Vengeance

‘The chancellor is a vindictive swine. He’ll torture it out of her. He’ll break her.’

‘Tali wants to help her country, and a willing prisoner gives far more useful information than can be extracted by torture. She’ll be well taken care of, so where’s the harm in giving her up?’

‘Dammit, I like her.’

‘So … so do I,’ said Tobry. ‘But no friendship between you and Tali can equal the bonds of House and family.’

‘If she were to agree to it there’d be no difficulty,’ said Rix.

‘It would be a neat way out of your moral dilemma.’

‘Would you give her up — if you were me, I mean?’

Again that little pause. ‘The question isn’t relevant. I’ve no House to protect, nor any family. Why are you so worried about this?’

‘The chancellor is a man of his word, but I never said he was a man of honour. It’s common knowledge that he despises the Pale.’

Tobry sighed. ‘It’s worse than that. I did some checking in the archives yesterday. After House vi Torgrist died out, his ancestors seized most of its estates on a dubious legal claim. They have them still.’

‘So he has good reason to want her out of the way. If I give her up, I could be collaborating in the doom I divined for her.’

‘I don’t think so,’ said Tobry.

‘Why not?’

‘Murder in the dark isn’t the chancellor’s style. Anyway, since we don’t have the faintest idea where Tali’s got to, the question is academic.’

‘There’s another thing,’ said Rix.

‘From the grim expression you’re wearing, I thought there must have been.’

‘I lay down a while ago and immediately had another of those ice leviathan nightmares.’

‘I’m not surprised. The polar ice spreads further north each day, and every day is colder than the one before.’

‘An early winter is a bitter winter. This nightmare was the strongest I’ve ever had, as if it had been building up all week, waiting for the right time to get to me.’ He paused, walked back and forth. ‘And the voice was back in my head.’

‘What voice?’ said Tobry sharply. ‘You’ve never mentioned a voice before.’

‘Too ashamed,’ said Rix quietly. ‘And too afraid.’

‘That noble Tobry, fresh from presiding over the ruination of his own house, would judge you?’

Rix flushed. ‘It seems stupid now, but at the time … last week seems like half a lifetime ago.’

‘How long have you been hearing the voice?’

‘Years and years, and it’s getting stronger all the time.’

‘What does it say?’

‘I can never remember the words. But …’ The shame was burning him. And the terror that it might come true. Rix choked, then gasped out, ‘It’s always got to do with taking her down and cutting it out.’

‘Taking who down?’

‘Her. Just her. But it’s obvious, isn’t it?’

‘It’s beginning to look that way,’ Tobry said grimly. ‘Cutting what out?’

‘I’m not sure it’s ever been specified.’ Rix looked down at his big hands as if expecting to see blood there. ‘I feel sick.’

He brought out the whited-out sketch and perched it on its easel.

‘I can see every line and dab in my mind’s eye,’ said Tobry. ‘I dare say you can, too.’

They stared at the blank surface.

‘I can’t stop seeing it,’ said Rix. ‘No need to wonder who the faceless man is at the end of the bench, then.’

Tobry attempted to speak but nothing came out.

‘It’s me,’ said Rix. ‘I’ve divined myself murdering Tali.’

Tobry stirred, as though to deny it, but again failed to speak.

‘Do you wonder that I think I’m going mad?’ said Rix.

‘You’re not going mad.’

‘But you can’t gainsay what I’ve divined, can you?’

‘It’s just a bloody sketch, Rix!’ snapped Tobry. ‘We all think bad thoughts from time to time, but we don’t carry them out.’

‘Then why do I feel so sick inside? Every nightmare tells me that I’ve committed some atrocity and I’m going to do it again.’

‘Have you committed any atrocities lately?’

‘I don’t know,’ Rix cried out. ‘But I’ve felt this way for years, and it’s getting worse. It can’t come out of nowhere, can it?’

Tobry shrugged and avoided his eye. ‘You wouldn’t hurt Tali, or any woman. You’ve always looked after the small and the unfortunate. It’s preposterous.’

‘I think so too,’ said Rix. ‘There’s just one problem.’

‘What’s that?’

‘In my nightmares, the voice always beats me.’

‘It must be the wrythen.’

‘And it always forces me to do what it wants.’

‘Then you’d better do the sketch again,’ said Tobry. ‘But this time, don’t let the divination control you — you’ve got to control it.’

‘What if I can’t?’

CHAPTER 70

The boy’s memories hidden inside Rix were Tali’s most important line of evidence. She remembered the horror in his eyes and the vomit splattered down his front. He might have followed the killers to the cellar in innocent curiosity. Then, when they began their terrible work, he would have been afraid to move in case they killed him too. No wonder he had blocked everything out.

After groping her way around under the tub she discovered rungs running down a round shaft. Should she go down, or back? She needed to question Rix before it was too late, but the chancellor’s searchers could still be here. Tali went down.

After descending twenty-four rungs she came to a side passage that smelled of stale sweat, bad food and damp bedding. Thinking that it probably led to servant’s quarters, she continued past and shortly encountered a cross tunnel. To the right, an air current carried a hint of cinnamon and musk that reminded her of the chancellor. Not that way.

The other direction smelled of mouldering stone. No glimmer of light penetrated these spaces but Tali’s nose and fingers could read stone in ways no one from the surface could understand, and this stone spoke of great age. She must be in the ancient, inner section of the palace, perhaps within one of its walls.

She climbed several steps, went along a horizontal passage and after some minutes caught a strong, ointment odour mixed with the reek of spilled wine and spirits — Lord Ricinus. She was feeling along the wall when her fingers encountered a small round plug standing proud of the surface. She wiggled it out and a thread- like beam shone onto her forehead — a peephole.

Going up on tiptoes, she peered into a large chamber decorated with arrays of spears, swords and shields, and other weapons. A coloured map of Hightspall covered one wall. Another held the stuffed heads of a great boar, several kinds of deer, one with curly horns, and other animals not covered in her Cythonian education.