Tyen nodded as the implications of that came to him. He doubted that the Raen owned other books created from a person, so the only way he could test the process was to make another. That was a prospect he didn’t want to contemplate.
“But you need to contemplate it,” the Raen said. “If that was the only way Vella could be made whole, would you agree to it?”
Tyen thought of what Tarren had asked: “… what are you prepared to do in order to fulfil your promise to her?”
“No…” he said slowly. “Doing to someone else what was done to her… that would defeat the purpose of restoring her.”
“Unless the person wanted it.”
Why would anybody want that? he thought. But then he looked at Reke. If they escaped an early death, or a damaged body, they might. If the person craved agelessness but was not powerful enough to achieve it.
Tarren might have been tempted.
He nodded. “They would have to be willing to take a great risk, but I suppose it would be better than the certainty of death or ongoing pain.”
The Raen nodded once. Then he looked towards the door. “You are about to have company.” And between one blink and the next, he was gone.
CHAPTER 15
Tyen quickly stuffed Vella into her pouch and slipped it under his shirt, but not before the healer tried the door and found it unmovable. Puzzled, as the doors here did not lock, she tried again and this time succeeded, staggering into the room when she encountered no resistance.
“Sorry,” Tyen said, taking a step back. “I was about to come out and find someone.”
She looked past him and saw Reke’s still and vacant gaze. Annoyance turned to understanding and she hurried over to inspect the dead woman. All signs pointed to a natural death.
“She woke up and was struggling to breathe,” he told her. “Then she just let out one long breath and…” He gestured helplessly.
The healer nodded. “Were you a friend?”
He shook his head. “Not a close friend. Not strangers, either. But I made a promise to bring her here.”
“Does she require rituals and preparation before you move her?”
“She didn’t say, so I guess not.”
“No family?”
“All dead.” Which was the reason she had joined the rebels, he knew.
She nodded. “If she had come here sooner we might have been able to help her. This will be more common, now that the law against travelling between worlds is in place again.”
“Will the hospital have to close?”
“No, we have always had plenty of patients. Either they have the Raen’s approval to travel here, or they are desperate enough to risk defying him.” She shrugged. “I’ve never heard of him punishing anyone, though.”
“Perhaps he is not as bad as some say.”
She looked at him guardedly. “He and his favourites can heal with magic. If this knowledge were available to us, we could cure everyone who came to us.”
Tyen’s heart sank a little, but then he thought of Vella. “Perhaps one day you will learn it from another source, or work it out for yourselves.”
She smiled. “Perhaps we will.”
He looked at Reke again. “What do you do with those who have no home to return to?”
After he had made arrangements and paid for the cremation and the healer’s services, he headed back to the room he shared with Volk. As he walked along the road to the dorms he turned the conversation with the Raen over in his mind. He considered the prospect of handing over rebel leadership to Baluka. “It is not preventing the Traveller from ousting you that is the challenge,” the Raen had said. “It is doing so while retaining a position of influence among the rebels.”
If he suggested it to the generals, it would look cowardly–like he was giving in too easily, or trying to escape responsibility. He needed to retain as much respect as possible, if he was still to have some influence with the generals. Admitting he wasn’t the best leader might be admired, but he had to convince them he had good ideas and a role to play in decision making.
How he could then gain Baluka’s respect would be even harder. Perhaps all he needed was for the generals to want him around. Baluka, new in his role, would not want to offend them.
Tyen needed a role to move into that they would approve of. A role that favoured his strengths. For Yira he had been an adviser and protector. It was too much to expect Baluka to trust a man he had just supplanted. This had to be something else. What could he offer them that others couldn’t?
I am stronger than everyone else.
That didn’t require him to be around Baluka and the generals, though. They could easily give him a task that sent him away.
I can read everyone’s mind.
Which was another good reason to send him away. They could not keep secrets from him. It would make him useful for recruitment, however. Which was probably the role Baluka would set for him, if he had a say in it, as Tyen would be away for a long time and wouldn’t need to return often.
So long as I did often enough to keep track of their plans, I can still be a spy.
The thought of spending some time away from the rebels appealed. He could consult Vella more often. He could meet with the Raen, make his reports more frequently, perhaps even see some of the man’s efforts at finding a way to restore Vella. So long as the rebels needed him to return regularly, he would be able to gather information about their progress.
Information. That’s it!
So long as he was gathering information that Baluka and the generals needed, they’d want him to meet with them regularly. But what? His heart skipped a beat as the answer came: the task he’d given Volk. He would volunteer to seek the location of the Raen’s home world and the number of his allies. Volk didn’t want to do it. He’d be grateful to have the task taken from him, and the others would appreciate that Tyen had not asked anyone to do a dangerous task he wasn’t prepared to do himself.
Tyen could be the rebels’ scout, their information gatherer, their–he almost laughed aloud as he thought it–their spy.
But Volk had been right about one thing: it would also be dangerous, even for Tyen. The allies knew only that they were not to kill the rebel leader. Once Tyen was no longer leader, he would not have that protection. Perhaps the Raen would have a solution for that.
“Tyen,” a voice said.
He turned to see Daam hurrying along the road to catch up, so he slowed. “Yes?”
“How is Reke?” the young man asked as they fell into step side by side.
Tyen let out a long breath. “Gone.”
“Oh.” Daam was silent for several steps. “Does that mean we have to leave?”
“Yes, I guess we must.” Tyen looked at the young man. My assistant. The promotion had both pleased and frightened Daam. The latter because the allies had targeted rebel leaders, and he was sure to be close by if they attacked Tyen. I can’t take him with me, Tyen thought. But it would be good to have someone close to Baluka and the generals to represent me when I’m absent.
“So the healers couldn’t help her?” Daam asked. “Or did she die before they could?”
“If she had sought help sooner they might have saved her.” Tyen recalled the healer’s claim about the Raen and his allies hoarding the knowledge of healing with magic. Why would they? Probably to prevent their enemies surviving when they’d otherwise die. But surely anyone powerful enough to be the enemy of an ally must be powerful enough to be ageless. From what I recall Vella telling me, agelessness means being able to change anything about your body, and that must include healing yourself.
That, he suspected, was why the Raen could not share that knowledge. If healers could fix anything, they could fix ageing. They’d have the secret of agelessness. And if they could stop everyone ageing, there would soon be too many people crowding the worlds. Though he doubted enough healers with the required strength existed to treat everyone, everywhere. Not at first, but what about after a few hun
dred years?
He turned his mind back to the problem of putting Baluka in charge as he stepped through the main door of the dormitory. As if conjured by Tyen’s thought, the young man stepped out of a doorway at the end of the corridor. Baluka’s back was to them, and Tyen had a strange urge to duck out of sight.
Why? I’m going to have to follow his orders soon enough. Which is going to be awkward. This would be easier if we had never been seen as rivals.
He drew in a quick breath as he realised that was the answer to the problem. We are not actually rivals. Nobody but me knows this. And with very little effort on his part, they could stop being so in everyone else’s eyes.
“Baluka,” he called.
The Traveller paused, then turned to face Tyen. His expression showed none of the mingled resentment and guilt inside.
“I wanted to thank you for sharing your ideas with us,” Tyen said. “The generals all think highly of you, as do I.”
Baluka’s eyebrow rose. “Oh. Well I…”
“Let’s talk.” Tyen turned to Daam. “Is there anything to drink here? Anything other than water?”
Daam smiled. “I’ll see what I can find.”
Tyen led Baluka to the dorm room. He sat on the end of one of the two beds, as they were the only furniture. Baluka half leaned, half sat in one of the deep window frames. He was curious, and a little apprehensive, as to what Tyen wanted to talk about.
“What do you know of leadership, Baluka?”
The Traveller shrugged. “Only what I have observed of my father, and of the various rulers my family traded with.”
“You were trained all your life to take over as head of the family,” Tyen pointed out, as he saw the truth in the young man’s mind.
Baluka looked down and laughed softly. “I will never get used to how you do that.”
“You would do it too, if you were in my position.”
The young man’s eyes rose to meet Tyen’s, and he nodded to acknowledge that Tyen was right.
A soft tap at the door interrupted them. At Tyen’s call Daam came in with two roughly blown glasses, handing one to each of them. Tyen sipped; the contents were a syrupy, faintly alcoholic liquid but he couldn’t tell what it was derived from. Most likely a tonic of some sort. He thanked Daam, who took the hint and left again.
“Nobody likes having their thoughts read.” Tyen grimaced. “I don’t much like reading everyone’s minds all the time either. I’m a little afraid I’ll get so used to it I’ll forget how not to.”
Baluka’s gaze moved beyond the walls briefly. “You’ll remember, once you see something you don’t want to.”
“Yes.” Tyen sighed and looked away, as if in thought, then turned back and made his expression serious. “Volk can read Frell’s mind. Frell can read Hapre’s. If Hapre were leader, how would she overcome this?”
Baluka blinked, the only sign of his surprise at the question. “I… I am not sure. Perhaps she would require the others to open their minds to her–but that would leave them vulnerable to others seeing their thoughts as well.” He scratched his chin. “Perhaps she would have to trust them. Perhaps she would have the other two watch each other and report to her. Perhaps she would have to rely on you to read their minds, as the former leader did.”
Are you going to hand over the leadership to one of them? Baluka desperately wanted to ask.
“None of them would accept it,” Tyen replied. “As you may have guessed already, I did not want it, but there was nobody else at the time willing to take the risk.”
Baluka stared, half triumphant that he was correct, half wondering why Tyen had admitted this to him.
“To be more accurate, there was nobody suitable,” Tyen continued. “There still isn’t.” He smiled as Baluka frowned and looked away. “But we do what we can with what we have. Everyone has weaknesses. Yours, for example, is inexperience. Mine is a reluctance to be responsible for sending anyone to their death.” He sighed. “Your weakness is more easily overcome than—”
“What are you saying?”
The young man’s frown was so deep he appeared to be scowling, but that wasn’t his intention. Anger simmered, ready to flare if Tyen proved to be mocking or teasing him.
Tyen took another sip, decided he didn’t like the cloying sweetness of the drink and set it aside. “I’m saying that you’d be as good or bad a leader as I am–just with different strengths and weaknesses.”
Baluka relaxed a little, but he was still wary. His shoulders rose and fell as he pretended amusement. “I’m not sure whether to be flattered or insulted.”
“I’m not trying to achieve either. Do you agree?”
The Traveller paused to consider, then nodded. “Yes.” Why is he doing this? He looked from his glass to Tyen’s. Well, at least I don’t have to pretend to like this. Setting it beside him on the sill, he crossed his arms. “I get the feeling you’re going to ask me to do something.”
“I am.”
“Something that will send me far away where I can’t be a nuisance?”
“No.”
“Are you going to ask me to be your assistant?”
Tyen shook his head.
“Adviser?”
Tyen shook his head again.
Baluka’s eyes narrowed. “A general?” he asked, disbelieving.
“I had something else in mind.”
The young man shook his head. “What else is there?”
“The leadership.”
Baluka’s control of his expression finally slipped completely. Every feature betrayed his astonishment.
“Not immediately,” Tyen cautioned. “You have only just joined us. The others are impressed by you, but they’ll always worry about your inexperience if you don’t prove your leadership abilities first. We’ll all have to work together to make sure you’re ready for the job, when you take it.”
The young man broke from his state of shock. “Why?”
“There’s something I want to do,” Tyen told him. “Something I can’t do as leader. And as I said, I don’t like ordering others to endanger their lives, especially when I could do the task more easily and safely.” He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “Ultimately, our aim is to destroy the Raen and his allies. That, Yira used to say, won’t happen without taking risks. Nor will it happen while I’m in charge. But with you as leader,” Tyen smiled. “We might achieve something.”
PART FIVE
RIELLE
CHAPTER 16
The roof of the cavern was lost in gloom. Concentrating, Rielle fed magic to the flame hovering above her head and sent it upwards. The darkness shrank away from it, revealing walls curving inward to form a domed ceiling carved with an intricate, random pattern.
It was not the only huge space in the underground city. She’d found an enormous stairwell linking nearly fifty levels, a low-ceilinged room supported by endless rows of columns she could not see the far side of and, largest of all, what could only be described as a valley with undulating sides covered in houses of all shapes and sizes–looking like any ordinary urban sprawl except that the valley walls continued up above the city and met overhead.
All but a small corner of the palace was filled with dust and darkness.
Sections had been abandoned far longer than others. Guessing the uses of some rooms had been impossible, as the furniture had long ago crumbled to dust. One circular room, four storeys tall, had been waist high with desiccated wood. Regular holes in the walls suggested balconies had once encircled the interior. Investigating the remnants of timber she found broken shelving and, in sheltered areas, rolls of paper that disintegrated when touched.
The cavern she was exploring now was square. The floor was covered in large regularly spaced, rectangular mounds. The dust was dotted with random pockmarks. Walking over to one, she brushed aside some of the dust. Thicker, denser dust lay beneath.
“These were gardens,” a voice said. “There are many rooms like this. Most provided food or
medicinal crops, but a few held plants selected for their beauty alone.”
She turned to see a familiar man standing in the wide, doorless entrance. A flash of radiating lines seen only by her mind told her he was, like Valhan, constantly drawing in a small amount of magic.
“Dahli.” She smiled sheepishly. “You followed me?”
His shoulders lifted. “As I’ve told you so many times before, parts of the old city are unstable, and you could easily get lost.”
She dusted off the residue of centuries from her hands. “Yet you haven’t followed me before.”
He smiled. “Haven’t I?”
She studied him, wondering if this was another test to see if she’d read his mind. He’d asked her not to, and she hadn’t, but now and then he seemed to be trying to trick her into revealing that she had.
He entered the room, walking with the ease of someone who never questioned his fitness. His actual age, he had told her, was between three hundred and fifty-four and three hundred and fifty-six cycles. The imprecision was due to not knowing his birth date in his mortal life, though he’d never told her why he didn’t other than that he had been orphaned as a child.
Like all the ageless he was good-looking, but not in the same way that Valhan was. Dahli’s looks were of the amiable and charming kind rather than soul-stirring beauty. The artist in her wanted to try to capture his slightly reddish, curly brown hair, his pale tan skin, broad jawline and mouth, and long, perfectly curled eyelashes that gave his eyes a permanently cheerful look. It was no illusion. He laughed easily and little seemed to bother him.
Yet he was a demanding teacher. Every day he appeared not long after she had risen to begin their lessons, only allowing her to rest during meals and when it was time to sleep. Sometimes she grumbled to herself that it was just as well he was so likeable, because otherwise she would probably hate him. Sometimes, when she couldn’t face another lesson she slipped away before he arrived, exploring the palace and the city.
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