storm

by Unknown

  After the last course had been served and Bryony was organizing the staff to clear the table, Cobweb put Pellaz out of his misery and suggested they went for a walk together the gardens. Pellaz virtually vaulted over his chair to escape the room. Swift talked about going down to Galhea, proposing that Terez might want to sample the town's night life, but Terez declined.

  As he stood up from the table, he caught Tyson's eye with a piercing glance, and by that Tyson guessed the har had something to say to him privately. He closed his eyes briefly to acknowledge the unspoken request and Terez left the room.

  "He can be dour, that one," Seel remarked, and Swift made a soft sound of agreement. Terez was not very popular, mainly because he was dour, and he kept a silence. He had had an awkward start to his Wraeththu life and it had marked him. Pellaz kept him very close, which meant he had to meet a lot of hara, some of whom disliked his manner, while others resented his relationship to the Tigron. Terez did not go out of his way to accommodate or charm hara. He went his own way, like a stray cat. He might live among the roof-tops of Immanion, never going indoors, and rarely seen. Pellaz might leave food out for him.

  "What do you think?" Swift said to Tyson, interrupting his reverie.

  "Of what?" Tyson finished his wine. He must remember to secure a bottle from the kitchens before going to Terez's room.

  "About this whole business. Pell is here to pick Cobweb's brains, that's for sure."

  Tyson shrugged. "I think Cal went mad and did it." He stood up.

  Seel grimaced. "Speak your mind, why don't you?"

  "It's what you think, isn't it?" Tyson said sweetly. He didn't wait for a response but left the room.

  After he'd crept to the kitchens and raided the wine store, Tyson went directly to the room that Cobweb had had prepared for the Tigron's brother. Fresh flowers filled the air with a tart lemony scent and a jug of Bryony's elderflower cordial stood on the night-stand. Terez sat on the end of the bed, looking out of place and uncomfortable. When he wasn't close to Pellaz, it was as if he was missing a limb.

  "What did you want to see me about?" Tyson asked, closing the door. He knew Terez responded best to direct approaches.

  "Are you ready for a journey?"

  "What?"

  "Sit down," Terez said.

  Tyson sat on the window seat and began to open the wine. "Well?"

  "Pellaz wants me to find our brother, Dorado. Cobweb mentioned him a short while ago. Now this business in Immanion has happened and it's clear that Cal was implicated in some way. Pell will find out tonight what Cobweb knows about Dorado and why he is significant. Pell and I think you should come with me to track Dorado down."

  "This is a surprise."

  "It's not an order, but an offer. You were to be brought to Immanion, but now is not a good time for that."

  "I didn't want to go, in any case. I'm curious as to why the Tigron wants me out of the way now."

  "That is somehow it is. If you come with me you will learn many things. You cannot escape your heritage, Tyson. It will catch up with you. Pell is extending a hand to you. You would be wise to take it."

  Tyson pulled out the cork from the bottle he carried. "I see." He went to the cupboard where glasses were kept and poured out two measures. One glass he handed to Terez, the other he drank himself very quickly. He could barely take in what had been said. "Where will you travel to?"

  Terez shrugged. "Dorado was incepted into the Uigenna. It's most likely he will be in hiding. We hope Cobweb will help us find him. We anticipate he will still be in Megalithica. If not, I'll go wherever I have to go."

  Tyson laughed and shook his head. "This is most unexpected. For years, I dreamed of travel..." He sat down again. "I have no desire to be part of Phaonica's court."

  Terez smiled tightly. "No. I can see you would not fit well there."

  "Did Cal?"

  "No," Terez said. "He was itching to work, to help Hara, to make a difference. If he hadn't disappeared, he would have done great things, I'm sure."

  "I'm surprised to hear you speak of him warmly. I don't know why, but I thought you'd resent him."

  "No," Terez said. "The only thing I could resent him for has no meaning now."

  "Which was?"

  "Stealing my older brother away from home, away from me, taking his humanity from him. What meaning has that now? I am Wraeththu too. All that went before is a past life. Irrelevant."

  Tyson hesitated a moment before speaking. "Shouldn't you be looking for Cal now rather than Dorado?"

  "I will find Dorado first. One thing at a time. Many Hara are looking for Cal."

  "He came to me today," Tyson said.

  Terez glanced at him sharply. "What?"

  "In a vision or a dream. I think he was trying to tell me about this. He said it was time for me to wake up."

  "This is good," Terez said. "You have a link. What is your answer to my proposal?"

  It took only seconds to make a decision. Tyson saw himself in years to come, still working for Swift on mundane tasks about the estate, the father or hostling of a couple of harlings: a predictable life, devoid of adventure. "Count me in," Tyson said.

  "Can you remember," Pellaz asked, "when we first met?"

  Cobweb took his arm. He had been silent since they'd left the house. "Yes, how could I forget? I was a wreck of a har, lying in my own filth, prisoner of the Irraka, and slowly dying of blood poisoning. You were the one who began the healing process. I remember you, Pell. Your innocence, your strength and your passion for life."

  "Am I still that har?"

  Cobweb stopped walking, pulling Pellaz to a halt beside him. "Is this the gist of the interrogation you were planning? I was expecting something else."

  "If it wasn't for me, you'd be dead," Pellaz said. "Cal and I rescued you from the Irraka and brought you back home. Never once in all the years of our friendship have I reminded you of that. But there is a debt between us. I'm sorry, cobweb, but I have to call that in. You have to speak plainly to me. No more riddles or enigmatic mystical remarks. Did Cal attack Rue? I know you know the answer."

  Cobweb sighed deeply, his expression sorrowful. "To answer your first question: no, you are clearly not the har I first met. To answer the second, which you have so bluntly and indelicately demanded, it is also no."

  Pellaz exhaled long and deep, his eyes closed. "Thank Aru!"

  "You didn't have to call the debt in. I would have told you that, in any case."

  "I'm sorry. These are desperate times. I don't have the time for vague clues. I need clear information."

  "Thanks. I don't deliberately try to confound you. A lot of what I perceive is muddled and confusing. I never play a game with you, Pell. I'm hurt you should think that."

  “I didn't intend to hurt you. Understand my position. I don't know which way to turn. What else can you tell me?”

  Cobweb took Pell's arm again. “Let's sit down.” They had come to the side of the lake, a haunted and beautiful spot in the tangled gardens of Forever. Some of the ancient yews had wooden benches fixes around their trunks, and now Cobweb sat down on one of them, gesturing for Pellaz to sit beside him. “So much has happened here,” he said. “Cal and I shared a traumatic moment in this place.”

  “I know,” Pellaz said, rather impatiently. “You told me about it a long time ago.”

  “He always would have come back here,” Cobweb said. “He loved this house, and I think he loved Swift and me too. But he will never return to this house as long as Seel is here. He has lost his refuge, and that is sad.”

  “Where is he?” Pellaz asked. “Why did he run from Immanion? Was it connected to what happened to Rue, or did he run simply because he'd realised he'd done the wrong thing in coming to me at all?”

  “Pell, I can't give you precise answers. I wish I could, but I can't. Some things I'm sure about. I know he didn't attack Rue, and I think he left the city for both of the reasons you just suggested. I think also he had no choice in leaving. It was a
complicated issue.”

  “Who did attack Rue? Any tiny sliver of information you can give me will be worth your weight in diamonds.”

  Cobweb closed his eyes. “It is too dark in the inner world. I can't see. I don't think Rue was the target.”

  “They had come for me? They were looking in the wrong place, then!”

  “No, not you, Pell. The pearl. It was the pearl they were after.”

  “We have already considered that. The attacker took the pearl, or at least disposed of it away from the scene of the crime. It's sick.”

  Cobweb lowered his head and rubbed at his temples. “Rue was simply in the way, his flesh a barrier. There was no murderous intent, only a sense of driven purpose, a job to be done. And that is really all I can tell you.”

  “Have you any impression of the attacker?”

  “No, they disguised themselves well. I have no idea of what they looked like, who they were or where they came from. I don't even know whether they were har or not.”

  Pell nodded thoughtfully, his mind trying to make some kind of sense of what Cobweb had told him. “Who would want to harm the pearl?” he murmured, thinking aloud. He glanced at Cobweb. “Cal met somehar for dinner that night. We still don't know who.”

  “I can't help you with that,” Cobweb said. “I'm sorry.”

  Pellaz sighed deeply. “What is going on? And where the hell do I begin to try and find out?”

  “I have been feeling very strange recently,” Cobweb said. “It's as if powerful forces are on the move in the world. Nothing is certain. The fact that Thiede is no longer incarnate on this planet is the cause of it, I'm sure. Whether that is a good or a bad thing, I don't know yet. Now I want you to be honest with me. Did Opalexian want to get rid of Thiede?”

  Pellaz took a deep breath. “The truth? OK. This is all I know. Some time ago, when Lileem and Terez disappeared into the otherworld, I learned the truth about Kamagrian. I met with Opalexian in Shilalama. She was far from happy about me being there. I had to trade. I wanted to win her confidence. Basically, I asked her to find Cal and heal him, to bring him to me, and she agreed to do so. She knew then that I trusted her. She has that over me. I'm not sure how hara would react if they knew my selfish desires were primarily the cause for Thiede's dismissal from this plane. As long as Thiede was with us, he'd have never allowed Cal and I to be together.” He shrugged. “I wonder now whether Opalexian had her own agenda and used Cal to get rid of Thiede. It seems increasingly likely, but in that case, why hasn't she taken advantage of the situation? She is as reclusive as she ever was.”

  “She might be preparing to play a long game,” Cobweb said. “It isn't that long ago that Cal came to Immanion and did her work – if that was what he was doing. In her position, I'd continue to lie low for a while. Wouldn't you?”

  “I will go and see her, I think.”

  “I wonder how much good that would do, or how much truth she'd give you.”

  “She is fanatical about one thing, and that is that Kamagrian and Wraeththu must never come together. We know that aruna between a har and a parage can open up portals to other worlds. The question I want answering is whether Opalexian wishes to prevent such events because she fears for her parazha's safety, or whether because, if we ever did learn how to control our combined force, it would teach us things she'd rather we didn't know. And if so, why?”

  “They are weighty questions,” Cobweb said. “I don't think Opalexian will answer them. My impression is that she believes Kamagrian to be superior to Wraeththu, and that she has used you, and thinks she continues to do so. She thinks you are easy to control.”

  “The danger could lie in her belief in her superiority. Perhaps that was the issue between her and Thiede all along. But Kamagrian need Wraeththu to exist. Parazha cannot reproduce – or have not yet learned how to. They are only born when they occasionally form within harish pearls.”

  “It's feasible Opalexian wishes to create a ruling elite, a shadowy cabal of Kamagrian Illuminati sustained by the ignorant populace.”

  “It's feasible, yes,” Pellaz said, “but if you met her, I think you'd find it as hard to believe as I do. She might have wanted to get rid of Thiede, but I really don't think that was because she craved his power over Wraeththu. I think she feared what he might do.”

  Cobweb was silent for a moment, then said, “I could come with you to Shilalama. My sight might be of use to you there.”

  “Thank you,” Pellaz said. “I think it might.” He paused, then said, “Would Opalexian wish to harm our pearl? Is she capable of that?”

  “All I think is that in conceiving the pearl, you created something more powerful than you knew. The child was in danger from the moment of its creation. It is a great tragedy that nohar foresaw that, including myself. As for whether Opalexian ordered its murder – consider this. The harling that might have hatched from the pearl needn't necessarily have been Wraeththu.”

  “She wouldn't have killed a child.”

  “No, I agree. But she might well have considered abducting it, especially before anyhar saw its condition.”

  “You are suggesting her as a candidate then, and think the harling might have survived excision from Rue's body?”

  “I'm not suggesting Opalexian ordered it, no, because it would have been more practical for her to wait until the pearl had been born before attempting an abduction. The pearl protects its secret until it hatches. But I do think there is a distinct possibility the child might not be dead. Rue was very close to term.”

  “These are interesting things to consider,” Pellaz said. “Now I want to know how Dorado fits into this picture.”

  Cobweb fixed Pellaz with a luminous stare. “I am a powerful psychic, Pell. You know that. But I believe the power your brother has makes my ability look like a tiny candle flame. He is the sun. His light can shine into the darkest spaces.”

  “How do you know this?”

  “I don't. I just believe it to be so. On the night of Cal's arrival in Immanion, many doors opened. I have already told you that. It felt as if the whole of history was rushing through my mind. I saw so many things it nearly killed me. I saw Dorado. And he saw me too. He knows I am speaking to you now, telling you what I can. He is resentful, Uigenna to the core. That is why you must send Terez to find him. He will have no dealings with you.”

  “Where is he?”

  “Somewhere here in Megalithica. I see a ruined human city, close to a great body of water. It could be the ocean, but something advises me it's not. I see a northern landscape. I see mist driven by powerful winds. He is in this place, watching me, as I watch him.”

  “He will hide from Terez, then. He must know everything we're planning.”

  Cobweb shook his head. “He is waiting, that is all. His focus is upon you and he is damaged, both physically and mentally. I believe this means he has not considered Terez. He fears the power of the Tigron, nothing more.”

  “And what do I do with him if Terez finds him? Rehabilitation? How?”

  “It would require a political solution. The Gelaming could stop oppressing Uigenna hara in this country...”

  “Cobweb, it is not oppression! If they refuse to abandon their violent ways, then...”

  “Hush,” Cobweb said. “You asked me and I told you what I thought. Everyhar has the right to be free.”

  “Free to plunder, use up and move on? You know how the Uigenna are, Cobweb. They were the closest allies of the Varrs! You know how your own tribe used to be, your own consort – or should I say master? What were you in those days? Hardly more than breeding stock! If you want to talk about oppression, remember your own life when Terzian held the keys to it!”

  “Parasiel evolved from the Varrs,” Cobweb said, his voice steady. “Stop shouting and just think about that for a moment.”

  “It could only happen when Terzian had died. Thank all the gods that happened!”

  “I loved him very much,” Cobweb said. “Don't say any more.”
>
  “He was –”

  “And so did Cal,” Cobweb continued. “If you say any more, Pell, we're going to fall out – badly. Just stand back for a moment and and watch yourself.”

  Pellaz uttered an angry sound and put his head in his hands. He was consumed by furious emotion. Cal had loved Terzian: he knew that was the truth. “Cal should have stayed here in Galhea when he first had the chance,” he said, “before we realised what we felt for one another. How much that would have changed things.”

  Cobweb put a hand on Pell's shoulder. “He didn't stay because he loved you more. You know that. He only came here when he thought you were dead. Let go of the past, Pell. You must.”