[Lanen Kaelar 01] - Song in the Silence (13 page)

He sounded hurt. “Again you call me
deceiver. How have I now deceived you? I told you I have left off my amulet. In
what have I—”

“Don’t worry, Bots. I don’t know why you
decided to be a player today, but it doesn’t matter.” I moved to the front
of the inn and stood in the street before the open doorway. I smiled at him in
the light that spilled out upon him, leaving me in shadow. “A lowly
trader, indeed. How lowly a trader is it who can pay what you did for that
mare? And you have sent your strongest ship to Corli, have you? Your strongest
of how many? You are master of your own Merchant House, that is clear, and your
lady awaits you and my little mare at home. But I have enjoyed this day with
you. You have been a true challenge. I have no idea what you might mean when
you say anything, so I spend my time trying to hear what you do not say. With
practice I might be good at it.”

His voice smiled. “Ah, you have caught me,
lady. After only a day you know more of me than do many. I may not tell you my
true name here—I have many dealings with those in this city, some of whom have
never seen me, and I have come expressly to discover if they are treating me
honestly. I find I must again throw myself on your mercy—” He stopped, and
I could almost hear the thought come to him. “And if it pleases you, let
me proffer as recompense that which you have requested, as reward for your
discretion. Meet me at the harbour in Corli and I will see to it that you have
a berth on my Harvest ship.”

So simple. So easy. It couldn’t be real.

But I wasn’t going to argue. In fact, I could
scarcely catch my breath. “It would please me greatly,” I managed to
whisper.

“Then I am well content,” he said.
“I shall see you in Corli. Unless you will break fast with me in the
morning ere you go?”

“I thank you again, but my boat leaves at
dawn and I must be there well before,” I replied. “Bors, I bless you
from the bottom of my heart, but I am dropping with weariness. It has been a
lovely day, but a long one, and I need some sleep at least. I wish you a good
night, may your dealings prosper, and I will see you in Corli.”

He stared at me for a long moment, as if to fix
my face in his mind. “I thank you, lady, for your good wishes and your
good company,” he said at last. “Goodnight, and farewell.” He
pulled me to him and kissed me softly. I met him with a good will. His lips
were satin, smooth and soft but with more than a hint of the passion beneath.
When, I moved to put him off he stepped back and bowed and, smiling, his
laughing eyes sharing their private joke with me, he turned and disappeared
into the night.

I paid the innkeeper and told him I would need
breakfast early, then went slowly up the little stair and into my room. The day
had been long as years and I was exhausted. I felt I had done not badly for my
first day loose in the world. I undressed in the dark and collapsed onto the
bed, but I could not sleep immediately. It had been a pleasant kiss, perhaps
more would have been even better…

I turned over determinedly and crushed the pillow
to me. “Go to sleep, Lanen you idiot,” I thought. “You’ve to be
at the dock before dawn. Then it’s off to Corli and ho for the Dragon
Isle!” I smiled into my pillow and closed my eyes.

Not a bad day at all.

Marik

“By the price that was paid, by the power of
blood, in the name of Malior, Lord of the Sixth Hell, I conjure a Messenger
here to me. By this sigil ye are bound, by these wards restrained. I am your
master. Come now and speak.”

I poured the blood I had drawn from my arm over
the hot coals on the altar, and in the rank steam there appeared a wizened
figure no longer than my forearm. For a moment I was concerned. I hadn’t asked
Berys how I would know it was a Messenger—but then it opened its mouth. The
mouth was half as large as the entire creature, filled with teeth like wicked
thorns. When it spoke I started, for it was the voice of Berys himself.

“I trust you have good reason for waking me
in the middle night,” it—he—rumbled.

“Reason most excellent, Magister Berys. I
have found her, the child of Maran Vena, here in Illara. She is the right age
to be the child of my body, though I can see no trace of myself in her. For
looks she might be the mother come again.”

Berys’s voice sounded much more awake this time.
“What have you learned? Does the mother live, or does she herself have the
Farseer?”

I laughed. “I had not long converse with
her, Berys. There was no need. The young idiot seeks the True Dragons with all
her heart, she is headed for Corli on her own. She even thanked me for agreeing
to take her on as a Harvester! Now I need not lose sight of her while I am gone,
and when we return we will learn what we need to know, and this eternal pain of
mine will end.”

“Is she your child, Marik?”

“I have no idea, Berys, but I will find out
once we are on the island.”

“And if she is not?”

“It is well known, is it not, that Dragons
are vicious killers?

Simple enough, once we are there. In the meantime
I begin to learn some of the joy of the cat with a mouse between its paws.
There is no question that the mouse will die, but there is a certain
contentment to be gained from playing with it.”

“Indeed,” replied Berys, his voice now
calm, “but this could have waited for morning. Again I ask you, Marik, why
am I wakened thus?”

“Reason enough. From the records I have
found here, along with old seamen’s tales and those I heard in Elimar, I cannot
but begin to believe in the True Dragons. I am hoping that the legends of their
gold are equally true. The difficulty will be to take what I need and get out
alive, if the tales of this Boundary are correct, and if it is true that they
can smell Raksha trace on any who have dealt directly with the Rakshasa.”

“Ah. This makes things more difficult.”
Berys was silent a moment. “It is well you woke me. I will need every hour
to prepare all for you, if they must have the added virtue of removing all
trace of Raksha-scent.” Another moment’s silence, then, “You must
know that this will cost you dear.”

“Let all be your best work, Magister,”
I answered him, laughing, “for when I return I shall pay you in lansip, a
king’s bounty that no king has seen in over a century.”

“Very well. As we agreed, I will provide
boots, cloak, amulet and the Ring of Seven Circles. Thus shall you be provided
with silence and concealment enow for your task, and a chance of surviving
battle should things go ill. As for dragonfire—there are ways. I could prepare
an artifact, but there is a simpler method.” The demon held silence for a
moment, then Berys’s voice said, “I shall send Caderan with you. He is
well able to provide such protection, and he may serve you in other things as
well.”

“I thank you. Let him be sent to Corli with
the items you have spoken of. You must know, Magister,” I said quietly,
“that I show you great trust in this. I have no wish to end my days in a
watery grave, in company with all the other fools who have attempted this
journey. I have only the word of your ‘prophet’ that I will return alive from
the Dragon Isle, with lansip for all my needs and to spare. Should that not
come to pass, you should know that I have ensured that proper recompense will
be made to you and yours. You understand me I trust.”

“Indeed,” replied Berys, sounding
almost pleased. “But you need not doubt me. I will find many uses for a
quarter of your journey’s profits. Just remember, Marik. The child of Maran
must not be harmed, lest she be your daughter. The bargain was for her whole. I
know you would not let so minor a pleasure as she might prove rob you of the
cessation of your pain.”

“She will be whole; Magister,” I
replied smoothly. “You look to your side of the bargain, and I shall look
to mine. I will speak with you again once we reach the Dragon Isle. Commend me
to your masters.”

Berys must have released the Rikti from his side,
for with a noisome pop the creature that had spoken with his voice suddenly
disappeared. I walked away from the darkened summoning chamber, going over and
over my plans and preparations for this mad journey. My only crumb of comfort
was that Maran’s daughter would be on the ship with me, and was every bit as
likely to die as I was.

It was small comfort, but better than none.

Caderan

“I am to go with him, Magister? But he is a
lout, a bungler!”

“Then you are more foolish than I thought,
Caderan. Do you not know who it is who has arranged for so many of our number
to find useful work to do? No, Marik is no fool, though he is not nearly so
wise as he believes.” The Magister smiled. “For example, he does not
know that by completing this first summoning, he has begun a record.” The
Magister showed me a thick volume bound in a strange, pale leather. The pages
were blank except for the very first, which was half-filled with small, neat
script. At the top of the page were written the words “By the price that
was paid, by the power of blood, in the name of Malior, Lord of the Sixth Hell
…” The very words he had spoken, the tenor of his thoughts between the
words.

I turned the page and nearly dropped the book. An
invisible hand wrote still. “I must remember to have that damned mare
taken to Gundar. She’ll make good breeding stock, at least. Now, where did I put
that report from …”

The Magister snatched the book from me. “So
you see, my apprentice. I will know all that he seeks to keep hidden from me,
and I will know all that happens on this voyage as soon as he thinks it. The
book will continue until he steps foot again on this shore. Go, attend him, and
remember—I will never be far from you, either.”

I bowed humbly, as befitting his status as a
great demon master. “I will not forget, Magister. Remember me to our
masters.”

His laughter as I left was not reassuring.

V

RIVERS

Lanen

I was soon sick of Water.

The first few days on the riverboat had been a
novelty, living on the river Arlen, which is the border between Ilsa and the
North Kingdom. I was disappointed to discover that the western marches of the
North Kingdom looked so very like Ilsa, but as we moved south the land changed
at last. It was greener, for one thing, and the air a little warmer, though
each morning brought fresh promise of winter’s approach. I had enjoyed seeing
the land slip by, and the speed of the journey had been all that I could wish.

At first.

I soon learned, however, that the rivers in
eastern Ilsa run through the flattest country imaginable, and after more than a
week of it I was thoroughly bored. It began to rain on my birthday, only a week
out from Illara. Joss, the owner and captain of the
Maid of Ilsa,
set up
a shelter of waxed cloth on the deck so we passengers need not spend all our
time below in the dark—but whether we huddled under its slight shelter or sat
cramped in the tiny space below, it made little difference. We were all wet and
we were all miserable.

The next day there was some excitement, when we
left the placid Arlen and joined the turbulent Kai; certainly Joss, silent
before for the most part, seemed truly awake for the first time during the
journey. He spoke with me and pointed out the many districts of Kaibar, the
great trading town that had grown up on the north shore of the Kai and west of
the Arlen. When we put in for a few hours to restock, I wandered about Kaibar,
exploring, drinking in the new sights and smells like finest southern wine.
Since I had brought only light clothing, knowing I would have to find winter
garb somewhere along the way, I decided to look in Kaibar for a good heavy
cloak.

After much contented rambling I found a tailor’s
near the water front. He heard my request, took one look at me and disappeared
into the back room, emerging in moments with the loveliest cloak I had ever
seen. It was dark green, double woven of beaten wool to keep off rain, and it
had autumn leaves embroidered around the hood that spilled onto the shoulders.
I was delighted. I do not usually care much about clothing, but this caught my
fancy; it reminded me of the Méar Hills in autumn. It was even long enough. I
am ashamed to admit l barely haggled at all, and walked out wearing it.

I returned to Joss’s boat, warm at last and
ridiculously pleased with myself. It was a pleasure I would need, for the next
fortnight stretched endless before me. Now we were on the Kai’s broad back we
went faster, but after the first four days I felt we had been on it forever.
The river could not flow quickly enough for me. I was growing restless—I had
dreadful visions of missing Bors’s ship and being left in Corli with only my dreams.
I finally approached Joss and asked if he knew when we should arrive, but his
calm answer was “We’ll get there when we get there and none the sooner for
wanting it. Ten days, mistress, no less, no more.”

Infuriating man.

But he did seem to prefer the Kai to the Arlen,
or perhaps eastern Ilsa did not suit him. He started to talk to us a little
more, not much and not long, but he let loose few words here, a few sentences
there. I found him kind and shy, willing to help but not to talk about it. He spoke
with me more often than with the others—perhaps because I was the only woman,
perhaps because I was alone and willing to be silent as often as I spoke. The
others were a pair of youths, Perrin and Darin (I never wanted to remember
their names, but I couldn’t help it; I wondered what their parents had been
thinking of), and three older comrades down from the northern hills with last
year’s furs—seems they had been trapping late the last spring and missed the
season. They hoped to make a good enough sum from this early cold to return to
the hills before the snows, and daily prayed to the Lady it would last until
they came to Corli.