storm (26 page)

            Cobweb furrowed his brow.  “I don't know.  Just a feeling of vulnerability.  Perhaps I think of myself as Galhea's shield.  I can't be away long.”

            “What would threaten Galhea?” Mima asked.  “The problem, as far as rogue hara see it, is Immanion.  Surely, there aren't enough autonomous Uigenna left in Megalithica to be a worry?”

            “It isn't Uigenna,” Cobweb said.  “I don't know what it is, or even if it derives from this plane of existence, but it's there, like a shadow.  I can almost see it.”

            “The otherlanes,” Pellaz said abruptly.  “Is it like what I experienced there?”

            “I sensed nothing on the way here,” Cobweb replied, “and I was intentionally on the alert, but then the otherlanes are infinite.  That doesn't prove anything.”

            “Pell,” Flick began, then frowned and shook his head.

            “What?” Pellaz asked.

            “I don't know, it's going to sound insane, but do you think you should try and contact Lileem?”

            “That's impossible,” Pellaz said.  “You know it.  She made her decision to leave this world and she's gone.  I can't go and rescue her again.  For a start, she doesn't want anyhar to.”

            “Opalexian said that she thinks Lileem will return to us, with important knowledge, when she is needed.  Perhaps that time is now.”

            All were silent for a moment.  The mention of Lileem's name made those who knew her remember how and why she was no longer with them.  She had broken the first rule of Kamagrian and had taken aruna with a har, namely Pellaz and Mima's brother Terez, which had opened up a portal into a strange otherlane realm.  Lileem and Terez had been sucked right into it.  After some years, Pellaz and Mima had managed to bring them back to earthly reality, but the risks had been great.  Also, Lileem could no longer be happy in the world of her birth.  Eventually, she had found a way back to the realm she'd left behind.  Her intention had been to devote her life to study in a bizarre black library of stone books she had found there.  She had been convinced the secrets to all creation had lain hidden there.

            “It wouldn't hurt to mention it to Opalexian when you see her,” Flick said into the silence.

            The following morning, Pellaz and Cobweb went to Kalalim, Opalexian's temple palace in the heart of Shilalama.  The Kamagrian leader had been aware of their presence in the city, but had given Pellaz time to orient himself  The truth was that she had been waiting for this visit for a long time.  It didn't make it any easier once it was upon her, however.

            She received her visitors in a small parlour, where the light was dim and the air very hot, owing to the voracious fire that raged in the hearth.  “This year, I feel the cold,” she said to Pellaz and pulled a thick woollen shawl closer around her shoulders.  Her hands looked very white, and the delicate tracery of veins within them was clearly visible.

            Pellaz thought that Opalexian appeared worn thin.  She was Thiede's sister, in type if not blood, so perhaps that was hardly surprising.  She might have orchestrated his removal from the world, but Pellaz suspected she missed him too.  Perhaps also, because of their relationship, Thiede's absence diminished Opalexian in some way.  “Will you talk to me?” Pellaz asked.

            Opalexian sat down in a chair next to the hearth and put her slippered feet on the fender.  “I will always talk to you.”

            “Honestly,” Pellaz said.  “The truth.”

            “As much as I can,” Opalexian said.  She glanced at Cobweb.  “You can attempt to read me as much as you like.  It will make no difference.”

            Cobweb said nothing.

            “It has occurred to me I was a fool to trust you,” Pellaz said.  “It is possible you took advantage of my feelings, when a more honest parage might have attempted to make me see sense.  You indulged me, and now I wonder whether you should have done.  I don't think it is a puzzle to you at all.  You always knew, didn't you?”

            “I knew that Thiede should be removed from power in Immanion,” Opalexian said, so ready a confession that it came like a smack in the face to Pellaz.  “But I also knew that the power should be transferred to you – and to Cal.  It was the way things were meant to be.  Thiede shouldn't have made you in the first place, if he wasn't ready to relinquish his power to you.  He chose well, Pellaz.  I have never doubted that, but I'm not sure he projected his mind into the future to see what you would become.  He didn't know what he created.”

            “Flattery won't work,” Pellaz said.  “The truth is that I'm out of my depth and have no idea what to do.  That's why I'm here now, being honest with you.  For the good of all our people, I would appreciate the same courtesy.  I'm assuming you're aware of all that's transpired in Immanion?”

            Opalexian inclined her head.  “Naturally, my agents have reported to me.”

            “And your thoughts on this matter are?”

            Opalexian smiled rather grimly.  “If you are expecting me to confess I ordered a pearl to be cut from the belly of your consort, you will be disappointed.”

            “I will be more disappointed if you don't deny it.”

            “No, I did not do that, nor did I order it.  Although I can appreciate why you would see me as a suspect.”  She stretched her toes towards the fire.  “I don't know who or what did that, Pell, but we must all accept the fact that the child might still live.”

            “You sound as if you think that would be a bad thing,” Pellaz said.

            Opalexian nodded slowly.  “I know.  It's because I wonder who has it, and what they intend to do with it.  What I don't know is how much Thiede knew, how much he hid from us all, or what he knows now.  I've thought about it a lot.  I've wondered whether that was why he could never step off the stage to make way for you.  He lived alone with his dilemmas.”

            “Do you regret what you did?”

            “Yes,” Opalexian answered shortly.  “I can see that you're not ready to take on Thiede's mantle.”

            Pellaz went cold.

            “You asked,” Opalexian said.  “You wanted honesty.  Does knowing the truth make you feel better?”

            “You are as powerful as he was,” Pellaz said.

            “It's not just down to power.  Knowledge is equally important.  Awareness.  The  strongest warrior can be bested if he is attacked in the dark from behind.  If he is shot from a distance.”

            “So we are defenceless against whatever threatens us?”

            “Not entirely.  But I'm afraid we have to wait for them to make another move.  Believe me, I have worn out my seers trying to scry and quest for information.  I have been in trance myself for days, to no avail.  Something runs before me in the darkness.  Sometimes, I hear its laughter.”

            “Are you with me?” Pellaz asked, aware even as he spoke of Cobweb's mistrust for the Kamagrian leader.  But Pellaz had to trust her.  He did not have enough faith in himself.

            “I am not against you,” Opalexian answered.  “But you know I have made decisions about my life and also Kamagrian as a whole.  I do not know how much I can offer you, other than my thoughts.”

            “That is not good enough,” Pellaz said.  “Neither for Wraeththu nor Kamagrian.  You can't hide away any more, Lex.  You got rid of Thiede, now you must face up to your responsibilities.”

            “It was never that simple,” Opalexian said sharply.  “You make it sound like a petty feud.”

            Pellaz did not respond.

            Opalexian rubbed her face.  “I truly believed that once you and Cal were reunited, you'd discover your full potential.  I forgot you were living creatures of flesh and blood, with mundane concerns as well as more elevated ones.”

            “You thrust too much on Cal,” Cobweb said, speaking for the first time.  “He couldn't cope with it.  I don't think he even knew what was required of him, and maybe, if he had, he would never had come to Immanion.”

            “He wasn't ready either,” Opalexian said.  “I pushed him through healing and training too quickly.  At the time, it seemed essential.  Now, I wonder.”  She shook her head.  “Flick knew.  He warned me.   Thiede and I suffer from the same faults.  We think we know what's best.  Always.”

            “And your greatest strength, which perhaps Thiede never had, is that you can admit it,” Pellaz said.

            “Thank you for that,” Opalexian said.  “You would be right to condemn me.  I knew you would stand here before me one day and that I'd have to speak the truth.”

            “We all make mistakes,” Pellaz said.  “You are not a goddess, Lex.  Perhaps you are not that different from any of us, and you and I are no different to those we believe we lead.  If we can both look upon ourselves simply as everyday folk, with all their limitations, then perhaps we have more of a chance.”

            Opalexian stood up and embraced Pellaz fiercely.  “You are Tigron,” she said.  “Wraeththu's hope.  Never doubt it.”

            Pellaz drew away and held her at arm's length.  “You must be with me now, on all levels.  It can be no other way.  You are Kamagrian's hope.”

            “No,” Opalexian said.  “You are wrong.  That is Lileem.”

            “Is it time to bring her back?” Cobweb asked quickly.

            Opalexian paused before answering.  “I don't think it is up to us when she returns, if indeed she ever does, but I feel strongly she is working for us.”

            “What threatens us?” Pellaz asked.  “What is its nature?”

            “I believe it concerns those who made us.  I don't know.  Battles for territory.  Experiments gone wrong.  Millennia are the blink of an eye for some beings.”

            “Have you tried to communicate with Thiede?”

            Opalexian glanced away.  “Yes.  He is aware of the problems.  He can't return to you, Pell.”

            “I didn't expect him to.  What must I do?”

            “Wait,” said Opalexian.  “None of us has enough information.  Keep your scryers at work, as I will keep mine.”

            “I don't feel comfortable just waiting.  I want to take action.”

            “You have no choice.”

Opalexian insisted her guests stay for lunch and for a short while Cobweb and Pellaz were left alone, while the Kamagrian leader made arrangements with her staff.

            “Well?” Pellaz demanded.  “What do you think?”

            “She's telling the truth, or some of it,” Cobweb said.  “She seems distracted, anxious.”