Vengeance

CHAPTER 75

‘Your word on it,’ he said, coming around the table. His back was hunched; he wasn’t much taller than her. He extended his hand. ‘And my word to you.’

She shook his hand, which was surprisingly firm, though a trifle claw-like.

‘It is done,’ said the chancellor. ‘Sit down. Take refreshment while I think. Be at ease — what you fear may never happen.’ He grimaced. ‘We may be driven over the mountains to the furthest reaches of Hightspall and crushed by the ice. We may never regain the strength to counterattack.’

‘I hope you’re not planning to say that publicly.’

‘Nor even to my allies, privately. Morale would never recover.’

It suggested that he thought more of her than his allies, which confounded her.

Food and drink was brought in — smoked meats, yellow and green pickles, a mound of dried fruits, a blood-red cordial. Everything was delicious yet she ate absently, watching him across the table. He studied the maps, then read through Verla’s notes, marking several passages with an orange crayon. His face became ever more drawn, his cheeks turned a bloodless grey.

‘Lord Chancellor?’ she said tentatively. ‘You seem shaken by what I said.’

‘That the enemy’s intent is genocide? It changes everything. Only in the past few days has Caulderon begun to take Cython seriously. Even now, people sneer and call them rock rats. But they were a formidable enemy before, one it took us two hundred and fifty years to defeat, and they’re stronger now. While we’re weak and unready, and the magery that saved us last time dwindles daily — ’

If he knew about the three ebony pearls stolen from Lyf, she thought guiltily, and could gain them, it might change the course of the war. But she dared not mention them. ‘What are you going to do?’

‘Take desperate measures.’ He went into the hall and spoke to his servants in urgent tones for some minutes, then returned. ‘I understand you have a quest — to avenge yourself on a family enemy.’

‘I will have justice for my murdered mother,’ said Tali.

‘Justice.’ He chewed over the word as though he had not heard it before. ‘Extraordinary! And this enemy dwells in the caverns at the base of Precipitous Crag. Is he the wrythen Rixium fought there?’

How did he know that? ‘So I believe.’

‘A wrythen in the pay of the enemy.’ The chancellor was watching her from the corners of his eyes. ‘A powerful, uncanny creature breeding shifters for Cython to use in the war.’

This was getting dangerous. If the chancellor learned that she was host to the master pearl, she was lost. They’re the most powerfully enchanted objects ever discovered, Tobry had said. They’re so priceless, I doubt that the chief magian has ever seen one.

Magery was the one weapon the Cythonians could not use, and in the chief magian’s hands the master pearl could turn the war Hightspall’s way. The chancellor would have to take it. What was one life — her life — compared to the fate of a nation?

‘That’s what Rix and Tobry said,’ said Tali.

‘Interesting. Perhaps this wrythen is Cython’s way around the prohibition against magery.’ He tap-tapped two fingers on the table. ‘Were the wrythen to be eliminated, it would strike a mighty blow against the enemy.’ He looked up suddenly, weighing her. ‘I wonder …’

‘If Rix and Tobry couldn’t harm it, it would take an army — ’

The small servant appeared at the door with a package the size of a wrapped book. The chancellor put it on the table beside him. ‘I can’t drive a squad of soldiers through the enemy’s lines to attack this wrythen, but …’

‘What?’ she said uncomfortably. Was he planning to send Rix and Tobry there, in revenge for House Ricinus’s threat against him?

‘I can get the one there.’

‘No!’ cried Tali. Was he insane? No, it was a calculated gamble by an utterly ruthless man, and if she failed he would shrug his shoulders and try something else.

‘I thought you burnt for justice,’ he said mildly.

‘I can’t fight … the wrythen without magery.’ She had almost said Lyf, and naming him would raise too many dangerous questions. ‘Powerful magery.’

‘I think you will find it. I think this is the one’s first great task. I’m going to send you there.’

‘What if the wrythen kills me?’

‘What if Lady Ricinus assassinates me in spite of all my precautions?’ said the chancellor. ‘What if the Cythonians tunnel under my palace and collapse it into a gigantic pit? Any of us may fail through error, or the unexpected, or the sheer perversity of life. You’re a gamble, but my instinct, which is seldom wrong, tells me you’re worth it. And here is the key.’

He slid the wrapped package to her.

She untied the cords, unwrapped the linen and discovered a book-sized heatstone inside. Tali felt no relief, only a numb horror. What if it didn’t work? What if her magery came and went again? In any case, that storm of white needles, so devastating against human flesh, might have no effect on a wrythen.

‘Take it with you,’ said the chancellor. ‘Smash it when you need magery.’

‘The wrythen nearly killed Rix and Tobry. How can you imagine I can do better?’

‘I can read people better than anyone in Hightspall.’

‘What do you read in me?’

‘That you’re a risky investment, but a worthy one.’

‘I’m not ready,’ said Tali. ‘Magery takes years to master. I’ll only make things worse.’

‘Neither am I ready, but as chancellor I have to act now. The enemy could break into Caulderon tonight or tomorrow. What if they intend to kill every man, every woman, every child and babe-in-arms in this great city? Think about the horror of all those individual deaths, then tell me that you’ll do your duty to the country you profess to love.’

This nightmare was all the more terrifying because it was what she had wanted. Now she realised how unprepared she was, how naive she had been to think of attacking Lyf. What if she failed and he gained the master pearl?

She had to do something. She checked around her. If she could leap on the chancellor, and bind and gag him, could she get back to the tunnels with Rannilt and the spectible before the alarm was raised?

The instant she moved, he snapped his fingers and two guards appeared at the door. They were much bigger than Tali and their blades were in their hands.

‘Chancellor?’ said the first of them, an oval-faced brunette almost as tall as Rix.

‘Take the child away.’

Chills spiralled through Tali as the brunette unfastened the stocks and picked Rannilt up. She woke, beamed and threw her arms out towards Tali.

‘Knew you’d come,’ said Rannilt. ‘I told the old man so.’

‘Take her away,’ said the chancellor. ‘I hold her hostage for your conduct, Tali.’

It was like history repeating itself. ‘Will you enslave her descendants for a thousand years?’ cried Tali.

‘Why would I harm a child?’

‘I don’t want to go,’ cried Rannilt, struggling furiously.

‘Tali, help, help!’ Tali trembled with a mad urge to hurl herself at the guard, but the smaller guard blocked the way with her blade.

Tali swallowed. ‘Rannilt, I’ll come back for you, I promise.’

‘Don’t leave me,’ Rannilt wailed, and reached out to her with both hands. ‘Here — use your gift.’

Golden bubbles formed at her fingertips, expanding and bursting into fragments that pattered gently on Tali’s face and hands. A sharp pain cleaved through the top of her skull and she felt a tight pressure there, as though a balloon was swelling inside her head, pressing so hard on her skull bones that they creaked.

She had felt that pressure before, in the sunstone shaft. Coloured lights swirled madly; the pain intensified; more balloons formed in her chest; her eyes misted and her vision swam. Then something rose up in her, something powerful, dark and uncontrollable, and she thrust her right arm towards the chancellor’s meagre chest. Her fingertips ached for release.

Considering his peril, he was eerily calm. ‘Don’t mistake an ally for an enemy,’ he said quietly.

The balloon popped, the mist vanished, and her rising gift sank out of sight and out of reach. Tali sagged backwards against the wall, almost as drained as if she had used magery. She felt a profound disappointment, a deep and troubling loss. The gift longed to be used and, horrific though it was, she longed to use it.

‘Ahh!’ He was smiling. ‘But you truly are worth the gamble.’

Tali stared at him. He seemed pleased, even vindicated. Had he manipulated the situation so she would reveal her gift? Truly, he was a dangerous man.

‘Remove the child,’ said the chancellor.

Rannilt was still screaming a hundred yards down the corridors. Her helpless, hopeless cries stabbed through Tali’s heart. Rannilt had given everything she had for Tali, over and over, and Tali could do nothing for her.

‘Well?’ he said.

She was beaten. ‘How are you going to get me through the enemy lines to Precipitous Crag?’

‘There are secret ways.’

This could not work. Even if breaking the heatstone did liberate her gift, it must take years to master. And without mastery, how could she take on a wrythen who had survived two thousand years after death? How could she attack a magian so powerful that he could create shifters, possess other magians and burn through Tinyhead’s brain from many miles away?

Without mastery of her gift, there was no hope. Lyf would take the master pearl he so coveted, and when he cut it out, she would die, just as Rix’s sketch predicted.

She was the one, all right. The one who opened Lyf’s path to vengeance.