The Rival

by Kristine Kathryn Rusch

  "We need ta send someone back for that food," the voice said.

  "We canna. Ye heard Ubur. They're burning Jahn."

  "It dinna make sense, burning Jahn."

  "I seen it. And the Tabernacle too."

  Matthias opened his eyes, and sat up on his elbows. The movement made him dizzy and pulled on the wounds along his shoulders, but he didn't care. "The Fey are burning the Tabernacle?"

  Yasep smiled with one side of his mouth. "Tis a shame, holy man. If ye'd been there, ye'd be dead."

  There were two more men in the group, neither of whom he recognized. They sat near the crates, their faces covered with soot, their clothes old and torn. One of the men held a knife in his right hand. It still bore fresh blood.

  "They be burning all a Jahn," the man without the knife said.

  "But why?" Matthias said.

  "How should we know? We just got down here with our lives."

  "Ye sure ye weren't followed?" Denl asked.

  "Ubur killed the Fey what was closest," said the man without the knife. The man with the knife, Ubur, nodded.

  "I hear they can turn invisible," said Jakib.

  "They can do more than that," Matthias said. "They can take over a man's body, and make him do their bidding. They can even become that man."

  "Yer lyin," Yasep said.

  Matthias pushed himself all the way into a sitting position. Some of the dizziness was fading. He shoved the blanket down, and let the cavern's coolness overwhelm him. It felt good. "If you want to take that kind of risk with these two new men, fine," Matthias said. "You're the leader."

  "How can ye tell they're not human?" Jakib asked.

  "Holy water, ye fool," said one of the other men. "A babe'd know that."

  "Yer willin to touch holy water?" Yasep asked the two new men.

  "Aye," Ubur said.

  "Twould na do harm, if'n it makes his lordship happy," the other said.

  "Taint no lord," Denl said. "Tis the Fifty-First Rocaan."

  "Naw," Ubur said. "He's dead."

  "Did ye test him with holy water?" the second newcomer asked.

  "I did," Marly spoke from behind Matthias. She was sitting cross-legged near one of the crates, her skirt tugged taunt over her knees. "I cleaned his wounds with it."

  "Ye willin ta take a woman's word?" Ubur asked.

  "She's my sister," Jakib said, his voice low.

  The newcomers looked at each other. Finally Ubur lowered his head in acknowledgment. "Tis sorry I am. I dinna know."

  "Get holy water," Yasep said to one of the men behind him. He opened a crate and pulled out a vial. These had come from the Tabernacle, or one of the kirks. Matthias recognized the type of vial. They were specially made for the church by glass craftsmen near the Slides of Death.

  The man pulled out the stopper and approached the other two.

  "Wait," Matthias said. "Let me make sure that is holy water."

  "Oh, n how can ye do that, holy man?"

  "It has an odor," Matthias said, "a distinct odor."

  The man handed Matthias the bottle. The man's hands left slimy prints on the bottle's side. Matthias sniffed. The water smelled faintly bitter, as it was supposed to.

  "This is all right," he said.

  The two newcomers held out their hands. The man poured some water on them. Nothing happened.

  "Ye worry fer nothin," Yasep said.

  "I worry for good reason. The Fey infiltrated the Tabernacle in the early years, a number of times. If they saw someone come down here, they would come too." Matthias rubbed his face with his clean hand. His fingernail caught a bandage and pulled on the healing skin, making him wince.

  "Dinna do that," Marly said, catching his hand in her own. "Ye'll hurt yerself. Takes time ta heal."

  "If they're burning Jahn, we don't have time. Where does the air down here come from?"

  The men shrugged.

  "There's a number a openings," Yasep said. "N parts a the tunnels are gone."

  "That's what I'm worried about," Matthias said. "If water can get in, air can get in. Smoke can get in. We might suffocate down here."

  "Tis na a small place," Yasep said. "Ye saw only a tiny passage. These tunnels run all under the palace side a the city. A man could live down here for years n no one'd ever find him."

  "Is that what you've done?" Matthias asked.

  Denl grinned at him. "Makes our business easy."

  Matthias had promised himself he wouldn't ask what their business was. He didn't want to know. "What's this about food? Do you have any here?"

  "A course we do," Yasep said.

  "But na enough fer this many fer verra long," Denl said.

  Yasep glared at him.

  "Would ye be likin something?" Marly asked.

  Matthias nodded, then clutched the side of his head. Even that simple move made him dizzy. He might want to heal, but willing himself well would only work so far.

  "Water at least," he said.

  "N tak?" she asked.

  He suppressed a grimace. He had lived on tak in those horrible days just after he left the Tabernacle. Tak was dried bread preserved in fish oils. It tasted both stale and spoiled, and yet somehow was neither. Travelers often kept plenty of it on hand.

  "Sounds fine," he said.

  "So yer holiness know tak," Yasep said.

  Matthias sighed. "Of course I do, Yasep. I am not the kind of protected lord you think I am. I lived outside for five years, and have been without a home for fifteen. I've eaten more tak than I care to think about."

  "Na need ta get testy," Yasep said.

  "Then stop baitin him," Marly said. "We all know yer jealous, him being a great man n all, but ye lead this troop and will until ye become stupid, which it seems, yer on the edge of."

  "Shut up, woman."

  "Dinna talk ta me sister that way," Jakib said.

  "I can talk ta her anyway I like," Yasep said.

  "See?" she said, pulling a tube of tak from one of the crates. "Stupid."

  "Woman — "

  "Leave her alone," Matthias said. "You've got enough problems without dividing the troop."

  "N how do ye know that?" Yasep said.

  "I heard," he said. He took the tak that Marly offered, ripped off a quarter of it, and handed three quarters back to her. She frowned at him. He smiled at her. He wouldn't eat all their food. He didn't need to. He had proven to himself a long time ago that he could survive on very little.

  He took a bite. Tak tasted as bad as he remembered. "If there are fires all over Jahn and Fey everywhere, food is going to become scarce quickly. You'll have to make some decisions about what to do. If the Fey don't discover these tunnels, you could stay down here indefinitely. Provided, of course, that you have enough food."

  "Ye think ye know everything," Yasep said.

  "No," Matthias said. "I just know that right now my fate is tied to yours. If these things are taken care of, I'll survive."

  "We could take care a ye," Yasep said. His tone was not pleasant.

  "I suppose you could," Matthias said. "Then I would be dead and you would be in the same situation."

  "Yer petty jealousy'll kill us all," Marly said. "Canna ye see he's right? Listen ta him, like ye'd listen ta the others."

  "I believe," Matthias said softly, "he is listening to me like he listens to the others."

  "And ye, yer here causa me. Dinna abuse that. I willna defend ye if I think ye'll hurt us all." She was all fire when she spoke to him, fire and fury. He liked that. It put color in her cheeks.

  "Water?" he asked. The tak was going down hard.

  "Oh, aye." She was back to her old self. Meeker, less angry. And it happened with the space of a heartbeat.

  That seemed like a good thing to know, her ability to change so quickly, although he didn't know quite why.

  "Ye'll na take the leadership from me," Yasep said.

  "I already said I wouldn't." Matthias took the water from Marly, and drank. It was cool and fresh
and tasted wonderful. It got rid of the last pieces of tak from his mouth.

  "But ye are," Yasep said.

  Matthias sighed and handed the cup back to Marly. "No, I'm not," he said. "Most leaders have advisors who say what they think the leader should do. The leader chooses to listen or not — "

  "Then I willna listen."

  " — depending, of course, on how sound the leader thinks the advice is, not on whether or not he likes the advisor."

  Yasep stared at him for a moment, then turned away.

  "He's gotta point," Jakib said.

  "Shut up," Yasep said.

  "Twould be good ta listen," Denl said. "He knows things we dinna."

  Yasep sighed.

  "N twould be right ta keep him with Fey all around. He knows holy water."

  "All right then," Yasep said, "yer the leader, as ye wanted."

  "I did not want," Matthias said. "And I will not accept the position. I don't even know what your business is."

  "Tis survival now," Marly said softly.

  "Still n all," Yasep said, "yer gonna lead."

  Matthias took another bite of tak and nearly choked. He forced himself to swallow it. This was how it always happened. Four times now, ever since he had left the Tabernacle, he had been given the leadership of a group.

  The others looked relieved. They wanted him in charge, and he knew it. He attracted followers, and he didn't like it. In his first months away from the Tabernacle, he had a small group of people going everywhere with him, and he never spoke to them. Not once.

  Then he went to the Cliffs of Blood and whole towns would come out whenever he appeared. Finally he found Yeon who asked him why he was fighting his ability to attract people, why he wasn't using it.

  Matthias had said he wasn't used to it, that no one had followed him in the Tabernacle.

  Funny, ain't it? Yeon had said. How God gives us gifts when we dinna need them, and takes em away when we do?

  Sometimes Matthias wondered if that's what really happened, or if God had given him the gift after he left to show him that he had to do something different with his life. What that different thing was, he didn't know.

  "Do ye have nothin ta say?"

  "I don't want to lead," Matthias said.

  "I dinna care what ye want!"

  Matthias tilted his head so that he could see Yasep clearly in the torch light. "First you're jealous of me leading your people, then you try to force me to do it? Make up your mind, Yasep."

  But Yasep didn't look at him. He stopped beside Ubur instead. "Tis true, bout the Fey? They be all over Jahn, killin n burnin?"

  "Aye," Ubur said. He appeared to be watching this interaction with great interest.

  "N ye think they'll stop?"

  "Not till nothin's left."

  "Nicholas wouldn't let them do that," Matthias said. Whatever he thought of Nicholas, the boy wouldn't allow his city to burn away.

  "I dinna see our guards," Ubur said.

  "Nicholas," Denl breathed. "Ye mean King Nicholas?"

  Matthias shrugged. "If that's how you want to call him."

  "Ye dinna believe he should be king?"

  "He's got the legal right to the title," Matthias said. "I just wonder where his loyalties are."

  Jakib smiled and crouched beside Matthias. "I knew twas fated I save ye. Tis as we believe. No Fey lovers."

  "Jakib!" Marly snapped.

  "It's all right," Matthias said. "I'm not a Fey lover, and I certainly opposed Nicholas with his marriage to that Fey from the beginning. He didn't listen to me, which ultimately caused my exile here."

  "I canna do this," Yasep said. He sat down heavily.

  "Do what?" Marly asked.

  "Give up me post ta this man."

  "Then don't," Matthias said. "I don't want to lead anyone. I'm not good at it."

  "See?" Marly asked.

  "But ye dinna ken," Yasep said to Matthias, finally talking to him on an equal basis. "I dinna unnerstand Fey. I wouldna ha checked Ubur and Dalis if"n ye hadna reminded me. I wouldna ha thought anyone would come down here who dinna belong. If I lead, I'll kill us all."

  "And that's where your jealousy came from? This fear?"

  "Aye," Yasep said softly. "Ye know. Ye know what ta do ta the Fey."

  "I suppose," Matthias said, "but not in this instance. In this instance you're right. Hide. It sounds as if there's too many of them to fight."

  "Aye," said Dalis. He wiped his hand over his sooty face. It only smeared the soot. "I never seen so many Fey. More'n the people a Jahn seemed ta me."

  "So do it tagether like he said," Marly said, exasperation in her voice. "Ye give orders well n fine, Yasep. Let the Holy Sir have the ideas."

  "I'm not the Holy Sir," Matthias said.

  "Twould be that best. He knows what ta do, n ye know us. Twould work out fine," Jakib said.

  "And you know the tunnels and the amounts of food and holy water that you have," Matthias said. "Besides, I'm too weak to do much leading."

  Yasep nodded, once. "I willna talk a this again," he said to Matthias.

  "Good," Matthias said. "I find it wearying."

  He took another sip of the water, then bit some more tak. The nourishment was helping him feel a little better. Now with this leadership matter clearly decided, he might be able to get a bit more rest.

  Denl held up a hand. "Hear that?" he whispered, his voice almost inaudible.

  "No," Jakib said.

  "Shhh," Denl said. The entire troop leaned forward. Matthias stopped chewing.

  A slithery sound.

  A footstep.

  A curse.

  "Tis Fey!" Ubur whispered. "They followed us."

  "We don't know that," Matthias whispered. "Others might know of this place."

  "N our food," Dalis whispered.

  Yasep put a hand to his lips. He nodded at Jakib and Latse. They hurried to the side of the tunnel. Then he nodded at Ubur and Dalis. Dalis pulled his knife. Ubur's was still out. They went to the other side of the tunnel. The rest of the men blended into the darkness of the walls. Yasep put a hand on Marly's shoulder, forcing her on the blanket beside Matthias.

  "No," she whispered.

  "Tis best," Yasep whispered back.

  "I agree," Matthias whispered. He understood the plan. Leave Marly and Matthias among the supplies as if this were their hiding place, a couple escaping the Fey, and then attack if need be. "But give me a knife."

  Yasep studied him for a moment, then pulled a knife from his boot. "Only if tis Fey."

  Marly crawled across the floor, grabbed the vial of holy water, and grinned. "Nay. If tis Fey, we'll use this."

  Yasep disappeared into the darkness. Matthias took Marly's hand. He didn't have the heart to tell her that if their intruder was Fey, they would have to use the holy water, the knife, and anything else they could find.

  And even then, they might not survive.

  FORTY-NINE

  "Come on," Coulter said. He took Gift's hand and tugged. Gift didn't move. He felt disoriented, alone, more alone than he'd ever been. It was as if his body were a house, and someone had just removed all the furniture. He echoed in there.

  Alone.

  Adrian was watching him. The Red Cap had his little arms crossed, a frown on his square face. He didn't trust Gift anymore, if he ever had. The taint of his great-grandfather was too much. The Red Cap had killed once before, Coulter had told him that a long time ago. Maybe the Red Cap would kill again.

  Leen's skin was ashen. The anger seemed to have drained out of her. Gift had never seen her like that before.

  And Adrian's son stood to the side, as if he didn't want to get close to any real Fey.

  "Where are we going to go?" Gift asked. "If he could find me here, he can find me anywhere."

  Coulter shook his head. "I shut him out. He won't be able to find you again. But we don't know what he's seen. We don't know how soon he'll find us. We have to go somewhere else."

  "There is nowhere,
" Gift said. His great-grandfather had already been inside Shadowlands, and was probably in Jahn now.

  "There are a lot of places on the Isle," Adrian said. "There are mountain caves near the Slides of Death."

  "The villages to the north are very remote," Adrian's son said. "No one would find you there."

  "You could build a Shadowlands of your own," Leen said.

  The sun had come up completely now. The dew had dried, and the heat was rising. It was truly summer, a season that Gift usually liked.

  That Coulter usually liked.

  A season that Sebastian loved.

  Suddenly Gift felt a little frisson of fear. He went back inside himself, slid toward his oldest and most favorite Link —

  — and slammed into a door. His consciousness staggered and nearly winked out but he forced himself to remain present. The door was covered with light. The light Coulter had wrapped around it.

  Gift touched the light and felt a shivery charge run through him, a charge that went from his consciousness to his real body. The door was locked, inside and out. He reached again, stuck his imaginary hand in as far as it would go, but the charge grew too great.

  His Link was closed. He was cut off from Sebastian, and Sebastian needed him.

  Sebastian might face the Black King and he might have to do so alone. Gift wouldn't allow that.

  He raced back to his own eyes, and felt as if he nearly burst through them, as an angry child would run through a room.

  Adrian took a startled step backwards. Even Leen looked surprised. Gift wondered idly how long he'd been gone.

  "You cut my Links," he said to Coulter.

  "I didn't cut them. I just closed them."

  "Open them," Gift said.

  "If I do, your great-grandfather can use them to find you. He didn't come directly the first time. He came through Shadowlands."

  "Open my Links."

  Coulter held out his hands. "They're not all closed. Our Link is still open."

  "Can't my great-grandfather use that one too?" Gift's voice was mocking. "Or can he only use the ones that threaten you?"

  "It's not that way, Gift." Coulter's voice sounded too smooth, too confident.

  "Open my Link to Sebastian."

  "No," Coulter said.

  "Open it."

  "Why don't you do it yourself?" Adrian asked, his voice soft, as if he didn't really want to be in this fight but felt no way around it.