Voidfarer

by Sean McMullen

  "Then why did he rob me and flee? I have thought through the logic of all this, constable. Perhaps Madame Norellie fancied the inspector, and sought to remove me as a contender for his affections."

  "Madame Norellie?" gasped Riellen. "No!"

  "She spoke of him with affection, she even gave him her drawers to carry into battle as her favor."

  'The class traitor!" snapped Riellen. "Such an upper-class act."

  "How emotional of you," said Lavenci smoothly. "So, the inspector is high in your esteem too, Constable Riellen? Has your revolutionary body been warming his on the cold nights in the mountains?"

  There was a hiss of breath being drawn, then someone, probably Riellen, cleared her throat.

  "My virginity is intact, and my friendship with the inspector is pure," declared Riellen. "I have served with him for three years, as both colleague and follower. He taught me all I know about fighting, law enforcement, discipline, and survival. He is not a true revolutionary brother, but he tolerates my orations and revolutionary studies. My only delight is to serve him. When he is of a mind for some amorous company, I find him a lamplight girl of good disposition and reasonable rates. I look after him when he is drunk, and I even cover his gambling debts from my savings. I am always there to tend his migraines, even when he raves and screams with the pain. He is my friend, the only real friend I have ever had. Can you say as much, ladyship?" There was a rather awkward silence.

  "No, I cannot say any of that," said Lavenci slowly, the way I now knew that she speaks when thinking very carefully. "I am no virgin, I have many friends, I know nothing of life on

  the road, but I can find my own amorous company. I also know when I am outclassed. In matters of virtue that is not hard to do. On the other hand, I do adore the inspector, and esteem him above all others. In spite of what I did to him, I know that he would never harm me, or desert me to danger, and that he loved me once. Nobody else, neither my friends nor my family, would have been so honorable as to drag my name out of the mud and wash it clean again, yet he did just that, back in Gatrov. If I thought it would bring Danolarian back I would journey down into the lowest circle of all hells and stay there in torment for all of eternity."

  "Here is my dagger, give it a try," said Riellen.

  "I knew that he loved me, yet I played a silly game and lost him," continued Lavenci, then I heard the thud of a dagger being flung into the deck. "You do not like me, Constable, and you certainly try to hurt me, yet remember that nobody has ever managed to hurt me as much as I have hurt myself because of the inspector. Good day to you."

  XXX

  Although my senses and control were by now improving from moment to moment, I made a special point of lying still. I heard Lavenci walk away down the deck of the barge, then Riellen grunting as she tried to extract her dagger from the decking. There was a snap and a muttered curse as the tip broke off, then Riellen walked away as well. I began to count. At one thousand I groaned and raised a hand.

  "I can do no more for you," thought Azorian within my head.

  "You have done more than enough," I replied silently. Azorian released my head and started to shout some of his dozen or so words of Alberinese. "Helpings!

  Inspector, helpings!"

  On this cue I opened my eyes, rolled onto my side, and tried to push myself up.

  "Danolarian!" called Lavenci. "Sir!" gasped Riellen. "Inspector!" said Halland. "You're alive!" exclaimed Roval.

  Everyone rushed forward to where I lay, and Lavenci even made the mistake of touching me. While she was rolling about on the deck, clutching her head, Halland began to brief me on what had been happening.

  "Captain Danzar is dead, probably of what brought you low."

  "What might that have been?" I croaked.

  "We spoke with some lancers on the riverbank this morning. They said that the Lupanians also have a sort of smoke that kills, they saw it being used. It seems that you and Danzar caught a slight whiff of it on the Gatrov wharf."

  "Ah, that makes sense."

  "Azorian is some sort of medicar, he seems to have kept you alive while your body recovered from the poison. Lavenci can tolerate his touch, so she thinks he might be Dacostian."

  "How does that follow?"

  "Like Wallas, and like the grass gnome, she can stand his touch without feeling fire in her head. Dacostians, too, are a species apart from us."

  'M #

  I spent the next hour taking a little bread and water, and regaining the use of my legs. We were drifting with the current, but making reasonable time. Halland estimated that we would reach Mallow Landing by late afternoon. His intention was to requisition a dispatch boat there and row ahead to Alberin.

  "With your permission, Inspector, I have volunteered to go with Commander Halland," said Roval.

  "You have?" I replied, surprised that he was taking an interest in anything.

  "Yes, of course. I'll write you a ticket of transfer, but you will have to report to headquarters before you may enter another tavern alone."

  "I shall be entering no more taverns, Inspector," he said as he saluted.

  "Thank you."

  "Er, for what?"

  "Patience, compassion, understanding. Nobody has ever given me those before." There was very little I could say to that. I bowed, then continued my tour of inspection of the barge. On my way back to the bow, I took Roval aside.

  "Ugly work ahead," I whispered. "Are you up to it?"

  "Aye, sir," he replied, looking a little puzzled. "What's to do?"

  "Follow my instructions, quite precisely."

  I had similar words to Halland and Riellen, then had Halland relieve Pelmore at the pump. After carefully positioning Riellen and Roval, I collected a skin of drinking water and two helmets, and finally seated myself at the bow again. Riellen went first to Pelmore, then to Lavenci, telling them that I wanted to speak with them. Roval and Riellen were behind them as they came forward and stopped before me.

  "Pelmore, ladyship, kindly remove your purses and hand them to me," I said calmly.

  "What is this about?" began Pelmore as he took the purse from his belt.

  "I am taking an inventory of the money aboard the barge," I said, trying to sound a little annoyed and distracted. "A complaint of theft has been made."

  "Our world is to be annihilated, and you worry about a few missing florins?" asked Lavenci.

  "If they are not in your purse, you have nothing to worry about, ladyship." Pelmore laughed and tossed me his purse. Lavenci removed her purse from her belt and dropped it into my hand. I untied the drawstrings of both purses and tipped the coins onto the palm of my hand. Both contained just florins and coppers, although some of Pelmore's coppers had been whitened with quicksilver. I returned the coins to their respective purses. Next, I inverted a helmet, poured some water from the skin into it, then dropped Lavenci's purse in.

  "Ladyship, drink, if you please," I said as I offered the helmet to her.

  "I am not sure that I understand," she said as she accepted the helmet.

  "I recognized the symptoms of daemonglare poison when I was fading from this world. Nat many survive the encounter, but I have read accounts by some of those rare survivors. My symptoms were identical to theirs. Someone poisoned me, and I have reduced the list of suspects to you two."

  "But no berries were in my purse," said Lavenci, her eyes wider than usual with alarm.

  "There was once a man who rubbed the juice of dae-monglare berries into his scarf, then dipped the scarf in his wife's wine. She died, but the wine stain gave him away. Even though there were no berries found on his person, the field magistrate soaked the scarf in wine and presented him with a goblet of it to drink. He confessed. You two foraged food from the market in Gatrov. One of you spiced it with something."

  Before I could say more, Lavenci drank the contents of the helmet I had given her. She returned the helmet, and I tipped her a wink as I tossed the purse back to her.

  "Pelmore?" I asked, offer
ing him the other helmet, in which his purse now soaked in water.

  "I gave meat to neither you nor the captain," he said firmly, stepping back. Roval pushed him forward again.

  "But you gave me meat!" exclaimed Lavenci suddenly. "It was the ham fillet, the ladymeat."

  "Well, yes, but you are alive, so clearly I am innocent."

  "You have never shared a meal with me, Pel-borer, have you?" said Lavenci, her face blank but her tone sharp enough to perform amputations. "Not a meal, not a pastry during quiet afternoon at the market, and not a groundnut roll from either end."

  "We shared a bed," said Pelmore huffily, "and we danced several times."

  "Indeed, but you never saw me eat. You never learned that I am a vegetarian." Pelmore gasped, and went very pale. Lavenci nodded.

  "I gave your generous little morsel of ladymeat to Danolarian," concluded Lavenci.

  "I ate some, then gave the rest to Danzar," I added. There was a silence so pregnant that one might have been tempted to fetch a midwife. At last I grew impatient.

  "Drink the water or confess to murder," I said to Pelmore.

  "I, ah, may have passed tainted meat on to my truelove, quite by accident," said Pelmore.

  "What truelove might that have been?" snapped Lavenci.

  "Daemonglare berries are tough," I said quietly. 'They must be squeezed very hard to get the colorless juice out. The

  most common method is to squeeze them between two coins. Now, drink the water."

  "I'll not do it, you poisoned the water by sleight of hand—" Roval's foot caught Pelmore behind the knee and he dropped to the deck in an instant. Roval, Riellen, and myself had him pinned before a moment had passed.

  "Now, about that drink?" I said with a knee on Pelmore's chest, holding the helmet high.

  "It was me, I confess, I confess!" he suddenly babbled. "I tainted the meat, but it was only because the bitch was threatening me! It was her or me, it was self-defense!"

  XXX

  Pelmore's confession was heard by all aboard the barge. Hav-Hng tied his hands behind his back, I assembled everyone near the pump, where Halland could hear, then initiated a field trial.

  "Interim field trial, case in session is the Regent of the Scalticarian Empire versus Pelmore Haftbrace, town of Gatrov, barony of Gatrovia. Charges determined to date: the attempted murder of a Wayfarer inspector, namely myself; the attempted murder of Kavelen Lavenci Si-Chella; and the actual murder of Captain Danzar of the Gatrov Militia."

  "This farce will not be approved by any magistrate, you highway yokel," sneered Pelmore, then he hesitated, puffed up his chest, and took a deep breath. "I happen to be an agent of the Inquisition Constables."

  "So?" said Lavenci. "I am the former lover of Laron Aliasar, presiding advisor to the regent of Alberin."

  Suffice it to say that Pelmore lost control of his bladder at hearing that.

  "With respect, ladyship, you were speaking out of order, and your comment must be left off the record," I said in what passed for a neutral tone.

  "My apologies, Inspector."

  "Daemonglare, each berry so poisonous that it can kill several dozen adults," I continued. "The symptoms are identical to those shown by me for the day past, and by Captain Danzar before his death. Pelmore, I put it to you that you collected the berries from an apothecary's stall, crushed them between two florins, and tainted a morsel of ladymeat ham that you then presented to Ladyship. You did not realize that she is a vegetarian, or that she would pass the meat on to someone else."

  "You turd-hearted bastard!" muttered Lavenci.

  "Pelmore Haftbrace, I find you guilty of murder, in intent and actuality, although by misadventure."

  "That means you murdered the wrong person but are still guilty," said Lavenci.

  "You have already been warned, ladyship," I said firmly. "I fine you one florin for contempt."

  "Cheap at twice the price."

  "In that case, I fine you two florins. Pelmore, your provisional sentence for the murder of Captain Danzar is death. The penalty for murdering or attempting to murder an inspector of the Wayfarers is also death, with an option of death by torture if the victim survives and petitions the ratifying magistrate. Mind your behavior, or I might decide to petition."

  It was not long after the trial that we reached Mallow Landing. Halland hurried away to speak with some officials, then they all vanished into a nearby building. Presently they emerged, shouting orders to various people. Soon four men appeared carrying a long, streamlined boat over their heads. Another man followed with four long, spindly oars. It was one of the new Diomedan courier boats, which moved several times faster man other river traffic. It was launched, and Commander Halland and Constable Roval got in. They began to row, and the boat moved off so quickly that it seemed under an enchantment. Just then the barge settled beneath the surface of the water at the wharfside, leaving only the pump mechanism visible.

  I had been to Mallow Landing two months earlier. It was a tiny place, and featured a customs house, a bawdyhouse, a tavern, a garrison of five militiamen, and a shrine to some god whose statue had been stolen. From the look of it, the place had been largely evacuated, except for the militiamen. A militia marshal unlocked the tavern for us. It was dark inside, and although someone struck a spark to a lamp, the flame was no more than a yellow dot in the gloom.

  "We could sample the wines," Solonor's faint voice came echoing.

  "Theft is a civil offense," Riellen pointed out.

  'Then put me in the stocks," said Solonor.

  "I've found glass tumblers," called Wallas from behind the servingboard.

  "Classy place."

  "Bring them over," called Lavenci cheerily. "I'll leave payment."

  "I'm a cat, remember? No hands?"

  "Bleedin' big folk's measures," complained Solonor. "Anyone found a thimble?"

  "No wine for me," said Riellen.

  "Oi, my face won't fit into this glass!" yowled Wallas. "I need a saucer."

  "Just tip it over and lap it up," said Solonor.

  "Drink off the floor? Never! Hang your toast, I'll just sit here and wash my arse."

  "Here's a saucer," I called.

  "To Inspector Danolarian!" declared Lavenci. "He kept us alive and saw justice done."

  "Inspector Danolarian!" chorused everyone else but Pelmore. Those who were drinking, drank. After toasts to Danzar and Halland, I beckoned Azorian over, took his hands, and pressed them to the sides of my head. The others must have assumed that I needed more healing after being poisoned, and paid us no heed.

  "I wish to thank you," I thought.

  "It is my role to fabricate," Azorian thought back. "It is my pleasure to help."

  "Could you fabricate Kavelen Lavenci's hand to be whole again?"

  "It would take many hours, but yes. She is badly injured."

  "What payment do you want?" I asked in thought.

  "My payment is being able to do good while my fellow Lupanians do evil. Bring the lady here, and remove her bandages. We shall start." Azorian removed his hands from my head, and I found myself back in the taproom. The others were still sitting about, drinking wine in the gloom. I went over to Lavenci.

  "Ladyship, Azorian can heal your hand as if you had never injured it," I explained. "Do you wish that?"

  "I—er, I am not sure that I understand."

  "He and I can walk in each other's minds, he has talents that are not of this world, if you take my meaning. I can mind-speak with him."

  "He's a Lupanian?" she whispered, astounded.

  I put a finger to my lips. "He can heal your hand completely. All I ask is that you tell nobody else where he is from."

  "Danolarian, Danolarian, what am I to do with you?" she sighed softly. "You are so, so honorable. It was almost a relief to find that you had a few grubby little vices, just like mine."

  "Ladyship?" I asked innocently.

  "Don't pretend, I'm annoyed that you lied to me about being pure-hearted, but it doe
s bring us closer together," she said brightly, not looking at all annoyed. "You are in my obligation for that."

  "If what you heard is true, ladyship, then I shall certainly discharge that obligation. What have you in mind?"

  "In seven years from the day of Pelmore's execution, I want my way with you in some pantry."

  "Er, I, oh," I stammered. "So, er, what am I meant to have done?" I asked, hastily changing the subject.

  "I'll tell you later. What is Azorian going to do with me?"

  "Come along, he will explain."

  I took her over to Azorian, and left them with her hands pressed together between his. Now I sat next to Pelmore.

  "So, will you wait seven years to ride her?" he asked with an exaggerated leer. "She's not worth it, she lies out flat like a sack of feathers. Perhaps you know that already."

  "No, I do not have the benefit of your experience," I said as I poured a little wine into a tumbler.

  "My life for your dalliance, oh aye, but you will be disappointed." I took a sip of wine. "Pelmore, you will die because you murdered a man. A very brave man, Captain Danzar, who commanded the ballista crew that brought down a Lupanian

  tripod tower. You will die because you brought me so close to death that I exchanged pleasantries with the ferrygirl herself. You will also die because you tried to kill a noblewoman. The fact that your death might actually benefit Kavelen Lavenci is entirely beside the point." Reillen came over with a pitcher of wine. I held out my tumbler, and she refilled it. The sight of her set a thought batting away in my mind. It was actually not her strange talk about lamplight girls, gambling, and drinking to excess. That was probably just a minor lie to fend Lavenci off. No it was something else.

  On a whim, I got up and walked over to the servingboard, reached over, and secured a large, thick book. Mallow Landing was so small that the tavern was the clearinghouse for mail. This was the mail register. I checked the entries for two months earlier, but did not find what I was looking for. On the other hand, perhaps I did. I closed the register and turned around—and for a moment the entire universe became a blaze of brilliant green light attending the mightiest concussion that I have ever felt, before or since. I seemed to float for a long time, and then my ears recovered. There was an almighty rumble and clatter as tiles, beams, and stonework came tumbling down around us. Dust was everywhere, as was an acrid, burning stench. The light of the lamp was gone, replaced by total blackness and the sound of occasional slides of rubble.