Sixty-One Nails cotf-1

by Mike Shevdon

  There was another factor he did not know about. If Blackbird truly was pregnant then there was another life to weigh in the balance. No world of Raffmir's making would be a safe haven for either child, for they would both be half-breeds.

  Raffmir had stayed quiet, letting me consider. In the end it was time which weighed against him. It gave me the chance to consider what he had actually offered. Precisely nothing.

  "It is an interesting offer, Raffmir. But I wonder if you are empowered to make such a bargain? Can you guarantee our safety within the Seventh Court? Can you even guarantee we will be accepted?"

  "In life, there are few things guaranteed, my friend, but I will be your sponsor to the court and I will do my utmost to ensure that you and your daughter are accepted into it." His words twisted like worms. It was as close to a promise as he could come without actually answering my question.

  "Then you are not empowered to offer the sanctuary of which you speak, but only to champion it."

  "That is the same for all of the courts. The final decision always rests with the lord or lady that rules there."

  "So I am to place my fate and that of my daughter in the hands of someone who has systematically organised the execution of every half-breed and mongrel they could find, along with those harbouring them? You take me for a fool, Raffmir."

  "You are consigning yourself to a life on the run, my friend, maybe worse. Think of your daughter."

  "I am thinking of her. You have nothing I want, Raffmir."

  "If you do not withdraw then you will die. What of your daughter then?"

  "You said you were the stronger, Raffmir, but that was before you mentioned Alex. I will not lose this battle to you, for to lose would be to consign my daughter to your hands and I will not let that happen if it means my life. I will fight you to the death. Yours."

  "Then die!" Gallowfyre rolled out across the water, tentacles of black shadow coiling out.

  My own dark twisting coils met his in a flare of indigo. We wrested like entangled sea monsters, searching for a weakness.

  Beside me, Blackbird shouted down to Ben, "Smith! Finish the knife. Your life depends on it," then she turned back to the fray.

  Across the water, Raffmir's sister appeared to fade slightly, then she stepped lightly up and floated across the full width of the water to the other bank, forcing us to divide our attention between the two opposite sides of the stream.

  Blackbird was muttering into her cupped hands. She lifted them to her lips while keeping her eyes on Raffmir's sister. She blew into her hands and a warm glow kindled there. Suddenly she threw her hands wide and a hot buzzing swarm emptied from her palms. Huge hornets erupted in an angry vortex around her. She pointed at Raffmir's sister and they veered in a mass out across the water, swirling around the grey figure.

  She laughed. "You cannot hurt me like that. You cannot sting what you cannot touch." She became less substantial, drifting into a pale shadow hanging in the air while the hornets formed a vortex around her.

  Tonk… tonk… tonk… THANG!

  The sound of the hammer on the anvil echoed around us. My struggle with Raffmir faltered as we both lost hold of our power. Raffmir's sister seemed to coalesce, while the swarm of hornets evaporated into a swirl of mist.

  As the sound faded, the focus of the conflict returned. Raffmir took advantage of the lull and took two bold steps along the bank, reducing the distance between us. Once again he was faster to recover and I found myself racing to reach the darkness within me before I was overwhelmed by him.

  "I will not fail, Raffmir!" I called out.

  At his naming, my darkness found fractures where there had been none before. My gallowfyre slipped through his grasp so he was forced to take a step back, then another. He regained his footing and fought back against me with renewed intent.

  "My turn," Raffmir's sister declared.

  She pressed her faded hand to the wall and from it seeped a smooth blackness that covered the walls and ate the meagre light. Even the dappled glow and violet shimmer that Raffmir and I created found no reflection there. It spread outwards running over the brickwork, the antithesis of quicksilver, streaming down the walls and onto the walkway, spreading onto the gantry where Blackbird and I stood.

  Blackbird pointed at the gantry, sweeping her hand across the walkway, drawing a line of fire to separate us from the spreading darkspore. Though it faltered, within moments the blackness spread through the gaps.

  "It's too damp!" she shouted. "There's nothing to burn. I can't hold it!"

  Blackbird's form shivered beside me. Her eyes elongated and her hair spiked with static, her wings unfurled behind her like oily film forming on water. They blurred into invisibility behind her with a drone audible even over the dull thunder of the waterfall and she skipped up from the walkway up onto the railing behind, out of reach of the darkspore.

  "You can fly out of reach, little one, but I only need to touch him once and the battle is over. My brother will pluck you from the air, then rip your wings off and drown you in this sewer like the insect you are."

  "Niall, watch your feet!"

  The darkspore surged towards me and I was forced to divert my attention from Raffmir to burn it away from my feet. As the gallowfyre touched the darkspore it flared white and vanished. She screamed at its touch, the shrieks echoing in the vaults. Raffmir pressed forward and with my attention divided I could not hold him back. He tore my defence to shreds and the darkness welled inwards towards me.

  "Trial!" Blackbird howled out the word.

  He hesitated in his attack.

  "What?" I asked her.

  "I call for trial," she repeated, loudly. She called down to Ben, "Smith. Cease the work."

  I looked up at her, standing balanced on the handrail looking inhuman, her wings blurring behind her.

  "What are you talking about?" I gathered my strength, ready to do my utmost to bring Raffmir to his knees, no matter what it cost me, but Blackbird stepped down from the rail, regaining her human form as her feet touched the gantry.

  "You have to stop fighting. Forgive me. It was all I could think of." She sounded resigned. She had halted the attack, but she sounded as if she had accepted defeat.

  "Stay your hand, sister," Raffmir called. "They have called trial and we are bound by it."

  Warm laughter bubbled up from Raffmir. "You two really are full of surprises, aren't you?" His gallowfyre flickered and died, leaving them as uncertain shadows on the river bank.

  "What is he talking about?" I asked her, searching her face.

  "It is our way, an ancient way, to settle disputes among the Feyre. I don't think it's been invoked in centuries, but it still applies. I invoked a trial to determine the issue in dispute and all who are of the courts are bound to allow it."

  "What about me? I'm not a member of any court. I don't have to follow any law."

  "It's all I could think of. It's that or fight them."

  "I can beat him." My words sounded hollow, even to myself.

  "We would lose."

  It took me a moment to realise that she wasn't referring to the two of us but to another "we", closer to her heart. I looked into her face and saw anguish laid bare. She had chosen to save her own life and the life of the child she carried, rather than fight and risk losing both. I could not judge her harshly for making that choice.

  "It's OK," I told her. "We'll go to this trial, wherever it is, and make our case there."

  "No, Niall. It's here, and now. It's not a trial by jury. It is a trial by ordeal, and they will choose the ordeal because I invoked it."

  "I hope you know what you're doing," I told her.

  "I'm doing what I must."

  "What happens now?"

  "There are formalities. We must all agree to be bound by the trial. If we survive the ordeal then we win and they will withdraw. If we do not, they win and we withdraw, or at least the survivor does. I'm sorry, Niall, I could see no other way."

  I could see why
she'd made her decision. At least this way she and Ben would not be harmed. My gallowfyre flickered and died and we were illuminated only by the meagre light from Blackbird's torch left discarded on the gantry floor. I stood in the darkness and understood the price she'd sold me for. I couldn't blame her. Had it been my daughter's life in the balance I would have chosen the same. It was all a gamble anyway. I didn't know if I really could have beaten Raffmir. I just knew I needed to win more than he did, and that maybe it wasn't enough.

  "What's happening?" The shout was from behind us. Ben had seen the light fade and was trying to find out what the situation was.

  Blackbird turned to the rail. "There's to be a test to decide what happens. The good news is you get to walk away at the end of it."

  "And the bad?" he asked.

  "The bad news is that if we lose, then the knife will not be remade, and the barrier will fail."

  "And if we win?"

  "They'll leave us in peace, at least for now," she confirmed.

  "What do we have to do?" I asked her.

  "We must exchange names," she told me, "so each is bound by the outcome of the trial. Those surviving will know the true names of each of the parties here, but must tell no one else, ever. It is only between those who take part. It means a great deal to have that power over another and it will bind us to the outcome. Each of us has the names of the others as forfeit, so balance is maintained. It binds us in enmity far closer than we would ever be bound in alliance."

  A glow of blue-white light sparked into being above our heads. I tensed against some new attack, but this was cold and steady like fox-fire, and unlike the fickle glimmering of gallowfyre.

  "I have taken the liberty of lighting our discourse." Raffmir crossed the gantry and shepherded his sister onto the walkway.

  My dark adjusted eyes saw him clearly for the first time. It struck me suddenly that our magic was not the only thing we had in common. I knew he was tall and that his outline was slim. What I hadn't realised was that his facial features mirrored my own. The sharp cheek bones and wavy dark hair, the slightly sunken eyes and length of jaw were all things I recognised. In a roomful of people I would have picked him out as some long-lost relative, a distant cousin, perhaps. His dress was different and the long-cut black Edwardian jacket and white lace frilled sleeves would have marked him out as an eccentric in any company, but the similarity remained.

  The woman I already knew. That cold pinched face with the harsh tight mouth.

  She glared at me. "I should have eaten you the first time."

  I answered her courteously. "Madam, you have failed to kill me twice before. I would think, having failed a third time, that you might give it up as a bad job."

  Raffmir's laughter filled the vaulted tunnel despite the sound of thundering water from below. "Truly, my sister, he is of our blood. Like it or no." She turned her glare to him but he was immune to it.

  "Mistress," he turned to Blackbird, "you have called trial and therefore you must lead."

  Blackbird took a deep breath, as if steeling herself for what was to come.

  "I am named Velladore Rainbow Wings, Daughter of Fire and Air, called Blackbird," she said, clearly.

  "And I am named Cartillian, Son of the Void, Star of the Moon's Darkness, called Raffmir," he answered, bowing elegantly to her.

  He turned to me.

  Following Blackbird's example, I spoke. "I am Niall Petersen, from Kent, also called Rabbit."

  There was a moment's shocked pause. Then laughter boiled up from him, bemusing me and causing his sister to give him another withering look. He clearly found it very amusing. I wasn't sure whether to be offended or not. I turned to Blackbird, the memory of a smile played on her lips, but she just raised her eyebrows and shrugged.

  "This cannot be," Raffmir declaimed to the tunnels. "You may be a mongrel, but no half-brother to me or mine can carry a name like that into a trial."

  Blackbird corrected him. "As I think you pointed out, Raffmir, he cannot have a formal name for he has not yet been received at court to claim one. These are the only names he has."

  "Then I shall give him one. One fit for a brother to me, though the blood-ties are more tenuous than I would wish. If you are to stand trial, mongrel, I will not have you tested without a name. I name you Alshirian, Son of the Void, Brightest Star in the Heavens. A mongrel name for a mongrel Fey. Be welcome, Dogstar, into your heritage."

  "Another name will be yours," Blackbird whispered, "when you have earned it." It was an echo of Kareesh's words and I tried to remember what else she had said. There was something about evading traps and wearing cloaks, but after all that had happened I could not remember her precise words.

  "Now you," Blackbird addressed the figure in grey.

  "Mind your manners, half-breed," she hissed.

  "Come, sister," Raffmir said. "Would you rather forfeit than give up your name? Have a care. The laws of the Courts of the Feyre care nothing for the heritage of the tried."

  "They are not even Fey!" she spat.

  "But you are, and therefore you are bound by Feyre law, just as I am. Will you stand before our lord and master and tell him you have broken Fey law? Have patience. All will be as it should."

  These last words sounded as an ominous reassurance of what was to come.

  She folded her arms, stubbornly.

  "There is sanction for those that refuse fair trial," he reminded her gently, "and that would be beyond my ability to protect you."

  "Oh, very well. I am named Iriennen, Child of the Void, Nightshade's Daughter, also called Solandre. Satisfied?" This last was thrown at Blackbird.

  She looked to Raffmir for confirmation and he nodded.

  "It is nicely done," she confirmed. "Now it is for you to choose the trial." By her expression I could see she'd been dreading this part. They could choose anything they wished and I did not think they would make it easy.

  "Very well," said Raffmir.

  He walked to the rail and looked over, surveying the anvil and the figure below. Ben was sat on the anvil, and the ball of light floated out over Raffmir and into the vaulted space sliding dark shadows into the niches along both sides and revealing the dark lines in his upturned face.

  Raffmir surveyed the anvil and the smith beside it, the hammer resting on the dull surface.

  "Since this concerns the making of a knife," he intoned, "the trial shall be this. The hammer must be taken by the one who stands trial from one side of the river to the other, simply that. See the rungs down into the water beyond the island. It must be crossed there."

  The light floated obligingly out over the island and we could see from that vantage point that bars were set like rungs into the bricks on either side of the river beyond the island, possibly dating from its construction.

  "Which of you will endure the trial?"

  "It must be him!" Solandre pointed her bony finger at me. "He is the true abomination."

  "No," said Blackbird. "It is ours to choose who endures. I will stand."

  "You can't," I blurted. "What about–"

  She grabbed me and pulled me aside, shaking her head in warning. "One moment. We must confer."

  "What are you doing?" I whispered, once we had a little distance between us. "I thought I would do it."

  "You can't even swim." She dismissed my argument.

  "No one's going to swim carrying that." I pointed down to the hammer resting on the anvil. "It weighs a ton."

  "You can't even bear to be near it, Niall. How are you going to carry it?"

  "I'll manage somehow. You can't be serious. Not now." My emphasis of the word was not lost on her.

  "This way perhaps we may all survive. I will carry it across." Her voice was filled with doubt.

  "But water's not your element. You're fire and air, not water and stone."

  "It is my responsibility. I was the one who called trial."

  "No. I forbid it."

  "You cannot forbid me." Her chin lifted and her eyes
gleamed green in the dark.

  "I've run out of visions, Blackbird. There are no more clues, no more mysteries to solve. All the pieces are played. My fate is decided here. You said I wouldn't make the dawn, but I did. If it was fortune that brought me here then it is my ordeal to be endured, not yours." I softened my voice so as not to be overheard. "I ask you. For my sake. For the child's sake. Let me do this."

  "You must come to your decision," said Raffmir from behind me.

  Her eyes suddenly filled. She shook her head. I pressed my hand against her warm cheek.

  "I have an additional condition," I announced, turning to him.

  "And what would that be?" Raffmir's voice held challenge.

  "By the laws of trial, is it true that once the matter is decided then the parties are free to go unmolested and neither hunted nor persecuted thereafter?"

  "The law says the parties may not cause each other harm by the knowledge they have gained nor contest the matter further," he agreed.

  "I want my daughter and the smith included in the parties," I told him. "If I undertake your trial then you will let them be, whether my daughter shows her Fey lineage or not."

  "That's highly irregular," he told me.

  "You invoked my daughter's name here, Raffmir. You brought her into it and made her part of it. And if I succeed the smith must be free to complete his work without interference, threat, or fear of harm," I reminded him.

  "Very well," he agreed.

  "You cannot!" Solandre interrupted him.

  "It doesn't matter," he told her. "He will not succeed. The barrier will come down and everything will change. We are simply agreeing that us two will not cause them harm or cause harm to come to them. But that only applies to you and me."

  "You cannot set others to harm us either," I reminded him.

  "That would be to cause harm. We will let them be. It is agreed, isn't it, my sister?"

  "You presume too much."

  "Once the barrier is down many things will change. Two girls and a renegade smith are like autumn leaves in the mouth of the storm. Let him have his way."

  "Very well," she conceded. "But I will not fail again, Raffmir." She turned those mean colourless grey eyes on me. "I will have his soul."