Descent (27 page)

Mia spun around to look at him. ‘A
what?
’

‘Neith sacrifices herself constantly to fight for us. Once a year, when both moons are full, we thank her with a sacrifice of our own: blood.’

‘Like what I had to do to get the city back? Cutting myself?’ she asked nervously.

Tye gritted his teeth. He was not an angry man, but what he had been through was enough to make even the gentlest of people rage with fury. She had forgotten everything, and now this. If he wasn’t so near the temple of the goddess, he might have cursed her for taking such an important thing from him. It seemed a tragedy to him; a betrayal of Neith herself, that someone might offer blood to a goddess they didn’t believe in.

‘You know I don’t remember!’ she snapped.

Tye took a deep breath. ‘Sometimes you make it very hard to be around you.’

She stiffened at the rude words, so out of character for him.

‘Good,’ she replied childishly.

He sighed. ‘Forgive me,’ he said carefully. ‘I spoke out of turn. I fear I am not worthy of explaining such a thing to you.’

‘Tye, that’s just stupid—of course you can tell me about a ritual!’

‘You don’t understand. It is sacred. I am merely a servant. It wouldn’t be right.’

Mia shook her head, the fear and nerves finally taking form as anger. ‘You’re being ridiculous! You said yourself that I need help to understand. But you are too cowardly to give it to me yourself.’

He blinked, staring at her. After a moment he couldn’t stand it any longer. ‘Excuse me,’ he murmured, and then he turned and walked from the temple, past the waiting litter, in a manner completely disregarding his status as servant and completely unlike him.

He couldn’t stand being around her like this. She knew nothing, and yet she blamed him for her confusion! It was unlike him to lose his temper, and to lay blame, especially when none of this was Mia’s fault. But ... it hurt. In ways he couldn’t name or speak aloud.

Tye spent the rest of the afternoon pacing his bedchamber and brooding. Unfortunately, it was in this state that he received his guest.

Somehow, he’d known she would come tonight. Something about the bond they’d shared once upon a time. He had instructed the guards to let her pass. He didn’t know why he’d done that. It was selfishness of the worst kind.

‘Odette, you shouldn’t be here and you know it,’ Tye said quietly.

‘You want me here, else you never would have let me pass the guards,’ she replied, shutting the door.

He didn’t reply, knowing full well that it was the truth.

‘Tye,’ she said, and he listened carefully for any sign of the old softness in her voice. If that vulnerability was still there, he might be undone. ‘You used to want me,’ Odette said, and there was only ice. She walked forward. ‘You used to love me, Tye. I’m still yours. I’ve been yours all these long years.’

Her voice was like honey caressing his mind. Tye shut his eyes so as not to look at her beauty.

‘I know you need me,’ she said. ‘
I
would never forget you.’

With the words, his eyes snapped open. They would not speak any further on the thing that lay in the room between them. The past. They looked at each other, both thinking the same thing.

Odette walked forwards and took his hand gently in hers. She was not going to stop. There had been too much waiting. Once upon a time, when they were to be married, he had treasured beyond words the feel of her skin next to his, the feeling of her eyes turning to him. Things change, love grows, dies, transforms. He knew she was cold—why had he let her in? Because of memory, because of hurt.

‘Is this what you really want?’ he asked harshly, grabbing her by the shoulders. ‘When you know what it is that I truly desire?’

She looked at him closely and in her eyes he thought he saw something other than coldness. Something that dated back to the beginning, when first they’d known each other. ‘I can change that,’ she said firmly. ‘I will
not be second for long.’ Her long dark hair trailed behind her, and he could smell her perfume. A scent he remembered well.

All the while, under everything else, came the question, shaped around another woman.
Why did he continue to lie to her?

‘No. I can’t do this. You need to leave.’

The fury in her gaze was startling as she turned her back on him and swept from the room.

Later that night, when he lay in bed staring at the ceiling, regretting beyond words that he had let Odette into his room at all and thinking back over the events of the day, he gradually fell into an exhausted, sad sleep. Dreams wracked his mind. Disturbing dreams of serpents and ruby red eyes and bloody battles and long past desires. Then suddenly they shifted into something else entirely.

He stood under the roof of Neith’s temple, in the exact place he’d stood that afternoon with Mia. He watched the same scene unfold once more—Mia speaking with the priestess, her back turned to him, her red hair mesmerising—but after a moment the queen turned back to him and Tye gasped, for this wasn’t Mia. It was Nayana. He could tell from the eyes. She was older now. Older and far more certain.

She smiled at him, a smile he hadn’t seen in over a thousand years.

‘You’re so angry, darling,’ she said softly, and his heart constricted.

‘I ... I’m sorry,’ he told her. ‘I’m trying.’

‘I know you are.’ They were alone in the temple now, under the staring eyes of the demons. She moved closer to him. If he wanted to he could have reached out and touched her, but he would never do such a thing without being invited.

‘You don’t remember anything,’ Tye said, his voice stricken, overwhelming gratitude filling his heart at being allowed a moment with Nayana. He no longer had to shoulder the weight of his memories alone.

‘I know,’ Nayana said again. The confidence in her face was utterly beautiful. The simple knowledge of who she was and what was right. ‘But Tye,’ she murmured gently, ‘You must be patient. She is so young.’

‘I don’t know what to do!’

‘Just help her. Think of me. We are the same. Don’t think of her as a different person. Just think of her as me.’

Tye closed his eyes, breathing in the well-remembered smell of her. ‘I miss you so much,’ he whispered.

‘I’m still here, darling,’ she told him. ‘I always will be. Just be patient. Help me to remember and to do what’s right. That is your job now.’

‘It’s too hard. She looks at me and sees nothing.’

Nayana reached out with her fingertips and brushed his cheek, sending shivers into his soul.

‘So you must be strong, Tye. Be patient with her.’ She paused and then smiled once more. ‘You wake.’

Panic clutched at him. ‘No!’ he cried desperately. The edges of everything were blurring. She was fading.

‘Just wait for me,’ Nayana said to him, as the dream dissolved around him. ‘Wait for me and I’ll come back to you.’

Jane, Fern and Altor had been to six of the towns on their list. Each had been the same: a mess of neglect and pain. Seeing people so agonised, over and over again, was becoming hard for Jane to bear. At least she knew the three of them were helping—the protectors would make a huge difference, so that people could try and salvage their lives.

Now, halfway between towns, they sat under some trees to a midday meal. Jane passed each of the boys a chunk of bread and cheese out of her pack and they chewed in silence. Finally she cleared her throat.

‘Remember when you were teaching me how to fight, Fern?’

He nodded.

‘Well, I think I need to start taking lessons again.’

‘Maybe you should be giving us lessons,’ Altor muttered wryly. ‘Am I the only one who remembers who saved us the last time we were attacked?’

Jane flushed. ‘I didn’t save you—’

‘Don’t try to argue, Jane,’ Altor said, grinning. ‘Accept your new status as the toughest in the group.’

She laughed and then glanced at Fern. He was smiling very gently. It was so much easier being around him now that they’d been honest with each other. Like they had a silent pact that could keep them going, one they would never talk about again, but would at least help them to stay sane around each other.

‘I’m not sure I could do it again,’ she said uncertainly. ‘I mean, I don’t even know how it happened.’

Fern nodded. ‘Okay. On your feet.’

‘Now?’

‘No time like the present.’

Altor gave a hoot of excitement and settled himself into a comfortable position.

‘I’ll start with the basics again, because those sessions we did were a very long time ago. Everything has a weakness, you just have to pinpoint it and use it to your advantage. A truly great fighter is one who knows that everything is about circumstance: who can read a situation at a glance and adjust to it as necessary. The reason most people don’t have a clue how to fight the Valkyries is because they haven’t been taught about flexibility.’

‘Exactly!’ Altor cried, clapping his hands together, mocking his friend easily and making Jane smile. Fern winked at him and returned to his lesson.

‘Now, when you’re fighting something in the sky, it’s a very different sort of combat. That’s why I’ve been teaching my men to use long bows. When we get back to the palace, I’ll start teaching you too, Jane. But for now, I want you to learn how to defend yourself against an attack from above. What do we know about Valkyries?’

Feeling as though she was being called upon for an answer in class when she hadn’t been listening, Jane stalled. ‘Valkyries ... right, um ... well...’

Altor raised his hand and Fern grinned. ‘Yes, Altor?’

‘They’re bastards.’

‘Thank you Al, that’s helpful. Jane, I’m talking about physical things. Things like the fact that they only fly at night, so they blend into the darkness around them.’

‘Oh, right. What about the fact that they only have one set of talons, and they don’t carry any weapons.’

‘Yes, now you’re getting it. You have to look at things closely, bring things back to basics. I noticed when they attacked us that they were weakest at the neck, on their underside, and on their wings. Obviously, if you can wound their wings and get them out of the sky, it takes away their advantage.’

Jane nodded. ‘Neck, belly, wings,’ she repeated.

‘Now, if I come at you from above like this,’ Fern said, using his height to throw a slow motion blow down on top of her, ‘how are you going to move?’

Jane ducked and looked up questioningly.

‘No, if you move downwards, like your instincts say, you’ve got nowhere to go—they can follow you straight to the ground. Instead, go sideways and up, using the creature’s downward momentum to surprise it. Altor, come here and help me show her.’

Altor jumped up and began stretching, making Jane giggle again. As the taller man made the same action, Altor sidestepped, slithering around behind Fern.

‘See how he moved into the attack?’ Fern asked and she nodded mutely, aware of the fact that she probably would never be able to do anything like that.

‘Do you want to try?’

Jane went through the motions with Fern, trying to remember each one as he showed her more and more moves for both evading and attacking things coming out of the sky, Altor shouting pieces of advice designed to help no one at all.

‘Okay, okay,’ she sighed eventually. ‘It feels stupid when I can’t actually give it a real go.’

‘Let’s hope you never have to give it a real go,’ Fern muttered vehemently.

‘Yeah, but can we do some real practice?’ she asked.

‘What do you mean? We have been!’

‘No—I want to fight
you.
’

Fern stared at her and Altor burst out laughing. ‘Just a play fight, like we used to,’ she said quickly.

‘I hardly think you’re going to have to fight humans any time soon,’ Fern argued.

‘You never know,’ she insisted. ‘What? Are you scared?’

Fern smiled, slow and delicious, and Jane smiled back. She retrieved two of the fighting poles tied to the back of the boys’ horses and threw one to Fern.

Altor grinned, moving to give them some space. ‘Watch out Fern—she looks like she’s going for the kill.’

Jane knew it was ridiculous—her fighting abilities were at best poor, and Fern was ... well he was Fern. Yet there was something inside her, something that had been growing, and she felt, all of a sudden—powerful.

He threw the first blow and she blocked it with her pole. It was so heavy that it threw her off balance and shook her to the bone. Grinning, Fern backed off. Jane could remember a time when his arrogance had infuriated her. It was nice to know some things never changed.

Without warning, the coil of energy at the base of her leapt to life. It ran through her body, with seemingly a mind of its own. She tried to contain it—it felt too big, too consuming—but as she concentrated and opened her eyes again, Jane was standing in a completely different spot.

‘Woah!’ she gasped, nearly losing her balance. Jane was behind Fern. He whirled to look at her, his eyes wide.

‘What...? How did you...?’

Altor was motionless, having glimpsed the occurrence better than either of the fighters.

‘How did you manage that, girl?’ Fern asked softly.

‘No idea,’ Jane replied breathlessly. Another pulse of power shot through her. She tried to take hold of it, but it felt slippery, like trying to hold onto water, it sent her body flying through space once more. When she opened her eyes she was sprawled on the ground, several metres away from the boys. And this time, the patch of grass where she had been standing was on fire. Jane watched the boys quickly douse the fire with their cloaks.

They both turned to stare at her.

‘What in hell just happened?’ Altor asked softly.

Jane opened her mouth but nothing came out. All she knew was that there was something inside her, something very large. It felt like a wild, untamed beast. But what was worse than the thought of the beast was the realisation that she’d liked the way it made her feel. She’d liked the thrill it sent into her body, the thrill of letting go of all control.

‘How did you do that?’ Altor pressed.

‘I don’t know,’ she murmured, forcing herself to calm down. ‘It feels a bit like when I mind-link with my friends. Or when I fought Leostrial. Like there’s some sort of energy inside me, and I just have to focus to be able to tap into it. But ... it sort of feels like it has a mind of its own. And I’m not sure how to wake it up again.’

‘Leostrial had power like it too,’ Altor said. ‘He said we all have a source of power inside us, but only some have the ability to awaken and control it.’

Jane nodded, climbing to her feet and brushing herself off. ‘Yeah. It feels like it’s been there all my life, but maybe it only came alive when I was in the sky. I have absolutely no idea what it is or what its limits are.’

‘Maybe you don’t,’ Fern said, a slow smile playing on his lips. ‘But it’s certainly going to come in handy.’

Instead of feeling relieved that they didn’t think her a freak, Jane felt nervous. The idea of using the
power again both thrilled and repulsed her, but her curiosity won through. Closing her eyes she tried to feel for it once more. It was there, but now was completely unresponsive—she couldn’t get any kind of grip on it. She spent a few minutes concentrating as hard as she could, but only resulted in exhausting herself. After a while she stopped and sank to the ground.

‘Are you okay?’ Fern asked quickly.

‘Yes, fine. It just tires me out.’

‘That’s not good, Jane,’ Altor said suddenly, and Jane was surprised at the change in his tone. He frowned and stared off into the distance. ‘I don’t think you should use your power,’ he announced. ‘Nor do I think we should tell anyone about it.’

‘Why?’

‘Jane ... when Leostrial used my source of power he stole years from me. We have no way of knowing what this could be doing to you. It could potentially be very dangerous.’

Jane frowned. It was a frightening thought, and once again she ached at the thought of what Altor must be going through. A wave of dizziness overcame her and she pressed a hand to her head.

‘I know of something that might make you feel better,’ Fern suggested. ‘We’re only an hour’s ride away from a place I was planning to surprise you with.’

‘The Tears of Artemis are famous for their beauty,’ Fern told her as they dismounted their horses at the top of a ravine. ‘There are pools like them in each country—in Lapis Matyr there are some called the Tears of Isis. They are heated by the springs under the ground, and are said to have healing and revitalising properties.’

Jane peered down into the ravine. Each pool bubbled and a tiny waterfall ran from the largest to the smallest.
Thousands of tiny fireflies raced through the air above each pool, making the waters glow.

‘We’ll have to be careful not to stay out too long. The next town is half an hour’s ride away—it has protectors so we can stay safely at an inn there tonight.’

It took them about twenty minutes of slow descent before they reached the pools. The crevice was dark except for the enchanting glow of the insects.

‘It’s so beautiful,’ Jane murmured in delight, gazing around her. There were several small caves in the sides of the wall. The waters radiated steam, and the boys were not long in stripping off their outer layers and diving into the largest pool. Jane laughed as they splashed in the darkness.

‘Are you coming in?’ Fern called and she shook her head.

‘No. I don’t have anything to swim in,’ she said.

‘We’re in our clothes!’

‘No way.’

‘Fine then,’ Altor said. ‘Just take them off.’

Fern growled at him and he laughed.

Jane ignored them. ‘I want to have a look around.’

In truth she didn’t want to be in the pool at the same time as Fern, nor did she want to take a single layer of clothing off around him.

Jane walked around the ledge. The wall travelled in a big circle and she followed it all the way back to where the boys were.

She stopped at the smallest pool and was about to dip her hands in when Fern saw her and called out a desperate warning.

‘No, Jane! Don’t touch it!’ In a moment, both of them were out of the water and running along the ledge towards her, dripping wet and slipping on the smooth rock.

‘You can’t touch the water from the smallest pool!’ Altor said after they had pulled her away. ‘It’s poisonous!’

‘But it’s all the same water!’ she said faintly, shocked at the suddenness of their reaction.

‘Yes, but when it gets to the last pool, the lava from under the soil contaminates it. It’s much closer to the surface, and sometimes it can leak up through the ground, tainting the water. The other two pools are all right because they’re fresh and moving.’

‘All right, all right,’ she said.

They made their way back up to the larger pool where they’d left their clothes and bags. Altor jumped back into the water, imploring them both to join him, but Fern didn’t listen this time.

‘What’s wrong—aren’t you going back in?’ Jane asked quickly.

‘If you don’t mind, I’ll just sit here and have a heart attack,’ he said, putting his hand over his chest.

‘Jeez, Fern. Get a grip! I didn’t die or anything!’

‘Ha,’ he said dryly and shoved her into the water. Jane screamed, spluttering to the surface to see Fern laughing at her.

‘These are my only clothes!’ she screeched. ‘You could have waited until I’d taken them off!’ He grinned and dove in after her.

Laughing, she swam to the edge of the waterfall and jumped into the second pool. Fern slithered gracefully behind her, and Altor jumped in after them, splashing half the water onto the rocks around them. He resurfaced and grinned. ‘Well, come on you two oldies, how about a game?’

‘Oldies?’ Fern repeated.

‘How old are you, exactly?’ Altor asked, directing his question at Jane.

‘Seventeen,’ she replied promptly. ‘Why, how old do I seem?’

He just shrugged. ‘Sometimes older, sometimes younger.’

Jane thought about that for a moment and decided she was okay with it. That’s the way it should be, she supposed.

‘I’m having trouble accepting that all my friends aren’t going to be teenagers much longer! You, Altor, were only seven when I last saw you!’ she exclaimed.

‘We met?’ he asked. ‘Is that what you were talking about when you said you missed me?’

Jane flushed, pointedly not looking at Fern.

‘Surely not,’ Altor muttered. ‘I’d remember meeting you, Jane, even if it was two years ago.’

‘That’s not what I was talking about. We didn’t actually meet. I saw you, and I felt the way your ... father used your power when I fought him.’

‘Oh.’ Altor paused. He seemed to be struggling with something. ‘Can I ask you both a question?’

Fern nodded, treading water quietly.

‘What was he like—my father?’ The question seeped out of him, like it had been waiting inside for a very long time, and it made him seem suddenly much younger. ‘I hardly spent any time with him, but I remember ... that I loved him once. Satine won’t talk about him.’