Alchymist (38 page)

Fusshte
came closer, studying marks on the bark of a nearby tree, claw gouges from some
climbing animal. He turned to the northern sky, cocking his head as if
listening for the return of the air-floater. Hearing nothing, he kept to his
tracks, this time passing right by her sapling. Ullii prayed that she had left
no marks on the bark.

Fortunately
the ground was stony here. Ullii did not breathe as he went by, and Fusshte
must have thought the sapling too small to bear her, for he did not look up.
Soon he disappeared.

The
day wore on. The fire died to ash and embers, though a stench of burnt flesh
and hair lingered. Ullii remained where she was. Near dusk, the air-floater
landed in the clearing. The three scrutators conferred on the ground for some
little while, climbed in and it took off, heading south, as the sun plunged
below the smoky horizon.

After
an hour, when they were tar away. Ullii judged it was safe to come down. The
moon had not yet risen but the starlight was more than enough for her eyes. The
pyre no longer smoked. The fire had burned itself out.

She
circled around the oval patch of ash, marked here and there with elongated
humps, the ash-grey residue of the bodies. Something caught her attention,
tangled around a white stick a few steps away from the pyre. It was a clump of
long black hair, a few dozen strands torn from Mylii's head as they'd dragged
him across.

Ullii
reached out with a fingertip. The strands were as silky soft as her own hair.
As she touched it, the place in her lattice that had once held his knot flared
and faded. She shivered, then carefully freed the lock of hair and tied it
around her throat.

Returning
to the pyre, Ullii went to the place where her twin had been laid, staring at
the dimly lit ridge of ash. She could not believe that Mylii was gone — that
this was all there was of him.

Stepping
into the warm ash, she began to sweep it away from around the ridge with her
fingertips. The ash slipped through her fingers but there wasn't a grain in it.
Where Mylii's head and body had been, the fire had burned so hot that even the
bones had gone.

She
flung the ash this way and that, crying for her brother. Then, on a rock not
far away, the silver bracelet glinted in the starlight. It must have been
pulled from his wrist as they dragged Mylii across. She picked it up, holding
it in her cupped hands, and caught the scent of her brother on it. It was all
there was left of him.

Cradling
the bracelet to her breast, she wept her heart out. There was no longer any
doubt that he was dead. Mylii was gone forever and she was all alone in the
world.

The
moon came up. Ullii was still sitting by the pile of ash, nursing the bracelet,
utterly bereft. As the light slanted down into the clearing, her thoughts
became increasingly bitter.

Nash
must have murdered Mylii to show how much he hated her. Everything he'd done
since making her pregnant in the balloon had been designed to hurt her. Nish
was a cruel man and must be punished.

The
baby kicked, sending a sharp pain through her overstretched bladder. Ullii
looked into her lattice and, for the first time, saw the infant's tiny knot. It
was beautifully regular and symmetrical, the way Nish's might have looked, if
he'd had a talent. Wonderingly, she traced the curves, in and out, over and
under, around and back, until she knew them perfectly.

The
baby kicked again, and the knot trembled. The child was distressed, for Ullii
had not eaten or drunk for a day. Food and drink were not even on her horizon.
She was thinking that, though he obviously hated her, Nish had wanted the
child.

The
contradiction confused her. She stroked the bracelet, breathing in the fading
scent of her brother. It was the only thing linking her to Mylii now. Wanting
to fix that link, she slipped the bracelet over her hand and snapped down the
catch. At first it was loose on her slender wrist, but then the links slithered
together and it became so tight she could not slide her little finger
underneath.

The
baby kicked her bladder, three times in a row, and this time it really hurt.
She touched the bracelet for comfort but saw an image of the three scrutators —
Ghorr, Fusshte and the evil old woman — standing over her as if she were lying
on a table. Ghorr turned to Fusshte, whispering in his ear, then they laughed.

Ullii
cried out in horror and the baby began to kick furiously, doubling her over
until she was on her hands and knees on the ground. She rolled onto her back,
her hands on her belly, which seemed to calm the baby. Lying still, she changed
her lattice so the child's knot filled her mind, mentally caressing the
surfaces, which were as soft, as silky as her brother's hair. Mylii's face came
to her, but as a child, and Ullii lost herself in memories of the time they had
been little twins together, the pale and the dark, so perfectly matched.

The
complement of each other When they had been perfectly happy.

She
could hear their chidish chatter, their happy cries, but a sharp throb low down
drove the memories away. 'Mylii' she gasped, clasping the bracelet in panic,
but again came that flash of the scrutators.

Come
to us, little seeker, mouthed Ghorr. We've work for you.

'Leave
me alone,' she said aloud. 'My baby needs me.'

Baby?
Ghorr said to the others. She can't have a baby — it'll ruin her precious
talent.

She
must have dreamed that, for the next instant they were gone, as if she'd only
imagined it; then gone completely, her memories of the moment wiped clean.

Mylii
wasn't there either, but that awful screaming rang in her ears again. She
reached out to the baby's knot, for the screaming seemed to be coming from
there. An agonising pain, far worse than the baby's kicks, sheared through her
belly. She wrapped her arms around her stomach, trying to protect the baby, but
the pain grew until it was like barbed hooks tearing through her.

Ullii
made a supreme effort to reach beyond the pain but the barbs ripped through her
flesh and she felt a great convulsion inside her, a shearing agony, as if the
baby's sharp fingernails were tearing desperately at the walls of her womb.
Something burst inside her, then water gushed out between her legs, carrying
the baby with it.

'No!'
Ullii screamed, falling to her knees and clawing at the ground, but it was too
late.

The
baby, a little boy no longer than her hand, lay in a puddle, kicking feebly.
She picked him up, staring at him in wonder. He was pink and healthy, and so
beautiful that she felt a flush of love, but as she nursed him in her hands,
the cord stopped pulsing and her stomach contracted again and again to expel
the afterbirth. Ullii lifted the baby to her breast.

'Yllii.
Your name is Yllii,' she said, as if that could protect him.

She
desperately wanted him to live, for it was the only happy link left between her
and Nish, the only good memory of their time together, and she loved him so.
Yullii gave one feeble suck, a little sigh, but his head fell away from the
nipple and blood from his mouth trickled down breast. Ullii tried to blow the
breath back into the infant but the pink colour faded steadily from his face.
The baby breathed no more. Yllii was dead — her grief for her brother must have
killed it, and it was all Nish's fault. He'd taken away everything good in her
life.

Ullii
felt a terrible, aching loss, but that was replaced by the most bitter fury at
what Nish had done to her. A rage that could only be assuaged when he had
suffered the way she, and Mylii, and little Yllii had.

I W ENTY-FOUR

Ullii
dug a hole through the remains of the pyre, lined it with ash taken from the
place where Mylii had lain, so that it made a grey blanket over the dry earth,
then placed the tiny body of her baby inside. It was blue now, and even in the
moonlight she could tell that he was not at peace. His fists were clenched, his
toes curled, his eyes wide and his mouth blood-dark.

My
poor little Yllii, she thought. You never did anything wrong. Why did you have
to die? Ullii covered the tiny eyes and arranged the clump of Mylii's hair over
the top, protectively. She tried to put the bracelet in too, but it would not
come off. It was locked to her wrist. There was not a trace of Mylii's scent
left on it; it had no sense of him at all. She filled in the hole and covered
it with stones so that nothing could dig her baby up, continuing until the
place was covered by a flat-topped cairn as high as her waist. Then, finally,
Ullii broke down. Turning her face away, she began to walk blindly.

She
woke with an ache in her belly that was more than hunger. Ullii had not eaten
in days, but that was not the worst of it. Her empty womb was throbbing. She
had failed in her duty to protect her child.

Ah,
but who made you do it? The voice was a whisper in her head, a rich burr that
reminded her of Mancer Flammas, who had let her live in his dungeon for five
years, and never once harmed her. His kindly indifference meant more'to Ullii
now than the professed friendship of Irisis and Flydd, or the supposed love of
Nish. Their words had been empty, and in the and they had betrayed and
abandoned her. Only Flammas had never let her down.

You
were out of your mind with grief, came the voice again, fever having heard
voices before, she assumed it was Flammas talking to her. You can't be blamed
for protecting yourself. You loved your baby, despite the father.

I did
love Yllii. I would have done anything for him. He was the only good thing that
ever came from Nish.

Cryl-Nish
is the very devil himself. He is evil incarnate, just like his father, and if
you don't stop him he'll destroy the whole world.

'No!'
she cried aloud, remembering Nish's many little kindnesses back at the
manufactory, on the journey in the balloon, and fleeing from Tirthrax.

Cryl-Nish
just lives to destroy everything good.

'What
about that time in the balloon, when he saved me from the nylatl, and then I
saved him? When we made our love in the balloon afterwards? He was the kindest,
gentlest lover in the world.'

He
wasn't in danger at all. He just did it to get his way with you. He used you
from the very beginning.

Ullii
knew that wasn't true, for she'd seen the look of terror on Nish's face as he
clung, weaponless, to the ladder with the nylatl crouched over him. It had
roused her protective instincts and she'd attacked the creature so furiously
that it had scuttled away. But on the very first few times they'd met, Nish had
manipulated her so she would cooperate in the search for Tiaan and the
amplimet. He'd done it kindly, thoughtfully, but also because it was the only way
to get what he wanted.

You
see, said the voice that was so like Mancer Flammas, that's how clever he is.
Cryl-Nish doesn't have to be a monster — he knows that you catch more wasps
with syrup than with gall. Everything he's done since you met, every single
thing, has been to get what he wants from you. He's even wickeder than his
father. Everyone thinks he's just a bumbling fool, and it's the perfect
disguise. It even fooled you.

'No!'
she cried. 'Not Nish.' She put her hands over her ears. 'It's not true.'

The
voice came through just as loud and clear. It is true, and you know it.

Why
would he do this to me.’

He
wants to take over the world and corrupt it in his own image. And only you can
stop him.

'I
can't do anything.'

You
must. He's fooled everyone except you. You have to save the world, Ullii. No
one else can.

'Why
should I?'

Because
you're good, and it's your duty.

'I
don't care about duty.'

But
you must take retribution for Cryl-Nish's wickedness, or little Yllii will
never rest in his grave.

She
began to cry. 'Go away. Don't torment me.'

The
only way out is to do as I say. Stop Cryl-Nish, and then Yllii will be at
peace, and so will you. You can have peace forever, if you wish it.

'But
what am I to do?'

First
you must eat and get back your strength.

'There's
nothing to eat. They took the food in the air-floater.'

Look
over there, at the edge of the forest! See the ears sticking up? It's a hare,
and you've been still so long it's forgotten you're here. Bend down, slowly.
Pick up that egg-shaped stone.

'I
can't kill a living animal,' she whispered.

If
you don't, youil starve and your baby will go unavenged. Pick up the stone.

Ullii
bent her knees, ever so slowly, until she could reach the stone. The bracelet
slipped on her wrist and for a moment she could not remember what she was
doing, or why. She shook herself, it locked again, she recalled, and her
fingers closed around the stone. Warm from the sun, it felt smooth, hard and
heavy.

The
voice was there again. Draw back your arm, slowly.

'I've
never thrown a rock in my life. I won't even hit it.'