The Splintered Gods

by Stephen Deas

  She didn’t let go. Instead she pulled him close into an embrace and whispered in his ear, ‘You want me to hunt your missing dragon. I will give you that.’ Then she pulled away, but for a moment she kept a hand on each of his shoulders and looked him in the eye. Standing straight they were exactly the same height, but Bellepheros always felt as though he was the smaller of the two. Zafir’s eyes, when she stared for long enough, could set things on fire. ‘Make her take it off me.’ She tapped the gold-glass circlet around her head. Bellepheros blinked. He hadn’t even noticed it until now. Zafir leaned in and kissed him on each cheek and then let him go. The wind pulled at him. He felt hopelessly unsteady. Not that the wind ever changed but his legs weren’t working the way they were supposed to today, not now anyway. He staggered and stumbled and then stayed where he was. The wall wasn’t tall and it wasn’t even steep where it sloped away to the rim, but he simply couldn’t move. Too much space everywhere he looked. Too much emptiness. It had drained him. He was spent. Utterly gone.

  Zafir laughed, and Myst and Onyx took his arms and helped him as far as the steps to the dragon yard. The rest he managed on his own. When he got back to his study he was still shaking. The door was closed and the Taiytakei guard cocked his head. ‘There’s an Elemental Man in there now, master alchemist.’

  Bellepheros went in anyway. As soon as he opened the door, the smell of cloves and rotten brain hit him like a smack in the face. The Elemental Man, if he was here at all, was keeping himself invisible. Bellepheros waited a moment to see if he’d appear but the air stayed still, there was no wisp of breeze and no figure materialised out of any corner.

  ‘Look after her,’ he muttered and sat down at his desk and poured himself a large glass of wine and knocked it back in one long swallow. Maybe that would help with the shakes. Then he put the glass back on the silver tray, took the wine back to his laboratory and locked it away there, careful because it wasn’t just wine any more. The blood he’d dripped into it while no one was watching had made this wine into something else, and now that something else was inside the guard who stood by his door.

  The laboratory reeked of cloves. The smell would linger for weeks now and he could thank her Holiness for that. He picked up the offending pot and took it out. On his way back to the hatchery he passed the guard on his door again. ‘Keep her safe,’ he said. ‘Make sure no one does anything to hurt her.’

  The guard screwed up his nose and flapped at the air as he nodded. Bellepheros smiled and reached inside himself and through the blood-tainted wine. ‘Keep her safe,’ he said again, and knew that the soldier would do exactly that because now he had no choice.

  Satisfied, he returned to the hatchery and the larder full of corpses and left his clay pot smelling of cloves beside the dead slave who’d poisoned Li, waiting for it to thicken. It hit him then what Zafir had been trying to show him. That the eyrie and the storm-dark were somehow connected. That the Godspike was made of the same white stone as the dragon yard and the walls and tunnels and towers and that the Godspike pierced the storm-dark.

  She was asking if the eyrie might survive in there. She was asking if they might go home.

  26

  Abyssal Powders

  Chay-Liang opened her eyes. It seemed as though only a moment had passed and yet the whole world had changed around her. She wasn’t on the floor but lying in a bed. She was still in Bellepheros’s study but it was a lot tidier than she remembered. She supposed that meant he’d finished sorting out the mess from when the hatchling had burned his laboratory and was doing his work there again and not here.

  She sniffed. The study smelled of cloves. Her head swirled as soon as she tried to move, but not before she saw a figure watching her from across the room. He stood in the shadows. She couldn’t see his face.

  ‘Belli?’

  The figure vanished. Perhaps it had only been a shadow, a trick of the light and there hadn’t been anyone there at all. She lay back. Nothing exactly hurt but she had no strength and she could barely breathe. Her head was working though, her thinking, and that was what was important. She remembered everything until her eyes had closed, how it had felt, how confused she’d been, the vial under Belli’s desk that had seemed to matter so much, but all that urgency was gone now and the confusion with it. Someone had poisoned her. Someone who had access to Baros Tsen T’Varr’s cellars. Which narrowed it down to the Elemental Men and probably a dozen of the Vespinese, which was tantamount to not narrowing it down at all, although if the Elemental Men wanted her dead then presumably they had better ways of doing it. Doubtless Mai’Choiro Kwen had been behind it. A better question to ask was why she was still alive.

  ‘Li!’

  She turned her head and winced as her eyes blurred. She tried to sit but it was beyond her. Bellepheros hurried to her side. An Elemental Man in black robes came in after him and then a woman wrapped in shimmering midnight-blue, someone Liang didn’t know but who moved all wrong. Stiff and awkward.

  Belli’s hands were rough and calloused, stained and leathery from years of alchemy. He lifted her head and tenderly propped her up and then yelled at the Elemental Man to go and get some pillows. Liang laughed when he did that, except it ended up as more a wince and a whimper because, damn it, it hurt!

  ‘So typical . . . of you . . . to send a killer . . . for pillows.’

  ‘Never liked them. Let them run errands. How do you feel?’

  ‘Like a dragon hit me.’ Liang tried to peer past Belli at the woman, but she’d turned her back and was inspecting the shelves and Belli’s book collection, running her fingers down their spines one by one. ‘Who’s that?’

  ‘If a dragon had hit you then I’d have been cleaning up the mess with a mop and a bucket. You were poisoned.’ Bellepheros shook his head. ‘And this lot were worse than useless. I tucked you up here to keep you away from them and they’ve been . . .’

  Liang squeezed his hand. The iron door. It made her smile, that look of concern on his face, and she knew he’d kept her here because it was the easiest place to keep an eye on her, the place where he spent the most time, so he could work and be with her both at once. She knew because she’d have done the same. ‘Happy about that, were they?’ she asked wryly.

  ‘Not particularly, no.’ He put on a stern face. ‘They were supposed to keep you safe and abjectly failed and, as I pointed out, if it wasn’t for me then you’d be dead, and since I’d stuffed you full of my potions they’d best let me take responsibility for whatever happened next. I . . .’ He stopped, suddenly realising what he’d said. ‘Oh Li, I’m so sorry.’

  ‘It’s funny,’ she said, smiling so he knew it didn’t matter. ‘I was lying on the floor. I don’t remember you finding me. I just remember there was a vial under your desk, rolling around down there. It seemed the most important thing in the world. Stupid.’

  Bellepheros snorted. ‘That? Yes, you were . . . you were talking about all sorts of things while the poison worked through you.’ He shook his head. ‘The vial? It’s nothing. The potion her Holiness took the night the Vespinese came, when the hatchling broke free.’

  ‘I remember!’

  ‘It came down here to hunt her.’ He frowned. ‘I keep wondering why it did that.’

  ‘Belli!’ Now she was annoyed. ‘I do remember! It tried to kill me, damn it! And I sent it packing with a few good strokes of lightning, not that anyone seems to have noticed or cared.’ But Belli was looking across the room now, distracted by his own thoughts and eyeing the woman who was eyeing his books, deep furrows etched into his face. He shook his head, then turned back and crouched beside her and made a show of putting a hand on her brow to see if she was feverish. He pulled each eyelid back one after the other and peered into her eyes, then stood up again. ‘The poison’s gone. You’ll be fine in a day or so.’

  ‘Who did it? Who?’ And had the poison really been meant for her? Or had it been meant for Belli? Perhaps for both of them?

  ‘The slave who brought the wi
ne, but as to who sent him . . .’ The Elemental Man returned with pillows and a sour look. He said nothing, but the way he dropped them on the bed spoke loudly. Belli ignored him as he busied himself sitting her up. ‘The same slave who brought the wine went for Zafir with a knife. She took it off him and killed him with it. It wasn’t just any knife either. It was one of those the Elemental Men carry. The ones where you can’t see the blade.’ He glanced over his shoulder at the woman, still browsing, then threw a filthy look at the killer and made a face. ‘No one knows where this particular slave came from, of course. He’s not one of Tsen’s and now he’s dead.’

  ‘Mai’Choiro.’ But if the same assassin had tried to murder Zafir then perhaps the poison had been meant for her . . . Did someone know what she’d seen?

  ‘Probably.’ Belli’s voice dropped. ‘I may have a way to find out but it needs some thought. It’s a, ah . . . questionable thing to do.’ And Liang was about to ask him what he meant by that, but then the woman turned from Belli’s books and Belli put a finger to his lips and stepped away.

  ‘How is she, slave?’ The woman’s voice was quiet but carried the power and command of a sea lord addressing his fleet. ‘She seems well enough to talk, at least.’

  ‘Recovering.’ Belli touched a finger to Liang’s wrist, feeling her pulse. ‘The poison is gone. I’m afraid I still don’t know what it was. Not something I’ve encountered before, but that merely means it didn’t come from my homeland.’ He turned and leaned towards Liang again. ‘I kept the bottle though, Li. I’ve given it to them and kept a bit for myself. We’ll find out in time, I promise you.’

  ‘Is her memory affected?’

  Liang frowned. ‘My memory?’ She pulled herself up a little higher, winced and let Bellepheros ease her back down.

  ‘She’s weak, Lady Arbiter,’ he said. ‘She needs rest and to be left alone, but no, her memory shouldn’t be affected. No reason to think so.’ He gently patted Liang’s shoulder. ‘A few days and you’ll be on your feet and shouting at me about her Holiness again. Although I think you’ll like what the lady Arbiter has done to her.’ Then he leaned over and whispered in her ear so quietly that she could barely hear. ‘You have my blood in you now, Li. It will help you in other ways. The next time anyone poisons you, remember me.’

  He withdrew, the woman took his place and Liang saw what was strange about her. Her face was painted, half black and half white. She had gold-glass shards crossed upon her chest, sparking and glittering over dark silk. ‘I know who you are. You’re our judge sent from the Dralamut.’

  The Arbiter tapped Bellepheros on the arm. ‘You may go now, alchemist, but not far if you please. Be about your work.’ She didn’t wait for him to leave but drew a piece of gold-glass from her sleeve. She shaped it into a disc that hovered in the air beside her, pushed it gently to Liang’s side and sat on it. She smiled. It might have been a friendly smile but the painted mask made it alien and unsettling. ‘What did he whisper in your ear, Chay-Liang?’

  ‘That I have his blood in me and that it will help me in other ways. That’s where his magic lies. In his blood.’

  ‘Help you in what ways, enchantress?’

  Liang shrugged. ‘I don’t know. He didn’t say.’ She glanced nervously past the Arbiter to Belli as he walked out the door but he didn’t look back. He trusted this woman then.

  ‘And earlier, when you both thought I wasn’t looking. He has a secret he’s keeping from me about you. What is it?’

  ‘I think . . .’ Liang started to laugh – which still hurt – and felt her cheeks burn at the same time. ‘Lady, I think he’s uncommonly fond of me for a slave.’

  ‘And you uncommonly so for a mistress.’ The Arbiter snorted. ‘That secret is none of my concern, although calling it a secret is a bit like calling the Godspike small, which it simply isn’t.’ She tried a smile again and it still didn’t work. ‘I mean the other secret: he knows something about who poisoned you. What is it?’

  ‘He didn’t say.’ Liang closed her eyes. She had no idea what Belli had meant and now she was glad she hadn’t asked because it meant she could be truthful and yet not betray him. ‘I suppose he thinks he’s found a clue.’

  ‘Tell him to share it. I will let him help if it suits me and you can tell him that too. When I’m done here then you can all poison and burn each other as much as you like. While I stay, it stops.’ She smiled again but it didn’t touch her eyes.

  ‘I will tell him, lady.’

  The Arbiter’s voice changed abruptly. Suddenly they weren’t master and servant, with the Arbiter giving the orders and Liang meekly compliant, suddenly they were old friends sharing their little guilts and confidences. It was a subtle change and yet complete, as though the Arbiter had quietly shifted into an entirely other person. ‘I was an enchantress once,’ she said. ‘Since I’m a navigator, you know that. I learned my craft at Hingwal Taktse as you did. And yes, your suspicions are right: that does make me Vespinese. Ironic that I should be Arbiter when this happens and my own people come under question. Is that why they did it, if they did anything at all? Did they think they might sway me? I know you learned some of your craft in Khalishtor too. I’m sure it was very different.’ She frowned. ‘May I ask you, what is that smell?’

  Liang coughed – it still hurt – and managed to lifted herself so she was almost upright at last. ‘Cloves, lady.’

  ‘Cloves? Are we in a kitchen?’ The Arbiter’s eyes glittered and little wrinkles formed at the corners.

  ‘Alchemy.’ Liang smiled back. ‘I don’t claim to understand it. I am Chay-Liang.’

  ‘I know. And I am Arbiter Red Lin Feyn, but you already knew that too. I’m glad to find you alive.’

  Liang met her eyes, watching her steadily. They were unusual eyes for a Taiytakei, somewhere between lavender and violet. ‘Lady, I’m certain that Lord Shonda is a very clever man, as clever as he is rich and powerful. But he knows the Arbiter of the Dralamut is above such things. I doubt it even crossed his mind.’ She paused, gauging the Arbiter’s face for any reaction and seeing nothing. ‘I can’t speak for his character because I’ve never met him. Mai’Choiro Kwen, whom I have met, is a reprehensible insect who probably thinks he can buy you with some pretty beads just as he thinks he can kill me with wine that has turned a little.’

  ‘Ah.’ The Arbiter smiled a little more. ‘So you believe it was Mai’Choiro Kwen who poisoned you?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Why would he do that?’

  ‘To silence me.’

  The smile faded. The Arbiter cocked her head. ‘And why would he want to do that? What would you be saying?’

  ‘I would be saying that I heard him tell the rider-slave where to fly and what to do. That he detailed to her the defences of Dhar Thosis. That he gave precise instructions for the burning and slaughter of another sea lord’s city.’

  The Arbiter widened her eyes in mock surprise. ‘My, my. When you have your strength you shall tell me more.’ She cocked her head. ‘But how did he know that you would say these things? Were you there when he said them?’

  ‘Yes, Lady Arbiter, I was.’

  ‘And he knew it and said them anyway?’ The frown was real this time.

  ‘It was done in Baros Tsen T’Varr’s gondola. We had removed the pilot golem and I was hiding in its place. There was an Elemental Man too, but he had become air. Mai’Choiro had no idea he was overheard.’

  ‘That sounds a lot like a trap, Chay-Liang.’

  ‘Because that’s exactly what it was, lady.’

  The Arbiter took a deep breath and let it out slowly. ‘Then why, Chay-Liang of Khalishtor, if you were hidden and he didn’t know you were there, would he want you dead? Who did you tell?’

  For a moment Liang’s thoughts all crashed into each other. She’d been ready to let it out, every bit of it, word for word as well as she could remember. She shook her head. ‘Tsen knew. And Belli. I told Belli.’

  ‘Just him?’

  She
nodded.

  ‘No one else? Are you quite sure?’

  ‘Quite sure.’ Her voice was a whisper. Nothing made sense any more. ‘Oh, and one of your Elemental Men when they came.’

  ‘I see.’ The Arbiter nodded and looked thoughtful for a moment. ‘One of my killers. Who should then have told me and yet I have heard nothing of this.’ She took a deep breath and wriggled on the gold-glass disc, settling herself. ‘So be it. Perhaps we should do this now if you have the strength. All of it, if you please, from start to finish leaving no part out. Word for word if you can, who said what and to whom concerning the burning of Dhar Thosis.’ She took Liang’s hand for a moment. ‘Once we’re done, no one will have cause to poison you again.’

  So Liang described how she’d hidden, what she’d heard Mai’Choiro Kwen say to the rider-slave, what Tsen had said to Zafir and what Tsen had said to the Watcher when the Kwen had gone, sending the Elemental Man to put an end to it before it could start. She felt as though she talked for hours and the Arbiter kept asking her to go back, back, always back to things that had happened before. Shonda’s visit, when the Vespinese had provoked the dragon by throwing lightning at it and the rider-slave had saved Shonda from being burned. Vey Rin T’Varr and his jade raven. Shrin Chrias Kwen and his hatred of Zafir and his rivalry with Tsen to be the next sea lord of Xican. As much as she could remember. She could see the picture the Arbiter was drawing out of her. Tsen’s hunger to humble and humiliate the Vespinese who wanted his dragons. How he’d tried to string them and wrap them and tangle them in their own schemes. Was it a sense of justice that had driven him or simply a desire to be free of the debt Xican owed them? She didn’t know, and now that Tsen was dead they never would. The Arbiter moved to the aftermath, to Tsen vanishing away to Dhar Thosis and what Liang had done while he was gone – or perhaps more to the point, what she hadn’t done; the coming of the Vespinese and the failed hanging of Zafir, the Elemental Men; and finally her own confession, after it was all done, that she’d been present when Mai’Choiro Kwen had given Zafir her orders. By then Liang was too tired to even remember what she said.