Falc stopped before a door and curtly bade us enter. We obeyed and found ourselves in a very narrow passage of rough stone with a roof high enough to defeat the weak light shed by the lanterns. The passage ran straight for so long that its end was lost in shadow. We had been walking along it for some time before I realized that its stone floor sloped slightly upward. Despite the absence of doors or windows, the air was fresh, which suggested vents leading directly to the outside. I wondered why anyone would bother building a roof and walls over such a long walk.
We must have gone on for ten minutes before I saw a light ahead coming from an open doorway. Two Hedra bearing metal-capped staffs stood before it, but they moved aside when Falc commanded it. The younger priest hurried through, leaving the rest of us to follow, and I glanced back to see the black-clad lantern bearers withdraw. The chamber we entered was long and narrow and was empty except for a large carved chair drawn up to a fireplace in which flames crackled brightly. It was not wood burning in the fireplace but some queer red-brown rock that gave out great heat but almost no smoke. The floor was carpeted from wall to wall in thick overlapping animal pelts, and one wall was entirely curtained in heavy gray cloth, making the room stiflingly hot.
Falc went through a door on the fire’s other side, and I heard the low, deferential hum of his voice, then he reentered, followed by two more black-robed boys. One carried a small enamel table and a goblet of water, and the other had two soft gray cushions, which he arranged carefully on the carved chair, then he crossed the room to draw the curtain. It must have been heavy, for he struggled with its weight. The curtain parted to reveal an enormous window with a wide, spectacular view of the dark, rain-swept sea, lit momentarily by a flash of lightning. I forgot about the mystery of the black-clad boys, for how should a building have such a view inside a monstrously walled city?
Then I understood. I thought of the long narrow tunnel we had followed and realized the passage and this chamber must be embedded within the wall surrounding the compound!
Bedig’s grip tightened painfully on my arm, and he sank into a low bow along with everyone else in the room, dragging me with him, as an enormously fat old man wearing a gold-edged robe and a thin golden circlet about his brow was helped into the chamber by a solicitous Falc and two slender, black-robed boys. Because I was on my knees, I caught sight of the thin face of the nearest black-robed boy, who could be no older than Dragon, and for a fleeting second, his shadowed gray eyes looked into mine. He turned away, and I was left to study the huge, querulous-looking bald man being settled into his chair. It was hard to believe that this old man with his obese helplessness was the supreme priest of the Herder Faction: the terrifying One in whose name my parents and hundreds of others had died.
More than anything else, he reminded me of a great fat baby, for although his body was corpulent, the hands protruding from the gold-edged sleeves of his robe and the feet in their soft woven slippers were tiny, and his mouth was a very small, wet red bow. Only his eyes betrayed his age and power: small and as black as obsidian, they glittered with malevolent purpose.
Belatedly, I realized that fierce gaze was now fixed on me.
“The creature dares to look at me. Put out its eyes,” the One said in a queerly feminine voice.
“Of course they must be put out, Master,” said another voice, and I turned with everyone else in the room to see another Three enter the chamber. Unlike Mendi, this was a man in his prime, with a barrel chest and well-muscled arms. If not for his gold band, I would have taken him for a Hedra. The robust newcomer crossed the room, dropped to his knee before the One’s carved chair, and lifted the tiny plump fingers to his forehead.
I glanced at Mendi, who regarded this obeisance sourly. The newcomer lifted his head and said in his smooth, creamy voice, “You should not trouble yourself to command what is as obvious as the sun rising, Master. For how should a mutant be permitted to gaze upon the glorious face of the first-chosen of Lud and then look upon anything hereafter? Its eyes and its life will be extinguished as soon as it has been questioned.”
The One glared at the newcomer. “Where have you been, Grisyl?”
“It has pained me to take so long to answer your summons, Master,” the Three answered, rising gracefully to his feet. His eyes flickered toward me. “I presume this is the mutant revealed to us through Ariel’s null and by Lud’s grace?” His voice might shame honey with its warm, sliding sweetness.
“Ariel,” crooned the One, his expression an odd mixture of frustration and irritated indulgence. “Yes, our faithful and clever Ariel; what did he recommend before he left, Falc?”
“To leave unharmed the mutant we would find hidden in the shipman’s locker until he returns. He will bring special devices to force it to speak the truth and a special null with the power to prevent its foul powers hindering us during its interrogation, and such an interrogation will require a strong, healthy body,” Falc answered eagerly.
“So Ariel said to me also,” Grisyl agreed smoothly. “Of course, once the mutant has been drained of information, it will die, and that death must be slow and painful, for such a mockery of Lud’s highest creation cannot go unpunished.”
The One made a sound like the greedy mewling of a baby spying its mother’s uncovered breast.
Mendi spoke then, his voice dry and harsh after Grisyl’s mellifluous tones. “It is puzzling that Ariel’s nulls did not foresee the failure of the invasion.”
The One turned his black gaze onto the Three, but before he could speak; Grisyl said, “Ariel has told us many times that the nulls are unstable tools.”
“Where is the Nine who commanded the invasion force?” Grisyl asked Mendi. “He was one of yours, was he not?”
Mendi gave him an impassive look. “I have ordered a period of penance and fasting, after which I will question him.”
“Where is Zuria?” the One demanded.
“He is interrogating Kaga and the other Hedra who survived the abortive invasion,” Grisyl said. “Naturally, he is especially anxious to learn why it failed.” There was a lick of malice in his words.
Mendi opened his mouth and then closed it, as if thinking better of whatever he would have said. From what had been said, I guessed Zuria had been most strongly in favor of the invasion. But given the structure of the Faction, the invasion would never have been undertaken without the One’s approval. Not that anyone would remind him of that now.
I thought of Ariel and wondered about his intentions. He had told the Herders that he would return to interrogate me, and I had no doubt that he would do so, but I doubted he would want to question me in front of the Herders about the signs and keys Kasanda had left for me. Most likely, he would contrive to get me alone. A terrible weariness assailed me at the knowledge that I would have nothing but my own will to shield me from his questions, for I had little faith in that. Long ago at Obernewtyn, Ariel, Alexi, and Madam Vega had tried to torture information from me using a machine. It had not been courage that had kept me from speaking, but a tenuous physical contact with Rushton that had allowed him to absorb part of the pain.
But there would be no rescue this time. Ariel would force me to tell him all I knew of Kasanda’s instructions and the signs that would have led me to the Beforetime weaponmachines. My only comfort was that I did not know all I needed to know, nor had I all I needed to have in order to complete my quest. Perhaps Ariel intended to use me to find the remaining clues. The only way to prevent that would be to wipe my own mind clean. Memory-death, we called it.
I clenched my fists and felt my nails dig into my palms. Why hadn’t a premonition stopped me from climbing aboard the ship boat? Why hadn’t Atthis warned me not to do it? I groaned softly, realizing that even if the bird had tried to warn me, she would have been unable to reach me, for Maruman was her conduit, and he and I had been separated almost the whole time I had been in Saithwold.
Maruman, I thought, and grief stabbed at me with the knowledge that I would never agai
n hold him or feel his dear heavy presence in my mind.
“Of course, Master,” Mendi was saying. “I am only pointing out that it might have been useful to discuss what happened before Ariel hastened off. But I suppose the delay will not be so great if he returns immediately.”
“Ariel must go first from Norseland to the west coast to accomplish Lud’s will,” said the One, giving Mendi a glare of malevolence that made the older Three step back. “You have never served Lud as well as he, Mendi, for while you seek a scapegoat for the failed invasion, Ariel is already thinking of another way to strike a blow for Lud.” A fit of coughing shook the old man’s enormous body. He looked at me, and his expression suddenly registered exaggerated disgust. “Who dared to bring a woman into my presence?” The words were almost a shriek.
“She is a woman only in appearance, Lord,” Grisyl said swiftly, and began to stroke the One’s hand as if he were a fractious child.
“Get her out of my sight.” His face filled with sudden rage. “All of you get out of my sight.” Grisyl offered a goblet, but the old man smashed it from his hands. “Get out, I say. Get out! Falc! Summon my shadows!” The last glimpse I had was of several black-robed boys converging silently on the One while Falc wrung his hands.
“Do not imagine that your manipulations go unnoticed, Grisyl,” Mendi said as we again traversed the long wall corridor. The two Threes walked ahead, illuminated by the lanterns, and I came behind with the cold-faced Bedig, his fingers locked about my arm.
“What do you mean?” Grisyl asked coolly.
Mendi gave a sneering laugh. “You seek to ingratiate yourself with the One. But as you see, Lud has his own means of shielding our beloved One from those who wish to pursue their own desires.”
Grisyl gave him an ironic look. “Of course, Lud knows the selflessness of his two faithful servants, Zuria and Mendi.”
The older Herder made a scornful sound. “I do not say that we have no ambitions of our own. But this is not the time to be divided. You seek to ally yourself with Ariel, because he is favored by the One, but Ariel is as unreliable as his precious nulls.”
“I will not be held accountable for this disastrous invasion, Mendi,” Grisyl said with sudden anger. “I was not with him when Ariel broke the news, thank Lud, but Zuria was, and he said the One ordered the shadow serving him to be flayed alive, because a drop of fement spilled on his robe.”
“Better a hundred shadows than one of us,” Mendi said dryly. “The One will calm down when we can offer him an explanation for the invasion’s failure, or at least a scapegoat. I suspect we were betrayed by Malik. I said all along that it was ludicrous to trust an ex-rebel. Personally, I am more interested in learning how the mutants on the Orizon took control when all aboard should have been wearing demon bands until the anchor was raised. Unfortunately, we have no one from the Orizon to interrogate, since Salamander sank the ship and all aboard. We have only his word and the testimony of a null, now dead, that the Orizon was boarded at all.”
“What could it serve Salamander to sink one of our greatships?” Grisyl asked. “Zuria is furious about it, of course.”
Mendi grunted. “What about Ariel being sent to the west coast after going to Norseland? What is he to do there?”
Grisyl shrugged. “Lud’s will, apparently. But perhaps the One simply confuses Ariel’s present journey to Norseland with the longer journey he has been planning to make to the Red Land.”
“I had the feeling from the One’s words that Ariel is to undertake some specific task on the west coast,” Mendi persisted. “Did he not specifically say that Ariel will strike a blow in Lud’s name?”
“Something like that,” Grisyl agreed, frowning. “And now that you mention it, I have heard that Ariel has been working on something special. Something to do with two nulls he has kept locked in his chamber. He has taken them with him, you know.”
Mendi said, “My concern is less what Ariel has gone to do than that he chose to go or was sent without our being consulted. I dislike this policy of secrecy that excludes us but includes one who is not of the Faction.”
“You speak as if Ariel desires it to be so, but you know as well as I that our master has grown more and more … particular in these last few years,” Grisyl said. The two men exchanged a look as if Grisyl meant another word that Mendi knew.
“All I am saying is that Ariel should not undertake some important activity about which we have not been informed,” Mendi said.
“I agree, but I doubt either of us is likely to express our indignation to the One,” Grisyl said dryly. “Or have you forgotten the last Herder foolish enough to criticize Ariel to our master? Whatever Ariel will do in the west, the One has approved it, and therefore it has Lud’s blessing.”
Mendi scowled. “That is so. But tell me, why did the null aboard the Black Ship warn Salamander about the boarding of the Orizon yet fail to reveal the mutant aboard the Stormdancer?”
“Perhaps the null did reveal it and Salamander failed to understand,” Grisyl said indifferently. “In any case, it is fortunate, since Ariel says that this one ranks high among the mutants and is a friend of the Black Dog and the boy chieftain. I will be most interested to hear what she can tell us.”
“I, also, yet it is strange that someone so important would board a Herder vessel alone,” Mendi continued. “It makes me uneasy, and I do not like that we are bidden not to interrogate her until Ariel returns. Especially if he has not merely gone to Norseland as I was led to believe. It could be a sevenday before he returns.”
Grisyl nodded. “Longer, depending on what he is to do there. And you know how much more particular the One becomes when he is frustrated or impatient.” He turned and gave me a cold, appraising look. “No doubt this mutant had some specific part to play in whatever scheme the mutants aboard the Orizon had in mind, for Ariel said she is extremely powerful and warned that she must not on any account be unbanded. Apparently, the null spoke her name, and Ariel knew it. He said she is the woman of the Master of Obernewtyn.”
Mendi’s brows rose high. “That is interesting. I suppose Ariel learned of the woman when the Master of Obernewtyn was our guest. But remind me, did not Ariel have some grand scheme for him?”
“Ariel has many schemes,” Grisyl said dismissively. “In any case, whatever it was clearly failed. Rushton Seraphim is returned to the mutants and leads them as if nothing ever happened. Indeed, given the results of the invasion, it would seem he is more effective than ever as a leader, even if he is broken as a man. It may have been a great mistake to leave him behind in the cloister.” He stopped abruptly and gave me a speculative look. “I wonder …”
“What?” Mendi asked impatiently.
“Well, it just occurred to me that this woman may know Ariel. After all, he did originally come from Obernewtyn, before the mutants took control.”
“What of it?”
Grisyl frowned. “Perhaps this talk of special implements is merely a way to control how much the mutant tells us. I always thought there were too many gaps in his tales of what occurred in those days.”
Both men glanced back at me speculatively, and Mendi said slowly, “You know as well as I do that someone will have to pay for the failed invasion. And a dozen shadows, a few Hedra, and even a Nine will not satisfy the One. But I see no reason why we should be blamed for a plan that was not of our choosing. Zuria proposed it, and Ariel supported him. Instead of trying to ally yourself with Ariel, you might see this as a perfect opportunity to drive a wedge between him and the One. None of our desires will be harmed if Ariel has less power.”
“Zuria may not agree.…”
Mendi laughed scornfully. “Oh, I think Zuria’s infatuation with Ariel will be well and truly extinct since the Orizon sank. Some of his best people were aboard. Besides, I doubt he will object to seeing this failure laid squarely at Ariel’s door, for otherwise he must bear the brunt of the One’s anger.” A pause, then, “My intention is not to dispose of Ariel or har
m him in any lasting way. He has been useful to us over the years, and he will no doubt continue to be so, especially when it comes to dealing with the heathens from the Red Land. I merely feel that it would be wiser to curtail his power.”
“What are you suggesting?” Grisyl asked. We had now reached the entrance hall, and he turned to face the older Three. The two men acted as if Bedig, the hovering black-clad shadows, and I were trees growing about them.
“I think that we might question this woman ourselves,” Mendi answered. “As a Nine, I believe you showed a rare talent for interrogation that left no marks.”
“What of Zuria?” Grisyl asked. “Should he not be present?”
“Let us leave him to his interrogations for the time being.” The two men exchanged guarded smiles of complicity.
“You would have us believe that Ariel is a mutant?”
I gasped for breath. “He was at Obernewtyn. Why … why else would he have been there?”
“He was the son of Alexi, who was in the employ of Stephen Seraphim,” Grisyl snapped. I must have looked as stunned as I felt, for no one had ever whispered that Alexi was Ariel’s father—unless it was all a fabrication.
“He is a Misfit,” I said. “He sees into the future.”
“His nulls see into the future,” snapped Mendi.
“How would he locate Misfits among your novices if he was not one himself?” I asked.
“Do you dare to mock us by claiming that he is like you?” snapped Grisyl. “Why would a mutant work against its own kind? I will cut the mouth from your face if you lie to me again.”
“But not yet,” Mendi drawled, sounding bored and irritated.
“I must cut her to make her speak. If I hold her under the water any longer, she will drown,” Grisyl snapped.
“Perhaps you have not the skill needed for this task after all,” Mendi said.
“I have the skill but am hampered by your prohibitions.”