storm

by Unknown

  “No,” Moon said. What did the Parsic take him for, some pampered Gelaming who could not even saddle his own horse? “I know where everything is kept.”

  He chose a horse he knew belonged to Aleeme, one that he had ridden before on previous, happier, visits to Galhea. Once he was outside, Moon could hear distant shouting coming from the town below the hill, and also the occasional crashing noise, as if barrels were being turned over and windows smashed. He urged his mount to gallop down the driveway and into the wide avenue beyond the iron gates.

  Before he rode past the first dwellings, he could smell smoke. He guided his horse toward it. A large storehouse had been set on fire. Mono could see dark shapes running about, heard cries and orders being shouted. Two hara held a spurting fire hose toward the flames. The hose appeared to struggle in their grip like a water serpent. There was a hiss, a pause, then the leaping fire seemed only to gain in strength. Moon rode on. He knew he was looking for Tyson.

  Ahead, he could hear cries, the unmistakable sound of combat. He reined in his horse. It would be folly to gallop headlong into conflict without first assessing what was going on. He guided the horse into a side alley between high dark buildings. There was nohar around and the windows of the buildings were dark. The sound of horse's hooves echoed from wall to wall. After some minutes, Moon perceived a faint blue glow ahead of him, perhaps the entrance to a back yard. As soon as the horse saw it, the creature refused to move any further. It danced on the spot, uttering groans, so Moon dismounted to silence it. He approached the blue glow cautiously. It wasn't normal. He knew it didn't belong in this place. Instinctively he drew the knife he had strapped to his belt, even though he suspected the weapon would be of little use to him.

  The light was the most beautiful colour, a deep peacock hue, seeming to hang about eight or nine feet above the ground. Surely such a thing of beauty could not be dangerous? It was like the bale fire that sometimes Moon had seen as a child, coiling over the waters of the Sea of Ghosts. He was hypnotised by it. But then a tall figure stepped out of the shadows, and Moon could see that the amazing light came from its eyes, enveloping its whole face in radiance. It was more than tall: it was a giant. Moon could perceive no other details, but his instincts reacted severely. What stood before him was the personification of terror. For the merest instant, he froze, but then he was running, running as fast he could, filled with a desire to flee so great he couldn't fight or control it. The horse he'd ridden had vanished, no doubt escaping the moment Moon had climbed down from its back. Animals often had more sense than hara.

  He was moments away from the alley mouth, he could see hara running about, the leap of flames from burning roofs. Smoke burned his mouth and lungs. He was just about to leap into the small square ahead of him, but then a strong arm curled itself around his neck from behind and lifted him from the ground.

  Moon was choking, dangling in mid-air, sure that at any moment his neck would snap. He could hear – and feel – a rumble in the thing that held him, a deep frightening sound that shook the fibres of his being. It was like a voice building up, coming from far away, and if it was heard in this world, it would be devastating. Buildings would collapse. The sky would fall. This was the end. Moon was angry, more than frightened, suddenly filled with Uigenna bitterness and Uigenna ferocity. He fought for life, managed to utter a vicious roar of fury.

  The creature shook him and he kicked backwards, striking the pillars of its legs with his heels. He sensed it pause, as if it were suddenly interested in him in a different way. Words that dripped like poison into his mind hissed: “Uigenna puppy!”

  How this dialogue might have continued Moon could not guess, because at that moment somehar leapt into the alley, wielding what appeared to be a weapon made entirely of glittering water in both hands. The strange blade swept through the air, shooting off droplets or globules of energy. It struck his captor in the side. Moon was released at once and fell to the ground with a bone-jarring crash. Not even bothering to register whether he was hurt, he scrabbled away to the side. Pushing hair from his eyes, he saw Calanthe har Aralis, Tigron, limned in blue radiance, standing fearless before the smoking-eyed giant. Baring his teeth in a snarl, Cal plunged his weapon into the creature's chest and it vanished.

  “You killed it!” Moon cried.

  “No,” Cal said. “Moved it.” He lowered his weapon. It looked like metal now. Whatever had animated it had come from within Cal himself. “What the fuck are you doing here?” He didn't appear to want an answer, as he was already glancing around himself, presumably for more hostile creatures.

  “Same as you,” Moon said. “Brief me.”

  Cal gave him a short but considered glance, then nodded his head once. “They haven't broken through the shield. It simply isn't there to them. These are not hara, although they have hara with them... got them through.”

  “What are they?”

  “Abominations,” Cal said. “Parasiel cannot fight them. They are leaving now. They have achieved their desired result: terror.”

  Moon followed him out of the alley. The square beyond was fairly quiet, for the conflict had moved on. Hara were attending to fallen comrades. From further away, the sound of cries persisted. It was the howl of a maddened creature, a creature trapped in a pit, showered by spears, but even as Moon listened to it, it began to ebb away, cries becoming sobs, becoming silence. Moon looked around himself, saw many buildings on fire. He could smell blood, cooked meat, and worse stenches from deep within harish bodies that had been opened to the air.

  “I told Cobweb,” Cal muttered, apparently to himself. “They should have listened to me, all of them.”

  Moon had to agree.

  They went to various areas of the town to assess damage and assist where they could with the injured and dying. Moon helped staunch wounds, held the hands of a har as he breathed his last. He could feel Cal watching him.

  Moon had hoped they would come across Tyson and Ferany, but there was no sign of them. Moon checked every corpse he could find, fearfully.

  Cal said, “Ty's not hurt, Moon. You won't find him here. Stop fretting.”

  Moon glanced at him, saw Cal's sly smile and felt heat creep up his neck. Fortunately, it was unlikely Cal could perceive that in the ruddy light of burning buildings. How had he known though? Was it so obvious?

  After a couple of hours, Cal suggested they go to an inn at the edge of the town, which was undamaged. “We need a drink,” he said. “We've earned it.”

  The inn keeper, dealing with a heavy influx of shocked clientèle, who would no doubt keep him up all night, gave Cal and Moon ale on the house. They sat outside on the ground to drink it, surrounded by other groups of hara who still could not believe what they'd just lived through.

  “Bizarre that you are Uigenna,” Cal said, conversationally. “But I should have guessed they would reach Pell's old home eventually. I imagined his people as dead, but not incepted. Stupid really. When I look at Terez, I wonder why on earth I didn't take him with me to Saltrock too. Could have saved him some pain.”

  “You were blinded,” Moon said. His throat was so sore from smoke, his voice sounded husky. “You had eyes only for one Cevarro.”

  “Yeah.”

  They drank for some time in silence.

  “You are some har, Moon,” Cal said eventually. “You look so young, yet you showed real guts back there. Nothing fazed you. I can tell you are a har to rely on, and that means a lot in this world.”

  “I was terrified of the giant... thing,” Moon said.

  “You were kicking hell out of it, yelling like a berserker!” Cal laughed. “Still, I wasn't going to simply watch, much as you might have been able to take that thing out eventually.”

  “I couldn't have done that,” Moon said. He paused. “It knew me. It recognised the Uigenna in me, even though I'm not really that now.”

  “Makes sense,” Cal said.

  “What is that weapon you've got?” Moon jerked his head towards the
apparently normal blade that was now sheathed and hanging from Cal's belt.

  “It's called a sword,” Cal said, smiling.

  “Oh, come on. It's more than that.”

  “No, it's not. What you saw was a particular aspect of Agmara, life force, which I channelled into the metal. For a time, the metal became something else, a form of energy that can repel certain other kinds of force, such as the thing that had you in its fists.”

  “Did Thiede teach you that?”

  “Yes, he did.”

  “Can you show me how to do it?”

  Cal laughed. “I could, if you have a spare lifetime.”

  “You haven't been gone that long.”

  “Time is different where I was.”

  Moon took a deep breath, then had to voice the question on his mind. “Have you really forgotten Pell?”

  Cal ruffled Moon's hair, a distancing gesture. “Impertinent minx!”

  Moon pulled away, affronted. “Well, have you?”

  “No, of course not. We are one, he and I.”

  “Then, why...?”

  “I'm not going to discuss it with you, so be quiet. We should get back to the house.” Cal put his empty tankard down on the floor between his raised knees. “I have a suggestion, which you might like.”

  “What?”

  “How would you like to come to Fulminir with me?”

  “Why?”

  “I like what I see in you. I think you'll be useful.”

  “Oh.” Moon hesitated. “Isn't Tyson going with you?”

  “Yes. It will be dangerous, and your father will no doubt raise a barrage of objections, but I have a feeling about you. I think you should be given the opportunity to show what you can do.”

  “That's flattering,” Moon said. “I'm not sure though.” He thought for some moments about how his first instinct had been to come to the town that night, not hide away. He wasn't frightened of facing danger. Perhaps Cal was right about him, but there was also the possibility Cal had a secret agenda, concerning his son, or even himself. Moon didn't like the thought of that.

  “Don't be getting the wrong idea,” Cal said, clearly intuiting Moon's reservations. “I meant what I said. Whatever's between you and Ty is your business, but I don't think you should let it interfere with your decision. Nohar more than me knows what it's like to be governed by emotions and desire. Take my advice. Don't be like me. It won't get you anywhere but a cold dark place.”

  “OK, maybe I will come with you.” Moon grimaced, visualizing clearly Snake's reaction to this news.

  “You are not a harling,” Cal said dryly. “Nohar can tell you what to do now. It's nohar's decision but yours.”

  “He will hate you for it,” Moon said. “Snake, that is.” And Pellaz too, no doubt, once he got to hear about it.

  Cal nodded. “Oh well, no change there. I'm used to it.”

  “You must teach me things, though. I want to learn.”

  “It will mean we must travel overland, because I can't transport three of us through the otherlanes, not in the state they're in now, at any rate. Also, I now think we shouldn't get to Fulminir too soon.”

  “Isn't that risky? Ponclast might kill Azriel and Aleeme.”

  “He won't. That isn't in his plans for them. Their blood is valuable to him. He will breed with them.”

  Moon shuddered. “That's disgusting.”

  “Yes. But it'll ensure their safety for a while. I don't know what the end of this will be, but it won't be some huge war. At the end, it will be down to Ponclast and Pellaz. That is Thiede's feeling, and mine also. Pellaz needs to earn his title. This will be the greatest initiation. And he needs to go through it alone.”

  “I see,” Moon said. “He must do as you did. I understand now.”

  “Good.” Cal got to his feet. “Come on, I have an intense desire to raid Yarrow's kitchen. I'm starving. It must be time for breakfast.”

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Cobweb did not sleep that night and Ithiel did not come to him. He stood at a window, right at the top of the house, in a neglected area that pulsed with memories. He saw the flames shooting into the sky, and the strange blue lights that moved with slow and inexorable purpose around the town. He could feel in every atom of his body that hara were dying. They were powerless, and whatever resistance they put up was pointless, just a final act of defiance, before the culling ceased.

  After dawn, Cal returned to Forever with Moon. Tyson and Ferany had got back to the house moments earlier and were sitting with Cobweb in the dining room.

  “Do you see now?” Cal said to Cobweb. “Do you understand why I advised you to leave?”

  “You can't strike them,” Tyson said. “They are not harish. They just took who they wanted and left.”

  “How many casualties?” Cobweb asked.

  “That is still being estimated,” Cal said. “I would imagine several hundred.”

  “I just thank the Aghama my parents were here at Forever,” Ferany said. He paused, his mouth tight-lipped. “Our house is gone. It's a ruin.”

  “They avoided Forever, avoided Galhea's heart,” Cal said. “They are wary of your power, Cobweb, or Snake's, or the pair of you combined.”

  “We have little power left,” Cobweb said. “Today, we must leave Galhea, as you said. We'll go to Harling Gardens and trust that Lisia can and will help us. Where is Ithiel? He must begin organising our people at once.”

  “I don't know,” Tyson said.

  “Then go and look for him,” Cobweb said. “Put out a mind call. Do it now.”

  Tyson went to attend to this task, while Ferany sought out his parents in the guest rooms.

  Moon said to Cobweb, “Do you think Snake will be able to stand this journey?”

  Cobweb sighed. “I don't know. He has to. I wish Pell could send Peridot to carry Snake back to Immanion. Perhaps I should ask him.”

  “I don't think Snake could manage the otherlanes journey either,” Moon said. “It wasn't easy. His condition has deteriorated. I don't like it.”

  “I know,” Cobweb said. “I will give him healing myself this morning.”

  “There may not be time,” Cal said.

  “There is time,” Cobweb snapped. “The rest of you get everything ready. Yarrow and Bryony will help. You know that.”

  “You are the leader of Parasiel at this moment,” Cal said. “Everyhar needs to see you. You should go...”

  “No,” Cobweb said. “My place is here, with Snake. He has sacrificed himself for us. I'll not let him...” He shook his head. He didn't want to say the word 'die' in front of Moon.

  At that moment, Bryony came into the room. Her expression was odd: shocked yet blank. “You must come,” she said to Cobweb. “You must come at once.”

  “Why?” Cobweb snapped.

  “Tyson has brought Ithiel here...” Bryony rubbed her face with both hands. “Cobweb... Cobweb, he's dead.”

  Cobweb went utterly still. It was as if another har walked inside his body, took over. Without saying anything, he followed Bryony to the kitchen. Tyson stood next to the table, along with two other hara from the town, and the majority of the household staff. They had laid the body of Ithiel there. Cobweb swallowed sour saliva: his tongue felt too big in his mouth. Hara stood aside to let him reach the table. Nohar said a word.

  Ithiel's face was covered in blood. His eyes were open, as was his throat: the guard that should have protected it had been ripped away.

  Cobweb looked down at this dead har who had been so big a part of his life for so long, taken always for granted. Ithiel, the right hand of Parasiel, who had served Terzian, then Swift, with unfailing loyalty and efficiency. Cobweb could see himself falling upon the body in tears, tearing out his hair, uttering laments. He could see himself curled in a corner, shuddering with terror, alone. It would have been so easy to do it, and so comforting. What did hara expect of him now? Although he had always been discreet, it was no secret that the har who crept at night to Cobweb's ro
om when he needed company was Ithiel. They had never been chesna, just friends who'd been comfortable in each other's arms. Cobweb was not even sure what he felt now. If anything, it was a crushing sense of inevitability, but something else also, like a door opening. Strange. He couldn't work out what it meant. Everyhar was staring at him; he could tell without glancing up. The moment he had been dreading had come. He could never be the same again.

  “Wash his body,” Cobweb said, gesturing at Bryony. He turned to some of the other house-hara. “Dig a grave, now, and with haste. Do this before you prepare to leave.” He realised he hadn't yet announced to anyhar that they were definitely leaving. He had relied on Ithiel to do it.