wits to thank her. Soonkar took the boots and knelt to put them on her.

  ‘Soonkar, in that vision I had, Alene spoke of the Draaka believing that Glynn is destined to betray the Unraveller.’

  His eyes widened and he let out a low whistle. Then he shook his head. ‘It would make a nice plot twist, but it does not convince me. I have not met your sister but she sounds an extraordinary young woman. Not the sort to let herself be bullied by fate. It is not just anyone who could survive a session with that sadistic pervert, Kalide. Or impress the myrmidon chieftain as she clearly did. Not to mention capturing the devotion of Hella’s formidable-sounding brother. You must love one another very profoundly. I have heard it is sometimes so with twins.’

  Ember realised with shame that she would never have described her sister as extraordinary and her eyes misted again. ‘Oh, Soonkar, if you could only know the truth of it! Glynn has always been devoted and she is extraordinary, though somehow back home nobody ever saw it. Or maybe only one man and he committed suicide. But before I came here, if you had asked me I would have said that I cared nothing for her. Of course I cared for her when we were children, but when we grew up we drifted apart because we were so different. Then I became ill and there was so much pain, and after they had stabilised me and I learned that I was dying … I didn’t want to care for anyone or anything. It was only when I thought she was drowning the night we crossed to Keltor, that I realised I did care for her. I went in the water after her and that’s how I ended up here. When I finally remembered who I was on the journey to Vespi, and found that I need not die after all, I came to see my old self as repulsive and selfish. Coming to Keltor has made me … see things so differently. I wish … I wish I had loved Glynn half so well as she loved me and I pray that I will have the chance to make it up to her.’

  Soonkar smiled with fleeting radiance. ‘It is strange how coming here has the effect of opening one’s eyes about oneself and one’s world,’ he said. ‘If only everyone in our world could come here for a moment and experience that clarity …’ He finished lacing her boots and stood. ‘You will need a cloak. We will not reach the Great Pier for an hour or so, because the currents bring us first to the pincer ends of the island. You will be able to see the bay of Myrmidor and Darkfall within it.’

  Ember understood from the compassion in his eyes that he saw both her fear and the waves of pain which were now flowing through her. Without a word, he wrapped the cloak about her and lifted her gently into his great arms. She ought to have felt ridiculous, but somehow, she only felt safe as he carried her with apparent ease up onto the deck. It was cold enough
to take her breath away, and Soonkar found a locker and brought a blanket to wrap around her. Then he stood with his thick muscled arms about her, shielding her from the wind and the eyes of Hella, which burned with a strange desperate mixture of anguish and awe; supporting her, for she had not the strength to hold herself up.

  Before them lay Myrmidor, a great, long humped shape like some sleeping animal lying on the molten waves. Kalinda hung very low in the sky and would very soon go behind the thickly forested hills to the south of the island.

  ‘There,’ Soonkar murmured, pointing. Ember turned her head and followed his finger to the peninsula ends of the island, where there was an opening easily wide enough for several ships. ‘Shoals,’ the dwarf murmured, reading her mind. ‘A veritable minefield of them, and the bay itself is infested with silfi. Smaller than the kind you find out in the open sea, but quicker and more savage. Fortunately the coracle that will take you across to the island is too light to disturb them.’

  Ember turned to the halfman. ‘I just want to tell you that I am glad that the Song, or whatever orders things here, brought you to my side.’

  Soonkar smiled at her and she realised that they stood almost eye to eye. She had not noticed that before. The irrelevance of the thought made her aware that her mind was drifting. Then she closed her eyes and tried not to shudder at the pain that closed its claws around her skull.

  ‘Have courage, Daughter. Soon all will be solved and made clear.’

  Fool! dark Ember sneered, and Ember was shocked to see him recoil as if he had heard that malevolent inner voice. But suddenly his eyes went past her and he pointed. ‘Look! There is Darkfall!’

  Ember turned and saw that there was a thick mist at the centre of the unreachable bay of Myrmidor, and understood for the first time exactly why Darkfall was called the misty isle. A cold thrill of apprehension ran though her at the realisation that she would soon enter that mist, and step on the island hidden within it, where Signe awaited her, and healing. She did not know if the soulweavers on Darkfall were also under the illusion that she was the Unraveller, but soon enough, they would realise their mistake.