The River King

by Kim Alexander

  “But if no one knows them anymore, then only someone who was here when—” She stopped. “This isn’t about me at all. This is about Brother Blue.”

  Coll nodded. “I can find him, even though he has wandered from the path of life. He’s still alive, and so he can be reached. But it takes two mages to perform this charm, to make sure the first doesn’t get lost on the path themselves.” He looked Scilla in the eye, a rare event. “You must guide me back.”

  “You want to go into his mind and try to find out the charm?” Was such a thing even possible?

  “No,” said Hellne. “Coll is going to find him and bring him back to perform it himself.”

  Olly came in, pushing the wheeled chair that moved Blue from place to place.

  Hellne leaned over and kissed his bald head then stepped back. Coll put his hand out, which in itself was a bit shocking, since Lelet had been quite clear about not touching anyone from Eriis and their hands in particular. But Scilla took it, and they each took one of Blue’s hands, which were cool and trembled slightly. She held it tight as she dared, not wanting to crush his fragile fingers. It was like holding the wing of a bird.

  “Do not let me stray,” said Coll, and he began to speak.

  Scilla followed his voice into the dark.

  Chapter Forty-One

  Eriis

  “I can’t go. I won’t leave her.” Rhuun looked back at where Lelet lay sleeping. She hadn’t moved, of course. He’d checked to make sure she was still breathing so often she actually opened her eyes and told him to go take a walk.

  Ilaan, he knew, was trying to remain composed and not yell at his cowardly friend. “Mother Jaa says—”

  “She says she’s probably not going to die. Probably. Am I supposed to feel better about abandoning her here in the middle of the desert?”

  “One more time, since your wits are wandering: Your mother is on Mistra, and there is a not insignificant chance she won’t be making it back. Your uncle is some sort of monster, and the Zaal will be standing at his side when The Door is open. And if we leave now, we’ll have time to get in place before the ceremony starts and they start moving the dirt through. We have to be there.”

  Rhuun knew all of this, of course, and in other circumstances would be eager to see if Ilaan could do what Thayree had done—shimmer with a guest along for the ride. What he really wanted was for Ilaan to insist he stay here in the tents with Lelet and go off to battle the Zaal and his daeeve without him. “No, Beast,” Ilaan would say. “You’ve done enough. You must stay here.” This was unlikely. “And your plan is to...what? Fling me at the Zaal, hoping to distract him? I’m a liability.”

  He could practically hear Ilaan grind his teeth. “You’re missing the point. If we succeed, there will be no one on the Seat. Aelle cannot reveal she’s been impersonating Hellne.” For Aelle to admit she’d taken the face of the queen came with some pretty serious consequences, particularly if Hellne wasn’t present to say she’d allowed it. Ilaan closed his eyes and leaned his head on his hands for a moment. “If it’s that you’re afraid, I understand. What the Zaal did to you...”

  “Of course I’m afraid. I’m afraid she’s going to die. The Zaal has nothing to do with it.” The scars on his wrists itched, and he pulled his sleeves down over them. Ilaan watched him wearily. “Fine, I’m afraid of the Zaal. But that’s not why I want to stay here.”

  “Hopefully the Zaal won’t even know you’re there. I wouldn’t send you to stand in front of him. I wouldn’t...ask you do that. We don’t need you in the fight. We need you afterwards.”

  Rhuun wondered if Ilaan thought that made it better.

  “Because my people love and respect me.” He could hear his voice and knew he sounded mean and petty.

  “If I could put the crown on a particularly large slab of ashwood and prop it on the High Seat, it would be better than nothing, which is what we have if you don’t come with me.”

  Rhuun didn’t reply.

  “I could remind you it is your duty and one you are not often called upon to fulfill.”

  “You don’t have to remind me,” said Rhuun. Ilaan was putting the call of his own heart aside for the good of Eriis, and it was beyond selfish of Rhuun not to do the same. “Of course I know. But how can I go?”

  “If you leave, I’ll be able to get some rest.” Lelet had propped herself on her elbow. “Watching you worry is taking it out of me. Ilaan, please keep an eye on him. He wanders off.”

  “With you both against me I might as well pack my bags.” Rhuun sighed and reached for the bottle. It was empty. He and Ilaan had been at this all afternoon. He figured it was time to switch to water anyway. “When do we leave?”

  “No one is against you, shani. And I know you don’t want to leave me, but I won’t be alone. I’ll join you in the city soon. I’m fine.” She smiled brightly. The effort of appearing cheerful and understanding had turned her skin ashen, and she couldn’t support herself on her elbow any longer. She wouldn’t die—probably—but she was far from being well.

  “Light and Wind are watching over her, and so is Mother Jaa. Can you imagine any harm coming to her through that group of ladies?” Ilaan looked relieved, but Rhuun knew he was still annoyed at wasting a day convincing him to show up and do his one job.

  “They’re watching over you too.” Lelet smiled up at the two of them and closed her eyes. “Go away,” she said. “Wait, come back.” She motioned to Rhuun, who rushed to her side. “Kiss me goodbye. Be careful. The faster you go, the faster Ilaan can go look for Niico.” She seemed to want to say more but drifted off to sleep. He decided she was about to call him brave—which was a lie, but she was kind—and tell him she loved him.

  “I love you too,” Rhuun whispered. Then he stood. “I’m ready.”

  Chapter Forty-Two

  Mistra

  Hellne paced. It was a habit she normally avoided, finding it a crutch of the weak-minded, but there was nothing else for her to do.

  Coll and Scilla each had one of Malloy’s hands, and the two of them stared at each other, unblinking. They’d recited a long chant in High Eriisai, back and forth, over and over, and then fallen silent. They’d been at it all evening.

  She wondered how long this would take and tried to decide if she felt more anticipation or fear. What would she say to him? She looked at him, trying to see her young and beautiful lover in that ancient shell. Would he even remember her? Would this charm merely bring life back into those withered limbs? Coll was infuriatingly vague. His goal was to open that second, lethal Door, and anything beyond that simply did not interest him.

  He did seem quite invested in the young human though. She wondered if he had the idea of rebuilding the Raasth, perhaps above ground and with a better class of students, perhaps even some humans among them.

  Coll let out a long sigh and dropped Scilla’s hand. He made to speak but coughed instead, and Olly passed him water.

  “I can see him,” Coll said. “He is a light in that dark place. But I can’t reach him. I can’t find the way.” His shoulders dropped. “I suppose I can try again. We could start over. Or we can go through the books.”

  “Is there time?” Hellne asked. She knew there wasn’t.

  “Let me go.” Scilla held up Blue’s hand. The paper-thin skin showed every blue-traced vein. “I can do this. I can find the way. His mind, his wits—they’re human. Like me. The path is different. I can find him. I know it.”

  Coll shook his head. “It’s too dangerous. You don’t know the markers.”

  “I’ve been to the Veil and got out. I’ve been through The Door. I captured a demon, and I remade my sister, twice. I can find one old man.”

  Hellne thought the child was bold indeed to brag about some of those accomplishments, but Coll looked unconvinced.

  “And what about your eyes?” the mage asked.

  Scilla flushed. “It’s my business.”

  “If you come away from this blind, it’s my business as well.”
/>
  She lifted her chin. They stared at each other.

  “Fine,” Coll finally said. “We don’t have time, and it’s the obvious solution.” He turned to Hellne and Olly. “When May murders me, remember me with kindness. Now,” he said, all business, “we will reverse quartos, and you will lead the incanto series. And don’t let go of either hand. Are we clear?”

  Scilla nodded.

  “When you’ve got him, don’t be tempted to linger. You remember the Veil? The way it changed time? This could be similar. Find him, take hold of him, and I will guide you home.” He paused. “And may Light and Wind keep all of us intact until further notice.”

  They began again. To Hellne’s ear, it sounded exactly the same. Instead of pacing, she stood near the window. The stars were up, and the thick glass made them smear and waver.

  Blue coughed, loudly. It was the first noise he’d made. He coughed again and began to shake. Coll and Scilla now had to grip him with both hands, lest he fly loose and break the charm. Scilla’s face was red, and her eyes streamed. Coll’s was a mask of concentration. Blue’s movements got more violent, and Hellne backed against the wall. He actually rose up out of his chair—flew up, they were now hanging on to keeping him from flying into the ceiling—and then came crashing down. He was still, and his face was ashen.

  “Is he breathing? What happened?” Hellne came closer as Coll and Scilla let him go and both fell back, exhausted.

  “Hellne?” The voice, so familiar, came from behind her. “Can it be?”

  She turned. “Malloy. Been a while.”

  He was exactly as beautiful and ugly as she remembered.

  Hellne forced her expression to say nothing, not until she knew precisely what she was dealing with. “I’m surprised you remember me.”

  Malloy laughed, and the sound twisted her heart. “Forget my princess? Have the moons fallen into the sea since I’ve been gone?” He looked across the room at his own elderly body, now slumped over in the chair and shook his head in wonderment. Then he turned to Scilla. “Child, you’ve surpassed your elders. That was a well-done charm, very well done.”

  Scilla had collapsed into the chair near the desk and gave him a weak smile.

  “And this Eriisai gentleman,” said Malloy, “I’m afraid I don’t have the pleasure.”

  “My name is Coll. I’ve taken up teaching this child where you left off. I believe she’ll surpass us both. Perhaps she already has.” He paused. “What’s the last thing you remember?”

  “Can I... Is there any beer?”

  “I’ll fetch it for you, Master.” Olly, who had been out of the way in the corner, came forward with tears on his face. “It will be my pleasure.”

  Malloy smiled and put out his arms, and the two embraced. “I thought you’d be running the Primes by now.”

  “Seriously,” said Coll, “what’s the last thing you remember?”

  “I suppose we can catch up later, since there seems to be some sense of urgency here.” Malloy leaned on the edge of his desk.

  “It’s a long story, but there are some monsters at the end of it, and we need a Door to someplace they can’t escape from,” Scilla said, having recovered some of her strength. She started to stand but dropped back into the chair. Her pupils were enormous, and she wasn’t exactly looking at Malloy. “By tomorrow. Morning.”

  Malloy scratched his head then, startled, looked at his hand. He’d been surprised to find thick, dark hair and smooth skin. “Remember those old books that got you in trouble?”

  Scilla grinned. “I hid ‘em under my bed.”

  “There might be something in one of those. Of course, it would be purely theoretical...” He gave his head a shake and turned to Hellne. “Do I... This may sound strange, but is it possible we have a son?”

  She nodded, allowing herself to smile. “We do indeed. His name is Rhuun. He is...tall.” She laughed. “And clever. And kind. I think you’d like him.”

  “I have met him, although I was almost thinking I’d dreamed the whole thing up. Can’t guess I made a good impression. The last year... My wits... I hope to meet him again under better circumstances. And you and I will have much to discuss, it appears. And we will.” His voice was kind, but he was already turning back to Scilla and Coll.

  The three began discussing theories of magic. They cleared his desk and began drawing and sketching on it. The girl scribbled something, leaning in so the writing was mere inches from her face. Not quite blind, then. Good. Watching Malloy, the way he moved, his easy smile, she could understand how her younger self had become so enamored. Then she sighed.

  He remembers me, but not like I remember him. It’s been over a hundred years, here on Mistra. I am a pleasant memory of long ago. She recalled the day she’d gone to the Raasth to bargain for his life. The table had bitten her. She’d completely forgotten about that. She wanted something that would keep Malloy alive until she saw him again, imagining the whole unpleasantness with the humans would be over in a matter of a few days. She remembered what the old mage said: “He’ll be alive. This I say without hesitation. How he comports himself is up to him. Safe or damaged, it’s all the same to the charm we just worked.” That was the day before the Weapon, and now here he was, more than a hundred years later. She had to hand it to the old Zaal, that’d been quite a charm.

  Hellne was awakened by Coll, who gently laid a hand on her arm. She’d been dozing in the comfortable chair in the corner, and the moons were both high.

  Coll motioned for her to join them at the desk. “We have the rest of the night to turn this from theory to practice, but I think we have something.”

  On the paper laid out over the desk, a circle had been drawn. She knew without asking that the ink was blood, that without Rhuun’s blood none of this would work at all. He was somehow the engine that this magic ran upon. She wondered if Malloy knew.

  The circle bisected itself over and over. Each slice moved and overlapped as she watched. A second circle made of grains of sand appeared, then a third and fourth, looping, forming, and reforming themselves in the air above the desk.

  “Watch this,” said Malloy. He said something in a language she didn’t recognize and tossed a scrap of paper covered with more blood-inked script into the intersecting circles. A palm-sized Door opened at the center of the orbiting sand, or at least it appeared to. There was nothing in it. It was simply a black space.

  “What is it? Where does it lead?”

  “As far as we can tell, nowhere,” said Coll. “It seemed safest. We wouldn’t want to drop our visitors on someone else’s doorway.”

  “And tomorrow, we make a big one and set it to open right in front of the first one,” said Scilla. Hellne looked at the child closely. She appeared ready to fall over, and her eyes were still all pupil.

  “You are all clever beyond measure,” said Hellne. “You may have saved this world, although I’m not certain it deserves the favor.” Malloy, Olly, and Scilla looked aghast. “Oh, settle your wings. I’m with you, obviously. Can you spare this poor girl? If she doesn’t rest, she won’t be at full, er, volume tomorrow.”

  Scilla immediately protested, but Coll nodded. “We need your prodigious gifts, not you nodding off at a critical moment.”

  Grumbling, she set herself up with blankets in front of the fire and was asleep at once.

  “I think we can spare you for a while, Malloy, if you wish to stretch your legs.”

  Hellne smiled. Coll was nothing if not subtle.

  “If you’re certain,” Malloy said.

  “Don’t be too long, but I understand the view from the roof is quite pleasant.” The mage turned back to the desk, watching the whirling arcs of sand rise and fall.

  They sat facing each other on the wall. The sea murmured in the distance.

  “Well,” Malloy said.

  “Quite,” Hellne said. Then, “I understand they beat you.”

  “Mercilessly. I hear you raised a child of uncertain parentage.”

 
“Oh, I was certain all right.” She paused. “I gave him your book.”

  He laughed. “You know, I had this odd memory of someone telling me they loved that silly thing, that it changed his life.” He shook his head. “When he said it was a great book, that’s when I knew I was just dreaming.”

  “Oh, it wasn’t that bad,” she replied. “I liked the way my character got redeemed at the end.”

  Malloy looked at her. “Funny you thought you were the evil dead wife, not the sweet and virginal maiden.”

  “I knew it was me. I had all the best lines. Of course, the version I gave Rhuun, I tore all the, um, questionable pages out. I didn’t want him to have unrealistic expectations about human women, should he ever meet one.”

  “How did that turn out?”

  “Not quite as well as I had hoped. He simply refuses to be protected.” They smiled at each other. Then she grew serious. “I think it’s possible that a charm has kept you alive.”

  “You think?”

  Hellne sighed. “I know. I went to the old Zaalmage and demanded he charm you to keep you safe until I saw you again.”

  “Did that happen to be right before the Weapon?” To her astonishment, he was obviously trying not to smile.

  “I thought you’d be angry.”

  “Hardly. I’ve lived almost twice the normal span of years, most of it in peace, most of it moderately happily. That was a fine gift you gave me. I wasn’t the one stuck with a mysteriously human-looking child. I didn’t even know it was possible for us to...for you to conceive at all. Hellne, I was a foolish young man, but I hope you know I would never have left you alone, had I known.”

  She had planned an inquisition about his knowledge of the spark, to find out once and for all whether she’d been violated, but instead she looked up at him, looked him in the eye the way the humans liked to do. “I believe you.”

  He gave a sudden frown. “Um, am I to assume the ‘until I saw you again’ part of the charm has been fulfilled?”