Sal nodded, even though he didn’t believe in the Goddess Lodo occasionally mentioned. He was pretty sure the old man didn’t, either. It was more likely a figure of speech than a genuine appeal to the supernatural.
They made it to the cell room with no more incidents. Lodo eased the door open and peered inside, then waved Sal through.
“I’ll keep an eye on things out here,” he said, “and call you when we’ve run out of time.”
“Aren’t we getting him out?”
“Not yet. This is just so you can talk to him.”
Sal slipped through the gap and into the room. The shutters were closed again, leaving the air inside uncomfortably warm and bad-smelling. It was very dark, apart from one candle burning in the center of the room. Sal’s father had been put in a different cell and sat with his back against the bars, facing away from the door.
Sal took a few steps, until he heard the door close behind him.
“Dad?”
His father straightened, looked up, then turned to look behind him. “Sal? Sal!”
Sal ran forward. His father was instantly on his feet, arms passing through the bars to clutch Sal to him. For a moment it was almost as though the bars weren’t there at all. His father’s arms were around him and Sal could feel his breath on his neck. The scent of him was strong and comforting.
But the reality of the cage was undeniable. It dug into their flesh, driving them apart.
Sal’s father finally pulled back, but not entirely. His hands clasped Sal’s forearms and wouldn’t let go. There were tears on his cheeks.
“Sal, it’s really you! How did you get in here?”
“Lodo brought me.” Sal found it hard to speak, the lump in his throat was so large.
His father looked over his shoulder. “Where is he?”
“Waiting outside. He’s doing everything he can to help us. We’re going to get you out of here--”
A finger to his lips stopped him talking. “You have to save yourself. Get away now, before they find you.”
“No. I’m not going to leave you behind.” The certainty was hard and cold inside him, like granite. “Anyway, they think I’m somewhere else, a long way away. When they leave, we can run away again. They’ll never find us.”
“Where will we run to, Sal? We can’t run forever.” Sal’s father looked as though he had aged a hundred years in the cell. “I’ve been thinking about things--about what happened to your mother, and what might happen to you. I dreamed that you were trying to call me, earlier. You sounded frightened.”
Sal opened his mouth to say that it had been him calling, but again his father silenced him and went on: “It made me think, it made me realize, that I have no right to put you through this. You’re nearly old enough to make your own decisions. I can’t hold on to you any longer.”
“But you’re not holding on to me, Dad. I want to be with you!”
“I know, Sal, but you haven’t seen the alternatives. I saw the way you listened when I played the other night. I can see how much you love music, and how good at the Change you could be. Who am I to deny you this? You could have a wonderful life anywhere you liked, if it wasn’t for me and my fear for you. Keeping you from that makes me worse than the Sky Wardens themselves.”
“No,” Sal said, shaking his head furiously. “That’s not true.”
“It is, Sal, and I don’t want to be like them.”
Sal turned away. This wasn’t what he wanted to hear. It was all going wrong. He’d wanted reassurance that everything would soon be the same--that all they had to do was get away from the Sky Wardens and life would return to normal. He didn’t want anything more than that. It didn’t seem too much to ask for.
But if even his father was denying it...?
“Tell me about my mother,” he said, turning back to face the bars. He didn’t know how much time they had: he had to make it count.
“Your mother?” His father sat down on the bench as though his legs had suddenly run out of strength. “Why?”
“She’s behind all this. She’s what brought us here--and I don’t know her. It doesn’t seem right.”
“What have you heard?”
Sal nodded. “Her name was Seirian, I know that much. Lodo told me about Highson Sparre.” His father winced but didn’t interrupt. “He told me how you ran away from the Haunted City and hid where no one could find you. But he didn’t tell me about her. He didn’t tell me what she was like. I don’t know anything about her at all.”
His father nodded, his gaze on a place far away, behind the tears. “I remember her as though we met yesterday, Sal. I still see her in my dreams. The first time we spoke, I knew that I loved her, but I didn’t dare tell her. She was married to Highson, and I was just a journeyman. A good journeyman, to be sure, but nothing more than that. Esta trusted me, and she was Highson’s friend.” He stopped, swallowed, and continued. “Seirian and I were companions; it was nothing more than that at first. We spent a lot of time together, while Highson and Esta were busy, and I kept my emotions to myself. Then she confessed one day that her feelings had grown deeper, and I didn’t know what to do. To reject her would have been a lie against my own feelings. To act upon those feelings … Well, I guess you know what happened. It was a disaster. We had no choice but to flee. It was the only way we could be together.”
Sal tried to imagine his father in love with a woman Sal could not remember. It wasn’t easy. “Were you happy?”
“Yes, Sal, very. It didn’t matter where we traveled, what names we used, or how poor we were. We made a small living from the Change, enough to keep us moving. Seirian had a strong innate talent but hadn’t learned to use it yet. I had the tricks I’d learned from watching Highson and others. Together we tended dry or contaminated wells; we called weather for farmers; we even made charms to catch fish, when we dared to come that far into the Strand. We tried to help the people around us so they would remember us fondly and be less inclined to betray us if ever anyone asked.
“That’s how we stayed hidden for so long, I guess. A year, maybe more. You came in that time, and our travels slowed for a while. We had to work harder, and your mother was tired more often. For a while I worried that she was sick, but she seemed to recover perfectly well. Then, one night …”
He stopped and looked away. His lips were pressed tight together. “One night, I woke up and she was gone. The bed was empty beside me, and you were crying. I knew what had happened the moment I woke and realized she was missing. She hadn’t left us. She had been stolen. Somehow Highson and the Sky Wardens had tracked her down and taken her back. I could smell their stink in this, even though I don’t have the Change. They hadn’t even had the courage to confront us directly. Like thieves, they invaded our home with their damned charms and tore it apart.”
Sal imagined his mother spirited away by the Change: one moment there, asleep beside the man she loved, and the next, gone, the sheet falling empty to the mattress.
“At first,” his father went on, “I didn’t know what to do, except to get moving again. Before dawn, we were back on the road--you and I, alone. I had to move quickly before they found out about you. I had no choice. Once they found out about you--and there was no way Seirian could have kept you a secret--they were sure to want you as well.
“I swore to be very careful, this time, hiding every aspect of my past life to prevent the slightest chance of recognition. I had to lose everything that had once been me in order to stay free. I stopped playing music. I sold my guitar. Most importantly, I avoided the Change.
“You see, I eventually worked out how they must have found us. Despite all our other precautions, Seirian and I had been careless in using our joined talent. The Sky Wardens had picked it up, somehow; it was the only way they could have known. So I never used the Change again, and kept it from you, too. There was a chance you could have inherited
it from your mother, and I thought that keeping you away from it might stop it appearing. I was wrong, in the end. It came out naturally anyway, and there was nothing I could do to stop it. But it did give me a focus, back when you were young. And as soon as it did start coming out, I came here to find out how to hide it properly. Otherwise the Sky Wardens would have found us before long. I had no choice.”
“You keep saying that,” Sal interrupted, conscious of time passing outside the cell. “Was there really no other option?”
His father looked at him with red-rimmed eyes. “No, not now--and not then, either. It was wrong that they took Seirian from us--from you especially. You should have known your mother. She was kind and loving. You would have loved her as much as I did--and I loved her more than anything. But when she was taken, I had to choose: would I try to get her back, or would I save you? I know which she would have wanted, but it was still a difficult choice. And although I know I chose well, no matter what they say, living with it is the hardest thing I have ever done.
“I hope,” he said, putting his hand through the bars and clutching Sal’s arm, “I hope I haven’t made a terrible mistake--for your sake. I no longer care what happens to me. If Seirian is really dead, then my last hope dies with her. For although we ran, you and I, as hard as we could to get away from the people who had taken her, I still hoped that I would be with her again one day. No matter how long it took, no matter where you and I fled, she was still there in the Haunted City. Without her there, in my imagination…” He shrugged. “Without her, my heart is dead.”
Sal felt a coldness welling within him at those words. He wanted to say: What about me? I’m still here! But the words wouldn’t come.
“Lose a heart, gain an eye,” Sal said instead, quoting an old proverb.
His father looked up and snorted back an unexpected laugh. “Indeed. I taught you that, didn’t I?”
“You taught me everything I know.”
“You poor kid.” He shook his head. “I should’ve listened to you when you asked if we could leave.”
Their hands found each other and gripped tight. The coldness melted away. Sal knew that, regardless what happened in the next twenty-four hours, his life with his father would remain untarnished in his mind. It was a precious thing few people ever had: to travel, free, with someone you could trust until the end of the Earth. He would cherish it as long as he lived.
His father still loved him, there was no denying that. And his mother had loved him too. It was better to have had that love and lost it than never to have had it at all.
The door squeaked open, startling them both. Sal turned to see Lodo easing himself into the cell room.
“Someone’s coming,” he whispered, waving for Sal to follow him into an empty cell. Sal did as he was instructed, even though there was no way they could hide there. The moment someone walked into the room, they would be seen.
Sal’s father lay back on the bench as though asleep. Lodo and Sal sank back into the rear corner of the cell, backs flat against the rough stone walls. Sal felt Lodo’s right hand descend upon his head and grip it tight.
“Stand perfectly still,” Lodo said. His left hand gestured and the sole candle guttered out, its flame smothered by the Change.
An instant later the door opened. A shaft of blinding light cut across the room, striking the exact spot Sal and Lodo were hiding. Sal braced himself for cries of alarm, but none came. The light seemed to burn right through them, without even casting a shadow.
“On your feet,” ordered one of the officers. “They’ve called for you.”
“Who?” Sal’s father rose slowly to his feet, blinking.
“Who do you think?” The officer’s keys rattled as he walked to the cell.
“But they’re not supposed to make judgments until tomorrow!”
“I guess they can do whatever they like.” The door swung open. “Now, out--before I have to come in and get you.”
Sal’s father obeyed. His gaze swept the cells but clearly saw no sign of Lodo or Sal. The officer’s beefy hand clamped around his upper arm and led him out of the room.
Chapter 18. “...An Eye Gained”
Sal watched in a silent uproar as his father was led from the cell. He had to do something! But Lodo’s hand was firm on his head, holding him still. It wasn’t until the door swung shut and they were back in darkness that he was able to move and dared to speak.
“What are we going to do?” he asked, pulling free. “We can’t just let them take him!”
“For now, we have no choice.” Lodo brought the candle back. His face was heavily etched by shadow in the flickering light, darker even than his tattoos. “We’ll wait to see what decision they’ve come to, and then act. Who knows? We might not need to act at all. They may have decided he’s not worth worrying about.”
Sal didn’t dare hope for that and he knew it would only solve their problems in the short term.
“So what do we do?”
“We follow them and see what happens. No matter what they decide we’ll have time to react. They can’t just leave in an instant. Derksen is watching the ship. He’ll let us know if they make any sudden moves.”
“How?” Sal asked.
Lodo produced one of the stone slivers from his pocket. “Everyone I trust has one of these. If they snap it, I feel a pinprick on the back of my neck. That’s how I knew that someone had come for your father. Shilly broke hers not long before the officer walked in.”
Sal nodded. “So let’s go after my dad and see what’s happening.” He made for the door, but Lodo grabbed his arm and brought him back.
“Wait. There’s something I have to ask you first.”
“But we have to hurry!”
“Not yet. This is important, Sal. We must make time for it.”
“What?” The old man’s expression was very serious, making him dread the question.
“It’s about what your father said.”
“About my mother?”
“No. Before that. You are almost old enough to choose for yourself. If you go with the Sky Wardens of your own volition, a lot of strife could be avoided. You certainly have the right to ask for training, and your father’s captors seem keen to exercise it. What’s stopping you from just going along with their wishes?”
“What’s stopping me?” Sal could barely believe what he was hearing. “They stole my mother. They hunted us!”
“They said they made a genuine mistake. That as soon as they knew about you, they tried to reunite you with your mother. You heard them say this, and it could be true. Certainly if your mother did die because your father kept you hidden, that might explain their continued resentment of him. They may not mean ill.”
“But …” How could that be true? “But you don’t like them either.”
“That has nothing to do with you, Sal. You can’t take my word for it, or your father’s. It’s your decision, your decision alone, and the time has come for you to make it.”
Sal leaned against the wall, thrown off guard. For a moment, despite the urgency, he couldn’t answer. All of his life he had been afraid of the Sky Wardens, and he could see why now. But under other circumstances, maybe he would have been tempted to join the Sky Wardens. Most people, like Shilly, would be glad to have his talent. Did he have the right to turn his back on it?
Yes, he thought, he did. For all their power in the Strand, Sky Wardens led a life full of responsibility. If he surrendered himself to the Alcaide and the Syndic, that was what he would be condemned to. He would much rather live the way he always had: as a wanderer, with his father. There were other ways to learn.
He told Lodo this as best he could, and the old man nodded.
“It’s one thing to be given an opportunity, quite another to have it forced upon you. But what about this: if we can’t rescue your father, would you join them then
? Would you follow him voluntarily into their hands? Or would you do as your father asks and keep running?”
Sal’s first thought was to shake his head. He didn’t trust either the Alcaide or the Syndic. He didn’t believe their version of events, no matter what Lodo said. But to let his father be taken, and maybe never see him again …? The thought was utterly galling.
“I don’t want that to happen,” he said. “I want to rescue my father, no matter what it takes.”
“I thought you might say that,” Lodo nodded. He seemed to grow older and smaller in front of Sal’s eyes.
Sal tried to read from Lodo’s expression what the old man was thinking. “I won’t kill anyone, though, if that’s what you’re about to say.”
“No. It shouldn’t come to that.” Lodo drew himself up. “Very well. You have decided, and I will help you to see it through. That is my decision, and I’ll stick to it. And now,” he concluded, “it is time to hurry.”
Shilly was waiting for them outside, hopping from foot to foot with nervousness.
“I thought you’d never come out!”
“Getting out wasn’t the problem,” said Lodo. “There’s no one left in there, now their prisoner is gone. Which way did they go?”
“They headed for the square.” She pointed up the road, toward the sound of cheering in the distance, and they walked briskly in that direction. “I almost died when they appeared. I thought you’d been caught for sure.”
Sal shook his head, still impressed with the way the old man had hidden them. How far his talent extended, Sal didn’t know. Maybe he could have made the stone walls of the cell fade away, or softened the iron bars so his father could’ve slipped through. The fact that he hadn’t didn’t necessarily mean that he couldn’t.
“What are we going to do now?” asked Shilly.
“I’m going to give them one more chance,” Lodo said. “There’s an easy way out of this for all of us, and they’d be fools not to take it. If they’ll see reason, we can get Sal’s father back before midnight and the Sky Wardens can go on their merry way. Sal can stay here if he wants and continue his training, or move on. Moving might be safer. The Mandala will keep him covered for a while, until he is older and has more options, perhaps. But you’d be welcome here if you wanted to stay, Sal.” The old man’s gray eyes were softer than Sal had ever seen them. “Life has certainly been more interesting since you arrived.”
The Stone Mage & the Sea (Books of the Change Book 1) Page 28
