The Devoured Earth

by Sean Williams

  ‘And that is?’

  ‘The mirror that is not a mirror. So the seers say. The Tomb will open and our destiny will be complete when we step through the mirror that is not a mirror.’ Mannah glanced at Sal. ‘Do you know what that means?’

  Sal shook his head. ‘I've no idea. I'm sorry. Perhaps one of the others will know. Sky Wardens use mirrors for all sorts of things.’

  ‘Perhaps.’ Mannah snorted. ‘How could you know? You didn't even know we existed until a day or two ago. We are as far outside your experience as you are outside ours. We are only together now because we have to be.’

  Sal was stung by the dismissal. ‘All my best friends were strangers once. Some I never expected to like at all. Allies come in all shapes and sizes.’

  They ran in silence for an uncomfortable time. Then Mannah sighed. ‘You're right,’ he said. ‘I shouldn't judge too hastily. That would make me as bad as Treya. I am simply…overwhelmed. Please forgive me.’

  ‘You've done nothing wrong.’ Familiarity still nagged at Sal. Somewhere he had seen Mannah before. But where?

  Sal stumbled slightly as the floor of the tunnel levelled out, but quickly regained his rhythm. He had no way of estimating how far they had travelled or how much tunnel remained. Presumably it led to the centre of the lake, where the Tomb lay buried under Yod's drowned towers, but Sal had no real perception of how far that was by foot. He had sailed many times in his years at Fundelry, after conquering his fear of the sea, but he had never travelled under a body of water before. Rather than talk, he decided to conserve his strength.

  ‘We're arranging a distraction,’ said Marmion later in his strange subterranean journey. Treya seemed as far ahead as ever; the only sounds were their damp footfalls and heavy breathing.

  ‘How long?’ Sal sent back. The bedrock around him was making communications difficult, but he was strong enough to punch through the obstructions.

  ‘I was going to ask you the same question.’

  ‘We'll probably give each other the same answer—that we're going as fast as we can.’

  ‘Understood.’ Marmion's mental voice carried an edge of unease. ‘We're still working on the lock. Banner is making progress, but it could be half an hour before we can come after you.’

  ‘How's Shilly?’ Sal asked, caring less at that moment about doors than the woman he loved.

  ‘Recovering. So are Kail and Tom. We were lucky not to have any more serious injuries than that.’

  Sal nodded, grateful for that. He was still recovering from the news that Kail had survived the fall from Pukje's back and had tracked Shilly and the others to the underground cavern. Without Kail, Shilly would most likely be dead at Treya's hands, along with Tom and the Panic empyricist. Despite their past awkwardness, he now owed Lodo's nephew more than he could possibly repay.

  ‘Where's Highson?’ he asked Marmion.

  ‘On his way back to shore. He's unharmed, but I gather it was close. The Tomb is guarded by devel creatures sensitive to the Change.’

  Sal didn't try to hide his feelings at that news. Relief mingled with nervousness made his stomach flutter.

  ‘Tell Shilly—’ He stopped, uncomfortable with relaying anything intimate through the warden. ‘Tell her to get a move on. We're going to pieces without her in charge.’

  ‘Tell me yourself.’ Her voice came through Marmion as clearly as the warden's had. ‘And so I gather. I can't leave you lot alone for a moment. I'll never do it again.’

  Warmth filled Sal. ‘That's good to hear,’ he said, thinking it the understatement of the millennium. ‘Listen, I'm here with a guy called Mannah. Do you know him?’

  ‘Mannie? Of course I know him. He saved my life.’

  ‘But before that. Have you ever met him? He says he doesn't know us, but I'm sure he's wrong. It's driving me crazy trying to work out who the guy is.’

  She thought for a moment. ‘Someone from the Haunted City, perhaps? It was a long time ago, but that's all I can think of.’

  ‘What would a Sky Warden be doing up here, masquerading as an Ice Eater?’ A thought occurred to him. ‘Perhaps the Weavers sent him to keep an eye on things’

  ‘That's a theory. Maybe Highson will know.’

  ‘Wait.’ Sal wrenched his attention away from the conversation. Mannah had slowed and was raising a hand for Sal to do the same. ‘Something's happening. I'd better go. Take care.’

  ‘You too.’

  ‘What is it?’ Sal whispered to his companion.

  Mannah waved for Sal to be silent and his footsteps became slow and wary. The crystal-light went out.

  Sal froze in his tracks. A grunt of surprise came from further along the tunnel. Light flared anew. Sal saw Mannah holding another Ice Eater in a chokehold. Bright red blood glowed in the crystal-light, soaking through the small man's heat-preserving robe and staining the wall behind him.

  ‘What are you doing?’ Sal hissed, hurrying closer. ‘We're not here to kill people!’

  ‘He was like this already,’ said Mannah. ‘Wounded in the fight, I guess, and left behind when he couldn't run any further. Is that right, Milo?’

  Mannah released his hold so the small man could talk. ‘Goddess take me. I passed out. The pain…’ He shifted wincingly in Mannah's grip to stare up at Sal. ‘Kill me now and be done with it!’

  ‘We're not murderers,’ said Mannah, loosening him. ‘She left you behind because you were holding her up. Were you to signal her when you saw us?’

  The man's left hand opened. A small crystal sphere rolled into the mud. Sal had seen something similar during the trap Marmion had laid for Highson and the Homunculus on the edge of the Divide. Breaking the sphere would instantly signal its owner, no matter how far away he or she was.

  ‘I'll take that,’ said Mannah, putting the sphere into a pocket. ‘We have to keep moving. I'm sorry, Milo, you deserve better treatment than this. But there will be people following before long. They have healers. They'll look after you.’ Mannah glanced at Sal for confirmation.

  Sal nodded, not liking the look of the man's sallow skin. ‘Hang in there,’ he said. ‘You'll be all right.’

  The man's eyes fluttered. His lips moved but the words he spoke were too soft for Sal to make out.

  ‘What was that?’ Mannah leaned closer. ‘Say that again. I didn't hear you.’

  ‘She's going to open the Tomb,’ Milo said, his eyes focussing with difficulty. ‘She says—she says it's the only way to know who's telling the truth.’

  Mannah patted the man's shoulder. ‘Thank you, Milo. That helps. Now, you rest and wait for rescue.’

  Sal stood and looked up the tunnel. There was no end in sight, and no light visible apart from that cast by the crystal Mannah held in his hand. He felt as though they might run forever and never leave this dank, foul-smelling place.

  ‘I guess we keep going,’ he said. His lungs had recovered but the muscles in his legs still burned.

  Mannah gently leaned Milo against the tunnel wall and also rose. ‘I guess so.’

  ‘What are you planning to do with the crystal?’

  ‘I'll smash it when we get closer. That way, Treya will believe we're further away than we actually are.’

  ‘Good thinking.’ A dark kind of anger burned in Sal's chest at the woman they were chasing. He understood determination and duty, and knew their worth, but to discard lives as though they meant nothing was heartless in the extreme. In its way, that was worse than threatening to kill Shilly. At least Shilly had been potentially dangerous, not like the poor dying man at his feet.

  You'd better hope Yod gets to you first, Treya, he whispered in his mind as they started running again. I'm in a bad mood now.

  ‘A golem doesn't hate; it loathes. A golem doesn't

  love; it craves. A golem doesn't hope; it schemes.

  A golem doesn't live; it only kills, and kills again.’

  THE ROSLIN CODEX

  ‘Why are you in such a bad mood?’ Chu asked.

&nb
sp; Skender bit his tongue on the truth. Because he had barely had time to recover from the battle in the cavern before Marmion had sent them on a damn-fool mission that meant climbing halfway up the side of the crater wall and possibly flying to his death. Because Chu had seemed more worried about the wing when the Ice Eaters had brought it to her than she had about him. Because even now, although she was talking to him and although they had kissed as soon as it was clear Treya and the others were gone and only friendly Ice Eaters remained in the cavern, it felt to him like she was holding something back, something she didn't want him to know.

  You're crazy, he told himself. She's just stressed out and short a really good sleep, like the rest of us.

  ‘Why am I in a bad mood? Because this thing is heavy,’ he said. Somehow he had ended up carrying the pack, even though, being at the rear of the wing, it meant he was already bearing more than his fair share of weight. And with an injured arm, too. Yes, Chu had to keep an eye on the path; and yes, she had to concentrate on finding a good place to launch from; but still it irritated him.

  ‘Poor baby,’ she said. ‘That's what I love about you. So stoic; so noble. Where most men would whine and complain, you bear your burden in silence. There should be more like you, I reckon.’

  He blushed. She loves me…?

  ‘I don't think the world could cope with more than one Skender Van Haasteren the Tenth,’ he said.

  ‘Yes, good point. The one I've got is already something of a handful.’ She glanced over her shoulder. Her white teeth flashed in the night. ‘Maybe I could trade up to a model that hasn't been banged around quite so much.’

  ‘Bruises add character.’

  ‘No, scars add character. Bruises are just ugly.’

  ‘I've got some scars I could show you, too, if that's what you want.’

  ‘Actually, what I really want is a long hot bath, a stiff drink, and a bit of a lie down. That would be ideal. Would you join me?’

  ‘If I could get my battered old body moving, sure.’ And there it was again: in her banter, a sad note he couldn't quite decipher. She hadn't been like that the last time he'd seen her on the balloon—or after the defeat of the Ice Eaters in the cavern. It had emerged since the climb, or earlier, during the meeting and Marmion's speech. Was it something the warden had said?

  Skender sometimes regretted having an eidetic memory, but it was perfect for occasions when his mind had been wandering. While he had concentrated more on the feel of Chu's hand in his and the earthy smell radiating from her, Marmion had been outlining the plan they would follow to distract Yod. Skender had got the gist of it, but some parts he had missed entirely. Looking back on it now, he didn't seem to have missed terribly much that related to Chu—until it came to the crunch.

  ‘Pukje, Highson and the Homunculus couldn't make it as far as the towers,’ Marmion had said. ‘They were detected and chased away by devels from the old world, winged creatures sensitive to the Change. If we're going to get closer, we have to evade those creatures. The balloon is useless now, but we do have another means of flying. Chu's wing is intact and in a safe place. I've already asked Orma to arrange its collection. He'll be back here shortly.’

  Chu had sat up straighter next to Skender, realising that she was the centre of attention. ‘What do you want me to do?’

  ‘Draw Yod's attention away from the Tomb. We don't have time to prepare anything too complicated. Luckily the Ice Eaters have plenty of devices they used to fish with—and by “fishing” they mean carving holes out of the ice in order to expose the creatures trapped within. These devices are explosive and dangerous if handled incorrectly, but until they are activated they can be transported safely over large distances.

  ‘Your mission will be to fly out to the towers, drop a bomb or two down the throat of the tower, then get well away. You're not to do anything else. It'd be too risky. But you must at least do that. If you don't, the lives of everyone in the tunnel—and us—will be at risk. Will you do it?’

  ‘Yes,’ she had said. ‘Anything's better than sitting around here waiting for that door to open.’

  ‘Good.’

  ‘I'll come with you,’ Skender had said.

  She'd hesitated before saying in reply, ‘Of course you will. I need you to help me carry the wing, and these bomb things.’

  ‘And afterwards too. I'm not very strong in the Change. Maybe for once this will work to my advantage.’

  Marmion had nodded. ‘Chu, I don't mind who flies with you, just so long as it gets done. That's the most important thing.’

  ‘I understand.’

  Marmion had held her gaze for a breath. ‘Thank you. The crystals are on their way too. You shouldn't have to wait long.’

  Then all had been a flurry of movement and action, with no time to talk or think. Skender felt as though he had been lifted up and carried away by a willy-willy. Once riding those wild, swirling currents, there was no easy way to get off.

  ‘Up there,’ Chu said, letting go of the wing with one hand to point. A spur of rock jutted out, silhouetted against the sky. ‘See it?’

  ‘I see it.’ They changed direction slightly to reach the proposed launching point. They had looked at two others already, but neither had been suitable. The first was too low, while the second hadn't been broad enough for them to kit up. Skender hoped this one would be all right.

  ‘I think it might be getting light,’ he said, taking in the cloudy sky. A faint smudge of colour had appeared in the east.

  ‘I think you might be right. Observant and stoic: the perfect combination.’

  He ignored that comment as they struggled up the steepening slope. Soon they'd be in the air and everything would be all right. There was something about the wing and being weightless in the sky that negated all their differences—something akin to the weightless feeling in his stomach when he thought about her. He had never felt for anyone the emotions and desires Chu inspired in him.

  Tell her, you idiot. Tell her you love her too.

  That was the one thing he couldn't say. If he'd misunderstood her earlier comment and she mocked him about it, he thought he might drop dead on the spot.

  Chu clambered up onto the spur and declared it suitable. There was no triumph in her voice. A long and dangerous mission lay ahead of them.

  ‘I can probably take it from here,’ she said as they unfolded the wing and untangled the leather straps of the double harness beneath. ‘Why don't you stay behind? I'm sure Kelloman and Banner could use your help shifting the door.’

  ‘They've probably already opened it by now,’ he said.

  ‘Are you sure? It was pretty huge.’

  ‘I'm not letting you do this alone, Chu. What if something happens out there and you need me?’

  ‘It'd be good to have you along, I'll admit, for purely selfish reasons.’

  ‘There's nothing wrong with being selfish.’

  ‘But only when you agree with me.’

  ‘Right.’

  Skender took off the pack containing the bombs and put it onto the stone. He would need both hands free to strap Chu then himself into the wing. Once they were in place, he would attach the pack to his front. The charms on the underside of the wings would easily provide enough lift for both of them plus that burden.

  He stood up. Mid-stretch, Chu punched him hard in the jaw. Taken completely by surprise, he lost all control of his legs and crumpled. She caught him before he could strike his head against the stone.

  He struggled in her tight embrace and fought a rising tide of deep black. ‘What the—?’

  ‘Oh, Goddess. Skender, I'm so sorry. That was supposed to knock you clean out. Who'd've thought you'd be thick-skulled as well as just thick?’

  ‘Wait!’ Her fist had pulled back to deliver another blow. He feebly raised a hand to stop her. The world wobbled and spun; he could barely see her, but she seemed to be weeping. ‘Why are you doing this?’

  She knelt over him and held him to her chest. He breathed in
the warm smell of her and fought the urge to cry too.

  ‘What do you think is going to happen out there? Yod doesn't need the Change to see me, you idiot, not with the sun coming up. That's why I'm not taking you with me. I was so worried about you when you went missing, but there was nothing I could do. Whether you love me back or not, I don't want you to die now. And this I can do something about.’

  ‘Chu, I—’

  ‘Shut up, Skender. It's hard enough as it is.’

  She pulled away, too quickly for him to react, and hit him a second time. Stars exploded in his head and he fell back onto the stone, cold and silent under the dismal dawn.

  Shilly placed a hand against the nearest wall. The earth moved beneath her feet. If the quake got any worse nothing would prevent the ceiling from coming down around her ears. Kelloman couldn't stop a whole mountain collapsing, no matter how powerful he was, and besides, he was busy opening the door that stood between her and Sal. She was alone with Tom and Kail, both out cold on stretchers, forgotten in all the fuss. Even Rosevear had more important work to do than look after three invalids. Until one of the other two woke up or worsened unexpectedly, she was on her own.

  Her head ached. The Ice Eater who had hit her had come out of nowhere through the fog, and she hadn't ducked in time. She blamed herself as much as him. There had been a desperate, despairing look in his eyes as he had swung at her. That look had held her for a moment, and it held her still. His world had been crumbling around him, just like hers might at any moment.

  The smell of incense and stale old woman thickened in her nostrils.

  ‘No,’ she said. ‘I can't leave now. I've got to stay here, just in case they get the door open.’

  The door? The voice wasn't one she heard through her ears but in the depths of her mind. It was more intimate, more insidious than ordinary communication through the Change. This was, after all, coming from her own head. The door leading to the tunnel under the lake?

  Shilly didn't want to answer that question. The voice of her future self was too focussed, all of a sudden, too interested in what her reply would be. She knew entirely too much for Shilly's liking.