He rolled his eyes. “It’s not as if you have to kill him yourself,” he said. Then he left.
She sat back down, trembling.
“What am I doing?” she whispered. She needed Glim.
“What are you doing?” Mere-Glim asked the next night, at their weekly meeting. It took place in an old slurry filter, empty and forgotten a few yards below the pantry. From it Annaig could hear what was going on in the kitchens-which at night was usually nothing-and Glim was only feet away from the tube that would take him back down into the sump, if anyone approached.
“I’m trying to figure out why we can’t leave,” she told him. “It’s got something to do with the way Umbriel uses souls, I’m pretty sure. At least it’s a place to start. But I can’t just experiment without producing anything, or Toel would start thinking I’m no longer useful. And if that happens, well-it’s over. Just ask poor Kohnu.”
“You’re doing what you have to do,” Glim said. “You can’t feel bad because of what Toel does.”
“He might have let Kohnu live if it wasn’t for me.”
“Might-have and mud are fine places to wallow,” Glim said.
“That’s easy for you to say,” Annaig replied. “You haven’t gotten anyone killed.” She clenched her fists. “I’ve gotten a lot of people killed, Glim, not just Kohnu. Everyone in Qijne’s kitchen. And probably Attrebus.”
“Still no word from him?”
“No,” she said miserably. “I talked to him just before we tried to escape. He was in our path, Glim. I fear the worst.”
“You don’t know, though,” Glim said. “He might have lost Coo, or maybe he’s somewhere the enchantment doesn’t work.”
“Maybe.”
“But even if something happened to him, it’s not your fault.”
“If I knew more, had more to tell him-”
“You’ve done more than he could have ever expected,” Glim replied. “More than I’ve ever done.”
“Nonsense. If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t understand half what I do about this horrible place. You found me, Glim. I couldn’t have found you. And all of those maps-I still don’t know why the skraws helped you with that.”
“Well,” Glim said, sighing, “I sort of promised them something.”
“What do you mean?”
He was silent for a moment. “Do you remember, back when we tried to escape, you said something about having invented a way of breathing underwater?”
“Sure. Why do you ask?”
He wiggled his hands in clear agitation.
“What?”
“The skraws,” he said at last. “Those who work in the sump, like me-none of them can naturally breathe underwater. They inhale vapors that allow them to, but the vapors are really bad for them. They live in agony and die young.” He looked up. “I was wondering if you could make them something else, something that won’t hurt them.”
She thought about that, and then found herself answering carefully.
“I could,” she said. “It’s easy for me to sneak the things I need to make an ounce or two of anything. But you would need more than that-a lot more than that-to make a difference. I would have to set up a generation vat. I don’t think I can do that without permission, but if I managed to, it would be noticed and I would be in big trouble.”
“Maybe you can get permission,” he said.
“If I bring up the skraws, Toel will wonder why I know anything about them and why I care. He considers caring a weakness, and he already thinks I’m about as weak as they come. And he might find out about you.” She paused, and then went on even more cautiously. “Anyway-our goal is to bring Umbriel down, remember? Before it destroys our world?”
“The skraws don’t have anything to do with that,” he said. “They just work and die.”
“Are you-” She laughed suddenly.
“What?”
“After all that making fun of me and my causes. You’ve got one, haven’t you?”
“They-They sort of made me their leader.”
“Why?”
“I told them we might be able to make things better if we-umm-organized a little.”
“Organized? You’re leading a revolt?”
“I didn’t mean to,” he replied miserably. “I mean, they kind of got the idea from me when I stood up to an overseer, and then-well, I might have suggested that they make some maps for me.”
“Maps?”
“So I could find you. So we could escape.”
“Oh. And now that we’re stuck here-”
“They seem to expect me to follow through.”
“Well, I guess they do,” she said. “Will you?”
His pupils expanded and shrank, and then he nodded. “I think so,” he said. “It’s not right, how they live.”
“You can think of it this way, too,” Annaig told him. “The more of them you’ve got looking for ways to sabotage things, the more likely you’ll find some way to stop Umbriel altogether. That connection with the ingenium you told me about, for instance. We need to know more about that.”
“Right,” he said, but he sounded a bit uneasy.
“Glim,” she said, taking his chin between her fingers.
“Yes?”
“I’m glad you care about these people. I’m glad you found a cause. And if there is any way to save the skraws, I’m all for it. But if it comes down to them or our world-if all of these people and the two of us thrown into the bargain have to die to stop this thing-that’s what we have to do. You know that, don’t you?”
He nodded, but there was an odd stiffness to it.
“Look,” she said. “The kitchens are highly competitive, right? If the skraws raise enough ruckus, the lords may start looking for an alternative to the vapors. I’ve got one, ready to go. I just need Toel to ask me for it- understand?”
“I understand,” Glim replied.
“We’ll start there. But meanwhile you have to keep gathering information, okay? I mean, if I solve the problem of getting us off of this rock, maybe we can take your friends with us. The more information I have, the more alternatives that gives us.”
“That makes sense,” Glim breathed. “I’ll see what I can do. But you-what about this woman who tried to kill you? What about Toel? If what you say is true, and if he thinks you’re weak-I don’t want to find you in the sump one day.”
“You have your situation to manage,” she said softly. “I have mine.”
She hugged him and watched him go, but she felt troubled afterward, wondering if she and Mere-Glim were really on the same side anymore.
THREE
A soft cough drew Colin from the papers massed on his desk. Intendant Marall stood a few feet from his table, hands clasped behind his back.
Colin pushed his chair back and came to his feet.
“Intendant,” he acknowledged.
“Inspector,” Marall nodded. Then he just stood there.
“Can I help you, sir?” Colin asked after the moment drew uncomfortably long.
“I’m just wondering if you have anything to report.”
