Wintercraft (31 page)
Kate pulled back from the memory.
Da’ru was Silas’s enemy. The bond she had created between them on that night had condemned him to a life with only a fraction of a soul. For two years he had been a subject of her experiments and since then he had suffered constant pain as his spirit struggled and failed to rejoin.
Silas had learned to endure that suffering over time but
Wintercraft
had bound him to Da’ru, letting her cruelty and hate drip into him day after day. He could sense her inside him, even when she was not there. He could feel her anger and taste the venom of her thoughts, as if an echo was travelling through the veil, feeding directly from her spirit into what was left of his.
Wintercraft
had bound him to Da’ru, letting her cruelty and hate drip into him day after day. He could sense her inside him, even when she was not there. He could feel her anger and taste the venom of her thoughts, as if an echo was travelling through the veil, feeding directly from her spirit into what was left of his.
This connection had become Da’ru’s greatest power over him. She had made Silas believe that to turn against her would condemn him to even greater suffering than he already faced. She had used his early ignorance of the veil to deceive him. He had no reason to doubt her threats, but Kate knew now that there was no truth behind them. That bond had been Silas’s greatest torment. Da’ru had infected his life, forcing him to endure years in the service of his torturer, and that was something he could not bear.
Kate may not have been able to send Silas into death as he had asked, but Da’ru’s link with him had been created by the circle and that circle was under Kate’s control now. If there was even a chance she could break it, it had to be worth a try.
Kate lowered her hands and held one of them against Silas’s palm-scar. Now she was looking for it, she could see a silver thread of light trailing out of it like a spider’s web, binding what was left of his spirit to Da’ru. All she had to do was sever it. But how?
The circle answered.
Blue light from one of the inner symbols struck out like a bolt of lightning, infusing the thread with blinding light. The shades stayed well back as the entire hall began to shudder and shake, and faint cracks spread across the listening circle, crumbling many of its carvings into dust. Kate did not know what was happening. The energy spreading up through her feet was too powerful. She couldn’t stop it. Light burst through her hand, the silver thread ignited in pure white fire and the flames leaped into Silas’s palm, making his body buckle as the fire spread through his blood.
Kate closed her eyes - all she could do was let it happen - then the thread snapped in two and the two halves crumbled to the floor like fallen ash, returning its energy to the circle that had created it. The white fire bled out through Silas’s boots and down into the floor. The light faded, the mist cleared and with one last scream of anguish the souls within the circle could be seen no more.
Kate looked around, confused. She had not meant for that to happen.
She snatched her hand quickly out of Silas’s grip and he glared at her, exhausted, very angry and still very much alive.
‘What … did you do?’ he asked.
Moonlight bled in through the museum’s windows. Night had fallen over Fume. They must have been in the circle for hours, but it felt like only a few minutes. Sweat covered every pore of Silas’s skin, his breath coming in gasps as his body tried to recover from what Kate had done.
‘What did you
do?
’ he asked again.
do?
’ he asked again.
Kate dared to meet his eyes. ‘You wanted my help. I helped you,’ she said. ‘What Da’ru did to you can’t just be undone. Maybe there is a way, but the book didn’t tell me how. I did the only thing I could do. There was a link binding her to you. I broke it. You are free of her now.’
Silas looked at her with suspicion, then touched the old scar on his palm. The heat that had smouldered within it was gone and the wound was already beginning to heal. Kate could not tell if he was pleased about that or not.
‘Da’ru shouldn’t have done what she did,’ continued Kate. ‘She knew she wouldn’t be able to fix it. The book warned her not to do it.
She
is your enemy, not me.’
She
is your enemy, not me.’
‘I know what she is,’ growled Silas.
‘What Da’ru told you about the link between you … it wasn’t true,’ said Kate. She was not sure if it was a good idea to tell Silas the truth, but decided that he deserved to hear it anyway. ‘If she had died, you would have lived on. You would have been free of her. She had to lie to you. She had to protect herself. She knew you would kill her if you knew the truth.’
Silas’s jaw twitched and he turned on Edgar, who was still staring up at the ceiling, shocked by what he had just seen.
‘Give me my sword, boy.’ His voice was cold and black with hidden anger.
Edgar did not dare to disobey and he scrambled quickly over to where the blue sword lay. It was a lot heavier than he expected and he needed both hands to pick it up. ‘What are you going to do with it?’ he asked.
‘Nothing that you need care about.’ Silas took his sword from him before Edgar even realised he had moved. ‘Now get out of my sight. Both of you. Go.’
Silas grabbed his coat and pulled it on, heading past the unconscious wardens and out of the museum’s front door.
‘That’s it?’ said Edgar, gladly watching him leave.
‘No,’ said Kate. ‘It’s not.’
‘What? Where are you going?’
Kate ran across the hall, following Silas, and Edgar raced after her, not wanting to be left alone. But he was not on his own.
Hundreds of shades filled the rooms and corridors of the old museum. Attracted by the energy of an active listening circle they had drifted in from the streets of Fume and witnessed what Kate had done in that place. To sever a bond that had been created by
Wintercraft
required a level of Skill not seen since the book was first written, so when Edgar left the museum’s hall he had more company than he could have imagined. The shades were with him, hidden safely within the thinnest level of the half-life. Hundreds of souls all moving as one, following him and Kate out into the night.
Wintercraft
required a level of Skill not seen since the book was first written, so when Edgar left the museum’s hall he had more company than he could have imagined. The shades were with him, hidden safely within the thinnest level of the half-life. Hundreds of souls all moving as one, following him and Kate out into the night.
19
The Night of Souls
Edgar caught up with Silas and Kate on the front steps and the three of them stood there together, looking out across a city that was completely transformed.
A lot had happened outside the museum since the listening circle had been opened.
Celebrations for the Night of Souls had begun.
Hundreds of people filled the streets, singing, dancing and celebrating the lives of their ancestors, unaware of what had just taken place inside the old museum. Carriages hung with long coloured ribbons trundled through the streets, winding between groups of women in fine dresses and men in hats and brightly-striped cloaks.
There were storytellers on horseback, walking proudly along with troupes of listeners trailing behind them like a living cloak. Dancers weaved expertly through the crowd and blue banners had been hung from the towers high above them, reflecting the light of the moon and imbuing the city with a strange eerie glow. Some of the banners had been painted with large black eyes, as people wanted to believe that their ancestors were watching over them. Kate doubted any of them would really be ready to know the truth.
At ground level the streets flickered with moving candlelight. Many people were carrying candles to remember the lives of the dead and each of them wore a feathered mask over their eyes, decorated with tiny crystals that sparkled in the flames. They moved together in one long procession, snaking their way towards the centre of the city, where small bonfires were casting smoke and heat across the cold night sky.
Bright music filled the air and Kate spotted a group of musicians at the base of the museum steps, playing fiddles and flutes and thumping a beat out on a huge deep drum. Three of them had painted their faces deathly white, were wearing tattered clothes and had blackened their teeth, and other people in the crowd had dressed the same way to represent the dead rising up from their graves to join in the celebration.
Kate had always respected the Night of Souls, but standing there in a graveyard city overtaken by the rich and their slaves, it felt gruesome and ghoulish. The sound of other instruments echoed loudly from the towers and she could not help staring at the spectacle below her as the colour and noise of the Night of Souls brought the ancient city to life.
Silas kept to the shadows and looked up at the rooftops, vainly searching for his lost crow. ‘I said you could go,’ he said absently. ‘Why are you still here?’
‘You’re going after Da’ru, aren’t you?’ said Kate.
‘I have a promise to keep.’ Silas clenched his fists. ‘Da’ru will pay for what she has done.’
‘I want to go with you.’
Silas looked down at her.
‘I’ve done everything I could to help you,’ said Kate. ‘Now I need your help. You owe me that.’
‘I owe you nothing.’
A stray firework streaked from the crowd and burst with an ear-splitting bang overhead. Three more followed and Silas headed down the centre of the steps, pushing through the people as they danced and twirled their way along like a living river.
Kate ran to catch up to him.
‘What are you doing?’ shouted Edgar, struggling to be heard above the noise as he followed her down. ‘He said we could go!’
Kate was jostled, pushed and squeezed between enormous dresses as the masked dancers swallowed her into their midst. She fought her way past pipe players, horses in black veils and men on stilts wearing decorated blindfolds who were throwing handfuls of dead leaves over anyone they could reach. She ducked beneath one of the stilt walkers and a woman next to her cried out as a single red leaf caught in Kate’s hair.
‘She’s next!’ she shouted, trying to grab Kate before she slipped away. ‘This girl will be the next to die!’
Kate ignored the woman and left the leaf flapping where it was. She had no time for superstition. They had the same tradition in her own town but no one took it seriously any more. The woman shouted something after her, but she was already too far away to hear. She had spotted Silas moving up ahead and she was closing in.
‘I did everything you wanted,’ she shouted the moment she was close enough. ‘I need your help. I need you to help me find my uncle. He could have been up here, safe with us, and you just left him behind!’
‘We
both
left him behind,’ said Silas, refusing to slow his pace. ‘I did not hear you complain about it until after the deed was done.’
both
left him behind,’ said Silas, refusing to slow his pace. ‘I did not hear you complain about it until after the deed was done.’
‘I have to find him!’ said Kate. ‘Edgar said those wardens went to the museum looking for you -
and Wintercraft
. Artemis was the only other person who knew that you had it.’ She dodged the hot breath of a fire breather and people squealed excitedly away from the flames. ‘He wouldn’t have told anyone about it unless someone forced him to. I think Da’ru has him. I need you to help me get him back.’
and Wintercraft
. Artemis was the only other person who knew that you had it.’ She dodged the hot breath of a fire breather and people squealed excitedly away from the flames. ‘He wouldn’t have told anyone about it unless someone forced him to. I think Da’ru has him. I need you to help me get him back.’
‘Your family’s problems are no concern of mine,’ said Silas. ‘I have spared your life and I spared his. That is payment enough.’
Silas pushed his way on to a street lined with stalls selling every kind of food that Kate had ever known. Steam rose from hot fire ovens, soups bubbled in enormous pots and water spat from open pans. The smells were intoxicating. Kate had not eaten since she had been locked in the Council’s cell and her stomach growled as she followed Silas through clouds of heat filled with the scent of spices, fried meats and stewed fruits.
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