Darksong

by Isobelle Carmody

  ‘I do not know why you do not simply tell Tarsin that you know the whereabouts of his precious visionweaver,’ Kalide said petulantly. ‘He would care nothing for this servitor if he knew that.’

  Glynn’s heart had almost stopped upon hearing this, because of course she now knew that the visionweaver was Ember.

  ‘And should I also break the good news to him that although the visionweaver and the assassin were betrayed to our ministers by the very shipmistress who carried them from Ramidan, our legionnaires have not managed to catch them?’ Coralyn asked in a voice dripping with sarcasm. ‘Or perhaps I could tell him that the myrmidon chieftain was caught on Iridom in compromising circumstances that lead us to believe that she is working with the assassin, but that somehow she and her companions have escaped as well!’

  ‘You could say that it is only a matter of time before they are captured. After all they can’t escape with an Edict in place.’

  ‘Although they did, apparently, escape from Ramidan while an Edict was in force?’

  ‘They got away before the Edict bell was sounded. We know that now from the shipmistress of the Stormsong,’ Kalide said sulkily.

  ‘Let Tarsin have the servitor. She will be able to tell him nothing of any disadvantage to us.’

  ‘You know that the Draaka will be furious when she hears what has happened.’

  Coralyn shrugged. ‘I will tell her that I dreamed that it was the Chaos spirit’s doing that Tarsin had demanded the trakkerbeast be given to him for a short time, and I will say that it has commanded me to retrieve her. Which I will do.’

  ‘What will you use to manipulate the Draaka, since you will no longer have her trakkerbeast to dandle temptingly before her?’ Kalide asked.

  Coralyn said, ‘It may not be necessary to manipulate her after Tarsin’s high-handed rudeness in sending her from the hall when Fulig asked it, and now his usurping of her trakkerbeast. I suspect the Draaka will be angry enough to abandon her reservations and conditions and commit her hoards to our cause. And of course I will promise to retrieve the trakkerbeast for her before we leave for Iridom.’

  ‘But will she come with us to Iridom?’ Kalide said.

  ‘I have not asked her yet, but rest assured that she will. She thinks Duran is being interrogated even now, as to the identity and whereabouts of the trakkerbeast. Tomorrow morning I will present her with the sad news that Duran has died, but I will say that she gave information enough for us to take all of her company, among which will be the visionweaver and Bleyd of Fomhika. But sadly Duran will not have revealed the Unraveller, hence the trakkerbeast will still be required. It will all tally nicely with her delusions.’

  ‘What of the visionweaver?’

  At this point, Glynn had been in the process of being ushered from the Iridomi enclave, and Kalide and his mother dropped their voices so much that she had to use her feinna hearing to listen to their words.

  ‘The visionweaver will be irrelevant by tomorrow, though I want her interrogated to find out who she served and what part she played in the escape of the Fomhikan from the cells. There is some ambiguity about her that irks me,’ Coralyn said dismissively.

  Hearing the casual ruthlessness of their plans for Ember had filled Glynn’s heart with ice, but at the same time she reminded herself that Ember was not caught yet. And if she truly had linked up with Duran, Glynn could not believe she would come to harm. Obviously Duran was on Iridom because of the Unraveller, but what an incredible coincidence that Ember and the Fomhikan were on Iridom at the same time as the Unraveller.

  That had been the moment when she had realised exactly why Alene had not told her about Ember.

  The Unraveller had travelled with her and the Fomhikan from Ramidan! She had been an idiot not to have realised it sooner. That must be why the Fomhikan had left Ramidan rather than being hidden by the Shadowman network in the citadel as had been planned. The appearance of the Unraveller must have been the reason for the sudden change. No wonder Alene had been so stern when she had told Anyi to be quiet. Anyi obviously knew about the Unraveller, hence his revelation that Ember was the visionweaver, but his refusal to explain why Alene had not told her the truth. That Anyi had arrived in the hut at the same time as her, suggested he had never met the man, and that was why he had spoken of meeting only two strangers in his life.

  Glynn had still been reeling from the realisation that Ember was on Iridom with the Unraveller when they came to an entranceway blazing with light and resounding with music and chatter. People clad in sumptuous clothes and jewels turned to look as they entered, then fell silent so that a wave of quiet preceded them. By the time they approached Tarsin, the hall was utterly silent. Glynn was glad that Coralyn had instructed the servitors to veil her, though she had also said that Tarsin would command that the veil be removed, which was why Glynn’s face had been painted. Oddly she had felt ashamed at the thought of baring her battered face, as if what had happened was her fault. She had experienced a fleeting understanding of all those battered wives whom she had once judged harshly for feeling ashamed of being victims.

  Glynn’s enhanced senses felt as if they were being assaulted by the smells of food and perfumes and perspiration, as well as by the emotions of the crowd, which consisted mainly of curiosity, revulsion and prurience. She had wanted desperately to look around and see if Alene was at the hall as she had predicted she would be, but she feared to appear too lively to Coralyn gliding along beside her, and steering her by a painfully bruised elbow. Nevertheless, by flicking her eyes left and right, she had searched the assembly as best she could, but she had not seen Alene nor Tareed; nor did she see Donard and his vivacious little sister, Rilka. Kerd had been there of course, his arm clasped protectively around a veiled girl who, from the size of her headdress, could only be Unys. Her feinna instincts revealed his emotions as apprehension and uncertainty, which suggested that he knew who was under the veil, and she had hoped for his sake that he would stay out of whatever was shaping up. Peculiarly, her feinna senses detected nothing at all from Unys, but she had no time to wonder at this.

  Approaching the dais where Tarsin sat, it had also struck her that Ember must have done exactly the same thing, coming veiled to the Keltan ruler whose life she had soon after saved. Glynn found herself wishing fervently and absurdly that it would be possible simply to reveal all she knew to the Holder before his assembled court, like Miss Marple in an Agatha Christie novel. Wouldn’t Coralyn have died of shock.

  Tarsin had commanded testily that her veil be removed, and Coralyn herself had pulled it off, pointing out that Glynn was not in any state to answer questions because she had been sedated.

  In truth, she had relished Coralyn’s sharp alarm when she did speak, though she had only muttered a few innocuous phrases in answer to Tarsin’s questions about Ember, intended only to ensure that he would not change his mind about taking her from Coralyn.

  Kerd had come forward then to stare in horror at her battered face. ‘Glynn! What has happened to you?’

  ‘You know her?’ Tarsin had demanded.

  ‘We have spoken once or twice, Lord Holder. Like me she has an interest in old scribes and archives. I believe that is why she chose to serve the Draaka for she does not align to the beliefs of the cult. But what has happened to her?’

  ‘Perhaps you will ask your brother by betrothal,’ Tarsin sneered. ‘This is his doing.’ He turned to the little gold-clad body servitor by his side. ‘Saloum, take her to my apartment and have her seen to.’

  ‘You can open your eyes now,’ a voice said, sounding amused, and Glynn was startled enough to do exactly that.

  The slight servitor, Saloum, was looking at her, and she realised that the white cloak had gone. ‘The healer said you were drugged out of your wits, but somehow I do not think so,’ he said.

  ‘All right,’ Glynn said on impulse. ‘I was drugged, but Coralyn does not realise that I have an immunity to what she gave me.’

  ‘A useful thing,’ Sal
oum said mildly. ‘Do you mean harm to the Holder? I assure you that no matter what your abilities, you would die before I would permit it.’

  ‘I don’t doubt it,’ Glynn said, and she did not. The servitor was not particularly muscular and yet there was an oiled smoothness to his movements that she had seen only in the most skilful opponents. ‘Luckily I mean no harm to the Holder. In fact I bless my luck that he has taken me from his mother and brother and sincerely hope he does not let them have me back.’

  ‘You think they would want you back? A mere servitor? I wonder why? Is it something that you saw when you invoked the darklin?’

  ‘The truth is that I saw nothing but my own sister who is … ill,’ Glynn said firmly.

  ‘Why did you run away when you were returned to your mistress?’

  ‘Because an opportunity for escape arose and I took it.’ Glynn wondered why she was telling the older man so much, and realised that her feinna senses were almost purring at the integrity he emanated.

  ‘What did you betray to survive Kalide’s interrogations? Most people he questions perish screaming or end up insane like Asa. The poor man has believed that a beast is stalking him in his dreams since the disappearance of the visionweaver.’

  ‘I betrayed nothing. He drugged me first and, as you know, I have an immunity. Then he began to beat me because he likes it, and Coralyn came and stopped it because she wanted to give me back to the Draaka as a gift.’ Then, because she could not resist, she added, ‘I have heard much of this visionweaver who saved Tarsin. Did you ever see her?’

  Saloum stopped in the midst of sponging Glynn’s leg, frowning. ‘Several times. She was veiled of course, and sometimes masked on one side of her face where it is said she was hideously scarred, so in a sense, I never really saw her.’ He unconsciously touched the side of his face, which was also Ember’s blind side, and it occurred to Glynn that the mask had been worn to hide her blinded eye. But why on earth would that need hiding? ‘Her skin was very, very white, as if it had been floured, and she was small and slender, her hands and feet narrow and delicate. She was very much a typical Sheannite in form.’

  ‘Her hair … what colour was it?’

  Saloum shrugged. ‘I do not know. She wore it sleeved always. But it was very long.’

  ‘She was ill, they say?’

  ‘Worse than merely ill. In fact the white cloak who tended to you just now examined her. He told me afterwards that when he touched her, he had felt a terrible darkness sucking at him. He said that it devoured the little energy he had offered and that if he had kept his hands on her, the sickness in her would have devoured him, and would still kill the visionweaver. The white cloak said it was as if she carried the Void within her.’

  Glynn shivered. ‘And she saved Tarsin’s life.’

  He nodded. ‘He was about to drink poisoned cirul when she wove in a swoon and prevented it. Sometimes visions come like that, and other times, like a thought crossing the mind. So they say.’

  ‘Perhaps the visionweaver only pretended to swoon and weave,’ Glynn said.

  The little servitor shook his head. ‘I was serving the Holder that day and she wove as I have seen Alene do many times in the days when Tarsin summoned her to him often.’

  Alene could have tutored Ember in how to fake a weaving trance, Glynn thought. Maybe it was as simple as that Alene had seen a vision and had told it to Ember, so that she could pretend to have it. But why would she bother? And why would Ember agree to such a deception?

  ‘You … you spoke with her?’ she asked him awkwardly.

  He misunderstood. ‘The soulweaver has spoken to me on two occasions of matters close to me. Once she bade me visit my mother and I did so. While I was in her house she had an attack and died some hours later. I was glad to have had those last hours with her.’

  ‘Weren’t you angry? If she had told you what was going to happen you might have had a white cloak there to treat your mother at once.’

  The servitor laughed as if she had made a joke. Then his face became serious. ‘I am trying to decide whether I should strangle you,’ he said pleasantly, and Glynn was taken aback to find that her feinna senses registered that he meant exactly what he said.

  ‘Why would you do that?’ she managed to ask.

  He laughed. ‘You are as cool as a myrmidon. I think that you are trouble for my master.’

  ‘I don’t want to be. I wish I could help him but I don’t suppose anyone can.’ The latter words were said on impulse and she might have regretted them, except for the flare of sorrow and empathy they evoked in the diminutive servitor. Far from resenting his long service to the degenerating Holder, Saloum clearly loved Tarsin and mourned what was happening to him.

  What do you want?’ he asked flatly.

  Glynn’s feinna senses prompted her to answer truthfully. ‘I need to escape from the palace before Coralyn or Kalide come after me. Or the Draaka.’

  ‘Why do you fear to be returned to the Draaka?’

  ‘I served her because she threatened someth … someone I loved. And I do not think my escape will have endeared me to her.’

  The servitor studied Glynn for a long moment, then he laid down the sponge very deliberately. ‘How would you get away if you could escape these apartments? Your injuries are severe enough to slow you. If caught and questioned you would be forced to betray anyone who helped you. How would you pass the legionnaires? You are not a pretty sight and you have no papers.’

  ‘I would manage to leave the palace on my own if I had to, I promise you, but if I got out of here, all I would do is go to the apartment of Alene soulweaver. Or to Kerd of Vespi. We were friends when I was here before.’

  The man laughed. ‘I think Kerd would not welcome a third in his bed tonight.’

  Glynn blinked. She had forgotten the betrothal. She had a sudden mental picture of the tall, lean older man in sombre clothes who had been seated beside Tarsin. He had looked appalled when her veil had been removed and he had attacked Kalide with scathing words. Had that been Fulig? She wished she could have found a way to warn the man of the treachery being plotted against him.

  ‘I would go to Alene, then,’ Glynn said, seeing that the servitor was still awaiting a response.

  He nodded. ‘So. You would seek the help of the soulweaver. And would she give it?’

  ‘You can ask her yourself,’ Glynn said.

  ‘Perhaps I shall,’ the servitor said lightly. ‘Rest now.’ And without further ado, he departed, taking the lantern with him. Glynn heard the key turn in the lock and sighed. Perhaps the servitor was as capricious as his master. She had taken a chance in telling him all that she had done, but her feinna senses had assured her of the man’s integrity. Sleep while you can, they bade her now, and Glynn gave herself up to sleep, willing herself to wake before first light.

  When she woke to pitch darkness, it seemed that she had merely closed her eyes for a few seconds. But she was rested enough to know that some considerable time had passed. A faint shuffling movement told her that there was someone in the room. Sitting up, she looked towards the sound and her feinna-enhanced vision soon revealed the little servitor, Saloum, standing just inside the door, his ear pressed to it. Fear emanated from him and set Glynn’s feinna senses jangling painfully.

  ‘Have you decided to strangle me after all?’ she whispered. She saw the man start at her words.

  ‘You have the hearing and eyes of a nightflyt, girl. But it is better for us both if you do not speak.’

  Her heart began to thump, for it seemed to Glynn that the servitor meant to help her after all. Quickly she surveyed her physical condition. She was stiffer than she had been, but the jagged, breath-wrenching pain in her chest had faded, as if the bones had begun to knit. Her face hurt badly still and, if anything, the cheek Kalide had punched had swollen still further. The eye on that side felt puffy and sore, too. Her foot was the worst because she would have to favour it and go slowly and carefully.

  She sat up warily
and swung her feet to the floor, very slowly placing pressure on the sore foot. It would hold her if she rolled her foot and favoured the outer edge. She was too stiff though. It would make her awkward. She made herself stand and do some silent bends.

  ‘What are you doing?’ the servitor hissed, and Glynn was almost overwhelmed by his fear. They both froze as boots tramped by the door, but when they had passed out of hearing, the servitor opened the door and peered out. There was a lantern bracket outside and a pale light fell onto his neat features for a moment to reveal that he was grey faced and sweating profusely. Then he stepped back into the shadow and gestured for her to go out. ‘If you would like to try to escape, you must do so now. You have only a little time to reach the front hall before the next watch passes.’

  ‘Why are you doing this?’ Glynn asked.

  ‘I do what I do out of love for Tarsin,’ the servitor said with strange brusque formality. ‘Now go.’

  Glynn limped to the door, then she hesitated. ‘I don’t know where the soulweaver’s apartment is.’

  ‘At the very end of this level on the other side of a small garden. There is a silver flower bush before the door. Go!’

  Heart pumping, Glynn obeyed, wondering why the man was helping her, but still her feinna senses detected no corruption in him. His fear seemed reasonable enough given that he was actually disobeying his Holder, but perhaps he saw this as the best way of protecting his beloved master. Strange how allies were often found where you least expected them, with motives that were nothing like your own.

  Once outside, she hurried along walkways that were familiar to her, although seeing them flooded with moonlight altered them; made them more beautiful and also more dangerous. But maybe that was only her imagination. Her feinna sense of smell delighted in the perfume of dew on the night air, and the smell of plants and damp flagstones.

  She hesitated briefly beside a path that she knew would bring her to the palace gate, tempted to make her way there immediately. She knew that she could use her feinna abilities to force the legionnaires to let her out. But the thought of Feyt made her follow Saloum’s directions to the apartment of the soulweaver. The myrmidon had allowed herself to be caught and man-handled to give Anyi and Glynn a chance to get into the citadel, and she had helped Ember to escape Ramidan, so there was a debt to be repaid.