The Fate of the Fallen (The Song of the Tears Book 1) (23 page)

The taphloid was damp with her sweat. She wiped it on her
coat, went to withdraw the amulet, then hesitated. It didn’t feel as though
Rurr-shyve were carrying her to the enemy.

She would take the risk. She slipped the taphloid back into
her pocket.

A few hours later the flappeter broke out of cloud and
she saw, ahead and to the right, a substantial town in the valley bottom,
dominated by an enormous red and black citadel whose towers rose to jagged
points. Her heart jumped. She’d seen paintings of the God-Emperor’s bastions
and this was clearly one of them.

‘I made the wrong choice,’ she said numbly to Nish. He’d
woken earlier and she’d told him what she’d done.

He blanched, though he didn’t blame her. Maelys withdrew the
amulet but this time Rurr-shyve didn’t change direction. It didn’t react, even
when she thrust the amulet through the wisp-controller and shouted at
Rurr-shyve to turn away.

Shortly, however, she realised that if it continued on its
present path it would pass the town half a league to the left. And it did
continue, as straight as a line drawn on a map. They were too far away to see
people in the streets, though a large wisp-watcher, mounted on the top of the
tower and facing down into the market square, jerked upright as they made their
closest approach then rotated to keep them in view as they went by.

To the very end, Maelys expected the flappeter to turn and
curve back to the tower, but it kept on, ruler-straight, until town and tower
disappeared in the haze behind them.

Only then did she release her death grip on the amulet and
turn to Nish, whose knuckles were white against the saddle horn. ‘What does it
mean?’

‘I don’t know. Father loves playing with his victims, but I
don’t think that’s what he’s doing here. Did you see the way the wisp-watcher
jerked? Our coming here was a surprise.’

‘It’s not now.’

Shortly after that they plunged into a valley full of
cloud which Rurr-shyve could not climb above. They continued for an hour with
the weather steadily deteriorating, into a headwind that grew ever stronger
until Maelys had to squint to see at all.

Now they began to encounter vicious updraughts which flung
them upwards and sideways so hard that once she was lifted completely out of
the saddle and fell back only to find that it was no longer beneath her.
Flinging out both hands, she just managed to catch hold of a stirrup and swung
there until a white-faced Nish dragged her back. After that she kept her line
fastened all the time.

By this time she had no way of telling what heading they
were on, for the cloud was so thick that she could no longer tell where the sun
was. She began to see fantastic shapes in the mist, like bizarre creatures
forming and reforming as she went by. They appeared to turn and watch her out
of sight, and she wondered if it was Jal-Nish trying to unnerve her. Had he
also begun to assert command over the flappeter?

‘I’m worried,’ she said to Nish. ‘We’ve never spent so long
in cloud before. We could be anywhere.’

‘I think we’re still going the same way.’

Maelys wasn’t convinced, but was too tired to argue. Her
eyelids drooped. The past days had been exhausting; flying in this weather
demanded the utmost powers of concentration even when she wasn’t actively
directing the beast. She could feel the strain on Rurr-shyve in every scale and
bristle.

Three-quarters asleep, she failed to notice Rurr-shyve twitch
convulsively, then cast a calculating glance backwards. Seeing Nish lost in his
own world, and Maelys slumped over the saddle horn, it began, ever so slowly,
to turn in a broad curve.

The flappeter burst out of the mist into clear air and
the red and black citadel was less than half a league away. Maelys, startled
awake, let out a shriek, for she could see the soldiers gathered on the flat
roof beneath the gigantic wisp-watcher.

‘Nish, quick!’ she wailed. ‘What’s the matter?’ he muttered
drowsily.

She shook him awake. ‘It’s that citadel! Jal-Nish must have
taken command of Rurr-shyve hours ago.’

He came half out of the saddle. ‘Not from such a distance.
It’ll be one of his local seneschals. Fight him or Rurr-shyve will give us up.’

Casting him a nasty look, Rurr-shyve put its head down and
streaked for the top of the citadel. Maelys stretched forwards, put the amulet
through the wisp-controller and ordered the flappeter to turn back.

Not this time, little
one. I answer to a higher power now.

‘Is it … the God-Emperor?’

It made a gurgling chuckle through its breathing tubes.
Just his seneschal, little Maelys
.

‘Not Vomix?’ she breathed.

A servant most
diligent in prosecuting his master’s commands. He’s marked for greater things,
is your friend Vomix. This victory will set the seal on it.

‘He’s not my friend.’ Maelys was feeling around in the
saddlebags. The dead rider’s blade had been taken from her in the village, and
Nish had lost the crossbow there too, but she’d sharpened one of the iron-hard
tent pegs to a wicked point. Ah, there it was.

You would be advised
to make him your friend once we get there, little one, and do his will in all
things. Vomix likes your type and you’ll never have more need of an ally.

She drew out the tent peg, checked to make sure her safety
line was tied securely and that there were no frayed patches, then sprang
forwards and stabbed the tent peg down into the healed wound, right where she’d
threatened Rurr-shyve with severing the other day.

‘Where’s your higher power now!’ she hissed, twisting her
free arm through the straps. ‘Turn or I’ll sever you.’

Rurr-shyve bucked so violently that her feet went up above
her head.
You’ll die if you do. And the
Son
.

She pulled herself down again, gasping, ‘I’m going to die
anyway, so there’s nothing to lose, and at least it’ll be quick.’

What about the Son?

‘It’ll put him out of his misery.’ She felt a physical pain
inside her as she said it, but didn’t dare turn to look at Nish. If she wavered
now they were doomed.

The
thup-thup
faltered,
but Rurr-shyve continued on. She pressed the point in. The flappeter shuddered
and was trying to turn away when Maelys felt words in her head – no, they
seemed to be coming through the creature to her. A hissing, mucous-slick voice,
terrible in its power. And she recognised it.

FLY ON, RURR-SHYVE. FLY TO THE CITADEL AND
TASTE YOUR REWARD.

It was a voice she’d heard twice before, though only once
clearly, on the road to market when she was a girl of eleven, and Maelys had
never forgotten it. It was Seneschal Vomix. She thrust harder, and Rurr-shyve
bucked and twisted sideways, away from the citadel.

FLY TRUE, RURR-SHYVE.
BRING THE SEDITIOUS BLASPHEMERS TO YOUR MASTER.

Maelys could tell from Rurr-shyve’s spasm of rage that
master had been the wrong word to use, and tried to take advantage of it. ‘I’ll
sever you if you do,’ she shouted over the wind, ‘but
I’ll
never be your master. A flappeter can have no master –
with the possible exception of the God-Emperor himself,’ she added hastily, in
case Rurr-shyve had a genuine feeling for its creator, though she didn’t think
it did. ‘But you, Rurr-shyve, are your own master and always will be.’

Over the pain, she felt its wry amusement. It did not reply,
but continued its turn.

TURN BACK, TREACHEROUS
RURR-SHYVE
, raged Vomix.
TURN BACK OR
YOU’LL SUFFER THE WORST SANCTION ANY FLAPPETER CAN FACE
.

Rurr-shyve kept going, but now Vomix seemed to realise that
the rider was the problem, for he turned his attention to Maelys. His words
oozed from Rurr-shyve into her mind, and they hurt so much that she cried out.

‘What’s the matter?’ Nish said urgently as she flopped back
into the saddle.

‘It’s Vomix, speaking into my mind through Rurr-shyve.’ Her
voice broke; the waves of pain were excruciating and she felt an irresistible
urge to strike back, any way she could.

‘Don’t answer him, whatever you do.’

OH, HOW YOU’LL PAY
WHEN I CATCH YOU. YOU’LL WISH –

She tried to hold back. Maelys tried really hard, and though
she seldom lost control of her temper, it was as though something irresistible
was urging her on; she couldn’t stop herself. ‘You’ll never take me!’ she
screamed, brandishing the amulet at the tower. ‘I’ll die before I come near
you, you slimy, stinking cur –’

Nish slapped his hand across her mouth. ‘Stop!’

The voice was lower this time, more slippery-sticky.
I KNOW YOU, DON’T I? WE’VE MET SOMEWHERE,
LONG AGO
.

Nish moved his hand to hers, squeezing it hard, and with an
effort she regained control. Chills were running up and down her backbone,
radiating out in all directions. Had she betrayed herself? She bit her lip,
gave Rurr-shyve a warning jab in the side and tried to keep Vomix out. It made
no difference.

I CAN GET TO YOUR MIND
THROUGH THE BEAST, AND YOU CAN’T STOP ME.

‘Be damned,’ she said under her breath, and concentrated on
control, hoping that would block Vomix out. ‘Go back the way we were heading,
Rurr-shyve.’

It did so. Maelys looked out for the cloud bank that had
hidden them before, but it had blown away.

LOOK BACK, RIDER,
WHOEVER YOU ARE. LOOK BACK AND DESPAIR.

‘I won’t!’ she said through gritted teeth.

‘Maelys?’ said Nish anxiously.

She didn’t answer, for she couldn’t divide her attention any
further.

I’VE A GOOD MEMORY AND
I’M SEARCHING IT NOW. I’LL SOON DISCOVER WHO YOU ARE. LOOK BACK.

She let out a muffled moan. If he did identify her, he’d
know her clan as well. She prayed that he wouldn’t associate the child who’d
spoken so rudely about him with her.

‘Maelys,’ said Nish, ‘what can I do?’

Nish had proven himself in the war, in all sorts of ways. Of
course he could help her. Without thinking she twisted around to look at him,
but heard Vomix sigh,
AAAAH!
Half a
dozen flappeters were rising up from the citadel. Her stomach knotted. A tired
Rurr-shyve, already partly in Vomix’s thrall, couldn’t outrun fresh beasts
eager for the kill.

I’VE GOT YOU NOW,
LITTLE ONE. ALREADY DESPAIR’S FINGERS ARE CREEPING TOWARDS YOUR THROAT.

‘Despair’s fingers!’ she sneered. He was no poet, but he
knew how she felt.

‘Maelys?’

‘He’s getting to me!’ Rurr-shyve tried to break away. She
hastily turned back to her duties with tent peg and amulet.

‘Try to block him out.’

‘But then I’ll lose control of Rurr-shyve.’

She was already. The flappeter was slowing, twisting its
body this way and that, and not even the sharpest jabs made a difference now.
Had it realised that she lacked the will to sever it? Had Vomix?

LOOK BACK, LITTLE ONE,
AND SEE YOUR DOOM.

Maelys couldn’t help herself; she looked back and saw
flappeters rising up everywhere, hundreds upon hundreds of them: red ones, grey
ones, black and gold ones, so many that they darkened the sky. Her chest
cramped and for a few seconds she couldn’t breathe. The tent peg slipped; she
just caught it before it went over the side.

‘It’s no use, Nish. There are hundreds of them. We’re
beaten.’

He looked back, frowned, then unfastened his safety line,
scrambled over the saddle horn and slipped into her saddle behind her.

‘What are you doing?’

He put his hands on her shoulders and the pressure eased.
‘Maelys, it’s Vomix.’

‘They’re everywhere, Nish!’ She had to bite down on a
scream.

‘Hallucinations! Father doesn’t
have
hundreds of flappeters. I see to the heart of things,
remember?’

He sounded so calm and, for the first time, so strong. Like
the Nish of the tales she’d so loved. She still saw hundreds of flappeters but
she had to trust Nish. Settling back in the saddle, she allowed him to put his
arms around her, and it did help. The hallucinations were still there, the
mucosal voice in her mind was as threatening as ever, but she no longer felt
that she was fighting a mighty opponent all by herself.

Flappeter hallucinations appeared in every direction,
surrounding them in a vast doughnut of whirring feather-rotors that began to
form an enclosing shell, densest in front of them. Even Rurr-shyve seemed to be
seeing them now, for the beat of its feather-rotors was faltering, its long
neck turning this way and that as if it were afraid to go on.

‘Keep going,’ said Nish.

‘Which way?’ she wailed. ‘I don’t know where to go.’

He pointed ahead. ‘That way.’

‘But that’s where they’re thickest.’ It was so hard to trust
his eyes over her own.

AHA! I KNOW YOUR
FAMILY, AND I HAVE THEM WITHIN MY GRASP. TURN BACK.

SIXTEEN

Maelys gasped and reached through the loop to turn the
flappeter back. Nish caught her arm. ‘What are you doing?’

‘He’s got my family! I have to give myself up.’

‘He’s lying. They must be a hundred leagues from here.’

‘I can’t escape at their expense.’ Maelys knew it was a
stupid, emotional reaction which would do no one any good, but she couldn’t act
any other way.

‘What about me? You’ll be giving me up too.’

She could think of nothing save Vomix getting his filthy
hands on Fyllis. ‘Not to death, Nish.’

‘There are lives far worse than death.’

She squeezed her head in her hands. ‘I don’t know what to
do. Whatever I choose it will be wrong.’

‘Then keep on, because even if you give yourself up he won’t
let your family go. Father is merciless, but Vomix is depraved.’ He thought for
a moment. ‘What did he say, exactly?’