“She’s managed to stall the abdication for nearly two years,” Dirk pointed out, his eyes still fixed on the view. “Just because she managed to do it without shedding any blood doesn’t lessen the achievement.”
“You’re a fine one to talk about bloodless coups,” Tia snapped.
Lexie turned to her with a horrified expression. “Tia! Please! I’ll ask you not to behave so gracelessly while under my roof. If Dirk has done something to warrant such anger, then tell me what it is and I will deal with it. But unless you can justify this continuous litany of snide remarks and savage jibes, I will ask you to behave in a more civilized manner.”
The scolding wounded Tia more than she thought possible. She turned to Reithan for support, but he would not meet her eyes. Dirk also avoided her gaze, but at least he had the decency to look a little uncomfortable. Lexie stared at her expectantly, waiting for her reply.
“I’m sorry,” she muttered, then rose to her feet and fled the balcony, almost overwhelmed by a feeling of helpless rage.
Chapter 8
Eryk saw the Wanderer sailing toward the village from high up on his perch near the goat hut. He had been working with the goats for about a year now, delighted that Lexie considered him responsible enough to be given such an important job.
Eryk liked the goats. He liked feeding the orphaned kids. He liked the sound of their clunking bells. He liked helping with the milking and watching old Dragili make her pungent cheeses. She let him watch sometimes as she gently ladled the curds into the molds. He even got to help pull up the cloth occasionally to reduce the wrinkles that would set creases into the finished cheese. In fact, Eryk was happier in Mil than he could ever remember. He did not miss Elcast the way Dirk did. The life he had left behind held little attraction for him. Here in the Baenlands he had an important job. He had real friends. He had Mellie.
For a moment, Eryk wished he could go down to the village to greet Reithan and Dirk, but decided against it. He had a much more important task to take care of, and anyway, Dirk would be up at the house with Reithan and Tia and Lady Lexie for ages yet, talking about boring things happening in the world outside Mil that Eryk had no interest in.
He was much more concerned about the present he was making for Mellie. He planned to give it to her at the Troitsa festival in two days’ time. The day was widely celebrated in Dhevyn every year, several weeks before the bigger and more elaborate Landfall Feast. On Elcast, the houses in the village were decorated with fresh green branches, and a maiden’s clothes were hung on the young birch trees bordering the common at the back of Elcast Keep. The village children (and more than a few adults) floated garlands in the bay, made of birch branches and flowers, in the hope that they would forecast the future, specifically who they would marry. Once the second sun had set, the villagers would then gather on the common, singing and dancing around the decorated birch trees until the ale ran out and they staggered home, drunk and sated on the generosity of the duke.
Of course there were no birch trees here in the Baenlands, but the festival was just as much fun here as elsewhere in Dhevyn. More fun, perhaps, because here in the Baenlands, nobody celebrated the Landfall Festival.
Eryk had given a lot of time thinking about what he would make for Mellie. He wanted it to be special. He wanted his gift to say more than just “Happy Troitsa.” He wanted her to understand how he felt ...
“Eryk!”
He hastily threw a sack over the incomplete carving and jumped to his feet as Mellie and her best friend Eleska Arrowsmith clambered up the slope toward him. He brushed the wood shavings from his trousers and smiled as they approached, thinking that Mellie grew more beautiful every time he saw her.
“Did you see, Eryk?” Mellie called out. “The Wanderer’s back. Reithan and Dirk are home.”
“I thaw ... saw them,” he stammered.
“I’m so glad they got back before Troitsa,” Eleska puffed as she climbed the steep slope beside Mellie. She was as fair as Mellie was dark, and just as full of fourteen-year-old selfconfidence as her best friend. “I’m going to make Dirk dance with me all night, and then when I float my garland, I’ll bet it says he’s going to marry me.”
Mellie stopped climbing for a moment and turned to stare at Eleska. “Don’t be stupid, Eleska! Why would Dirk want to marry you? He’s going to marry Tia.”
“But Tia hates him!” Eleska scoffed. “She’s always picking on him. Aren’t I right, Eryk?”
The youth nodded, a little uncertainly. “I think she must, Mellie. She never says anything nice about him.”
“I know, but she’ll get over that eventually. I mean, she can’t stay mad at him forever, can she? Anyway, I think they’re perfect for each other. Neris thinks so, too.”
“Neris is insane, Mellie,” Eleska pointed out.
“That doesn’t mean he’s wrong.”
“But why do you care?”
“Because Dirk is my brother, and if he marries Tia then she really will be my sister, so I’ve decided that it has to happen.”
“Just because you decided?” Eleska asked with a frown. “But why can’t she marry Reithan? He’s your brother, too. Then I can have Dirk.”
Mellie thought on that for a moment. “I suppose. But Reithan’s a bit old for Tia, isn’t he?”
“Reithan and Tia are perfect for each other,” Eleska declared as she reached to top of the path. “And that way, I can marry Dirk. Who are you going to marry, Mellie?”
Mellie flopped down on the ground beside Eryk and looked out over the delta with a thoughtful expression. “I haven’t decided yet.”
“How about Tabor Isingrin?” Eleska suggested, taking a seat beside Mellie.
“He’s an idiot,” Mellie said. “And he has bad breath.”
Eleska laughed. “And how did you get close enough to find that out?”
Mellie laughed, too, giving her friend a playful shove. “You’re revolting, Eleska.”
“Well then, what about Panka Droganov? He’s kind of cute, don’t you think?”
“Cute? Are you mad, Eleska? He’s a moron! I’d rather marry poor Eryk here, than have Panka Droganov waking up next to me every morning for the rest of my life!”
“I’ll marry you if you want, Mellie,” Eryk offered, as he sat down beside her, his heart almost bursting to hear her make such a declaration.
Mellie laughed. “Why thank you, Eryk, that’s very nice of you to offer. There you go, Eleska. I’m going to marry Eryk, you’re going to marry Dirk, and Reithan is going to marry Tia. That rounds it out quite nicely, don’t you think?”
Mellie and Eleska continued to chatter away, but Eryk was no longer listening to them. Mellie wants to marry me, his heart sang. He surreptitiously moved the carving around behind him, determined to stay up all night if he had to, just to have it finished in time.
And then in three days’ time, he would give it to her at the Troitsa Festival. It would be her betrothal present and they could tell everyone they were going to get married ...
“Are you listening to me, Eryk?” Mellie demanded.
“What? Thorry ... I was thinking ...”
“I asked you if you’re coming up to the house for dinner tonight, now that Dirk’s home.”
He shook his head. “I’ll see him later. I’ve got thome ... I mean something ... I have to do.”
“I’ll tell Mama you’re coming by tomorrow then,” Mellie said, climbing to her feet. She looked over the delta and smiled. “You’ve got the best view from up here. No wonder you like it so much.”
Eryk stared up at her, his eyes shining with happiness. “The most beautiful thing in the world,” he agreed.
And she wants to marry me ...
Chapter 9
It was later that afternoon that Dirk rowed across the bay to the small beach beneath the goat track leading up to Neris’s cave. He scrambled up the path to the ledge, and was a little surprised to find the madman sitting cross-legged in the cave’s entrance, apparently
engrossed in a diagram he was making. The ledge was stifling, the bare rock reflecting the heat of the second sun like a cooking stone.
“Hello, Neris.”
The madman did not acknowledge his presence. As he drew closer, Dirk saw that he was sketching a series of concentric circles on a scrap of parchment that looked as if it had been torn out of a rather expensive book.
“I have a present for you.”
“I’m busy,” Neris replied without looking up.
“Fine. I’ll just give these books to Alasun down in the schoolhouse then, shall I?” Dirk replied, turning away.
Neris scrambled to his feet and hurried after him. “Books? What books?”
“Just some books I found in the Kalarada markets, but if you’re too busy—”
“Give them to me!”
Dirk was tempted to demand that Neris say “please,” but decided against it. The madman snatched the books from him, hurried back into his cave and knelt on the rocky floor, shuffling through the pile.
“Have you seen Tia yet?” Neris asked as he flicked through the pages, hungry for anything new to relive the tedium.
“Oh, yes,” Dirk replied with feeling, sitting himself down on the floor in front of the madman. “She said she’d be over to visit you later. After I’m gone.”
The madman’s eyes narrowed cannily. “Why does she hate you so much?”
“I don’t know.”
“You’re lying.”
Dirk shrugged. “All right, I’m lying. But it’s still none of your damn business.”
“Why won’t you tell me? Don’t you trust me with your little secret?”
“Why should I?” he asked with a smile. “You won’t trust me with yours.”
“That was very good, Dirk.” Neris chuckled. “Is that your strategy now—you tell me your secret and I tell you mine? Two years and you still haven’t had any luck, eh? You’re persistent, I’ll give you that much.”
“I’m persistent? I think you hold the honor for that, Neris.”
“Don’t get snippy at me, boy, just because you can’t outwit me.”
“Actually, I was referring to your ability to keep beating yourself up over something that happened twenty years ago.”
“It was nineteen years ago, actually. And I’ll beat myself up over it as much as I please.”
“Don’t you think it’s about time you accepted that it is Belagren, not you, who’s responsible for fooling the world into believing a lie?”
Neris looked at him and shook his head sadly. “Even now, you mouth the words but you don’t understand their significance. Don’t you ever wonder how she could do that, Dirk? Don’t you ever ask yourself how one moderately attractive, not-very-bright Sundancer rose from total obscurity to control of half the world in less than two decades? You’ve met the woman. There’s nothing special about her. So why do men who in every other way are reasonable and intelligent people fall for her lies? How does she manipulate a man as powerful as Antonov Latanya?”
“You tell me. You’re the one who helped her.”
Neris frowned at the reminder, but Dirk had learned a lot about him these past two years. Everybody was so afraid of setting him off that nobody dared mention that it was the information he provided to the High Priestess that gave her power. But Neris wanted to talk about it. He badly wanted to share his guilt, as if it somehow made it less. And he burned with the need for vengeance. The madman’s true torment, Dirk often thought, was not what he had done, but that he was powerless to undo the damage.
“I helped her by telling her when the second sun would return. I never had anything to do with the Milk of the Goddess.”
“What’s the Milk of the Goddess got to do with it?” Dirk asked.
“It’s the key to sustaining Belagren’s power ... that and the Shadowdancers ... At least it’s how she’s got away with it for as long as she has.” Then he smiled slyly and added, “The Goddess certainly hasn’t been speaking to her much lately.”
“I don’t see the connection.”
The madman stared at him owlishly. “And Tia said you were as smart as me?”
“Fine, then don’t explain it,” he shrugged. “You are mad if you think there is any sort of connection between the orbit of our suns and something the Shadowdancers make you drink to get aroused.”
Neris grinned. “You think that’s all it does? You’re not just dim, you’re actively stupid.”
There was such a glint of mischief in the older man’s eyes that Dirk could not help but smile. “What are you saying, Neris? That it’s the Milk of the Goddess that gives her power?”
“Have you ever tried it?”
Dirk shifted uncomfortably as he thought of Marqel and his one encounter with the Milk of the Goddess. “Once.”
“Then you’ve some idea of what I’m talking about.”
“Actually, Neris, I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
Neris sighed heavily. “Oh, very well, I’ll explain it to you, seeing as how you’re too stupid to work it out for yourself. And I’ll use lots of small words so I can be certain you understand it.”
“I’d appreciate that,” Dirk replied wryly.
Still clutching the books, Neris assumed a lecturing tone. “The second sun vanished when I was a boy. The suffering was indescribable. Our crops failed. Our cattle died. It was cold, the seas started to drop, and then the earthquakes started and volcanoes that had been dormant for centuries suddenly began to wake. There was only darkness during the day and the red light from the first sun at night. Not long after that, I was sent to the Sundancers at the temple in Bollow.”
“Did your parents swear you to the Goddess?”
“Not really. Mostly I was sent there because my family was facing starvation. The Sundancers were willing to take in unwanted children, provided their parents swore an oath to follow the Goddess. I became a Sundancer because that meant there was one less mouth to feed.”
“What happened after you got there?”
“I’ll tell you, if you ever stop interrupting.”
“Sorry.”
“I was thirteen years old when I arrived. They put me to work in the kitchens. One day, I was taking a tray to some scholars working in the library. They had a mathematical problem written up on the wall that they couldn’t solve.”
“And you solved it?”
Neris looked incredibly smug. “After that, I didn’t work in the kitchens anymore.”
“Is that when they sent you to Omaxin?”
The madman shook his head. “No. But it wasn’t long after that Ella Geon arrived. She is a truly evil woman, Dirk, worse than Belagren, worse than Antonov ...” Neris’s voice trailed off, as if it was too difficult to continue.
“What happened?” Dirk prompted gently.
“I studied. I learned. I’ll spare you the boring details.” Neris’s eyes glazed over as he lost himself in the memory of it. Then he shrugged and looked down, as if ashamed. “Unfortunately, I also fell in love with Ella. Not that she ever noticed I was even alive in those days ... Anyway, it was seven or eight years later that Paige Halyn sent us to Omaxin to see if there was anything in the ruins that might help us. That’s when I discovered the hall with the Eye and told Ella and Belagren about it ...” Neris laughed, but it was full of bitterness and pain. “You want to know what’s really funny? I tried so damn hard! I thought that if I discovered something useful, something that Ella wanted, or needed, she’d love me. And I even deluded myself into believing that it worked. After I told Ella and Belagren what I’d discovered, Ella came to me the very next night, just like I had always dreamed ...”
“It’s not your fault, Neris. You couldn’t have known what they’d do with the information.”
“I should have known. Perhaps I did know and just pretended not to see. Anyway, Ella and Belagren had one more weapon in their arsenal that I didn’t know about until it was too late. That made all the difference.”
“The Milk of the
Goddess?”
He shook his head. “Poppy-dust.”
Neris closed his eyes for a moment. “Goddess, I can still remember the first time I tried it. It was like I’d discovered a new plane of existence. You’ve no idea what it felt like. Suddenly, I saw things differently. When I took the dust, I was a different man. It made me smarter. I would have giant leaps of intuition and reasoning. It made me more articulate, more confident, more ... more everything! I thought I was invincible!” He opened his eyes and stared at Dirk balefully. “Do you see the irony, Dirk? I was only capable of working out exactly when the second sun would return while I was lost in the drug.”
“Why didn’t you stop taking it?”
“I didn’t want to stop! I still don’t! How can I make you understand? Poppy-dust is a demanding mistress, Dirk. At first, you want her. Then you need her. Then you crave her. Before long, you can’t function without her. I reached that pathetic milestone in record time. Then Ella told me if I ever shared what I learned with anyone else, she’d take it away from me. That’s why it’s my fault. Because I’m weak. Antonov’s baby son, his wife who killed herself, all the people who died in the war, all the people who die each year at the Landfall Feast—their blood is on my hands! I made it happen. I gave Belagren and Ella the knowledge they wanted in order to ease my own suffering.”
“And what about the Milk of the Goddess? Where does that fit in?”
“You’ve seen the mushroom, Jaquison’s Blight?”
Dirk shook his head. “I’ve heard about it. I can remember somebody finding a patch in Elcast when I was small. Mother had them burn half the damn forest down to be certain they were destroyed.”
“Your mother is a wise woman, Dirk, if a little excessive. The Blight only thrives during the Age of Shadows. It can’t survive the light and heat of two suns. Distilled, the mushroom is a powerful aphrodisiac. But more important, it destroys reason. You wanted to know how Belagren gained so much power? She introduced the Milk of the Goddess to the Landfall Festival.”
Eye of the Labyrinth Page 6
