The Third God

by Ricardo Pinto

  He looked to Krow for support. The youth put his hand on Poppy’s shoulder and began to speak, but she jerked her shoulder free. ‘What about you?’

  Carnelian grew annoyed. ‘Look, didn’t you see the way Morunasa and the others behaved with me? We’re in their power. Even if we manage to survive, I intend to leave with the Master.’

  ‘Leave?’ asked Krow, frowning.

  Poppy half turned to him. ‘Back to the Mountain with Hookfork.’

  ‘Hookfork?’ exclaimed Krow.

  Poppy ignored him. ‘And what about us?’

  Carnelian shook his head. ‘You two could still slip away, and take Fern with you.’ He watched as their gaze shifted to their injured hearthmate. ‘Please try to understand. You must know that the last thing I want is to leave you behind, but it’s simply madness to imagine I could get you safely to the Mountain. Hookfork’s a monster. He already hates me and would gladly use you against me. Eventually, he would make sure you both died, horribly.’

  He waited, wanting it to sink in. ‘Even if that wasn’t a factor, we can’t trust the Master. He’s lost what heart he had. All that’s left in him is bitterness and a reflex instinct for revenge.’

  Poppy was still staring at Fern, battling tears. Carnelian leaned forward to kiss her head. ‘You three will find yourselves a new life here among the Lepers. The one I met was not so different from a woman of your people.’

  Poppy was shaking her head. He reached down to catch her chin and brought her eyes up to look into his. ‘Poppy, this is the only hope for any happiness I have left.’

  As she gazed at him the fierceness leached away. She ducked the slightest of nods into his hand. He let her go.

  ‘What about the Marula?’ asked Krow.

  Carnelian raised his hand to his brow. ‘I don’t know.’

  Carnelian was setting off to talk to Osidian in preparation for the meeting with Morunasa when a commotion broke out. From all across the camp Marula were converging on its eastern edge. Anxious, Carnelian was drawn to find out the cause. As he pushed through the crowding Marula he heard Morunasa’s voice rise in anger. He broke through to find him confronting some shrouded figures. His heart leapt. Lepers.

  Seeing Carnelian they surged towards him. The Marula drew back like crabs from a rising tide. Keeping his distance from the Lepers, Morunasa too approached him. ‘They say they’ve come with a warning, but that they’ll speak only to the Master.’

  Carnelian did not flinch when one of the Lepers stepped forward. Their sudden appearance seemed a gift from the gods. He tried desperately to think of how he might best use this good fortune to save his loved ones.

  ‘We came to warn you, Master.’

  ‘Of what?’

  ‘The Master who is your enemy and ours intends to fall on you with a numerous host.’

  ‘Aurum?’

  The Leper nodded and raised a bandaged arm to point towards the Pass. ‘Even now he approaches.’

  Carnelian was stunned. If this was true everything was suddenly overturned.

  ‘You’ve little time if you’re to escape.’

  ‘What’s this?’

  Everyone turned to look at Osidian. While Morunasa explained, Carnelian tried to find a way out of the trap they were now in. Though he had achieved the contact with the Lepers he had been working for, their announcement of Aurum’s imminent arrival had ruined everything. Morunasa was hardly going to let Poppy and the others go off to safety with the Lepers while he and his warriors remained behind to be destroyed.

  The Lepers drew back as Osidian advanced on them. ‘How could you possibly know that a force is coming down the Pass?’

  ‘Information’s come down to us from the Landabove.’

  ‘Impossible. The Ringwall’s closed.’

  ‘It came by a route the Masters don’t control. A route we could show you. A route that could bring you, Master, and these Marula up to the Landabove unseen.’

  ‘Unseen?’

  ‘It’s a secret way, unprotected.’

  Osidian stared at the Leper.

  ‘We’ll show you this secret way, but at a price.’

  Carnelian had a feeling there was something going on he should understand. ‘A price?’

  Another Leper stepped forward. ‘Au-rum. You must give the Master Au-rum to us.’

  Carnelian’s heart stopped as he recognized Lily’s husky voice and her peculiar pronunciation of the Quyan name.

  Osidian laughed. ‘Madness, sheer madness.’ His face became as forbidding as the cliff of the Guarded Land. ‘Do you really imagine I would hand over one of my own kind to you?’ His lips curled with disgust. ‘To a rabble of filthy lepers?’

  Carnelian addressed himself to the Leper he now was certain was Lily. ‘Even if we were to agree to this how do you think we could bring such a thing about?’

  ‘What if we brought you up into a city of the Landabove, within its walls, unseen? Would this make any difference?’ she said.

  ‘Even so such a city would be well defended by its legion.’

  ‘What if the city of which I speak had been stripped of its auxiliaries?’

  Carnelian turned his head enough to see Osidian’s eyes. As he expected, they were brightening with greed. Such a city would be vulnerable. What the Lepers were offering was a chance to acquire a legion of dragons.

  Morunasa leaned forward, glaring. ‘You were rash, Leper, to put yourselves in our power. We can take from you what you know.’

  Lily moved to confront the Oracle. ‘You could certainly force from us the knowledge of where it lies, Maruli, but it’s far away and you can only hope to reach it with the help of many of my kind – you won’t get that unless you promise to pay our price.’

  This show of defiance to their Oracle was making the Marula bristle and growl. It was a most unexpected sound that silenced them: Osidian laughing. Morunasa looked at him in surprise. Fire had returned to Osidian’s eyes. ‘You’re a fool, Morunasa. Can’t you see that these lepers have been sent to me by the Darkness-under-the-Trees?’

  As the sun was westering the Lepers led them up into the mouth of the Pass, so that it seemed they were riding towards the very thing they were trying to escape. Then the Lepers turned east towards the cliff of the Guarded Land. The ground began rising, becoming encumbered with boulders, earth turning to chalk that floated in veils around their march. Though they seemed to be riding towards the cliff they were not following a direct route. The Lepers led them up winding watercourses that followed narrow and tortuous tributaries. The aquar were finding it hard going. As Carnelian watched the shadows lengthen, he wondered how he might find a way to talk to Lily alone.

  The sky was striped with ochre as, dismounted, they began to clamber up scree. Behind him Carnelian could see the mouth of the Pass already in twilight. Above them the cliff rose so high it was almost impossible to see its crest.

  Dusk climbed the slope after them. It overtook them even as a cave mouth came into view. Near-darkness forced them to slow their climb. At last, Carnelian saw the Lepers ahead begin to be swallowed by the cave. When its arch was over his head, he looked back, then flinched: a glimmering tide was pouring out from the black throat of the Pass. Countless torches and, in among them, clots of darkness that must be dragons. As the Lepers had warned, Aurum had come.

  A columned cavern opened before them, haunted by the echoes of their arrival. Smoke hung like mist above fires whose light revealed the trunks of stalagmites. Pools cast spangles up onto the rough arches between the stalactites. Though this place bore a resemblance to the Labyrinth, its far humbler proportions made it seem a wood they were entering, a living place.

  Krow and Poppy led the aquar that carried Fern. They chose a spot between a fire and a pool to coax the creature to kneel. Carnelian helped them lift Fern out and lay him on a shelf of rock. As they tended to him they became aware of shades crowding the edge of the firelight.

  ‘Lepers,’ Carnelian said in a low voice. ‘They won’t hurt
us.’

  Some of the shrouded figures edged closer. They huddled, peering at Carnelian, pulling away when he looked at them.

  ‘They’ll not have seen the face of one of the Standing Dead before,’ whispered Poppy.

  Carnelian nodded, then noticed one Leper approaching boldly. He rose to meet it.

  ‘We need to talk, Carnie.’ It was Lily, as he had hoped. ‘You and us, the other Master, the Marula leader.’

  He glanced at Poppy. ‘You’ll stay with Fern?’

  When she nodded, Carnelian followed Lily off into the limestone forest.

  When they reached a secluded spot Carnelian reached out to touch Lily’s shoulder. ‘Why are you helping us?’

  The figure in front of him could have been a shrouded post. ‘You must realize that Aurum would’ve easily destroyed the Marula and then left for the Mountain, taking me and the other Master with him.’

  Lily turned and her bandaged hands went up to her brow to push back her cowl. The snow of her face and hair, her ruby eyes, were almost as much of a surprise to Carnelian as they had been the first time he had seen them. ‘We know that, in searching for you, Au-rum will wreak more destruction upon us. We fear this more than words can describe. We’re a traumatized people, terrified, but I believe and have persuaded others to believe that the only hope for us is resistance; that we must seek to restore the dignity we have lost.’

  ‘You seek this through vengeance?’

  Lily’s eyes darkened. ‘Through justice.’

  Having his words thrown back at him made Carnelian pause.

  Lily grimaced and her face lost its fierceness. ‘Most of my people will pursue this as vengeance though, in time, this may change. What I’ve come to believe, however, is that this hope of justice alone can unite my people, can give them back strength enough to save them from being broken. This is the only way I can see to heal them, to heal our land.’

  Carnelian’s heart responded to her plea. He wanted to give her his support, but there was a part of him that feared how much it might cost her people, cost her in the end. ‘Even with dragons we might not be able to overcome Aurum. Even if we do, even if we give him to you, our rebellion will be put down by the Masters. Once they restore their dominion they’ll pursue everyone they consider responsible. It’s unlikely they won’t discover the part you and your people have played.’

  Lily’s eyes, for a moment, seemed to become colourless. ‘That is a risk we must be prepared to take. Will we not be in much the same position as your Plainsmen?’ She put on a smile, affecting confidence. ‘Besides, what more can they do to us?’

  Carnelian gazed at her long enough to allow his silence to answer that. She reached out and took his hand. ‘Nevertheless, I believe we’ve no other choice.’ She frowned. ‘Besides, my heart tells me you were sent to us.’

  They both watched the reflections of the Marula dance in a pool like black flames. Carnelian felt dread threatening to overcome him. Her faith was too close to that Akaisha and so many others of the Ochre had put in him. The faith his weakness had betrayed. Still, he could not dash her hope. He believed what she said, that her people needed hope. Perhaps they needed her hope.

  He put his free hand over hers. ‘Lily, you must not trust Osidian.’

  ‘The other Master?’

  ‘It’s doubtful he’d give you Aurum even were he in his power.’

  Lily shrugged. ‘I’m not sure that matters. For now it’s enough that my people can play a part in bringing our enemy down. As for the other Master, it is not him I trust, but you.’

  Osidian stood before a tapering pillar of limestone, Morunasa at his side, Lepers keeping their distance. He was asking them something about plague.

  ‘Carnelian, they seem to know nothing of the Lord of Plagues,’ he said, his Quya populating the cavern with ghostly Masters. ‘Though I should wonder at my own surprise. Still, it has struck me that the ability to spread leprosy by touch is an attribute of that avatar. He in turn is, I believe, merely an aspect of the Black God. Of whom,’ he said, shifting into Vulgate and nodding towards Morunasa, ‘the Darkness-under-the-Trees is another aspect.’

  Morunasa turned away to stare into the shadows. Carnelian could sense by the cast of his shoulders how affronted the man was. He gazed at Osidian, hoping his own contempt was not soaking through into his face. Osidian’s need for divine sanction seemed at that moment the most pathetic superstition. Carnelian wondered how Osidian might respond to discovering that, perhaps, every one of the Lepers before him was free of the disease.

  ‘Now that you’re here . . .’ Osidian turned on the Lepers, among whom Lily was now lost. ‘Describe to me this secret way.’

  It was her voice that answered him. ‘There’s a city east of here built upon the very edge of the Landabove. This city controls seven ladders—’

  ‘Qunoth,’ Osidian said, a fierce hunger brightening in his eyes.

  ‘ – steep ways up to gates in the Ringwall, but there’s an eighth ladder known only to the Lep—’

  Osidian interrupted again. ‘This ladder, this Lepers’ Ladder, it comes up into Qunoth?’

  ‘It does, Master.’

  ‘And you say that only your kind know of its existence?’

  ‘We’re certain of this, Master.’

  ‘How would we get there?’

  ‘With Au-rum hunting you, we dare not take a route across the Valleys. Instead we must follow trails that run along the foot of the Landabove.’

  Morunasa spoke for the first time. ‘Can we ride along these trails?’

  ‘No. They’re difficult enough even on foot.’

  Morunasa shook his head. ‘This will take too long.’

  Lily’s shrouded figure emerged from the others. ‘We’ll have reason to count the days more than you, Maruli, for it’s upon my people that Au-rum will prey as he searches for you.’

  ‘How can we hope to remain supplied during such a journey?’ asked Osidian.

  Lily shrugged. ‘My people have sought refuge in caves all along the margin of the Landabove. I believe they’ll share what they have with you and your men.’

  Osidian frowned. ‘This has been arranged?’

  ‘No, Master, but I believe they will help anyone who has promised to deliver our enemy to our justice.’

  Carnelian sensed how distasteful Osidian considered the notion of handing one of the Great over to such vermin. ‘Do you swear you’ll give him up, Osidian? Will you swear it upon your blood, upon your faith in your god?’

  The eyes Osidian turned on him were those of an eagle.

  ‘Unless you do, Master, we’ll not help you,’ said Lily.

  Carnelian could see that Osidian was calculating how he might achieve what he wanted without the Lepers’ willing help. ‘My Lord, forget not how Aurum has treated you. To save himself he seeks to take you back to Osrakum to your death. Why forgo the chance these people offer you, in order to save such a one?’

  Osidian looked down for some moments, then, raising his head, he swore the oath.

  ‘Master . . .’ said Morunasa to get Osidian’s attention. ‘You know what we’ve suffered pursuing your ends. We’ve been so close to failure that, in spite of the proofs of favour our Lord has shown you, we’re close to abandoning you and returning to the Lower Reach to salvage what we can from its ruin. I share your faith, my Master, but I dare not hazard my people’s last chance of survival on anything less than certainty.

  ‘Will you swear as you have done for these –’ Morunasa indicated the Lepers with a stab of his chin – ‘that once you come into your own you’ll provide us with the means to bind bronze rings to the Upper Reach from which new ladders may be hung?’

  Carnelian stared at the Oracle, wondering at his forbearance that he should be prepared to wait until they had conquered Osrakum. Why was he putting faith in such an unlikely outcome? Osidian too was surveying Morunasa with frowning suspicion, but nevertheless he swore the oath and the Oracle pronounced himself satisfied.

/>   Carnelian had his own request to make, one that he wished all those present to witness. He addressed his comments to the Lepers. ‘The wounded Plainsman we’ve brought here can go no further in his condition. I judge he and the other two of his kind are of no further use to us. However, they’ve served us well enough and I’d like to leave them where they might have a decent life. Would you make a place for them among yourselves?’

  Carnelian kept his attention fixed on the Lepers, though really his speech was meant as much for Osidian as it was for them.

  Lily spoke for the Lepers. ‘Outcasts have always found refuge in our valleys.’

  Carnelian nodded his thanks, then turned to Osidian. Their eyes met. Osidian seemed puzzled, but also pleased as he raised his hand to add his gesture of assent.

  As Carnelian made his way back through the cavern, he prepared himself for the coming confrontation with Poppy. This time she would have no choice. He drew what thin comfort he could from having found his friends some kind of refuge. As for his own pain at the separation, that would have to wait for when he had the luxury to indulge it.

  He reached the place where Fern was lying. Krow was there, resting against a stalagmite. Poppy was nowhere to be seen. The youth looked up at him. It must have been the expression on Carnelian’s face that made him jump up. ‘Carnie?’

  Carnelian saw the youth’s alarm, but could only manage a slight smile of reassurance. ‘We’re going east from here following a route to the Guarded Land.’

  ‘And we’re staying behind,’ said Krow.

  Carnelian nodded. He looked down at Fern. ‘He certainly can’t come with us.’

  ‘And Poppy?’

  Carnelian raised his head and saw how sick Krow looked. ‘Where I’m going there’s no place for her. You must see that’s true.’

  Krow nodded.

  ‘And you must stay with her. I sense that that’s what your heart wants too.’

  Krow looked very young, his face expressing his feelings even as he strove to hide them.

  ‘I’ve found a place for you among these people. They’re not so different from Plainsmen. They’re clean. Their leprosy is mostly a disguise they wear to protect themselves from others.’