The Balance of Power (Godsland Series: Books Four, Five, and Six)

by Rathbone, Brian

  Silence was her only response. How could she trust this man? Trust, her father had always told her, must be earned. Still, Sensi had gotten her out of that terrible cell; that counted for something. "I just want to go home."

  Sensi stopped for a moment and looked at her. "So you do speak. I was beginning to wonder if you were mute. Come inside and we'll talk about 'home.' All right?"

  It was only then that Allette saw the doorway. The door was neither plain nor elaborate. It was well made but not pretentious. The rich-grained wood bore no markings or decoration. Sensi opened it and beckoned her inside. At that moment Allette considered running, if only she'd known a way out. They were still deep enough within the mountain that she would need the lantern to light her way, and that would be more difficult than slipping away from the slow-moving man. There was a difference between being slow and being weak, and Allette wasn't certain she'd be able to wrest the lantern away from the man. If she failed, she would have alienated the one person who seemed willing to help her. Sensi watched her, seemingly aware of the battle that raged within Allette and content to see what she decided. Finally, with a resigned sigh, Allette entered.

  The room was better appointed than Allette would have guessed. She'd seen poorer trappings in rooms reserved for honored guests aboard tall ships. The desk was carved of rich, golden wood. Fruits and leaves adorned the legs, and the work surface was polished to a smooth sheen. A leather writing pad covered the center, and there rested quills, ink, and parchment. The clutter was organized, but still Allette couldn't help but wonder how the man kept all those papers straight; just keeping a ship's log had seemed a daunting task to her.

  Behind the desk rested a wide chair that looked as if it had been on the wrong end of a pitched battle. The cushion might once have portrayed a scene at court, but now it was faded and stretched. Sensi flopped into the chair with such force that Allette half expected it to collapse, yet it held.

  "Sit," Sensi said.

  Looking about, Allette saw a smaller chair in the corner. This chair was in far better condition. The scene on its cushion, however, portrayed a man being thrown from a cliff, which was not the most encouraging image. Still, Allette settled herself into the uncomfortable chair.

  "Come closer," Sensi said. "We must talk and I do not wish to shout."

  Allette leaned forward.

  "What's your name, boy?"

  "Allette," she said using her natural voice.

  Sensi looked up with surprise in his eyes. "Have my eyes grown so old as that?"

  "You saw what you expected to see," Allette said before she thought better of it.

  "Perhaps I did," Sensi said, eyeing her anew. "From where do you hail?"

  "My home is aboard the Maker's Mark, and she rests at Maiden Harbor."

  A low whistle escaped Sensi's lips. "I suspected you were of Midland birth, but I wasn't expecting it to be the farthest reaches, and aboard a ship at that. How am I to know if even the ship is still there? Ships have been known to sail, you know."

  His words caused Allette to flush. The Maker's Mark would only sail if her father were aboard or if there had been a mutiny. Her father would not leave the Heights without her, and his crew would never turn on him. The Maker's Mark was a ship of reputation and she would remain where she was docked; of that Allette was certain. If her father were dead, though, then what? Gritting her teeth, Allette kept the tears from coming. Show no weakness, her father had taught her.

  "Where's your mother?"

  "Dead," Allette answered, her voice flat.

  Sensi looked apologetic and seemed to wish he'd framed his question differently. "Is your father alive?"

  "I don't know," Allette said, a catch in her voice despite her best effort to suppress it. She couldn't help it, though. The thought of her father's being gone was too much for her, and she wanted to cry, wanted to wrap her arms around him and have him sing to her as he'd always done.

  "But you came here together?" Sensi asked, his voice betraying annoyance at having to pull the information from her, but he also appeared to empathize with her, and that tempered the heat of his words.

  "Yes."

  Sensi just looked at her and raised an eyebrow.

  "There were men," Allette said. "They hit him. They made him get into a pull cart. I don't know what happened after that."

  "That's terrible!" Sensi cried. "No wonder you were lost and frightened."

  There were more questions about her father and her past, and Allette did what she could to answer them. Sensi really did seem to have her best interests at heart, and a small glimmer of hope ignited within her. Sensi would help find her father, and everything would go back to normal. She'd had hopes dashed before, and she knew better than to assume things would work out as she hoped. Would this time be different?

  "You wait here and I'll go talk to the lord chancellor. I'll get these charges settled, and then we can talk about how to get you home."

  Left alone, Allette wondered again if she should run. Sensi came across as well intentioned, but what of the rest? Sensi was, after all, not the lord chancellor. Just the sound of that name invoked visions of haughty disdain. Allette had seen no kindness from those with titles such as that. That was why she and her father preferred to be free people of the seas with no lord but the winds. Her father had given all that up for this trip. Why? she asked herself again, but still she could make no sense of his decision. Now he was gone.

  When Sensi returned, Allette was searching the back of his chambers for another lamp; there was none to be found, but her guilt was difficult to hide when he entered. He was not alone. Behind him came a meaty guard, not so unlike the one she'd faced the day before. His eyes held no kindness, and Sensi looked somewhat downcast. Allette knew then that she should have run while she'd had the chance.

  "Do not worry, child. Everything will be fine. There is just the matter of a small formality," Sensi said, and his words left Allette chilled. "The lord chancellor does not want to give the appearance of leniency toward Midlanders at a time when he needs the support of the council more than ever. You understand, of course."

  Allette did not understand, but she did not give her questions voice. She doubted her words would do anything to improve her circumstances.

  "The lord chancellor and I have already agreed that you are innocent of the charges, and we will convey this to the thrower. There is really nothing for you to worry about."

  The thrower . . . Allette shuddered. She'd heard the tales of the Heights' justice and how the thrower made the final determination between innocent and guilty. The guilty were thrown from the Heights, and the innocent, allowed to stay. Visions of falling to her death filled Allette's mind and would not relent, making any other thought almost impossible.

  "Don't worry," Sensi said as he put a hand on her shoulder and guided her back to the hall. "No one has been thrown from the Heights in decades. You're no Thundegar Rheams, I'll tell you that. That fool left the thrower no other choice."

  Again, Allette didn't fully understand what Sensi was talking about, but she understood enough. Still, the way the guard looked at her did anything but bring comfort. Rather than going upward, as Allette had expected, Sensi took them downward. No more was said as they walked, and even the men's gaits became more formal. The guard stood rigid, and his eyes remained straight ahead. At least he no longer glared at her, Allette thought.

  After one more turn, natural light shone ahead. Allette had never been so happy to see real sunlight. It felt to her as if she had been imprisoned in stone for weeks. She could not imagine spending the rest of her life in such a place. A small crowd was gathered on an elaborately carved dais; beyond waited a spectacular view. Mists blanketed the forest below, giving them their name: the Cloud Forest. Allette had seen it on their flight in, but this view was like nothing she'd ever witnessed. Wind caressed her face, and she greeted it like an old friend. The sun sent beams of light through fluffy white clouds at much higher elevation. Allette ha
lf expected to see dragons in the air, but the skies were otherwise clear. It would have made no difference. Her fate was about to be sealed.

  Somehow the cheerful day made it seem as if nothing could go wrong, but Allette had seen that feeling proven false too many times. She could not let down her guard, or it might be the end of her. She wasn't ready for the great beyond; she'd barely figured out what she wanted to be in this life.

  The lord chancellor was easy to spot. He was the most finely dressed, and a crowd of lessers hovered around him, waiting on an opportunity to gain his attention. The thrower, too, was easy to pick out. He was perhaps the tallest man Allette had ever seen, and even garbed in heavy robes, the muscles of his shoulders and chest were easily seen. His face was hidden in shadow, and none claimed to know who the thrower really was, but Allette doubted such an enormous man could remain clandestine. It did not matter, neither his name nor his house; all that mattered was that Allette had to face him that day.

  The lord chancellor noticed their arrival, and a smile played across his face. Allette could not tell if it was a warm or self-satisfied smile; her gut suggested the latter. The thrower looked threatening even when at ease and Allette once again considered fleeing. The problem was that there were only two places to go: back into the darkness or over the ledge. The darkness terrified her, and if the fall from the ledge did not kill her, then the Cloud Forest certainly would. Prior to their trip, Allette had studied the Heights, and the Cloud Forests were said to be just as deadly as the Jaga, only smaller. If even a few of the creatures she had read about really existed there, then they were truly frightening places indeed. There was no solution to this puzzle. The only way out would be for someone to pay for her dragon flight home, and that didn't seem at all likely.

  When the lord chancellor approached, he held his hands cupped before him. Sensi put a hand on her shoulder and guided her forward. Allette kept her eyes downcast and stopped when the lord chancellor stood before her. Sensi's hand remained on her shoulder until the lord chancellor cast him a glance that sent him scrambling backward.

  "Now then," said the lord chancellor, his face showing no signs of the warmth his tone implied. Allette looked to his eyes; that was where her father said a man held his intentions. There she saw curiosity; something else lingered behind it, but she could not figure out what it was. "You, young lady, face the lord chancellor's wrath for having assaulted a member of my guard."

  Allette said nothing.

  "Come with me; let us be apart. Let us enjoy the view."

  The lord chancellor drew Allette along and brought her to the very edge of the jutting rock on which they stood. It had been cut, carved, and polished, but rock it would always be. Something in that comforted Allette, and she didn't know why. That comfort did little to quell the unrest in Allette's belly. Her current vantage showed just how deadly the fall could be. A sheer rock face dropped away for a goodly distance, and below that, loose rock formed a slope that disappeared into the mists. It didn't look as if the fall meant certain death, but it did look as if it would guarantee injury. Wandering into the Cloud Forest when injured would mean certain death. If the lord chancellor were looking to soothe her fears, this was a poor place to do it. That reason convinced her his pleasant tone was a ruse.

  "There is no one to speak on your behalf and no one for me to grant custody. You put me in a very difficult position. But I am not cold of heart. We will go through the exercise with the thrower as a matter of formality, but you have nothing to fear."

  Allette maintained her silence, almost certain there would be something more.

  "First, though, I've a small thing to ask of you."

  Allette looked up, knowing this was his true game but having no idea what to expect. When he opened his cupped palms, her heart nearly stopped.

  "Grab hold of this, here, around the handle."

  In his hands was a small metal figurine, slender and seemingly frail. The figure was of a woman in a flowing robe, her hands at her sides; one holding what looked like a bolt of lightning, and the other holding something she did not recognize. The metal was cool to the touch and felt good in her hands, even if fear nearly overwhelmed her.

  "Yes. Just like that," the lord chancellor said, his cold, blue eyes watching her intently.

  Allette almost dropped the figurine when it began to move. Something registered in the lord chancellor's visage, but it was gone in an instant. Allette was left to wonder what it meant when the figurine's arm, the one with the lightning bolt, rotated until the lightning bolt was held above its head. Allette hadn't even noticed the joint required for such movement, which had cleverly been concealed through remarkable craftsmanship.

  Taking the figurine back from her, the lord chancellor concealed it within his palms again before turning back to those who waited. "The thrower will decide her fate," he said when he turned around. "Long live the thrower."

  "Long live the thrower," echoed those assembled, though they did so with little enthusiasm, as if this were merely the formality Sensi had mentioned. When the lord chancellor turned to the thrower and gave him an almost imperceptible nod, Allette's stomach clenched. If she let that big man get his hands on her, there would be no escape. Still, no other route presented itself, and she found herself standing before the thrower. His face deep in shadow, Allette could glean nothing from him. He might as well have been stone for all the emotion she sensed.

  Hands the size of melons descended on her, and meaty fingers gripped her shoulders. Allette was much shorter than this man, and he had to stoop down to grab a hold of her. Still no emotion came from within the dark hood. The thrower began turning them in a circle. Faster and faster they turned; the mountain and the open air flashing by in an alternating pattern that churned Allette's guts. Still, the man's grip remained firm, and still he spun them faster. The force of the spinning motion felt as if it would send Allette soaring into the open air even if the thrower did maintain his grip on her, which he did not.

  The release of his grip came suddenly. The darkness of black rock had just flashed by, which meant she would be flying toward the cliff. As soon as his fingers relaxed, Allette acted on instinct, knowing she was about to die. One did not grow up on a ship and not learn self-defense. Allette's subconscious seemed to know then that the thrower would kill her. Instead of fighting their momentum, Allette grabbed the thrower's robes and threw herself at the stone, just before the edge. Her back hit stone and she continued to slide toward the ledge. Curling up beneath the thrower, who was already over leveraged from leaning so far forward, Allette prepared herself for one massive thrust. Planting her feet on the big man's chest and continuing to pull him forward, Allette thrust her legs, despite the man's desperate, last-second appeal. The word no was still pouring from him as the thrower sailed over the edge. A moment later, his cry ended abruptly.

  Allette turned to see all those behind her stunned. Her hands and legs trembling, she knew she had to think and act fast. She had just killed the thrower, and there would be no forgiveness for her now, if there had ever been any in the first place. The lord chancellor took a step toward her, released from his paralysis sooner than the others as one of the guards stepped toward her as well. Her time had run out.

  It was then that she looked at the place where the jutting balcony met with the sheer face, and she saw that the face sloped away and downward at a steep but more manageable angle than from where the thrower had gone. Without another thought, she bolted, using all the speed and agility she possessed, which was considerable. A stone railing surrounded most of the balcony, making it less likely that spectators would join the accused in going over the ledge. Allette planted one arm on the rail and vaulted over, not knowing exactly what awaited her below.

  The fall seemed impossibly long, and when her boots finally struck stone, her knees buckled and sent her tumbling forward. Rotating, she came back to her feet on the steep, rocky slope. Her momentum carried her forward, and she danced over the loose stone. Th
ere was only so much her dexterity and reflexes could do, and Allette soon found herself tumbling down the slope, her body tucked into a ball in an attempt to minimize the damage. It was too much; she felt as if she would be dashed to bits. Squeezing her eyes shut, she dug deeply into the place from which her strength had always come, the place that had saved her after her mother's death. There she found quiet, peace, and strength; there she was separate from the pain.

  When at last she stopped, Allette lay sprawled on stones that dug into her skin. She should be dead, but she was not. The world spun. When finally it slowed enough for her eyes to focus, she saw the lord chancellor, Sensi, and the people of the Heights looking down, and then they drew back and were gone. Allette was alone.

  Chapter 4

  In the fields of heaven are sown the seeds of stars, and some go astray.

  --Brother Milo, Cathuran monk

  * * *

  When Benjin and Fasha entered the galley, all eyes turned to them. This was their ship, and it went where they wished; it was something Sinjin tried not to forget. These people were all his friends, but they did not always want the same things that he did. Of course, at that moment, he wasn't certain what he wanted. Fingering Koe in his pocket, he let the cool smoothness of it soothe him. The staff lay across his lap, and his other hand stroked its lustrous finish. The items had brought him pain at times, but they also brought solace depending on his state of mind.

  "Thank you for feeding our newest crew members," Fasha said, and Benjin smiled, his eyes twinkling with mirth.

  "I can't wait to see this one swab the deck," he said, pointing to Kendra.

  She just stuck her tongue out at him, though she quickly pulled it back in her mouth when Fasha raised an eyebrow.

  "We're a day or so from picking up your grandfather and great-uncle," Benjin said. "After that, it's but a matter of weeks to get back to the Godfist."