Authors: Sean Williams
‘Stood you up, did he?’ Chu turned away, and the functionary chuckled. ‘It didn’t take him long to come to his senses. Stone Mages have got better things to do than hang around the likes of you.’
‘That’s enough,’ said Marmion with an irritated look. ‘Are you employed to have fun at this girl’s expense?’
‘We see all sorts of people through here, sir,’ the functionary said, unrepentant. ‘There are only so many different types in the world, I figure. You get to know them after a while. I’ve seen
her
plenty of times.’ He indicated Chu with a disparaging nod. ‘She never comes just once. At first it’s minor charges, small-time trouble. Then it’s pleading for clemency from the Magister — and Her Nibs always gives them a second chance. Always regrets it, too. Before long they’re back pleading for a third chance that never comes. And then ...’ The functionary shrugged. ‘We usually don’t see them after that, unless it’s on the gibbets outside Judgment Hall.’
‘Is that so?’ Marmion regarded him through sharp eyes. ‘Your powers of observation must be particularly acute to have formed such an opinion from so few meetings.’
‘It comes with the job, sir. You learn to see patterns and —’
‘Would you care to hazard a guess as to what sort of person I am?’
‘You’re a novelty, I’ll admit.’
‘And her?’ Marmion pointed at Shilly, then Tom. ‘And him?’
The functionary looked nonplussed. ‘It’s too early to tell, sir.’
‘You mean you don’t know?’
‘I suppose so.’
‘Well, I hope you never will — and I hope in future you’ll keep your opinions to yourself. It serves only to make you look like a trumped-up fool who delights in picking on the weak. Do you want me to think that this is who
you
are?’
The functionary’s face filled with blood and he took a step forward. ‘Now, listen —’
His companion took his arm.
‘You’re the one who should listen,’ said Marmion calmly. ‘Jumping to conclusions is dangerous. It’s
always
too early to give up on someone. A chance remains that they’ll surprise you, no matter how unlikely it seems.’
Marmion looked up as the third functionary came out of the building. His calm smile returned. ‘Ah, here’s your friend. With word to let us pass, I presume.’
‘You can go through,’ she did indeed say. ‘The Magister has granted you an audience.’
‘Thank you,’ said Marmion, sounding immensely satisfied. He bowed to the stunned functionaries. ‘It has been a pleasure. I’ll see you again on the way out.’
His robe billowed behind him as he strode between them and through the open door ahead.
‘The audience is with all of you,’ said the third functionary. ‘Unless you’re planning to wait here.’
‘No way,’ said Shilly, hobbling through the gate. ‘I’m dying to know what’s in the letter.’
‘Me, too,’ said Chu, following her. Banner and Gwil brought up the rear, the young gatekeeper staring around him in startled wonder.
A similar feeling imbued Shilly.
It’s
always
too early to give up on someone.
Marmion’s words wouldn’t leave her. She wondered if she was as guilty as the functionary of judging too hastily.
* * * *
‘Well, well.’ The Magister crouched on her seat like an overgrown praying mantis, her long fingernails clicking as they tapped the ball of her black cane. She hadn’t said a word throughout the introductions and Marmion’s brief précis of the situation, nor through the testimonies of Gwil and Banner. The red trimming of her black robe hung motionless, like rivulets of frozen blood. ‘This has been quite a week for visitors from afar. One cannot help but wonder what we have done to draw such uncommon attention from our neighbours. Can you explain this to me, Sky warden Eisak Marmion?’
He bowed with unaffected deference to the forbidding woman on her black throne. Shilly couldn’t take her eyes off her. She radiated such incredible potency and vigour that, despite her age, she filled the room with her presence. Every gesture and expression was magnified out of all proportion. Even the sound of her breathing seemed loud and full of meaning.
The crimson envelope lay open on her lap. She let it sit there and did not refer to its contents.
‘It was not our wish to inconvenience you,’ Marmion said, ‘but circumstances have worked against us.’
‘In my experience,’ she said, ‘circumstances just happen. It’s people who work against me.’
‘Very well, then. We are brought here by the misadventure of one of our colleagues, whose trail led us to the edge of the Divide. There we attempted to capture him and the creature he brought into the world: a Homunculus of unknown provenance. Our circumstances changed when this young woman —’ Marmion indicated Chu ‘— interrupted our best chance to protect Laure from the threat approaching it. We had no choice but to repair to this position and try again. I ask only that you assist us to help you correct this unfortunate happenstance.’
The Magister regarded Chu closely. Shilly saw the young flyer’s spine straighten as though bracing herself for punishment.
But the Magister’s gaze shifted back to Marmion. ‘What do you want? Be more specific’
‘A healer, first and foremost; accommodation, second. Freedom to move through the city, naturally.’
‘And what of this thing you seek? Do you expect us to help you catch it?’
‘If you’re offering us assistance, we will accept it — provided that I remain in complete charge of any operations.’
The Magister’s lips stretched like hide on a curing frame.
‘Of course. You would expect nothing less.’
‘Excuse me,’ said Shilly, stepping forward. ‘There’s something else we need, too.’
‘Oh?’ Impenetrable green eyes swivelled to focus on her, and she forced herself to stand firm.
‘Two of us are trapped in the Divide. Three, now. We need to help them.’
‘I am aware of their presence. Miners have brought back reports of people crossing the Divide on foot. I didn’t believe them, at first. Few people would be so foolhardy. But with your arrival at our very gates, I had to give it some credence. Not to mention the storm-weaving that threw off a full day’s work of atmospheric fine-tuning.’ Marmion went to say something, but a taloned hand waved him silent. ‘Does this have anything to do with your young friend, Chu Milang — the boy looking for his mother?’
‘Yes, Magister Considine. He’s one of the people Shilly’s talking about.’
‘I see.’ The Magister’s gaze hadn’t shifted from Shilly. Her voice was as leaden as tombstones. ‘What do you expect me to do about this, Shilly of Gooron? If your friends are in the Divide, there’s no succour I can send them. Their fate is sealed.’
‘I refuse to believe that. Sal is alive. I know that beyond doubt. And while he lives, I will fight to save him.’
‘With or without my help. Or my permission, no doubt.’
‘Yes.’
‘Intriguing.’ The Magister took a deep breath and set it free as a sigh. Her attention shifted to Marmion, and her eyes narrowed down to gleaming, hard points. ‘You may come and go as you wish. All of you may. A healer will be provided for your injured companion. Accommodation expenses I will meet, within reason. Members of my staff will contact you to discuss how best to deal with this — what did you call it — this Homunculus?’
‘Yes, Magister Considine.’ Marmion bowed a second time. ‘Thank you.’
‘I’m not finished. I have no resources to offer you in your search for your friends outside the city. That will be entirely up to you. And there is a condition.’
‘Yes?’
‘You will accept the Blood Tithe, Sky Warden. Without argument.’
Shilly waited for Marmion to refuse, but she was surprised. ‘Of course, Magister. We will abide completely by the traditions of your city. At the conclusion of this meeting I will be happy to offer what is due.’
The woman crooked an eyebrow at Marmion’s obsequious tone. ‘Good. Now, tell me one thing, Eisak Marmion, before that is taken care of.’
‘Of course.’
‘My boundary riders send feverish reports of mass migrations from the east. Not only am I beset upon by foreigners with their begging bowls, but I have man’kin to contend with as well. The Wall has not seen such a concerted assault for many generations. Should I be preparing myself for invasion?’
‘Alas,’ said Marmion, ‘of this I know nothing. We encountered two groups of man’kin in the Divide. Their loyalties were inconsistent, but they definitely travelled en masse. We were clearly not the first humans they have encountered in recent times.’
The Magister nodded solemnly. ‘If the man’kin have united, for any reason, that is cause for grave concern. They are dangerous enough without organisation or strength of numbers behind them.’
‘I am convinced,’ Marmion added, ‘that it has nothing to do with our quest. The timing is simply unfortunate.’
‘I see.’ Her teeth flashed again. Shilly was put in mind of a waiting shark. ‘I have learned never to convince myself of anything. Time offers the best counsel. I shall await what it tells me.’
‘Indeed, Magister.’
‘Gwil Flintham.’
The young guard straightened so quickly he almost lost his balance. ‘M-magister?’
‘I assign you to the service of our guests, since you have proven so incompetent at gatekeeping.’
Flintham looked like he was about to wet himself with relief. ‘Thank you, Magister,’ he said with a hasty bow. ‘It’s more than I deserve.’
‘Indeed.’ Her dark gaze swept the room. ‘Now, you will all leave me so I can return to my evening’s schedule. Do not attempt to barge in on me again, or my patience will be severely stretched.’
‘We understand.’ Marmion bowed a third and final time. ‘I will convey to the Alcaide that Laure’s hospitality is undiminished.’
‘Just get out of my sight,’ she said crossly. ‘Your machinations weary me.’
Marmion seemed startled by her sudden ill grace. He turned and hurried for the door, waving the others after him. As they left, Shilly was sure she heard the sound of crumpling paper.
* * * *
A functionary showed them to a spare antechamber where the rest of the wardens waited in a nervous huddle, watched over by a dozen red-robed yadachi. A dish of razor-sharp knives and wicked-looking needles
rested on a bench in one corner. Marmion reassured his charges that everything was in order, and presented himself first without the slightest visible qualm to the official who had come to take their Tithes.
Shilly watched anxiously as the robed woman nicked Marmion’s skin just above the wrist and collected the blood in a slender glass tube. The tube was corked and handed to another yadachi, who affixed a label to it and put it on a table nearby.
‘Where does it go from here?’ asked one of the wardens as Marmion stepped back, pressing a clean white patch to the small wound.
‘Into the Blood Library,’ said one of the attendants. ‘It’s stored there until needed.’
‘For what?’
‘That depends. If you should require a flying licence or medicine, it will be brought out of storage and the charm tailored to fit you exactly. Otherwise the Tithe will be employed in the usual way: to power the pumps that draw water up from the depths below us. The chimerical energy blood contains makes up for what we lack in stone or sea. All contribute annually to the Tithe; the Tithe in turn keeps us all alive.’
The explanation sounded as though it had been learned by rote.
‘Aren’t we ...?’ The warden who asked the question looked at the yadachi surrounding them, then lowered her voice. ‘Won’t this give you power over us?’
‘That’s just a myth,’ said the yadachi with the knife, waving Shilly forward. ‘Bloodworkers only succeed with the consent of the donor. We can no more hex you than you us.’
‘Is that true?’ Shilly asked Marmion, averting her eyes as the blade descended on her wrist.
‘Yes,’ he said.
So why did you refuse the Tithe earlier?
she wanted to ask, but the pain in her wrist distracted her. The blade was exceedingly sharp, and its sting brief. She didn’t cry out as some of the wardens had, or feel faint. Apart from a slight lightheadedness, she felt no different afterwards. Her sample joined the others in a growing line. She hoped never to need to see it again.
Chu looked bored when the time finally came to leave. The two guards waiting at the gate looked up expectantly, but turned quickly away. Marmion’s triumphant bearing left no room for ambiguity.
‘Here are your temporary papers,’ said the functionary accompanying them. She pressed a thick wad of documents into his hands. ‘There are several forms you must complete and return here no later than tomorrow morning. We will require daily updates on your situation and plans, and prompt notification of any change of address or circumstance. Failure to honour these requests will incur immediate penalties. Do you understand?’
Marmion nodded. ‘Of course. I’ll see to the details myself.’ He gave the papers to Banner, who pressed them onto another, younger warden. The functionary bowed and went back into the building.
The two on the gate watched stonily as Marmion prepared the convoy for departure.
‘Accommodation first,’ he said, ‘then we’ll meet to discuss our plans. Chu, do you have any suggestions?’
‘Somewhere clean,’ put in Shilly, crinkling her nose. ‘We don’t want to make Highson more sick than he already is.’
‘The Black Galah,’ she said. ‘That’s where Skender was staying.’
‘Show us there, then. I trust your judgment,’ Marmion said.
‘Why?’
‘It’s not as if I have much choice.’
‘But you
do
have a choice. You’ve got the run of the city, now. You can do whatever you want.’
‘It’s not that simple.’
‘Isn’t it? You waltz in here and order people around as you like. Even the Magister is doing what you tell her to. Why can’t you just produce another letter and have things exactly the way you want?’
Marmion glanced over his shoulder, then walked Chu and Shilly away from the functionaries.
‘You two must think me stupid,’ he said, sotto voce, ‘and so must the Magister. I know a bureaucratic stall when I see one.’
‘What?’ Chu blinked, startled.