[Lanen Kaelar 01] - Song in the Silence (41 page)

I woke some hours after dawn feeling disturbed,
and obscurely angry at the Winds for such a vision of personal happiness that
left me so deeply unfulfilled.

I discovered on waking that Shikrar had been
better than his word. Kédra had already arrived and taken up his station at the
Boundary, and Shikrar stood outside my chamber, requesting entry. I welcomed
him, trying to dispel the cloud of the dream that hung over me. “I thank
you from my heart, my soul’s friend. You honour me.”

Shikrar’s eyes smiled. “Yes, I do, and so
does my son. I am glad you recognise it. Now, how may I help you and your dear
one?”

My heart was warmed, enlarged by him. Of all my
Kindred, only Shikrar had yet referred to Lanen with anything but a curse; his
words were balm on a raw wound. ”Bless you for that, my friend. As for helping
us, I beg you, go into the Great Hall and find how the Winds blow in the
Council. I must know what they say now about me—about us.”

“Bespeak me in a few moments, you shall hear
with my ears.”
He
turned to go.

“Shikrar, I—”

“Be at peace, Akhor,” he said gently,
turning his head towards me, answering my thought. “Our friendship is old
and tried. You and Kédra alone in this world know my true name, and for you as
for my son I would do whatever lay in my power. Now your Lanen has given me the
free gift of my son’s dear one and their child when death seemed inescapable.
How shall I not do my utmost?”

I bowed to him. I had no words. He smiled back at
me and left.

Lanen

As Rella and I were making our plan of escape, I
rose and tried to dress. I had forgotten that
much of my clothing, of course, was
still at the Birthing Cove—I had arrived in leggings and
my shift,
both of which were now a pile of rags against the wall. I sighed, only once,
for my
ruined
cloak. Rella had to send one of the guards to fetch the contents of my sea
chest from
our
tent (he refused to bring the chest itself).

It may seem a small thing now, but I remember
clearly my intense relief—almost delight—at
discovering not only a spare shirt,
clean leggings and an old patched tunic, but the extra pair
of boots I
had bought in Corli (with my boot knife tucked away inside, little use though
it
might
be) and my old black cloak. I felt a thousand times better when I was dressed.

The lan fruit had worked wonders. There was no pain
when I tried using my hands, and when
I dared unwrap the bandages a little, from the
shoulder end, I found pale skin underneath,
delicate but whole. And it was not
even the pale pink of a normal healing burn—it looked like
ordinary
skin. I did not dare hope that I would avoid the scars of such a burn, but
perhaps they
would
not be so bad as I feared. And still no pain. I understood then why lan fruit
was so
valuable.
The Healer’s efforts had drawn me back from the edge of death, but without the
lan
fruit,
I would still have needed weeks to heal fully. With it, I was nearly healed
within
hours
.

It almost passed belief.

I left the bandages on for the moment, to give
the illusion that I was still injured enough to
need them.

The guard, unfortunately, was true to his word.
The first fingers of sunlight were just reaching
into the clearing when he returned
with his master. Despite my efforts I shivered when I saw
Marik. Dear
Lady, that this vile creature might be my father—it was all I could do not to
retch.

I watched him from my sickbed, for after the
effort of dressing I had found I needed to lie
down again. I was desperately weary,
despite the lan fruit and the healing. Healers use their
own power,
but the body of the one being healed must supply the materials and bear the
changes
enforced on it by another’s will. I felt I could sleep for a week.

“Go,” Marik told the guard. When he saw
that Rella lingered, he snapped, “You, too.”

She sneered behind his back. “You’re
welcome. I’ll expect those three bags’ credit.”

“Go!” She closed the door behind her.

Marik turned to me and bowed, his lovely voice
warm and his eyes unreadable. “Lady Lanen.” He seated himself in the
chair by the bed.

“Marik.”

“How are you feeling?”

“My hands don’t hurt anymore,” I said,
truthfully.

“I am delighted to hear it, lady. I do not
wish to shock you, but have you any idea how close
to death you were last night?”

“No. I remember I couldn’t stop
shaking.” I hoped he wouldn’t notice that I still hadn’t.

“Maikel drained himself saving you, lady. He
will be no good for anything for two full days,
and without the Ian fruit you might
have died anyway. That is his calling, of course, and he is
well paid for
it—but we feared you would not see the morning. Aside from the fever, your
hands”—he
let that glorious voice falter—“your hands and your arms had but shreds of
skin
left
on them.” He moved closer to me, concern writ large on his face.
“What happened,
Lanen?”
he asked in husky tones. “What did those creatures do to you?”

“It was—my choice,” I said at last.
“There was a way I could help them. They didn’t know it
would burn
me.” I think I managed to sound pitiful enough, and wished that more of my
weakness were
an act.

“What happened? You must tell me,
lady.” He smiled gently, his whole demeanour intent on
kindliness,
the amulet around his neck brilliant in the bright dawn light. “Come,
Lanen, I have
saved
your life, surely you owe me so much.”

I could feel the glamour through my weariness,
but never again could I be fooled in that way.
“Forgive me, Marik. It is true I
have learned much about them: but they have enjoined me to
silence, and
surely you see that I will not, I cannot betray that trust. I hope for a day
when our
two
peoples will be able to speak freely one with another, but until that time
I—”

“Spare me your fool’s dreams!” he spat
angrily. Despite all I knew of him, I was shocked.
That voice, so musical it reminded me
of the Kindred, turned to cracked bells in an instant
when he was angry. He rose and flung
himself around the room, pacing, half wild with
impatience. “I want to know why
the Dragons, who have instantly killed everyone else who
has ever
crossed their border, did not kill you. Not only do they not destroy you, the
Guardian
himself
crosses the border to take you away, and a day later brings you half-dead into
the
camp
and demands that I break their precious treaty and weary my own Healer near to
death—for what? For you. I want to know why, girl.
Why? What are you to them?”

I was becoming befuddled with fright and
weariness, and his intensity cowed me in my
weakened state.
Swiftly, Reila
, I begged her silently. I looked up at Marik.
“I don’t know
what
to tell you,” I answered. “I did not cross the Boundary like poor
Perrin. He was after
gold
or some other gain, no matter who he had to kill for it. I was not. Please, I
cannot tell you
more.
So far as I know I am nothing to them. Let me sleep.” I bowed my head.

He was back beside the bed in an instant; he
snatched a handful of my hair right next to the
scalp and yanked it back as hard as
he could. I screamed, of course. (Jamie always said I
should never cheat anyone in earshot
of the chance to help.) “You have slept enough at my
expense,
witch,” he snarled into my face. ”Talk, or I will make you. What pact
have you
made
with the creatures? Tell me, damn you!”

In the brief silence I thought I heard voices
outside, and in through the window came just the
slightest hint of the smell of smoke.

“I have made no pact!” I cried out.

“Have you not?” he said grimly, and a
dagger appeared from nowhere in his hand as he
gripped me by the hair. My bandaged
arms were worse than useless. He held the blade against
my throat, I could feel the cold
steel press againstmy flesh. ”Yet I know a way to find out the
truth of the
matter. Why will you not speak of the Dragons to me? What do you owe them,
against’the
life you owe me? You were willing to tell them about me fast enough,” he
growled
between
clenched teeth. “What kind of creature are you, with Far-speech that you
use against
your
own kind?”

I was almost too shocked to be frightened.
“What? How did you… ?”

“I know,” he spat. “Leave it at
that. Repay your debt, daughter. Use this Farspeech to tell them
I am a man of
honour, that you were wrong about me.”

“I cannot!” I cried. Even if it were possible
to lie in true-speech, the vision of Marik at large
among the Kindred, hidden by who
knew what agency, bearing the Lady only knew what
sort of weapons to use against
them—never.

And below thought, down deep where I thrust it
until I could bear to think of it, I heard him
call me daughter, and knew it was the
truth.

“So. You cannot.” His face was mere
inches from mine,
his
eyes blazing with hatred and a kind of triumph. “Then I shall take what I
want without
your
assistance. For I have ways and ways, Lanen. You are not the only one to have
set foot
across
the Boundary and lived!”

I gasped, which made him laugh. The smell of
smoke was stronger now, and the voices
outside louder. I could not make out what they said.

”Yes, I thought that would catch you. And I did
not crawl to the beasts that live there, as you
did.” He smiled at me, a mad
smile, but the most chilling thing about his whole demeanour
was that it
seemed so little different from his usual manner. Aside from an indefinable
something in
his eyes, his smile was still the charming smile I had first seen in Illara. I
was
terrified.
”And now that you are healed, there is no more cause for delay. You are no
more
use
to me, daughter,” he said, making the word a curse. “I shall turn you
over to my demon
master
as payment.”

“The Guardian—”
Hurry, Rella, damn it, it can’t be that hard….

“If you had called him, he would be here
already.” The knife blade pressed hard against my
throat.

I could make out what the voices were shouting
now. Fire. I heard the running footsteps of
what I desperately hoped were the two
guards. Marik ignored it, possibly did not even hear it.

“I have not called upon them,” I
managed to say past the blade. “I have no wish to destroy
you,
Marik.” I managed to choke out the word. “Father.”

At that instant, thank the Lady, the door burst
open and Rella rushed in. ”What are you doing
to her?” she screamed. Marik was
caught off guard, she ran straight to him and dragged him
away from me.

Now it was my turn. I rose swiftly and snatched
up the chair that stood near the bedside,
raised it high and brought it
crashing down with all my strength. Marik dropped with a groan.

Rella stood and faced me. “Come on, in the
eye like we agreed,” she said impatiently.

“Quickly!”

“Come with me!” I whispered urgently.

“I told you, if this doesn’t work you’ll
need me here to help. Hit me, damn it!”

There was no time to argue. I drew back, muttered
“Sorry about this” and hit her.

She fell back. I had held back my strength, but
she had said it should be realistic. I ran to the
window farthest from the door and
threw open the shutters.

In just a few moments, Rella sat up and screamed.
”Help, guards! Help!”

I ran.

Both Marik’s grunts came rushing back in, the
idiots—if I’d done the same as last time they’d
go down again the same way. Stupid.

“She’s gone!” yelled Rella, pointing at
the open shutters. One went straight through the
opening, the other ran round the
cabin on the outside.

I rose from behind the bed, winked at Rella and
flew out the door. The woods beckoned in the
dawn light, and, all my weariness
forgotten, I took off-like a deer for their shelter.

I had gone no more than a few steps when I was
seized by a sudden horrible weariness in
every limb. My movements were drugged
and stretched out as in a nightmare, when every
step takes all your strength and no
matter how you struggle, you never get anywhere. I used
the last of my will to look up at the
strange noise before me, and managed to catch sight of
Caderan gesturing in the air and
grinning wildly before darkness took me once again.