Teyo was intrigued to notice signs of real strain in Torinth’s face. He appeared visibly shaken, and for a long moment he had nothing to say. ‘Have I come to that?’ he said, so softly Teyo barely heard him.
Serena merely glared at him. She was magnificent, Teyo thought: drawn up to her full height, her shoulders back, chin up, her eyes blazing determination and contempt and passion as she stared Torinth down. He may be a Lokant of impossible age and unthinkable powers, but next to Serena he suddenly looked pale, fragile and very old.
Torinth gathered himself. ‘If,’ he began, ‘I permit you to restore one soul, where does it end? I must permit it again, and again; every single one of you who comes crashing through the gate will have some other request, some other desire. If I allow yours, I must allow them all. This you can surely see.’
‘I don’t care,’ Serena said bluntly. ‘My thoughts are for Fabian only.’
Egg cleared her throat. ‘Ah... if it helps, I don’t think you’ll be getting any more visitors for the next while.’ She held up both of her hands. Clutched in her tightly-curled fingers were seven keystones, three in one hand and four in the other.
Serena stared. ‘Egg! How did you—?’
‘Palmed them on the way through,’ she shrugged. ‘Wasn’t easy, I grant you. I got stuck halfway between, for a while. Thought I’d torn it for good.’ She smiled.
Serena threw her arms around Egg and squeezed her tightly. Such a display of affection was uncharacteristic of Serena, and it was even more uncharacteristic of Egg to permit it, but Teyo thought she looked rather pleased.
Torinth’s jubilation was not such as to equal Serena’s. He observed Egg with an air of mingled approval and chagrin, and finally sighed. ‘I don’t think you understand what you are asking,’ he said. ‘Do you imagine that it will be as simple as stepping back a few paces in time, correcting one mistake and that will be the end of it? It cannot be. Consider all the myriad of events that led you up to this moment in your lives. A mere few seconds of reflection ought to bring several events to mind which, if they had turned out differently, might have sent you in any number of alternative directions. These may be big events, or the smallest of occurrences, but the impact they have had upon you is profound. Every single happening in your life, no matter how small, can have an extraordinary degree of influence over your future. Consider what that means.’
Torinth paused, and nobody spoke. Teyo’s own thoughts were whirling, for he grasped the Lokant’s meaning in an instant. How had he come to be standing here? Because he was a part of Serena’s team. And why was that? Because he had erred so far as to involve himself with the Yllandu, and amends must be made. Why had he joined the Yllandu? Because on one appalling day far in the past, his parents, his brother and his entire family livelihood had been wiped out by a robbery gone wrong. Had that not happened, he might be a stonemason today, like his father. Or better yet, a farmer. At this moment he might be out in his orchards, harvesting the year’s crop. The thought left him with a familiar pang of regret.
On the other hand, he might never have left the Yllandu; that choice had come about as a result of the things he’d chosen, or been obliged, to do during his time as an Unspeakable. Had that turned out differently, perhaps he might never have left; he might still be crooked and thieving, a stain upon the world.
The others were engaged in similar reflections, he judged, for the repository was quiet, and their faces were thoughtful. Without Serena, of course, his team wouldn’t even exist, and she was here because of the actions of Thomaso Carterett. Her team was a refuge, for Teyo and Egg and Iya. Even for Fabian, whether he realised it or not. A new idea entered Teyo’s brain at that thought: deplorable as Carterett Senior’s actions may have been, were the consequences wholly bad? If he could somehow have been prevented from behaving as he had — if his death could be reversed — then all of the many good things that had grown out of it would be lost.
And the same applied to his own life.
He realised slowly that Torinth was looking directly at him, a shrewd look upon his face. ‘The reflections are interesting, are they not? Difficult, but interesting.’
Teyo nodded, feeling obscurely uncomfortable as his team-mates all turned to look at him. ‘Um, yes,’ he said, wittily.
Torinth smiled faintly. ‘The point I wish to make is simply this: we all believe we wield some degree of control over the things that happen to us, and around us. We are deluded. Suppose I permit you to try to save your brother. What do you think will happen?’
Silence. At last Serena said: ‘He fell, and cracked his head. We just need to prevent that fall, that’s all—’
‘And the conditions that led to the fall? Can you control all of that?’
‘No,’ Serena admitted.
‘Everything could turn out differently the second time. Everything. And you have no control over any of it. Do you, then, still wish to proceed? Whatever the consequences might be, they are yours to live with.’
Teyo began to feel that sick foreboding in his gut again, but Serena said without hesitation, ‘Yes.’
Torinth said nothing, only raised a brow.
‘I understand everything you’ve said,’ Serena continued. ‘Truly, I do. But I have no choice. He’s my brother, and I have to try.’
‘There are always choices,’ said Rhoun Torinth coolly.
‘Not in this case. What if it were one of your children who—’
‘Stop.’ Rhoun Torinth barked the word with a vehemence which took them all by surprise. He was angry: his hands had balled into fists, and his eyes blazed. ‘I would not proceed any further with that line of thinking,’ he said after a moment, and more calmly. ‘I have lost more than you can imagine, and yet I cannot permit myself to feel as you do. I thought, once upon a time, that my discovery was a gift; a blessing. What a fool. The constant temptation — the compulsion — to change every little thing in my life that displeased me; to fix every problem that assailed my friends, my children; to strive, in short, for a perfect world where nothing could ever go lastingly wrong. It was intolerable, and dangerous beyond words.’ He passed a hand over his face, suddenly weary. ‘As long as I am here, I am safe from it,’ he said dully. ‘Or I was, until now.’
‘For that, I am sorry,’ said Serena. ‘But my mind is unchanged.’
Torinth scowled at her. ‘Some people refuse to be helped,’ he muttered, and then straightened. ‘Very well. On this one occasion, I will make an exception. I have made mistakes, in the past. Perhaps your venture will be more successful than mine, and I will have atoned for some part of them. However, I will never do so again. Whatever happens next is your affair, and yours to live with. Is that clear?’
Serena nodded vigorously, a broad, relieved smile gracing her face. ‘Yes! Completely!’
She began to utter ecstatic thanks, but Rhoun Torinth cut her off with an upheld hand. ‘Don’t thank me,’ he said. ‘You could be walking into total disaster, every last one of you.’
This pronouncement was met with nothing but silence, and he sighed. ‘I was hoping your colleagues might have a little more sense,’ he said to Serena, ‘but apparently they stand with you. Very well: let us go.’ He held out both of his hands.
His audience stared at him in confusion. ‘What do we need to do?’ said Serena.
Torinth laughed. ‘You were expecting something more impressive, perhaps. A machine of some kind, with flashing lights and exciting buttons and levers? Or a magical gate, swollen with mystic power. I must be a disappointment indeed, compared to such lofty ideas, but the truth is that I am the key to time travel.’
‘Oh,’ said Serena.
‘It’s related to the Map, you see. I discovered that it is possible to step over time as well as distance, and thus to move about freely in all directions. Remarkable, no? Someday, some other of my people will come to the same realisation, but I am relieved to hear that it has not happened yet.’ He smiled briefly. ‘Some would say that my mind works
in unusual ways. Perhaps I will prove to be altogether unique.’
Oh, no. Teyo hated the way the Lokants whisked people about all over the Seven. It was like being picked up none-too-gently and hurled, at bone-rattling speed, across unthinkable distances. And Torinth proposed to cart them through time as well as space? Teyo swallowed, and tried to brace himself.
‘I need you to tell me precisely where you were when your brother died,’ Torinth said, as Serena gripped his hand. ‘And when.’
Serena described both in as much detail as she could muster, and Torinth nodded. ‘We will make the attempt.’
And they did, with no further preparation or even warning. Iyamar went forward to take Torinth’s other hand, and forcibly grabbed Teyo’s as well. The next instant, the repository was gone and Teyo was hurtling through a dark expanse of something, or nothing. The experience lasted for barely a second, but it felt much longer. Teyo was left shaking, dizzy, nauseous and deeply confused.
He had no time to recover. He, Serena, Egg and Iyamar stood once again in the strong room at the bottom of the Warren, but Torinth had vanished somewhere along the way. Two guards lay on the floor nearby; they were the ones Teyo himself had clubbed senseless, and apparently this event had only just happened. Teyo suffered a moment’s surprise upon seeing Bron, for he had forgotten his existence completely. Halavere Morann and Fabian were already gone.
They were barely in time. Teyo exchanged one brief, startled, panicked glance with Serena, and they both ran for the door, Egg and Iya barely a step behind.
Chapter Twenty Two
The hallway was full of people. Teyo stopped dead in surprise. It had been empty before; where had these people come from? Their attire was more casual than protective, so they were not guards. They produced weapons rapidly enough, though, when they saw Teyo. One of those random happenstances Torinth had hinted at, Teyo thought with an inward groan. A group of Yllandu had business down here, and they’d chosen this precise moment to conduct it. Teyo must have missed these people by seconds, last time.
He eyed the sudden sprouting of deadly weapons with a mixture of panic and dismay. These assailants looked eerily familiar. Nimdren citizens for the most part, they looked like younger versions of himself. He’d worn the same kinds of clothes, carried the same kinds of weapons, once upon a time. And he’d known how to use them, too.
Many years had passed since those days, and he’d most willingly avoided all weapons and violence ever since. His body remembered some of the moves; he dodged and struck with his fists, bringing the first man down. But he couldn’t hold his own against all of them, and he had his team to protect. He needed to shapeshift, but his rattled brain couldn’t focus long enough to effect the change — not while he was simultaneously fending off attacks from three directions at once.
Then Bron was there, bellowing something incomprehensible. He wielded a long dagger in one hand and some type of firearm in the other, both of which he utilised against the Yllandu with all speed. Slashing at the nearest foe with his right hand, he fired with his left. The man dropped, bleeding from two places at once.
‘Don’t kill them!’ Teyo shouted, furious. Their attackers may be criminals, but how could they justify saving Fabian’s life at the expense of other people’s? Bron cast him an annoyed look and shook his head, even as he fired again. ‘No choice,’ he returned and fired once more. Two more Yllandu went down.
Teyo had no time to argue with him, or to regret his actions, for these people were blocking his path to Fabian. Desperate, he took advantage of the cover Bron provided and shifted whurthag once more. He was hoping that the mere sight of his horrific claws and teeth would clear a path for him, and it worked, to a certain extent; some of the Yllandu backed away, though whether it was out of surprise or fear he couldn’t tell. He didn’t care. He barrelled through, using his body weight to shove obstacles aside. A horrible growling from behind him told him that Iyamar had followed his example; good. He could trust her to shield the others. Breaking free of the pack of assailants, he ran full-tilt for the stairs where Fabian had died.
They were empty. He charged all the way up them and around the corner, and found no one at the top. No one was in sight, anywhere.
He stood, heart pounding with full-blown panic. What had happened? Had Halavere taken a different route from before? Had she stayed downstairs, disappeared into some other room? Or had Fabian caught up with her somewhere else?
Teyo’s great lungs heaved in a deep breath as he forced himself to calm down. It wasn’t all bad, he reminded himself: Fabian couldn’t die again on this staircase if he wasn’t on this staircase. But any number of other appalling things could happen to him, or to his team downstairs.
They had the priority, he decided. Fabian’s earlier fate was averted, one way or another. Meanwhile, the rest of his team were in danger. He charged back down the stairs and came to a sudden halt at the bottom.
Serena, Iyamar, Egg and Bron were just starting up them, Iya still wearing whurthag shape. Serena’s face was thunderous, and Egg and Iya had their backs turned firmly upon Bron, who was trailing behind them covered in blood. Teyo eyed the quantity of blood uneasily.
What happened? he asked Iyamar, silently.
He killed every one of them, Iya told him. He wouldn’t stop. Said it was a matter of security, and he was the best judge.
Teyo smothered a surge of rage. How many of them had there been? Five, six? Bron had undoubtedly protected the team, but at such cost! It gave him no comfort to think that all six of the dead Yllandu would have slaughtered every one of his team without a second thought, had they been given the chance. The kinds of firearms Bron wielded weren’t readily available to all. They were new technology, expensive and rare. Some Yllandu carried them, but not all. Apparently, these hadn’t.
Or had they? Bron was trailing because he was weakened, and he wore a strip of torn cloth bound tightly around one arm. Wounded by knife or gun?
Where’s Fabe? said Iyamar.
No idea.
‘Fabian’s missing,’ Teyo announced out loud.
Serena turned frightened eyes upon Teyo. ‘Right,’ she said, visibly pulling herself together. ‘We’re splitting up. Iya, you’re protecting Egg. Tey, Bron and I are with you. Notify each other the instant you find something. Egg, do you have your voice-box?’
Egg dug hers out of a pocket and waved it.
‘All right, we’re all in communication. Iya, Egg, this floor please. Tey, Bron; we’re going up. Go.’
They advanced up the stairs in a tight knot. Bron insisted on going first, despite Teyo’s whurthag form. The hallway above was empty as they reached it, but a moment later a door opened and a man stepped out. He stopped on the threshold, blinking in surprise at the sight of three strangers ascending the stairs before him.
He wasn’t a young man. His brownish hair was liberally laced through with grey, and his face displayed the wrinkles and lines of long experience. But he had the posture of a man well able to handle himself, and his surprise was brief. A split second, and he launched himself at Bron.
Teyo realised, with a sickening lurch in his stomach, that he knew the man. Distracted, he struggled to shift human in time — his mouth worked — “LEVAN!” he bellowed. “Stop!”
Levan stopped indeed, his face swivelling towards Teyo etched with an expression of extreme surprise.
Bron shot him. The sound of the gun firing was swiftly followed by a curse from Bron, who dropped to his knees beside the fallen man.
‘Friend of yours?’ Bron said tersely.
Teyo fell in beside him with a nod, staring in dismay at the blossoming stain of blood spreading over Levan’s shoulder. He had been something of a mentor to Teyo during his early days as Yllandu. The man was crooked to the core, but he’d been good to Teyo when he’d desperately needed a friend.
‘I’m so sorry,’ he gasped. ‘This wasn’t supposed to happen.’ He was no medic; he couldn’t tell whether the wound was fatal or not, a
nd there was nothing he could do for Levan now.
His former mentor stared up at him in silence, confusion warring with some other, unrecognisable emotions in his face. ‘Tey?’ he said at last. ‘What are you—’
‘VALORE TREBEL!’ It was Fabian’s voice, raised in a bellow of pure rage. Shouting followed, but softer and too confused. Teyo couldn’t make sense of it.
‘Fabian,’ gasped Serena, and bolted away in the direction of the noise, Bron right behind her. Teyo stared after them both and then back at Levan, torn between the conflicting needs of his friends.
Levan looked at him, his lips twisting in a sardonic smile. ‘Go,’ he croaked. ‘There’s sod all you can do for me anyway.’
Teyo went after Bron. The two of them tore away in the direction of Fabian’s voice, but they couldn’t catch Serena. She ran with desperate speed, rounding a corner in the corridor ahead of them and vanishing from sight.
Teyo caught up three seconds later. Three seconds too late? Fabian had found Halavere, but her guards hadn’t accosted him this time. He had acquired a firearm from somewhere and was pointing it at Halavere Morann’s head. She, too, had drawn a gun, as had both of her guards, but the fact that three other weapons were trained upon him did nothing to daunt Fabian. Teyo suffered a jolt upon seeing Fabe, alive and well; the image of his dead and bloodied body was fresh in his mind. It took a moment for him to realise that the gun in Fabian’s hand very closely resembled Bron’s.
Bron realised it at the same instant. ‘Hey,’ he blurted, ‘That’s where — Fabian, you need to put that down. It’s not — you can’t just grab it and—’
‘Shut up,’ muttered Fabian. ‘Does it look like I can drop it right now?’
Bron trained his own weapon upon Halavere. ‘I’ll shoot you before you can hurt him,’ he said.
Halavere sighed in annoyance. ‘I don’t want to hurt him, imbecile. I just want you all to go away, so I may move on with my life.’
Seven Dreams Page 27
