The Inner Circle: The Knowing (32 page)

‘
It’s unbelievable,’
a male voice laughed outside.

‘
I still can’t get my
head around it,’ a deeper voice replied. ‘He said she can actually
leave her body and go floating around in the sky.’

‘
And she’s not even
Elglair. Not really anyway,’ the first man spoke again. ‘Not like
that other one.’

‘
Pretty little doll,
that El-i-miir,’ the deeper voice murmured. ‘A damn shame she’s
such a sour little cunt.’ The door swung open and lantern light
bounced off the walls. ‘Who’s there?’

‘
It’s only me,’
El-i-miir grumbled as she pushed past them. ‘I got hungry.’ She
blushed.

As soon as the door swung shut,
El-i-miir heard the two men burst into fits of laughter. ‘Laugh it
up, boys,’ El-i-miir mumbled, sneering. With a flick of her wrist
she could’ve had them both blubbering like little girls.

With all the stealth she could muster,
El-i-miir stuck close to the shadows, crept past Far-a-mael’s room
and down the spiral staircase. The steel door was bathed in shadow
and as was usually the case it was guarded by a single crewman.

The crewman had time only to gasp in
surprise as El-i-miir approached. ‘Go to sleep,’ she whispered,
lifting her hand to manipulate his Way. The crewman’s head fell
forward and he started snoring.

El-i-miir unclipped the food
hatch and with some effort pushed through the meat and bread. She
could not risk opening the door, not with Far-a-mael so close. With
his intentions so intrinsically linked to the silt it was very
likely he’d sense such a violation of his trust and wake
up.

‘
El-i-miir?’ Ilgrin
whispered from behind the door. ‘Is that you?’ With some effort,
El-i-miir ignored him and hurried back the way she’d come. She so
badly wanted to know how he was doing, even more than that, she
wanted to kiss him again. But the risk was too great. She had to
keep their exchanges as minimalistic as possible.

Despite her intentions to retire,
El-i-miir was stopped halfway along the corridor by the sound of
raucous laughter and merriment up on deck. Her curiosity having
gotten the better of her, she clambered up the ladder.

Men were laughing, joking and dancing.
‘What’s going on,’ El-i-miir asked a crewman as he stumbled by.

‘
Look over there.’ He
pointed through the thinning woods toward a vast expanse of
scrubland. ‘We’re about to turn out of the Ceal’lu River.’ They’d
come out the other side of Cold Wood alive.

Before objection could be made, a mug
was thrust into El-i-miir’s hand. ‘No!’ She tried to give it back,
but the man danced away before she was able. The dark brown liquid
smelt of strong ale and El-i-miir felt tempted to drink it. It’d
been a long time since she’d had a drink and she doubted a few sips
would hurt.

*

The demons surrounded her in a circular
fashion. Nasty grins filled their faces. And they were naked like
beasts. Seteal felt her throat closing, breaths coming in rapid
bursts. ‘Please don’t hurt me,’ she begged them, but the circle of
demons continued to tighten.

There was no escape. Seteal did not
recognise the strange clearing in the centre of some foreign
woodland. Fire burned atop lantern polls and the demons had strange
symbols painted across their chests. All of them were men and she
could see only evil in their eyes.

‘
We’ve heard you’ve
been a naughty girl,’ one of the creatures sneered, horns growing
from the sides of his head.

‘
No!’ Seteal cried
out in desperation. ‘I haven’t done anything wrong.’

‘
Neither have I.’
Ilgrin stepped forward. ‘I’ve never hurt you.’ Something was
different about him. His pallid flesh had been filled with pink.
His features had softened and his hair was a light brown colour,
rather than the dark blue Seteal remembered. Ilgrin’s wings were
gone and his feet fit comfortably into ordinary shoes. He was
human, bearing only a vague resemblance of the creature he’d once
been. ‘Let me help you.’ He extended his hand. It was only when
Seteal took it that she realised he had no fingernails.

‘
Ilgrin?’ Seteal
gasped as she watched his face fade to white and his lips regain
the colour of a dead man’s. He laughed at her and unfurled his
wings with a sneer.

‘
I’m afraid you’ve
been misbehaving terribly.’ The silt snatched up a handful of
Seteal’s hair and yanked her head backward before thrusting her
into the crowd of hungrily awaiting demons. In the next moment she
was buried beneath them, each taking it in turns to rape her as
Ilgrin stood and laughed. Seteal screamed as his face twisted and
transformed, becoming human again. Only this time the face was not
Ilgrin’s, but Master Fasil’s.

‘
No!’ Seteal
screamed, sitting bolt upright in bed. She was drenched in sweat
and panting for breath. She hit the floor in utter confusion where
she wrestled desperately to escape her sheets. ‘Get off me! Get off
me!’ She screamed as the door swung open with a bang.

‘
Are you okay?’
El-i-miir asked in between hiccups where she stood silhouetted in
the light from outside.

‘
No, I’m not okay,’
Seteal snapped, finally escaping her sheets and tossing them
against the wall in frustration. ‘You disgust me. You’re disgusting
for what you’re doing. I hate you. You kissed him. I saw you do
it!’

‘
Torrid, Seteal.’
El-i-miir squinted around the room. ‘Are you on the floor?’ She
giggled and hiccupped simultaneously, which resulted in a rather
awkward sound. ‘I think you probably need this more than me.’ She
sat down sloshing a large mug a handswidth from Seteal’s
face.

‘
You know what?’
Seteal narrowed her eyes, ‘For once I think you’re probably right.’
She took the mug and tipped it up at her lips, drinking deeply
until she’d finished the entirety of the disgusting-tasting
liquid.

‘
Maker,’ El-i-miir
exclaimed. ‘Someone’s thirsty.’ She leant against the blanket
hanging from the bed. ‘Seriously, though,’ she barked, ‘you have
got to let your hair down. You’re so uptight all the
time.’

‘
Oh, I’m uptight?’
Seteal half-smiled as she felt the brown liquid warming her belly
and from there spreading to her limbs. ‘Well you’re a
snob.’

‘
A snob?’ El-i-miir
feigned offense. ‘How am I snob?’

‘
Exactly how drunk
are you?’ Seteal raised her eyebrows.

‘
Oh, you don’t even
want to know.’ El-i-miir burst out laughing and was unable to stop
until she was wheezing on the floor. ‘Here.’ She retrieved a bottle
from beside her. ‘I brought this one with me. Her eyes brightened.
'See, you could learn a thing or two from me.’ She giggled and
attempted to refill the mug. ‘That’s foresight right
there.’

‘
Yes,’ Seteal said
sarcastically. ‘You’re brilliant. You’re also a snob.’

‘
Well, you’re just
plain old rude.’ El-i-miir waggled her finger in Seteal’s face, and
then with immense concentration guided her finger forward until she
poked the tip of her nose. ‘You!’

‘
I think you should
go to bed,’ Seteal said, batting El-i-miir’s hand away.

‘
And I think
you need another drink.’ El-i-miir hiccupped and then burped. ‘How
you gonna solve
that
problem, Seteal?’

‘
Give me the mug
then.’

‘
Gross.’ El-i-miir
smacked her lips together distractedly. ‘Did I just
burp?’

‘
Clearly I was wrong
about the snob thing,’ Seteal grumbled and took a
swallow.

‘
I think a little
something came up with it.’ El-i-miir wrinkled her nose.
‘Yuck!’

‘
You know there’s
something wrong with you, don’t you?’ Seteal chided as the alcohol
began to grant its effect.

‘
Well, you have a
dirty aura,’ El-i-miir stabbed her finger at Seteal’s
belly.

‘
What’s that supposed
to mean?’ She grumbled.

‘
A dirty little bit
of Far-a-mael lives inside of you.’ El-i-miir collapsed into a fit
of laughter. ‘Never mind me.’ She suddenly became very serious.
‘It’s the ale talking. Your aura is fine.’

‘
No, I want to know
what you meant.’ Seteal pushed for an answer.

‘
Hey.’ El-i-miir
suddenly bounced to her feet. ‘Let’s go dance!’

‘
Dance?’

‘
Dance.’
El-i-miir spun in a circle, allowing her arms to fly out around
her. ‘Oh, this is a
pretty
dress,’ she gasped as if
noticing it for the first time. ‘Look at it twirl. Swish, swish,
swish. Do you see it swish? Seteal! Do you see it
swishing?’

‘
Yes!’ Seteal cried.
‘I see it swishing. Maker, El-i-miir, you have to give me a chance
to reply.

‘
Oh, I’m
so
sorry.’
El-i-miir pouted. ‘Seteal gets so grumpy, doesn’t she? Oh, yes,
yes, she does get grumpy. She takes everything
so
seriously doesn’t
she? And then she gets grumpy.’

‘
What’re you . . . ?’
Seteal shook her head. ‘Who’re you talking to?’

‘
She has the
grumpy-pies,’ Seeol said, hopping across the floor. El-i-miir
flushed red and became unintelligible, trying to squeeze out words
whilst laughing uncontrollably.

‘
I didn’t--’
El-i-miir gasped. ‘Okay, just breathe, El-i-miir. Breathe.’ She
shook her hands. ‘Okay, I’m good. I was just trying to say--’ With
a loud snort, she burst out laughing, forcing Seteal to wait yet
again. ‘Okay, sorry. I was trying to say, I didn’t know he was
here.’

‘
I don’t think most
people did.’ Seeol tilted his head sideways.

‘
It talks.’
El-i-miir’s eyes started to water as she squirmed with renewed
giggling. ‘What kind of owl talks?’

‘
I do,’ Seeol replied
very seriously.

‘
Yes, you do,’
El-i-miir poked his beak with her finger. ‘You do!’

‘
I do!’ Seeol
screeched gleefully and started bouncing around in circles on the
floor. ‘I do. I do. I do!’

‘
Oh!’ El-i-miir
clapped her hands together. ‘I know! Let’s go dance. Come on,
Seteal, its fun up there. There’s music and dancing and . . . and
more to drink. There’s a woman, too, you know,’ she said with a
sneaky smile. ‘She asked about you.’

‘
What’s that supposed
to mean?’ Seteal pulled away blushing.

‘
You know,’ El-i-miir
poked her nose a second time.

‘
Seriously,’ Seteal
gritted her teeth, ‘if you poke me in the nose one more time I’m
going to snap off your finger.’

‘
You see,’ El-i-miir
turned to Seeol, ‘this is what I have to put up with. Can you
imagine? She’s no fun at all.’

‘
I know all about
Seteal.’ Seeol nodded solemnly. ‘So grumpy all the days
long.’

‘
I’m not grumpy,’
Seteal said defensively.

‘
What a grumpy bum,’
Seeol twittered. ‘Grumpy bum. Grumpy bum.’ Without missing a beat
El-i-miir joined the chorus and the two continued the chant
together. ‘Grumpy bum! Grumpy bum! Grumpy bum!’

‘
I’m not grumpy!’
Seteal shouted, leaping aggressively to her feet.

‘
Fine.’ El-i-miir
stumbled over until their faces were milihandswidths apart. ‘Prove
it by coming for a dance.’ She wriggled her finger through the air
and tapped Seteal on the nose yet again.

‘
I warned you.’
Seteal pursed her lips and narrowed her eyes, but a tiny smile
betrayed her.

‘
We better run,
Seeol,’ El-i-miir giggled. ‘She’s going to break our fingers
off!’

With that, El-i-miir dashed out
of the room, Seteal hot on her heels. The two slammed one after the
other into the corridor wall adjacent to their room and El-i-miir
bolted for the ladder.

‘
You know I really
don’t like you,’ Seteal shouted, the mug of ale splashing her dress
as she went.

‘
That’s fine with
me,’ El-i-miir called over her shoulder as she clambered up the
ladder. ‘I really don’t like you either.’

‘
And I hate you
both,’ Seeol screamed playfully as he buzzed above their heads and
out through the hatch.

With a desperate leap, Seteal clamped a
hand around El-i-miir’s ankle, causing the woman to hit the deck
with a thud. ‘Ouch!’ El-i-miir pulled her ankle free. ‘You grazed
my knee.’

‘
Maker, I’m so
sorry,’ Seteal gasped as she clambered up the ladder and sat on the
deck next to El-i-miir. ‘Show it to me.’

‘
You didn’t really.’
El-i-miir giggled and ran off into the crowd.

Just as El-i-miir had promised, the
deck was full of life. A couple of the crew played instruments.
Others sang and danced. And, of course, everyone was drinking.

‘
What a fuss.’ Seteal
shook her head and swallowed what was left in her mug.

‘
They’re excited,’
Seeol spoke into her ear, having landed on her shoulder. ‘We
survived the chilly wood.’

‘
That we did.’ Seteal
smiled broadly. Whether it was the fact that for once she’d been a
victor in her own life, or whether it was simply the alcoholic
illusion that relieved her pain was irrelevant. She was . . .
happy.