Black Kath's Daughter

by Richard Parks

  "I think this place isn't so empty as it seems."

  Marta sighed. "Bone Tapper, stop circling the carcass and land, will you?"

  "Pardon?"

  "Say what you mean!"

  "I could counsel you to do the same," Bone Tapper said dryly. "But never mind that. There's an empty village by the river. I saw no one, and believe me I did look. I hate surprises when I'm not the one arranging them."

  "Yet you think someone is there?"

  "I may be wrong—as I said, I saw no one—but I don't think I am."

  Marta considered. "Is that Sendale? It was described in the book."

  "I believe so. The only town I saw was a ruin, and right by the river. How old was that book?"

  Marta sighed. "Old. Yet if it was accurate for the time, Sendale is the only river crossing for leagues around...not that many folk choose this route these days, it seems, but it was more common when Sendale still existed, else our worthy cleric would have talked about Makor instead. Still, I'm not swimming that far and I'm not going to march halfway to Junland just to get across. What about boats?"

  "I thought of that," Bone Tapper said modestly, "and there isn't one to be found. You'll have to build one, if you want to get across that way."

  "Then we go through Sendale, whoever is waiting for me there. Unless I learn how to sprout wings like you have."

  "You can't just turn yourself into a raven? Or some less worthy bird?"

  Marta laughed. "Transformation is an aspect of the Debt. I'm not in debt to myself, Bone Tapper. If I could, why do you think I'd have walked this far??"

  "If that's true, then Amaet could do it for you."

  "You think I'm fool enough to ask?"

  Bone Tapper shrugged. "What use is your magic then? And I'm not being sarcastic, I swear. I really would like to know."

  Marta shrugged too. "My 'magic' only works to the extent that my understanding of the Laws works, and at that I have only two of them. I'm doing the best I can."

  Bone Tapper looked resigned. "I had to ask... Well then, and failing that, I would advise caution."

  "Always good advice," Marta said, and Bone Tapper seemed pleased with himself. In fact he was preening, which so far as Marta knew was the same thing.

  Counting the time removing itself from his debt, no doubt. Still, so far Bone Tapper was keeping up his end of the bargain, or at least making an attempt. It was a pleasant change. Yet now and then Marta found herself missing the sarcasm. She hadn't enjoyed it, exactly, but it was such a part of their relationship that it's absence was noticed, and more than she would have thought. Her life had changed so much in the last few months, yet she was still surprised time and again by the things she missed, and the things she didn't.

  When Marta got her first good look at Sendale, she knew that 'cautiously' was the very best way to proceed, if at all. It was the first real ruin Marta had ever seen. It wasn't just age at work here, as in the Karsanmon Gate. Sendale was like a corpse. That was Marta's first and second impression. Something that had been alive and now was not. Marta sat down on a stone atop the ridge for a moment, to rest and get a better look, but mostly to delay entering the place.

  Bone Tapper landed beside her.

  "Cheerful thing, isn't it?" she said, without looking at him.

  "Very. So, what do you think? Did this place just die or was it murdered?"

  "Murdered," Marta said without a moment's hesitation. "The Sea Kings were raiding far upriver at the height of their power. Several towns were destroyed, according to the chronicles. Sendale was one of them."

  "So those weeks in the archive weren't a total waste. I'll pose another: why wasn't it rebuilt? Makor was further down river and surely got the same."

  "Just a guess, but I'd say there was no reason. It was a backwater even then, according to Brother Akaen; any outlying families that survived either died off or moved away. Makor was closer to the main pilgrim and trade routes anyway and they have an actual bridge. More than one, I hear. By the time the Sea Kings found Sendale there more than likely wasn't much left to tempt them."

  Bone Tapper studied the heaps of ruined stone where once a great tower had been. The other was still standing, though barely. "Which doubtless added to the Sea Kings' annoyance. They were very...enthusiastic."

  Marta didn't say anything about that. There was no need to. When Marta got closer she was even surer that she was right. If plague had done for Sendale there might have been a few fires as the first homes stricken were burned to try and prevent the spread, but if it had spread, soon there would be nothing to gain from the burning. Yet Sendale had been burned, very systematically and thoroughly. The lone tower still standing as they approached the river seemed to be the one exception. Marta's curiosity was focused on that to such an extent that she almost didn't see the man calmly sitting in the middle of the fallen second tower's round foundation, waiting for her.

  "Hello, Marta," Laras said.

  For several long moments, Marta just stared. "Laras! What are you doing here?"

  He grinned at her. "None other. Why do you ask? Could it be that you didn't expect to see me again?"

  "Not really," Marta said frankly.

  His smile faded. "No. You expected me to die in that damned hole in the ground!"

  Marta dropped her bundle and then stepped up on the stone flooring and walked partway across toward him, but not too close. Laras was carrying no weapons, so far as she could see. Not even a knife. "Don't be more of a fool than birth made you, Laras. Of course I didn't expect you to die!"

  That seemed to genuinely surprise him. "Are you going to tell me that you sent me into that cave just to meet Amaet?"

  Amaet. Marta remembered the shrine.

  Oh, blast.

  Marta kept her voice calm and reasonable. "No. I didn't know about the Shrine then. I expected you to find the other way out! After getting a good scare, mind you, which is only fair for the one you gave me, and a poor price at that for what you were planning."

  He dismissed that. "We do what we must go achieve our goals. You're no different from me there, Marta, so don't give yourself airs. That those unfortunate events worked out well for me—for both of us, I gather—was pure luck."

  Marta was barely listening. Amaet. Laras found Amaet in that cave, just as Marta found the First Law. It was only then that Marta noticed the small golden pendant Laras was wearing. Not silver, as hers was. Gold. She took a deep breath and stated her question very slowly and clearly. "Laras, what did you do?"

  He frowned. "Do? I've done many things. You'll have to be more specific."

  "Did you join the Arrow Path?"

  He laughed. "At first I didn't even know what that was. Those who buy Amaet's power like merchants when she gives it so freely? That sorry lot? Certainly not."

  Marta pointed at his pendant. "Then why are you wearing that?!"

  "This? Amaet gave this to me, as a token of my obedience, and her favor. Yes, you understand that. I can see it in your eyes. I am doing the Goddess’s will. For instance, I placed that book in the Royal Archive, the one that spoke of the Basilisk Shrine, on Amaet’s orders. It brought you here."

  That was something to consider, but later. At the moment Marta had room for no consideration other than pity, though she was equally certain that Laras would never see it for what it was. "You worship that lovely bag of offal? That was a very stupid thing to do, Laras."

  Laras turned red with anger. "I'll caution you not to blaspheme my goddess! It was she who freed me from the cave, she who bade me plant the book that would lead you here and she alone who gave me the Laws of Power which I will now use to destroy you as she commanded."

  Commanded? The book...? Marta shook her head. There were so many contradictions and nonsense in what Laras had said that she could barely keep track of them all. She grabbed the one that seemed the most wrong. "Gave? Laras, no one can give you a Law of Power! It doesn't work that way."

  "Foolish girl. You haven't a clue of how power
truly works. Yet you did me service, though that was not your intent, when you brought me to Amaet. For that, let me show you power. It's the least I can do."

  Laras stared to glow. He seemed surrounded by red fire as if he had doused himself with pitchboil and set himself alight, yet Marta could see that the flames were not touching him.

  How in the name of the Seven Powers is he doing that??

  It made no sense to Marta. It was nothing that she knew, nothing that the first two Laws had even hinted. If anything, they spoke as much of what power could not do as what it could. Was he really so far ahead of her now? Yet how could this be, if everything she had been told, everything she had learned wasn't a lie?

  "Laras, what are you doing?"

  "Second Law; I know you have it...but don't understand it. 'What cannot be taken, can be given.' I'm giving myself a halo of fire."

  Marta started to repeat that this was wrong, that it had nothing to do with the meaning of the Second Law, but the words died in her throat. How could it be wrong? She was seeing Laras’s proof, right before her.

  "Don't be jealous, Marta. I'll give you one too."

  Marta was on fire. She screamed at the sudden pain, fell and rolled to try and put it out. In a moment it was gone as if it had never been. The flames had left no mark, only the pain, and that, too, was fading now. Marta stared up at him.

  "Pity you weren't touched by a goddess, Marta. Then perhaps you might could stand a little fire. I can see my lesson is wasted on you; I am sorry. It was never my intention to torture you. I'm not a cruel man, whatever you think of me."

  Marta got up slowly. She wanted to tell Laras exactly what she thought of his character, but she was too stunned at what was happening.

  Laras sighed. "Basics, I think. Let's go to the First Law."

  Laras broke the stone beneath her. He didn't touch it. He barely looked at it. But in an instant the stone was breaking, and not just cracking. It fell away completely from under her and Marta only had the briefest glimpse of darkness before she fell into the pit.

  A piece of stone cut her cheek but she barely felt the pain for terror, and in another moment it was over. She hit the water almost as flat as the stone that smacked into the water all around, barely missing her; the impact knocked the breath from her body and the shock nearly knocked her senseless. It was only the icy coldness of the water itself, gathered in the deep pit below the tower, that kept her conscious. She thrashed, feebly, as total darkness closed on her and she heard the hiss of bubbles escaping overhead. She couldn't see, could barely feel, and it was only the sound of the bubbles rising that told her, however faintly, which way was up. The ache in her lungs made her gasp, only to swallow the bitter cold water. Stars swam in front of her eyes. She more clawed than swam to the surface; she broke through and tried to draw breath even as she tried to cough out the water she had swallowed. She almost slipped under the surface again and it was only the certain knowledge that if she did so she would not be coming up again that kept her fighting to stay afloat, kept her breathing the dank chill air that, for all its faults, tasted wonderful.

  "Help..."

  Laras's face was a small pale circle in a patch of light far above her. He could barely shout for laughing. "Me? Help you? I think you're still missing the point here, Marta. Actually, I didn't know about the water. I expected the fall to kill you."

  She shouted up at him. "Why...why are you doing this? Revenge?"

  "Weren't you listening? Amaet commanded your destruction. I simply obeyed. I'd be lying if I said I took no pleasure at all in what I'm doing, but for what little it may be worth to you I'm not enjoying it as much as I expected to."

  Amaet. Marta remembered now. One of the contradictions. It hadn't seemed the most important at first, but Marta's priorities were rapidly changing. "You can't just leave me here!"

  "Why not? You left me in somewhat similar circumstances, remember? It's either that or throw stones at you until you drown. I told you once I wasn't a monster. I meant that, but surely you can see that helping you is not an option? Goodbye, Marta. For what it's worth, I am sorry. But only a little. What’s happening to you now is no more than justice."

  Laras disappeared. Marta shouted a curse at him but didn't follow with more; she needed all her breath to stay alive and afloat. Marta wasn't the best swimmer in the world; she'd never swum more than fifty yards in her life nor had to, and staying afloat was even further beyond her experience. She was beginning to get her wits back, but she wasn't happy about it. Her wits told her that if her situation didn't change and very soon, she was going to die.

  Her eyes had adjusted somewhat to the weak illumination; at least the break in the stone flooring above let some light in. She looked around for a way out, or anything she could use, and found neither. The stone walls were of smooth-fitted stone with scarcely the width of a fingertip's grip on any of the stones showing. Nor was there any wood of floating debris she could cling to; Marta wondered if the buried section of the tower had been intended as a well, or whether the water level of the nearby river had risen to flood it. She didn't know, and didn't think it much mattered. She swam to the edge, forcing herself to be calm, to feel for a weakness that might speak of a hollow or some fissure in the earth that she could break the stone wall to reach, but she felt nothing, and the effort of swimming was sapping her strength quickly.

  The cold water was already affecting her. She could barely feel her feet and her fingers were numb and stiff. Marta shivered. She slowly became aware of the weight around her waist and realized it was her purse, with its weight of gold and silver coins, pulling her down. Marta almost laughed.

  At least I didn't bring Yssara's gold too.

  It took a few moments of fumbling, but she finally got the pouch free from her belt and she let it sink into the depths with barely a moment's hesitation. Losing that weight made it a bit easier to stay afloat, but the water was still little short of freezing and would kill her all by itself even if she didn't drown first. Was this what all her searching and pain had come down to? To die alone, drowned like a stupid rat, at the bottom of a cistern?

  Alone...?

  Marta could have kicked herself, if the effort wouldn't have pulled her under water. She settled for kicking the water itself, keeping her head out as far as it could reach. "Bone Tapper!" She shouted the name once and then again, commanding, "Bone Tapper!"

  No reply at first, and for a sick moment Marta was afraid that Laras had killed the raven before he'd left...assuming he had left. Marta had no way to be sure, but there was nothing left to try.

  "Bone Tapper!"

  She heard his answering croak with sweet relief. In a moment a black speck appeared at the hole above her and quickly resolved itself into the raven's familiar form. "I'm here, barely," he said.

  Marta's nose crinkled as she got a sudden whiff of him as he perched precariously on the edge of a stone block nearby. "What is that smell?"

  "Burned feathers, and thanks for asking," Bone Tapper replied. "I tried to scratch that wizard's eyes out and he threw fire at me! I barely got away."

  "I didn't get away," Marta said ruefully. "I need something I can float on until we figure out how to get me out of here. Did you see anything out there?"

  "There may be some rotten beams or something in that other tower. Yet how am I to get anything down here? I can't carry it."

  "Throw it. Just don't hit me when you do."

  The raven just stared at her for a moment. "Has the cold got to your brain? How am I supposed to lift anything bigger than a twig?"

  Marta grimaced. "Bone Tapper, I may not have whatever powers that Laras has, but I'm still more than I was. Fly back to solid ground and I'll tell you."

  Bone Tapper obeyed, and when she was sure he was out of the shaft she changed his form with barely a thought. All she needed to do was focus on her current need, and the form that would suit it best. Something that looked very like Treedle glared down at her from on high.

  "W
hat have you done?? Just look at me!"

  It occurred to Marta that she could have done the same, back when she needed to chop wood. She would have cursed herself for a fool, but she had larger problems. "I need a hob's strength, blast you! Now hurry before I drown or you'll stay like that forever!"

  Marta didn't really know if that was true or not, but Bone Tapper was clearly taking no chances. He yelped with sudden horror and disappeared. In a very few moments he was back. "I'm sending something down! Ware below!"

  Something large and dark sailed down to smack into the water a few feet away. Marta turned her face to avoid the splash, then groped blindly for whatever Bone Tapper had sent to her. Her fingers closed on something solid and, with the near the last of her strength, she pulled herself up on top of it. She floated there, precariously, and she felt it sink enough so that she was not completely out of the cold. Yet at least she no longer had to tread water to keep afloat.

  "Are you all right?" Bone Tapper called down.

  "For the moment. Bone Tapper...is this a bed?"

  "What's left of one. I found it in the other tower...beside a pile of bones. I don't think the owners will be needing it. It's full of dryrot, but it'll float for a while."

  Marta felt a slat crack beneath her and moved off it, carefully, trying to find a spot that floated higher and wouldn't break. The wood beneath her creaked ominously, but held.

  "Now what?"

  "Now we need a rope...or something."

  "It will have to be 'or something' unless you have one tucked in your bundle."

  Marta perked up. "My bundle is still there? Laras didn't take it?"

  "The sod barely glanced at it. Too much pride in him to make a proper thief."

  The Powers know Laras has enough failings. Bless All that he didn't have that one too.

  Marta called up. "Listen, Bone Tapper. Open the bundle. There's a knife in there...or should be. Get that and the bundle and bring it back here. I'm going to tell you what to do." Marta shivered; her teeth were starting to chatter and it was hard to talk. "And blast you, hurry!"

  Bone Tapper quickly cut the bundle itself into thin—not too thin!—strips and braided it as Marta directed. It seemed to take forever, though Marta knew Bone Tapper was working as fast as non-humanly possible, which in a hob was pretty fast indeed. Marta felt the bed slowly sinking below her, drinking in water quickly in its dried out state, becoming waterlogged. Just as she thought it was going down a coil of braided cloth landed in the water beside her.