The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms
Page 7
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Ah, yes. I did not try to mimic Sciminas tone. My mother had tried, on multiple occasions, to teach me how to sound friendly when I did not feel friendly, but I was too Darre for that. Greetings, Cousin.
If youll excuse us, Tvril said to Scimina almost the instant I closed my mouth, Im showing Lady Yeine around the palace
The man beside Scimina chose that moment to catch his breath in a shuddering gasp. His hair, long and black and thick enough to make any Darre man jealous, fell forward to obscure his face; his hand on the railing tightened.
A moment, Tvril. Scimina examined the man thoughtfully, then lifted her hand as if to cup his cheek under the curtain of hair. There was a click, and she pulled away a delicate, cleverly jointed silver collar.
Im sorry, Aunt, Tvril said, and now he was no longer bothering to hide his fear; he caught my hand in his own, tight. Viraines expecting us, you know how he hates
You will wait, Scimina said, cold in an instant. Or I may forget that you have made yourself so useful, Tvril. A good little servant She glanced at the black-haired man and smiled indulgently. So many good servants here in Sky. Dont you think, Nahadoth?
Nahadoth was the black-haired mans name, then. Something about the name stirred a feeling of recognition in me, but I could not recall where Id heard it before.
Dont do this, Tvril said. Scimina.
She has no mark, Scimina replied. You know the rules.
This has nothing to do with the rules and you know it! Tvril said with some heat. But she ignored him.
I felt it then. I think I had felt it since the mans gaspa shiver of the atmosphere. A vase rattled nearby. There was no visible cause for this, but somehow I knew: somewhere, on an unseen plane, a part of reality was shifting aside. Making room for something new.
The black-haired man lifted his head to look at me. He was smiling. I could see his face now, and his mad, mad eyes, and I suddenly knew who he was. What he was.
Listen to me. Tvril, his voice tight in my ear. I could not look away from the black-haired creatures eyes. You must get to Viraine. Only a fullblood can command him off now, and Viraine is the only oneOh, for demons sake, look at me!
He moved into my line of sight, blocking my view of those eyes. I could hear a soft murmur, Scimina speaking in a low voice. It sounded like she was giving instructions, which made a peculiar parallel with Tvril in front of me doing the same. I barely heard them both. I felt so cold.
Viraines study is two levels above us. There are lifting chambers at every third corridor juncture; look for an alcove between vases of flowers. Justjust get to one of those, and then think up. The door will be straight ahead. While theres still light in the sky you have a chance. Go. Run!
He pushed me, and I stumbled off. Behind me rose an inhuman howl, like the voices of a hundred wolves and a hundred jaguars and a hundred winter winds, all of them hungry for my flesh. Then there was silence, and that was most frightening of all.
I ran. I ran. I ran.
3
Darkness
SHOULD I PAUSE TO EXPLAIN? It is poor storytelling. But I must remember everything, remember and remember and remember, to keep a tight grip on it. So many bits of myself have escaped already.
So.
There were once three gods. The one who matters killed one of the ones who didnt and cast the other into a hellish prison. The walls of this prison were blood and bone; the barred windows were eyes; the punishments included sleep and pain and hunger and all the other incessant demands of mortal flesh. Then this creature, trapped in his tangible vessel, was given to the Arameri for safekeeping, along with three of his godly children. After the horror of incarnation, what difference could mere slavery make?
As a little girl, I learned from the priests of Bright Itempas that this fallen god was pure evil. In the time of the Three, his followers had been a dark, savage cult devoted to violent midnight revels, worshipping madness as a sacrament. If that one had won the war between the gods, the priests intoned direly, mortalkind would probably no longer exist.
So be good, the priests would add, or the Nightlord will get you.
* * *
I ran from the Nightlord through halls of light. Some property of the stuff that made up Skys substance made it glow with its own soft, white luminescence now that the sun had set. Twenty paces behind me charged the god of darkness and chaos. On the one occasion that I risked a glance back, I saw the gentle glow of the hallway fade into a throat of blackness so deep looking that way hurt the eye. I did not look back again.
I could not go straight. All that had saved me thus far was my head start, and the fact that the monster behind me seemed incapable of moving faster than a mortals pace. Perhaps the god retained a human form somewhere within all that dark; even so, his legs were longer than mine.
If youll excuse us, Tvril said to Scimina almost the instant I closed my mouth, Im showing Lady Yeine around the palace
The man beside Scimina chose that moment to catch his breath in a shuddering gasp. His hair, long and black and thick enough to make any Darre man jealous, fell forward to obscure his face; his hand on the railing tightened.
A moment, Tvril. Scimina examined the man thoughtfully, then lifted her hand as if to cup his cheek under the curtain of hair. There was a click, and she pulled away a delicate, cleverly jointed silver collar.
Im sorry, Aunt, Tvril said, and now he was no longer bothering to hide his fear; he caught my hand in his own, tight. Viraines expecting us, you know how he hates
You will wait, Scimina said, cold in an instant. Or I may forget that you have made yourself so useful, Tvril. A good little servant She glanced at the black-haired man and smiled indulgently. So many good servants here in Sky. Dont you think, Nahadoth?
Nahadoth was the black-haired mans name, then. Something about the name stirred a feeling of recognition in me, but I could not recall where Id heard it before.
Dont do this, Tvril said. Scimina.
She has no mark, Scimina replied. You know the rules.
This has nothing to do with the rules and you know it! Tvril said with some heat. But she ignored him.
I felt it then. I think I had felt it since the mans gaspa shiver of the atmosphere. A vase rattled nearby. There was no visible cause for this, but somehow I knew: somewhere, on an unseen plane, a part of reality was shifting aside. Making room for something new.
The black-haired man lifted his head to look at me. He was smiling. I could see his face now, and his mad, mad eyes, and I suddenly knew who he was. What he was.
Listen to me. Tvril, his voice tight in my ear. I could not look away from the black-haired creatures eyes. You must get to Viraine. Only a fullblood can command him off now, and Viraine is the only oneOh, for demons sake, look at me!
He moved into my line of sight, blocking my view of those eyes. I could hear a soft murmur, Scimina speaking in a low voice. It sounded like she was giving instructions, which made a peculiar parallel with Tvril in front of me doing the same. I barely heard them both. I felt so cold.
Viraines study is two levels above us. There are lifting chambers at every third corridor juncture; look for an alcove between vases of flowers. Justjust get to one of those, and then think up. The door will be straight ahead. While theres still light in the sky you have a chance. Go. Run!
He pushed me, and I stumbled off. Behind me rose an inhuman howl, like the voices of a hundred wolves and a hundred jaguars and a hundred winter winds, all of them hungry for my flesh. Then there was silence, and that was most frightening of all.
I ran. I ran. I ran.
3
Darkness
SHOULD I PAUSE TO EXPLAIN? It is poor storytelling. But I must remember everything, remember and remember and remember, to keep a tight grip on it. So many bits of myself have escaped already.
So.
There were once three gods. The one who matters killed one of the ones who didnt and cast the other into a hellish prison. The walls of this prison were blood and bone; the barred windows were eyes; the punishments included sleep and pain and hunger and all the other incessant demands of mortal flesh. Then this creature, trapped in his tangible vessel, was given to the Arameri for safekeeping, along with three of his godly children. After the horror of incarnation, what difference could mere slavery make?
As a little girl, I learned from the priests of Bright Itempas that this fallen god was pure evil. In the time of the Three, his followers had been a dark, savage cult devoted to violent midnight revels, worshipping madness as a sacrament. If that one had won the war between the gods, the priests intoned direly, mortalkind would probably no longer exist.
So be good, the priests would add, or the Nightlord will get you.
* * *
I ran from the Nightlord through halls of light. Some property of the stuff that made up Skys substance made it glow with its own soft, white luminescence now that the sun had set. Twenty paces behind me charged the god of darkness and chaos. On the one occasion that I risked a glance back, I saw the gentle glow of the hallway fade into a throat of blackness so deep looking that way hurt the eye. I did not look back again.
I could not go straight. All that had saved me thus far was my head start, and the fact that the monster behind me seemed incapable of moving faster than a mortals pace. Perhaps the god retained a human form somewhere within all that dark; even so, his legs were longer than mine.
