Incarceron (Incarceron, Book 1)

by Catherine Fisher

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  And they waved back, a storm of handkerchiefs and the white doves rising from the gables and the bees in the honey-suckle buzzing as the carriage rumbled over the wooden drawbridge. In the dark green waters of the moat she saw the house reflected, saw moorhens and swans arrow over it, and behind her in a great procession the wagons and coaches and riders and hounds and falconers of her entourage, of the household of the "warden of Incarceron, on the day his plans began to come to fruition.

  Windblown, she threw herself back in the leather seat and blew hair from her eyes. Well, maybe.

  ***

  THEY WEREmen and yet how could they be?

  They were at least eight feet tall. They walked with an odd angular gait, stalking like herons, ignoring the vast drifts of sharp leaves, crunching straight through them.

  Finn felt Keiro's hand grip so tight on his arm it hurt. Then his brother breathed a single syllable in his ear.

  "Stilts?

  Of course. As one of them paced by he saw them up close, knee-high metallic calipers, and the men walked on them expertly, taking long strides, and he saw too that they used the height to touch certain points of the trees, small knots in the trunks, and that the trees instantly sprouted semi-organic fruits that the men harvested.

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  Turning his head he looked for Gildas, but wherever the Sapient and the girl were hidden, they were invisible to him.

  He watched the line of men work down through the trees. As they moved down the hillside they seemed to shrink, and Finn distinctly saw the man on the end shimmer, as if he passed through some disturbance in the air.

  After a while only their heads and shoulders showed. Then they were gone.

  Keiro waited a long moment before getting up. He gave a soft whistle and a heap of leaves convulsed nearby. Gildas's silvery head came up. He said, "Gone?"

  "Far enough."

  Keiro watched Attia scramble hurriedly out, then he turned. Taking one look at his oathbrother he said quietly, "Finn?"

  It was happening. Looking at the shimmer in the air had done it. Finn's skin crawled with itches, his mouth was dry, his tongue felt stiff. He rubbed his hand over his mouth. "No," he mumbled.

  "Get hold of him," Gildas snapped.

  From somewhere distant Keiro said, "Wait."

  And then Finn was walking. Walking straight to the place, the emptiness between two great boughs of copper where the air had moved as if dust fell through a column of light there, as if a slot in Time opened there. And when he came to k he stopped, stretching both arms before himself as if he were blind. It was a keyhole out of the world.

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  Through it, a draft blew.

  Small flashes of pain stung him. He struggled through them, feeling, touching the edges, bringing his face close, putting his eye to the sliver of light, gazing through.

  He saw a shimmer of color. It was so bright it made his eyes water, made him gasp. Shapes moved there, a green world, a sky as blue as in his dreams, a great buzzing creature of black and amber hurtling toward him.

  He cried out and staggered back, felt Keiro grab both arms from behind. "Keep looking, brother. What do you see? What is it, Finn?"

  He crumpled. All the strength went from his legs and he collapsed in the leaf-litter. Attia shoved Keiro away. Quickly she poured water into a cup and held it out to Finn; blindly he took it and gulped it down, then closed his eyes and put his head in his hands, dizzy and sick. He retched. Then vomited.

  Above him, voices raged. When he could hear, he realized one of them was Attia's,

  .. treating him like that! Don't you see he's sick!"

  Keiro's laugh was scornful. "He'll get over it. He's a seer. He sees things. Things we need to know."

  "Don't you care about him at all?"

  Finn dragged his head up. The girl was facing up to Keiro, her hands gripped into fists at her sides. Her eyes had lost their bruised look; now they blazed with anger.

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  Keiro kept his mocking grin. "He's my brother. Of course I care about him."

  "You only care about yourself." She turned to Gildas. "And you too. Master. You ..

  She stopped. Gildas obviously wasn't listening. He stood leaning one arm on a metal tree, staring ahead. "Come here," he said quietly.

  Keiro put his hand out and Finn took it, pulling himself groggily to his feet. They crossed to the Sapient and stood behind him; looking out, they saw what he saw.

  The forest ended here. Ahead a narrow road ran down to a City. It stood behind walls in a fiery landscape of bare plains. Houses clustered together, constructed of patches of metal, towers and battlements built of strange dark wood, thatched with tin and copper leaves.

  All along the road to it, in long noisy streams of laughter and shouting and song, in crowds and wagons, carrying children and driving flocks of sheep, hundreds and hundreds of people were streaming.

  ***

  HER KNEES up on the carriage seat, Claudia read the small pad while Alys slept. The carriage bounced; outside, the green woods and fields of the Wardenry rattled by in a cloud of dust and flies.

  My name is Gregor Bartlett. This is my testament. I pray those who find it to keep it safe, and when the time comes, to use it,

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  because a great injustice has been done and only I am alive to know about it.

  I worked in the Palace from my early years. I was a stable boy and a postillion, then a house servant. I became trusted, rose to be important. I was Valet of the Chamber to the late King, and I remember his first wife, the frail pretty woman from Overseas that he married when they both were young. When his first son, Giles, was born I was given charge of him. I arranged the wet nurse, appointed maids of the nursery. He was the Heir; nothing was spared for his comfort. As the boy grew I came to love him like my own. He was a happy child. Even when his mother died and the King remarried, he lived in his own wing of the Palace, surrounded by his precious toys and pets, his own household. I have no children of my own. The boy became my life. You must believe that.

  Gradually, I sensed a change. As he grew, his father came to him less and less. There was a second son now, the Earl Caspar, a squalling noisy baby petted over by the women of the Court. And there was the new Queen.

  Sia is a strange, remote woman. They say the King looked out of his carriage once as he was being driven along a forest road, and there she stood, at the crossroads. They say that as he drove past her he saw her eyes--they are strange eyes, with pale irises--and after that moment he could not stop thinking about her. He sent messengers back, but no one was there. He had the nearby villages and estates searched, issued proclamations, offered rewards to his

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  noblemen, but no one could find her. And then, weeks later, as he walked in the gardens of the Palace, he looked up and she was there, sitting by the fountain.

  No one knows her parentage, or where she comes from. I believe her to be a sorceress. What became clear soon after her son was born was her hatred for Giles. She never showed it to the King or his Court; to them she was careful to honor the Heir. But I saw it.

  He was betrothed at seven years old to the daughter of the Warden of Incarceron. A haughty little girl, but he seemed to like her...

  Claudia smiled. Glancing at Alys she leaned out of the window. Her father's carriage was behind; he must be sharing it with Evian. She scrolled the text down.

  ... the happiness of his birthday party, a night when we rowed on the lake under the stars and he told me how happy he was. I will never forget his words to me.

  The death of his father affected him badly. He became solitary. Did not attend the dances and games. He studied hard. I wonder now if he had begun to fear the Queen. He never said so. Now I will pass to the end. The day before the riding accident I received a message that my sister, who lived at Casa, was sick. I asked Giles for leave to go to her; the dear boy was most concerned, and insisted the kitchens make me up a parcel of delicacies to take her.
He also made sure I had a carriage. He waved me off on the steps of the Outer Court. That was the last time I ever saw him.

  When I arrived, my sister was in excellent health. She had no knowledge of who had sent the message.

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  My heart misgave me. I thought of the Queen. I wanted to return at once, but the coachman, who may have been the Queens man, refused, saying the horses were exhausted. I am no longer a rider, but I saddled a horse from the inn and I rode back, galloping hard, all through the night. I will not try to write the agonies of worry I felt. I came over the hill and saw the thousand pinnacles of the Court, and I saw that from every one of them a black pennant flew.

  I remember little after that.

  They had laid his body on a bier in the Great Council Chamber, and after it was ready, I asked leave to approach him. A message came from the Queen, with a man to escort me. He was the secretary of the Warden, a tall silent man called Medlicote ...

  Claudia was so surprised she whistled. Alys snored and turned.

  ... I climbed the steps like a broken creature. My boy lay there and they had made him beautiful. I bent to kiss his face with tears blinding my eyes. And then I paused.

  Oh, they had made a good job of it. Whoever the boy was he was the right age and coloring, and the skinwand had been carefully used. But I knew, I knew.

  It was not Giles.

  I think I laughed. One gasp of joy. I pray no one noticed, that no one knows. I sobbed, retired, played the heartbroken retainer, the broken old man. And yet I know the secret that the

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  Queen, and perhaps the Warden, wish no one to know.

  That Giles is alive.

  And where else can he be but in Incarceron?

  Alys grunted and yawned and opened her eyes. "Are we nearly at the inn yet?" she asked sleepily.

  Claudia stared at the small pad, eyes wide. She looked up at her nurse as if she'd never seen her before. Then she glanced down and read the last sentence again.

  And again.

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  16

  ***

  Don't defy me, John. And be on your guard.

  There are plots in the Court, and conspiracies against us. As for Claudia, from what you say she has already seen what she searches for. How amusing that she did not even recognize it.

  --Queen Sia to the Warden; private letter

  ***

  It was hours before she could get Jared alone. There was the fuss of finding their rooms, the innkeeper bowing and scraping, the supper, endless small talk from Evian, her father's calm watchfulness, Caspar's complaints about his horse.

  But finally, well after midnight, she tapped on the door of his attic and slipped in.

  He was sitting at the window looking at the stars, a bird pecking bread from his hands. She said, "Don't you ever sleep?"

  Jared smiled. "Claudia, this is folly. If they catch you here, you know what they'd think."

  She said, "I'm bringing you into danger, I know. But we have to talk about what he wrote."

  He was silent a moment. Then he released the bird, closed the window, and turned, and she saw the shadows under his eyes. "Yes."

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  They looked at each other. Finally she said, "They didn't kill Giles. They imprisoned him." "Claudia..."

  "They wouldn't spill Havaarna blood! Or perhaps the Queen was afraid to. Or my father ..." She looked up. "It's true. My father must know."

  The bleakness in her voice shocked them both. She sat on a chair. "And there's something else. This boy Finn. The Prisoner. His voice ... seems familiar."

  "Familiar?" He looked sharply at her.

  "I've heard it before, Master."

  "You imagine that. Don't make this assumption, Claudia."

  She was still a moment. Then she shrugged. "In any case we need to try again."

  Jared nodded. He went over and locked the door, clipped a small device to its back and adjusted it. Then he turned.

  Claudia had the Key ready. She activated the speech channel, and then the small visual circuit that they had discovered. He stood behind her, watching the hologram of the eagle flap silent wings.

  "Did you delete the pad?"

  "Of course. Completely."

  As the Key began to glow, he said quietly, "They had no problem spilling the old man's blood, Claudia. They may already know we searched his house. They must fear what we found."

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  "By they you mean my father." She looked up. "He won't hurt me. If he loses me, he loses the throne. And I'll protect you, Master, I swear."

  His smile was rueful. She knew he didn't believe she could.

  Very quietly, the Key spoke. "Can you hear me?"

  Claudia said, "It's him! Touch the panel, Finn. Touch it! Have you found it?"

  "Yes." He sounded hesitant. "What will happen if I do?"

  "We'll be able to see each other, we think. It won't hurt you. Try k, please."

  There was a second of dead air, a few crackles. And then Claudia almost jumped back. Out of the key a beam projected silently. It opened to a square, and crouched in the square, startled and dirty, was a boy.

  He was tall and very thin, his face famished and anxious. His hair was lank and long, tied back in a knot of string, and his clothes were the drabbest she had ever seen, muddy grays and greens, badly worn. A sword and a rusty knife were stuck in his belt.

  He stared at her in astonishment.

  FINN SAW a queen, a princess.

  Her face was clean and clear, her hair shone. She wore a dress of some lustrous silk, and a pearl necklace that would be worth a fortune if a buyer could ever be found rich enough. He saw at once that she had never been hungry, that her mind was clear

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  and intelligent. Behind her a grave dark-haired man watched, wearing a Sapient's coat that put Gildas's rag to shame.

  Claudia was silent so long, Jared glanced at her. He saw she was stricken, probably by the boy's condition, so he said softly, "It seems Incarceron is no paradise then."

  The boy glared at him. "Are you mocking me, Master?"

  Jared shook his head sadly. "No indeed. Tell us how you came to have this artifact."

  Finn glanced around. The ruin was silent and black; Attia's shadow crouched in the doorway, watching the darkness outside. She gave him a small nod of reassurance. He looked back at the holoscreen, afraid that its light would give them away.

  As he told them about the eagle on his wrist, he watched Claudia. He was good at reading faces, but hers was difficult, so controlled, so unrevealing, though the faintest widening of her eyes told him she was fascinated. Then he slipped into lies, about finding the Key in a deserted tunnel, obliterating the Maestra, her death, his shame, as if none of it had ever happened. Attia glanced over, but he kept his face away. He told them about the Comitatus, about the terrible fight he had fought with Jormanric, how he had defeated the giant in single combat, stolen three skull-rings from his hands, led his friends out of that hell. About how they were following a sacred trail out of the Prison.

  She listened intently, asking brief questions. He had no idea

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  if she believed any of it. The Sapient was silent , once only raising an eyebrow, when Finn talked of Gildas.

  "So the Sapienti still survive? But what happened to the Experiment, the social structures, the food supply? How did it all break down?"

  "Never mind that," Claudia said impatiently. "Don't you see what the eagle mark means, Master. Don't you see?" She leaned forward eagerly. "Finn. How long have you been in Incarceron?"

  "I don't know." He scowled. "I ... only remember ..."

  "What?"

  "The last three years. I get... memories, but--" He stopped. He didn't want to tell her about the seizures.

  She nodded. Her hands were clasped in her lap, he saw. A diamond ring gleamed on one finger. "Listen, Finn. Do I look familiar to you? Do you recognize me?"

  His heart leaped. "No. Should I?"

>   She was biting her lip. He felt her tension. "Finn, listen to me. I think you may be ..."

  "FINN!"

  Attia's scream was stifled. A hand grabbed her and clamped down on her mouth. "Too late," Keiro said gleefully.

  Out of the darkness Gildas strode in and looked into the holoscreen. For a second he and Jared shared a startled stare.

  Then the screen went blank.

  The Sapient breathed a prayer. He turned and looked at

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  Finn and the obsession was back in his hard blue eyes. "I saw! I saw Sapphique!"

  Finn suddenly felt very tired. "No," he said, watching Attia struggle wildly out of Keiro's grip. "It wasn't."

  "I saw, fool boy! I saw him!" The old man knelt painfully before the Key. He reached out and touched it. "What did he say, Finn? What was his message to us?"

  "And why didn't you tell us you could see people with it?" Keiro snapped. "Don't you trust us?"

  Finn shrugged. He, not Claudia, had done most of the talking, he realized. But he had to keep them guessing, so he said, "Sapphique ... warns us."

  "Of what?" Nursing his bitten hand Keiro gave the girl a sour look. "Bitch," he muttered.

  "Of danger."

  "What sort? The whole place is--"

  "From above." Finn muttered it at random. "Danger from above."

  Together, they looked up.

  Instantly Attia screamed and threw herself aside; Gildas swore. The net collapsed like the web of an uber-spider, each end weighted; it crashed down on Finn, flattening him under its impact, a crumpling of dust and screeching bats. For a moment the breath was knocked right out of him, then he realized Gildas was struggling and tangling next to him, that the two of them were meshed in heavy ropes sticky with an oozing resin.

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  "Finn!" Attia knelt and pulled at the net; her hand stuck and she pulled it hastily away.

  Keiro had his sword out; he pushed her aside and slashed at the cables, but they were threaded with metal and the blade clanged. At the same time a shrill alarm in the ruin began to whine, a high, wailing note.

  "Don't waste your time," Gildas muttered. Then, furiously, "Get out of here!"