Bloodtide

Randolf Carhill are traitors, of course he believes that too. And there they are now to greet me, heads on sticks, the crows sitting in the trees behind them waiting for their moment of privacy with them.

Trust is this heart of Conor's, that he's given into my hands. In the story the princess gives the heart to the prince to crush, but I shall squeeze this heart… squeeze it and crush it slowly over the years to come, until Conor is screaming with the pain of it. And when he has screamed as loudly as the people in my dreams, I'll kill him.

I swing down like a basket of eggs and when I reach the ground, frightened hands come to loosen the ropes. They know already how much I am to be feared. Only Conor doesn't understand. Little Vincent croons, lullabied by the swinging journey down. I give him the tip of my finger to suck and I think, you little helpless thing, you'll have less in common with me than the copy by the time I'm done. Conor comes and rests his hand on my shoulder and smiles anxiously at me, like a scared child. Who can blame him for being scared of me? I am the prophet, forewarned by the gods! Poor Conor, so weak he can be so fooled by his own trick. He thinks I love him!

He raises his fist in the air.

This is your Queen!' he cries. The eight hundred men left in the bodyguard and the entire population of the Estate shout back.

'Hail the Queen! Hail the Queen!' I smile at my husband. I'm the power here now.

19

Siggy

I hadn't even known she was pregnant.

I found out about a week ago. Cherry was winding me up. She's a real tease – always flirting, it drove me mad. After that one time I wanted another slice, and every now and then over the past year or so since, she let me have it Oh, yeah, and that'sworth living for. Cherry gets old fast, she looks about thirty now and I'm only twenty, but she's as gorgeous as ever. She'd let me kiss her, but nine times out of ten she was just leading me on. I'd think, maybe she means it this time and then as soon as I reached out for her – fittz! – and she'd laugh and fly away. It drove me mad, watching that little bird whiz away into the bushes. And then a burst of song that always sounded so sarcastic.

I couldn't help it, it was just making me crosser and crosser every time it happened. So, OK, I admit to being a bit of a bastard sometimes these days. I'd feel ashamed of myself if I thought I was worth it She pushed me a bit far that day – I hadn't had much sleep – and I grabbed her by the arm. I held her hard. I could see the look in her eyes. She knew I had her. Panic.

'And now I'm gonna have you,' I told her, and I reached for her face with mine.

Cherry did the shapes. First the bird, then the cat, then the girl again. I just held tight. She scratched, she pecked, she bit. Finally she became a cat and just waited there, crouching in my arms, staring up at me. Every hair on her body was standing on end.

'Tell me something I don't know,' I sneered, and I dropped her.

'All right,' she said. There was the girl again. It always gave me the creeps, that. And tell me she did.

'Your sister has had a baby.'

'What?'

'And it's yours.'

'What do you mean, mine? Don't be stupid.'

'I mean…' Cherry smiled coldly. 'I mean, she wants you to have him.'

She explained, but it took a while to sink it She wanted me to bring up a souped-up version of her and Conor's kid. What? Why? I mean, what's a clone? Not just a copy. It's a forgery. That's how I felt about it. And transgenic! I wonder what optional extras dear Signy's had fitted? Strengthened bones, something from an eagle at the back of the retina? Improvements. What'd she done to his mind? What'd she done to his soul, if you can call it that?

Then I got angry. Signy had no right! She had no right to sleep with that shit in the first place. How can she stand it! Him lying by her side… on top of her… inside her! How come she doesn't vomit in his face? How come her insides don't just abort anything he lodges inside her?

'Why has she done this?'

'She has no choice…'

'She could escape! You know she could escape! What's the point of staying there? Conor can't be defeated, you know that. Why don't you tell her, Cherry?'

'…if she wants to keep his confidence she has no choice but to sleep with him. And she has his confidence. Dag Aggerman knows every move Conor makes.'

'But that's you, Cherry! You get that information and pass it on to him, she doesn't need to be there at all. And now she's had a baby by him! What is it with her? She's mad, isn't she? That's what it is, she's mad. Can't you see that? Can't you help me, Cherry? We could get her out of there, you and me. You used to like me, Cherry. We slept together. I thought I could fall in love with you. Cherry? Why won't you help me?'

And then I was crying, tears running down my face, trembling all over. Cherry stood there looking at me and for a second I thought she was going to cry herself. Her face seemed to be changing. When she spoke her voice was unsteady but her words were so clear.

'This is how the gods have seen it, Siggy. Don't argue. Don't try. It's all already as it has to be and nothing can change it. You can only do it in the best way you can.'

How many times had I heard my father say such things?

'The gods can keep it, I don't want anything to do with it. It stinks. Conor's child!'

'Herchild. And her child is your child,' insisted Cherry, but I shook my head.

'A clone,' I said. I just couldn't understand what she was up to. And why should I have anything to do with it? I tried to say something but the words were getting all blurred. Cherry was staring at me and I could see that she was upset too. I stumbled towards her and put out my arms and then she was there, in my arms. It felt so good. She squeezed me tight. I was sobbing. Then, I couldn't help it, I just fancy her so much… it turned me on and she must have felt stirring down there, because she drew back and looked into my eyes. Her lips were open. Her eyes were soft and wet. I would have leaned forward to kiss her but I was scared, my face is so fucking awful…

… And there was a whirr of brown wings and she was off into the sky like a thrown stone. But there was no jeering birdsong from a bush this time. I saw the tears in her eyes as she changed.

I thought to myself, I wish I'd made her pregnant. I could love a son of my own. But this thing of Conor's, this thing in a tank that Signy wanted to give to me, it made me feel sick. One thing I knew for certain: I wasn't going to have nothing to do with it. Nothing.

20

Dag Aggerman

Sheee-it! Tell you, that thing gave me the spooks even before it was out. Yeah… ah! Mind, them tanks always gave me the spooks. Ah, ah! Those things all pruney from being so long in the liquid, long squinty babies, giant foetuses with that bloom on their skins, all puffy and swollen, gaping like fish. Their necks sorta swell up when they take down the Oxyjuice. Yow! Some of 'em got tubes going in at the navel, some with blood in them, some with wires. Yuk, yuk, yuk. Yeah, I went in one time to have a look-see, check it out. You hadta walk past rows of dog things and cat things and pig things till you got to the people things; and there he was, lying curled up like a big white shite at the bottom of his tank, oh, no, ah ah ah! – about the ugliest thing I ever saw. Eyes staring out, neck puffing up and down. He was bigger'n a man already.

Yeah, Mummy made a few changes to her darling boy.

I didn't see him again till he was born. Woulda stayed away at the birth too, but I hadta be there. Cherry was coming too, see – oh yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You gotta stay in with the likes of that! Nah! Mind, she didn't do much talking. Stayed a cat the whole time. Yeah, fuckin' furball, she was just doin it to wind me up!