“He never said anything about anything, as you know,” Aelle reminded him. “But why wouldn't he? He never wanted anything but to be like the rest of us.” Privately she remained glad he was not. If he'd been like the rest of them, she imagined Light and Wind and Ocean would have turned their eyes elsewhere. She certainly would have.
“Wings,” Jaa said with a cackle. “I'll wager he likes that. And a trip to see the Ocean. And he says he'll soon return to us?”
Yes, and yes, and yes.
The pane of silk that formed the door shivered, and one of Jaa's many women attendants joined them at the table. Even in a place where sameness was a virtue, the women in Jaa's retinue all but blended together, always in the background, always calm and quiet. They all looked placid, as far as Aelle had seen, but she wondered if the light tricked her eye, because this woman did not look calm at all. She looked shaken. She bent and whispered in Jaa's ear. The old woman nodded and bowed her head.
Ilaan and Aelle exchanged looks. As ever, she would follow his lead. But he merely shrugged.
After a moment Jaa looked up, patted the woman on the hand and said, “There are things that must be seen.” She seemed to want to say more, but sighed and held out her hand. Leef handed her her walking stick and helped her stand. She turned her blind gaze towards Ilaan. “I did not see this,” she told him. “I did not know.”
“Is this about me?” he asked. “What's happened? Has Beast already misplaced his wings?” But even as he joked, his voice faltered, and Jaa did not reply.
“Has something happened to Father?” Aelle asked.
“In a way,” said Jaa. “Let us go and see and then . . . well.” They followed her down the gently billowing corridors to a large open space near the middle of the tent village. A dozen or so women clad in sand-toned robes sat or knelt on worn, comfortable cushions in a circle around glowing stones in a large, shallow dish. The women hummed as they worked, passing strands of light from hand to hand, creating an elaborate knotwork. They all turned to face Jaa's group, and the light above the circle paused, hovering, nearly forming a picture in the air. Aelle squinted but it was indistinct. Figures, perhaps, standing in a semicircle. The humming died away.
“I have heard it,” Jaa told the women. “But we must see it.” She put her hand on Ilaan's shoulder. He was pale with fear.
“I don't want to see it,” he said. “Don't make me.”
“Light and Wind will comfort you. The rock and bones of Eriis will hold you up.” People said things like that, Aelle knew, when someone was dead. Not Father, she whispered to herself. Please, not Father. But she knew Jaa wasn't mourning Yuenne.
She took Ilaan's hand and nodded at Jaa. The light resumed, the picture formed.
Niico, it was Niico, and he was staring down her father and the Zaal. He looked nervous, and for Niico that was as good as screaming in terror. Another figure joined them, separating itself from the murk, and she saw why: Rhoosa, disfigured nearly beyond recognition, one eye a blank crater.
“Niico,” Ilaan gasped. “Can they hear us? Niico, get out of there!”
“He cannot hear you, poor boy,” Jaa told him. “This is an image of what is already done.”
Niico: “You will pay for this. When people see what you've done to her—”
Yuenne: “But no one will, and you certainly won't be in a position to say anything. Anyway, she's fine. She has a good occupation now, don't you?”
Rhoosa: “I am happy to serve the Councillary.”
Niico: “The Prince will come and kill you both. The Prince and the human woman. They'll burn you to the ground.”
Yuenne: “Rhoosa, be a dear and deposit this thief at the Crosswinds. Then come on home, and perhaps we'll think about cleaning up? Be a good girl now.”
Niico: “Where are your children? You have nothing.”
Rhoosa: “I’m sorry.”
Rhoosa reached for Niico, and they both vanished. But the scene continued. Yuenne watched the Zaal fiddling with a large glass charm. Finally, he folded his arms.
Yuenne: “Well? Do you see them?”
The Zaal: “It's a bit blurry. Oculism is not an exact science. Ah, there it is. She must have deposited him, she's alone. On her way back, I imagine.”
Yuenne: “We'll have to put her down. She's erratic. Did you hear her threaten me?”
The Zaal: “Well, you've got the child now. You've raised two who wandered astray; perhaps you can do a better job on that charming little girl.”
Yuenne: “I'm worried about your mouth, Zaal.”
The Zaal: “Hmm?”
Yuenne: “Your mouth. I think you may one day find it full of sand.”
The Zaal: “Heh. Well, your new pet Hollen is about to fly - shall we find our seats?”
The scene faded as the Zaal and Yuenne walked out of the light and towards the arena.
The women in the circle were chanting softly, a prayer for one who walked ahead. Jaa joined them, adding strands of silvery radiance to the tapestry of light above the stones.
Ilaan stood for a long time gaping at the stone circle. He sank to the ground until his face was buried against the soft, carpeted sand. He wrapped his arms around his head and began to wail, a sound Aelle had never heard before. She wished she was both deaf and blind. She wished she had no heart. She knelt next to him and lay her hands on his back. It didn't matter.
Don't cry, the voice in her head advised. Be strong. And say goodbye to your Old Self. Who can help you now? No one on this world. Ilaan must have his friend. And I must have a warrior, because there’s only one ‘charming little girl’ my father would care to acquire. She thought about the child who’d helped Rhuun escape the city and the Mages, and what her father and the Zaal might do with Thayree’s gifts.
“I need to send a message,” she said to Leef. “Get the blood. And the knife.” She looked up from where Ilaan crouched. “And please help me see to my brother.”
After Leef had raced off to make her preparations, she and two of the humming women helped Ilaan rise to his feet, where he stood slack-faced and numb.
“Ilaan?” She used her sleeve to wipe his tears and the dust from the floor off his face. He didn't reply. “Shan?” He stared through her. She wondered if he was trying to follow Niico off the path of life and into the darkness. Let him stay there for now. No point in forcing a response out of him. Let him walk on those dark sands if it brought him peace, but not for too long. She swore to herself she would not allow him to leave her, if for no other reason than that she would be alone. The two quiet women who broke from the circle took his arms, and he followed them without resistance. Jaa muttered something to Leef about a charm for rest, and she hobbled off down a billowing, soft gold corridor after them.
Another of Jaa's women escorted Aelle back to the old woman's room, where she found Leef rummaging through a low cabinet. She took her seat at the single table and watched as he pulled out a wrapped bundle and a box. She pulled off the plain grey silk rag and set down the knife—a barbarous-looking human artifact. The old wooden surface was already scored from previous messages, sent back and forth through The Door. What's one more? asked New Self. It's already ruined. Everything’s ruined, though. Isn’t it? Why, it all started getting ruined when you told your father about the Night Cafe! Remember that? My, my—you were so annoyed that day. How many lives? Have you counted? No matter. We have plenty of time to think about that. Let's save it for later.
Leef set the ashboard box on the table carefully, as if it might explode, and reached in and lifted out the cup. The old, fractured porcelain still held a scant dab of Rhuun's blood. It would suffice, she wasn't planning on writing a book.
Leef leaned over Aelle's shoulder. “Why not just tell them about what's happened to your friend?” he asked.
“What happened. Hmm,” Aelle said. She had the knife in her hand and the cup of blood set on the table at her elbow. She had heard from Olly the story of how Ilaan's warning carved itself into the child�
�Scilla's—arm, so she thought carefully. It was such a little arm. “I don't know if that would bring them home,” she said. New Self agreed. New Self saw things clearly, without sentiment or artifice. “The Prince and Niico held no great affection for each other. He will care, but not enough to make him rise from his human woman's warm bed.” She nodded to herself, circling her message. “He's been ill, after all. He is weak. Between the Mages and his shadow, there’s hardly anything left of him at all.”
Leef, having heard nothing in his young life but Jaa's stories of the prince who would make it rain, tried to hide his shock. Aelle looked up. “No disrespect intended towards our Prince. It is the tale of his life to have women walk in front of him, to guard his path. I should know - I went second, just after the Queen. No, despite his failings, we need him to return because we need her to return. His human woman. She burned down the Raasth - just imagine what she’ll do now. So I must say the right thing, right now, to make them set aside their fear and his frailty, and come back and set this right.”
There is no right, New Self reminded her. All the 'right' left Eriis when your father murdered your best friend.
New Self had a lot to say.
“I have room on that little arm for perhaps three words,” she said.
“Come-home-now?” said Leef? “Surely if you called to the Prince he would come.”
“No, that's vague and open to misinterpretation. He might think we simply miss his company. Niico-is . . . “She paused and took a breath. “Niico-is-dead. As I said, he'll care, and he'll grieve alongside Ilaan, but for Niico, he won't come home. Who does he love? And who does he hate?” She stroked the blade of the knife without looking at it. “Ilaan-in-trouble? He loves Ilaan as much as he loves sarave, but knows Ilaan is the cleverest of us all and can fend for himself. He would come home for Ilaan, but I wonder if Maaya might convince him to wait until he is stronger?” New Self cheerfully piped up. You know perfectly well that the moons would fall into the sand before Rhuun is anything like strong. “I know,” she said. “I know what to say. There is someone who is weaker even than he is, someone both he and Maaya love. Someone they owe a debt to. And there is also someone they have reason to hate. I know what to say, and they will come back.” She dipped the point of the knife in the cup of blood and said, “Leef, please make things ready for the Prince and Maaya to return. Let Mother Jaa know. I imagine it will be very soon.”
And she took the knife between her hands and scored the table with blood.
Chapter Five
Mistra
A week after Rhuun had met Ocean and she’d given him strange feathered wings, Scilla deemed Blue well enough to receive visitors. Rhuun had wanted to see him at once, having only glimpsed the old man from doorways, but agreed the shock might kill him.
“We have to be careful about this,” Scilla had told him, and he thought it was possible she missed the days when she could simply order him around. In this case, though, she was probably right.
Scilla and Lelet went in first, to remind him of who they were and what they'd done. It had not started well.
“Where's the demon?” Blue had barked at once. He looked shriveled and small in his thick wrapping of blankets; he was propped up by Olly in his chair by the fire, a cocoon against the cold, although his room was by far the warmest they'd visited at the Guardhouse. Rhuun figured it was his great age. He was no more substantial than a crumpled sheet of paper.
“I think he means me,” said Lelet. “Brother, it's Lelet. I'm the demon—or I was. But it all worked. Thanks to you and the way you helped us, I went to Eriis. Do you remember why?”
He looked at her crossly. “Young lady, anyone can tell a demon from a human. I can tell one demon from the next. That's how I got this job. Now, where has Hellne gotten off to? We must watch her carefully, she is not to be trusted!”
Lelet and Scilla exchanged looks. “Hellne isn't here, Brother. You haven't seen her for a hundred years. It was a long time ago.”
He passed a thin hand across his face. “A hundred years? Then why did I just see her? Or was it a different one?” He gave Lelet a sharp look. “You're the sister. You started all of this nonsense. Well, I suppose we should have known, given the family history. Weak minds, all of you. And now a weakness for their kind.”
“When this is over,” said Scilla, “I'm going to find out what that means.”
“A weakness for their kind, I think that's me,” said Lelet. She looked towards the door and Rhuun gave her what he hoped was an encouraging smile. He still hadn't worked out what he would say. 'Hello, I am your son from a hundred years ago' didn't seem prudent, even if true.
“Heh,” sneered Blue, and continued in a mocking voice, “'He means me.' Very astute.” His head drooped, then he looked up again. “Is the princess nearby?”
Scilla sighed. “I think we should just tell him. It can't get any worse.”
'Hello', thought Rhuun, 'you knew my mother. A pleasure to finally make your acquaintance, I wish you weren't old and mad. Good morning, I am your son.'
Blue's eyes had drifted shut again, but now he sat up and looked at them both as if they'd just walked in. “What are you two doing here? Aren't you supposed to be off rescuing the prince?”
Lelet smiled. “I did it, Brother Blue. I did rescue him. He's here. Would you like to meet him?” She jerked her head at Scilla, who paused at the door with a worried smile. Then she left the three of them alone.
Lelet waved him in. He knelt next to her, and the two men watched each other without speaking. “Brother Blue, may I present Rhuun, prince of Eriis. This is Brother Blue, one of the Masters here at the Guardhouse.” She squeezed his shoulder and went to stand at the window, out of the way.
“You're Hellne's boy,” said Blue. He leaned forward and looked at Rhuun more closely, his rheumy blue-brown eyes squinting up at Rhuun's red ones. “You favor her.”
“I believe I favor you as well,” said Rhuun.
The old man's hand shot out and he gripped Rhuun by the wrist. Still some strength there, after all. “Tell me. What happened? After? My princess, she lived. Tell me.”
“Well,” began Rhuun, “she did live, and she became a great queen. The Weapon, you know what it was? What it did?”
“I know,” said Blue. “I know now. I didn't know a thing back then. I should have tried to stop them, but I was too late.”
Rhuun frowned. “Then you didn't . . . you weren't involved in The Weapon?” According to Ilaan, that was half of Hellne's complaint. That, and abandoning her with a deformed child. “You didn't know the Order was going to attack Eriis?”
Blue drew his hand back and sneered, “I was a pencil carrier. A wine pourer. I was there to watch the princess, that was my assignment. I was going to do great things, be a great novelist. Why on Mistra, Eriis or anywhere else would I have anything to do with a Weapon?”
Rhuun tried to gather his thoughts. His mother would have to be told, of course. Her old love was not a traitor to her people, merely a careless human. But the book, maybe he could make some headway there.
“You were . . . you are a great novelist. I loved your book. It meant everything to me. It's quite literally the reason I'm here. I read your book, and then we translated the charm on the back page. I came here to meet you. You left it there for me to find, didn't you? Because you wanted to meet your son?” 'Hello, I finally made it. I'm here.'
Blue was quiet for a long moment, and Rhuun was afraid he'd gone back to the privacy of his mind. But his eyes cleared and he patted Rhuun's hand. “You seem like a nice boy, and it’s nice that you’ve come to tell me about my princess. But I don’t have any son. Been in the Order all my life, I’d know, wouldn’t I?”
Rhuun swallowed his disappointment. The old man didn’t believe him, or understand what he was saying. “As I said, after the Weapon, she became queen. My grandfather the king and my uncle Araan were both gone, there was no one else. And she saved the people of Eriis, and she had me.” Blue's
face shone, and Rhuun thought he could see a younger man looking back at him. He continued. “She is wise, and uh, kind. She is forgiving and generous of heart and spirit. The people of Eriis love her.”
“And you?” Blue narrowed his eyes at Rhuun. “Do you love her? And she you?”
“Of course,” he replied. “How not?”
“Because you don't have the look of an Eriisai about you.” Blue squinted at him. “You’re someone human’s son, I wager. I’ll bet old Fedeer had something to say. How’d she explain you away?”
Rhuun paused and looked at the ground for a moment. “She didn't speak of my father at all, and I never knew my grandfather. Those were perilous times and required hard decisions. The story was that I was damaged before my birth by The Weapon. That's what I always believed. Until I read your book. I felt . . . I knew . . . something. That I had to come here.” Hello, what am I?
“And what will you do now? The Door has been opened, there's no putting the flame back in the match. Now that you've seen the ocean and tasted real food and drunk our wine? And of course, there's that girl over there, trying to blend into the wall. She won't miss you when you've gone because I don't think she's going to let you leave.”
“You have the writer's gift of spotting the story.” Rhuun smiled. “I don't know what I'm going to do, except have the wall-blending-girl by my side for the rest of my days, if I can persuade her.” From across the room, he heard a stifled yelp. “I'm going to stay here in Mistra a little longer, though. I feel we have some things to say to each other, you and me. But I have to go back to Eriis, and sooner than I'd like. Things are . . . unsettled.”
Blue leaned forward. “Is my Hellne in danger?”
“No, I don't think so. It comes from other quarters. We can talk about it another time. But I'll tell Mother about you, when I go home. How you received me with kindness and spoke of her with great affection. And I'll make sure she understands your hand was not upon The Weapon. I think it will bring her much comfort.”
The Glass Girl Page 3