by Ian Irvine
The girl moved closer to Tobry, as if for protection. Rix regretted his terseness, though not as much as he regretted the situation he was being manoeuvred towards.
‘The enemy. They’re takin’ her back to Cython and … and they’re goin’ to kill her horribly, for sure.’
‘How can you know that?’ Rix said uncomfortably.
‘It’s what they do to slaves with magery,’ said Rannilt, limping into the middle of the road. ‘If Tali hadn’t saved me, they would have cut my head off, hack! Just like that. Seen it done to other Pale,’ she added quietly. ‘The blood spurts up for six feet — ’
Rix blanched. ‘A child should not be dwelling on such things.’
‘How can I ever forget?’ She reached up with her grubby hands and snot-covered arm. ‘Tali is the kindest lady in the world and you’ve got to save her.’
‘Caulderon’s under attack, look.’ He indicated the glowing skyline. ‘I have to save my own people, child. How can I do both at the same time?’
‘You said you’d help her.’
‘How many of the enemy are there?’ said Tobry.
‘Four, I think,’ said Rannilt, though she did not meet his eyes.
‘Are you sure that’s all?’
‘There’s another squad somewhere, more than twelve of them.’
‘But not travelling with the first squad?’
‘The second squad doesn’t want to take Tali back. Just her … her head.’
Tobry exchanged glances with Rix, who scowled and looked away.
‘Have you had anything to eat?’ said Tobry.
‘Got no food,’ said Rannilt.
He took bread, cheese and sausage from his saddlebags. ‘Why don’t you sit on one of those rocks while Rix and I see what we can do.’
They walked down the empty road, out of earshot. The crimson-tinged plumes were dying away now, the fuel they fed on almost consumed. Soon, no doubt, the road would be thick with desperate refugees.
‘Two of us,’ said Rix. ‘At least sixteen of them. We’re both worn out and so are our horses. It can’t be done.’
Tobry looked at him.
‘What if the enemy has broken into Caulderon?’ said Rix. ‘What if they’re firing pox pins into the palace right now?
‘We’ve still got to try.’
‘Tobe, listen.’ Rix took a deep breath.
‘I know what you’re going to say.’
‘Really?’
‘You’re going to say that you’ve neglected your responsibilities too long. That only you can pull the defences of Palace Ricinus together in time, but you’ve got to go now. That your highest duties are to your country and to your house, and it’s not in you to shirk them at such a time — no matter how worthy the individual might be.’
‘Well put. Let’s go.’
‘And I thoroughly agree,’ said Tobry. ‘Waste time trying to save Tali, and hundreds might die because you’re not there to rally your troops.’
‘Exactly,’ said Rix.
‘There is one thing, though,’ said Tobry.
‘I knew it.’
‘No one’s ever been inside Cython.’
‘So what?’
‘When the chancellor plans to counterattack, Tali’s knowledge of Cython’s layout and defences will be priceless.’
‘You might have mentioned this when we could have done something about it.’
‘Probably would have, if you hadn’t ridden off in such a tantrum.’
Rix let it pass. Tobry was right, and the chancellor would be doubly pleased if they could pull it off. ‘That was twelve hours ago. They’ll have her down the Rat Hole by now.’
‘Rannilt?’ Tobry called. ‘How long ago was she taken?’
Rannilt got up and trudged towards them, almost out on her feet but refusing to give in. ‘Just on dark, the first time. Evil Orlyk got her, the nasty old toad.’
‘First time?’ Tobry’s face lit. ‘You mean Tali escaped?’
‘’Course,’ said the girl with such glowing pride that Rix’s steely heart was touched. ‘I was watchin’ from the dark. Tali tricked Tinyhead into leadin’ half the guards across the crust over a hot mud pond … They broke through and fell in, and it cooked ’em like chickens in a pie. Cooked ’em good.’
‘That’s a very bloodthirsty attitude for a child,’ said Rix sternly.
‘They kill kids with the gift,’ said Rannilt.
‘But they caught Tali again?’ asked Tobry.
‘The other squad did, a few hours ago. Mad Wil led them to her.’ Rannilt caught her breath.
‘Who’s Mad Wil?’
‘No eyes. Sees the future. Pretends to be nice but he’s a nasty little man. Pinches when no one’s lookin’.’
‘And then?’ said Tobry.
‘Second squad was goin’ to kill her right away. I shouted and threw rocks and … and … but they came after me and I had to run and hide … They nearly got me …’ She shuddered. ‘The Living Blade was singin’, dyin’ to take her head …’ Rannilt faltered and tears appeared in her eyes. ‘Dyin’ …’
Rix realised that he was up on his toes, leaning forwards. ‘But it didn’t. What happened this time?’
‘Tali got to Wil.’
‘She’s a clever woman,’ said Tobry, admiringly.
‘Wil’s funny about Tali,’ said Rannilt. ‘He led the enemy to her but when captain was goin’ to kill her … Wil set fire to the ground and — ’
‘You can’t burn dirt, or salt,’ said Rix. ‘Tobe, I thought you said they don’t use magery?’
‘I didn’t think they did. What did Wil do, child? This is important.’
‘Wasn’t magery. In Cython, it’s called chymie.’
‘What’s the difference?’ said Rix.
‘It’s a kind of alchymie, isn’t it?’ said Tobry.
‘That’s right,’ said Rannilt. ‘Wil had some thick green water in a metal tube. He tossed the water on the ground … it was all yellow there — ’
‘Layers of sulphur fumed out of vents,’ said Tobry. ‘I know the place, it’s only a couple of miles from here. Treacherous country in the night, though.’
‘- everywhere the green water landed, it burned so high and fierce that the enemy couldn’t get past,’ Rannilt went on.
‘The “green water” must be an alchymical combustion agent,’ said Tobry. ‘Fascinating.’
‘Mad Wil ran off with Tali,’ said Rannilt. ‘But not long after that, Evil Orlyk whacked her on the head and took her away. Couldn’t do nothin’ so I ran for help.’
‘And there were four in her squad, you said?’
‘Think so,’ said Rannilt.
‘Four’s a lot better odds than sixteen,’ Tobry said, giving Rix a significant stare. ‘How long ago?’
‘Maybe two hours,’ said Rannilt.
‘They’ve got a long start,’ said Rix. ‘Could be halfway to the Rat Hole by now. If we can cut them off, can you stop them with gramarye?’
‘It’ll take more than my conjuror’s tricks,’ Tobry said with that hint of bitterness.
‘Do we have a garrison near here?’
‘Plegm is the closest, but they’ll be out hunting enemy by now. Besides, if we rode after Tali with a squad of soldiers …’
Rix ran through half a dozen plans, but they all ended the same way. ‘Orlyk would cut her throat. She’s doomed if we attack, doomed if we don’t.’
Rannilt let out a little cry. ‘You’ve got to save her.’
‘I’m sorry,’ said Rix, and he was. Tali was brave and determined and wholly admirable, and even if the Pale were traitors, about which he now had serious doubts, he could not bear to think of her killed like a chicken for the pot. ‘I don’t see what we can do.’
He climbed into the saddle and closed his eyes, the better to think, but imagined Lady Ricinus’s icy rage. House Ricinus can’t afford a hint of scandal until the Honouring is over. Association with a despised Pale could be ruinous. Forget the scrag and do your du
ty!
Rix’s fingers tightened on the reins. He was tempted to go after Tali out of sheer defiance. But how could he, with war raging and Caulderon under threat?
Do your duty! Rix tried to focus on the portrait of his father, but all he could see was the bloated drunkard’s nose. He opened his eyes and Rannilt was staring up at him, reproachfully. He looked away.
‘Tobry?’ Rannilt was swaying, almost out on her feet but refusing to give in. ‘You’ve got to — ’
‘Hush, child,’ said Tobry. ‘It can’t be done. Hop up here, in front of me.’
‘No!’ She turned and walked into the Seethings.
‘What the blazes is she up to?’ said Rix.
‘How would I know?’ snarled Tobry. ‘Rannilt? Where are you going?’
Rannilt’s face was wet and her nose was running. She wiped it on her crusted forearm. ‘Goin’ to save Tali.’
Tobry took hold of handfuls of his hair as though planning to tear it out. He glared at Rix, then dismounted and ran after her. Rix followed.
‘Rannilt,’ said Tobry, ‘they’ll kill you too. You can’t — ’
‘Tali risked her life to save me,’ said the girl, over her shoulder. ‘ I don’t desert my friends.’
The reproach stung. Rix wanted to scream, I’m not like that. You don’t understand. It’s not that simple.
‘She’s right,’ said Tobry, quietly.
For the first time Rix saw that his friend was in pain and doing his best to cover it up, but he had no idea what to say to him. ‘What are you talking about?’
‘The bravest and cleverest girl we’ve ever set eyes on is in mortal trouble and we made a commitment to her.’
‘What would you do?’ said Rix.
‘I wouldn’t be running home to paint my father’s poxy portrait.’
‘Easy for you to say, since you’ve got no responsibilities.’
‘That’s the wonderful thing about losing my house and all my family,’ said Tobry. ‘I’m free! Free as a bird.’
‘Sorry,’ said Rix. ‘Didn’t mean it that way. All right — how would you rescue her?’
‘Haven’t got the faintest.’ Tobry took the reins. ‘Come up here, Rannilt. We’ll do what we can.’
Her eyes lit up like twin full moons. ‘You’re goin’ to save Tali?’
‘We’re going to try. But we might all be killed.’
‘Could have died four times since I met her,’ said Rannilt.
Tobry heaved her into the saddle. Rannilt looked around in amazement, and not a little terror, at being so high on such an unfamiliar beast, then threw her skinny arms around him and burrowed her snotty nose against his chest.
‘We’re goin’ to save Tali,’ she murmured.
She closed her eyes, sighed, and within seconds she was asleep. Tobry enclosed her with one arm, looked up, and his eyes were suspiciously shiny. ‘What are you staring at?’ he muttered to Rix.
‘The way you’ve gone all protective,’ said Rix, ‘you’d think she was your own daughter.’
After a long pause, Tobry said softly, ‘I wish she was.’
‘But you never get involved. You don’t believe in anything.’
‘It’s amazing how the end of the world gives you focus. I recommend you try it.’
Rix nudged Leather forwards. ‘How do we find Tali?’
Tobry waved his elbrot and a handful of golden motes sparkled in the air. ‘Rannilt came this way.’
‘What are you doing?’
‘Her gift is uncontrolled — it leaves traces that gramarye can read for a little while. If we backtrack her, we’ll discover where Tali was taken.’
‘We know where she was taken — near where the ground is made of sulphur.’
‘So we do,’ said Tobry, consulting the map. ‘From there, they’d take this path back to the Rat Hole. Come on.’
A weight had lifted from Rix’s shoulders but, as they rode on, the familiar burden settled on him. He was neglecting his responsibilities, and if this went wrong, as it probably would, House Ricinus might well come tumbling down.
CHAPTER 45
‘How are we going to do this?’ said Rix. ‘I can’t think of any plan save going at them full gallop, and we can’t do that carrying a kid.’
‘With respect, Lord Rixium,’ said Tobry, ‘full gallop is the only plan you ever have. Subtle you are not.’
‘It’s worked in the past.’
‘Not this time. Once they see us, they’ll cut Tali’s throat just like that.’ Tobry mimed it, his face a death mask. ‘Two seconds. Gone!’
Rannilt jerked in her sleep and let out a muffled cry.
‘Sorry, little one, I’m a stupid old fool.’ He stroked her hair and she settled. ‘Rix, next time I open my big mouth, do me a favour and put your boot in it.’
Rix studied the girl, sidelong. ‘She’s a tough little thing.’
‘Tougher than I am. Suppose slaves have to be.’
Tobry delved in his saddlebags for the map and conjured a small light above it. ‘There is one place we might ambush them.’
Rix nudged his horse closer.
‘The quickest way to the Rat Hole,’ said Tobry, ‘is via the track between this cluster of salt lakes.’ He traced it with a fingertip. ‘If we were to race out west, this way, then get to this point first, we might manage a surprise attack. They’ve been going all day and night — they’ll be worn out and not as vigilant as they should be. Not expecting an ambush, hopefully.’
‘We’ve been going longer.’
‘We’re used to long days of travel. They can’t be.’
Rix frowned at the map. ‘Looks risky. For Tali, I mean.’
Tobry’s eyes went black for a moment and his arm tightened around Rannilt. He was expecting the worst.
‘If you can come up with a better idea, we’ll try it,’ he said.
‘What about Rannilt? If we’re caught, they’ll kill her.’
Tobry tightened his grip around her tiny frame. Rannilt sighed and snuggled, without waking. ‘I — We’ll have to leave her with the horses.’
‘What if we’re killed?’
Tobry’s eyes went that desolate black again.
There was just enough starlight to see. Soon they were winding between the bubbling lakes and steaming mud pools of the Inner Seethings, where the air was almost too foul to breathe and pungent vapours bit at their mucous membranes until their noses ran and their eyes wept.
Tobry was wrapped in his own thoughts. Rix studied him in the dim light, marvelling at the change in Tobry since they’d escaped the wrythen’s caverns, and especially since they’d met Tali and the child. Barely a trace remained of the reckless Tobry he’d grown up with, the man who had thought about nothing save friendship and pleasure. He seemed older, sadder, yet deeper and more subtle. And he cared!
Rix knew he was changed, too. The encounter with the wrythen had shaken him; it knew who he was and he felt sure it planned to avenge itself on his house. Now every day brought a greater burden of responsibility; every day it became clearer how disastrously his parents were managing House Ricinus. Whether the war went well or badly, his house could well fall, as Tobry’s own ancient house had been crushed in a few terrible years. Rix had to save it.
So why wasn’t he racing home as fast as his weary horse could carry him? If he were killed trying to rescue Tali, who would rally the palace guard? Not his father, who could not stay sober to save his life, and certainly not Lady Ricinus. Rix could not name one servant who did not fear her monthly flogging tithe, and loathe her. When he became Lord Ricinus, he would turn the palace upside-down to scour away the taint of its previous lord and lady.
‘Where did we go wrong, Tobe?’
‘What kind of a question is that?’
‘We were happy when I was little. Oh, Mother was always sharp-tongued, Father always drank more than he ought, but life was good. Then I got sick, and after I was well again everything had changed.’
‘Sometimes terri
ble choices have to be made — as in my house.’
Rix said no more. Compared to the catastrophe that had crushed House Lagger, the problems between Lord and Lady Ricinus were insignificant.
As the first glow of dawn touched the eastern horizon, they were walking their horses across the broken country between the simmering salt lakes of the Inner Seethings. The earth here was baked like a burnt biscuit, and just as lifeless. Rix felt a sudden terror that the beautiful estates of House Ricinus would soon look this way. The enemy had terrible new weapons, ones Hightspall did not understand. How could they fight chymie when they did not know how it worked?
All the more reason to rescue Tali, who might know some of the enemy’s secrets. Surely even his mother would see the sense in that. Ha!
‘Where are we?’ said Rannilt, yawning.
‘Not far now,’ said Tobry. ‘Hungry?’
‘Always hungry.’
He handed her hard bread and even harder sausage. She gnawed at one, then the other in the dim light.
‘You’re goin’ to save Tali,’ she said with childlike certainty.
‘We’ll try. Have you known her long?’
‘Two days. I asked her to be my mother. She said I was being silly.’
‘What happened to your mother?’
‘The enemy killed her when I was five, because she could do magery.’ Rannilt said it without a trace of self-pity.
‘Is that where your gift comes from?’
‘Suppose so. Never knew my father. He was minin’ out a sunstone and his heart burst.’
‘What can you do with magery, apart from that golden light?’
Rannilt shrugged. ‘Scared to try. If you say magery in Cython they beat you. If they know you have it, they kill you.’
‘You’re in Hightspall now and you can use magery all you want,’ said Rix, amazing himself. Until he had saved them both with the enchanted sword, he’d had a deep-seated fear of magery.
‘Do you know anything about Tali’s gift?’ said Tobry.
‘It’s different. Strong. Buried deep and she can’t find it.’ Rannilt frowned at Rix, who pretended he hadn’t been listening. ‘Do you have a palace too, Lord Tobry?’
He let out a barking laugh. ‘No, child. I’m not rich like Rix.’
‘I could be a servant in your house. I’d love that … you don’t beat your servants all the time, do you?’