The Palace of Impossible Dreams (66 page)

If he went with Cayal, on the other hand, he would learn the secret to killing an immortal.

The decision to abandon the hunt for Arkady tore his soul to shreds, but he didn't see that he had much choice. “We can leave now.”

“Finally!” Cayal said, rolling his eyes. He turned to Arryl. “Lead on, Sorceress. You did get some furs for your little pets, I hope? It'd be a pity to have them freeze to death before we get halfway to Lukys's place.”

“I'll take care of my Crasii. You just get us there in one piece.”

“What about you, Rodent? Ready to meet your maker? Literally?”

In all the fuss with looking for Arkady, Declan had forgotten about meeting Lukys, the man who may or may not be his father. “Just get on the boat, Cayal.”

The Immortal Prince grinned; he was in the best mood Declan had ever seen him, which seemed odd until he realised Cayal's sudden euphoria was probably because he believed that he would soon be able to die.

Tiji had thought she knew what it was to be cold, but every day they drew closer to their destination, she had cause to revise her opinion. Jelidia was beyond cold. It froze the very marrow of her bones.

And it was—the Immortal Prince had informed them cheerfully—still summer here.

“Is something wrong, Tiji?”

She turned her head, copping a mouth full of fur for her trouble. The hooded jacket Arryl had provided for her was a little on the large side. She spat out the fur and moved the hood aside with a mittened hand. “I'm cold.”

Declan smiled. “I noticed.”

She scowled, partly because he smelled like a suzerain, but mostly because he wore nothing heavier than a light cloak over shirt sleeves and a vest. Like the other immortals in their party, the cold meant nothing to him. And she was certain the only reason he bothered with the cloak was to stop his shirt from freezing.

“Did you want to ride in the sled for a time?”

Tiji glanced at the dog-pulled sled with deep suspicion. Ten harnessed, noisy, hairy and entirely-too-many-teeth-for-comfort dogs strained to drag the sled forward. The man who'd brought it to meet them at the coast when their ship (with its reluctant crew) weighed anchor was yet another immortal. This one was Taryx, and he'd been expecting them. Or at least he'd been expecting Arryl, Medwen and Ambria.

Tiji didn't think he was over the shock of meeting Declan yet.

“Taryx says we'll be there soon.”

“So it's not too late to turn back, then?”

“Do you really want to turn back?”

“Funny, I was going to ask you the same question.”

Declan turned to look out over the white snowfield stretching before them. “I think we've come too far for that.”

“We could go back,” she said. “You don't
have
to get involved with these monsters, you know.”

He glanced down at her. “Would you have listened to me if I suggested you didn't need to get involved with Azquil?”

She shook her head, but wasn't sure if he saw the movement because it happened mostly inside her hood. “Finding the rest of the chameleon Crasii is a little different to you making nice with the immortals, Declan.”

“How?”

“Well, for one thing, my lot don't go about sinking continents into the ocean. Or blowing them up with volcanoes. Or chucking meteors at people . . .”

He smiled. “Point taken.”

“So we can turn around, then?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“Because we'd be a fool to turn our backs on this opportunity.”

“The opportunity for what? You to learn how to break the world in half the next time you get pissed at Ark—somebody . . .”

If he noted her slip he was too polite—or still hurting too much—to remark on it. “What I mean, Tiji, is that the Cabal has spent thousands of years trying to work out how to destroy an immortal, and here I am, invited along to help kill one of them.”

“That's a very convenient excuse, Declan.”

“Blame Arkady,” he said, unable to hide the bitterness in his voice at the mention of her name. “It was her idea.”

Tiji felt for Declan, wishing there was something she could do or say to ease his pain. Nothing she'd said so far had helped. Of course, she wasn't sure what he was suffering over the most—Arkady's disappearance or the thought that he might have driven her away.

“I'm afraid, Declan.”

He put his arm around her. “I won't let anything happen to you, Slinky.”

She smiled, but didn't reply, mostly because she wasn't sure how to tell Declan the thing that frightened her most was not what the other immortals might do to her; it was what Declan—counting himself as one of them—would do to himself.

It was much later in the day when the ice palace came into view. It should have been sunset by then. Tiji's internal clock was telling her that, but the sun showed no sign of going anywhere. Squinting into the relentlessly blindingly light, Tiji gasped as they topped a small rise to find the palace
perched on the glittering white horizon. Their first sight of the crystal palace caused them all to halt in their tracks, with the exception of Taryx who had to bring the dogs and the sled under control to wait for them.

For once, Tiji barely even noticed the dogs or the stench of the suzerain to which she had thought she'd never grow accustomed. She was too entranced by the ice palace to care.

“Tides,” Azquil exclaimed, stopping beside her on the rise. “Will you look at that?”

The others stopped beside them, even Jojo. The feline pushed back her hood, her expression as awestruck as Tiji thought her own must be. “It's amazing. Did Lord Lukys really build it?”

“With my help,” Taryx said, climbing the slope to stand beside them. The dogs and the sled were still where he left them, the animals sitting patiently on the snow while they waited for their master to resume their journey.

Arryl glanced at Cayal. “Lukys has outdone himself.”

“You know he only built it to show off, don't you?”

“Then why build it here, Cayal, where there's nobody to admire his handiwork?”

“Oh, I don't know,” Declan said. “He managed to get
you
here to look at it.”

“That's Lukys for you.” Cayal smiled and looked at Declan. “You look nothing like him, by the way.”

“Nice time to decide that.”

“Which brings up an interesting point, now I come to think of it,” the Immortal Prince continued in a smug tone. “I mean, we don't
know
he's your father for certain, do we? Any one of us could have wandered through Glaeba at the right time. Was your mother pretty?”

“Must have been,” Declan said. “I am.”

Tiji smiled. The journey to Jelidia had left plenty of time for the spymaster and the Immortal Prince to get on each other's nerves. Cayal goaded Declan constantly, but Declan was getting very good at needling Cayal in return, and the Immortal Prince could do nothing about it. He needed Declan far more than Declan needed him.

“Please,” Arryl said with a weary sigh. “Let's not start this again.”

“I'm not starting anything,” Cayal said. “I was just pointing out that the Rodent is a bastard.”

“Tides, you're right,” Declan said in a deadpan voice. “That means you could be my father, Cayal. I mean, my mother
was
a whore, and I'm guessing you usually have to pay for it . . .”

Tiji laughed out loud which didn't help matters much at all.

Cayal did not seem amused. He turned on Tiji threateningly. “You think that's funny, do you, reptile?”

Tiji took a step backward, reaching for Azquil's hand. But she needn't have worried. Declan put himself between Cayal and Tiji before she could answer. “Leave her alone.”

“Why? You like lizards as well as duchesses, Rodent?”

“Cayal, that's enough,” Arryl ordered. “Tiji and Azquil are
my
servants and you'll leave them alone because I command it.”

“Who owns the cat?” Taryx asked.

“The Rodent,” Cayal said, before anybody else could claim Jojo. “He likes to play a bit of Cat and Mouse, our new immortal.”

Taryx glanced at Declan with a frown. He looked confused and more than a little worried about the implications of having an unknown immortal appear out of nowhere unexpectedly. Declan just rolled his eyes.

“Each to his own, I suppose.” Taryx turned to the others. “Are we done sightseeing? You'll have plenty of time to admire the palace when we get there.”

“Then lead on, Taryx,” Cayal said. “We're not getting any younger standing here. Or any older, for that matter.”

Arryl sighed again, shaking her head. “The idea that you might soon be dead grows increasingly attractive, Cayal.”

“I love you too, Arryl,” Cayal replied with an unexpected grin, but he didn't wait for her response, simply headed down the slope toward the sled. Taryx and Arryl followed him, leaving Declan on the crest with the Crasii.

“You know how I can tell he's immortal?” Tiji said to Declan.

“How?”

“Nobody's succeeded in killing him yet.”

Declan smiled. “You're going to get yourself in trouble making comments like that around these people, Slinky.”

“Lady Arryl will protect us, my lord,” Azquil said. “As will you, I suspect.”

“Of course he will,” Jojo said, staring at Declan with devoted eyes. “The Tide Lords protect us because to serve them is the reason we breathe.”

“It might be the reason
you
breathe, kitten,” Tiji said. “But some of us aren't so devoted to the cause.”

The feline glared at the two chameleons—something she did a lot, Tiji noted with concern—and stepped protectively between them and Declan.

“You are Scards. Abominations who should not be allowed to live. Both of you.”

“That's enough, Jojo,” Declan informed her, putting his hand on her shoulder to restrain her. “These chameleons are my friends and you will treat them with the same respect you would treat any immortal. Is that clear?”

The feline immediately backed down, dropping to her knees on the snow before her master. “To serve you is the reason I breathe, my lord.”

“Harm a single scale on either of those two,” he added sternly, “and I'll give you a reason
not
to breathe.”

It concerned Tiji a little to see how quickly Declan had learned to use the Crasii compulsion to his advantage, even if he was using it to protect her and Azquil.
Is this what happens when you find you can command anyone to do anything? You find reasons to do it just because you can?

Jojo didn't seem offended or upset by the order, although it was clear she considered the two reptilian Crasii prey rather than family. She nodded and rose to her feet. “To serve you is the reason I breathe, my lord.”

“You may go.”

She bowed awkwardly, unaccustomed to the furs, and then turned and hurried down the slope after the sled.

Tiji waited until she was out of earshot and then looked at Declan with a frown. “I think you're starting to like that whole ‘To serve you is the reason I breathe, my lord' nonsense.”

“Don't be ridiculous.”

“To serve you isn't the reason
I
breathe.”

“I learned that long ago, Slinky.”

She searched his face, hoping he meant it. “Don't let them change you, Declan.”

“I won't,” he promised. “Now, come on. The Palace of Impossible Dreams awaits us.”

Tiji smiled at Declan, forcing an enthusiasm she certainly didn't feel for this venture. And then she let Azquil take her hand and together the three of them headed down the slope to where the other immortals were waiting.

If Declan had thought Lukys's ice palace was impressive from a distance, it was quite overwhelming close up. About an hour after they'd first spied it, they entered the Palace of Impossible Dreams through an archway that opened into a cavernous chamber from which the rest of the palace seemed to emanate.

A rush of warm air greeted them as they entered, although Declan thought the warmth an illusion. A number of Crasii slaves hurried out to attend them, as if the visitors were expected. Although he was searching for it, Declan couldn't sense another presence on the Tide to indicate Lukys, Kentravyon or Pellys was in the vicinity. The canines brought them hot drinks and warm shawls and eyed the new Crasii warily. Taryx had disappeared with the sled, presumably to release and feed the dogs.

Jojo hissed as a canine got too close, baring her teeth warningly.

“Settle down,” Declan ordered the feline he was now apparently the master of, looking around with interest. Although he'd been warned about this place, he wasn't quite prepared for the scale of it. It was beyond huge. It was majestic. And it was pointless. As Arryl had asked when they first spied the palace,
why build it here, where there's nobody to admire your handiwork?

“Cayal! You're back!”

They all turned at the sound of a female voice. Descending the carved-ice stairs was a young woman, dressed in a long woollen dress and a glorious white fur coat that seemed to be made from the skin of a Jelidian snow bear. Declan wondered why he was surprised. No snow bear was going to harm an immortal. Lukys could have taken the skin off the bear while it was still breathing and complaining about being skinned alive, and wouldn't have come to any lasting harm.

The young woman stopped before their disparate group and curtseyed elegantly. She was Torlenian, of all things—at least Declan assumed she was because she addressed them in that language—but she was smiling in welcome and he figured this must be their hostess, Lukys's young wife, Oritha.

Cayal bowed politely to the woman, turning on his most charming smile. “Oritha, how nice to see you again. Allow me to introduce Lady Arryl
and . . . Declan Hawkes.” Then he turned to the others, adding, “This is Lukys's wife, Oritha.”