CHAPTER 51
Even though Cayal couldn't feel the Tide well because of the dampening effect of the crystal, he could see it at work. The dancing lights of the aurora lit the night sky as they approached the ice palace, a dazzling show of vivid green light, beckoning them south.
As Elyssa had predicted, Taryx was waiting for them with a dog sled when they came ashore, which was a good thing because it was quite a long way across the ice to the palace. The distance meant little to the immortals but a great deal to Arkady, who was neither dressed nor equipped for a hike across this frozen landscape.
With their precious mortal messenger bundled into the sled, wrapped in furs against the bitter wind with the Chaos Crystal tucked safely in her keeping, they reached the palace just as the aurora began to bathe the southern skies in its mystical light.
The journey across the ice to the palace took less time than Cayal was expecting. A great deal more of the ice continent had given way in their absence. By the time the Tide peaked, the palace would be on the coast. He understood now why Lukys had constructed it so far inland. He must have known this would happen.
Lukys, Arryl and Maralyce came out to meet them. There was a repressed excitement about them Cayal had never seen before. Arryl seemed fidgety and a little distracted. The normally laconic Lukys could barely
contain his excitement, and Maralyce seemed almost giddy as Taryx shook Arkady awake once they were inside. She pushed off the furs, blinking owlishly in the sudden light of the torchlit main chamber, and looked around in awe.
'You have it,' Lukys said as Arkady climbed from the sled.
It was a statement not a question. The dampening on the Tide would have told Lukys where the crystal was long before they got here.
Arkady nodded, and reached inside her coat. Cayal held his breath as, a moment later, she pulled out a small bundle wrapped in hessian sacking. She opened it to reveal the crystal skull she'd so carefully carried from the shores of Caelum to the other side of the world in order to save Warlock and his family. The skull glowed a fierce shade of red, surrounded as it was by so many Tide Lords.
She thrust it forward toward Lukys who took a step away from it.
'You made a mortal carry it for you,' Maralyce noted with approval. 'We wondered how you were going to travel with it.'
'Nice of you to let us know in advance that it sucks the very Tide out of everything it touches,' Elyssa said.
'Kentravyon knew,' Lukys said with a shrug. 'Nice to see you again, Elyssa.'
'I doubt it, Lukys. You need me to help you work your little magic trick, that's all. Don't pretend you and that old cow there want me here for any other reason.'
'Charming as always,' Lukys said with a smile and mocking bow. 'Welcome back, Kentravyon. Cayal.' He turned to Arkady with an urbane smile. 'And who is this delightful creature who has cared so faithfully for our precious Chaos Crystal and carried it across the world for us?'
'This is Arkady Desean,' Cayal told him. 'Arkady, this is Lukys and, well, you already know Maralyce and Arryl.'
'Welcome to my home,' Lukys said, gallantly raising Arkady's gloved hand to his lips, while carefully avoiding the hand that was holding the Chaos Crystal. 'And you've met these two already? Well, aren't you the dark horse? Are you one of Cayal's many lovers? I always imagined that if I grew bored enough, I could amuse myself by trying to find as many of them as possible.'
'Leave her alone,' Cayal said to Lukys, removing Arkady's hand from his. 'We ran across Arkady in our travels and she offered to carry the crystal for us. Nothing more.'
'What happened to Declan?' Arryl asked, with a brief nod of greeting to Arkady. She didn't seem any happier to see the mortal duchess than she was to see Elyssa.
'He was getting on my nerves, so I killed him,' Cayal said.
Lukys smiled. 'Very droll. What really happened to him?'
'He quit on us,' Kentravyon said. 'Some namby- pamby nonsense about the Crash.'
'Cayal said Declan didn't want any part of killing several thousand innocent felines,' Arkady said, clearly taking umbrage at hearing the Rodent's name maligned, however justly. Cayal privately thought Kentravyon was right on the money. Hawkes bad quit on them because of his squeamishness over killing Crash. He wasn't going to let Arkady know he thought that way about her old lover, however. Things were looking very rosy between him and Arkady at the moment. In fact, they were getting along better than they'd been for a very long time. Hawkes was long gone, off saving the world in his own inimitable fashion, far from Jelidia. Amazing how much more
smoothly events unfolded when there was no longer any competition.
Admittedly, Elyssa was still a thorn in Cayal's side. And Arkady still needed to move past that teensy little I-offered-Elyssa-your-body-so-she-could- possess-you problem she was having, but Cayal was confident she'd get over that. Eventually.
All things considered, things are looking quite rosy ...
And then Cayal realised what he was doing and cursed his own stupidity. There was no point making plans for the future. He didn't have one. Didn't want one, either.
This is what Arkady did to him. This was the subtle danger of her. Arkady made him think of the future. She made him want a future, which was all well and good, except she was mortal so the future she offered was merely an illusion of happiness. It could never be the real thing.
Curse the woman. When she wasn't around, he had no need to make plans.
Maybe, if she was immortal, Cayal dared to imagine for a moment, there might have been some hope. Lukys and Coryna seemed to have found a way to make it work across endless lifetimes.
'Would you like to follow me?' Lukys said to Arkady, indicating the way with his arm. 'I'm sure you're looking forward to being rid of your burden.'
Arkady nodded warily and glanced at Cayal, who was still silently cursing his own foolishness for allowing his imagination, and his impossible dreams, to run away with him.
'I'll come with you,' he offered. 'What about you. Elyssa? Want to come down and admire Lukys and Taryx's handiwork?' His moment of weakness behind him, Cayal phrased the question that way deliberately, knowing it was the surest way to be rid of her temporarily. Nothing would irk Elyssa more
than hearing Lukys and Taryx pat themselves on the back over their own cleverness in building the ice chamber.
Thank you, but I think I'd rather be shown to my room. It was a quite a hike over the ice to this place and my clothes are soaking. I'd like a chance to change, at the very least.'
'I'll show you the way,' Arryl offered. Her tone seemed oddly flat, as if she had little interest in the new arrivals. There was no sign of her lizard Crasii, either.
Lukys watched them leave, smiling in a way that gave no hint of what he was really thinking. Taryx was busy with the sled and the dogs, and at some point Kentravyon had also slipped away.
Cayal looked around for a moment, as he realised someone else was missing. 'Where's Pellys?'
'Up on the roof,' Lukys told him.
'What's he doing up there?'
'Waiting for the Tide to peak.'
'Really?'
Maralyce smiled at his expression. 'Don't worry, Cayal. For once there's a sound reason behind something he's doing.'
'I'm not sure if sound and reason are two words that actually apply to Pellys, Maralyce,' Cayal said with a frown.
'We need to know when the Tide peaks,' Lukys said. 'We won't feel it inside the palace now the Chaos Crystal is here. He's up there watching for us. Shall we?' He stepped back to let Arkady precede him. A little warily, she headed in the direction he indicated.
'Elyssa was right, you know,' Cayal said, falling in beside Lukys. 'The damn thing sucks the Tide out of everything in the vicinity. Won't it do the same to us?'
Lukys nodded. 'Initially, yes. But once you start forcing the Tide through it, it will actually start to
amplify the Tide. With the power directed back at it by the chamber's walls, it'll suck that up too.
Before long, we'll have gathered enough power to open the rift.'
'And then you'll be able to transfer your rat's mind into your wife's body?' Arkady asked.
Lukys glanced at her oddly for an instant as they walked and then looked at Cayal. 'You told her?'
'Only because Kentravyon told me,' Cayal said. 'When were you planning to share this minor but important detail with the rest of us, by the way?'
'When you needed to know,' Lukys said with an unapologetic shrug. 'Did he tell you about Coryna's little ... accident ... that necessitates this rather dire course of action to remedy the situation?'
Tides, Cayal thought as he listened to Lukys speak. He's probably going to leave a pile of rubble the size of this planet in his wake trying to restore the rat's mind to a human body, and he's calling it 'the remedy for a little accident'?
And they say I'm deluded.
'Oh, he did better than that, my lord,' Arkady said in a tone that made it clear she hadn't even begun to consider forgiving Cayal for his latest transgression. 'He told Elyssa you would do the same for her. Using my body.'
'Did he now?' Lukys said, looking at her thoughtfully.
'Of course, the attempt will apparently kill me, but he's not too bothered about that. Seems to think he'll be dead too, so he won't have to live with the consequences of what he's done.'
'That sounds like our boy Cayal,' Lukys agreed as they headed down the stairs to the lower levels. He'd taken a torch from the head of the stairs to light their way. The flames fractured into myriad colours that splattered against the ice-carved walls. 'I take it you're not interested in taking part in such an exchange, my lady?'
'Of course not!'
Lukys sighed and glanced over his shoulder at Cayal. 'You really should ask before you make these arrangements, Cayal. The lady clearly wants nothing to do with it.'
'I needed to get Elyssa to cooperate.'
'He did that by asking her to marry him,' Arkady said, taking a perverse amount of pleasure in his discomfort. But her teeth were chattering as she spoke, the only one here who could feel the bone-chilling cold of the ice.
'Tides,' Maralyce said from behind them with a sour laugh. 'I think I finally understand how truly desperate you are, Cayal.'
He stopped and glared at the three of them, feeling very misunderstood. He'd offered Arkady to Elyssa to save her life, not take it. 'Tides, I was just trying to help. And you know that, Arkady, so stop trying to paint me as the one at fault here. Yes, I promised you to Elyssa, but Lukys knows it won't work. I just need her to believe we're trying, that's all.'
'So, when we come to open the rift, you want me to take time out from focusing the largest concentration of Tide ever gathered in one place, to pretend I'm helping Elyssa, so she'll help you?' Lukys asked.
'Well ... yes.'
Lukys shook his head without comment and resumed walking with Arkady at his side; Maralyce poked Cayal from behind to get him moving. 'You're an idiot, Cayal.'
'I'm an idiot?' he muttered under his breath, staring after the others as they began to descend the stairs into the ice chamber.
After a moment, he followed the circle of light that was Lukys and the torch he carried, more than a little peeved by the lack of sympathy he was getting from
the man who professed to understand his pain so well he was willing to help him die.
A few moments later, Cayal heard rather than saw Arkady's reaction when she first spied the spectacular fire-lit ice chamber below the palace. Her gasp was audible even on the stairs.
'Tides ...'
impressive, isn't it?' Lukys said with a smile in his voice. He really was inordinately proud of his wretched chamber.
'How are you fuelling the fires?'
'With methane trapped under the ice.'
it's ... fantastic!'
By the time Cayal reached the bottom of the stairs, Arkady, Maralyce and Lukys were already halfway across the vast cavern floor on their way to the altar. Cayal followed them, no longer fascinated by the burning ice, although given the way Arkady's head was swivelling this way and that, he figured she was intrigued by it. He caught up with them as they reached the solid block of ice in the centre of the cavern.
It was then that Cayal realised Oritha was lying on the altar, hands crossed over her breast, apparently peacefully asleep.
'Put the crystal by her head,' Lukys instructed Arkady. She was looking askance at the young woman laid out on the altar, but made no comment. Cayal wasn't sure if that was because she didn't care, or simply didn't want to know what had caused the woman's state.
Cayal wasn't nearly so confused about his feelings on the subject, isn't that your wife?'
Lukys nodded. 'Beautiful, isn't she?'
'What's she doing here?' Cayal had quickly deduced she wasn't sleeping. Whatever Oritha was doing on that altar, he doubted she was doing it willingly. 'Dead.'
'She's not dead,' Lukys scoffed.
'She's preparing for the transfer,' Maralyce said, smoothing the young woman's hair with a gentle hand. 'If there's any resistance at all, the transfer won't work. In this state, she's so deeply unconscious she won't feel a thing.'
While they were speaking, Arkady carefully placed the glowing red skull near Oritha's head and stepped back, her task completed. She looked very relieved. 'Now what?'
'Now we wait for the Tide to peak,' Lukys said.
'How long will that take?'
'Not long, I hope,' Maralyce said. 'It pains Oritha greatly every time we're forced to bring her around again. She's not immortal yet, and the freezing process will eventually harm her if we don't move soon.'
'What happens to me?' Arkady asked, looking around at the three of them.
'You should probably say your goodbyes, my dear,' Lukys said with a benevolent smile.
'You're going to let me leave?' Arkady asked, looking a little surprised.
'In a manner of speaking,' Lukys agreed, putting his arm around her shoulder. 'Why don't we go back upstairs so we can discuss the arrangements?'
Lukys led Arkady away from the altar, his arm still around her shoulder like a generous uncle offering a favoured niece a special treat. Cayal watched them leave, watched them disappear into the eerie green-lit maw of the entrance to the stairs, a little puzzled by Lukys's words. He turned to Maralyce. 'What's he talking about? Making arrangements?'
'He's just being nice to her, Cayal. You know how Lukys operates. Nobody ever knows what's about to happen to them.'
'What's he going to do to Arkady?'
Maralyce rolled her eyes. 'Tides, boy, do you have to ask?'
Cayal stared at her for a moment, and then he cursed under his breath as he realised what she was telling him. Cayal took off at a run, slipping on the icy polished permafrost floor as he bolted after Lukys and Arkady.
He was too late, of course. By the time he reached the top of the stairs, Arkady was already unconscious, barely breathing, laid out on the floor.
'Tides, what have you done?' he demanded of Lukys, sliding on his knees the last few feet to reach Arkady.
'What you asked,' Lukys said. 'I've done the same to her as I've done to Oritha.' 'I never asked you to do that!'
'Elyssa will never believe you intend to keep your promise otherwise, Cayal,' Lukys said with infuriating logic, 'I'd have done it down in the chamber, but now the crystal's down there I didn't want to risk it.'
'You could have warned her.'
'What purpose would that have served?'
None, Cayal realised, but there was no point in saying so. He bent over her and kissed Arkady on the lips. They were already icy and faintly tinged with blue. Then he looked up at Lukys. 'Will she be all right?'
'Of course she will,' Lukys promised. 'We'll lay your girl here out next to Oritha on the altar, and Elyssa will stand there and channel all the Tide you need to die, and she'll never be any the wiser.'
'Until she wakes up on the new world and realises nothing has changed.'
'Not my fau
lt if it doesn't work,' Lukys said with a shrug. 'I'm not even sure it will restore Coryna.'
'You won't really put Elyssa's mind into Arkady's body, will you?'
'I hardly think, given everything else that will be happening when we open the rift, that I'll have the time. Do you?'
That wasn't exactly a resounding denial, but Cayal figured it would have to do. He was sorry about only one thing, however. Lifting Arkady's unconscious body into his arms so he could carry her back down the stairs to the Tide chamber, he really wished he'd taken the time to tell her he was sorry.
CHAPTER 52
Tiji survived on ice-melt and anger for the first few days of her confinement. She paced her cell furiously, planning all manner of dire fates for Lukys and Taryx and all immortals in general, for sealing her up in here. When she tired of that, she started to wonder why they hadn't killed her outright.
For reasons far too complicated to go into now — reasons you cannot begin to understand — for the time being I want you alive, little Scard.
That's what he had said. For the time being I want you alive.
Tiji tried to figure out what Lukys meant by that, but she really had no idea. And why, if he wanted her alive, did he not just leave her in the palace, waiting on Lady Arryl? She was no threat to him there.
You'll stay here until I need you again. Or until I don't need you. At which point you'll be free to share the fate of your friends once we have departed Amyrantha.
Was Arryl planning to leave too?
Tiji knew they were intending to open a rift that would lead to another world. She'd heard them talking about it ... well, overheard them, actually. And then, when she presented her case to Lady Arryl, Lukys had admitted it outright.
But there was something decidedly suspicious about the whole affair. Oritha's calm acceptance of the near-death state Lukys kept inducing in her so he could perfect his technique was downright creepy. Did he
really mean to take her across a world-bridging rift to start a life with him on another world?
Admittedly, Lukys seemed fond of Oritha, but she was hardly worth this much effort.
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