Light of the Outsider

by Matthew Wayne Selznick

  Fagahg had to make a decision.

  His instructions were to follow Dennick until the task was completed.

  However, Vuldt also made clear that Fagahg was to kill the infant himself if possible.

  Was Ranith upstairs?

  Was the sellsong rushing to inform the guard and claim whatever compensation was on offer?

  Or was the sellsong on his way to the kidnappers, or their master?

  What if whatever troubled the boy had, after all, nothing to do with the kidnapping?

  For Fagahg, whose very existence was dedicated to the elimination of potential, unclear choices and variable priorities were a source of irritation. Such feelings brought distance between himself and the calm, empty certainty of the Waking Void.

  Possibilities aside, he had one undeniable direction from Vuldt.

  Follow Dennick.

  Fagahg moved nimbly through the crowded common room and out into the early evening street.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Rajen

  The bell at the door of Rajen's hut sounded lightly. As it was past the time she typically accepted patrons, she was fairly sure who waited outside.

  Rajen hesitated. There had been evening callers who were not so welcome, of late.

  She closed her eyes and sought out the probability streams. Such an impromptu effort would not be as reliable as a dedicated ritual, but it would do.

  Luminous, delicately trembling, gossamer threads seemed to leap and branch in the dark space behind her forehead. There were hints of… something… distressing… but problematic situations were always possible, and, given the turmoil in the city today, not at all unexpected.

  By far the strongest and most stable stream tasted familiar and reliable, confirming Rajen's assumption. She sighed, a bit miffed by the intensity of her relief, opened her eyes, smiled, and opened the door.

  "Hirgae," Rajen greeted the matronly magn. "Welcome."

  Her patron drew a plain shawl across her bosom. Hirgae often dressed modestly for her visits. The seer's hut straddled the unofficial border between the Market and Shadow districts, and everyone knew to downplay obvious signs of wealth in this part of the city, especially after tahrest. "You're looking lovely, Rajen. Not too late..?"

  "Of course not." The exchange was a courtesy; a ritual of its own. Rajen would no more refuse Hirgae than she would ignore a rain of tokens from the sky. "Please take your place at the table."

  Hirgae sat at the telling table, a simple square of fired clay with raised edges, balanced on driftwood legs. As was her unfailing practice, she tapped the rough surface with the tips of her fingers, twice.

  Rajen noticed Hirgae's forehead was drawn; her mouth, turned down. This might take some time, and time equaled tokens. The seer retracted the doorbell to discourage interruption, however unlikely.

  Across from Hirgae, Rajen sat in her own chair, which was slightly taller than its counterpart. "Something troubles you."

  Hirgae's broad mouth twisted wryly. "Not a question," she observed, "and not needing any of the Science for the gleaning, eh?"

  Rajen's smile was gentle as it was practiced. "If it's after tahrest when you visit me, I expect you're driven by distress. What is it?"

  "I had to wait for Kani to come before I could leave the children." Hirgae scowled. "And Kani was late. Again. That girl. She looked as though she'd barely had time to rib her hair. I would have come earlier if I could."

  It was not exactly necessary for a patron to plainly speak their intention, but it was an established part of the seer's ritual, and Rajen was very willing to draw out their session, so she asked again.

  "What is it, then, Hirgae?"

  "You know." Her eyes flashed. "Grang. Always Grang. Well, except for the first time."

  Rajen nodded and rolled her eyes in camaraderie. "Indeed."

  "We will find him out, Rajen. One of these times. We will find him out. You will see it." Hirgae brightened slightly, apparently attempting to be polite. "Speaking of that first time, have you seen Talen recently?"

  "No. Let's begin."

  Rajen regretted her brevity. She could have endured a little chatter about the sellsong if it extended Hirgae's visit and added to Rajen's fee.

  Too late. Hirgae nodded and put her hands in her lap.

  Rajen brought her bag of sightsand up from a hook beneath the table. She poured sand across the tabletop, replaced the bag, and retrieved an augury stick from her sleeve.

  She closed her eyes and used the tip of the augury stick to trace wide, random paths in the sand.

  Without delay, the probability streams returned to her inner vision. This time, the threads were rope-thick, twining and serpentine, flashing with mutable color.

  As it often was lately, the Science was particularly accessible tonight. Either that, or her abilities were waxing.

  Perhaps both. She looked forward to a productive personal ritual once her business with Hirgae was concluded.

  Not too quickly, though. In fact, Rajen hoped to not see any sign of Hirgae's errant heartfast, Grang, in the streams. The truth of Grang's dalliances was more valuable to Rajen if left unconfirmed, for uncertainty kept Hirgae coming back.

  Eyes still closed, Rajen returned the augury stick to its sheath inside her sleeve with practiced precision. She let her fingers dance over the unseen, tiny hills and valleys she'd created. Sand scraped her fingertips and caught beneath her fingernails.

  The streams flashed and snapped like silent, blazing whipcords, even as individual threads running in close parallel wove together, consolidating.

  Rajen lifted her hands and opened her eyes.

  She felt Hirgae lean forward.

  "What did you see?"

  Rajen kept her unfocused gaze on the tiny desert of dunes. For a fraction of a blink, the probability streams wound between them: flooding rivulets of brilliant chromatic color.

  That was new. The Science was truly surging tonight.

  The overlay disappeared.

  She swallowed and focused. She didn't really need any of her talents—in practice, or in performance—to recognize the facts she was certain Hirgae forbade herself to admit.

  Nearly every time Hirgae visited her late in the day, it was because Kani, the nanny, was late herself. Every time Kani was delayed, she arrived disheveled and preoccupied.

  And where was Grang on these occasions?

  Rajen need only rely on evidence and deductive sense to understand where Kani had been, and with whom.

  Hirgae said again, this time in a whisper, "What did you see?"

  Rajen blinked and looked up. Without thinking, she said, "Sand."

  Hirgae frowned. She glanced at the table, and back up at Rajen. "Sand? But…"

  Irritated and surprised, Rajen realized it was true. Kani and Grang met at the shore, on a beach. The fact of it was unwavering and alien, like a memory that relied on another’s experience.

  "The beach," Rajen muttered. "Ask him about the beach."

  Hirgae's face was hard. Rajen had seen this before: patrons automatically blamed the seer, as if the seeing made the fact, and not the other way around. "It's her, isn't it?"

  Loath as she was to give Hirgae one less reason to visit, Rajen nevertheless opened her mouth to confirm. She was interrupted by the door of the hut swinging open.

  What kind of pissneck entered a seer's hut without invitation?

  She stood up as a magn entered and pulled back the hood of his mottled grey and white cloak.

  "Rajen," he said, and her stomach churned. "I apologize for this interruption." His tone said otherwise.

  She crossed her arms below her breasts and put her hands in their opposite sleeves, where the augury sticks were sheathed. Poor weapons, but the best she had in reach.

  "Ulthus. I am in the middle of a seeing."

  Hirgae slid her chair back and stood up as well, indignant. "Did you not see the bell was withdrawn? This is my time."

  The magn circled the room with slow, me
asured steps. The soft heels of his boots slapped lightly on the clean, hard-packed dirt of the floor.

  Rajen did not want to cede strength to him by turning to follow his progress, but she would not allow him to leave her sight.

  He shrugged as he made his way. "Come again tomorrow."

  Hirgae touched her forehead and squinted. Mildly distraught, she said, "I ache, a little." She looked at Rajen. "Would you like me to fetch someone?" She glared at the intruder. "The guard are everywhere tonight."

  Rajen shook her head. "It's all right. I know this one." She had no doubt Hirgae's pain was induced. If she allowed her to linger, Ulthus might be tempted to make it worse.

  Hirgae gave the magn a sour look of vicious distaste. She made for the door. "The beach, eh?"

  "The beach."

  "All right, then. Be well, Rajen."

  "And you, Hirgae."

  Her patron stepped into the street, leaving the door open.

  Rajen let it be, and opened the shutters on her two small windows as well. There was no tahlight left to shine in, but let the world be witness to what might transpire here.

  She turned to face her guest.

  "How many times, in how many ways, need I express my disinterest, Ulthus?"

  His smile cut long grooves across his cheeks. Like gills.

  "The Science is strong today. Have you noticed?"

  Rajen depended on irritation to cloak her uncertainty. That, and something she had to acknowledge as fear.

  "No."

  Ulthus dismissed the lie with a quick tilt of his head. "Do you know why? Do you understand what transpires?"

  She took a short broom from a hook on the wall. Let activity serve as another distraction. "I predict you will tell me."

  He chuckled. "That is clever. You 'predict.' As if you cannot See."

  Keeping him in sight, she crossed to a small table near the rear door of her hut and, with her free hand, picked up the tray there. "There is no real Science here, Ulthus. I have no magick."

  She went back to the seeing table and swept the sightsand into the tray.

  Ulthus stepped forward and plucked a pinch of sand from the tray. He moved it between his fingertips.

  "Taghesh has summoned you. I have told you." He separated his fingers, inspected them, and wiped his hand on his cloak. "How many times, indeed?"

  Rajen poured the sightsand back into its bag. "So often that Taghesh Child-Arm should not be surprised by my consistent response." She replaced the tray. "It must frustrate you to be so out of his favor that he sends you on these pointless errands."

  Ulthus held his smile even as his eyes grew flinty. "I know what you want, Rajen, daughter of Malaren. I know what you study in your secret cellar."

  How had he..? His Science was said to be limited to a very specific, inherently cruel variety. Could he see the streams as well?

  Rajen felt naked.

  "You know nothing," she snapped. Seeing his eyes gleam with delight at her reaction, she shifted to sneering sarcasm. "Perhaps your own claim to the Science is as much a fraud as my own?"

  He shrugged, his cloak rippling white and grey as his shoulders rose and fell. "You think you can teach yourself. You squander your time and your efforts."

  "You know nothing." Let the saying make it so.

  He sighed. "Let's pull on our boots, Rajen, so we need not step so lightly across the spears on the ground. I can feel it, seer. Taghesh would not waste his own time if it were not so."

  "Child's arm. Child's sense."

  Ulthus frowned as though he were disappointed by a pet that simply would not obey. "A lazy feint. You can do better." He stroked his chin. "It occurs to me that you never ask why Taghesh is gathering magickers," he said. "Why he asks for you. What he has."

  Rajen opted for silence.

  Of course, Ulthus went on. "He has made contact."

  She tensed despite herself, and saw that Ulthus noticed.

  "Yes. And when this entity is wholly present…" He closed his eyes and shuddered. His expression resembled one Rajen had seen on a very few faces, hovering just above her own in the dark. It made her want to spit.

  Ulthus opened his eyes and stared into the middle distance.

  "We will inherit its power. It will make the Shaper of the World a gift for us."

  Rajen's skin crawled. "Madness."

  "Power. For those who are with us." He moved an index finger back and forth. "For magickers who stand apart… well…"

  "Well…" she mimicked, "your master is insane. And you are a fool. Have you witnessed this entity?"

  His eyes flared, just a bit. "I have felt it."

  She pried at the fracture in his fanatic's armor. "Oh, have you?" She laughed.

  "Yes."

  A sharp pang tapped her at the base of her skull. Nearly at once, Ulthus inhaled sharply, apparently startled.

  Rajen longed for her knife. "Was that your doing?" The headache spread from pinprick to dull, warm ache at the crown of her head.

  "No." He laughed, mirthless and thick with malice. "Although I am enjoying a splash of your pain. Sweet. A bit like syrupbread."

  She believed him, and that was concerning, for the headache was surely not natural. If not a product of Ulthus' foul talents, then… what?

  "Go away from me, Ulthus."

  He regarded her for a blink, then surprised her by stepping so close, she was forced to tilt her head to meet his eyes.

  She would not step back. She refused to lose ground to him in her own home.

  His breath was clean and crisp from some leaf he had chewed. He was close enough she could see bits of it caught in his teeth.

  "This is the last time I make this offer," he said. "The final time I ask. Join Taghesh in welcoming the Outsider."

  "How grateful I am," she sneered, "for this will be the final time I need respond. I join no one. I help no one."

  She glanced pointedly at his frozen smile. "Go clean your teeth, Ulthus."

  He closed his mouth. Fury flashed across his face before he could contain it, and then fractured with another amphibious grin.

  "You will not see me when next I visit, Rajen." He stepped back and strode to the door. "You will feel me. It will be a long, long trail to the flat night for you, full of thorns and fire. I will… savor it."

  He slipped through the open doorway and into the night.

  Rajen's hands shook. She slammed the door and managed to work the latch and lock.

  Her headache faded. After a few measured breaths, her heartbeat slowed.

  It was not true.

  Her mind flashed on the unusual flaring of probability streams during her session with Hirgae.

  It could not be true.

  She had to know.

  She had to do a ritual.

  After checking the lock once again, she turned from the door and bent to pull the woven rug from the small hatch that led to her cellar.

  Before she could descend, three rapid knocks, followed by a slower set of four, sounded at the door.

  Talen's knock.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Talen

  As soon as Rajen opened the door, Talen stepped forward, intent on entering. He stopped short when she remained standing at the threshold.

  "Talen." Her voice was flat; her expression, resigned. "How did I not See that?"

  Despite the unenthusiastic reception and her unwelcoming stance, Talen's breath quickened at the sight of her. Lit from behind by whatever glowglobes or lanterns shone within, Rajen's mass of long, dark hair was framed by auburn highlights. Her pale face seemed to glow in contrast, and her brown eyes gleamed black in the dim light.

  "I had to see you, Rajen. I thought of no one else."

  Rajen didn't move. "Already, I've had two unexpected callers, Talen. You make three." She raised her eyebrows tellingly. "One was welcome." It was endearing.

  "You'll put those beans in different jars when you hear what I have to say. It's… remarkable, Raej." He extended his gaze
past her shoulder, into the hut. "There's little time, and I need your help."

  She rolled her eyes. "Ah. You 'had to see me' because you're in trouble." She made a performance of anxiously glancing at the dark street beyond. "Did you slit the wrong purse? Are they tracking you even now?"

  There really was no time for their usual banter. "Rajen." He met her gaze and held it. It was difficult, for he feared the full measure of his barely guarded affections would pour from his eyes the longer they met her own.

  Still, he had to convey the seriousness of his mission.

  "Please."

  She squinted at him and frowned. "Hm." She stepped back and allowed him entry.

  He strode into the hut. "Be sure to lock the latch," he said, and saw she was already doing so. "Good."

  She closed the shutters on the windows and turned to face him.

  "What is it, then, Talen?"

  "I need you to… to confirm something."

  "How would I do that?" She swiped a few strands of hair from her face. "You're the one who knows everyone. A sellsong is the eyes and ears of a city."

  Any other night, a compliment from her would have filled his heart, even if he knew she was merely being coy. "I can only see what's in front of me when it’s in front of me," he said. "I can only hear what there is for my ears to hear. I need you for this."

  She dropped pretense. "I'm accustomed to being paid."

  He nodded. "Exactly. If what I suspect is true…" The thought of it made him smile. "Rajen, we can remake our lives."

  At last, she seemed at least a little curious. "Another scheme like our first?"

  Talen shook his head. "Helping Hirgae was fortuitous, but if I am correct, we'll never need depend on patrons again. Raej, I have found… the path." He extended his arms to indicate the hut, the city. "Out of… here. Away from somedays and dead ends and…"

  She cut him off, shaking her head. "Recall what I said? It's been a trying tahrest, and you promised this would take little time. Talen, what are you talking about?"

  "Try to… See. The Steadfast Capful." He reached for her, fully expecting she would flinch away. She allowed him to take her hands.