The Wraeththu Chronicles

by Storm Constantine

  Faces were blurring; I could recall Mima only by her hair. I was suddenly terrified that even Cal would become erased from my thoughts. All the things I had learned, all the people I had met; so cherished. We need our memories; all of us. I dreaded that eventually Vaysh would become the only reality. Thiede's creature, my servitor and my guard. Oh, Orien had taught me well and I still remembered his words, those words that would never leave me: hide your tears, Pellaz. I have rarely gone against that advice, but that night I was alone, and the wind outside howled like a lost soul seeking warmth. No-one could hear me weep.

  Vaysh woke me at dawn. He was already dressed to travel and carried a thick fur coat over his arm. I was glum and irritable as he supervised my dressing and made me eat an uninspiring breakfast of milk and oats. Perversely, at that moment I would not have cared if he had gone on without me. Let him take my place on the throne of Wraeththu. I would continue to molder away in Phade's tower, hating the cold in this frozen wilderness. (Was there ever a summer here?) More than this, I wanted to go back. I had dreamed of Saltrock the night before; a Saltrock of brighter colors, greater charm. In my dreams it had been Seel, not Cal, who had quickened with desire against me, but it had not spoiled the illusion.

  "Hurry up, I want to get out of here!" said Vaysh.

  I was pulling on my boots, sitting on the bed, hair in my eyes. I replied in the only fitting, possible way, "Oh, fuck off, Vaysh!" slowly and with venom. Vaysh blinked and flared his nostrils.

  "We have work to do and quite some distance to cover," he said.

  "I don't care!" I grumbled, pettishly.

  "Are you always like this in the mornings, Pellaz?" A smile should have accompanied that remark, but when I looked up, Vaysh's face was expressionless, as usual. I wanted to make him angry.

  "How much do you know about what. .. about what Thiede has done to me?" I asked. Vaysh turned away so that I could not see his face as he answered.

  "How much? More than you ... maybe. Is it important? It's happened, hasn't it? Would you prefer to be dead?

  A quick, cold anger flashed through me. I stood up and roughly grabbed Vaysh's shoulders. He tried to turn immediately; his hands came up and struck my wrists. I could almost feel his flesh crawling at my touch. "Don't!" he shouted and I let go. His eyes were dark with the anger I had yearned for.

  "My mind ... I'm forgetting things," I told him. Emotions were pulsing in and out of his eyes as he struggled to control them.

  "Forgetting things? What things?" he hissed and backed away about three steps, rubbing his shoulders. Even his own touch seemed repellent to him.

  "Things that happened to me when I was alive!" I raved, and then, more soberly, "When I was alive before."

  "Those things are not important," Vaysh said.

  I could have struck him. "To you maybe not, but they are to me! I have to sleep, don't I? How can I sleep when my mind is draining away? Is it happening, is it really happening?!"

  Vaysh stared at me impassively. "I don't have to tell you anything, Pellaz. I have only to deliver you to the right place in one piece. I don't give a damn what you think or what you feel... I don't give a damn about your precious, grovelling past. Don't you think that the only possible truth is that he's forgotten you already . . ."

  He might have said more, but I could stem my rage no longer. In a second, Vaysh was looking up at me from the floor. He looked confused, perhaps wondering how he had got there, and touched his lip. My blow had split it.

  "Now," I began patiently, "I can't make you concerned about me Vaysh; I don't want to, but I do want answers. Now, let's try again. Is my memory going?"

  Vaysh stood up, the back of his hand to his mouth. He walked slowly to the fire and I gave him his dignity and remained quiet.

  After a while he said, "I have something of yours," and left the room. Absurdly, I had begun to shake. It was rare that my temper erupted to violence and it always scared me a little when it did. Vaysh's teeth had marked my knuckles and if I was shaken, at least so was he.

  When he returned, he held something out to me. "Take it," he said. It shone gold in the firelight, on a leather thong, worn with use. A sacred eye. I could not reach for it.

  "How did you get that?" I asked in wonderment.

  "It came with you ..."

  With me? I stared at the pendant turning slowly on its thong. "Orien . . . it was Orien's. He gave it to me." Whether Vaysh knew of whom I was speaking, it was impossible to tell. He would not meet my eyes, nursing his cut lip with his tongue. I took the eye from him and it felt warm in my hands. How? How had this talisman made that impossible journey with me?

  Vaysh answered my question. "Someone made that trinket truly yours. Thiede look it from around your throat. It made him uneasy; he did not want you to have it..."

  "Why give it to you then?"

  Vaysh shrugged and folded his arms. "Such a gift as that; even Thiede was wary of the charm. He gave it to me for safekeeping. I was told that if you ever asked for it, I was to give it back to you."

  "But I didn't ask for it!" I protested.

  "Didn't you?!

  I put the talisman around my neck where it rested with familiar comfort. "This is my past," I said, and it was almost a question.

  Vaysh's voice was dull, "Your past? It is all in there, perhaps. Your body In new; nothing of your old life is relevant to it. Why should it adhere to even Is that no longer concern it? The talisman will give it back to you; that is its only purpose."

  "How?"

  Again, he shrugged. "Only your friend Orien knows that."

  My skin prickled. "Does that mean . . . does that mean that Orien knew?.'"

  "Maybe," Vaysh replied with a sigh. "Thiede respects Orien. That should mean something."

  "Vaysh, I want to know," I said. I went toward him and he backed away.

  "Know? Know what?"

  "Everything. How did Thiede do it? Where did this body come from? It looks like me doesn't it? It does look like me?"

  "It looks like you," Vaysh answered, ignoring the first two questions. His voice sounded

  less harsh.

  "You've seen me before?"

  "Yes. " He went over to the bed and started packing the clothes Phade had given me into bags. "Where, Vaysh?" He looked over his shoulder at me.

  "Where have you seen me before?"

  He turned back to the packing. "Everywhere Pellaz, everywhere. I have seen through Thiede's eyes . . ."

  All the chill came back to my flesh; my hand curled around Orien's talisman. Thiede's eyes; my life a spectacle. I was staring at a heavy pewter jug that stood on a table by my bed. I was thinking of the weight of it in my hands and the impact of it against the back of Vaysh's bent head. I was thinking of me, fleeing the tower and running just anywhere; all of this. Luckily, I was not thinking hard enough.

  Vaysh stood up. "We must leave," he said. "Are you ready?"

  We looked at each other without liking. He knew that I had the power, even the desire, to kill him, but he also knew just what had made Thiede choose me. I closed my eyes so that I did not have to look at him. "I am ready," I said.

  Outside, the sun shone hard on the unbearable whiteness of the snow.

  Only the center of the yard had been cleared. Phade, muffled in a wolf-skin coat, stood rubbing his hands by our horses . I was now in a condition to fully appreciate what magnificent creatures they were. Slim, long noses, intelligent eyes, dainty feet. They were draped with red traveling rugs, tassels dangled from their bridles. They did not appear to be laden with many supplies, however.

  Phade came over to clasp our hands. "It was a pleasure to meet you," he said to me.

  "We may meet again," I replied.

  "What? When you are king and summon me to your court as an underling?" he laughed. "Maybe.

  Phade nodded good-humoredly and turned his attention to my companion. "Goodbye Vaysh, may your snow-lined knickers never melt!" He smacked Vaysh heartily on the backside as he was half over his
horse. The animal jumped back with a start and Vaysh had to pull its mouth sharply just to stay aboard. He looked furious.

  "See that, Pellaz?" Phade guffawed. "Emotion; pure and virgin loathing!" He laughed again and marched back to his tower, still waving at us.

  We cantered out into the stinging, fresh air beyond the tower walls, heading toward the forest. I was wondering where we were going and how we were going to eat. We had brought nothing with us. Some three miles from the tower, beyond the lakeside town, Vaysh pulled his horse to a halt. We were on a snow-padded road, barely marked by tracks. Our voices seemed muted by the heavy clouds above.

  "Why are we stopping?" I asked.

  "I'm going to teach you how to ride that horse," Vaysh replied, deadpan as ever.

  I laughed, "What?!"

  "Just listen. You are riding a horse called Peridot. It is like no other horse you have ever ridden. Speak to it."

  "Vaysh!"

  "Just do it! Say Peridot and think the sound; like a calling."

  "Peridot." I obediently sent out the name-shaped thought and felt it touch something disturbingly strange. The horse's head went up, its ears flicking back and forth. I had recoiled from the touch, but after the initial shock, tried again. My thoughts came to rest against an animal intelligence. It felt so different; frightening. The thought processes were so different. We made each other's acquaintance, Peridot and I. Animals do not look at the world like we do. It was a chastening experience to sense the way they do see things.

  "We have to form a link," Vaysh continued. "I know the way we have to travel. We must communicate in the same manner for you to direct Peridot."

  I did not welcome that. I expected Vaysh's mind to be a chilly, dark, inhospitable land.

  "I like this as little as you do," he said frostily. "But you must trust me now, Take the information from me. Peridot is experienced in this method of travel; he will know what to do."

  "Right," I muttered, cold inside my furs.

  "Now ..." Vaysh closed his eyes and for a moment, I just stared at him, before tentatively opening my mind to him. It was like an electric shock when we met and I pulled away. Vaysh waited with bitter patience. His thoughts were carefully protected; he exposed only the information we needed for the journey. I saw the place we would visit; I could almost feel the warmth, taste the air ... "Link to Peridot!" Vaysh's voice whispered behind my eyes.

  Beneath me, the horse's silver haunches began to quiver. He too could smell the salt-laced air of a warmer climate. I joined my mind with his, two completely different intelligences linking and mingling, until I was half-horse and he was half-har. I was blind, but I could feel Peridot begin to move; a great surging of white power. Contact with Vaysh became almost comforting. I was conscious of a gathering speed; the breathless impetus of flight. It was exhilarating. Air, vapors, formless, rushing, white noise poured through my skin. I could no longer feel the reins between my fingers. I had become inorganic movement; nothing else. I did not have to open my eyes that were no longer there to see. Two horses, two hara; one unit. Together, we sped through unimaginable space, stars hissing through our hair, laughter of alien forms at our backs; they could not catch us. Colors upon silken blackness undulated before me, through me, around me. There were worlds and worlds, hanging like glistening beads in an infinite darkness. I saw my father stride across a purple sky ahead of me, dragging a sheaf of cable plants that had comets for roots. The vision shimmered and became Seel painting his eyes with kohl before a mirror. In the mirror I could see Saltrock behind him. Then it was darkness again, and pulsing seeds of light, things like seaweed flickering at the edge of my vision. It seemed we traveled an eternity; perhaps it was only a minute. Suddenly Vaysh exhulted: through, down, out! In a burst of light, I followed his directions and the world shimmered around us, scattering sparks and laughter. We were galloping down a hard, brown road, red sunlight behind us, warm air melting a frost from our lips. The horses' coats crackled with ice that broke and faded onto the road. Vaysh was smiling. We looked at each other and I smiled too.

  Ahead of us, a walled town massed gray against an encroaching dusk. It was like another planet; air powdered with fragrant dusts tickled the back of my throat.

  "Is this Immanion?!" I called.

  "No, no!" Vaysh shouted back, still beaming like someone who was used to smiling.

  "Where then?"

  "Ferelithia!"

  Vaysh slowed his mount to a trot and Peridot nudged up against them, snorting through his nose, his head curved right over his neck. He could not speak to me exactly, but his kind, horsy wisdom congratulated me on my first out-of-world journey. I buried my fingers in his thick mane and scratched his neck appreciatively.

  "We shall have to rest now," Vaysh told me. "It's not safe to travel that way for too long."

  "Vaysh, that was incredible!" I exclaimed. Vaysh nodded.

  "Pell, that is just the beginning. You have so much to discover. We have inherited a magical

  world."

  It was the first time he had called me Pell.

  We trotted toward the town and Vaysh explained a little about the place. I learned that our other-lane jump had carried us many hundreds of miles south, although we still traveled over the same land mass. "You will find Ferelithia different to most of the Wraeththu settlements you have visited before," he told me. "It is the home of the tribe of Ferelith. They're a showy and rather vain people, but much more advanced from Hara like, say, the Varrs ..." A grimace crossed my face accompanied by a dozen uncomfortable recollections.

  "An unfortunate comparison, perhaps," Vaysh added, and I glanced at him sharply. His elation after our mad ride had begun to dissipate; he had started to solidfy again. "Personally, I find the Ferelith somewhat frivolous and thus rather irriating, but I expect you will like them." Accompanied by such a look of disdain as it was, this remark achieved everything it was intended to and offended me. But then, I looked at Vaysh's cut lip, which was still a little swollen, and began to feel better.

  We must have looked ridiculous riding into the streets of that town, furred up to the eyes in thick coats. The air was so warm that both Peridot and I had started to sweat. Vaysh looked as cool as ever, but his horse shook moisture from his black neck. All the streets were lit with strings of multicolored lights, loud music, the like of which I'd never heard before, pounded from open doorways, along with the sounds of intoxicated merriment. Creeping plants, lush with heavy-perfumed blossoms, adorned many of the buildings, which were low and white and roofed with red tile. Vaysh struggled to undo the collar of his coat, looking down his imperious little nose at the hara who were strolling and shouting through the balmy evening. Through the scent of flowers, I could smell the sea.

  We rode up and down for some time, looking for an inn. Several that looked suitable Vaysh shook his head at. I was not sure whether he had economy in mind or comfort. Eventually, he decided on a dimly-lit, small hostelry we discovered up a quiet backstreet

  "We need to sleep," he said, "and everywhere else is too noisy. Ferelithia never sleeps!"

  I was tired too, the journey had sapped my strength, but thought with regret of the cheerful lights and thrilling music back in the town center. I did not know how long Vaysh planned for us to stay in Ferelithia, but I had seen enough of it to be eager to explore.

  We tied the horses to a wooden bar outside the inn and went inside. A gleaming, red-tiled floor led to a low, stone-topped bar. Dim lighting revealed a group of hara sitting round a table near the window. They all looked up as we entered and one of them stood up.

  "Are you the patron of this establishment?" Vaysh inquired haughtily. The har grinned and came toward us.

  "I'm the landlord, if that's what you mean. A room is it?"

  "Rooms," Vaysh confirmed.

  The innkeeper looked with interest at our clothing. "Traveled far, have you?"

  Vaysh glared at him rudely. "We may stay a couple of days," he said.