The Office of Shadow (47 page)

"What did you just do?" asked Ironfoot.

"Me?" said Lin Vo. "That was nothing. I just changed things around a
bit."

"You have the Thirteenth Gift," said Silverdun. "Change Magic."

"There you go with your Gifts again," said Lin Vo. "Everything's a Gift
with you people."

She sighed. "Now if we're done with the histrionics, I'd like to get the
conversation going, because it's going to be light in a few hours, and that's
when you need to leave."

Silverdun rolled his eyes and said, "Please tell me you're not going to
launch into a rambling, vague prophecy of some kind, telling us our fate."

"No," said Lin Vo. "And I don't like that word `fate.' There's no such
thing as fate. There's only the river."

"What river is that?" asked Sela.

"Time is the river, Sela, and we're all floating down it. It's a strong current and it carries us. We can paddle this way and that and we can try to
swim upstream for a while or make ourselves go faster, but we're headed
down that river one way or another.

"What you call Premonition is just the ability to sit up a little bit and
look downstream. Sometimes you can see rocks ahead; sometimes you can see
that we're all about to go over a waterfall."

"Why are you telling us all this?" asked Silverdun. Ironfoot could see
that he was growing impatient. Silverdun claimed to have a philosophical
bent, but Ironfoot had noticed that he was always far happier when he was in
action.

"Because there's a waterfall just up ahead."

"If we're all going over it anyway," said Silverdun, "then why bother
telling us?"

"So you can go down it feet first, with your eyes open, silly." She sipped
her tea. "So I sent Je Wen out there to wait for you to come falling out of the
sky, and here you are."

"Surely you didn't do this out of the goodness of your heart," said Silverdun. "What do you want in return?"

"Oh, my! How cynical you are," said Lin Vo. "Sometimes people do the
right thing because it's the right thing to do."

She touched his knee. "There's a war coming, Silverdun. War is the
greatest waste there is, and we Arami are particularly indisposed to waste, as
you may have noticed. And this isn't just any war. This is a war that has the
power to end Faerie. The power to turn this world to dust."

"The Einswrath," said Ironfoot.

"There you go," said Lin Vo. "That little device changes everything, as
the four of you know all too well. In fact, none of you would be here if it
weren't for the Einswrath."

"There aren't any Einswrath," said Timha.

"What?" said Silverdun, glaring at him.

"We couldn't figure out how to do it," said Timha, his eyes downcast.
"We tried. We did everything we could. They said they would kill us all if
we didn't."

"And that's why you ran," said Sela.

"But you've got the plans with you," said Silverdun. "Are you saying
they're not real?"

"No!" shouted Timha. "They're real. They're extremely detailed, and they were drawn by Hy Pezho himself. But he's gone and he can't explain
how it all works."

"Now he tells us," said Silverdun.

"I didn't want to die," said Timha. "I'm giving you the plans; that's how
badly I don't want to die. If you can figure out how to make the thing work
then you'll have the Einswrath and Mab won't. Don't you get it? Don't you
understand what I've done?"

"Funny name, `Einswrath,"' said Lin Vo. "The wrath of Ein. Strange
thing to name a weapon. You wouldn't think they'd name it after a made-up
god who's supposedly been buried in the ground for thousands of years."

"So you don't believe that any gods are real?" asked Silverdun. "I'd
always heard that the Arami worshipped the Chthonic gods."

"Oh, the gods are real," said Lin Vo. "Just not the way you think. And
you're all going to have to learn how to think things anew if you're going to
survive."

"A premonition?" asked Silverdun.

"A fact of life," said Lin Vo. She looked at Timha. "Not you, though. You
just keep doing what you're doing."

Silverdun stood, clearly irritated. "I don't know about my companions,
but I've had enough clever presentiment for one night. I appreciate your hospitality, but I think I'd prefer a bed."

"I don't blame you, Silverdun. This is all very tiresome and vague. Pre-
monitives have a reputation for that. But true vision isn't something that can
be expressed in words. To put it into words is to render it false. I can only
point you in a direction; I can't tell you what you'll find when you get there.
Maddening, I know. Not too different from the gods, really."

"Ah," said Silverdun. Ironfoot could tell that Silverdun was tired. The
pressure of leading this assignment was wearing him down.

"You go rest, Silverdun. I don't have anything more to tell you; in fact,
the less I tell you, the better. Take Timha and Ironfoot here with you. Je Wen
will find a place for you to lie down."

"Thank you," said Silverdun, visibly relieved.

"What about me?" asked Sela.

"Let's talk about you, Sela. Let me pour you a cup of tea, because this is going to take a while." She looked up at the men. "Go on, you three. Ladies
only."

Ironfoot, Silverdun, and Timha left the tent, and found Je Wen waiting
for them outside.

"Was your conversation profitable?" he asked.

"I have no idea," said Ironfoot.

Je Wen gave him a knowing smile. "Come with me."

The tent next to Lin Vo's held four mattresses piled with blankets and
pillows, and not much else. Silverdun sprawled on one, his eyes wide open,
and Timha was fast asleep on the other by the time Ironfoot got his boots off.

"I thought you were tired," said Ironfoot, looking at Silverdun.

"I am. More exhausted than I can remember being in a long, long time."

"That was an ... unusual conversation."

Silverdun sat up, rubbing his temples. "People like her drive me utterly
mad," he said.

"Did you see what she did to Timha?" Ironfoot asked. "The way she used
re?"

Silverdun shook his head. "I haven't the slightest idea what happened
there. I saw Timha channeling Motion, and the next thing I knew, he looked
like he'd been dunked in a pond. Strangest thing I ever saw." He lay back
down and closed his eyes.

"Get some sleep," he said. "I have a feeling we've got a couple of long
days ahead of us."

Ironfoot lay down as well, but couldn't sleep either. When he closed his
eyes he saw the patterns in his mind again, and the colorless color of Lin Vo's
magic.

An undefined term. Division by zero.

Some time later, just as he was drifting off, Sela slipped into the tent. He
caught a glimpse of her in the firelight from outside. Tears glistened on her
face, but she didn't look sad. Quite the opposite: For the first time he could
remember, she looked at peace.

Ironfoot awoke what felt like a moment later, although it must have been at
least four hours, because gray dawn was already filtering in through the tent
flaps. Though he'd slept little, and fitfully, when he stood up he felt fully
awake and rested. Another perk of the change wrought upon him and Silverdun at Whitemount, whatever it had been. He needed little sleep these
days, and what little he got worked wonders.

Hell, it even grew back a hand if necessary.

"About time you woke up," said Silverdun. He was already up and
pulling on his boots. He looked as refreshed as Ironfoot felt.

"How do you feel right now, Silverdun?" he asked.

"Just fine," said Silverdun.

"After just four hours of sleep."

"I'm not questioning it today," said Silverdun. "Just grateful for it. I
woke up in fine fettle and don't intend to let anything bring me down today."

"That's uncharacteristically optimistic of you," said Ironfoot.

"Apparently my previous character wasn't doing me much good," said
Silverdun drily.

"Is it morning already?" said Sela. She sat up on her mattress and looked
around, groggy. "I feel as though I just fell asleep."

Outside, the Arami tribe was already up and active. The central fire pit
had been covered over with sand, and the tents were being struck. Timha
walked through the camp, his eyes half-closed and suspicious, but took coffee
and a pipe when they were offered. Je Wen was rolling up a portion of tent
canvas when they found him.

"Good morning," Je Wen said. "I trust you all slept well?"

"Your trust is misplaced," said Silverdun. "We all slept poorly. But we're
ready to go when you are."

They made their preparations for travel as the camp was dismantled
around them.

"Is the whole group coming?" asked Ironfoot.

"No," said Je Wen. "It's time to move camp. There will be a quake today.
This valley will split open like a wound."

The tents were loaded up into the goat carts, but all of the furniture, and
most of the bric-a-brac that had been inside the tents, was left on the ground.

"To feed the bound gods," said Je Wen with a knowing smile.

They were ready to go, but Lin Vo's tent was still standing, and she had
yet to appear.

"Won't we see her again?" asked Sela, distraught.

"She has said all she has to say," said Je Wen, shrugging. "Let's go."

A pregnant woman approached Je Wen and handed him a shoulder bag
stuffed with what appeared to be provisions.

"My wife," said Je Wen. He patted her stomach gently. "And my son,"
he said, smiling.

Je Wen kissed his wife gently on the cheek. She said something in
Arami, clearly an admonition, and he put his hand on her cheek. She turned
and went back to her tent, unsmiling.

"I imagine she's not thrilled with your leaving," said Silverdun.

"I'll be back in plenty of time to see the child born," said Je Wen.

He led them through the emptying camp, opposite the direction of the
carts.

"We won't be taking one of those?" said Timha, despondent, pointing at
the carts.

"Not where we're going," said Je Wen. "I hope you all know how to
climb."

They set off. When they reached the far rim of the valley, Ironfoot looked
back. Lin Vo was standing in front of the line of fully packed carts, facing
them. She seemed to be looking directly at Ironfoot. Then she turned around
and walked past the carts, until Ironfoot could no longer see her.

Then the goat and the bear were married and lived
together all their days. And whether it was that the goat
became mad or the bear became sane, no one will ever
know.

from 'The Goat and the Bear,'' Seelie fable

he first day they did little but walk through endless fields of wild grain
and across windswept rocks. They stopped a few times to eat the food
that Je Wen had packed, but spoke little.

Silverdun and Ironfoot had boundless energy and were able to keep up
with Je Wen easily, but Sela was still exhausted, and had refused to be spellrested. Timha had spellrested himself but was still miserable. He was clearly
unused to exercising any part of him other than his mind, and his boots were
unsuited for hiking. He spent most of the morning gasping for breath and
asking constantly to stop for rest.