Vengeance

CHAPTER 86

The ride home, under the twilight of that choking brown overcast sky, was silent and endless. What was The Consolation of Vengeance for? And what did it say? Though cold to the touch, it radiated heat. Tali could feel it through the leather of the saddlebag.

And why, since it was Lyf’s book, had it hurt him so badly when she had struck him with it? Had taking it been a master stroke, or a fatal folly? She could not tell. Not even Tobry, who knew five languages, could read the glyphs inside.

He was slumped in the saddle, eyes dead, and she did not know how to aid him. Tobry was a man whose word was unbreakable, a man who would do anything to help those he held dear, yet Lyf had forced him to attack his friend. It was eating him alive.

Something ailed Rix, too, something that bit even deeper than the wrythen taking command of him and ordering him to cut it from her. He alternated between furious rages and intervals of slack-jawed apathy.

‘Tobe,’ said Rix, riding stirrup to stirrup with him, ‘do you think — ?’

‘It’s finished, Rix. I’m utterly and irretrievably dishonoured.’

‘How do you think I feel?’

Something snapped and Rix spurred away, hacking down an innocent needlebush as he passed, then several branches off a blood-bark tree.

‘Damn you!’ he roared, racing back to them and brandishing his sword towards Precipitous Crag. ‘You will not command me!’

The echoes chased themselves back and forth between the bluffs to either side, mocking him.

‘Ride away, Tali, and ride fast,’ he said, biting the words off and flinging them to the wind. ‘When next Lyf comes, I’m not sure I’ll be able to resist his compulsion.’

Tali forced herself to swallow her fear. She could no longer fight alone, and without Rix and Tobry she was lost. She reached across and put a hand on his arm.

‘I believe in you, just as I believe in Tobry. When Lyf comes, you will resist him.’

‘He’s stronger each time!’ said Rix, wild-eyed.

She tightened her grip. ‘So is Tobry, and so are you. You’re much stronger than when I first met you, and a better man, and I trust you, no matter what. And if Rannilt was — ’ she had almost said alive — ‘was awake, she would say the same. We have to hold together. We’re all that stands between Lyf and victory now.’

Rix stared at her as if she had gone mad. He swallowed and rubbed his eyes, but not before she saw tears form there. He nodded stiffly, as if afraid to speak. ‘You have no idea what that means to me.’

Tobry turned those empty eyes on her. ‘Have you ever been violated?’

‘No,’ she said quietly.

‘It’s as though he’s emptied all his fury into me, a festering rage at what was done to his people. He owns me now, Tali. How can I fight him?’

‘He’s not as strong as you think. We can still beat him.’ They were empty words. Tali had none that could comfort him.

A mile or two further on, Rix said suddenly, ‘I envisaged that opal sculpture again, Tobe.’

‘When?’ Tobry said dully.

‘As we left the caverns.’

‘I saw one too,’ said Tali, and told them about the contorted figure she had seen bobbing up and down, deep in the Abysm. ‘But it looked too perfect to be a sculpture.’

Rix drew a sharp breath. ‘What else could it be?’

‘It looked like a man turned to opal … yet …’

‘What?’

‘I’m sure the eyes were alive.’

No one could guess what it meant. Hours later, they were riding up a high hill when Rix cried, ‘They’re gone!’

‘Who’s gone?’ said Tali.

‘The enemy. From Caulderon.’

Smoke still belched from the burning shanty towns outside the walls and brown trails issued from a dozen places within the city, but the grey shadow of the Cythonian armies was no longer there.

‘The city’s fallen,’ said Rix bleakly. ‘We’re too late.’

Tobry checked with Rix’s telescope. ‘The gates are still standing, and they’re manned by our troops.’ His voice rose. ‘And … I can see dozens of prisoners, chained to the walls and the gates …’

‘Can we have beaten them?’ said Tali.

‘You must have hurt Lyf more than we thought,’ said Tobry. For the first time that day, she saw a hint of hope in his bruised eyes.

‘We’d better make plans,’ said Rix. ‘If we ride in together, the palace’s spies will hear about it in minutes. I’ll go alone. Tobry, come later with Tali and Rannilt. Bring them underground to my chambers.’

‘The chancellor will surely guess I’m there,’ said Tali. ‘And Rannilt.’

‘There’s nowhere else to go,’ Rix said distractedly. ‘I’ve got — ’ He swallowed. ‘Got a duty to pay.’

He galloped off, leaving Tali and Tobry staring after him.

The streets were a drunken carnival clogged with people, and every stride of the way they clutched at Rix’s stirrups, crying out their glad tidings.

‘We showed them. The gutless rock rats are running for their lives.’

Rix shook them off and rode on, grim of face. He could only think of one thing now — his mother’s treason and his duty to report it. Acid burnt up his throat. How could he make the threat known to the chancellor without implicating her?

He used his horse to force passage through the throngs, heading for the chancellor’s palace, and was admitted at once. The chancellor was at a red-jasper-framed window, looking down on the celebrations.

‘Caulderon is doomed,’ he said without turning around, ‘yet for the sake of morale the poor must have their street parties. And the rich their Honouring, tomorrow.’

Rix remembered, guiltily, the portrait that had to be completed tonight.

The chancellor took an upholstered chair by the fire and gestured to the other. ‘Clearly, the encounter at the Crag was not a complete success.’

‘No,’ said Rix. ‘But Tali hurt him.’ He told the story briefly, omitting any details that could harm her.

The chancellor listened without comment, then said, ‘Why have you come here?’

Rix stared into the flames, but found no assistance there. When he looked up, the chancellor was studying him, impassively. Rix looked down again. ‘I’ve overheard a plot. To get rid of you.’

‘Don’t mumble, boy!’ The chancellor leaned forwards, his face unreadable. ‘When did you hear this?’

Rix had never found it easy to lie, except to his mother. ‘Two days ago.’

‘Before you stole my horses and galloped to Precipitous Crag.’

He shivered. Minds were open books to the chancellor. What did he know? Was this a test?

‘Yes.’

‘How long before?’

The noose was tightening. If he lied and said days or weeks, it would make him an accessory. ‘Less than a day.’

‘I know you’re a brave man, and I’m told you’re an honourable one,’ said the chancellor. ‘Since you’re only telling me about the treason now, the plotter must be friend or family.’

Rix could not speak; he could hardly breathe.

‘And the name?’ said the chancellor.

‘I — can’t say,’ Rix said in a strangled voice.

‘Allow me to assist you. My spies watch your windows and one of your door guards is my man. On the day before you left, you did not go out of your tower, and no one entered save myself, Lady Ricinus, Tobry Lagger, Tali vi Torgrist, and servants. You would not keep silent for a servant, and I know it wasn’t Tali.’ He leaned back and his hard little eyes met Rix’s. ‘I hope it was Lagger. I’ve always despised the man.’

Out in the city, every steam whistle went off at once. Rix sprang up. ‘What’s that? Are we attacked?’ The whistles died as though they had run out of steam.

‘Sit down,’ said the chancellor.

As Rix sat, a drop of sweat ran down his nose. The chancellor would order Tobry’s execution without a qualm. But if Rix denied it was Tobry, it was the same as betraying his mother.

‘If you don’t deny it,’ said the chancellor, ‘your silence affirms his guilt and he dies a traitor’s death.’ He reached for the bell pull to his left.

A black-haired servant girl came in, carrying something heavy on a large silver tray covered by a silk cloth. She set it down on a low table between Rix and the chancellor. The chancellor nodded, she lifted the cloth and withdrew.

Rix jumped, sending his chair backwards. A small white dog, contorted by the agony of its death, lay on the tray. Blood had leaked from its mouth and bowel. The chancellor leaned forwards, stroking the small head, then looked up.

‘Ricin,’ he said. ‘The deadliest poison in Hightspall, the most agonising death, and there is no antidote.’

‘How did it happen?’

‘I thought myself well protected. I had employed every protection at my disposal, yet still the assassin got through. The poison was meant for me.’

‘It wasn’t Tobry,’ Rix gasped.

‘But he knows about the plot? You’re his best friend. You tell him everything.’

‘He knows nothing. I dared not tell him.’

The chancellor leaned forwards again, eyes impaling Rix. He felt like a worm with a hook through its guts.

‘If Lagger is innocent, only one person can be guilty.’

Rix kept silent, clinging to the pathetic illusion that not naming his mother lessened the betrayal.

‘That poison is both a trademark and a challenge,’ said the chancellor.

‘I–I don’t understand.’

‘Ricin comes from the castor oil plant, also called Ricinus, which is on your house crest. Poison is a woman’s weapon, isn’t it? And she’ll try again.’

Rix stared at the dead dog, afraid to speak.

‘Name the name,’ said the chancellor inexorably.

‘I — can’t betray my own!’

‘If you don’t, you’re betraying your country at a time of war. That won’t just bring you down, it will topple your house.’

‘My house?’ Rix whispered.

‘Your country comes before your house — always.’

‘If you know who made the threat, why do I have to say it.’

‘Traitors must be named. Name her!’

‘I’m sure she didn’t mean it,’ said Rix. ‘She retracted it at once.’

‘Then where’s the difficulty?’

‘Naming her is her death sentence.’

‘Such a cunning, ruthless and well-connected woman is far more use to me alive than dead — especially if her life, and her house, relies on my favour.’

Waves of relief coursed over Rix. The chancellor was right. Lady Ricinus could help him in all kinds of ways. He met the chancellor’s eyes.

‘Name the plotter,’ said the chancellor.

The hook twisted in Rix’s guts. He tried to speak, but could not; tried again.

‘It was Mother,’ he gasped, staring at the black tiles. ‘Lady Ricinus made the threat.’